Blaze sat in the waiting room chair, counting how many dots were in one tile. How long had he been there? He wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t feeling any more comfortable than he had when he first arrived. He looked up at the clock above the entryway’s door. Almost five hours had passed since they had arrived.
“Don’t worry, he’ll be alright.” The stallion beside him said calmly, though it seemed his comrade wasn’t feeling quite as certain. As Blaze counted the umpteen hundredth dots on the tile the doors leading into the next room opened, revealing a stallion dressed in what had been a sanitary white coat that now was stained with red in certain places.
“Ï have some news. Which one is the relative here?” The surgeon asked while lowering his mask. Blaze stood up from the chair.
“Is he alright?” He said slowly while walking closer to the stallion.
“He pulled through surgery well enough. The stitches are in place, but that is where things get complicated. You see, the wounds across his side were quite deep, I have a hard time figuring how he even made to the surgery table, much less had the strength before he got here to cast a spell of the magnitude implied by your accounts.” The doctor commented with a sigh. “The muscle along his side was ripped rather badly, not to mentions that the some ribs where broken and very nearly punctured a few things that can’t be done without. The stallion is lucky he even got here in his condition.”
“Will he make it is the question I think we all would like answered, not explanations on how bad he was; I believe we all had a pretty good understanding of that.” One of the stallions said, sounding rather strained to keep calm as he was.
“Very well then, he will survive, though how well is yet to be seen. He have done all we could to set his body on the path to recovering correctly, though it is up to him and you all to make sure he doesn’t push it. I give him a fifty percent chance of full recovering of all functions, twenty percent of limited mobility, and thirty percent for… complete loss of all muscular function on that side. I need to warn you all, though, that I am not a prophet, my predictions are based on if he actually does as he’s told. If he so much as steps out of line to even the slightest extent my predictions are as good as a hundred percent loss of all muscular function, so make sure he doesn’t stress himself for the next two months. Don’t let him out of bed for at least the first three weeks, after that try having him walk slowly. Now we need to talk about his medication. He is to have only two doses…” The stallion’s voice faded slowly along with the room around Blaze. Blaze looked around frantically trying to get his bearings, and then all of a sudden…
Blaze breathed in a deep breath, taking in the scent of something delicious. Blaze sniffed at the air again taking in the wisps of the smell. Blaze smacked his lips in delight, toast. He couldn’t remember toast ever smelling so good. He also couldn’t remember Twilight cooking something besides regular toast and the occasional sweet roll for breakfast.
“Hey, Blaze, get up, my mom has breakfast about ready for us.” Blaze heard Blizzard call from outside the room. Blaze rolled onto his side and looked over at him. He quickly realized he wasn’t on the couch in the library, but on a stiff box string in the guestroom of Amber and Blizzard’s house. It came back to him quickly, as if a light had been turned on, which in a way had happened when Blizzard opened the door to the room.
“I’ll be down soon enough.” Blaze then stifled a yawn as he slowly got out from the covers and on the floors. “Don’t hold up for me.” Blizzard nodded and headed away towards the dining room. Blaze rubbed a hoof across his eyes before leaving the room and heading towards the bathroom. As he entered, he turned the tub’s faucet on before ducking his head under the stream while shutting the door behind him and locking it with a flick of his magic.
As he watched out his mane his thoughts drifted to his dream, if he could really call it that. It had been so vivid that he couldn’t really say if it was a dream, much like he had a hard time deciphering what that vision thing back in the library had truly been. Blaze was beginning to think those two things, and whatever he had seen back at the old castle, were some sort of side effect of plowing into trees so often.
Blaze turned the faucet and toweled his mane dry, then after a few strokes of a brush, he styled his mane into its usual straight style. He looked at his reflection, but what he saw made his heart skip a beat. There in the mirror, looking back at him with a grave expression was his own image, but twisted. It wore a helmet that bore several gashes, each of which had streams of blood trickling from them. Blaze reached out to it, but found that instead of a hoof, a blade rose up where his reflected hoof should be. Blaze looked back towards his reflection and saw the silvery glow that enveloped its… his horn. The reflection mouthed something, but then Blaze realized he could hear the words.
“…but I believe now that I can make an exception. I believe the rules can be broken this once to end you once and for all.” With that its eyes flashed white; the helmet tumbled to the side while its mane was picked up in an ethereal wind. A bright light blinded Blaze for a second. He blinked several times before looking back into the mirror and seeing his reflection as it should have been. He sighed and splashed his face with a little water from the sink before looking back to the mirror, his normal reflection shown proudly. He sighed as he unlatched he door, and with one final glance at the mirror, he walked towards the dining room.
