//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Orange Flaming Wings // Story: A Thieve's Redemption // by Gsbrill //------------------------------// I slowly opened my eyes. I could feel something soft beneath my body, so I guessed somepony took me to a bed. I looked up and saw the last sight I wanted to see right after waking up. “What’s with the outfit? And just what happened to me?” Quill was floating in front of me, this time he was a light green pony with a white mane, wearing a white lab coat and with a needle for his cutie mark. He also had a stethoscope around his neck. “For the first question, this is a hospital so of course I would be a doctor. And as for the second one, I have no idea. You just started screaming and fainted back there at the party. And also, I think someone took advantage of you while you slept” “WHAT?!” “I’m saying that I think someone raped you” I tried to get up, but my hooves were strapped to the bed by four leather belts, holding me with my back turned upwards. My current position only helped getting me more desperate. “What makes you think that?” “Because you’re pregnant” My anger was replaced by absolute confusion. “Say what now? I’m a colt how the hay do I get pregnant?” “Then if it’s not a foal you’re having explain me that on your back” Quill pointed towards a window located right in front of me. It was dark enough out there for me to use it as a mirror. I squeezed my eyes and saw two lumps on my back, about as thick as my leg, but half as long, coming from right above my front legs. Each one pointed to one side. “Quill, in the first place, a foal can’t grow on your back, and second, if I were to give birth to something shaped like that, it would be a snake. And why am I tied down anyway?” “Sorry for that, it was for your own safety” A young white coated mare with a red cross cutie mark approached me. “What do you mean?” “When you got here, although you were unconscious, you were having strong convulsions and muscular spasms, so we needed to restrain you so we could give you proper treatment. We haven’t been able to determine what exactly happened, but I’d like to take an X-ray of your back” She walked towards the bed and removed the straps one by one. I didn’t know if she heard my conversation with Quill, but if she did she was doing a great job pretending the contrary. I got up and stretched my limbs. I didn’t feel anything different except for the skin on my back being pulled by the two lumps. A white box with a large colorful card drew my attention. Quill noticed me staring at it. “That’s something your pink friend let you. She was here not long ago, waiting to see if you would wake up” I took the card and opened it. The card read “I’m so sorry you couldn’t enjoy the party with us, so I brought you some cupcakes to cheer you up! The doctor said it wasn’t anything bad, so you’ll be fine in no time. Get well soon!”. Under the “From” section were five signatures of ponies I didn’t know, probably some ones that were in the party. Except for one, written in pink, that I recognized immediately. I opened the box and my mouth watered before the twelve cupcakes, each one of a different color. I took one and prepared to eat it, and then I saw the nurse with a look of curiosity on her face. I looked at the cupcake and then at her. “Want some?” I motioned towards the box. “Thanks” She grabbed one and took a small bite of it. I looked at her as she chewed on it happily. “Oh, is there something in my face?” “No, nothing, sorry” I looked away and began eating. By the time she finished her second, I had already eaten the rest, and was licking the frosting on my hoof. “You know, these are were really good” “You don’t usually buy cupcakes from that bakery?” “No, it’s not that, they tasted better than usual” Before I had time to ask anything related, she got up and motioned for me to follow. “So, shall we get going?” She headed out of the room and I followed. The clinic was very small, as it was to be expected of such a small town. The walls were completely white and the only decoration were eventual flower vases placed along the corridors. Typical dull hospital decoration. We arrived at another white walled room, with a large cubic machine attached to the ceiling by a telescopic support, and from it came a black tube. The wires coming to and from the device gave it a eerie look. “So, how does this X-ray thing work?” “It’s relatively simple, it is like taking a picture of your bone structure so we can see what’s wrong” “I don’t really get it. Is it some kind of magic?” “Not really, more like radioactivity, now stand in front of the machine while I adjust it” She walked towards the tube and began preparing it, the silence in the room giving me time to think. Sharing food with somepony. Why did I do it? It’s not like me; I used to have a hard time just getting something to eat. But then, when was the last time somepony willingly gave me food? What’s with the ponies around here? What’s wrong with me? “It’s all set. Now stand still while I go hide behind that lead wall over there” “Why would you do that?” “To protect myself from the radiation of course” “And where is my protection?” “If you had one the X-ray wouldn’t work” “Let’s get this straight, you have to protect yourself from the thing that