//------------------------------// // 1 // Story: Folio // by DustyFolio //------------------------------// The chestnut colored earth colt hurried to catch up with the rest of the class. It was their first field trip outside of Manehattan and Dustin Folio, as his parents had named him, was eager to explore everything in the ruins of Coltland. He had almost lost sight of the rest of the class in doing so. Several of his classmates waved their hooves at him to hurry and catch up, and he found himself slightly out of breath as he rejoined his classmates. Apparently halfway through another long winded lecture by their teacher, Miss Quill, waxing on about some chiseled markings on a crumbling wall; this pretty much described Coltland to a T. Crumbling walls, and some broken pottery seemed to be all that remained of the once great pony city. Miss Quill continued in her lazy, rambling manner. “As you can see, the ancient ponies that lived here recorded much of their history and achievements on these walls. This was common in ancient pony times, as they knew that their scrolls would not last forever. Much of their history and knowledge would be lost if they did not find a more permanent means of communication...” Miss Quill's voice droned off to a low murmur as Dusty's attention wavered, and he once again found himself gazing curiously around the ruins that surrounded him. He was just about to shake off his mental haze when a slight shimmering near a completely destroyed section of wall caught his attention. His purple-hued eyes widened slightly as his boundless curiosity seized him. Before he was even aware of the sound of his hoof-falls, he found himself near to where he spied the shimmering. He leaned closer, his purple and green mane falling into his eyes. He tossed his head to move it out of his view. “What in the heck?” he thought to himself as he leaned ever closer. There seemed to be some sort of crack in the ground almost completely covered by rubble. And there was some sort of sparkling light just inside the hole. Dustin leaned closer, his muzzle almost touching the crack when he heard his teacher call his name in a loud and annoyed manner... “Mister Folio, come back here this instant!” Dusty started and jumped, turning around to rejoin the classmates. His rear hoof struck the rubble and there was a thunderous crash as he felt the world fall away into darkness. He panicked as his hoofs flailed frantically for foothold. Then blinding red pain and a sickening, cracking noise filled his mind before it was swallowed by darkness. Dusty groaned, his small body was wracked with pain. His head pounded like a war drum as he slowly came to. He tried to move one leg at a time and found that he could, but only with much effort. He exhaled in ragged pained breaths, followed by sharp intakes whenever he tried to move anything too quickly. One of his eyes opened, the other refused to. He could only see dust and darkness at first, then eventually a dim light off in the distance -- maybe a way out? Dusty could not hear his classmates or his teacher. So after a while, as panic set in, he found himself crawling slowly towards the dim light, his body protesting at every inch. Eventually he found himself at a large stone dais, old and crumbling; covered with various plant growth. He fell upon it, breathing as best he could, completely exhausted from even this short trip. As he lay there he saw that the glowing came from crystals on the ceiling. They were a soft pink and their light was soothing and gentle. It was about the only thing pleasing in his situation. He let their light bathe him and his mind drift, imagining how he was going to get out. Scary thoughts were swimming to the surface: what if he was too hurt? What if he was dying here, alone, in this cave, never having finished school, never even receiving a cutie mark...? He felt tears well up in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. He wanted to go home so badly then. He thought how his parents would be so sad. He closed his working eye, and sobbed painfully on the stone until he lost consciousness once more… At first he thought he had been found. The voices speaking to him were comforting, but strange. He did not understand what they were saying. But when he managed to open his eye again, he was greeted only by the soft light and the damp, cold dais on which he lay. The whispering was still there inside his head and it seemed to be very insistent that he listen. For when he tried to let his mind wander, the voices would grow louder, almost angry, and when he focused on them again, they would take the tone of a chiding parent, before returning to a soothing cadence once more. What did the voices want? Once comforting, now they only served to scare him even more. Was he going crazy, too? He was hurt, scared, alone, and now crazy? He felt the hot tears splash onto his cheeks again. The words were starting to hurt his head, like somepony was inside his head and pushing on all sides to escape. Eventually, beneath the voices, he began to hear the most gut wrenching screams. It was a while after that he realized he was the one screaming, and the world went black… It was too bright, Dusty thought to himself. Maybe he was having some strange crazy thoughts as he lay there in the dark. But no, the brightness was not going away. He struggled for a moment, slowly opening one eye. Feeling instantly blinded, he uttered a pained groan and closed his eye again. He heard voices again, but these he could understand; the soft voice of a mare. “I think he is coming to. Close the blinds, please, nurse.” Dusty felt the painful light fade and struggled to open an eye again. This time colors swam in his vision. He thought he could make out other ponies, but nothing was clear. “Shh. Relax there my little pony. You are safe now.” Said the soothing mare's voice, and he felt a gentle hoof brush his mane. Everything hurt, but he