Authors' note: Happy New Year Everyone. I'm starting this year sick and a shot of tequila. Have a good one everyone.
I get up from the hospital bed and start getting dressed as Apachie is sitting on the floor his mouth still agape from the the words I just spoke. It seemed like he still couldn't quite process what I just said, as if what I said flew right by him.
As I look over after finding and putting on my glasses I see Twilight pick up Apachie's jaw for him. "Really Apachie. Thats just rude leaving you're mouth open. If you leave it like that you'll end up catching a fly." She said giggling to herself. She looked over to me and said, "Well if you're going to the Mayor's office then I can help you. I was the last one to move into Ponyville so I know where it is."
Fully dressed, I left the room with Twilight and Apachie in tow. I neared the front desk and signed myself out and paid the clinic bill. As I was paying Twilight seemed to give both Apachie and I a look of confusion. We left the clinic after I promtly thanked everyone who had taken care of me and those who had to deal with Apachie.
"Ok why are you ponies treating this like its not slightly weird that you were in a clinic for half the day?" Twilight finally said, unable to keep her curiousity in check.
"We used to get into a lot of fights in our hometown of Cloudsdale. We ended up in the hospital quite a few times because of it." I said unphased by the question.
"You two got into fights a lot?" Twilight said with disapproval evident in her voice.
"Well we didn't get into that many fights and they were really only fought to protect ourselves." Apachie added quickly.
"Really? Well I don't like fighting but if you must fight to protect yourselves then I guess that's a good reason." Twilight seemed to let out a little sigh of relief.
It seemed to me that Apachie didn't want to leave a bad impression on this mare, but then again he wouldn't want to leave a bad impression on any mare. I took the hint and decided that I wouldn't talk about our past without seeing if it was ok with him. He seemed to get along with this Twilight mare pretty well and I'm sure she thinks he's cute. It's sad that it wont work out, I thought to myself.
"If we keep walking this way, we'll be at the Mayors' office in a couple minutes." Twilight said.
"Thank you so much for helping us Twilight." I said. "I'm sorry that you had to deal with Apachie and myself, when I'm sure that there must have been something you would have rather been doing."
"Oh you don't have to thank me." She said blushing. "It's only natural to help someone in need. And as for me doing anything else, you shouldn't worry yourself about that. Today was just a study day and inventory."
"Study? Inventory?" Apachie seemed confused.
"Yes. I'm Ponyvilles' librarian and personal student of Princess Celestia." Twilight said with a little tone of confidence.
That's probably why it wont work out, I thought, its such a shame really. We continued walking and it seemed like something had hit Twilight like a lightining bolt and made here stop in her tracks. She looked over to the two of us with a look on her face like she scared to ask something.
"Is something wrong Twi?" Apachie asked giving her a nickname already.
She didn't seem to notice and continued looking nervous. "Ummm, I want to ask you two something about earlier."
I already knew where this was headed but I played it stupid. "What do you want to ask?" I said.
"Well," she looked down before she spoke again. "I noticed you two acting a little weird earlier..."
"When?" Apachie asked with a serious tone. It seemed like he had caught on as well.
"...when you started talking about this kind of thing happening before...with somepony else." Twilight said as if fighting with herself about asking.
Apachie froze and looked away. He knew it would end like this and so did I. "Give us a moment Twilight." I said.
I pulled Apachie away far enough so that we were able to talk without Twilight being able to hear us. I let out a sigh. "What do you want to do?" I asked Apachie.
"I...I don't know man." Apachie said with great pain on his face.
I knew what he was going through. I've had trouble trying to talk about this too. It's not exactly something we'd want to re-live. "Do you want her to know?" I asked more to myself then to him.
"Can we trust her, is what you mean right?" He said with a bit of anger in his voice.
"Don't get mad at me man," I said trying to calm him down a bit, "we don't want everyone knowing something...this...personal." I struggled to find the right words. I looked over to Twilight as I can see she seemed to regret asking the question. She looked ashamed of herself really, like she knew she hit something sensitive.
"I know man...I know." Apachie said with sadness in his voice. "I just feel like telling someone would..." he paused for a few seconds, "...make it easier."
I knew what he felt. I thought the same thing before. I knew that it hurt trying to keep it in all the time. I could feel it eating away at me at this very moment as the memory was forever burned into my mind. I looked at him. I could see the pain in his face as I can tell he was trying his best to keep himself stable. I could see him shaking and I knew this was just as hard on him as it was on me.
