//------------------------------// // The Marks We Create // Story: Bass Clefs and Sapphires // by Crispn //------------------------------// Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep. What was that? It almost sounds like… a siren! That must mean… an ambulance? Police? Someone was here to save us! We were safe! Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep I felt my body leave the ground, the racket continuing. I really wish it would stop. I flailed my arms at the darkness trying to find the source. Wait, I could move my arms. With a little bit of pushing myself, I forced open my eyes. I couldn’t believe it. All I saw was my steering wheel. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. I reached into my pocket and grabbed my phone. It was my alarm. I slid open the phone to switch it off when I noticed the date: October 5th. That can’t be right. It was late december yesterday. I rubbed my eyes, pawing for my glasses in the cupholder. Slipping them on, I glanced out the window. There was no snow at all. Trees still had some leaves attached and I was parked outside the school’s gym. What was going on? This can’t be the right date. If it was the right date then today the new Pelton John album would have just been released at midnight. I quickly opened up my netbook and scoured the internet for what seemed hours. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. What? I thought I shut you off you stupid alarm. I tried again, but the beeping continued steadily. Eventually I muted the phone, but the sound kept on going. I growled in frustration at the busted thing and put it back into my pocket. Wait, does that mean that the last two months, everything that has happened has been a dream? No, it couldn’t have been. It was all too real. I could still feel the cold of the snow around me. My jacket was barely keeping me warm. My Jacket! That’s it. If this is my new one then I am dreaming now, but if this is my old one, then that means that … that everything about her was a dream too. Beep. Beep. Beep.Beep. I glanced down to see the hole in my jacket. The one I tried to repair so long ago. No, maybe I’m just wearing my old coat. No, it couldn’t have been a dream, it was all too real. I still had it. I mean, the only thing that could tell me that I was not dreaming now was my restraints. I ripped open the jacket, sending buttons flying into the windshield. I palmed my chest in hopes that there was nothing, but the metal clasps forced me to drop the conclusion. But if that was a dream, why did everything seem so damn real? I felt my heart ache when we fought, I felt my ribs heave when AJ slammed me into the bookshelf, I felt for Scootaloo, I felt the blade slice my flesh. I checked my leg and ribs and found nothing to be broken, severed or destroyed. Only my left hand hurt tremendously for no discernable reason. Beep Beep Beep Beep. Ok, this is officially the weirdest morning ever. Either I had a supremely realistic dream, or I am in some sort of time paradox. Does that mean I’m doomed to relive the events leading up to me waking up today? Would I get to do everything over? I could be prepared this time going up against AJ with some sort of legal thing to go over her head. I could be prepared to fight Ridger, or at least get out of there. I could get Rarity a gift on time. My heart dropped. Rarity. I didn’t have her anymore. No, wait, if I’m in a time paradox, maybe I still get her. But what if I screw up? What if I never get to meet her? No, that wouldn’t happen. Vinyl will set me up with the new apartment and then everything will fall in order. “You’d like to think that wouldn’t you?” A voice came from my passenger seat. I jumped at the random person sitting next to me, completely unnoticed. As I turned, I once again could not believe my eyes. It was me. Well, almost me. This version had red and green eyes, with the weird smoke trailing from them. “Thought you would never wake up.” “Who are you?” “You know who I am, we just haven’t talked today.” The me snickered. “Fine, then you tell me what’s going on.” I demanded. “Maybe,” the alter Crisp sighed, “but only after my story. It’s getting to such a good part.” Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep. The beeping started to come faster and more erratic. He flicked on the car’s radio to his story, a radio play. He leaned back in his seat, closing his dreary eyes and smiling. “So what’s this show about?” I asked, trying to keep him in the conversation. “Oh, you wouldn’t like it.” He laughed, putting his hands behind his head. “Try me.” “Well, it’s a tale of a young kid. He’s sick with a rare and deadly disease. His family is all gathered around him as they assure him that he will be ok, that they will find a cure.” I sat there listening to the show. A small child, sick in a hospital bed with his family surrounding him. He slipped into a coma the day before and hasn’t show signs of recovering out of it. A female voice shouted at him, “Wake Up! You can’t leave me like this! You have to wake up!” The woman’s voice felt panicked and breaking, barely containing all the pain she was bottling up. Beep Beep Beep Beep. There was that damn alarm again. I really needed to figure out what the hell was causing it to be so glitchy. After a couple more minutes of listening to doctors talk to the family about the child’s medical problems, I decided I had my fill. I flipped the radio off, turning towards the other figure in the seat next to me. “Hey,” he complained, “it was just getting to the good part.” “Oh yeah? What’s that?” “Well, if you had not have turned it off, then you would have known. But it is too late, the moment has passed.” His eyes gleamed as he turned back towards me, the smoke billowing intensely. He moved his hand towards his pocket, reaching for something. