Chapter 8: Aftermath
Tyro slowly woke up. He seemed to be on a flat, hard surface. He was sore and in pain from some terrible experience he couldn't remember.
He knew this wasn't his bed in Ponyville, and he didn't have one anywhere else. His eyes opened, slowly, and he saw that he was locked inside a steel cage, one of his hooves chained to it. Whatever his ordeal had been, it didn't seem to have ended. Tyro tried to get his eyes to focus, but he couldn't seem to manage it. Between that, the raging headache, and the pain all over his body, Tyro just slumped to the floor again. He felt something wet against his flank, looking down to see blood smeared on the bottom of the cage. Judging by the injuries he could see and the pain he could feel, it was probably his own.
Tyro let his eyes slip closed, to end the dizziness of trying to see through them, and prayed to Celestia for unconsciouness. It evaded his grasp, however, and so he lay there, bleeding, with little hope.
Tyro heard a door open, then a yell, then a receding sound of hoofbeats as the door swung shut again. He was in too much pain to care what it was.
A door opened again, then closed. Yelling and arguing. It hurt his ears, aggrivating the headache he still felt. Finally, a door opened, the closed, and Tyro had his silence again.
A door opened. He heard someone giving orders, then an angry voice. His cage vanished, and he dropped painfully to the floor below. Angry voice again, then silence.
Somepony picked him up, carrying him somewhere. His eyes glided open, and focused for a moment as he looked up at Nurse Redheart.
Tyro felt himself being laid on a soft bed, and covered up by a warm blanket. Finally, sleep came.
Tyro woke, slowly. His eyes were able to focus again, and he saw he was in the Ponyville Hospital. He was almost covered in bandages of some kind or another.
As he stirred, a yellow face looked down at him. Fluttershy. She had waited here for him to wake up... that was nice of her. He croaked out his thanks, hoping she understood. She seemed to, but he couldn't be sure. Most of the pain was gone, but his head felt thick and he couldn't think very well.
"Tyro, you're awake," the quiet pegasus observed. "I'll go get the others—"
"Fluttershy... no... just you stay..." For some reason, he didn't want to be near anypony, but with Fluttershy there he felt safe. He felt protected. Nothing would hurt him. At some level, he knew that this was the same trust as that which the pegasus' creature friends had for her. At another level, he didn't really care as long as she didn't leave him alone again.
Fluttershy wasn't really sure what to think. Tyro had clearly been through some terrible ordeal in that cage in the library. She knew, of course, about the incident with Luna. Twilight couldn't have been happy about that, but she would never go so far as this.
Soon enough—too soon for Tyro—the pegasus had no choice but to let in a visitor. It was Luna herself, who had hurried to Ponyville immediately upon hearing the news about Tyro. Fluttershy allowed the princess to enter, alone, closing the door behind her. And so Fluttershy didn't see Luna's horror at what lay before her. She only heard it.
"Fluttershy... come here, please." There was pain in Luna's voice, and the pegasus hurried to comply. The last thing she expected was for her princess to throw her front legs around her, shaking. "This was done by... by a monster," Luna explained. "The creature who did this enjoyed it. Delighted in his pain and suffering."
Fluttershy looked up at Luna. "Then... who did this? Or what?"
Luna shook a little bit. "I once did things like this. But when I did, ponies called me by another name. Those were the days of Nightmare Moon."
Fluttershy gasped. "N-Nightmare Moon?"
Fluttrshy, this was not my doing. Nightmare Moon is gone. Where did you find him?"
Fluttershy immediately answered, "in the library, locked in a cage. But I don't see... It couldn't have been Twilight... could it?"
The princess nodded. "It had to be, or rather Twilight's own Nightmare. Everypony has one, you know. Even you, Fluttershy."
The yellow pegasus refused to believe this. "I could never do something like that."
Luna sighed, stroking her friend's mane. "You could too, if you had a good enough reason. The problem is that when we push ourselves too hard, our emotions take over. Twilight was vulnerable and something pushed her over the edge."
Tyro had woken up, and finally spoke. "I noticed that." His voice still rasped a little bit, but it was better than before.
There was a knock at the door. From outside, Applejack's voice was heard. "Twilight is here. She wants to see Tyro."
Fluttershy squeaked a quiet "no, don't, please" while Tyro rasped "please, no!"
Luna overrode them both. "Send her in." Both ponies gave her a look of horror. "This has gone on long enough."
The door opened, and a pony stepped through. This wasn't Twilight, this was a disaster. Her hair was in disarray, her face showed signs of recent tears, and her head drooped low. Luna closed the door again behind her, and the unicorn slowly approached Tyro's bed. When she saw the extensive damage, she somehow managed to look even worse.
"Tyro, I'm so sorry... what I did last night... how could you ever forgive me for that? The terrible things I did to you, the things I said. Tyro, I took pleasure in hurting you! I used magic on you that horrifies me even now." She swallowed, hard. "I've talked to Applejack, and she's agreed to give you a place to stay. I don't expect that you'll want to come anywhere near me for a while."
Luna looked at Fluttershy. She was clearly not expecting such a severe apology. Twilight was practically on her knees, begging for forgiveness. Luna peeked around the edge of the bed. No, she was on her knees. Luna herself had expected nothing less.
"Twilight," she said, putting a hoof on the unicorn's shoulder, "I know better than anypony what you're going through right now. Your Nightmare was controlling you last night. You can't blame yourself. The pony who did this wasn't you, Twilight!"
Twilight looked unconvinced. Luna wasn't sure what to say, so she just stood there, trying to be supportive. Tyro, though, seemed to have something to say.
"Twilight," he whispered hoarsely. Luna knew he was planning something. She knew he could speak louder than that. "Twilight."
The guilt-ridden pony leaned over the bed to hear what her friend had to say. Tyro's uninjured foreleg reached up and pulled her closer. Twilight's face was a study in confusion, and Luna suddenly knew what he was going to do. Quietly, she left the room.
"Everypony, it's time to go. Tyro needs rest, and Twilight needs... what Tyro has to say to her. We can visit him later." Tyro's friends looked disappointed, but complied.
Inside the room, Twilight had no idea what was going on. Tyro had reached around her and pulled her closer until she was practically touching him.
Tyro whispered again. Three words. Twilight collapsed against her friend, shaking, as he held her against him.
"Tyro, after what I did—"
He silenced her with a touch. "That doesn't matter, Twilight. I don't care what happened. Your Nightmare came out, and you aren't responsible for what you did after that. I don't blame you, and you shouldn't either."
Twilight was silent. It was enough just to have him there. He had forgiven her. He didn't want to go live with Applejack instead of herself, and he didn't cringe from her touch. She broke into tears, then, tears of happiness.
"Uhh, Twilight? I hate to ruin the moment, but you're getting my bandages wet." This was just too much, and she buried her face in his mane. Tyro kept holding her close, until she finally broke away.
"Thank you, Tyro. I don't deserve it, but thank you. I should go. You need to rest." Quietly, she went out the door, closing it gently behind her.
Tyro looked at the closed door. "You do deserve it, Twilight." He closed his eyes, an was soon asleep.