The Price of Wings

by Arcict

chapter 03: "Blood on the snow"

He was bleeding, his hoof had been split and now it was bleeding. Inwardly he cursed himself, he’d been caught running away again.

Last time he’d tried running away it ended up with him physically here in Equestria and mentally in the middle of a rat-maze. He’d had suspicions that Celestia was spying on him and he’d set up a trap to see if that was true. The trap worked, revealing that his landlords, Red and Orange, were reading his journal when he was out. This led him to the conclusion that Celestia didn’t trust him and was going to kick him out of Equestria soon, likely sending him back home.

Fearing this, Cobalt’s determination to fly had risen, resulting in him pushing himself harder in his daily exercises. To get himself into shape, he would go running each day to the Tear-Wallow Bridge and back again. This time, after reaching the bridge and having already started on the way back, Cobalt had turned back and returned to the bridge in an effort to push himself even harder. His fear of being sent back and never being able to fly, never being able to solve the riddle or finish “the maze” caused him to ignore the warning signs his body was giving him. This time he had pushed himself too far and his hoof was split in two.

He’d been caught running away again.

Cobalt checked his hoof, raising his left foreleg up so he could get a better look at it. Despite the extra pain he felt in doing so, trying to focus on something actually helped him to push through it.

The break tore all the way to the skin and from the blood that was slowly oozing its way out he could tell that the skin was torn too. It wasn’t much but even so, he’d never really gotten used to the sight of his own blood. Even during phlebotomy certification he felt much more at ease seeing other people’s blood fill the vacuum tube than watching his own.

Hoping for a simple solution, Cobalt put the hoof against the ground at an angle, maybe he could just pinch it shut with simple body-weight...

The pain was blinding and he soon found himself resisting the urge to pass out.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid” Cobalt repeated to himself when he got a better grip on reality again.

Over a minute passed, Cobalt moaned and called himself “stupid” a few more times as he tried to recover from this latest blunder.

“I’m not walking on it.” Cobalt said finally, “now would be an excellent time to have wings.”

Cobalt sighed, realizing he’d misspoke, but it was to himself so he didn’t care, he knew what he meant.

“I need to stop the bleeding” Cobalt thought, “I don’t have a proper tourniquet, no rope, no string, not even duck-tape.”

Noticing something gray in the corner of his eyes Cobalt smiled, the cloak, he could wrap it in the cloak.

Wrapping it up was a difficult affair, the hoof was very tender and every time he so much as touched it he would get stabbing needles shooting up his leg for being so careless.

“not so easy,” Cobalt thought to himself “playing operation when I’m both the doctor and the patient.”

He wrapped his hoof up as tight as he could. When he was done he tested how much pressure it could withstand, it was still extremely tender and if he slipped up and accidentally stepped on it he could easily cause himself to pass out.

That wasn’t good, he couldn’t very easily see himself just holding it up while he limped all the way home. Getting an idea Cobalt gingerly unwrapped it and then wrapped it again, leaving a long loop to slip his head through, using the cloak as both wrapping and a sling. It wasn’t as tight as it was before but at least he didn’t need to waste any energy trying to hold it up anymore.

Getting to his hooves, Cobalt began the long march back to the farm.

The going was tough, Cobalt didn’t have the energy to run and he felt too leery of his good foreleg to risk running on it anyway. Inwardly, Cobalt felt thankful that his hind legs weren’t hurting as bad as his forelegs were, with any luck they’d last him long enough to make the walk home.

Cobalt continued the dreary march, doing his best to keep focused on the road until he came to a slight curve, just annoyingly subtle enough that you couldn't really call it a turn, but not gradual enough to simply ignore. He groaned, it meant that he was farther from the farm than he had hoped, much farther. Even worse, a slight chill overcame him as he looked, it was already late into the evening, almost sunset, and it would only get colder the longer it took.