I walked over and put my hoof on his shoulder. "I'll tell her the story. I think it'd be easier that way." I said trying to bring him back to reality.
He simply nodded his head. We turned back and began walking towards Twilight. She had been waiting patiently wondering to herself if it was right of her to have even asked. Apachie and I stood in front of her as she began to look down trying to avoid eye contact.
I sighed. She flinched. She's scared, I thought to myself. "We've decided that we'll tell you but on one condition."
She looked up with surprise on her face. "Really? Wh-hat's the condition?" She stammered a bit.
"You must promise to not tell anypony what you're about to hear. This is something deeply personal to the both of us and we don't wish for people to know." I sighed. "Can we trust you?"
"Yes, you can. I promise not to tell anypony what I'm about to hear." Twilight said trying to hold back the curiosity building up inside her.
I looked at Apachie and then to Twilight. I sighed once more and began.
"It was just a normal day like any other....Apachie and I were waiting for a friend of ours..."
FLASHBACK
I looked at the clock beside one of the benches in the park. "Where the hay is he? He's late."
"I don't know man. He must have gotten into a fight with his dad again." Apachie said.
Seemingly out of nowhere, I feel something crash into my side and push me into Apachie. We fall over ourselves as the dust began to settle. "Dear Celestia!" I yell as I push a red blob with wings off of me. "How many times do I have to tell you Solar Flare not to tackle me!"
The red pony with a yellow mane begins to laugh as he tries to stand on his own legs. "Come on Gale. Learn to live a little." The pony lets out a small laugh.
"Adda colt Flare! You really caught us off guard this time." Apachie says as he begins to stretch out his wings. "You really do have to work on your timing though. We've been waiting a good twenty minutes for ya."
Flare begins to open his mouth but is then stopped by a pain in his hoof. "Ow." He says.
I finally get my balance and walk over to the red pony. "Alright, where did you hurt yourself THIS time?"
The red pony's name is Solar Flare. He's a childhood friend of both Apachie and I. His mane is as yellow as the sun and his coat is as red as heated metal. Thus prompting the name Solar Flare from his parents. He was a small pony, about five inches shorter than the average pony. He's also very weak and almost gets hurt everytime he strains himself. We met him in flight school. Apachie and I had saved him from bullies and he's been part of the group ever since.
"I think I hurt my hoof when I crashed into you." Flare said letting out a little laugh.
"See? This is why I tell you to stop doing these kinds of things. You just end up hurting yourself." I said as I looked over his hoof. "It's just a sprain. You're lucky it didn't break."
Apachie walked over and slung his leg across Flares' shoulders. "So Flare. What's the plan for today?"
"I thought we could spend the day trying out some tricks. What do you guys think?" Flare asked with a big grin on his face.
Flare was like a little brother to me and I was always worried about him and his tendancy to always get hurt. He was also one of the few people I couldn't say no to and Apachie knew it. "Come on. Do you even have to ask? You know Gale's ok with anything so long as you don't get hurt." Apachie smiled his idiotic smile.
I kicked his flank, to which his response was a laugh. "Don't give Flare any ideas Apachie. Last time we had to get him out of a tree remember?" I said sternly.
"I'll be ok Gale, I promise." Flare said giving me those puppy dog eyes of his. Whenever I see those eyes I feel my heart melt so I have no choice than to let him do what he wants.
"Ok just stop giving me those eyes." I say looking away. "I swear you're gonna be the death of me Flare."
"YAY!" Flare yelled out and hugged me. "Come on I want to try this new trick out." He started flying and soon Apachie and I were behind him. He made up for his small size with his flying. He loved flying almost as much as he loved spending time with Apachie and me. His small size made him a quick flier but he was still proned to getting hurt when trying out tricks.
The day passed and Flare had managed to go through it all without hurting himself. Apachie was teaching him how to do a barrel roll as I watched from a cloud.
"Ok. You all set to try it out?" Apachie asked Flare.
"Uh-huh!" Flare yelled out.
"Alright on my mark, get set, GO!" Apachie yelled.
Flare took off into a climb for a good ten seconds then turned around and began to dive. He twisted his body and started spinning in his dive. Everything was going according to plan and I thought to myself, Hay. If he can manage to do this I'll get him something as a treat after. I looked on as he passed me on the cloud, a smile on his face was all I could see. He was having fun and that made me happy. Thats when it happened.
