A Bad Day to Fish

by FlashKenshin77

7 - Can't Get Any Worse...

He ran straight to the house and kicked the door as hard as he could, causing it to bash into the wall. He laid her on the living room couch. He was panting heavily as he watched her, she didn’t move and her face was bright red. He put his hand on her forehead. "Dear lord… you're burning up."
Applebloom walked down the stairs, yawning. "What in the world is goin' on-" She saw AJ. "What's wrong with mah sister?" She galloped down the final steps and hopped on the couch. Big Mac soon appeared.
Martin looked at Big Mac. "Do you have a first aid kit or something like that?"
"Eeyup." He said, going back up stairs.
"What's wrong wit' her?" Applebloom didn’t seem to notice that Martin wasn’t a pony; she was too worried about AJ.
He was still exhausted. "We found her outside in the cold… tumbling around…"
"How much did she drink?" Big Mac asked, a first aid in his mouth.
"I don’t know… she said she lost count." He said as he started to panic. He grabbed the first aid kit and rummaged around until he found a small syringe titled 'Adrenaline'. "This'll do the job…" he muttered, pulling the safety cap off. "It won't make her feel better but she'll wake up again and hopefully we can get some answers." He gripped the syringe tightly in his hand as he searched for a vein. He found an elusive vein and hesitated before he poked the needle through the skin and gave her a small dose of adrenaline.
There was silence as Big Mac and Applebloom stared intently at their sister, waiting for her to wake up. A few seconds later, AJ started to stir, her back legs kicking feebly till she opened an eye. Applebloom dove on her big sister and gave her a hug as Big Mack disappeared into the kitchen, returning a moment later with a glass of water. AJ feebly patted her sister on the back as Big Mac hooved the glass to her and she held it to her lips with shaky hooves.
Martin sighed in relief and kneeled down." AJ… what were you thinking? If Michael and I wouldn’t have found you, you could've died…"
She looked away and stared into the glass. "Maybe that’s what Ah wanted…"
Applebloom gasped, crying even more; even Big Mac looked surprised, his ears flat against his head.
"Why would you want that… what makes you think it ain't worth living?" Martin's face went blank.
"Ya wouldn’t understand…" She muttered, staring into her cup.
"If I don’t understand, it wouldn’t matter if you told me."
"Strong Gears?" Big Mac said, looking at his sister.
Her eyes watered and her face went red as she nodded. "Eeyup."
Martin turned to look at Big Mac. "Who's that?"
"AJ's colt-"
"Ex-coltfriend… he dumped me this mornin' while Ah was sellin' apples…"
Martin closed his eyes for a moment, pondering her words. "Is he the cause of all this?" He asked, irritation heard in his voice.
"Maybe he is, so what?"
"Did he name his reason on why he left you?"
"Said it wasn't workin' and it wasn't worth savin'."
Martin stood up and looked down on AJ. "What do you want to happen now?"
"What do ya mean now? Ah just want it ta stop hurtin'… or at least this headache ta go away…" She mumbled, holding her head.
He nodded. "Good and it will heal; we'll help you and don’t worry, your headache will go away by tomorrow afternoon but only if ya don’t drink any more alcohol… I'll take ya to the hospital tomorrow to get you checked."
She sighed but didn’t say anything.
Mike finally caught up, out of breath and covered in snow. "A little late." Martin said, looking at his friend.
He leaned against the door frame, gasping for air. "You know me… gotta make a dramatic entrance."
Martin walked towards him. "We should head back to the library… Twilight is going to kill us anyway…"
"Yeah…" Mike leaned close to Martin. "Everything ok?" He whispered.
Martin nodded. "Don’t worry mate." He looked at AJ. "I don’t want to see you like this again… that won't help anyone ya hear me?"
AJ rolled her eyes. "Ah hear ya, doesn’t mean Ah'll listen."
Martin grabbed his knife out of his pocket and flicked it open. "If ya wanna kill yourself let me save you the trouble." He slammed it into the coffee table at an angle, the hilt dangling on either side. "Don’t make us all suffer more than yourself." He said, anger dripping in his voice as he turned around and stormed out into the snow.
They all stared at his retreating form before looking at the knife in the table. "No one understands how it feels to have heartbreak, it's different for everyone. For me, everything lost its color and I began questioning if live was worth living." Mike paused, staring into AJ's eyes. "But always remember that having these feelings means you're alive… everypony goes through them one way or another; it helps show you who you are in your heart of hearts so to speak. Some say it's worth the pain to truly see yourself in the mirror, no expectations." He smiled at her. "I wish you luck AJ, and remember, you're not alone… your family, your friends, and us humans are to make sure you take it one hoof at a time." He said before pulling her hat from behind his back and sat it gently on the table before leaving, shutting the door behind him.