Cobalt paused as a weak and weary moaning crossed his ears from over the fields. For a moment Cobalt’s pace halted and he tried to keep himself more alert of his surroundings and keep an eye out for danger. Several seconds later, and he was peppered by some snow kicked up from the small ground blizzard that the strengthening wind had kicked up.

Though not yet very strong, the wind still concerned Cobalt a little and he almost regretted taking his cloak off to wrap his hoof. For a moment he considered redoing it so as to pull more of it over him but he decided against it; it’d be too difficult and probably wouldn’t work anyway.

Proceeding, Cobalt hoped that he could keep up the pace and make it back to the farm. For a while, the slow plod against the occasional gust or snow-burst shower from the field was all Cobalt could do.

*SNAP*

Cobalt froze, his attention had been so focused on moving and on the moaning wind that he’d been all but ignoring the trees to his left. He waited, perfectly still, listening for anything that could be out there. Cobalt considered, it was more important to remain stealthy than it was to attract attention. As much as his curiosity ached to know what was out there, in his current state he couldn’t even run away and fighting back was horribly likely to fail. In either case, if there was something dangerous out there, it was far better to simply let it pass unawares.

Years later, or probably just minutes that felt like years, Cobalt eventually realized that he was feeling even colder and slowly, he started moving again; if anything was out there, they’d avoided making any further sounds and therefore, must have been just as chilled as he was by now. Maybe the wind and snow had caused a tree branch to snap and he'd simply been startled by nothing.

Cobalt trudged on, his right foreleg feeling worse and worse as he did so, passing the woods and trading it for a few scattered trees and untamed but short undergrowth. The few weeds that still had stalks stood as silent skeletal sentinels in the snow. In another time, it would have seemed pretty and bizarre but now it seemed only strange and creepy, empty and devoid of life. Cobalt hoped that he could get a chance to come back here and look at them, now that he wasn’t running anymore.

Minutes dragged by slowly, stacking into what could have been hours.

Slowly Cobalt realized he was getting weaker and his right foreleg was hurting, he needed to rest or, failing that, he needed to get off that hoof or it was going to split too. He hadn’t been running and pounding on it but now all of his forward weight was going to it alone instead of sharing it with his left. Ironically, both rear legs suffered little more than the familiar low burn of worked muscles, they were fine for now.

Pausing, Cobalt cursed his luck, he was stuck in this quadruped body while suffering what would have amounted to a simple broken hand back home and he would just walk there and try to ignore the pain. As it was he felt too weak and too weary, and his right foreleg was telling him to stop or it too could end up busting apart and then he'd really be in trouble.

Cobalt stopped, looking at his busted hoof, still wrapped up in part of the cloak, for a few moments he just sat there, staring at it.

“If I can’t limp my way there as a wounded pony,” Cobalt said to himself, rearing up and struggling to maintain his balance, “then I’ll just have to get there like an injured human.”

It wasn’t easy and Cobalt fell forward several times, catching himself when he did, what made things worse was that every time he fell forward he was forced to stop himself with his remaining fore-leg which hurt worse and worse with every fall.

“This isn’t working,” Cobalt said “I need something to keep my balance, a walker or a wheelchair or I’d settle for a decent set of wings or...”

Cobalt looked around at all of the trees, their long dark branches barren of leaves.

“Or a cane,” Cobalt said.

With a new sense of direction and purpose, Cobalt plodded to the nearest tree. Actually getting a stick down was not easy as it had seemed but after a few minutes Cobalt had procured a decent sized stick for himself. The stick had a fork in it that Cobalt fitted his right shoulder into to help support his weight.

“Alright.” Cobalt said, setting himself up with the cane, “time to get myself home.”

The effort of tearing the stick off the tree had been a little tiring but at least he felt warmer now and that was important in the cold. Repositioning himself onto the road, Cobalt turned west again, headed for the farm.

Despite his efforts the road was still difficult and hard and the wind started picking up even more.

