Looking at himself in the mirror for the nine-thousandth time, Rescue frowned. Turning, glancing at the blue t-shirt with the EFD logo on the single pocket, the simple pants. Turning this way and that, ignoring the pile of things on the bed and the floor of the little room he rented, Rescue gave a little huff and turned again, tilting his head back.
“Makes my plot look fat, perhaps I am fat. Oh hell, what am I going to do, what if he thinks I am fat? What if he doesn’t like what I am wearing? I should have bought something new…”
“Rescue, with all respect and love I have for you my friend, shut up.”
He snapped his attention back at Lyra, who was sitting in the weirdest way on the bed legs crossed, with her face in her left hoof as she shook her head, looking back at him.
“You look fine, it's a dinner date, not the Gala. Ailan is taking you out because he wants to be with you, not what you dress in.”
Snorting and looking back in the mirror, part of Rescue expected that negative voice to talk, but since the party two nights ago, since that parting kiss, the voice had been oddly silent. He pondered a bit as he looked back over towards Lyra.
“You sure? I mean, look, I ain’t been on a date in over twenty years, it's been since my last year in school.”
She slid off the bed and trotted over to him, looking up as always at the bigger pony.
“Yes, now relax will you! I am sure you are going to be—”
Rescue and Lyra both turned their attention to the door as a light tap came on it. He flattened his ears and looked around the room. It was a mess, and he started to hyperventilate some. Lyra rolled her eyes once again and hooked her hoof on his front leg and yanked. Rescue found himself almost thrown at the door, managing to get it open just in time. He used his body to block the room behind him and stepped out, staring right into the eyes of a surprised but happy pegasus.
“You look great, Rescue," Ailan smiled warmly.
What should he say? What should he do? Did Ailan just compliment him? Oh sweet Luna, he had forgotten how to speak, he has gone mute he has…
“Ouch, hey!”
Looking back over his shoulder at the mint colored mare, who just poked him with a hoof. She offered Ailan a smile.
“Good evening, Ailan, you look great. Forgive this big lug here, he seems to have gone dumb.”
Again, Rescue gave a snort and looked back at Ailan. The pegasus had on a simple vest, and that was it, but it was clear he had preened and cleaned himself up quite a bit. Laying his ears back, Rescue found his voice at last.
“Y... You look really handsome... Oh, er good? Great!”
Ailan laughed, a warm, soft sound as he put his hoof up on the big stallion's left leg.
“It's okay. Relax, Rescue, we are going to have a great time, and hello to you, Lyra.”
Lyra pushed her way past in the hall and said with a cheeky little tone. “You have him back by ten, and remember, Bon Bon and I expect his virtue to remain intact.”
Rescue’s eyes shot open, even as Ailan started to chuckle at that. He shot the unicorn a dirty look and gave a huff.
“Goodnight, Lyra.”
Ailan kept up the soft laugh and turned, nudging Rescue with his shoulder.
“I don’t know, Lyra, big stallion like this, how do I keep my hooves off him?”
Rescue blushed a bright red shade, though relieved his coat color hid most of it. Lyra, however, laughed and slapped Ailan gently in the muzzle with her tail.
“Just remember, no drinking. Now, you two have fun.”
Off she trotted down the stairs. The big stallion looked over at the slightly smaller one at his side and tucked his head down a bit, finding himself looking right into Ailan’s eyes.
“I... she means well.”
“Oh, I am quite aware, Rescue. She and Bon Bon gave me quite the talking to,” Ailan's eyes grew soft and his smile warm. “They love you quite a bit, Applejack the same, they really put me through the wringer before I even got to that party.”
Rescue gave a chuckle at that. He knew how they were, even in the short time they had all been friends he knew they would act like big sisters around him. “Sorry about that. They, well, tend to be a bit overprotective of me for some reason.”
They both headed down the stairs and across town. Walking shoulder to shoulder, talking about this and that. One set of eyes however, watched them go past, and narrowed with a deep frown.
Dinner was very nice, they sat in the back patio of the restaurant. Both talked, and drank some water rather than wine. The food was amazing, even if there was a slight back and forth as to who would pay for the meal. Rescue found himself caught off guard when Ailan shoved his lips to his own. A kiss soft, but held for a few seconds, only for Rescue see the bits on the tray next to the bill when it broke.
“That was not fair!” Rescue pouted.
Ailan smirked and gave a shrug. “So? I don’t see you saying you didn’t like it.”
Rescue shook his head as they both got up and trotted out. It was early yet, and Ailan had suggested they take a walk down to the park. Turning down a narrow street together they found their way blocked by three ponies. Two earth pony and one Unicorn, oddly both Ailan and he knew all three of them.
