The hospital warmth left a grounded pegasus full of unwanted peace. He resisted the shining embrace with fury. “Worthless.” Vice made no attempts to move himself as every part of his body stung. The soft bed he occupied did little help in comforting his pains. “Complete failure.” Vice could feel each stitch on his back where his wings connected, each bandage and wrapping soaked with dark blood. However, each injury could not compare to his internal suffering.
His heart ached with a loathing sadness. All sense of motivation was lost, the burning spirit Vice once had was distinguished. “Goddamn.” He could feel his eyes water and shook his head violently. “Crying over this stupid shit. I’m pathetic.” Vice closed his eyes and let the past memories mechanize in his mind. He envisioned his former self soaring through the gray sky with arms extended and fingers wide open. The feeling of no feeling, the internal hardware working together in perfect harmony.
A footstep ceased Vice’s distress and caused the pegasus to steady himself. Enzo walked in and tapped the door shut behind him. “Vice-”
The pegasus gulped before refusing to look Enzo in the eye. “I’m sorry.”
“Vice, it’s okay,” Enzo said walking closer to his recovering friend.
“No, I-I did everything wrong. Don’t you deny that,” Vice said still not daring to look Enzo in the eyes. “I failed to solve the damn problem and I made you worry-I hate this! Holy hell!”
“You don’t mean that, Vice,” Enzo said positioning himself next to his incapacitated friend. “You’re just…”
“Just what, huh? Goddamn useless because you hit the mark on that one.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Enzo said now frustrated at Vice’s anger. “You’re just confused and worried. You need time to relax and just take it easy for once.”
“I wanna go back. Back to the way it was,” Vice said plainly.
“Wait, what?”
“I want to go back to our world, back to our dimension.”
“What did you just-”
“I want to feel normal again. No eating, no breathing no goddamn potty breaks, man. No more bullshit fleshy setbacks. I wanna feel invincible again-Enzo, we were unstoppable! Now we’re just walking weaklings. Can’t even take any hits anymore!”
“Do you honestly mean that?”
“Of course! I hate being a stupid, shitty horse! I want to be made of metal again, made of steel. Made of a body that doesn’t fall apart after one goddamn fight!” Vice eyed his friend with sorrow. “I just wanna go home now. I wanna go home.”
“You want to go back to hell?” Enzo’s tense was flaring up.
“If I can get my body back, then yes. Yes I do wanna go back to what we call hell.”
“That’s…just stupid!”
“This whole damn place is stupid. I’m tired of being shut down because of this fucking body!”
“Then you’re here for the wrong reason, Vice.”
“I’m here to protect you and I can’t even do that!” This time, Vice raised his hoof ever so slightly and banged it against the soft bed. His voice was starting to crack. “I can’t even protect my own friend from anything anymore.”
“You can’t baby me forever, I don’t need your help all the time,” Enzo said calming down.
“Then what the hell are friends for?”
“Just take it easy. Do that for me, as a friend,” Enzo said making his way back to the door. Without a response, Enzo simply left as Vice gritted his teeth in silent frustration. He sat in his bed staring at the ceiling with pain circulating through every vain and with every breath.
“Made of metal…”
~~~~~~~~~~
Enzo stormed out of his friend’s room in a hurry as his mind raced. “He’s here just to fight…I’m here to start a new life,” Enzo said walking down the hospital hallway. “I need time to-” Enzo froze and let his jaw drop. “Oh, Fluttershy!” he shouted louder than he wanted to. He cupped his mouth and felt his heart explode as Fluttershy jumped from his call.
“Hello, Enzo!” she squealed back. Calming herself down, she spoke with a soft undertone. “You’re not in your room?”
“Um, no I went to visit Vice.”
Fluttershy gasped and started running up to Enzo. “Oh no, he’s okay right?” she said right in his face.
Enzo looked away from the mare’s face. “I guess?”
Fluttershy tilted her head. “Huh? Um…does that mean yes or-”
“Dah-yeah. Yes, he’s alright,” Enzo said smiling to cover up his freak out.
“That’s good,” Fluttershy said with a small nod.
Enzo sheepishly went to his room and shuddered nervously as Fluttershy followed closely behind him. Getting back into his bed, he spoke in his typical stuttered tone. “So, uh…yeah.”
“Mhmm.” Both ponies awkwardly stared each other down before Enzo finally felt his insides burst and looked away.
“Why’d you come here?” he asked as calmly as possible with his eyes glued to the corner of the room.
“I just wanted to make sure you and your friend were okay,” Fluttershy said trying to keep her eye on Enzo.
“Oh, that’s, um, nice-of you.”
“Thanks.”
Another moment of stressful silence passed by. “S-uh, how has your day been?”
“Good.” More quietness between the two. “Um, I went out with Rainbow Dash today for some-stuff,” Fluttershy said abruptly.