Cobalt lost track of the minutes several times and more than once he wondered if a whole hour hadn’t passed already. The sky was overcast and that made it difficult to discern but he knew that it was still well after sunset, probably after dusk and might be full blown nightfall by now. Well, even if he did get locked out of the house, the thought of the barn seemed far too warm and inviting to complain about it. Cobalt prayed many times that he could return to the farm safely.

*reach* . . . *step*

*reach* . . . *step*

*reach* . . . *step*

*reach* . . . *step*

Cobalt kept repeating this like a rhythmic chant, reaching out with the stick and using it for balance and support as he stepped with his rear legs. It was very slow going and Cobalt could feel himself growing a little colder every minute. That the wind was howling lightly again didn’t help him much and every time a twig would snap or some snow would fall from a tree because of the wind it caused him to startle and pause, listening for movement.

Cobalt continued, his pace fairly steady now, cobalt’s mind drifted, he couldn’t help it, A single star peeking out from behind the clouds in the distance, inspiring thoughts far distant from himself. Beyond that, it was so dark now, so much colder, he had to think of something or he was going to go insane.

What if there was a Timberwolf? Cobalt imagined a large furry beast before he remembered that he’d heard from Red that they were made of wood. He had a hard time trying to think of something made of wood and yet having workable hinges, eventually settling on something looking like a cross between a length of tree-trunk and a wooden puppet. He had no idea how the head would look as his imagination led him to strange and bizarre designs.

- - - - - - - - - -

“Another uneventful day dear sister?” Luna asked as she passed by Celestia on her way to the Watching Tower that the elder sister was vacating.

“As uneventful as any other day,” Celestia said, “which is to say, it was unbearably boring. You will likely have to wait for the cloud cover to part with the wind to get a good view though, it started growing with the recent chill.”

"You'd think that the Pegasi could stop it from doing that," Luna said.

"What would be the fun of that?" Celestia said coyly.

“You almost sound like Discord.” Luna commented, smiling wryly as she heard the sudden snort of slight disgust that came from her sister. Her use of older speech she reserved for formal affairs, dealing with others in a more professional manner, the simple and more common speech she found informal and personal and thus, used it more when in private.

Celestia paused a moment, and Luna sensed a desire for a change of the topic.

“Will you make another attempt tonight?” Celestia asked forcing herself to do so calmly, knowing how deeply affected her sister was by the subject she was bringing up.

Luna breathed slowly, pondering her reply as the change in subject settled upon her.

“No,” Luna said finally, “Let the little worm suffer for now, I won’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how much we want him to talk. Dusty Legend is still fuming from the last time we tried talking to him.”

Celestia considered this in silence for a moment.

“But what about your pet project?” Luna said, desiring to change the subject again, “any progress with him?”

“No, not really,” Celestia said, “life goes on.”

“I think he should be brought back to Canterlot to learn some manners.” Luna said, not willing to let the topic go so quickly, failure to keep it going could result in the conversation turning back to less comfortable subjects. “He’s never given the proper respect that any other pony does.”

“He bows his head,” Celestia said, managing to keep the defensiveness out of her voice but not out of her head where she knew Luna would see it.

“Nods is a more accurate term, and he does not bow down, ever,” Luna protested, “all he ever does is tilt his head down a little; he is treating us as equals rather than rulers! Has he never learned respect... or perhaps there is some other reason?”

Celestia sighed.

“No. And it cannot be helped,” Celestia said finally, “for a number of reasons. Firstly, he has had a long time to cultivate a wariness of any leaders or rulers, even if he supports them. And secondly...”

Celestia trailed off as she looked through the window. Outside, in the waning light of dusk, the moon was rising.

“Secondly, there is a part of him that does not want to give us full respect, at least, not until we recognize him as a full subject, a citizen.” Celestia said, “to demand of him obsequious respect while denying him the chance to be as any other pony, instead of just some... traveler, some visitor here on a trip... to him that is simply not fair. And in many ways it is unjust for us to demand it of him.
“I am convinced, if he had the ability to live here as a full citizen, he would bow to whatever was demanded of him. But he cannot even fly; his abilities are rivaled by foals! It is taking time, and money to keep him fed and alive enough just for him to get the skills he needs to do even the most basic tasks. He still needs help and a place to grow until he is ready.”