makes the machine work so it can affect me? Does it have any side effects?” “It’s really recent technology so we don’t fully understand, but no one had any serious problems aside from some minor…mutations” “Wait what?” “Now just try to stand still for a few seconds please” She just smirked uneasily and walked away, trying to end the topic. I heard the machine rumbling and tried to stay as still as possible. But suddenly the pain on my back came back, this time stronger than before. I could feel something moving and pushing against my skin. I couldn’t do anything; I already had to use all of my strength just to stand up. The nurse was panicking. “ARGH! What did you do to me?” “Nothing! The machine is still off! I’ll go get some help!” “Then go! FAST!” She darted from the room and let me there screaming in agony. I just hoped that whatever she would do she would do it fast. Seconds after she left the room, I felt a sharp pain and a burning sensation at two different spots. If I were at Quill’s point of view, I would have seen the two pillars of flames erupting from the two spots where the lumps were. The entire room was on fire now, and I could hear cracks in the ceiling. My legs were trembling and I felt my consciousness start to fade again. “Ember! Don’t you dare faint right now or you’re going to die! Jump through the window! Quick!” “I… I can’t. It’s closed; I’m too weak to open it” “Crap, I haven’t done this in a while but, I’ll have to try” “Quill, what the hay are you talking about?” My vision was hazy and the smoke made it even worse, but I could see Quill approach the X-ray machine. A strange glow came from his body and he disappeared. The machine ripped itself from the ceiling and crashed into the window. My body was heavy but I couldn’t just lay there and die. I used all of my remaining strength to walk towards the window and drag myself through. A small shard of glass was still stuck in the frame and it craved into my stomach. The pain got some adrenaline in me, and gave me the strength to get all the way through. “C’mon Ember! You can’t stop now, if the fire reaches you you’ll still die!” I only managed to crawl a few meters away from the building before felling my hooves go numb and my legs stop working. I fell to the ground panting heavily. “Is…here…far…enough?” I spoke between my breaths. “Yeah, it’s good. Now rest, we both deserve it” Before I closed my eyes I saw something I had never seen before. I saw Quill with his eyes closed, not floating but lying down on the ground, snoring. Then all turned black. /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ “It’s a shame the party didn’t work out right Pinkie?” I looked to the source of the voice. It was Rarity. Her, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were talking by one of the food tables. They were the only ones left now that the party had to end up early. “Yeah, too bad, I wanted you all to meet him” “Me too, ah’ve been wanting to meet this new fellow since ya have been talking bout him a lot since yesterday.” Had I? I hadn’t even noticed. “Pinkie dear, calm down; you’ve been walking around in circles with that worried look since he left. He’s probably fine, they already took him to a doctor, we can’t do anything else now. Why don’t you sit down and have something to eat? If you frown this much you’re going to get wrinkles” “That’s it!” “What’s what sugarcube?” “He’s probably all alone in that hospital and feeling sad because he couldn’t go to his own party, so we should go visit him and I’ll make some cupcakes for him. I bet he’s going to be super happy!” “I don’t know Pinkie, maybe we should just let him rest for now, we don’t know what happened or even if it’s something contagious maybe it was…” Before I could hear Fluttershy finish, I just darted into the kitchen. Time to bake some cupcakes! Baking always helped take my mind of bad stuff. I finished them in no time, and admired my work. In the kitchen table were about fifty cupcakes, all frosted and ready to eat. The others had been chatting in the kitchen with me and helping if I needed anything. “Now I just have to put them in a box and we can go” “Don’t you think you might be overdoing this a bit? I mean, nopony can eat fifty cupcakes” “I can eat fifty cupcakes!” “Nopony except you Pinkie. Why don’t you just take a single box? It’s a bit more reasonable” Rainbow Dash was probably right, Steve loved cupcakes but fifty might be a bit too much. I got one of the boxes in the kitchen and put twelve of them inside. “You can eat the others if you want since we’re not taking them” While I searched for a piece of paper and some pens, they ate the cupcakes. In just a minute or two, I came back and all the cupcakes were gone. “Wow, you were really hungry!” “Pinkie, what did you put in these cupcakes? All the stuff you do is usually great but these ones were awesome! Are you trying a new recipe or something?” Rainbow Dash asked excitedly. “No, it’s just the usual stuff, but thanks for that anyway” “Ya know Pinkie, if ah didn’t knew ya, ah’d say you have sumthing for that new guy” I smirked uneasily. Why was I blushing? “What makes you think that?” Fluttershy asked, blushing almost as much as I was. “Aw c’mon Fluttershy, you can’t be that slow! She’s been talking about that guy since