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, mesmerized by his eyes. As he started to pull his hand out of his pocket revealing a long knife, music started to play in the background. An old song, a familiar song. “What?!” The alter Crisp shot up in his seat grimacing. He shouted at the radio to stop, but to no avail. After a few seconds, his eyes grew larger and angrier. He twisted and cringed in his seat, the song causing him physical pain. “What did you do?!” He screamed at me, writhing in his seat. “I didn’t do anything” I yelled back, shifting so my back was up against the door. “Stop this infernal song!” He yelled, clawing at the knobs on the dash, attempting vainly to shut off the cause of his misery. When that failed him, he plunged the knife into the stereo, but the music continued. His eyes widened, and what seemed to be fear gripped him. He ripped open the passenger door, jumped out and ran down the street, completely out of view. As he ran out of view, the music grew softer until all there was was static and the alarm beeping. I was left utterly confused, sitting in my car in the middle of a parking lot with no idea what was going on. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Oh god, what the hell was that noise? It sounded like my alarm was glitching out and stuck on the worst noise in the world. I shoved my hand into my pocket to just pull out the damn battery from my phone. I suddenly felt a strong pain in my chest. I wrapped my arms around my middle, cuddling the pain. I panicked. I was having a massive chest pain for no reason, my hand still throbbed immensely and I am pretty sure I just hallucinated when I saw the other me. I was having a goddamn heart attack. I’m not even out of college and I am having a heart attack. Again the surge came. I ripped at my shirt, tearing it off. I thumbed at the buckles, trying desperately to remove the restraints. If I had more room, my chest wouldn’t hurt so much, right? I stripped the restraints off and chucked them into the back of my car. I started to breathe a bit easier, knowing I was once again free of my restraints. My shirt was in absolute shreds though. A few more seconds passed without another occurrence. I let out a deep sigh as I got up out of the car to go get a fresh shirt from my trunk. I collapsed in the parking lot, clutching my chest. The surge came again. I yelped in pain, but it was so early in the morning that I knew no one would be around. I was going to die here. At least in the dream, I died protecting someone. “Help.” I whimpered, “I don’t want to die here. Not now, she doesn’t even know me yet.” After what seemed like eternity of rolling around on the ground, a shadow loomed over me. I panicked, the Grim Reaper was real, I really was going to die here. With all of my might, I tried crawling away from the shadow, towards the safety of my car. “Be still.” A strong feminine voice commanded. With one hand in the air, grasping for the door handle, I froze. The chest surge came again and restored me to my fetal position. I wrapped my wings around me for added comfort, knowing that I was going to die ungracefully in a parking lot, alone. “Thou has nothing to fear of us. the voice almost shouted. I turned to look at my maker. I could make out the shape of a woman. Her dark hair flowed in what to appear to be a perpetual wind. Her large turquoise eyes turned on me as she opened up large midnight blue wings. “You… I remember you, from the dream. You were there.” I whimpered out, collapsing on the ground from the pain. “Please. Please help me, I don’t want to die here.” The woman knelt down next to me, her eyes never leaving mine. Once next to me, she placed a soft hand on my chest, and the other on my forehead. Slowly, she slid her hand down my face, pulling my eyelids along with them. A surge pounded into my chest as I plunged into the darkness. “It is time to open your eyes, Crisp.” the woman’s tone had become soft. Music began to fill my ears. It consumed me in its melodic wonder. I felt calm and warm. For a second everything had become serene, until a large surge ripped through my chest. I bolted up into a sitting position, blinded by bright lights. My breathing labored and my body felt incredibly heavy. I flopped back down into the position I had currently been in. My nose felt clogged by something and I could hear my phone alarm beeping once more. “Crisp!” A figure slammed into my side, sending a surge of pain through me. I could feel the body that had embraced me shuddering. I could smell lilacs and lavender. Rarity. I tried to wrap my arms and wings around her, but my left hand and wing were heavily casted. I could feel the same heavy cast wrapped around my right foot and calf. With my good hand, I gripped harder and held her close to my chest. I felt her sob into me as I brought a very sore right wing around. “Where am I?” I coughed out, feeling my dry throat. Without releasing her grip, I felt