Comatose

by Vennyr Pony

Prelude: Divulgence of an Undead Tale / Chapter 1: Tragedy of the Musician

 
 
“Taking life for granted is a very easy thing to do when you’ve had nothing but good times. However... once those good times disappear, you may find yourself wondering; what went wrong, what you had to do with it, or how you ended up here in the first place.

“The tale that I am about to divulge tells of a tragic loss of those happy times...”

 
Tick, tick, tick. With every waking moment and movement of the clock’s second hand, the turquoise unicorn sitting awkwardly in her desk grew more and more anxious for the day to end. An elder pony at the front of the room was droning on and on about notes and sheet music. This caused the unicorn to grow ever more anxious, for she had been repetitively re-learning the same material at the fault of the mare dictating the lesson itself. ‘Uhhhg...she’s been teaching the same thing for the past few lessons,’ she thought rolling her eyes and holding her chin in her hooves.

Taking notice of this, the mare at the front looked directly at the unicorn. “Is something the matter, Ms. Heartstrings?” The mare asked as she glared daggers across the room; catching the younger unicorn mare’s gaze.

                Squeaking at the sudden confrontation, Lyra Heartstrings opened her mouth in reply only to be cut off by the bell signaling the end of class sounding. “Whew...” she sighed in relief as she gathered her things, and took her leave, before being confronted by her instructor again.
 
Once outside she breathed in deeply; the air was fresh today, smelling of spring flowers and rain. As she started off towards home, her classmate Octavia caught up with her.
 
“I wonder why she’s been teaching the same thing the past week, I mean it was a requirement to know this material to get into the class.” The grey earth pony said walking up alongside Lyra.

“I wouldn’t know.” Lyra replied slowing down but continuing to walk. Octavia wasn’t the worst pony that she knew, however the two’s relationship was tense and competitive. Today however, they were on common ground. “I just know that I have no problems with it. Just gives me time to mess around.”
 
“I’ve noticed, well this is my turn…See you next week Lyra” Octavia replied turning off in a direction that was perpendicular to the path that Lyra was on, then starting off in a different direction.
 
Now that the distraction of class was out of the way, Lyra took in her surroundings. The day was bright and warm, not a cloud in the sky. It was a nice change from the rainy weather that has been going non-stop for the past week. ‘Today’s going to be a good day…’ she thought and smiled to herself before galloping off homeward bound.
 

 
Less than five minutes past before she finally made it home. Opening the door she heard her mother call out to her from the kitchen. “Is that you, Lyra dear?”

                “Yeah, It’s me, mom!” Lyra called back. Setting her saddlebags to the side she trotted into the kitchen to see her mother who was busy making dinner. “What are you making?” she asked curiously, while sniffing at the air.
 
“It’s celery stew.” Her mother replied in a content manner. A cloud of magic floating just above Lyra’s mother’s head contained many of the ingredients for the stew, as well as several utensils such as knifes, spoons, etc. “Will you please take out the garbage?” She asked her daughter in the same content way.

Nodding her head, Lyra turned to the trash can. Her horn glowing she lifted the full trash bag from its bin and carried it outside to a larger trash bin. Stepping back into the kitchen mere moments later, she opened a drawer underneath the counter and retrieved a new liner for the trash bin. The liner floated in the air enveloped in her magic; she carefully placed it into the garbage can.
 
“Do you have any homework?” Her mother asked as soon as her daughter had finished with the garbage detail.

“Nope, we weren’t assigned any today, thank Celestia...” Lyra sighed in relieved honesty as she turned to leave and head up to her room.

“Before you leave; could you tell your father that dinner is almost ready?” Her mother asked right before she left the room. Lyra turned her head and nodded in reply, then hastily galloped out of the kitchen. “He’s in his office, in the basement!” Lyra’s mother called after her, just as she disappeared from sight.
 

 
 Lyra stepped down from the staircase, onto the cold tiles that paved their basement’s floor. She started off to the only other room within the basement. It was soundproof, unless one was to page the inside of the room with the microphone and button off to the side of the door, or knock on the door itself.
 
“Who is it?” A voice called from a small speaker shortly after she had knocked.

“It’s me, Dad. Mom says that dinner is almost ready.” Lyra replied as she peeked her head through the doorway. Her father stood at a desk in the middle of the room levitating his quill just above a piece of paper. He nodded at her before setting his quill down and following her out the door and up-stairs.
 

About ten minutes later, the meal had started. The family quietly sat at their seats at first. However, soon after everypony was seated conversation became abundant.
 
“How was your class today, Lyra?” Lyra’s mother asked as she began to serve everypony their bowls of stew.
 
“Boring… We’ve been learning the same thing forever now.” Lyra replied, levitating a spoonful of celery stew to her muzzle.

“What is it?” This time her father was the one to ask the question.
 
“Notes and sheet music… it’s redundant to teach us this now, especially since it was a requirement to take the class.” Lyra replied, taking another spoonful of stew. “But on the bright side, it provides me with the time to mess around.”
 
“Hmm…” was all the reply that came from her father. “So how was work today, Cerulean?” He asked, changing the subject and turning to his wife.
 
“The hospital wasn’t as busy as it usually is…” Lyra’s mother, Cerulean-cure, replied to the question. “How about for you, Sire?” she asked looking over at her husband contently.
 
“The same as usual.” Model-sire, Lyra’s father, replied in a casual way as he levitated a spoon to his muzzle.
 
