Chapter 2:
A Day in the Life
Your feet ache. The world is spinning around you. The water droplets on your coat feel like needles. Your long hair sticks to your face as green streaks of liquid run down your body. In your despair, you had fallen asleep in a small puddle of your own toxicity. Not only did you cough up large splatters, you had created a large gash in your head. Pale green blood cakes the wall and surrounds the hole you had created.
It’s hardly uncommon for you to have these attacks. It’s just a matter of what part of your house you destroy. Today it was part of your bedroom wall. Yesterday it was the lamp in the living room. Last week it was the mirror in the bathroom. When you first got home it was the front door. You even managed to snap one of the shackles in Chrysalis’s dungeon from an attack. Princess Celestia witnessed one of these attacks herself, and signed you up for treatment meetings, which you never attend. She put you on a lifetime supply of pills, which you never take. Why should you suppress it?
Drying your hair, you step out of the bathroom. Your gray coat is still a bit damp, but it’ll air dry. Walking into the living room, you hear the phone ring. With a sigh, you pick the white device off the receiver. Looking at the caller ID, you see that it is your only remaining family member, your cousin Cloudburst.
“Hey, Cloudburst,” you say to the phone. Your voice is a little gruffer from screaming your head off earlier.
“Hey you,” she says in her naturally sassy voice, “What’s up? How’re you doin’?”
“Not bad,” you lie, “Just got outta the shower.”
“Don’t lie,” she says, her tone a bit more serious, “I can tell you’ve been coughing again. And I can tell you’ve had another panic attack. Your voice is shaky and raspy. How bad was it?”
“…I…” Honestly, how can she tell these things? Might as well tell her. You’ve told her the truth in full already. “I trashed my wall pretty bad this morning.”
“Really?! Have you even taken your medication? They make it better! They soothe the pain!”
“No they don’t, Cloudburst! They don’t soothe the pain! They make it worse because they force me to act all calm about it! A few meds and a therapist aren’t gonna make me forget everything! I watched my mother’s throat get sliced! I was tortured beyond what was supposed to be death for ten months! My own blood is toxic all because of some changeling queen!”
For a few moments, the line is silent. All you can do is stand and stare into oblivion. Suddenly, your cousin speaks up.
“I’m coming over in a little while.”
“Fine.” As soon as you speak, the phone clicks and a monotone is heard from the other end. With a heavy sigh followed by a short cough, you hang up the phone. Just as the phone snaps into place on the receiver, a knock on the door is heard. Your expression lightens immediately as you remember who was going to drop by today. Opening the door with a smile, you see who is actually waiting for you.
Your expression drops slightly as you see none other than Princess Luna at the door.
“Princess,” you say, stepping to the side so as to let her in. She remains outside, however.
“Knight. Er… Former knight, I should say,” she says in a rather forced tone. You can tell whatever this is about, she had to either stay up late, or get out of bed for. “I will not be staying. I have many places to go, many a citizen to see. And as you can assume, I’m not exactly excited for staying up this late.”
“Of course,” you say with a slight bow, “And why, may I ask, are you here?” Straightening her back (making her eye-level with you) and looking as straight forward as possible, she speaks.
“Dear former knight, you are cordially invited on this fine day to attend the marriage of Captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor, and Princess Mi Amora Cadenza. This note should provide invitations and all information regarding said festivities,” she says, while handing you a small envelope (that was conjured out of thin air, I might add). To be perfectly honest, Luna’s kind of cute when she’s trying to be formal. Something about the way she does it is just so off balance and awkward to the point where it’s laughable. Even though she’s the most well-versed in ye olden tongue in Equestria, making her arguably the most formal being in the country, she still slips up. Not that it’s bad or anything. It’s somewhat amusing.
“My sincerest apologies for my sister, as she could not make it to tell you herself. We did not want to send the invitations over the mail, as this is an extremely high class event.”
“So… Armor finally asked her, huh?” you ask no one in particular. Luna’s pose is broken when she slightly arches her back and lets her wings unfurl a bit.
“Informally speaking… He totally did. Good day, knight,” she says with a slight wink and smile. She always insists on calling you ‘knight.’ Even though they’re just called guards now.
“Good day,” you say, closing the door. A quiet fizzling sound is heard as Luna teleports away. With a heavy sigh, you plop down onto the couch. With a quick glance at the invitation, you take note of the date. On this day three months from now, your humble captain is marrying a princess. Huh. To be honest, you never knew Shining Armor had it in him, no matter how much he seemed to tower over you all. You always took notice of his constant stuttering around Princess Cadance.
It’s about five to 1:00 right now. Half an hour until the bakery closes. Normally, you’d go to Sugarcube Corner just down the street, but they’ve been growing so popular all over Equestria, their prices have risen immensely. You can hardly blame them. That place is always packed full. Honestly, it’s a wonder they’ve kept their prices low for so long. Whatever. There’s a cute quaint little bakery just twenty minutes from town. An easy jog, even without wings.
