//------------------------------// // Part 5 // Story: Perseverance // by ZachTheBrony //------------------------------// It wasn’t very soon until I started to feel extremely weak and starving. Where in the hell was Twilight?! A better question to ask was, why would they let her- an unlicensed citizen -tend to a recovering patient?! Just, what the fuck!? I continued to lay there, groaning and moaning like some form of retarded zombie. I needed protein, and I needed it fast. There was a button on the side of my bed, and I was starting to go nuts. My animalistic instincts began to shout and claw their way through my common sense. I no longer needed protein. I had to have it. Without proper food which had vitamins and whatnot, my brain started to go awol. But my prayers were answered by myself, as I could no longer resist slamming my hand down on the button. Not even a minute later, a nurse rushed into the room. “Y-yes? What’s-” “... Meat...” “U-um…wh-wha-” “I need meat...” I practically pleaded and begged her. “Please…” As she was in grabbing range, I reached out a hand. She froze in either fear or shock. I didn’t care. Placing my hand gently on her face, she shivered at how abnormally cold my hand was. “... Go...” I ordered weakly, my hand then slipping down and hitting the side of the bed. The nurse didn’t skip a beat. Her face was beet-red, but she soared out of the room. It took maybe twenty minutes, until both the nurse and Twilight Sparkle returned to my recovery room. Thank God almighty. I was experiencing starvation. If they left me there, the muscle atrophy, hypotension, electrolyte imbalance and dehydration would kick into high gear. The meat that they got was a large t-bone steak. Where did they get that cut of meat? Obviously from a cow. But then again, it’s kinda strange when Canterlot’s population is entirely composed of ponies. As soon as they entered the room, the scent of the steak hit my nose. Saliva started to drip from my mouth as I laid my vicious eyes on the target. I was a meat lover- I didn’t go two days without having some form of meat, whether it be spam or beef boujon. “Zach!” Twilight exclaimed in grave worry. “Oh my Celestia, I-I-I’m so sorry! The girls were out in the lobby and-” She was cut off by me. I stood up. Yes. I stood the fuck up, ignoring the pain. Desperation and survival instinct had taken over at this point- I snatched the cut of cooked meat from the plate, and began to quite literally devour it. Both of the mares watched in shock and awe as I stood not even a meter away from them, devouring the meat like a rabid dog. The look on my face, which they could now see due to the bandages being torn off (by me), was utterly terrifying. I looked like a dog who hadn’t been fed in weeks. I looked like death itself, cracked skin here and there, the veins showing through my ashen white skin. Hell, you could have called me a vampire. As soon as I finished the steak, I groaned loudly in pain. I forgot about one crucial detail in my feast. Let’s put it into comparison. In World War Two, the surviving victims who were rescued from the concentration camps by the North-American armies weren’t allowed to eat like crazy. Because they were starved, and their stomachs shrunk. If they ate too much, they ran the risk of having their stomachs explode. And due to me eating that huge cut of meat, it travelled down to my gut. And oh, it hurt, but I doubt it exploded. Because if it did, I’m pretty sure I would be crying from the pain. Don’t blame me, you would probably do the exact same shit if you were in my shoes! Someone presents you with a t-bone steak when you’re starving, you don’t just turn it down! I fell back onto the bed, shaking from the new pain all over my body. As soon as I laid down from falling though, the pain corrected itself due to me being temporarily stationary. Little did I know, but they had put me on a depressant medicine, giving me about two tablets a day while I was out. You see, they were concerned about me being hostile or aggressive when I awoke. If they didn’t put me on the depressants, I would have had a heart attack from the shock. What you saw before wasn’t even the beginning of how I would even start to react. Not to mention, my teeth hurt like hell. Not eating properly in a while and just eating like that pulled a few gums loose. “A-are you alright?” Twilight asked me with concern, approaching the bed. “Nnnngh…” I responded, holding back moans of pain. Every joint in my body was screaming at me, probably calling me a son of a bitch by the looks of it. I tried to adjust myself, then I felt something shift in my spine. I yelped, but realized that it was just my back cracking. At the same time that I yelped, I jumped in the bed, causing my arms and legs to flail around a bit. Cracks sounded throughout the room, but once they were done, I felt better. Did I just need to stretch out this whole time or some shit!? The pain in my mouth stopped, and I answered her question like a normal human being. “I… I don’t know…” I panted. “I think I ate too much…” “Oh no… is your stomach okay?!” Twilight’s voice was shaking with obvious fear. ‘How’d she know that I have a stoma- oh right, I can eat stuff...’ I would have slapped myself across the face if I could have. Not worth the pain, anyways. “No, my eyes hurt, just looking at purple hurts my eyes. And I’m screaming in unbearable agony.” I smirked like the smartass I was. If it weren’t for the fact that she knew that I was joking, I’m sure that Twilight would have bitch-slapped me right then and there. She groaned. “Sarcasm is unbecoming of you…” “You don’t say. Considering you don’t know me at all, that’s pretty damn judgemental of you.” I weakly flipped her the middle. As I expected, she simply cocked her head at the gesture. Should’ve put my hand to my chin and flipped that out at her. “It means ‘screw you’.” “That’s not very nice…” Twilight’s ears flopped against the sides of her head. The nurse was just confused out of her poor mind, so she just left. “Really? Do you think at all before you speak at times?” I turned away, mumbling to myself. It’s all I could do, considering the situation. “What?” “I’m not a fossil. I’m away from my family, friends, technology, and everything I’ve known and loved.” Aside from being in Equestria, but that was the least of my concerns at this moment. “Also, you’ve been treating me like a goddamn science experiment. I’m a living being. And I’m handsome, not cute. Fuckin’ A, Twilight.” Why was I being so rude to her? Because I was a 'quiet one'. I always repressed my emotions, and due to this, I kinda let it all loose. That, and I really didn’t care at this moment. She deserved it for treating me how she did, after all. She was looking away from me, but I gave her no empathy. Twilight deserved it, in my opinion. Treated me like the exact opposite of a living being. “I’m… I’m sorry…” She said, her voice already containing the sweet emotion of guilt. “Don’t apologize. I’m a fossil, remember? Not living? Not sapient? I can’t feel emotions apparently, so fuck, let’s just resurrect this fossil, see if it lives. Let’s fucking antagonize it, shall we? Bring it back into a world of suffering. Yeah, yeah, that’ll do us ALL a bunch of good. I’d rather stay dead and rest in peace than be treated like this.” My voice was trembling with anger, and my left eye was twitching. I was exaggerating, but I wanted to see tears. Honestly, I hated being made fun of. But for all my life, I was too stubborn, bottled it up, and verbally beat people down until they either stopped responding or just simply left. “You don’t have to be so mean...” Twilight responded. I saw no sign of tears. “Can I ask something?” I decided to try and be reasonable. It wasn’t all just her fault. “What’s the plan? Why was I resurrected? Am I going to be a social display for a zoo? I mean, look at me! I can barely stand, let alone run for my life! You could end me, right here, right now, for some big-shot company. Do I get to live my life as I see fit?” Her answer sort of caught me off guard. I was expecting a ‘I don’t know’, but then she tore me down. “Zach, you were raised from the dead because Princess Celestia knew you were still alive. It wouldn’t be fair to just let you die. And I apologize, I really, truly do, for the way I acted and treated you. It wasn’t necessary… and I understand why you were mean to me.” She perked up her ears, smiling a little. “But, in my opinion, I would rather give something innocent which died a second chance rather than keeping it dead.” Thank God for the depressants, because I wouldn’t have understood what she said if I wasn't drugged up. I also noticed she never answer my question about what would become of me. “I can see that, yeah, but what happens to me, eh?” Through there shines my Canadian accent! Oh Canadian accent, for the love of fuck you come in at the wrong times! Twilight sighed. “As far as I know, you’ll recover, and be set free. If it means anything, I could talk to my friends-” “There you are, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash’s voice suddenly called. In walked five familiar ponies. ‘Ermagerd it’s the Mane Sax.’ Oh my God it’s the Mane Six. One part of me was excited. My di- My eyes, they screamed in pain! Oh sweet lord, staring at beige walls all day made my eyes unable to handle the colorful coats and eyes. I smashed my eyes shut, and just pretended to fall asleep. I didn’t want to deal with meeting them right now. Dammit Twilight. Now I was in a bad mood. Twilight greeted her friends with a smile. “Hey girls!” And bucked me in my damn legs. “OWWW! SON OF A TAIWANESE CRACK WHORE!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, scaring the daylights out of them all, aside from Twilight and the pink one. Couldn’t remember her name. But the pink one started laughing her haunches and flanks off, falling over and rolling around. I don’t know what she found funny- me being in pain, or me shooting my mouth off. Good thing she was my favorite. Huh, can’t believe I managed to even remember that. “This is Zach, the creature, well, human that I told you all about.” “... What’s a Taiwanese crack whore?” Fluttershy asked timidly, her voice rather shaky. Goddamn, I never thought I would hear those words come out of a pony’s mouth. Let alone Fluttershy’s mouth. Rarity looked uneasy. Did she know what any of those words meant? The orange one (couldn’t remember her name) looked at me with concern for my mental state as I was rolling around the bed helplessly in pain, holding my left leg. But I answered Fluttershy’s question. “I’ll tell you when you’re older!” “I’m nineteen…” Fluttershy muttered quietly. I hissed in pain, and groaned for a long time. “Twilight, I’m gonna kill you!...” I said weakly, finally staying stationary. Twilight ignored my threat. So did everypony else, but Rarity became a bit more unnerved at this. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, was still laughing. I mean, come on, ‘Taiwanese crack whore’ couldn’t have been that funny. “... Well,” Twilight sighed. “Zach, these are my friends. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity.” She introduced them and pointed to the mares as she named them off. “Twilight, Ah’m a lil’ bit disappointed in ‘ya though… You didn’t say a gosh-darn word to us, an’ just up‘n left for Canterlot. You’ve been gone ‘fer what, two weeks ‘r somethin’? We were worried that ‘ya could’ve been kidnapped.” Applejack frowned. So there was kidnapping here in Equestria. “Yeah, Twilight. I was trying to get into the library one day to get a new Daring-Do book, and Spike was dozing off on the couch! I couldn’t wake the guy up, so I just left. You really need to tell us when you do stuff like that!” Rainbow Dash argued. “She comes and visits me every day, never brings me a book or something to entertain myself with.” I barely held back a grin, and decided to cheer myself up and get myself out of this bad funky mood. “If it weren’t for the daily sex, I’d ask for a new nurse.” I put on a shit-eating grin, and Twilight’s cheeks burned a flaming blush as her mouth opened in shock. I am too much of a smartass- have I mentioned that? “D-DAILY SEX!?!” I couldn’t handle it. I busted out into tears, I laughed so hard. But nobody, or pony- not even Pinkie Pie -was laughing with me. I was choking on my own saliva and tears, but I was still laughing. Totally worth it though. “Twilight?!” Rainbow looked at her friend. Why was she not denying it?! “Oh yeah. Blowjobs mostly. She can’t g-” “No wonder she visited him so much...” Rarity’s eyes opened a bit. “Zach! Enough! Stop it!” Twilight shut her eyes. “And we never did anything!” “Are you sayin’ that this mule is yankin’ our chains?” Applejack narrowed her eyes. That was too cruel and crude for a joke at her friend’s expense. “No offense,” She said to the mule outside the door. “None taken.” “Oh, she did more than yank my chai-AUGGGH!” I just had to speak up, didn’t I? Have you ever been smashed in the nuts by a sledgehammer? I have. Recently, in fact. About two seconds ago. That sledgehammer was Twilight's hoof. The pain spread like wildfire to my abdomen, and tears welled up in my eyes. Okay, I guess I was being a little, no, a lot out of line. I coughed and coughed and coughed, on the brink of throwing up even. Twilight was shaking with anger, and her friends had to pull her away from me to keep her from utterly decimating my balls. “Fffuuucking cheap shot…” I gagged. That was the hardest that I’ve ever been hit in the balls. I had it coming, though. After an argument that I couldn’t hear, they all left the room, leaving me to wallow in my agony. So much for first fucking impressions...