The Tired Automaton

by Partycannon_

Chapter 1: Broken

The orange autumn sky flew gently overhead. The white fluffy clouds absorbed the color of the sunset over the mountaintops. The grass bellow presented a soft cushion. Even the air felt nice as it brushed against my body.

“Annnd now we are covered in tree sap… again.” My ear twitched as a familiar voice rang. I sat up, peering back into the woods. Two ponies emerged, all too familiar.

“Oh… um, howdy Sweetie Belle.” The yellow earth pony started.

“Apple Bloom.” The orange pegasus whispered.

“Hi girls. What are the both of you doing?” I asked, my eyes darting back and forth between the two.

“We are crusading for our Cutie Marks of course.” Scootaloo shouted proudly before narrowing her eyes. Her expression turned darker while Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, eventually falling back to me.

This isn’t right.

“We are trying a whole bunch of new things in hopes to find the special something that makes us special.” She stated formally as she scratched her cheek.

My chest burned, I wanted to throw up. Something is wrong! I turned back to my flank, nothing, a white canvas.

“Um… c-can I join you two?” I staggered over myself and upon looking up my heart dropped. I wanted to cry. Apple Bloom cringed while Scootaloo stepped forward.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? THIS ISN’T A JOKE!”

“I-I’m-” I fell back.

“Scoot-” The earth pony started with a frown.

“THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR HEAD!”

“SCOOTALOO!” Called the yellow filly. Finally there was a silence. My head dropped to the cold dirt, covering it with my hooves. My heart was broken and it felt wrong to breath.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m so, s-so, sorry.”

“Let’s go Apple Bloom.” One set of hooves began to leave and they were joined by a second pair moments later.

“I’m s-sorry.” My stomach turned.

“Sorry.” A wretched brew of acid, broken food, and liquid shot up through my system.

My eyes opened and adjusted to the dark room. I was in bed as my throat burned, I felt a hot liquid on the other side of the blanket. Then I placed a hoof on my cheek, feeling the damp fur.

“I-It’s getting worse.”

A never ending storm of pellets fell from above, flooding my body in a stream of warm water. I kept my eyes shut as I felt each individual drop land. Finally my muscles relaxed, the tension slowly fleeing.

It was the weekend, meaning I thankfully didn’t have to see Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon today. While sitting at home is always an option I much rather find- The picture of Scootaloo’s anger slipped back into my mind and within seconds all the tension came crawling back. It was only a dream, or rather, a nightmare but something about it caused my mind to reel.

“Maybe I should stay home today.” I opened my eyes and stared at the wall. I didn’t want to think about the nightmare, hopefully I’ll be able to forget it by the time morning comes. I turned the nob bellow the shower head and the last few drops rolled down my mane, I stepped out and dried myself with a towel.

It wasn’t long before I found myself staring into the mirror. I rubbed the condensation away revealing my tired face, my fallen ears, my pupils without any glow, and large bags under each of my eyes. I am so very tired. Maybe I will find Zecora today, ask her for a potion to remove the night terrors.

The light above flicked off, a spark of anger caused a small flame to burn. As though the world itself was telling me this nightmare will continue the bulb above refused it's purpose. I turned to the light switch and flicked it on and off, on and off each time faster than the last. With every input I poured more and more gasoline onto the raging bonfire.

CRASH

My hoof went through the mirror, shattering it. The origin of the blow caused over a dozen shards to break away while the rest of the large reflection only had a few separations. I found myself in the broken mirror, I was breathing harshly, violently. A spark of hatred in my eyes, I almost didn’t recognize myself nor the monstrous flame that overtook me.

Taking control of each breath, my eyes dulled as the flame burnt out. I gave a light sigh as the regret started to settle in. I began removing my hoof from the reflection and finally some of the pieces began to fall.

This isn’t right, I pulled my hoof back and found a large shard embedded deep into my flesh. I felt no pain, my stomach fell into a morbid pit while inspecting the injury. A very dark red liquid ran down my hoof, away from the shard. A dark curiosity took my thoughts, I had to remove the intruding blade of glass regardless.

I grabbed the shard between my teeth and pulled with all my strength. I felt the tissue and blood inside of my hoof tearing away. More of the thick red liquid covered my staining leg. Finally with one last yank the shard left my body, bringing a fountain of red along with it.

Something is wrong, I still felt no pain. The morbid pit yelled, no, screamed for me to pull back the wound, to see my bone. The dark red blood continued to gush, I felt weak as I opened the cut even more.

A white bone, no. It is not a bone.

It’s metal.

“m-m-M-”

“M-M-MOM! PLEASE! MOM! M-MOM! MOM! PLEASE!”

“HELP! PLEASE! MOM! HELP! DAD! HELP! HELP! HELP!”

I was on ground, I didn’t feel.

“PLEASE! PLEASE! HELP! PLEASE! RARE! HELP! PLEASE!”

The door open.

“HELP! MOM! MOM! HELP! PLEASE! DAD! PLEASE!”

“Shh, Sweetie Belle, it’s okay. Your big sister is here.” Sad pony. Feel better.

“Rar-”