“Good morning, Blaze, I hope you slept well. I never thought anypony could ever be comfortable on that old thing.” Amber’s mom commented as she put a piece of toasted bread on the one that already occupied the plate. Blaze looked at it, noticing how it was more light brown than blackish. “It’s my own special recipe, a slight twist on an old family favorite.”
“It looks delicious, thank you ma’am.” Blaze commented as he levitated his fork and jabbed it into one of the pieces of toasted bread.
“Well you are most welcome. I hope it taste as good to you as it does to Half Pint. Where is that colt anyway? He was supposed to deliver the milk five minutes ago.” She said just before a knock on the door caused her to jump. “Sometimes I swear that colt stands outside our door until I talk about him THEN knocks just to spite me.”
“I’ll get it, Mom.” Amber said as he stood up from her chair and walk over to the door. She threw open the latch, and then looped her hoof around the curved handle and pulled it in. “Hello, Half Pint. How’s the rout been this morning?” She asked while stepping aside to let him in.
“Good enough, no dogs casing me anyway, but Bon-Bon had me give her two extra bottles, something about a cake or some pastry or another. Because of that I had to run back home and get my second load before getting to Matilda and Cranky’s house, but hey, I’m here.” Half Pint explained in a slightly annoyed tone. “Seriously, Bon-Bon of all ponies should know that if you want extra milk you should place an order at the very least the day before, if not three days.” he added with a huff. “And on that note, here’s your three bottles.” He continued while unlatching his cooler-saddlebags so that Mrs. Cross could take the last three that were inside.
“How is Quarter Gallon doing? Is his leg doing any better? I know that your rout has been much harder after having to take over for him as well.” Amber asked while putting some of the toast onto another plate for Half Pint.
“He’s doing a bit better, he still’s got about a week in that cast according to the doctor, but even after that he is supposed to not go back on his rout until another week has past. Something doing with making his sure his leg is alright, but I would think after having it inside of a fake rock for three weeks would pretty much cover for anything wrong with it.” Half Pint commented as he sat down at the table. “Morning, Blaze, doing alright?” Half pint said with a smile.
“I’m alright for the most part.” Blaze said before putting the piece of toast in his mouth, releasing a sudden burst of flavor that quite honestly surprised him. “Wur, dis is gurd!” He commented in delight while still chewing away.
“Careful there, Blaze, you’re starting to be more and more like Half Pint.” Amber said with a small smile painted across her face. Blaze briskly swallowed with a blush, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Half Pint was smiling as well.
“Sorry, but that has to be some of the best toast I’ve ever had.” He continued while cutting another bit off of the next slice.
”Yeah, and I eat things like this every time I do my milk rout.” Half Pint commented with a chuckle. “Almost makes up for the fact I don’t get much of an allowance.” Blaze nodded as he finished the last bite of toast he had. He quickly levitated a napkin and wiped off his muzzle.
“So, any plans for the rest of the day?” Blaze asked, getting into a tad more comfortable position in his chair.
“Not really, most plans we might have had were pretty much cancelled because of a certain centaur problem.” Blizzard commented as he entered from the door that led to his room. “We could always just sit around all day.” He added with a smirk.
“Well, no matter what we do I still need to get these coolers back to my house. I’ll see you all when I get back, have fun trying to figure out what to do.” Half Pint said as he stood up from the table. He quickly took his last piece of toast in his mouth before heading out the door in a brisk trot.
“Well I think you all should go to the park and get some exercise. All those trips to Sugar Cube Corner it’s a wonder you are as thin as you are.” Amber’s mother said as she entered the room again.
“Well Half Pint and I do rounds of hide and seek nearly every other day.” Amber commented while looking over to Blizzard.
“I got my daily work out and my weather job on the weekends.” Blizzard added, looking over to Blaze expectantly. Blaze looked back at him, and then realized what was going on.
“Oh… uh, I usually do a couple laps around Ponyville in the mornings.” He stated hastily. He had been given that assignment by Flint to help him with his problem of a distinct lack of stamina. In truth, for the first two weeks it had been a struggle to make it through all five laps around the village then win a duel against Flint, though after that it had become slowly easier. The last session had been a testament to that, with him nearly beaten Flint before he had been worn out.
“Well I know for a fact you haven’t done that today.” Mrs. Cross commented with a smirk. “So how about you get Half Pint and of you head on down to the park.” The three ponies nodded before heading out the door. Blizzard took a deep breath in before letting out a long drawn out sigh.
“I think today is a rather good day for some physical activities. The air seems fresher than before for some reason.” Blizzard remarked as he stretched out his wings.
“It might have something to do with being cooped up inside for most of yesterday.” Amber said as she ducked away from Blizzard’s extended wings.
“Do either of you have ideas for what we might do when we are there? Going to the park is all fine and dandy, but if we just sit around we might as well just sit around your house with a window open.” Blaze questioned as he trotted in place, loosening his muscles in anticipation of some strenuous activities.