yesterday, and for the first time I saw Pinkie really worried about something, and guess what it was? Also, making these awesome cupcakes for him without even noticing, I think it’s pretty clear that…” “Alright who wants to sign the card?!” I shouted, trying to change the subject, and passing the colored pens around. I sighed. Rarity was probably right, he’s fine. At least I hope so. /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ “I hope these blackouts of yours don’t become a habit, otherwise you’re going to end up without a kidney in a dark alley” Once again I woke up in a bed without knowing how. At least this time there was nothing restraining my hooves and I could get up. “Where am I?” “Somepony carried you away from the fire after you fainted, and brought you back to the library” “Well, so much for knowing what the hay were those things on my back” “I was going to talk about that but you better go take a look at the mirror” I looked at him puzzled, but didn’t question further and headed to the bathroom. The pulling on my skin was gone, but now I was feeling a strange sensation in my back, like am itch you can’t scratch. I looked at myself in the mirror. “When you woke up you were already like that, don’t ask me how it happened” I wouldn’t ask. My expression was a mix of confusion, fear and worry. What made me freak out wasn’t the dried blood all over my back or the patches of burned skin around it. It were my wings. Or sort of. Where the two patches of skin ripped, came two skeletal appendages, shaped exactly like the bone structure of a pegasus wing, composed of three separate and articulate sections. I opened them then closed them. I moved them from one side to another, and bent them on every way possible, feeling the new part of my body. The lack of feathers, tendons or muscle made me able to move them in angles that weren’t supposed to be possible. Quill stood behind me with a look of curiosity. “Quill, I swear by Celestia’s grave that if this is one of your pranks, I’ll find a way to hurt you. Somehow.” “What do you think I am? I can’t do something like that. They appeared at the clinic, along with those fire pillars that burned down the place. And by the way, you should go check if anypony got hurt because of you” “Why should I care? I’m alive” “Maybe that pink pony will be there looking for you” “Let me go take a bath” The burns in my back ached in contact with the water, but I had to scrub the dried blood or I would scare the crap out of anypony that saw me. As if the wings weren’t doing a good job at that already. Despite the brutal way the bones had gotten out of my back, the only damage were the burns, the flesh around them seemed to have healed itself somehow. I put my cloak back on and walked out of the library looking for the clinic, this time remembering not to put the hood on. It wasn’t really hard to find, since there was a large agglomeration of ponies all around the scorched remains of the place. I could see at least twenty ponies there, each one focused into a different task, some cleaning up the debris, others sawing pieces of wood or helping carry bricks around, all of them helping rebuild the place somehow. “So you’re finally back up.” I looked around and saw a rainbow maned pegasus with a light blue coat approaching me. “Yeah, I’m still a bit weak but at least I can walk. I don’t believe we’ve met?” “I was at the party with the others. The name’s Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer of Equestria and future Wonderbolt” she stroke a pose, spreading her wings as much as possible. “I’m Steve, greatest librarian of Ponyville. Nice to meet you” I extended a hoof and tried to act casually. I didn’t want her to recognize me. She shook my hoof, then stopped and stared at my face. “Say, haven’t we met before? I think I remember you from Cloudsdale” “No, I don’t believe so. I’m from Trottingham you see. The owner of this clinic must be a quite rich person right?” I tried desperately to change the subject. “Why do you say that?” “Being able to hire so many ponies to help with the reconstruction must be quite expensive” “You’re joking right? Why would anypony charge to help a friend in need? If you had seen the state Nurse Redheart was. She was so desperate she could barely stand. We all thought you had died in there. You should go tell her you’re alright. Also, you could help us rebuilding too. Or you could go help prepare the food for the workers if you’re still feeling bad ” “I’m not really good at cooking” “Don’t worry, neither is Applejack, but Pinkie is helping her out there and you could…” “Where is the kitchen?” She backed off slightly at my sudden burst of “enthusiasm” and pointed to a blue improvised tent near the construction site. “Thanks, see you around!” I left before she had time to answer and walked towards the tent. Helping a friend huh? Great, I doubt I will get paid to do this. Working for free sounds kind of pointless. I stopped and looked at the many ponies at the site. Even children were helping, carrying small wooden planks and small amounts of bricks. And I could see that all of them were smiling. Where was the joy in that? One of the smaller foals, a unicorn, was trying to lift a piece of wood almost as big as himself. When he finally managed to lift it above