Flare ended up hitting a passing bird and it threw his off balance. He soon began to lose control and couldn't get out of the dive. "Shit!" I yelled out. "Apachie!" I flew up from the cloud and met with Apachie as he had already known what to do. I flipped upside down so my sight was towards the ground. My hind legs made contact with Apachies' as he kicked down with all of his force. I shot into a dive as fast as I could imagine. Flare was coming close but so was the ground. I knew that if Flare crashed into the ground in that dive he was a goner. I dove closer and closer trying to grab hold of him.
I wasn't fast enough to catch him as I saw the ground grow bigger with every passing second. "FLARE! OPEN YOUR WINGS!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.
He opened his wings throwing him even more off balance but slowing him down substantially. I flew by opening my wings after passing him slowing myself down but not before hitting a tree. I crashed through the branches until I hit the ground. Buck! That hurt! I forced myself up feeling pain everywhere on my body. I soon felt something warm falling down the side of my head. I raised my hoof to touch and saw red. Shit. I'm bleeding. I didn't care though and started searching around for Flare.
"FLARE!" I yelled out. "FLARE!"
I soon came upon Flare lying against a tree. He managed to slow himself down before the crash but still hit the ground. He skipped off the ground a few times before sliding over to the tree and hitting the trunk with is stomach. Hard.
I ran over to Flare and turned him over. "Flare! Wake up!" I yelled looking over the unconscious pony.
He openned his eyes and looked at me with a smile. "Hey Gale. I'm ok see? Just like how I promis-" He was cut off by a cough. He covered his mouth and I saw it. Blood.
"Oh shit." I looked up and yelled, "APACHIE!"
He was already flying down when he heard me. He flew over to us and saw what I did. "Celestia help us." He said.
"Apachie! Quick! Get him on your back so we can get him to the hospital!" I yelled.
Apachie landed and I helped put Flare on his back. "Hey Gale. I'm getting sleepy." Flare said almost in a whisper.
My eyes widened. "APACHIE WE HAVE TO GO NOW!"
We took off at full speed towards Cloudsdale. "Gale." Flare said under his breath. "I'm ok see?" He said trying to smile but was stopped by the coughing. "I'm just sleepy is all so I'm gonna take a nap ok?"
"No! You can't fall asleep yet Flare." I said almost begging. "You can't sleep yet, we have to get you to a hospital. When we get there you can sleep as much as you want but you can't sleep yet." I tried saying with tears starting to fall from my eyes trying to put a smile on my face. "Apachie! We have to go faster!"
"I KNOW!" Apachie yelled flying as fast as he could.
"Stay awake Flare. You can't sleep just yet. We have so much left to do and you can't just fall asleep on us." I tried laughing.
"I know Gale. You're always so nice to me..." Flare started.
"No don't talk like that. You're going to be ok. They're going to help you get better just stay awake." My vision began to blur from the tears.
We were in Cloudsdale already and flying towards the hospital now in sight. "Gale, don't cry. I'll be fine." Flare coughed again even more blood coming up. "I promise." His eyes closed as we broke through the windows of the hospital.
"SOMEPONY HELP US! MY FRIENDS HURT!" Apachie yelled louder than I have ever heard him before.
A unicorn nurse came over and looked at Flare with a scared look. "I need back up over here!" She yelled behind her as she picked up Flare's hoof. A look came on her face that broke my heart. She began to use her magic to send electricty through Flare.
"Come on Flare wake up." I said sobbing. "Wake up please!" I got no response.
Ponies began to come into the lobby and all got down to help the nurse. Apachie was pulled away without much effort so that the doctors could help. I kneeled there beside Flare yelling, "Flare! You can't just make a promise and not keep it!"
I shook him trying to get him to open his eyes. Nothing was working. "Get him away from here he's getting in the way." The nurse said to one of the ponies around her.
I felt them grab my hoofs and begin to drag me away. "LET GO OF ME!" I said fighting back with every fiber of my being. "FLARE! WAKE UP!" Another group of ponies came and held me down. I fought my hoof free and tried to grab Flare. "FLAAARRREEEE!!!"
I fought through the tears and saw the look on the nurses' face. She sighed. "Call it."
"FLARE! YOU PROMISED!" The ponies finally managed to fight me down. "HOW COULD YOU JUST LEAVE US..." I let the tears flow and take control, "...behind..."
FLASHBACK END
"The official time of death was five minutes after we got there." I said quietly with tears starting to form in my eyes. "But I over heard the nurse saying he had died as we crashed through the windows."