Chapter 4: Layers of Red Over The Blankness of White
“Aurough!” I yawned aloud, my new pony mouth stretching in an oddly uncomfortable way.
I took a quick glance around the opaque white room. The walls, ceiling and floor were all some form of white. Such an interesting color, white. It could be the beginning of a painting, where all other colors would be plastered over it in a last ditch effort to eradicate its glowing perfection, or it could be dissolver, washing over the spectrum of colors that once inhabited its spirited plain.
This white was different though, for there was nothing but. No contrast, no separation, just white. I tugged my color hungry eyes from the rooms coat to see exactly where I was. Waking up in a new place every time I went to sleep was definitely not helping me adjust to this new world. I was on a bed, thank god, a large and durable white bed. There was a vast quantity of medical equipment around, which was only surprising because I did not think I had been broken that badly.
I tried moving my arms, they were alright. My legs were currently in working condition as well. Everything seemed to be in order. If I was alright, why was I still in the hospital? Before I could delve further into my thoughts, the door creaked open slowly.
“Excuse me, are you awake Drumroll?” asked a quiet voice.
It was my purple friend from yesterday, here to check up on me. I knew Twilight was a wonderful pony to her friends, but she had just met me. I suppose she did say she’d be back every day, but I didn’t think she meant it literally. I smiled and waved her in, happy to see a familiar face nonetheless.
“Hey Twilight, what brings you here?” I grinned.
“I told you I’d be back to see you every day. I want to make sure you make a full recovery.”
She returned a genuine smile. But that smile soon turned into a deceptive smirk as she continued.
“Besides, while you’re here all copped up in the hospital, you’ve got plenty of time to answer my questions.”
I was in for it now. There was no Spike to pick me up from this fall. I had to come up with answers to this pony fast, or be subject to some unfortunately unnecessary hospital trauma. Again, the faint purple glow radiated from her horn, lifting a pen and paper from her bag. Tapping the pen twice, she cleared her throat and started the long montage of questions.
“So first things first, why are you here in Ponyville?”
My mind worked fast, a lot faster than usual at least. If Spike had talked to Twilight, she would know if I was lying. Although unsure of what that would amount to, I figured it would be best to try and explain at least part of it.
“Honestly, I have no idea how I got here. I only remember falling asleep in my home, and waking up on the ground in a crater just outside of Ponyville.”
Alright, I had only somewhat told the truth, I couldn’t help but lie. How could I even begin to talk about waking up in Rainbow Dash’s bed? And even if I had told the truth, it was so illogical that a scholar like Twilight would just say I was lying anyways.
“Oh,” she said, slightly gasping as she did “You mean you don’t remember anything from before your fall?”
I almost responded, but soon realized that the question was a trap. If I agreed, then I would’ve known I had fallen. I took the roundabout way to getting my own answers out of her.
“My fall? Was that what happened? Where did I fall from?” I quizzed her, an innocent, child like smile on my face.
The purple pony was quick on her feet, er, hooves too “Well I only assumed you fell because the crater had to have been created somehow, don’t you agree? No matter though, if that is all you remember then we shall move on to the next question. I noticed while caring for you that you didn’t have your cutie mark. I don’t mean to insult, but why are you still a blank flank at your age?”
She was good, exceptionally so. I suppose that was to be expected from a pony such as Twilight though. I couldn’t resist making this a subliminal battle of wits. Who would trip up first? Only time would tell.
“As you’ve seen, I can get myself into quite the bunch of messes. Ever since I was a colt I’ve been getting into accidents. You could say that they’ve impeded my ability to discover my talent. I’m surprised you hadn’t deduced that by now, Ms. Sparkle.” I smirked, seeing if I could unnerve her.
She pouted, a bit set off by my underhanded comment. “Last question, Mr. Drumroll” her tone had a slight tinge of animosity in it. It was new for me to hear, only having seen her good side in the show. “Do you like books?”
I took a quick double take. Books. Books. Her last important question for me was about books? I thought she was going to grill me about, well anything really. But books, how odd.
Taken aback, I replied “I, uh, yeah, I guess I like books.”
She grinned a devilish grin at me. It was then I realized what she had done. She won our little game of wits, tripping me up with an out of the blue question. The both of us wanted information the other wasn’t ready to divulge, and she knew that as well. Clever , clever pony.
“Good!” she said, bouncing from her seat. “I’ll bring some by tomorrow then. Wouldn’t want you to get bored here.”
Although she had momentarily become flustered with me, Twilight was still the same loving pony at heart, and in only moments, she regained that composure. With a nod and a smile, she magically opened the hospital door and went on her way.