“And, when he does learn to fly? When he isready?" Luna asked, “What will prevent him from simply leaving and trying to evade us completely? He could do it you know, he’s calculating and even cold sometimes, he complicates even the simplest of questions by thinking and rethinking them until he has exactly the answer he thinks is absolutely the best, whether it really is or not. Furthermore, I have never known a pony get as upset as he when being told not to overthink things.”

“That too, he has had a long time to cultivate.” Celestia said, “A disdain for those that would tell him that he thinks too much. Indeed, one of the reasons for his wariness of leaders and rulers is simply because of how high a standard he holds them to. A standard that they, and everyone else he has known, has had a long time failing to live up to. It is also one of the reasons why I have kept him distant.
“Better to let him think what he will in the safety of his new home and see almost none of what we do, than to keep him close enough that he might see either of us actually make a mistake.”

“He is still judging us,” Luna said, “from what little he already knows.”

“But he is still uncertain,” Celestia said “he recognizes his own lack of information and realizes his opinion is only speculation, that keeps him in check and prevents him from acting on those judgements.”

“It won’t keep him in check for very long.” Luna said, “everything about him and how we handle him will change once he is able to fly. To say nothing of what will happen after that.”

“I know,” Celestia said, “But that should be at least a year away. And in any case, I have already begun making plans for him. Rest assured though, even if he learned how to fly today, with winter here it’s just too cold, he’d be all but forced to stay home. In other words, flight or no flight he’s got nowhere to go, which gives us time to prepare.”

“Dusty thinks we should just clip his wings.” Luna said, making sure to project the *I’m not serious* feeling that she wanted Celestia to pick up on. “Or threaten to, anyway, if he misbehaves.”

Celestia felt her sister projecting the jokiness that Luna intended to convey with the statement, but responded as though Luna had spoken in full seriousness.

“That is the opposite of what we want.” Celestia said plainly, “he will never thank us for that and his resentment, I fear, would cause irreversible damages. Even merely threatening to do so would put us at odds against each other.”

“What do you mean?” Luna asked, surprised at Celestia’s choice to take her joke seriously, “I mean, what could he do?”

“He could join the enemy.” Celestia said flatly, “or side with one of his cohorts. It has been a considerable gamble, keeping him ignorant of the fact that there even is an enemy. That was the main reason why we moved him, from Canterlot to Ponyville and now to a nameless little place where nopony ever really goes. To keep him hidden from the enemy and to buy him the time to earn his Cutie-mark so that he could blend in. If he goes around without it then the enemy will be able to spot him right away. And if they don’t kill him, they’ll try to recruit him. And if we did clip his wings, or threaten to do so, we could very easily drive him away, and likely right to them. Even worse though, if he did not join the enemy, he could become one.”

Luna was quiet for several moments.

“And in the meantime, we can’t do anything against our enemy?” Luna asked, “We still cannot free h... his prisoner? I cannot imagine why we do not simply have Twilight use the elements against him like they were used against...”

“This is different,” Celestia said quickly as Luna started going quiet, knowing that her sister was still ashamed to finish the sentence. “Their sources are too closely matched. The best way to overcome his power is to starve it from the source and then to use that source against him. But that isn't ready yet.”

"And so we wait," Luna concluded.

"And so we wait," Celestia confirmed.

Luna was quiet again.

“It was just a joke,” Luna said eventually, trying to keep the bitterness of her ruined joke out of her voice and out of her mind.

“I know,” Celestia said softly, walking over so she could supportingly nuzzle her little sister. “But we stand so close to the edge this time, I don’t know how much more I can take from the situation.”

“Do we still have no idea what any of them actually have? Luna asked, “what any of them will be?”