=

Martin walked quickly through the snow, almost running. He wanted to get as far away as he could from her… thinking about AJ's behavior, why she did it; he wasn’t sure what he should think. Drinking away her sorrow and almost killing herself, I've always hated people that make others suffer more than themselves only because of their own problems. He headed for the library, the snow picking up for round three of the blizzard. The sparse street lamps were the only source of light as the two humans walked in silence, Mike having caught up with him as he held his side.
They entered the library and hung up their coats. Martin didn’t greet Twilight, who had come running up to them with a relieved look on her face; he walked right past her and up the stairs to the guest room, closing the door behind him. She stared at the closed door as Mike closed the front door, snow starting to billow in.
"Michael, what's wrong with Martin? And where have you been all day; I've been worried sick about you!" She yelled, angrier than he had ever seen her. "I thought we were supposed to meet at the library when it got dark..." She pouted, waiting for him to respond.
Mike summarized how they found AJ, the heavy drinking, and Martin's little outburst. "I'm sorry but I didn’t have time to do anything." He took a deep breath and groaned in pain. "I barely caught up with him. This thing keeps slowing me down."
She looked at him worriedly. "We'll have Nurse Redheart recheck that rib tomorrow, make sure it didn’t damage anything." She sighed. "About Martin… I don’t know…" She frowned, confused.
He looked at the shut door. "Neither do I… he's never acted like this before." He sighed and sat down on the couch, cleaning his glasses. "I don’t know what to do Twilight."
"I'm not sure we can do anything… ma-maybe we should just let him think for a while."
"I think that's for the best." He gave her a small smile. "So I never did ask you how your day was, well besides this…"
A small smile appeared on her face. "A bit hectic, I barely had a chance to study…" She looked at him. "So how was Fluttershys'?"
Mike's face instantly turned red. "Besides the whole thing with AJ, not too bad… we mostly cleaned and chatted a bit."
She smiled at him again. "That's nice; she usually does it all by herself. It's interesting that she even accepted your help, normally she'd blush and hide somewhere… but she made an exception for you…"
"Oh… um… some would say that I have a very peaceful personality… and I'm easy to talk too…" His voice squeaked near the end, causing him to blush even harder.
"I think she likes you." She said, staring into his eyes, looking for any sort of response.
Mike put on a poker face. "I'm not sure… we just met a few days ago… and I really don’t believe in the 'love at first sight' hullabaloo…"
She narrowed her eyes briefly but nodded suspiciously. "It's getting late… maybe we should go to bed."
He sighed. "You go on, I'm gonna stay up a little longer."
She yawned and gave him a tired smile. "Sleep tight Michael." She headed upstairs.
"Goodnight Twilight…" He trailed off, staring out the window. What a day… He yawned, gasping in pain as his fingers started to twitch. His body started to convulse and he fell to the floor. Something seemed to foam out of his mouth but he couldn’t make heads or tails of it. He laid on the ground and convulsed horribly, smacking into the coffee table.

=

Martin sat on his sleeping bag, staring out the window, thinking about what had happened when a loud thud interrupted his thoughts. He got up and slowly made his way to the door and opened it. He saw Mike lying on the floor, for a moment he thought Mike was asleep but saw him twitch. He hopped down the stairs and kneeled next to him. "Michael? Michael, can you hear me?!" He yelled, to no response. "Of course…" He muttered as he looked at his injured arm. "There ain't no resting now." He used all the strength he could muster to lift Mike on his shoulder, using an old army tactic that he learned. "Ugh…" He grunted in pain, his arm screaming. He breathed heavily for a moment before making his way to the front door, kicking it open and he began to stagger his way to the hospital. He was exhausted after the first few steps but grunted against the pain and continued on.