I lay as I was, staring at the blank ceiling. Was I being too over cautious about my situation? I was in Ponyville after all, one of the friendliest, more accommodating places ever thought of. I could be safe here; no worries, no impending doom to stress over. I was alright.
The rest of the day went by quite slowly, nothing much to do but think. Nothing important crossed into my head, but they were thoughts nonetheless. As the day followed upon its closing, I glanced once more at the curtain beside me. I could not see the window on the other side, but felt the fading warmth of the setting sun from behind it. The surreal feelings put my mind at rest, bringing me to a peaceful slumber.
I awoke the next morning, refreshed and ready to take on the world, save my busted wings. Breakfast came; it was some odd slop, just like the food Rainbow Dash had eaten when she stayed here. I wonder if this was her room? I wonder if she’s still after me? As per usual, my train of thought was derailed and destroyed by a young, brilliant unicorn bursting through my door.
“And how is my favorite patient today?” she asked gleefully.
“Doing just fine, thank you.” I smiled back.
She lifted a large stack of books onto the clean stand next to my bed. The paper novels landed with a bang, shaking the small table.
“You said you liked books, so I figured I’d bring you the whole series. One of my friends loves these books, I thought you might as well.” She giggled, “I do have the whole series after all.”
I glanced over at the top of the book stack, it was Daring Do. She was talking about Rainbow Dash. She was a genius, trying to smoke me out by referencing Rainbow Dash to me. So nice, but so cunning at the same time.
“Oh Daring Do, I love these books.” I laughed, playing along.
“Great! Hopefully you haven’t read all of them yet.”
“No, I’ve got plenty to catch up on.”
She pulled up the same chair from yesterday and sat down. From her pack she pulled out a small ragdoll and string. The doll’s arm had been torn slightly, and was obviously in need of mending. Taking a closer look at it, I noticed the doll to be Smarty Pants. It made plenty of sense for Twilight to be fixing her own doll, but I was almost assured that Big Macintosh had it. Oh well, I was sure there was plenty that I didn’t know about the goings on of Ponyville.
For the next few hours, Twilight and I talked as she sowed. Idle chitchat turned into insightful debates, and those in turn became philosophical discussions. I had always been appreciative of having my friends around to have deep conversations with, but never before had I talked with Twilight like this. The amounts of topics we covered was astounding, reaching from friendship to death. Somber at times, we managed to keep our spirits high with revitalized outlooks on life.
Over time, I felt my need to engage in a battle of wits decline. Twilight was just as she appeared, not some con-pony trickster trying to get information out of me. She genuinely cared about me and my well being. In those few hours of entrancing word play, I grew to enjoy my new role as Drumroll very much.
Concluding our final topics, Twilight and I said our goodnights. She told me that she would not be in tomorrow as she had to help Rarity with a dress. I was perfectly content with that, having thoroughly enjoyed our conversation today. Bubbly and joyous, the unicorn left my room, shutting the door slowly and silently. I let out a long sigh of content.
“She’s quite th’ pony aint she?” grinned an unnamed voice from within the room.
I jumped up, startled by the unfamiliar presence. Landing flat on my back, I felt my wings fold inward and grimaced in pain. Trying my best to ignore it, I looked to my right, searching for the origin of the sound.
“Who’s there?” I called out, worried.
“Heheh,” laughed the deep, drawn voice “Ya aint noticed your own roommate?”
Finally the voice caught the memories of my ears and I realized who had been speaking. Big Macintosh was here. He must’ve been on the other side of the curtains the entire time.
“Oh, I’m really sorry. It’s just that you haven’t said anything yet, I didn’t know anypony was there.” I apologized.
“Ah shoot, aint no need to apologize, ah was jus’ bustin’ your chops.”
I chuckled in response, “So you heard all that then?”
“Eeyup. Mighty intrestin’ things y’all were talkin’ about.”
The tone in his speech was indefinable. I wasn’t able to pin point it because Mac had never really talked…ever. To hear his voice in real conversation was new to me, but having somepony there who could break the boredom of the empty nights was nice.
My pause in talking was enough to get him to follow up his statement, “I almost forgot. Ma name’s Big Macintosh, but most people jus’ call me Big Mac.”
Although he couldn’t see it, I was happy about his polite introduction. Had I had a hoof to shake, I would’ve shaken it. Customarily as with any world, I told him my name.
“I’m Drumroll. Nice to meet you Big Mac.”
“Mighty nice to meet you too Drumroll.” He paused, “Now Ah don’t mean to be a burden, but are y’all able t’ walk?”
I stretched my legs out on the bed and hopped off. Everything was fine except my wings.
“Yeah, sure thing. What do you need?” I asked.
“Ah’m certain Ms. Sparkle left a small doll ‘ere. Do ya happen t’ see it?”