“No,” Celestia said, “With just him it’s easy enough to see why, he’s old enough that he’s developed enough talents and skills so that it could be anything. But...”

“But?” Luna asked.

“But I suspect it is something that is still developing, something he yet needs.” Celestia said.

“Why would that be the case?” Luna asked.

Celestia was quiet as she stared out of the window in contemplation, silence the only real answer she could give, the speeches, the lectures, it just felt meaningless now. "Why" was just a feeling, just a thought, with no real reason, just... just a whisper.

“You should get some rest,” Luna said “I shall guard the night and keep an eye out for trouble.”

They parted, Celestia heading for the door and Luna for the tower, then she paused.

“One question though,” Luna said, “just how well prepared are you for the future?”

“Oh you know me,” Celestia said, turning so Luna could see her intentionally over-confident expression, “my machinations don’t even have a losing outcome.”

“Except at the card table...” Luna sang jokingly as she entered the doorway to the Watching Tower, leaving her sister to stare at her out of shock and surprise.

- - - - - - - - - -

...and then, when the timberwolf reached the Melon’s place, I’d jump off from the back of his head and...

Cobalt paused, momentarily popping out of the daydream, he had to think about that bit; if he simply jumped off or anything then the wolf would probably stop, and that would bring trouble to the Red and Orange inside, as well as the other ponies living nearby. Maybe he’d be able to get ahold of something on fire like a smoldering long from the fireplace or something and ward it off or scare it away or something.

He became distracted, getting pulled from the daydream completely, it felt even colder for some reason.

Cobalt looked around, he had stopped. Sometime during his daydream, he had no idea when, nor how far he had left to go, and now he was colder than ever.

Cobalt got up again, surprised at what he found, his body felt numb and his hoof seemed to be hurting worse than ever. It was a struggle to move and it hurt worse and worse to keep going. Cobalt began moving, trying to continue his trudging, but as he continued his pace slowed as he started succumbing to the pain and numbness, it was hard and it was getting to him.

“Why, why did I stop and DAYDREAM?!” Cobalt thought bitterly, he wanted to cry, “My own mind, getting bored with the very struggle just to survive so what do I do? I descend into a stinking DAYDREAM! I stop going just for a little mental ENTERTAINMENT?!”

His shoulder was sore and his bad hoof hurt worse than ever, he had lost feeling in his good hooves which was a bad sign. It felt too hard to keep going, every step hurt now. He cursed himself, he didn’t have a home, he wasn’t fit or skilled for anything, he didn’t even have a purpose like everypony had, if this was his fate then he wasn’t meant to survive in the first place.

With a despair bordering on tears, Cobalt looked to the black sky, too dark now to even see the clouds that obscured the moon and stars.

”Here I am” Cobalt thought, still looking at the darkening, overcast sky, ”in a foreign world, in a foreign pegasus body that cannot fly, and I am failing it just as much as it is failing me.”

He could almost feel a creeping sensation of despair that crawled over him, from his head to his hooves the sense of utter nihilism obliterated his mind and covered his body. His desires and wants faded, he no longer wanted to keep going, death was nothing but a way out, away from the numbness and pain, away from all the stupid rat-racing, the spying, all of it could just be left behind if death took him now.

Regret and resentment filled his heart with thoughts of things he hadn’t had a chance to do. As these thoughts permeated through him a new sensation entered his heart and it made him feel dead inside. Old things he used to like started to fade. The cool feel of a fall wind...meaningless, quiet moments to think about something...pointless, music that made him feel things...empty, videogames...an utter waste, all these thoughts became numb and void to him.

Nothing mattered anymore, he was nothing but a waste, his thoughts were worthless, he’d never been able to make something of himself. He’d never had the guts nor the strength to face any worthwhile challenge so as to accomplish anything meaningful. He wanted it over, wanted it to end so he couldn’t have to stand this kind of misery anymore.

Gazing up at the darkened overcast sky, Cobalt slowly, painfully, closed his eyes.