her hands run through my hair, her tears falling down onto my shoulder. “You’re awake.” She sobbed, gripping me tighter in her arms. “You’re finally awake. I thought he killed you.” Her voice trailed off as her sobs broke through. I was confused now even more. I was just dreaming then? But what was the pain about? Where the hell am I and who was that woman? I looked around the room and saw a lot of figures but I couldn’t make any out. They were too far away or blurry with my eyes failing to adjust to the light. I heard the beeping and turned towards the noise. A heart monitor? I was in a hospital? When did I get here, what happened to Ridger? I glanced back down at Rarity. She looked like a nervous wreck. Her hair looked like she had not brushed it at all for a couple days. She wore a pair of sweatpants and my peacoat; the left arm was completely stained in blood. Tears began streaming down her cheeks, past the bandage over the place Ridger had sliced at her cheek. “What happened?” “You almost died.” a very frustrated voice blurted out from where my left leg was. I could barely make out the shape of a small girl with vibrant blue hair. Vinyl sat on the bed perching on her knees, her eyes bloodshot. She wiped a small pool of water from her eyes as she threw her glasses on. “Do you know what you put us all through? Do you have any idea what we have been doing since you were rushed here? Rarity’s been nothing but a nervous wreck for the past week and for the last three days you have done nothing since I got here except flatline.” She was visibly shaking, her glasses barely clinging to her face. “Vinyl!” a very surprised Twilight reprimanded her, “he just woke up, that’s no way to talk to him.” “Of course it is. He just got to lay there doing nothing while we all worried about whether or not we were gonna have to have a funeral for him.” “It’s not like it was his idea to get into a fight with a deranged psychopath. He needs to rest, and stop shouting, we are in a hospital!” “It’s ok, Twilight.” I coughed, still finding it difficult to talk. I glanced back to Vinyl. She was my best friend after all. I saw a couple tears escape from underneath her glasses and fall down onto the sheets. As the tears fell, she lunged forward and grabbed me around my waist. She didn’t sob, just shook. “Damn it, man. Do you know what I would have done if you died?” She said into my stomach. “Probably find a way to bring me back to life so you could kill me yourself?” I laughed, removing my hand from around Rarity and stroking Vinyl’s hair. “You’re damn right I would.” She chuckled, releasing her grip from around me and moved down back to the edge of the bed. I felt my vision slowly returning to me, even though shapes were blurry due to my glasses being elsewhere, I could still see the brightly colored blobs of hair around the room. I reached around for a table or desk, hoping to find my glasses. “Looking for these?” A gruff voice said, holding my glasses in front of my face. I smiled, taking the glasses from Magnum. I slipped them on and allowed the world to once again come into visual clarity. I took the chance to finally get a good look at the damage. My chest was pretty much all bandages, my left wing and right leg were casted while my left hand was so bandaged and red it resembled a boxing glove almost. “What time is it?” I asked, feeling lost in the madness that was my hospital room. “It’s about 4:15 in the morning,” Magnum said calmly walking over to me. He reached out his hand and placed it on his daughter’s shoulder, who had not moved at all since she had latched onto me a little bit earlier. “How long was I out…” “A week.” Magnum finally said after some hesitation. A week. I have been lying here for a week. Asleep, doing nothing. I felt shock wash over me. I almost died and spent a week in a coma. I flatlined and almost died here too. I missed Hearth’s Warming and spending it with everyone. What a great present. Here you go, a metric ton of agony as you watch me lay here, not knowing if I would wake up. Magnum looked down at me, his eyes watering. He grabbed me in the biggest bear hug that I have ever had the pleasure of having my ribs cracked again in. He whispered into my ear. “Thank you. Your uncle was right about you. You were able to keep my little gemstone safe.” “Well, of course I am right, it’s very rare for me to be otherwise.” Uncle Disc had appeared in the doorway with what looked like a doctor and… Dean Celeste? What was she doing here? “Uncle Disc!” I attempted to shout. He walked over to my bed and put his arms around me and Magnum. He freed me from Magnum’s grasp and smiled. Rarity had taken the opportunity to sidle up on the bed and cuddled my injured body. “Try not to shout so much, Mr. Lulamoon. The force would not be good for the ribs that were broken.” The doctor stated as he walked over to the bed past everyone. “Umm...excuse me miss,” he said, tapping Rarity on the shoulder. “I’m going to need you to move for a second.” “No.” Rarity stated very calmly, burying her face into my chest once again. “But I need to examine him and I can’t do that with you in the way.” “You have spent hours examining him. He’s mine right now so you are going to just have to wait.” She stated in a huff, but all the while a blush crept across her face as she resumed her snuggled position on the right side of my body. “But… ugh. Alright. At