Recovery
Once again the group stood in the hospital. Pete was currently sitting in a bed in the corner of the room looking out the window. The rest of the group were standing around in the room.
“So who wants to talk to him about this?” Liz asked.
“I think it should be me.” Twilight answered.
“I’m probably also a valid option.” Jay responded.
“I think I might speak to him as well.” Luna added.
“I’m not sure how well he’ll handle this. He’s dealt with a lot of shit for a long time. I think this might be his breaking point.” Matt said looking over at Pete.
“In the few days he’s been here. He’s been through more than most other ponies go through in their lifetime.” Twilight added.
“I can hear every word you’re saying you know.” Pete said from across the room.
The others looked over at Pete. “We’re sorry Pete, we’re just worried about you.” Twilight said.
“Well don’t be. I- I just need some time alone to think some things over.” Pete said looking out the window.
“But I can’t just leave a friend alone in a time like this.” Twilight said. “Especially considering this is the first time something like this has happened. We could learn so much from this.”
“Wait, you aren’t planning on turning me into some sort of science experiment are you?” Pete asked.
“What?! No I would never do that to one of my friends.” Twilight responded.
“Well, except for that one time when you hooked me up to those machines in your basement Twilight.” A bubbly voice said from somewhere.
Everyone started looking around the room trying to find the voice. Twilight however just rubbed her face with a hoof. “Pinkie that was different.”
“Was it Twilight?” The voice asked.
“Twilight, I’m not hearing voices am I?” Pete asked.
“Pinkie would you please show yourself?” Twilight asked.
“Sure thing Twilight” A very pink mare said suddenly stepping out from apparently behind Twilight.
“How- how is that possible?” Pete asked.
“Don’t ask. Pinkie what are you doing here? It’s been too long.” Twilight said embracing her friend.
“Well I’m here because I heard somepony was all frowny so I wanted to make them smile.” Pinkie said bouncing around the room.
“Twilight should I be worried that I’m losing my sanity?” Pete asked.
“No Pete, it’s just Pinkie being Pinkie.” Twilight answered.
“I think that if that’s her being normal I’m a little scared.” Pete responded.
“I wouldn’t be. Pinkie would never hurt anypony. She just wants to see everypony smiling and happy.” Twilight told him.
“That’s right Petey.” Pinkie said jumping around his bed.
“Please just Pete.” He responded.
“Okay Petey.” Pinkie said.
Pete sighed. “Are you always going to call me that?” he asked.
“Yep, always and forever. It’s just like that time where-” Pete’s eye began to twitch as Pinkie began rambling on about some long story of hers that apparently involved an alligator.
“Stop!” Pete said extending a hand. Pinkie was suddenly forcibly stopped as a black aura surrounded her mouth and it was zipped shut by a zipper. Pete blinked a few times. “Did- did I do that?”
Twilight’s horn lit up and Pinkie’s mouth was unzipped. “Yes I believe you did.”
“Great. All I wanted was a normal life and then the zombies come along, and then just when I start to get used to things all of this happens. I travel to a different universe, meet colorful talking ponies, gain magical abilities. What’s next?” Pete asked putting his head and his hands.
“Oh come on Pete, do you know what I would give to have magic abilities?” Jay asked. “That reminds me, is there any unicorn blood I could get injected into me?”
“We’re not intentionally injecting you with unicorn blood just so that you can get magic.” Twilight told him just slightly annoyed.
On the other side of the room Pete put his head down on his pillow. ”Could you all please just go?” he asked. “I’ve had some rough times these last few days. I’d just like to rest for a while.”
“But Pete-” Twilight began.
“Twilight please, just a day’s rest please.” Pete said calmly.
“…Alright Pete.” Twilight said. “Come on everypony give Pete some time to rest.” With a few complaints from Pinkie, Twilight finally convinced the group to leave.
Twilight was about to leave the room. “Twilight.” Pete said getting her attention. “Do you think that you could tell your brother to come and see me sometime?”