* * * * * * *
With surprising ease, Cobalt looked around. The snow was gone but everything was still white. The cold, the pain, even the numbness was gone, there was simply... existence. The sky was blue, but it was a weird kind of blue, like it was only blue if you didn’t look at it. While most of the clouds were white, a few of the clouds seemed ominously pink but again, only if you didn’t look at them. Cobalt was too full of questions to form any single coherent thought for a few moments.

(Am I dead?) Cobalt thought at first, (that was awfully quick if I am, but if I’m not then it was still awfully quick and... it is really weird.)

All around him the ground was covered with a kind of mist which quickly blew away, revealing rubble and wreckage in a horribly chaotic clutter. Everywhere there was stuff that looked like broken drywall, bent furniture and numberless cloths and papers that were scattered around in a horrendous mess that mingled with the mist covering the floor.

He also saw what looked like a pony leg sticking up from the rubble.

“The storm spared few and many that were not killed still lost their homes,” said a voice, “I lost my parents and all my friends that night. The storm had killed them and destroyed the only home I had ever known. The only one that could take me in was an uncle that I hated.”

(I’m in a dream) Cobalt thought to himself (This must be a dream, oh crap I’ve fainted from the cold and now I’m dreaming to myself while I die of hypothermia)

“I wanted to die,” the voice continued, “to give up but I was too resilient as a -child- so I didn’t. I survived, and it gave me the strength to meet horrors that I faced as an adult. You are an adult already, and your own resilience is not as strong as it once was, but you can’t give up, not now.”

(what?) Cobalt thought, trying to focus on what the voice was telling him. It wasn’t a very harsh voice and for being a strong voice it seemed almost female but he couldn’t tell for sure.

“You cannot give up, you were chosen and accepted to bear this burden.” The voice came again, “and you must see it through.”

(Wait, me?) Cobalt thought, finding himself unable to speak, thoughts were all he could muster. He didn’t know where or even what he was, (what do you mean me, who are you?! )

“Stand up. Stand and fight soldier,” said the voice again, commanding yet understanding, a beckoning, “you know you must! As much as you can’t stand the pain, you must see it through to the end!”

Cobalt could only stare at the debris all around him, he was too curious and confused about everything to just focus on one thing at a time and thus was surprised when he realized that everything was blurring into the mist, everything, the debris, the mess, even the sky.

“Now stand! Stand and face the world again!”
* * * * * * *

With a start Cobalt gasped. He had slumped down onto his right side and into a thick snow drift. The snow was still all around him, the wind was still blowing, everything was still cold. He still wasn’t sure what he had just seen or why but it startled him and his breath came in frigid cold gasps that froze in his lungs. Cobalt resisted the urge to cough and tried getting his bearings again.

With a pained grown, Cobalt got up, picking up the stick and replacing it under his sore shoulder and steeling himself to the rest of his journey.

In many ways, Cobalt felt even more numb than before. Nothing mattered and maybe nothing ever would, but if nothing mattered then why should he die? If it really meant nothing then he could still live and maybe... maybe things would start to matter again. Maybe the things in his head and heart weren’t dead, just numb for the moment.

There was only one way to find out.

Securing his stick back into its proper place, Cobalt continued down the path, doing his best to ignore the pain; pain just meant that he wasn’t dead yet.

As he left where he had collapsed, Cobalt passed by another tree that was soon forgotten. Unseen by him, a pale and wispy, nearly transparent figure stared at him from above the tree.

“Go child,” whispered the ghostly figure before vanishing completely.

- - - - - - - - - -

Red Pepper paced the living room furiously, Cobalt had really done it this time, staying out late, and doing what?

Thoughts and possibilities passed through Red’s mind, reminding him of the doubts and fears he’d had to face when raising his own children as they had been growing up. He could be out there getting into trouble, cooking up some mad scheme, he could be carried off by dragons, he could be flirting with a mare down the road.