=

Cold was all he felt, small ice cubes land on his back and arms as he continued to twitch, not at all in control of his body. He watched colors fly by, mostly small white flakes. He could tell he was being carried and moved; his body seemed to be floating. He couldn’t tell who or what was carrying him however. Pain flared again through his nerves as he convulsed badly, the thing that held him dropped him. Before he passed out, he could have sworn he saw a brief hint of yellow before the blackness swallowed him.

=

Mike's sudden twitch caused Martin to stumble and he lost his grip, Mike fell to the ground like a rock. Martin yelled in pain as his right arm fell with Mike. Agony and pain rippled through his arm as he felt the stitches holding the wound closed rip open and blood began to run down his sleeve. The pain overwhelmed him for a moment, his vision going blurry. Like hell I'm letting you die. He grunted in pain, grabbing Mike underneath his armpits and forced himself to start dragging him, Mike's legs slithering along the snow.
He could see lights not that far away but his body gave out, reaching its' limit. He lied there in the snow, the pain in his arm too much. He closed his eyes and grimaced; his only true friend was slowly dying and there wasn't anything he could do stop it. There was a flash of light and he opened an eye to see Discord floating nearby.
"Oh my…" He chuckled. "It seems as if you got yourself in quite the pickle. Rescue is so close, but yet so far. Maybe you could use this to get their attention." Martin's vision blurred as Discord dropped Martin's jacket on the snow before disappearing.
Martin crawled to the jacket and rummaged through it, pulling out the flare gun. He looked at it before looking at Mike on the ground, covered in snow and looking paler than before. He sighed. "I hope she forgives me…" He pulled the trigger and quiet 'pouf' was heard as the flare was sent high in the sky, leaving behind a red smoke trail. It exploded in a loud, bright red ball, sounding like a firecracker and it lit up the entire town in an eerie red glow. "…Please… please help US!" He yelled.
The town suddenly came to life as lights flickered on and ponies peeked their heads out of the doors. Most gasped and stared at the light in the sky but several saw the humans and rushed over, before realizing it was us and paused. A gray pegasus with a blonde mane continued to walk forward, staring at his bleeding arm. Suddenly there was a blue blur and Dash was right next to him. "What the hay is going on?" She asked as she motioned to his arm and saw Mike writhing in pain. She hopped over to him and tried to pull him, dragging him a few inches.
Martin panted, the world going black. "I-…" Pain shot through his body as he slumped over, passed out as blood flowed freely from his arm.
Dash looked at him and groaned. She quickly flew into the hospital and told them about the two dying humans. They all rushed out of the hospital, bringing gurneys that they strapped the humans too before pushing them back into the hospital, any doctor that wasn't there getting an emergency call. Dash looked torn between going back into the hospital and the tree house. She sighed and rushed off to the tree house, figuring Twilight would know what to do. She knocked rapidly till Twilight opened the door.
"Dash… what's all the fuss about? Did you see the red light?"
"Yeah… its Martin and Mike… they're in the hospital… Martin's arm was bleeding and Mike was convulsing on the ground." She looked at Twilight. "I got Redheart and they rushed them inside."
Twilight stared at her, horrified. "What? What happened?"
Dash stamped her hoof in aggravation. "I don’t know! I saw the bright red light in the sky, followed it to the source and saw them with Derpy."
Twilight looked worried. "Let's go quickly." Her horn glowed and before Dash could say anything, they teleported to the hospital lobby. Dash lowered her head closer to the floor, dizzy as Twilight galloped to Redheart, who stared at the two, surprised. "Where are they?" She demanded.
Redheart sighed and held a hoof to her head. "Twilight… I know you're worried about your friends, but it's almost midnight and you're at a hospital so I have to ask you to keep it down. And they're being operated on as we speak. Martin tore the stitches and he re-fractured the bone and tore a tendon, so we're resetting it and are stitching him up with new stitches that he can't break or rip."
"What about Michael? You didn’t say anything about him?" Dash asked, looking at Redheart.
Redheart sighed. "We… we don’t know what's wrong with him. He won't stop convulsing. All our magic can't kept him still… and he hasn’t woken up yet. We're doing what we can but we don’t know what else to do…" She paused before looking at them. "The odds of him surviving the night are slim… we have him hooked up to an IV… but we're not sure if it's helping or making it worse."
Twilight looked at her in horror, a hoof held over her mouth. "Oh no… I-I better go ask the princess… she might be able to help…"
Dash looked at Twilight. "Should I go get the others or should we wait till morning to tell them?"
Twilight thought fast. "No… we should let them rest while they can. I have to tell the princess right now; Dash, stay here just in case." Dash nodded before Twilight vanished in a bright light. She reappeared in the library; Spike sat on the couch, twiddling his claws.
He jumped up when he saw Twilight. "Twilight… I was getting worried-" She held up a hoof to stop the dragon.
"I'm sorry Spike but there's no time, I need to write a letter to the princess right now."
"Oh… ok…" He said, grabbing a quill and a piece of parchment. "It doesn’t have anything to do with the light in the sky or Martin and Mike right?" He asked, ready to write.
She nodded and summarized the situation, Spike writing everything thing down. "…Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." She finished. Spike looked worried as he re-skimmed the letter, making sure he got everything. "Come on Spike, we can't waste anymore time." She said, rushing the dragon.
He sighed and blew his magical fire on the parchment and it disappeared. "So what do we do now?" He asked, clicking his claws nervously together.
She sighed. "We can only wait…" Barely a minute passed before the dragon belched out the Princess's response.