“Like what?”
“…Boy advice,” Fluttershy mumbled now looking at the ground.
“Wait, what? Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” Enzo said lightly.
“Dah-I said flying advice!”
“Oh!” Enzo fumbled a bit at Fluttershy’s outburst. “Well that’s nice…maybe you can take me flying one day,” Enzo said extending his last string of words.
“But you have no wings.”
Enzo’s face slid into a frown as he realized what he had just said. “Guh-I meant you-you fly meuh…” Enzo mentally sighed and felt his ears flaring up. He bit his lip as Fluttershy blushed as well.
“Sure!”
“Okay!” Both ponies could not bring themselves to look each other in the eye. ‘I’m exploding right now!’ Enzo sunk deeper into his bed trying to hide himself.
Fluttershy’s breathing was barely audible as it intensified with silence. “I better go, thanks-I mean-thanks!”
“Bye!” Enzo drowned out his word as Fluttershy had already disappeared. He remained motionless in his little bed in the little hospital room. Fidgeting with his hooves and wiggling his lips, the pony shuddered with disbelief. “Oh my.”
~~~~~~~~~~
A quick patter of feet left the Twilight household in chaos. With one missing member, Twilight Sparkle ran the royal guards wild with a single quesiton. “Where’s Blitz?”
“Miss Twilight, I-”
“Kid probably took off like the lil hero he is,” Brass Dozer said with a disapproving frown.
“I cannot believe so,” Clyde said. “Mister Blitz wouldn’t just…”
“We have to go look for him-do something,” Twilight said.
The mustachioed guard racked his brain trying to piece together events. “Where are all the royal guards? They should have been here by now!”
“You got more beef than us?” Brass Dozer said tugging his little brother closer. “Boy oh boy, did I sign up for some real crap today if we needed more muscle.”
“Great, so now we’re missing Blitz and a group of guards?” Twilight said with a stressed tone. “What next? Ponyville comes under attack?”
“That’s not funny,” Glass Dozer said.
“It wasn’t supposed to be.”
“What is happening?” Clyde said pacing quickly. “These string of events-I can’t even begin to understand any of this.”
“We have a problem.” The whole group craned necks to find Gray Shark storming in through the window.
Twilight gasped and scurried against the wall. “Who are you?”
Gray Shark sighed and apologized with a wave of his golden hoof. “Excuse me, I am Gray Shark, friend of Enzo. At your service.”
Twilight inspected the masked pony before coming to a clear conclusion. “Are you…from the other dimension as well?”
“How could you tell?”
“I can see it in your eye. It’s very different.”
“And that’s very perceptive, I’m impressed,” Gray Shark said bowing. “However, I have bad news for all of us. Clyde, have the other squadron guards arrived?”
Clyde lowered his head. “No.”
“Then we’re in for some real trouble,” Gray Shark moved to the nearby window and peered out into the daylight. “I tried looking for Blitz earlier today…and I encountered the Misfit Marauders.” The room filled with tension as each individual felt their sense of safety leave. “They’re here and they’re close. We have no choice but to act and prepare.”
“And just how are we gonna do that?” Brass said shaking his head. “We have no back up; it’s just us four against those damn freaks!”
“Four?” Gray Shark said pointing to Twilight. “I do believe that makes five. Unless you were excluding your brother. We can also use the help of the other elements-”
“But the girls don’t have any combat experience,” Clyde said.
“That may be true, and as much as I hate to say so, the least we can do is show some numbers,” Gray Shark said. “The more of us there are, the more hesitant the Marauders will be to do something. Either that or they’ll be too distracted.”
“He’s right, Clyde,” Twilight said. “If it’s an attack on Ponyville, then I don’t want to be sitting around. No matter how dangerous these characters are, I’m willing to stand up to them.”
Clyde sighed, but accepted what had to be done. “…Right.” He nodded to Brass who left the room and returned with several spears. Clyde grabbed his own, silver-tipped rod of justice and stamped the bottom on the ground. “Listen up, everypony. Ponyville may be under attack and we may be dealing with the biggest threat since Discord’s madness. However, no matter what happens, those thugs will not take Ponyville! We shall do whatever it takes to protect this town even if it means-”
“I ain’t planning on kicking the bucket today, Clyde,” Brass said scratching his head nervously.
“Even if it means doing things you don’t want to do,” Gray Shark finished for Clyde. “Spilling some blood, if you will.”
“Heh, well then that’s what I’m talking about,” Brass said.
“All we can do now is hope,” Clyde whispered audibly. “Hope for the best.”
“I hate hoping,” Gray Shark said already out the door.
Clyde looked with surprise. “We’ll show those rowdy boys not to mess with Ponyville.”
“Let’s get it done.”