//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Rusted // by gallagsp the corgi //------------------------------// Shimmering Blade wiped her eyes. Taking a deep but shaky breath, she tried to push those horrible memories away. When she was lost she didn't have time to worry about what she had done, she was too busy trying to survive, but now that she was home safe, her mind was beginning to make up for lost time. A quick glance at the clock showed she had about 10 minutes to go before the therapist showed up. She sighed and slowly took off the covers, then swung her back legs off the side of the bed. She leaned forward slowly and set her front hooves on the floor with a soft clop. She took a few small steps toward the bathroom. The doctors said she wasn't supposed to go anywhere without help, but she really needed to go, and she wasn't about to wait on some nurse to help. She stumbled on weak legs and entered the bathroom unscathed, using her medication drip to support her. She did her business and then looked in the mirror. She watched her own reflection for a while, brushing a piece of her mane out of her eyes. She hated bangs. At the first available moment she was going to get a haircut. She looked at her face. It was a bit of a mystery to her, really. She had almost forgotten what she looked like, that scared her. A few scars ran across her face, most notably the three parallel lines across her cheek, near her jaw line. They were caused by her captors. She smiled to herself, checking her teeth. They were yellow, two were missing, and a few were chipped, but she had gotten used to the odd shapes in her mouth. Overall, her face looked like somepony dropped a bomb on it, which wasn't too far from the truth. She made her way back to the bed and got in slowly, pulling the covers over her worn-out legs. No sooner had it happened than a knock sounded from the door. It opened a moment later and a pony stuck his head in. He was a unicorn, light green coat and a brown mane. he wore glasses low on his face, and he wore a sweater underneath his white doctor's coat. He lacked a stethoscope drooped around his neck like most of the other doctors, and instead had several pens stuffed into his shirt pocket. "Shimmering Blade?" "Let me guess: You're the shrink." "In a way, yes. Though I prefer to be called a counselor. Shrink makes me seem like I deal with crazy ponies." He stepped through the door and pulled the chair in the room closer to the bed. He sat down in it and pulled a notepad from beneath his coat. Shimmering Blade briefly wondered what else was stashed in there. "Here's the deal: I know you don't want to see me, so I'll waste as little of your time as possible. Just a couple of questions and I'll get out of here." "Sounds perfectly fine to me." "So do you know why I was asked to see you?" "Because they think I'm crazy?" "Nope. Because you have a very special situation on your hooves here. You are the last pony to be rescued that is still alive. Its been what, three years?" "Four." "Right. My mistake. Anyway, four years is a long time. A lot has changed in that time. And I mean a LOT has changed." "Humor me, doc. I know stuff's been changing. I know we have 2 princesses now, but what else?" "Oh my." The doctor said. "You are very far behind, I'm going to have to get you caught up before we continue." "Well, get started then. What did I miss in the last four years?" "Sheesh. Where do I even begin?" He pondered briefly. "Alright. So a little over four years ago, right after the war ended and life was beginning to go on as normal for us back home, some student from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns figured out that some ancient prophecy was going to come true, she was right, and Nightmare Moon, who was Celestia's Sister-turned-evil, returned from her imprisonment to dethrown Celestia and rule with total darkness." "And obviously she was stopped." "Right. Now She's the second Princess. Her name is Luna, and she's not much of a socialite from what I've heard, but she always hosts a huge festival at the castle during Nightmare Night, any way, so after that we had less than a year of peace, before Discord, who is some twisted animal thing and supposed "Spirit of Chaos" was awoken from his imprisonment and tried to take over. Again, he was stopped by the same ponies who had stopped Nightmare Moon, using something called the "Elements of Harmony" which are, to put it bluntly, like a super weapon of world-ending proportions if used incorrectly, which is why these six ponies are the only ones who can use them." "Okay, you've got me interested here, what happened next?" "Another year later, A third princess and her fiance are planned to get married, but it turns out she was kidnapped and replaced by a Changeling Queen, big bad motherbuckers who trick you into thinking you are someone you love, then feed off your love, slowly killing you in the process." "Bad ass." Shimmering Blade scratched her chin. "Actually, I think I've heard of those guys before. They're from the badlands, right?" "I think so, we really don't know, and there was a huge paranoia after they were stopped, almost by the Elements of Harmony, but get this, supposedly they were stopped by The power of love, the very thing they feed off of!" "Well, they do say too much of a good thing is a bad thing..." "I guess so." The therapist chuckled. "And then, get this: one year later A curse put on a kingdom called the Crystal Empire is broken, and a slave-driving evil king comes back from the dead to rule the kingdom or something, so that third princess, MiAmore Cadenza, her new husband, and the Elements of Harmony stop him, and now the Crystal Empire is a State of Equestria until they can modernize enough to function on their own." "Okay, that's cool, I guess. Anything else?" "Well, that Discord guy came back and was reformed, so he's supposedly a good guy now, and that student who predicted Nightmare Moon, who is also the leader of the Elements of Harmony, became a princess, so now we have four of them." "Sweet Celestia, just how much did I miss?" "A lot, actually. I can fill you in on some of the finer details if you like." "Alright, go for it." Shimmering Blade said, shrugging. This doctor wasn't like the others, she could tell he actually cared for what the patient wanted more than what he wanted the patient to do. She liked that. And although she hated history is school, she couldn't help but be interested in what he was saying. And, despite all her best efforts, Shimmering Blade felt a small smile make its way onto her face.