least let me inform Mr. Lulamoon of the extent of his injuries, now that he is awake.” The doctor started. “Your last name is Lulamoon?” Vinyl snickered from the end of the bed where she was now laying across. “It’s an adopted name.” I grumbled. “Dr. Celeste and I have taken measure of all of your injuries, including a couple….stranger ones.” The doctor continued, unaware of the small back and forth between Vinyl and myself. “Let’s start off with the least severe, the wing. It was snapped in two but the bone is set and will heal in a few weeks, although using it will be difficult for a few months afterwards. “The damage sustained to your torso was catastrophic to say the least. Four ribs were broken and we were very lucky that none punctured the heart. The internal bleeding caused by this and the stabwound to the stomach area were probably the things that would have killed you. You lost an estimated two liters of blood. Anymore and you would have been dead. Are you getting all of this?” I was barely registering anything at all at this point. Each time he mentioned an injury, a vivid picture would rapidly play before me of me sustaining said injury. I would cringe at every word. “Yes.” I lied. “Good. Now the severed tendon in the right leg was the most extensive damage. The surgery reattached the ligament, but unfortunately, there will be complications.” “What kind of complications?” Magnum asked. The tone in his voice….empathetic. He had this conversation before…. he must have. “I’m not going to be able to walk, am I?” I asked, understanding Magnum’s worry. “That’s not completely true. You will be able to walk, but not without assistance. The lower half of your right leg did not seem to respond to the surgery. You will probably have to walk with a cane if you are able to support your weight.” “But I can fly. Can’t I just fly everywhere? Like Dash does?” I asked, begging almost. “That’s where you are also slightly off.” Dean Celeste chipped in. “The way that we fly,” she said, brandishing her very large white wings, “is all about a system of balances. With your leg being damaged as badly as it is, it is unlikely that you will be able to fly correctly again. If at all.” I sat there stunned. I couldn’t walk and I couldn’t fly. I had spent years confining my wings, lashing them down. And when I finally let them out, they were taken from me. I felt the numbness start to creep over my body. “But not all is lost,” she continued, “with physical therapy, you should be able to regain both abilities, but only time will tell if the treatments will work. You will, unfortunately, still have to walk with a cane for the foreseeable future and flying is almost out of the question.” “Isn’t there anything that you can do? I mean, you’re doctors!” Magnum raised his voice, his voice trembling. “What else could we have tried? We used most of our medicinal magics but his body was resistant against all but a few spells.” The doctor said indignantly as he headed towards the door. “Wait.” I said, stopping the doctor, “What about my hand?” I raised my left hand to show him. “We will handle that, if you do not mind, Dr. Stable.” Uncle Disc said, conjuring a large winged chair behind him and sat down, looking quite comfortable. Dr. Stable nodded and left, no doubt to go about his rounds. “Magnum,” Disc said to his friend, “Why don’t you take Miss Scratch here down to the lobby where the others are waiting and tell them the good news. I’m sure we wouldn’t want my favorite student to continue worrying about her friend. She is always so eerie when she is depressed. There are a few things I wish to discuss with my nephew.” Magnum nodded and walked over to the door. “Coming Twi?” Vinyl said, reaching the door after Magnum’s frame lumbered out. “No no, Miss Scratch. I said exactly what I meant. Now run along and make sure everyone else is informed.” Disc said curtly. She nodded and looked back to me and Rarity. She smiled at us as she pulled herself from the room, shutting the door behind her. Twilight stood behind her mentor, looking quite worried clutching her tablet to her chest. When the door latch clicked shut, Disc turned to me. His face was stern and demanding. It was strange for me to seem him so...cold. “Gave us a little scare back there didn’t we? I am glad you have made it out alive. If it had not been for a lucky occurrence, you would have died.” He said, shifting his chair closer to the head of the bed. He snapped his finger and conjured up a coffee cup and a pot. Pouring himself a cup, he turned back to me. “There are a few things we need to talk about.” He said, sipping the steaming coffee. “First off, I need to know exactly what happened. Miss Filigree could only fill in bits and pieces of the event, so hopefully you will be able to fill in what happened before your untimely black out.” “I don’t really know what happened. It’s honestly kind of a blur. All I can really recall is the pain and watching Ridger snap the Sliver guy’s neck. I do kind of remember a throbbing pain in my hand, right as I passed out.” “Your hand was...mangled.” “What?” “Your hand was badly mangled when we got here, had what the doctor thought was bone sticking out of it.