Red couldn’t tell whether he should be angry or impressed with that last idea, if it were true. Cobalt wasn’t even from their world, if he was flirting with some mare down the road then he was doing a great job at acclimating himself, on the other hoof, doing so when he still had so much to learn was categorically irresponsible. And being out this late to flirt with the mare down the road was just-

*THUMP*

Red turned to face what seemed to be the source of the noise. His hackles raised a little, partly out of surprise and partly out of fear, remembering the stories his father and grandfather had told him about the creatures that sometimes wandered out from the Everfree Forest.

*THUMP*

*THUMP*

*THUMP*

Red approached the door, it almost sounded as though somepony was knocking on it except it sounded too dull. As it was, it sounded more like somepony was simply bumping into the door rhythmically. Whatever it was it couldn’t have been trying to break the door down; if that was their intent they were thumping against it far too softly.

Red reached for the door handle and pulled the door open just as Cobalt tried banging his head against it again, missing and falling forward into the house, landing in a lump.

Red at first wanted to be furious with Cobalt at the abrupt and late entrance but he became quickly aware that Cobalt was crying out in pain. Cobalt flipped partially to one side to get the pressure off of his bad hoof, inadvertently removing the cloak it was wrapped in. Red got a very good look at the hoof as Cobalt tried to keep it raised so it wouldn’t touch anything.

The sight of dried blood was enough that Red almost fainted but he held on as best he could, he’d seen injuries before and knew fainting wouldn’t help anypony. It was only when he had gotten over his initial reaction to both Cobalt’s abrupt entrance and to the injured hoof that he got his third shock for that particular fifteen seconds.

Cobalt had turned all grayish.

“S... sorry I’m late,” Cobalt said, his voice somewhat weak, it was only now that Red realized how cold Cobalt’s body felt. “I’m afraid, I... little hard... trying to... here.”

- - - - - - - - - -

Cobalt didn’t remember much about the rest of that night, he knew there was some fuss over the hoof and things but he was so exhausted and tired and numb that he started shutting down fairly quickly. An old familiar desire started gnawing at him, sleep, he wanted sleep, let the mind let go and just let the body take over for a while, forever if need be. He’d reached his goal and there was nothing left driving him on.

There was some fuss from both Red and Orange and then it seemed for a while that one of the two, Cobalt wasn’t sure which, was gone for a while. While Cobalt wasn’t sleeping, something kept waking him up, yet he was too dazed to keep track of everything. The missing one, Red it seemed, came back and then, for some reason, Cobalt had to go back out into the cold.

Cobalt thought he remembered needing to operate some kind of machine, he kept feeling stupid because it was such a simple thing but, like in a dream, the machine was impossible for him to operate and he’d needed somepony to help him. Cobalt then remembered being strapped to something and unable to leave as the night became much colder and windier and he thought he was flying through part of it but he was probably just daydreaming again, he was on the road, the snow was going by so fast, somebody roll the windshield up, it was too windy.

Cobalt also remembered a dimly lit but quiet room and a clean building with hallways that were synthetic and there was more fussing and more ponies checking his hoof and things before he was put in an uncomfortable room where darkness settled in over him.

He awoke in a room he recognized as one belonging to... something, his lack of comfort was from his bad hoof, wrapped up and elevated above his body. But it was warm, and the bed was nice.

- - - - - - - - - -
Dear Dusty Legend,
Cobalt has really done it this time. This evening he split his hoof while he was out galloping around. Somehow he managed to drag himself back. We have sent him out to Thorough-blood hospital, he should arrive in a few minutes. I do not know how his medical finances are set up but I do know that the injury looked nasty and he seemed faint from exhaustion and cold.

There was something else that startled us about him. His coat and mane have changed; they’re much more grayish, almost completely monotone. While I haven’t been keeping a close eye on his color (I never thought I’d need to) yet I feel fairly certain that this happened recently.

I am sending this letter with the ponies that are carrying him to the hospital with the instructions that they are to pass it on to you; hopefully they will do so before morning and thus reach you faster.

Red Pepper
- - - - - - - - - -