Chapter 2- Questions
I’m not a big fan of dreaming. Don’t get me wrong, you can have all the sweet dreams you want. I’d just rather have a good night’s sleep. That and the fact my subconscious is a haven for horror junkies. The usual nightmares from old memories; funerals, the war, the terrors I wish I could forget. Tonight wasn’t any different.
Rose was out in the garden again. She had planted a new batch of tulips now that it was spring. It was still early morning, the sunlight pierced through the treeline. I descended from the porch and approached her. A ray of light graced Rose’s face, adding to her beauty even more.
Rose looked just like she did the day I met her. She smiled when she saw me walking toward her and reached out. I was about to grasp her hand, but it somehow shattered as if it were fine glass. Her expression remained the same to my shock, just smiling. Slowly, Rose’s body began to reveal cracks as if she were a mirror. A flower petal gently lofted down from the heavens and landed on her forehead. This minor impact enacted a complete implosion of crystalline.
I awoke in a sweat, breathing heavily from the nightmare. Cursed subconscious. I had thought the sound of shattering glass was in my head, but another similar sound echoed from the kitchen. It was still fairly dark, but on the verge of sunrise. I pulled myself out of bed and put on a robe to investigate the noise.
Any suspicions that I may have had about last night being a dream were soon forgotten. The pony that wanted to spend the night.. what was her name again? Ditzy? She was now clutching her head in a nervous wreck over the broken dinnerware.
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, I'm so so sorry!" she whimpered. Ditzy lowered her head sadly and tears formed in her eyes. The kitchen was in disarray, smudges of what appeared to be dough decorated the counters. She started speaking even faster "I wanted to make breakfast to thank you for last night, but when I was grabbing some plates they just fell an-"
"Hold on hold on," I replied. I was still trying to process the whole scene before me. I could care less about the mess in the kitchen, no use crying over spilled milk. It was the possibility that I might be going crazy after all.
My renegade brother-in-law probably would have argued that waking up to see a pony in your house was normal. Then again he was the forever bachelor type and spent many of his waking hours at the end of a bottle. I've had to bail his sorry hide on several occasions, each of his stories more unusual than the previous. But I was neither drunk nor was this a normal pony.
I paced around the distraught kitchen, inspecting the damage. Ditzy caught my attention, she looked like she was mere seconds from crying. "I promise to clean it up."
I shook my head and responded, "Listen, I'm not mad about this. It's just that I never thought I would go insane so quick. This doesn't seem real."
Ditzy wiped her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Well, ponies don't normally speak," I explained.
She chippered up a bit from realizing I really wasn't angry. "I'm not just a pony though, I'm a pegasus pony! But since we're talking about things that don't seem real, I've never met anypony like you before."
I shrugged. "Guess that means we're in the same boat then. If I may.." I paused, but delicately picked a few flakes of flour out of her mane. She was still just as dirty as she was the night before, now added with this morning's mess. Ditzy opened her mouth to say something, but the ding of the oven bell interrupted her.
"Muffins!" she shouted excitedly. Ditzy lifted quickly off the ground with her wings and opened up the oven. The pleasant and delectable aroma of blueberry muffins flooded the kitchen. She grabbed a serving tray with her mouth and eased the muffins onto it. When she plopped them onto a clean counter, they puffed out perfectly enough to showcase on a cooking magazine cover.
Ditzy flapped her wings a few times to cool the breakfast delights down. "Here, try one!" she exclaimed. I walked over to grab one and thought to myself about the whole situation. So far this delusion had probed sight, sound, smell, touch, and was now going to venture into taste. I bit into a muffin half-earnestly. My ho-hum attitude suddenly reversed into one of euphoria, the savory goodness playing across my taste buds.
"I will give you this, even if all this is just an illusion, this muffin is pretty dang good," I replied. Ditzy smiled and gobbled down one as well. I sighed contently. "Tell ya what. As thanks for the wonderful muffin, I'll clean this up while you go take a bath. You look like you need some good relaxation. The bathroom's the first door on the left down that hallway."
Ditzy looked at where I pointed and nodded. "Thanks Cec!" she joyfully said. She trotted towards the room and closed the door quietly behind her.
I was still smiling despite the sinking realization. As I began to clean up the mess, more and more questions started to arise. Is this really happening? How can she speak? Have I gone crazy after all? Where do I go from here? How did she know how to use the oven? Have I been going about this too casually if this is real?
The sound of splashing water echoed from the bathroom. My train of thought derailed from another memory, the last time that I had heard it from outside of that room. Back when Rose.. wait, what day is it? I glanced over at the calendar and remembered that it was that day. Our wedding anniversary.
I made my way over to the bathroom door and knocked. "Hey Ditzy." I beckoned.