felt warm. He realized he was lying in a bed. He tried to move, but the pain was too intense. He heard himself cry out in pain as the gentle mare's hoof caressed his mane. “Don't try to move little colt. You’re not better yet. You just rest. Nurse Calamine will get you some nice daffodil broth in a little while. You should try to eat.” Dusty groaned softly, but tried to relax as best he could. Eventually sleep found him. Dusty was not sure how many days he spent lying in that bed before he fully awoke. He remembered struggling to drink the broth and occasionally hearing the soothing words of the mare calming him when the nightmares came. He overheard the nurses saying more than once that they had never heard a colt scream like that before. Only a few nurses could bring themselves to stay and tend to him when the screaming started. He only remembered flickering terrors and waking with a sore throat. He still could not talk. He was not sure why, but when he tried, nothing would come out. A nurse noticed the panic in his eye and told him it was okay. She assured him it would heal. That was several days ago, as far as he could remember. Now he found himself able to lift his head and actually look around. Everything still hurt, but it was a dull ache instead of a sharp, agonizing pain. He could tolerate it, even if his head did still swim a little bit when he moved it too fast. He was in a hospital room, this much he knew. The curtains were drawn and the room was rather dim. It was small, and warm. He seemed to be alone at the moment, lying on a large and soft bed, his body covered in bandages. He felt a pang of fear run through his body; how badly was he hurt? How did they find him? What happened? Everything hit him all at once, and he felt tears well up again, he was sliding the sheet off of himself, and had nearly reached his flank when the door suddenly opened, and he felt himself gasp in astonishment. A rainbow-maned alicorn entered the room. He knew who she was, but only by pictures and he was completely baffled. Of all the mares, Princess Celestia was in his room! She smiled softly at him and when she spoke he immediately recognized her voice as the comforting mare who was there when he first woke. “My special little pony,” she said her voice both kind and sad. “I am so glad to see that you are feeling better, the nurses did a very good job taking care of you, and you were very brave and strong to hold on like you did.” Dusty could see something troubled her greatly, though she did her best to hide it. “There are things you should know,” she continued. “Although I am not sure how best to tell you or even whether it would do anything more than hurt...” The princess trailed off, her sad eyes lost in thought, darting back and forth as she tried to put words to her thoughts. “There were many nights where I was sure we had lost you, or that your mind was gone and we were only healing an empty husk of a pony...” Dusty looked at her confused, he did not really understand what she was talking about. She seemed to speak more to the room than to him directly, as though facing him would be too painful and she could not say what needed to be said. “But you were so strong, and you held on, no matter what. I...” Celestia stopped as her voice became choked with emotion. “I...am not sure if nursing you back to health was the right decision...” She gazed at Dusty, and when their eyes met, she broke into sobs. “I cannot believe I could even think that...” Dusty just blinked in confusion, tears welling up again as he watched the princess cry. Eventually she regained her composure and began speaking again. “You have a cutie mark...” she said wryly. Dusty blinked, carefully pushing the covers from his flank. He gasped in shock at the image on his flank. It was the image of a strange and old book, bound in chains. Celestia grimaced at seeing the image, and shook her head, her mane flowing through the air like gossamer. “That is what troubles me. I thought it was impossible, but here it is, on your flank...in your mind...I cannot let you leave here Dustin.” Dusty's head shot up in panic and shock. He almost vomited as his vision swam, reminding him of his injuries. Celestia gazed at him sadly, “I am so sorry, but not even your family can see you, you are a danger to ponykind.” Tears welled up in her eyes once more as she gazed at him with pity and sorrow. “I,” she continued, “I - I will do my best to make your life here in Canterlot as wonderful and comfortable as I can, I promise. But in this room you must remain. I do not know for how long, or if you will ever leave. If you knew what was inside your mind, I...I think you would agree with me...and maybe...when you grow up, you will understand.” Dusty stared at her in absolute shock. Incomprehensible were her words to him. His mind tried desperately to puzzle together what she meant; was he a prisoner? What had he done? The hot tears flowed freely down his cheeks as he stared at the princess, his eyes wide. She only looked back at him with that same sadness, mixed with a hard resolve. They sat there for what seemed like an eternity before she spoke again, “I am also preventing you from speaking. I am sorry, but it is just too dangerous, you see...” her words were interrupted by a thunderous boom that shook the palace walls. With her horn glowing softly, she pulled a curtain aside. As the light filled the room, Dusty beheld the splendor that was Canterlot, the city of the unicorns. Awash in was seemed to be an explosion of rainbows, he watched this beautiful sight, for a moment forgetting the sorrow of Celestia’s words. He spied, as did the princess, a powerful magical glow in a nearby building. Celestia stood quickly and turned to Dustin. “I must go. I...I am so sorry...I will be back.” She left in a hurry, allowing the room to fall back to its lonely, gloomy darkness. And its lone occupant returned to his own scattered thoughts.