“Of course” Twilight answered. “I’ll tell him the next time I see him.”
“Thanks Twilight.” Pete said with a small smile before putting his head back down and resting his eyes.
The next time Pete was awoken it was the sound of the door opening and shutting. Pete sat up and looked over seeing Shining Armor near the door. Pete raised a hand in greeting.
“Hey Pete.” Armor greeted. “Twilight told me you wanted to see me.”
“Yeah I did” Pete responded. “You see I just wanted to thank you for pulling me out of that house.” Pete told him. “And I also wanted to apologize to you.” This was the point where Armor got confused.
“Apologize?” He questioned.
Pete nodded his head. “Yes apologize. You see before I came here I had some pretty traumatic experiences involving my brother, and I’ve kind of had trust issues because of it. I really misjudged you because of that, and I don’t know if we had been in the other’s position if I would’ve done the same thing.” Pete told him.
“Pete you don’t have to apologize for not trusting me.” Armor told him. “Truth be told I really didn’t trust you.” Armor said with a small chuckle which Pete joined in with. “So if you don’t mind my asking, what did happen with your brother?” Armor asked.
“That’s something I don’t really want to talk about.” Pete answered. “But if you really want to know you can ask Twilight about it. Just by mentioning my brother she’ll know that I’ve given my permission for you to learn about it.”
“Wait, you told Twilight about your past?” Armor asked and Pete nodded.
“Yes I did.” Pete answered. “It was a few days after I arrived. When she followed me to the wall after that training session.”
“Why her?” Armor asked.
“I don’t know. I haven’t even told any of the other’s in my group about it, but something about her just made me tell.” Pete answered.
Armor chuckled. “Yeah, she’s persistent like that. I’m pretty sure if she wants to know something she’ll find some way to figure it out. Regardless of the difficulty or odds of the task.”
Pete chuckled as well. “I just hope that my new abilities don’t warrant me to become a lab rat.”
“Truth be told I’m interested as well.” Armor told him. “Before this only unicorns have ever been able to use magic.”
“Don’t tell me you’ll support her if she tries to kidnap me in the middle of the night.” Pete said to him.
Armor had a small laugh. “No, she may be my sister, but I would never support kidnapping.” Armor told him. “So what’s it like for you to use magic? How do you control it?”
“No idea. It doesn’t really feel like I’m doing anything. I just kind of feel like I want something and it seems to happen without my knowledge.” Pete answered.
“Could you show me?” Armor asked. “Could you try to use it intentionally?”
Pete shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I could try.” He answered. Pete looked around the room hoping to find something to demonstrate on. He saw a small desk across the room with a small paperweight on it. He reached out his hand pointing his palm at the weight. Slowly it was enveloped in a black aura and started to lift away from the table. Pete gritted his teeth, small beads of sweat forming on his forehead. The weight began to drift away from the table and towards Pete. It was around halfway when Pete gave a small gasp for air and his hand dropped against the bed. The weight lost its aura and began to fall as well before a different aura surrounded it and caught the weight before it hit the floor and broke. Pete was taking deep breaths trying to regain his strength. “It’s a bit harder when I have to think about it”
“Magic is a confusing thing.” Shining Armor said setting the weight back on the table again. “Still for only having magic for a few days you’re showing good progress.”
“You think?” Pete asked.
“Yeah, sometimes it takes weeks for a young foal to learn how to even use a levitation spell.” Shining Armor answered. “Of course then there’s Twilight. She decided she was going learn it in a day. It only took her six hours.”
“…Yeah, that sounds like her.” Pete said with a chuckle. “Anyway I’m sorry for taking up your time. I’m glad we could talk.”
“Don’t worry about it. It was a good talk, and I think that I’ll leave your past alone for now. I don’t really need to know.” Shining Armor told him.
“Fine by me. By the way I’m told I’ll be able to get up and move around by tomorrow morning. I’ll be at the barracks in the afternoon. Don’t be late for training.” Pete said with a smile.
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Shining Armor said over his shoulder as he walked out of the room.