“How about we play some hide and seek?” Half Pint said as he came in from a gallop beside the trio. The three others looked at each other thinking about the suggestion.
“Not to be a sour apple or anything, but isn’t that a tad… foalish?” Blaze asked earnestly, gaining glances from Amber and Half Pint.
“That never stopped these two.” Blizzard scoffed as he folded his wings, not even looking his direction. “All those in favor raise your hoof.” Amber and Half Pint raised their hooves proudly, followed eventually by Blizzard. “Alright, hide and seek at the park it is, Half Pint, you’re ‘it’.” Blizzard said before spreading his wings again and rushing off in a whirl of dust. Half Pint shrugged as he turned to face the opposite direction of the two ponies.
“Just try and remember that the park is all the hiding area you got, no hiding in town or something dumb like that. On… two… three…” As Half Pint began counting the two ponies took off for the park, leaving him far behind in a matter of seconds.
“Follow me; I know a good place to hide.” Amber said as she charged down another road to their right. Blaze knew he would miss the turn with how fast he was going, but instead of grinding to a halt, he ran on and took the next turn he could and quickly rejoined Amber after a few quick corners.
Soon enough they reached the outer edge of the park where a lone tree stood. Amber dove between the roots and disappeared into the shadow that engulfed the entrance. Blaze slowed down as he came closer. He peered in cautiously, trying to see if there was enough room.
“Get it here before Half Pint finishes counting. He only even goes to forty.” Blaze heard Amber from inside the shadow. He slowly inched inside, and to his surprise, found it to be rather spacious under the rather big tree.
“How did you find this place?” Blaze said, marveling on how livable the space seemed to be. It was big enough that Flint could probably live in it comfortably, a thought that made Blaze a tad suspicious.
“Some wandering traveler found it a while back. He slept in here before he actually got a house of his own. He used to brew some of the most wonderful smelling coffee in the mornings. When he left I opened it up a bit more and sealed up most of the holes so that it would be harder to spot and get in to.” Amber explained.
“Was this traveler wearing a black cloak perchance?” Blaze questioned, feeling a bad feeling about all of this.
“No, he wore a white lab coat, but he did have a black undershirt.” She replied, relieving Blaze’s worry a bit. Knowing that this hadn’t been a former of Flint made him feel a bit better; he really didn’t like being in another pony’s home, even if it had long since been abandoned, it just felt wrong. “So… um, do you want to talk about something until he comes?” She asked hopefully.
“I don’t have much to say. Not much has been happening, except maybe the sudden move into your home, but you know all about that.” He responded as he listened closely to their surrounding, making sure that Half Pint wasn’t anywhere nearby.
“Well… um… I kind of wanted to ask you something about a few weeks ago.” Amber said in a rather shy tone. Blaze raised an eyebrow at this.
“Sure go ahead, what is it?” He asked as he continued to search the area with his ears. Amber shuffled uncomfortably beside him.
“Well… it’s about something that happened at the lake.” Amber said finally, causing Blaze to stiffen up a tad. “When you were getting me out off the lakebed I saw some… color coming off of you.” She continued, assuring Blaze of what he had guesses by a simple glance he had been given that same day by this same pony. “I could have sworn it had been coming from your cutie mark, almost as if it was coming off. I just wanted to know… is your… your cutie mark… um, fake?” Blaze let out a sigh. He considered lying to her, but he couldn’t see that going anywhere pleasant.
“Yeah…” Blaze stated simply as his shoulders slumped in defeat. His secret was out, and there was no way to get it back under wraps. “Back when I was… younger… my father was concerned about me not getting my mark for so long. I had tried all of the tricks of the trade, but I ended up being a jack of all trades but master of none. That was something he couldn’t live with, and he almost considered leaving me in a town after our show.” Amber gasped at this.
“H-he wouldn’t, you’re…” Amber trailed off as Blaze lifted one of his hooves for silence. He sighed again before looking over at Amber.
“I heard him myself that night. He said we weren’t a traveling freak show and having a colt my age around without his mark wouldn’t exactly be something he wanted for us, nor anything that would be good with the public. My mom eventually convinced that I should be given a bit longer.
“A few nights later I snuck out of camp and painted this whirl of fire on my flanks. After flashing a few bands of fire and coming back to camp, my parents were concerned, that is until they saw the marks. I acted as surprised as they were, saying that I had felt like I hadn’t done my best in the last show and had wanted to make sure I had gotten it down as best as possible. After that, my father seemed to accept me completely… well, at least a lot more than he had in the past.” Silence hen fell over the small shadowy hallow under the tree.
“Oh… I’m… I’m sorry… that… that you had to go through all of… that.” Amber sputtered at last. Blaze nodded silently before scanning the area for any sign of Half Pint with his ears.