Dear Twilight,
I understand the urgency of the situation and I will try my hardest to be there as soon as I can. Unfortunately, that won't be till sometime tomorrow morning. In all my years, I've never heard or seen anything like what you're describing that could be afflicting Michael. I may have a way to help him, a small chance but it's still a hope. Don’t give up on him and get the rest of your friends to the hospital and give both of our guests the reassurance they need to survive this ordeal.
Your Mentor,
Princess Celestia.

Spike finished reading the letter and Twilight frowned, flicking her tail in agitation. "I hope Michael will be alright till she arrives…"
"I'm sure he'll be fine or not, I'm not a doctor." Discord said as he appeared in a flash of light. He chuckled. "Life sure has gotten interesting with those humans around; I should've done this ages ago."
Twilight whirled around and stared at the demigod. "Discord! It was you all along!" She said, spreading her footing so she could charge an attack at a moment's notice.
He shook his lion's paw at her. "Really Twilight; with everything I've heard about you, you should've figured that out ages ago. Bring a mythological race to Equestria; do you know how much chaos that causes?" He smiled. "Besides, Celestia knew what it was me from the beginning."
She gritted her teeth. "We'll stop you Discord, just like last time; you hear me."
He raised an eyebrow. "Stop little old me; from doing what? You should be thanking me, giving you an opportunity to study and document a whole new species." He chuckled. "Besides, I haven't done anything 'bad'… yet."
"Ha… yeah sure… it was you who did that to Michael wasn’t it?" She pointed her hoof at him, her voice full of anger.
He shook his head. "I may like to stir up a little chaos every now and again but to inflict mortal harm on anyone? That’s not how I roll." A pair of roller blades appeared on his feet and he rolled around the library.
Twilight looked at him, confused. "But if it wasn’t you… what's wrong with him?"
The spirit shrugged. "Maybe the rib did more damage than anypony thought… or maybe he's prone to seizures, I don’t know." He chuckled. "I wonder what poor old Fluttershy will think when she finds out." He inhaled deeply through his nose. "I can smell the chaos and drama already..." Twilight glared at him as he snapped his fingers and the blades were gone, replaced with a jacket, hat, and suitcase. "Well, I would love to stay and see what happens, but I have other commitments to make, chaos to spread. Tootles." He said, waving goodbye before he vanished.
Twilight gasped. "Oh no… Discord on the loose always means trouble…" She bit her lower lip, trying to think.
"But he said that Princess Celestia knew that he was free… why wouldn’t she tell us or warn us… or anything?" Spike asked.
She frowned. "I don’t know Spike… I'll ask tomorrow when she arrives… "
"It's getting late, we should try and sleep." Spike suggested.
Twilight yawned. "Yeah… it's been a hectic couple of days…" They started walking up the stairs. "I guess we'll deal with it one hoof at a time." Spike nodded his head and sleep came quickly for both of them. Their night was plagued with dreams of what to come.