//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Out of Sight (Raw Version) // Story: Out of Sight... // by Star-Killer89 //------------------------------// Written by Star-Killer89, Editing: Coming Soon ?????????? - ?????????? ??????? ???????? ???? ?? - ??:?? ?.?. “CODE BLUE, MAINHALL! CODE BLUE, MAINHALL! I NEED A BVM AND A RESUSCITATION TEAM, NOW! ” ‘Why are you still fighting?’ ‘Who is it?’ “SHE’S IN CRITICAL OXYGEN DEPRIVATION!” ‘Won’t it be easier to just give up?’ “WE’RE LOOSING HER!” ‘All your efforts are futile.’ ‘What do you mean?’ “NURSE, NURSE!” ‘You try and try and try and try…’ “CHARGE!” ‘Why are they all yelling?’ ‘…but in the end you know that you will always be a disappointment.’ “Ah knew that mare was nothin’ good! ‘This voice…’ ‘You will never truly succeed!’ “Whyyyyy? Why did this had to happen? Of all the worst things that could happen…” ‘I know these voices…’ ‘You are so immersed in the world you created …’ “I told her to give up on that stupid mare! I TOLD HER!” ‘What are they saying?’ ‘…that you will never be able to live any differently.’ “Oh dear Celestia…please…let this just be a bad dream!” ‘Why is everypony crying?’ ‘But giving up would be a too easy way out for you, right?’ “Buwaaaaah! This can’t be really happening… not to her!” ‘What happened?’ ‘Well, enjoy the days that are yet to come…’ “What am I going to do now? W-What can I possibly do?” ‘…because they won’t last long!’ “Don’t give up.” ‘What?’ --- HOOFINGTON - HOOFINGTON GENERAL HOSPITAL JUNE 17 - 11:31 A.M. *BIP-SNIIIFF-BIP-HUFF-BIP-SNIIIFF-BIP-HUFF-BIP-GAAAAASP* She suddenly woke up and spread her eyes. In front of her everything was blurred, as she could feel that something was covering the upper side of her head, limiting her view and squashing part of her mane. The sheets around her body gave her a feeling of comfort, warmth and quite as she had not felt in years, yet the needles in her foreleg were like a painful chain, binding her to that very same ease. She tried to move herself, but the last few weeks she had spent, staying almost motionless, deprived her of all her energy. She finally tried to speak “Wher-…Where am I?” She managed to say, after a few tries. “Hmm? Nurse! Nurse, she’s awake.” She could hear a familiar voice saying. It was the voice of a mare, but in her dizziness, she couldn’t immediately recognise who that voice belonged to. The sound of hooves hitting a marble surface echoed in the air a few seconds later, and another voice coming not too far away started to speak “Oh, thank Celestia… she finally woke up. We were starting to loose all hopes. Here dear, let me remove this mask from your face.” The nurse said, as she passed by the bed where the owner of the first voice was lying on. “Are you sure that is safe?” “Of course I am. The doctor said her lungs started to work perfectly fine just a couple of days ago. We kept the mask on her just for good measure. Anyway, what about you? How are you feeling today?” “I’m fine, thanks.” Replied the first voice with a reassuring tone “I guess I’m getting used to it.” She felt the weight of the respiratory mask lifted from her muzzle and, almost immediately, a strong scent of septic products, mixed with medicines and long gone blood, filled her nostrils. “Well, if you need anything else, just give me a call.” Bid the nurse, as she heard a bell sounding from another patient’s room and walked outside. “Thanks. So, how are you feeling, Trixie?” Asked the mare. “T-Twilight? Is that you?” Asked back Trixie. “You can bet your hat and cloak that’s me!” The lavender unicorn happily replied. Trixie sighed in relief at the news that they were both safe and sound. “What happened?” She asked after a few moments. “You were in a comatose state for almost 2 weeks.” Replied Twilight. “No I mea-…wait, two weeks? Oh no…where is Blacky?” She worriedly said, as she tried to lift herself from the bed. “Don’t move, you still have a drip attached to your hoof.” Twilight stopped her immediately “And don’t worry, I asked my friend Fluttershy to take care of him while you were here. He’s with her in Ponyville and so is your cart.” “Is this friend of yours reliable?” quizzically asked Trixie. Twilight giggle in reply, perceiving how much Trixie cared for her pet “Yes, she’s the kindest and most caring animal-keeper in all of Ponyville… maybe even of all Equestria.” Trixie lightly sighed and lied down on the bed again “That’s a relief. Anyway, I was talking about those pony-nappers. What happened? The last thing I can remember was that creepy unicorn sta-….stabb-…” Trixie couldn’t continue, as the memory of what happened to her started to resurface in her mind. She instantly brought her free hoof towards her chest while violently shaking. “Are you alright? “ Asked Twilight at once. “Yes, yes I am.” Replied Trixie, who started to calm herself down “As I was saying, didn’t he….stabbed me… to death?” “Oh that? Oh no, not to death, really…Even though he went really close.” Firmly replied Twilight. “What happened then? How can we both be here, still alive?” She then asked, with great curiosity and concern in her tone. Twilight seemed reluctant to answer that question “I…I don’t know if it’s the case to tell you.” “Twilight?” Trixie called the unicorn, but it seemed she wasn’t listening to her, as she kept saying “I mean, you have just awakened after a long period of rest.” “Twilight!” Trixie called her a little louder, but Twilight was still going “Besides, I don’t think reviving what happened to you now would be very-“ “TWILIGHT!” she finally shouted, and this time Twilight seemed to snap out of her talking. “Uhm, yes Trixie?” “Tell me what happened.” She begged her “Please.” A hoofful of seconds passed, where the only sounds heard were the other patients, nurses and doctors talking in the nearby rooms. Twilight finally sighed in defeat “Alright…. I’ll tell you what happened.” And so, she spent the following half hour telling Trixie about the events of that night that occurred after the show-mare passed out. About how desperate she was when she saw her lying on the ground motionless, believing she was dead. Of how Uma tried to kill her too, only to be stopped by some sort of spurt of magic that erupted inside her body. About how her body seemed to move by itself while she was fighting Uma, as her brain couldn’t even elaborate what was going on. Finally, she told her how she managed to strike the final blow and defeat the assassin. --- OUTSIDE HOOFINGTON - WAREHOUSE THE NIGHT OF THE PONYNAPPING - JUNE 04 - 4:14 A.M. ‘I’m a dead pony! I’m dead dead dead dead DEAD!’ Storm was nervously trotting back and forth outside the warehouse, thinking back at how rash his order to kill the two mares was. Sure, one of them was reluctant to collaborate till the end, while the other tried to kill him twice, but he also had his own orders to follow, and killing the show-mare before she could tell them where she hid the insurance money was not part of them. This task was supposed to be his last chance to redeem himself too. Too many jobs had failed just because of his short temper, and the boss had been clear with him “If you manage to buck this up, consider yourself dead meat!” ‘That damn purple unicorn! She ruined everything!’ He knew that it was just a matter of minutes before Uma would be back, reporting that the mares were cannon fodder, but that didn’t cheered him up at all. As soon as they would have returned to Canterlot, his boss would have ordered somepony of his faithful to bring him to a trip to the glue factory. ‘Buck! There’s no way out, I’m a dead pony!’ He was resigning, both hoofs on his head ruffling his mane, trying to find a way out of his certain sentence. ‘Unless…’ He stopped his hooves to better define the plan that was forming in his head ‘Unless I blame Uma! Yes! That’s it! I can say he overdid it again and killed her during the interrogation!’ ‘Yes, that’s going to work!’ He continued brainstorming, while he resumed to trot in front of the warehouse ‘I mean, they’ll surely buy that for good! That’s not the first time that psycho killed a hostage while torturing him, and even the boss is just too scared to punish him.’ ‘As soon as we go back, I must have a chat with the boss face to fac-‘ His thought were suddenly interrupted by a noise of rustling coming from the surrounding forest. “Who’s dhere?” he angrily asked, his broken nose still distorting his words. After a couple of seconds, Uma came out from the brush, but it seemed as if he barely managed to escape from a blaze. He was standing on his hind legs, leaning with his left shoulder against a trunk, heavily panting. The left side of his face showed deep second-degree burns, spreading from his eye to his neck and the muzzle too, while his left foreleg was completely burned-down, and in more points emerged the half-carbonized bones beneath the flesh. “Holy shood! Whad de buck habbened do you?” Asked an horrified Storm. “T-That unicorn…” He started to say with great difficulty “That… lavender unicorn…” “WHAD? SHE DEFEADED YOU AGAIN?” Storm madly shouted, as he started to approach the unicorn. “You…don’t…understand!” Uma tried to justify himself “That mare….she…had a monstrous…burst of mag-…ugh... -ical energy… She caught me….off guard!” “I DON’D BUCKING GARE” Storm angrily replied “YOU WERE SUBBOSED TO GHILL DHEM, AND YOU FAILED! YOU WERE DEFEADED BY A LIDDLE MARE! TWICE!” Uma was starting to loose his temper, but tried to maintain his composure “If I…remember correctly…that ‘little mare’ knocked…you out pretty easily too….Twice!” he said, pointing his sane hoof towards his associate, as he managed to drift away from his support and kept balance on his hind legs. “WHAD? WELL, DADH WOULD HAVE NEVER HABBENED IF YOU HAD DONE YOUR JOB WELL DE FIRSD TIME!” Storm continued to complain, as he got closer to him. “Shut….up.” Uma replied, half in shame, half in anger. “BUD NOW WE’RE DEAD! BODH OF US!” He kept yelling, while putting his face just a phew inches from Uma’s nose. “Shut up!” Uma repeated with a more decisive tone. “DHEY ARE GOING TO GHILL US! AND JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE DOO WEAK DO DEFEAD A SDUBID, LIDDLE-“ “SHUT UP!” *SWING* “Gaaaah….Graaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Driven by the anger, Uma had performed another psionic blade on his sane hoof and swung it towards Storm, causing a deep cut at the height of his throat. Storm was now on his knees, holding his throat with both his forelegs, while blood was spurting from it. Panic and pain flew through his body, as he tried, with his residual energies, to reach Uma with his left foreleg. He dropped on the ground, dead before he could even hit it with his face, while his blood was watering the grass below his hooves. Uma was heavily panting, but a little smile started to form on his face. He then burst out laughing, as he realized that he finally did it. He finally got rid of that arrogant annoying stallion, that had made his assignments of the last 4 years a living hell. However, it was a