"Yeah?" she called back over the noise.
"I gotta go do something real quick, clear my head. You can eat anything in the kitchen, I'll be right back," I explained.
"Okay!" she replied. I could get answers later, right now I had to visit her. I grabbed a jacket and walked out the front door.
"Crazy, isn't it? 40 years ago both of us said "I do." I've said it before and I'll say it again. I think I was the one who got lucky," I joked. The dew of the cool spring morning dampened my knees where I knelt. I placed the tulips I had just cut that morning next to her tombstone. The cemetery was empty as usual, nobody else really had a reason to come. It was a smaller set-up that included the county's ancestors, but that only totaled a few.
"The flowers are in bloom now, I was afraid that late winter was going to mess up their schedule. But here they are, same as always," I continued. "Truth be told, I think I'm the one who's changing now. We always joked that I had a few screws loose, but I'm wondering if that's really coming to be after all. Ya see, there's a po-"
"Cecil?" a voice behind me asked. I turned my head to see an old friend of Rose's, Abigail. We had known each other since we first moved to Montpelier. She was the town veterinarian, a more reserved and quiet one at that.
"Abigail, good to see ya, it's been a while. What brings you here?" I asked. I turned around to face her and noticed the bouquet of flowers she was holding.
"Oh Cecil, you know I go by Abby. I just wanted to visit up with Harold," she explained. Harold had passed away a year ago. Abby had taken it pretty hard at first, but she eventually adjusted with help from the town. "Checking on Rose?"
"Yep, today's our fortieth anniversary," I responded.
"Ohh, I'm so sorry Cecil," she said, lowering her gaze to the ground.
I waved my hand and dismissed the apology. "No need to be, I still have those good memories. How about you though? How have you been?" I questioned.
"I've been better, but today's a good day," she joked. Abby's eyes readjusted past my shoulder and her expression changed to one of surprise. She raised a finger to her lips. "Shhhhh. Cecil, look over at the trees there," she whispered.
I followed her directions and searched for what she was referring to. It took me a while until my attention focused on a small silhouette. Ditzy was watching us.
"You can see her, too? That's a relief, good to hear I'm not crazy yet," I stated.
"Huh?" Abby uttered.
"Just a sec. C'mon over!" I called out, waving my hand. She was apprehensive at first, but cautiously cantered to us. Her wings were folded closely to her back, not particularly visible at all. Abby’s eyes widened.
She knelt down and smiled. “Oh my.. Cecil, she’s adorable, where did you find her?” Abby asked. She raised her hand slowly and rubbed behind Ditzy’s ears. Ditzy leaned into her hand, enjoying the affectionate gesture.
I mimed to Ditzy behind Abby’s back to remain silent just in case. Had to take this one step at a time. “Well, we kinda just found each other,” I replied, not really lying, but not revealing the whole truth. Then again, I still didn’t know what exactly was going on myself.
“You’re very lucky then, she’s amazingly docile,” said Abby. She continued petting Ditzy. “This probably sounds crazy, but I swear I’ve seen this pony before. My granddaughters visit every once in a while and they bring over some pony toys. She looks like one of their favorites, what did they call her again.. Ditzy?"
Ditzy gasped. "You know my name?" she asked. So much for one step at a time.
Abby's jaw dropped, the confusion tying her tongue. "Did she jus- ponies don't- ohhh!" she stuttered before fainting. I was close enough to catch her, luckily, and laid her slowly onto the grass. Ditzy and I exchanged looks. She bit her lip in thought and I scratched my neck.
"Not exactly what I had in my mind, but we can't really change anything about that now," I reasoned.
Ditzy looked back from Abby to me and replied, "I'm sorry, but can you blame me? She knew my name even before I met her, it surprised me. What do we do now?"
I pondered for a moment over the choices. We couldn't just leave her there and hope she would think it was a dream. Even if that did work, it was a larger concern that there would be a different problem at hand with her health. There was really only one thing to do. I gently cradled Abby's weightless form and stood up holding her. "We'll go the cabin for now, it's closer than her home and it won't gather any unwanted attention."
Ditzy nodded and flew alongside us as we traversed back to my home through the woods. It was quiet for much of the journey. I was taking extra care of where I stepped while Ditzy appeared to be thinking about some questions. I glanced over at her. "So this is real, isn't it?"
She narrowed her eyes confusedly. "What do you mean?"
"Everything that's going on. Or moreover, that you're really not just a result of a mental breakdown that I might be having," I responded.
"Nope, I'm as real as the nose on your face! You're not crazy, Abby saw me too."
I contemplated this over and over in my head. I looked further up the path and realized we were within view of the cabin now. "Fair enough. Let's take care of Abby first and then we can talk more. I'm sure you and I both have a lot more questions for each other."