Later…
Munching hungrily on a cupcake, you reenter your house. The air conditioning immediately cools your hot skin and you’re hit with a wave of contentment. The familiar smell of dust and fabric enters your nose as you finish the pastry.
A slight tingle enters through your cheek. Your left cheek. Ever so slowly, you raise a hand and touch your scar. It’s always tingled like this when you’re happy or content. It’s like your very anatomy wishes nothing more than to remind you of how you got… No. No more thinking about it. It’ll just send you into another fit of rage.
A knock comes at the door. Only until you are snapped out of your thinking do you realize your fists are clenched, and your nails have come quite close to breaking skin. The knock comes again as you puff a sigh of relief. Standing up with a groan, you walk over to the door. The knocking comes once again, only considerably louder.
“Hold on a minute!” you shout as you close the distance between you and the door. As you rest your hand on the silver knob, you immediately make out the sounds of breathing from the other side. The door is two inches thick, but you can still hear. The breathing isn’t just breathing; it’s a sort of gasping and sighing. Heavy breathing, laced with a bit of whimpering.
Opening the door, you see just what you were not expecting.
“Cloudburst? What’s wrong?”
In front of you stands your cousin Cloudburst. Her usual spunky demeanor is nowhere to be found. Her gray hood is pulled up over her short light blue hair. Her white coat seems darker now. Tears stream her face and her eyes are bloodshot behind her rounded rectangle glasses. “What happened?” you ask her, putting your hand on her right shoulder.
“It’s… It’s Blazer…” she says, her voice shaky and quiet. Blazer… Blazer… That name sounds familiar… Oh, yeah, Blazer is Cloudburst’s boyfriend. They’ve been seeing each other for three years now. His image slowly reenters your head. Pale orange coat, red hair, short tail, slight goatee. He’s a nice guy, from what you can recall. Though his obsession with the word ‘bro’ sometimes got on your nerves.
“What happened to him?” you ask, leading your cousin inside. Closing the door with your foot, you sit your cousin down on the couch and sit next to her and put an arm around her. She leans into you.
“Nothing happened to him… It’s what he did…”
“Cloudburst… What did he do?”
“I was at his house when I called you earlier… I told him I had to leave, but he didn’t want me to…”
“What do you mean?” This isn’t going where we both think it’s going is it?
Slowly, she leans back and pulls her sweatshirt up to her ribs, exposing a large bruise on her side. The bruise can be easily seen through her silky coat, and completely contrasts with the stark white of the fur.
That son of a bitch.
Ever so slowly, you place two fingers on the bruise. At the lightest touch, your cousin flinches and grimaces. The mark extends from her lower ribs to her upper waist.
“Where is he now?” you ask, your voice dark and laced with venom.
“His house,” she says, the shakiness still ever present in her voice. “I know what you’re thinking, and I know what you wanna do. But please… Just don’t. It’ll make this easier on everyone.”
“No. No it won’t,” you say as you stand up, “Not for the next girl he brings in. Did he hit you anywhere else?”
“…Just my forehead,” she whispers as she lifts up her bangs. Another dark purple mark in visible.
Your nails just broke skin.
“…Wait here,” you say, turning around.
“No!” She grabs your shoulder as you reach for the door. “Don’t! You’ll make it all worse!”
“For who, Cloudburst?!”
For a moment, she simply stares at you. Another tear runs down her cheek. “Please… Just don’t…” Her head leans onto your chest and her arms wrap around your neck. Soft sobs are heard from your cousin. Slowly, you place your arms around her back and pull her in closer.
“…I’m sorry,” you whisper into her hair. She continues to cry into your chest and you continue to rub her back. You begin to rock her slowly back and forth. After a while, the two of you make your way to the couch, where you continue to console her. After what seems like an hour, her sobs die down.
“You alright?” you ask her quietly. She doesn’t respond. As you look down at her, you notice she’s fallen asleep in your arms. Ever so gently, you maneuver yourself off the couch and lay her down, careful not to disturb her slumber. As you rest her head on a pillow, you place her legs onto the couch. With a quiet sigh, you walk over to the thermostat and turn off the AC. As you walk to the front of the living room, you close the blinds. Finally, you reach your destination and light the fireplace. Cloudburst always loved quiet places, with the only sound being the crackling of the fire. It reminded her of the holidays for some reason.
It’s hot in here. It’s dark in here, the only light being that of the fireplace in front of you. It’s sad in here. But worst of all, it’s quiet in here. You sit in the chair; half watching your cousin sleep off her sadness, and half watching the dancing fire. The faint sounds of Cloudburst’s breathing and occasional moan or coo add to the light sounds of the fire. You’ve been sitting here for a few hours. It’s five o’clock. The day is almost over. It’s not like you had plans for the rest of the day. You had been expecting a friend all day.
Derpy never even came back.