his head, it fell down, hitting him. The other foals around laughed. Kids are always the same, wherever you go. No doubt they would be mocking him at school tomorrow for this. I looked again. He had stopped crying and was now laughing along with the others. Then, two other young unicorns came and helped him up. All of them surrounded the plank in a glowing halo, and together, lifted it away. I shrugged and kept on walking, soon reaching the tent. Inside were Pinkie and another mare with an orange coat and yellow mane, wearing a hat. I supposed that was the Applejack Rainbow Dash referred to. Pinkie was stirring a large cooking pot, as big as her over a bonfire while the other mare had a knife in her mouth and was cutting some vegetables. “See Applejack? It isn’t that hard. Just cut everything up and throw it in the pot” She tried to reply but the knife in her mouth didn’t help much. “Do you need any help?” “Steve! You’re awake! How are you feeling? And by the way, this is Applejack, she works at Sweet Apple Acres, they have the best apples of Equestria” The ponies around here are quite humble huh? I waved a hoof to her and she tipped her hat in response. “Don’t worry, I will. I came here to help with the food, is there something I can do?” “Actually, we’re almost wrapped up here, you can help serve the food after we’re done, I just have to finish cooking the soup, you can wait there” I sat down and looked around the place. It was just an improvised kitchen with a bonfire to cook and a few tables around. Judging by the fact that there were only two ponies making the food I could tell that Pinkie knew her way around the kitchen. Applejack finished cutting the rest of the vegetables and Pinkie let her handle the pot, then walked towards me” “I bet you’re hungry right?” I nodded, remembering I hadn’t eaten anything since my second blackout, which had happened yesterday. “Since you couldn’t get to the party I saved you a piece of cake, here” She produced a small white box out of nowhere and handed it to me. “Where did you… how do you do that?" “Do what?” “If ah were you ah wouldn’t think much about it. That’s just Pinkie being herself” I shrugged and opened the box. Inside was a large piece of chocolate cake covered in white frosting. I licked my lips and took and began to eat, finishing all of it in just a few minutes. “Did you make this?” “Yeah, I always make the food for my parties” “I was thinking it was just the cupcakes but you really know how to cook” She kept on smiling, but lowered her head a bit, and I could see she was hiding a blush. “Hey you got some frosting on your face” She looked at my face. “Where?” “Here” She walked towards me and licked the tip of my nose. It was my turn to blush now and my face was red like a pepper. I could feel something moving on my back. I looked behind and saw my cloak lifted by the wings bellow and for some reason I couldn’t get them down. Quill, who was completely silent until now burst out laughing like mad. “Looks like you’re taking the whole wingboner thing too literally” I stared at him confused. I had no idea what he was talking about. “What’s that on your back?” She asked and I felt that there was no way I could keep on hiding this. I took off my cloak, exposing the skeletal wings, and the other mare almost dropped her spoon in the cooking pot. “What the hay are those things?” Applejack looked frightened. “Wow! That’s so cool! Can you fly?” Pinkie on the other hand, seemed rather excited about that and didn’t even bother asking about how they appeared. “I don’t know, they just appeared there today when I woke up. I haven’t tried yet, but I doubt they’re going to work without any feathers” “You haven’t tried yet right? So how can you know if it works?” She had a point. “Applejack, take care of the soup for me, I’m going to help Steve fly!” She pushed me from the tent, leaving the other pony with a frightened look alone in the tent. We walked towards a large park that had a wide open area. On the way there the ponies that saw me had mixed reactions from fear to curiosity. “Okay, you won’t have to worry about falling on anypony here and there is a nice open area” “What I’m worried about is how am I going to get up from the ground” “Just beat your wings” I tried beating my wings furiously, but I didn’t move an inch. “It’s no use; I just can’t get off the ground” “C’mon, I know you can do it, just try again. If you have wings then they’ve got to work” That gave me a certain level of confidence. I’ve always wanted to be able to fly, but lacking wings that was just a dream. For a moment, I felt like it would actually be possible for me to do it. All the years at flight school came back to me, all those lesson would finally be used for something. I faced the open area and began running to get some momentum. When I was satisfied with my speed, I began to flap my wings frantically. The lack of resistance was noticeable, and so I didn’t leave the ground, but I kept on running. I felt a strange warmth forming in my back, starting from my spine and going all the way to the tip of my wings. I focused on that sensation and kept on running, and stopped flapping my wings. I could feel my wings getting warmer, and if I could see them I would notice that they were becoming red, like hot iron. When