“Red, how you doing, what is—”
“Shut your mouth, coltlover!”
Rescue’s muzzle snapped shut. The venom in the red stallions tone, the look in his eyes, he had seen this before. This was not a good place to be, he glanced over at Ailan but kept one eye on the three troublemakers. Ailan shook his head.
“Red, we are not looking for trouble, just go on, you are drunk. Go sleep it off.”
“Screw you, plotlover. To think I let you work on my sites, and to think I took money from some, some… foalbucker.”
“Enough, I won’t let you stand here and talk like that Red, go home, I will come get my final check in the—”
The swing came out of nowhere. Rescue saw it but had no time to stop it. He watched in horror as Red’s front hoof smashed into Ailan’s jaw and sent him down like a tower of blocks. The other ponies two started to laugh, as Red spoke up.
“You won’t get anything, coltcuddler. You stay off my jobs, and as to you, freak...”
Rescue was a good, peaceful pony. He hated violence, he had avoided fights all his life. He was a healer, a giver of aid. Yet something new, something he had never felt boiled up inside him. His vision clouded some, as his eyes lifted to look at the red colored stallion that was his equal in size. He could see Red’s mouth moving but all he could hear was the hard thud of his heart and the voice. The voice, it was back but it was so different, it was filled with rage now not self doubt. It screamed at him...
Kill him!
“We are stopping your job, tell they send someone who ain’t a fo—”
Red never finished his sentence. Red never saw what hit him, though the other two did. Rescue planted his left hoof and spun with all his might. His rear legs snapped out, muscles built of hard work, of power and working out, fired as he kicked out in a mule kick. Somewhere deep in Rescue’s mind he winced. He heard the sound as his steel-shod hooves impacted the flesh. He felt Red's bones shatter under his kick, felt the sickening vibration of the shoulder joint give way, then heard the sound of wet splatter as the big red stallion flew back almost four feet into the wall and fell to the ground.
He turned as the other two blinked, and a tone that was not Rescue, was not who the gentle stallion was, came from his throat.
“Run.”
Both did, there was no doubts in their mind that their lives would be forfeit if they stood their ground.
Rescue turned and grabbed Ailan, helping him up to his hooves. The impact of what he had done starting to crush down on him. He had to hold it together, because Red was not getting up. They could both see it, the stallions front left leg was at an angle it should not be able to be. The raspy wet breathing spoke of at least a few broken ribs and perhaps a punctured lung.
Rescue snapped back into the ingrained training in him. Looking at Ailan.
“Go, fast as you can, get Twilight, then get to Mercy and have them send a wagon, GO!”
He watched the large-winged stallion take off without a word of argument. Turning, Rescue knelt down next to Red who was out cold. Nothing he could do without his rescue gear, but he could keep the big stallion from moving and making things worse.
---
Rescue gave a nod to the guards before they trotted off. He sat down again in the waiting room next to Ailan, giving a soft exhale and looking at the stallion with the ice pack on his cheek.
“I will be fine Rescue, relax.”
“Yeah, I know. I just... Fuck, why tonight? Is this what I—we, have to look forward to?”
“Rescue, just because one stallion has a problem doesn’t mean everypony does.”
Growing quiet, his ears folded down and he closed his eyes.
“I am a healer, a paramedic, a firefighter. I help ponies, I don’t hurt them. Luna help me, Ailan, I felt so angry. It was like I was watching myself from the outside. I—I can still hear the sound of his bones cracking as my hoof—”
Ailan’s hoof rested on Rescue's leg and he shook his head. “You reacted, you can’t keep reliving that moment, Rescue. It's just like your drinking and your nightmares, you can’t let it take control. You are kind of my hero. I mean, you decked a stallion for hitting me.”
Rescue blushed deeply but faced away.
“I just wish I had not had to. I have never hit anypony, Ailan... I felt the bones snap, I heard...”
Tears welled up in his ducts, and he was aware that the smaller stallions legs wrapped around him as he started to sob. An empty feeling inside, he had hurt somepony. Even if Red had it coming, he had done major trauma. Red had a punctured lung, and a concussion from crashing into the wall. None of that however was the worst. The doctor had shown him the x-rays before the guards had come to get his side of the story.
Rescue’s kick had crushed Red’s left front ulna, not just a clean break, but crushed it. The construction worker would never walk quite the same again with the metal plate holding his bones together. So he cried, he sobbed into Ailan’s chest. He had sworn to never harm another, it was part of his oath, and now one lay on an operation table because of his actions. Someplace deep, deep in his mind the voice was back, but it was still changed.
No one will ever call us a freak again.
He didn’t like that voice, not one bit. He almost wished it would go back to how it was.