short pleasure, as the ache from his wounds brought him back to his critical conditions. He started once more to concentrate his magic on them, reducing the pain while, at the same time, increasing his adrenaline levels to avoid to pass out before he could reach an outpatients’ clinic. “Twilight…Sparkle!” He began to curse that name “Even if it will… take me years….I’ll have my revenge!” He then started to stagger across the forest, trying to reach the nearest village to Hoofington. --- HOOFINGTON GENERAL HOSPITAL - TWILIGHT AND TRIXIE’S ROOM PRESENT DAY - 12:03 P.M. “…and then, I immediately came closer to you. I found out you where still breathing, so, since I could still feel some sparks of magical energy left, I casted some healing spells on you and managed to stop the hemorrhage.” Twilight stopped, while Trixie, for all the time of the speech, had not uttered word. “But how did you managed to bring me back to Hoofington?” She finally asked her “You were already at your limit when we escaped the warehouse.” “Well, luckily, it seemed some acquaintances of mine from Ponyville just happened to attend the Carnival in town as well that morning, and passed by the surroundings.” Twilight continued “I guess my battle with that assassin just drew their attention. They helped me carrying you here to the hospital. And we were just in time, as you went through a cardiac arrest just as we arrived.” “I see.” She softly replied. “Well, actually I don’t.” She then started to complain “Why in the name of Celestia is my view dimmed?” She annoyingly asked, while pointing the right hoof to her face. “Oh, the doctor needed to bandage your head due to that stallion’s hit. He suggested to avoid any direct light exposure.” “Can you please remove it?” Trixie asked her “I can’t really stand one more minute of being blind.” “Ehr…Sure, let me…just ask the nurse first.” Twilight replied, and called the nurse by pressing a button near the bed of the room where she was still sitting on. After a couple of minutes, the nurse entered the room and was informed about Trixie’s request. “I suppose we can remove the bends.” The nurse replied ”But she has spent the last two weeks sleeping. I think we should lower the lights in this room a little more first.” She headed towards the windows and closed the curtains almost completely, before starting to loosen the bandages over Trixie’s head. “Now dear, your face has undergone a rather significant damage, so don’t -” the nurse started to say, but that didn’t seem to be the right choice of words that she should have used. “Why? What? What happened to Trixie’s face?” Trixie started to shout in panic “Twilight, give Trixie a mirror, quick!” She then said, one hoof touching her face, as she tried to fell the damages she had reported, the other stretched towards the direction Twilight’s voice was coming. It was immediately clear to Twiligh that Trixie was in a real panic, as she regained to refer to herself with the third person. “Oh, don’t worry, dear.” The nurse said, referring to Twilight “I’ll take it for her.” After the bandages had been totally removed, the nurse landed Trixie a small oval mirror and, in the reflection, Trixie could clearly see why the nurse tried to tell her not to panic, and that was not only because of the mess her mane had become in those two weeks. Although it appeared that all the wounds caused by Uma’s interrogation were completely healed, including the two big holes the stallion had pierced through her ears, a big, jagged scar was running towards her face at the height of her eyes, from one side to another. Strangely enough, it seemed that her eyesight was still normal. Checking the rest of her body, she also noticed there was another scar, a few inches to the right from the center of her chest, where Uma stabbed her with his first strike. This scar, though, seemed abruptly familiar to her. There was a bigger and darker scar that looked like a six-pointed star, with another lighter six-pointed star beyond the first one, which points erupted from the conjunction lines of the first one. Moreover, other five six-pointed stars-like scars were spread around the first two. “Twilight?” Trixie started to ask with an afraid tone “Why does the scars on my chest looks like your cutie mark?” “Really? They do?” Replied a surprised Twilight. “Let me just se-“ she started to add, jumping out of the bed to approach Trixie, but she just dashed herself through the curtain that separated the two beds and crushed on the ground. “Oh dear, are you alright?” Asked the nurse with great concern, rushing towards the lavender unicorn and helping her lifting up. “Watch out were you walk, Twilight. What are you? Bli-” Trixie started to complain, but as Twilight’s head became clear above her bed, and without the bandages that blocked her visual, the words stuck in her mouth. “For the love of Celestia, Twilight! What happened to you?” Trixie worriedly asked. She could now clearly understand why Twilight had not been able to avoid that curtain, why the nurse proposed herself to give her the mirror and what were the meaning of those speeches they were exchanging during the first visit of the nurse in their room. The bright purple irises of the unicorn had turned into a light, pale grey and her horn was lined by a wide, deep crack, which run it in all its length. “Well…” Twilight replied with a sad smile on her face “It seems that I’m blind… and that I’ve lost 95% of my magical power.” TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 7