Lyra’s parents worked the majority of the day; up until she would get out of class. Her classes normally went from mid-day to late evening taking up the majority of her free-time during the course of the day. Her father worked as an architect, designing new buildings to be built throughout all of Equestria (save for structures made of clouds). Her mother worked as a nurse in the Canterlot General Hospital, tending mainly to those who had recently undergone surgery.

                “I’m going to head up to my room.” Lyra declared while she carefully levitated a small stack of bowls into the sink.
 
“Okay dear. Don’t forget to practice.” Her father said as he proceeded to wash the dishes with a magic encased dish-rag.

Hastily, Lyra galloped up the stairs and into her room. Shutting the door behind her, she trotted over to the window above her bedside and opened it before sitting in an abnormal fashion with her back against the wall. She levitated her Lyre off of the shelf where she had left it the previous night. The familiar scent and feel of the instrument filled her with joy as she took it in her hooves and began plucking the strings with her magic. A beautiful melody began to fill the silent space inside her bedroom, and then gently flow out her window into the evening air.
 

 
As the evening went on, and the sun dropped below the horizon, several more melodies flooded the air outside Lyra’s home. She played for hours before finally resting the instrument, lightly placing it back onto the shelf of which it made its home. She quietly slipped out of her room and into the hallway. In a light trot she made her way towards the kitchen. She was mere moments away from opening the refrigerator before she heard a crash from behind her. She turned back to see nothing there.
 
“Is somepony here?” she asked, her eyes still adjusting to the low light levels. When no answer came she used her magic to flip the light switch from across the room. After a few moments of scanning her surroundings, she turned back to the task before her and headed towards the refrigerator.
 
Once open, Lyra scanned the inside of the refrigerator. After several moments of surveying the inside of the refrigerator, she finally settled on leftovers from dinner. She poured herself a bowl of stew from what was left in the pot and headed up to her room after magically heating it.
 
By the time she was about halfway up the stairs the sound of hoof steps following her up the staircase. She turned to look back, yet saw no-pony behind her. ‘It must be my mind playing tricks on me…’ She thought as she turned back and finished her ascent and walked into her room. She returned to her awkward position on her bed and ate her stew.
 
A little over two minutes later the bowl lay empty next to a once again, practicing Lyra. Abruptly her melody ended. She stared wide eyed at the silhouette of a pony standing in her open doorway. Suddenly a sharp pain struck her in the side of the head, and then everything went black.
 

 
I awoke to strange voices. My head hurt. My ears were ringing, but I could still pick up the disjointed ramblings of two voices. I tried to open my eyes but whenever I did, my eyes were met with a blurry vision of two ponies standing over me. They were arguing about something, but the ringing in my ears caused their words to be incoherent.
                
“wha-“ I sounded but wishing I hadn’t because now my assailants turned towards me, the blur in my eyes had subsided enough for me to make out that they were glaring at me. One of them said something, but my hearing didn’t register, the one who had spoken gave me an expecting glare (as far as I could tell), as if I were supposed to reply. A soft cry was to be the only thing that escaped me before everything went black once again.
 

 
The next time I awoke, I would have been better off not waking up at all. The ringing in my ears had subsided significantly; I lifted my eyelids slightly to find that the blur in my eyes had disappeared all together. When I had opened them completely I was greeted with a pony that was dressed all in black, a mask obscuring his face, and both his mane and tail dyed an unnatural tar-like black.
 
“Why, hello there. Did you sleep well?” The pony sneered at me. His voice, it must’ve been the ringing in my ears earlier, but now I could recognize the stallion’s voice… but… where? Before I could place my hoof on whom this stallion was; a sharp pain ran across my face. I looked up to see that he had slapped me. He lowered his hoof then a voice behind him spoke.
 
“I’m sorry Lyra, but there’s no other way.” The other voice spoke at me, but not in a sneer like the other, this one seemed more regretful. This voice, though feminine, was equally as recognizable. The Mare that owned it stepped forward, her mane and tail dyed similar to the stallion, yet her mane was a mess that covered her face save for one piercing cyan eye, and instead of black clothing, she had dyed her coat a dark purple. “You see, we all make mistakes. We’re here to fix yours…”
 
“Wh- wha” I tried to let out. But before I could form any words, the mare had picked up a large steel pipe between her teeth and slammed it down hard against my back right leg.
 
The pain was instantaneous as she repetitively brought down the pipe against my body. Not only could I feel my bones breaking, but I could hear them over my screams of agonizing pain. Soon the stallion joined in, sporting an aluminum bat rather than a steel pipe. My horn shattered as he brought the bat down onto it, causing shards of it to impale themselves into my skull.
 
I rolled over screaming in agony as wave upon wave of pain coursed through my body. Surely somepony could hear me… but then why wasn’t any help coming? The mare dropped her pipe, that’s when I got a good look at my surroundings. I was inside my father’s study, no sound had left the room… Suddenly I was turned on my back and the mare brought down her front hooves onto my chest. I felt my ribs crack as a final winded cry escaped my body. The two ponies backed off and watched me as I laid there breathing shallowly, and bleeding profusely. My vision began to blur again from the blood leaking out from where my horn used to be. I could feel warm blood leaking from my fresh wounds as my body grew colder. My pain was dulling, but my consciousness was slipping; before I knew it, I had blacked out. Into a cold, black abyss.