//------------------------------// // Ch 9 - Oh Hospital Sweet Hospital // Story: A Flurry of Problems // by MelodyMori //------------------------------// “Flurry, I’m so happy you’re alright!” Twilight grinned wayyyy too wide than her pony face should allow, before hugging me tightly with her forelegs. “We were so worried.” Her voice broke, and I could almost swear I heard a sob. It was almost cute if it wasn’t for the absolute pain my chest was in from her squeezing my broken ribs. I began to flail against her, trying to push her off but my annoyingly little body wasn’t strong enough. Instead, she hugged a bit tighter, causing me to scream a bit into the muzzle that was still on my face. “Flurry, what’s wrong?” She pulled back, her smile replaced with a look of pure concern. “Oh, I almost forgot about the bindings they put on you, sorry.” Twilight quickly unclasped the collar and muzzle with her magic, pulling them off and setting them to the side. The ropes around my wings took a moment longer, with me hissing in pain and trying to worm away as she tried to untie them.  “Flurry, sit still so I can untie you! You’re going to tie yourself into a knot!” She chided, putting her wings around my sides so I couldn’t get too far. “OW! You’re pulling out my feathers!” I whined, still trying to wiggle out. “I am not!” Twilight groaned in frustration. “The ropes are tightly wound against you. If you just hold still...” I found myself caught up in a purple glow and frozen in place. With me now not wiggling all over the place she was able to untie the ropes, even though I could swear I lost several feathers during the process. Once I was free from her magic grip I just fell over, groaning in pain from the ribs and bruises now that my adrenaline was gone. “Flurry, what’s wrong? Where did they hurt you?” Twilight did a quick circle around me, looking my body over with her wide eyes.  “Got kicked in the ribs a few times, face, and dragged alongside them while they walked...” I explained, wincing a little as I breathed in a bit too deeply. I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at the look of sheer concern on her face, prompting a stabbing pain to radiate through my chest. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw someone so concerned about me being in a fight. “Alright, that’s it. Let’s get you to a hospital.” Twilight furrowed her brow before picking me up in her magic. It took all my focus not to flail around in response, it wasn't painful, just a very weird feeling. With me now secure, Twilight immediately shot up out through the canopy, flapping her wings hard to gain lift. I was dragged along, thankfully close enough to her that I didn’t hit any branches on the way up. Once we were over the forest she began to flap her wings with more earnestness, guiding the wind to help her fly towards the town. From way up here, the forest seemed almost peaceful, the monsters and twisting dangers hidden under the leaves. “Auntie Twilight, can I ask you a question?” I craned my neck up to look at her face, fiercely resisting the urge to move too much. Since, you know, I didn’t want to break her concentration so high up in the air. “Sure, Flurry.” Twilight gave me a much more normal smile, floating me up so she could see me out of the corner of her eye.  “So far I heard two people seemed confused that I was older,” I swear I could see Twilight wince but it faded too fast to be sure. “Do you know why they would think that? I would think my age would be more well known since I’m supposed to be a princess and stuff.” “I....let’s stop for a second before we get to the hospital.” Twilight closed her eyes for a second before landing on a cloud. She gently placed me on the cloud next to her before giving me a serious look. “Flurry, how much do you remember of your accident?” I paced awkwardly on the cloud, it felt almost like I was standing on a marshmallow. I could feel a slight tingling on my hooves, but I somehow was able to stand even though there was no way I should be able to. Magic, fucking weird, but useful as hell.  “I-I don’t remember it at all. Why?” I looked back up at Twilight, who was staring at me with an intense look in her eyes.  “Well, you were so injured that I had to use some of my more....extreme spells.” Twilight sighed, her eyes softening as she looked off into the distance. “They healed you, but one of the side effects was that you aged a few years. I am sorry Flurry, but there was no other choice.” “What the hell hurt me so badly then?” I scowled, shaking my head. “Doesn’t sound like I fell from a tree or something.” Twilight grimaced before pulling me in for a tight hug. “It doesn’t matter anymore. You’re safe now, I promise.” I tried to pull away, still confused and annoyed at the lack of an answer. Instead, I ended up just coughing in pain at the hug as my ribs once again ground together from the hug. Thankfully Twilight once again let me go, concern and embarrassment plastered on her face. “I’m so sorry Flurry!” She looked out into the distance before nodding. “We’re close enough now, I’ll just teleport us there.” Before I could truly react to the thought of ‘teleporting’, her horn started glowing. I felt like I was broken down, sucked through the eye of a needle, and then thrown to the ground as we teleported to the main room of the hospital. I coughed before falling onto the cold tile floor. “Auntie Twilight, please never do that again.” Within 10 minutes I found myself once again stuck into a hospital bed, except this time I had Twilight fussing over me as well as a nurse. Turns out I apparently had a concussion along with the broken ribs and bruises, who knew? So I was stuck in the hospital, again, staying overnight to make sure I didn’t get any worse. Twilight herself was staying in the room with me to make sure I didn’t fall asleep with a concussion and was sitting reading a book next to the bed. “Auntie Twilight, am I in trouble?” I couldn’t help but fidget with my blanket in anxiety before looking up at Twilight. “Why would you be in trouble?” Twilight looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow. “It wasn’t your fault you were foalnapped.” “Yeah, but I made you have to search for me and put a pause on your ‘princess business’.” I frowned a bit, annoyed at the bit of whine in my voice.  “Flurry, if you ever need my help don’t hesitate to ask.” Twilight put a bookmark in her book before setting it to the side. “Princess business can always wait for my niece. Besides, it wasn’t just business, I was working on a surprise for you.” I smiled at the sincerity of her love for me, although a bit of my soul died a bit at being called her niece. Pushing that to the side, for now, I tilted my head in confusion. “Surprise?” “Well, Starlight and I were working on a spell to help with your memory.” She gave a warm smile before setting a hoof on my head. “It took a bit of work, but we should be able to fix your memories!” I blinked, completely caught off guard. I expected something like a party or a toy, not some super fix-it spell. Fix my memories....wait, what would that do to my human memories?  If it got rid of them, what would happen to me? It might be time to tell the truth. Consequences be damned, I don’t want to forget my home. “Uh, Auntie that’s nice and all, but can I be serious with something for a moment?” I asked, biting my lip as she raised an eyebrow. “Sure, Flurry, what’s bothering you? I promise you won’t lose your new memories if that’s what you’re worried about.” She rubbed a hoof through my mane, gently enough that it didn’t make my growing headache any worse. “Well, that’s it. I’m not Flurry Heart.” I pulled back from her a touch so I could look at her directly in her now confused eyes. “I’m a human from Earth named Storm...” I paused a bit and blinked at the realization I couldn’t remember my last name.  “What are you talking about?” Twilight tilted her head, her face a mix of concern and confusion. “I’m saying that I’m not your niece!” I flailed my hooves as I attempted to speak with the hands I no longer had. “I was an adult man who had a family, a job, a house! Hell, I even had a girlfriend!” Twilight stared at me without saying anything for long enough that I started sweating. Instead, she motioned with a hoof for me to continue. “I remember growing up in Utah with my mother and my younger siblings. I got picked up by my dad and trained by him.” I grimaced, deciding to smooth over the more violent parts. Didn’t need to tell this pastel pony that I killed a few people. “I ran away with my siblings since he wasn’t the best father, and moved to Japan so he couldn’t find us. I got a girlfriend and lived happily before I woke up here!” I grabbed her face before pulling it a bit closer to mine. “If you’re so good at magic, can you please send me home? I miss my family...” Twilight pushed me back into the bed with a gentle hoof before rubbing her forehead. She got out of her chair and paced back and forth while whispering to herself. After a few seconds of that, she turned back to me and gave a small smile, one that screamed ‘okay, honey’. Great. “Flurry, Miss Cheerilee told me you had an active imagination. But I promise you that humans and ‘Japan’ don't exist. You’re Flurry Heart, not ‘Storm’.” She waved a hoof in the air to gesture to the room. “I know you’ve had a stressful few days, waking up from a coma with no memories. I am sorry I haven’t been around to help, I just got so focused on making you better.”  “I-I...you don’t believe me?” I felt tears prick up at the corner of my eyes before I scowled. “I am telling the truth!” “I don’t doubt that you believe you are telling the truth.” Twilight sighed before walking back over to the side of my bed and putting a wing around me. “But it just isn’t true. I wouldn’t doubt that your mind made up memories to fill in the gaps, and filled it in with a fantastic world at that. You have a good imagination, after all” “Aunt Twilight, I am not Flurry!” I growled, pushing her away hard in my frustration. “I am Storm! A human man, not some stupid filly! I don’t want some stupid memory spell!” Twilight took a few steps back, shocked and hurt at my aggressive response. I felt my heart break a bit as someone who was so concerned for me looked so emotionally hurt, but I forced myself to swallow it down. She wasn’t concerned for me, she was concerned for her niece. “Flurry Heart, I know you must be hurting but I promise you that I am here for you.” She stepped back and hugged me with her wings. It was comforting if a bit of a weird feeling. “If you don’t want the spell I won’t, but you can’t go home to the Crystal Empire yet. I don’t care how long it takes, I will make sure you feel comfortable and happy again.” “I-I just w-want to g-go home!” I couldn’t help but lean into the hug, sobbing into Twilight’s chest as all the stress and frustration of the past few days exploded in me. “I know Flurry, I know.” Twilight stroked my mane as I cried against her. “I may not be your parents, but I swear I love you just as much.” Somehow that just made me cry harder before I just let myself settle in the gentle warmth of her hug.