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a long rock. It wasn’t that thick, but it was about half a foot long. “What the hell is that?” “Yes, this is what was sticking out of your hand. And as you can see, it’s covered in blood. Both your’s and Ridger’s.” “Ridger,” I shifted uncomfortably in the bed, “what happened to him?” “I do not have any idea. When we arrived, we only found you, Rarity and the body of one Quartz Sliver. A blood trail led off but ended abruptly. There were no signs other than that.” Disc said, twirling the shaft of stone in his hand. “We came immediately when we found out. and if it wasn’t for her,” He said motioning to the dean, “we would have been planning a funeral. My dear Celestia and I have been good acquaintances for a very long time. It was lucky for us that she joined me at the conference for once.” “Discord, I have told you not to call me that in front of others. Please abide by my small request.” “I can do as I please, Celestia.” he stuck his tongue out at the Dean. But why were they calling each other Discord and Celestia. Those were not their names. Before I could ask them however, a figure from the corner of the room came into view. A tan woman, shorter than Celestia, appeared into view. Her long dress looked so formal and old. It was her. The woman from my dreams. She hovered slightly of the ground with large beautiful midnight blue wings. Even Rarity was amazed at the elegance of this woman. “Now Luna, don’t you have any manners?” “Discord, thou knowest we will never be on good terms.” “Oh are we still on about that.” He advanced on the smaller woman with a dark look in his eyes. “What I want to know is why you are following Crisp around? You knew that you were specifically forbidden to meddle.” “Thou said himself that thou meddled to save the life of one. If We did not do the same, how can we have ever claim to be called Princess. We have not waited almost nine hundred years just to have you fail us again.” “That is not the point, Princess Luna.” he said venomously, his eyes starting to become crazed. “It is exactly the point that thou made not too long ago.” She spat back, losing all her elegance. “Excuse me everyone,” Rarity finally spoke again, her voice weak and shaky, “what is going on?” The room went silent. “Ah ha ha,” the nervous laughter from Twilight rose from around the back of Dean Celeste. “Maybe it’s time you tell him, Professor. He’s been kept in the dark a bit too long.” “Tell me about what?” “A very long story. A terrible mistake that I made. One that involved your ancestors, Crisp.” “But I don’t even know who my parents are, how could you possibly know anything about my ancestors.” Discord chuckled and sighed. “It was not random that I found you in that music hall that night. I had found you after losing tabs on you when your mother died.” “You knew my mother?” “Of course I did. What a wonderful student, so talented for a peg.” He reached into his pocket for his wallet. From it, he pulled out a photo and handed it over to me. There she was standing next to a much younger Disc, the date had been worn off but it looked almost twenty five years old. Her amber hair glistened brightly in the photo, offsetting her brownish amber wings. “This is my mother?” “Yes, Amber was one of my most promising students. She loved school and learning, but she dropped out suddenly. I caught up with her again a year later to find out she had a son and moved to a small town. Twilight?” “Yes?” she squeaked. “Tablet please.” She handed over her precious tablet. Quickly he started flipping through pictures. “I have seen her before. In my dreams.” “I’m sure you have.” He said not looking up from the tablet. “Ah, here it is. One of the three pictures that still exist of her. And the only one of her with you in it as well.” He handed me the tablet. On the screen was the picture that Twilight shown me a week ago. The one of Uncle Disc and the librarian she was so fond of. “Is that me?” Rarity said, looking at the picture. “It has to be me, there is my father with his mustache and glasses. This must have been before we moved here.” “In fact, it was that day your father and mother decided to move here.” I sat there staring at the picture. “Does this mean…” “Yes. This is where you were born, you used to live in the library Twilight Sparkle and Spike Sparkle currently live in. That was the first day you met the girl on your arm.” “But…” “What does all this information have to do with your hand and this?” he said, holding up the stone. The small woman named Luna now advanced on my left side. She grabbed my hand and quickly unwrapped it in a midnight blue aura. I could not believe it. It looked like it was covered in a fine finish that reflected in the light, just like the stone. “So it is true.” She said, backing away. “He is one of the last surviving members.” “Luna, I know what he is.” “What the hell is wrong with my hand?” I said in a panic. I flexed it, thinking that it would be stiff as stone, but it flexed just as it had before. “Why is it like this?” “It is a very long story. One that I have been trying and hoping to keep you from for a long time, but I guess it is finally time to tell you about the real history. About the great war and the lunatic that helped curse this realm.” “What do you mean?” Disc held out the book that was laying on Twilight’s desk the night Scootaloo returned. Three large stones embedded in the cover, all similar to my hand. All shimmering in the lights. “It’s time you know about your history, Crisp Sheen, last son of the Crystal Empire.”