the sensation got too strong for me to bear, I flapped both wings with all of my strength. They blazed and propelled me into the sky. I could see the shape of two orange wings formed by the flames, surrounding the red hot bones. I was flying. I felt my eyes tear up. I just wish my parents could see me now, soaring through the skies. I flew circles around the area I took off, just to get used to it. It came naturally to me, and soon I was spinning and playing around, swimming through the air and testing how high I could go. I felt like I could do anything. I saw Pinkie waving at me and saying something I couldn’t quite understand, so I decided to get closer. I dived towards her, positioning my wings in a way that I could control my speed. Suddenly, the flames that formed my wings faltered, and I lost control, making me fall right on top of her. I positioned my hooves so they wouldn’t hit her in the fall, and we ended up on the ground, with me on top of her staring her straight in the eyes. We were both smiling and my eyes were full of tears. “I was flying! After all those years I can finally fly!” “That was really awesome, how did you do that?” “I have absolutely no idea” We just stood there, facing each other and smiling, my tears dropping down on her face. I leaned forward towards her. She closed her eyes and I did the same. “Oh my!” We both jumped up and looked away from each other, Rarity looking at us with a hoof covering her mouth and her cheeks slightly reddened. “Oh don’t mind me, carry on, I’m just watching” “Rarity what are you doing here?” Pinkie asked smiling awkwardly. “Well, Applejack told me to go get the two of you so you could help with the food, but I can tell her that you’re “busy” if you want” “No need for that, we were already going miss…” “Rarity, nice to meet you, you must be the Steve Pinkie was talking about” Apparently she hadn’t noticed my wings until this point of the conversation. She stopped and looked at them with her mouth open in surprise. “Pinkie didn’t mention you having such… peculiar features” “They kind of appeared this morning so she wouldn’t know” “Say… I believe you two would prefer that I remain silent about your… activities here right?” Wait a second, is she going to blackmail me? “Yes, I would like that very much miss Rarity”“Then I think that you should drop by at Carrousel Boutique, tomorrow morning. I have something I want to try with you. See you later then” With that, she walked away, without even waiting for an answer. I looked at Pinkie, who was still blushing, yet her smile was never gone. “Shall we go then? I think our help is needed elsewhere” We walked side by side towards the tent in absolute silence, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. Quill however, refused to stay shut. “So do you think your wings work now? I mean, like pegasus wings? Because if they do, I think you should pay your parents a visit don’t you think?” I nearly stopped. Cloudsdale. Could I just go back like that? Would my parents accept me? I’m a thief now, a criminal, wanted for stealing even from the princesses themselves. How could I just show up back home like this? By the end of the day. The clinic was almost rebuilt and we were all exhausted. /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ “What is it that you wish for vermin?” I asked the pony in front of me. The thunderous roar of my voice usually sent the bravest warriors running, but this mare didn’t even flinch “Have you come for my riches? If you have then save your time and leave before I devour you” “I do not run from anything nor anypony, and I haven’t come here for your gems dragon. What I want is far more interesting” “I must say, you are either a fool or a very brave one. Remove that hat and let me see the face of the one that challenges me” The pony was wearing a wizard hat and a cape. The only thing I could see of her was a necklace made of some long objects that clacked with every move she made. “That won’t be necessary, for you won’t remember it. In fact you won’t remember anything. The thing that I wish would be your heart” I took on a fighting stance. I could feel magic swirling around her body and charging on her horn. I let out a breath of red fire upon her before she had time to fight back. A wave of smoke covered the cave. She was surely finished now, no creature could survive such attack, especially a pony. “Done already? Very well, it’s my turn now” The smoke was pushed away by a powerful burst of wind and in the middle was the pony, completely untouched, except for a small burning on the edge of her cloak. I saw her necklace light up, then her horn, followed by a fast bolt of magic that shot towards me. I looked down and saw the hole in my throat. The magic bolt was so powerful that it managed to cauterize the flesh around the wound, stopping the blood from coming out. I tried to breathe fire again, but it didn’t come out. So this is how I die. What a disgrace, being killed by a single pony. Well, at least I might be able to see my old friends, maybe even Alduin. Maybe it isn’t all that bad, after all these centuries. “Given up already dragon? Of course you have, for no one can withstand my power, and soon those who mocked me will know it too, for I am the almighty, The Great and Powerful Trixie!”