I walked slowly over to the chair as to not aggravate my wings and noticed that Smarty Pants was still there. I picked her up in my teeth and walked to the other side of the curtain. There lay Big Mac, hunched on his side, facing the dark window. He had a cast of some sort wrapped around his side that restricted his movement, and a few bandages over his hind legs.
“My god Mac, what on earth happened?” I gasped, taking a step back in astonishment.
“Oh this? T’aint nothin’. Jus’ bucked a tree too hard an it came a crashin’ down.” he chuckled.
As he chuckled, he scrunched further into a ball, the laughing obviously upsetting his fragile center. I could see the wince of pain in his eyes, but also the determination to move past it. He turned his head, still gripping his ribs, and looked at me.
“Smarty Pants!” he exclaimed with a cough, hurting his sides once more.
I trotted as quickly as I could to give him the doll, leaving it in his arms so that he didn’t have to stretch too far. His wounds looked pretty bad, which I guessed they were seeing as he was in the hospital and all.
“Thank ya kindly.” He smiled, a manly tear welling up in one eye.
The doll must’ve been very precious to him. Had Twilight known that Mac was here the entire time? Was she fixing the doll just for him? I would have to ask her later. Right now it was just Mac and I. I looked back at Mac, realizing just how different he was.
He wasn’t only different in character, but all over he contrasted with everything I knew. Big Mac was the strongest stallion around, able to complete the toughest of tasks and power through any challenges. But here I saw him weak and helpless; beaten by an accident and gripping close to a child’s doll. Mac felt my perplexed staring and responded with an eloquence that baffled the mind.
“Oh Ah know, y’all think it’s a might weird that a big ol’ pony like maself is holdin onta a girl’s doll. Well Ah’ll tell ya a lil’ somethin’. E’er since Ah was a colt, ma pappy told me t’ always be maself an stand up for what Ah believe in. Now ma pappy’s gone now, but he was one great stallion. This ‘ere doll is some’in Ah hold extra close t’ ma heart for reasons Ah don’t need to tell nopony, an Ah’m mighty glad Twilight fixed ‘er up for me.”
“Aw, now Big Mac, I didn’t mean it that way. I myself am, well, I don’t fit into normal standards either. Whatever makes you happy is perfectly alright with me.” I confessed.
With his body covering the majority of his face from where I stood, I could not make out his facial expressions well enough to tell, but his voice inflected a sort of strong resolve.
“ Ya know, Ah haven’t always been too happy ‘ere, but family and the farm keep me goin’. Ah work ma hardest for ‘em an for maself. But ya’ll don’t hafta stay around here if ya don’t feel welcome y’know? If y’all aren’t happy, then ya c’n jus’ leave.”
I took in every word he said with vast intent. Being such a quiet pony, Big Mac obviously had a lot to say about his life and his thoughts. What was more was that he was right. I could be anywhere in the world right now. But I was here in Ponyville. I didn’t have to be, but did I want to?
“I, I know,” I stammered, a bit offset “I could leave if I wanted.”
“But are ya happy?” he repeated.
I thought back on the past two days. From falling through the clouds, to crashing into the ground, to being taken in by Twilight, to here. Everything really did start to blend together after a while. Happiness was such an odd concept. Every emotion I had been having was filled with some sort of surprise or astounding discovery.
I looked back at Big Macintosh, covered in his bandages. I thought of how different things were in comparison to how they appeared. Ponyville wasn’t exactly the same bright place as it was in the show, but it was close. I glanced out the hospital window for the first time, seeing the shimmering moon and stars. This universe, just like mine, had a beautiful night sky. What could there be to make me unhappy?
“Yes Mac, I am happy.” I finally responded, glowing resolve in my voice now as well.
“Good. Then why don’t y’all stop worryin’ bout what’s done and happened t’ me, and go back t’ bed?” he said, his words showing more playful sarcasm than imperative design.
“You’re a good pony Big Macintosh. Mind if we chat more tomorrow?” I asked hopefully.
“A course we can.” He smiled.
I took one last look at the large earth pony before walking back to bed. His coat bore a dark red coloring. It gleamed in the moonlight from the window. Just as his speaking and personality contrasted with my thoughts, the richness of his color contrasted intensely with the blankness of the room. His still form was like a photo plastered on a wall. Unmoving and unchanging, yet so revealing and defining. The white that surrounded him seemed to melt behind his omnipresent form.
“Night Mac.” I whispered, thinking he had already fallen asleep.
“G’night Drumroll.”
The vivid colors of his red coat glued to the fronts of my eyes as I closed them. Drifting once more into a comfortable sleep, I could hear the two voices.
To the left, “True friendship is a bond that never breaks.”
To the right, “Interesting how easily your perceptions of them are broken, isn’t it?”