A few weeks had passed, everything was back to normal and all three of them had returned to the Laboratory. Ebony had bounced back to her usual self and began cooking some new recipes for the three of them to enjoy. Currently it was morning, the mare had arisen from her lair and, with her mane still in a tangled mess and was currently making scrambled eggs. The most hilarious part of the whole ordeal was that she had a piece of buttered toast between her teeth and was humming the ‘winter wrap up’ tune.
The two stallions slowly joined her as the scent of food floated over to their room, their hooves dragging on the ground. Well, mostly it was Circuit dragging his hooves, but that was beside the point.
“Nnn...S’too early for this..” The gray stallion flopped into one of the chairs, resting his head on the table. Adhesive sat down next to him, letting out a grunt of agreement.
“I don’t understand, how are you always so chipper in the morning?” Their female friend turned towards them and levitated her toast into the air so she could speak.
“Well that’s quite simple, I really enjoy being alive now. I mean, I’ve got you guys after all, what’s not to love?” She beamed brightly before scraping the eggs onto three plates and using her magic to take them to the table, placing her half eaten toast on her own plate. “Bon appetit!” Circuit half heartedly shoveled some of the eggs into his mouth, his eyes dropping slightly.
“Mmm...Yeah sure…” He swallowed his mouthful before he spoke, a big yawn escaping him. “I’m fantastic I know.” Adhesive reached over a hoof and smacked the ‘pegasus’ on the back of the head.
“Hush you.” The golden mare let out a laugh before taking a bite of her food. “You know, I just had a thought. Why don’t you go out and grab us some more milk since you’re so fantastic Circuit.” She smiled as she took a sip of tea, Adhesive nodded.
“Yeah, I don’t feel like going out and you’re such an amazing coltfriend~!”
“I hate you both so much.” Circuit quickly shoved the rest of the eggs into his mouth, pushing himself to his hooves. “You two better be grateful you have such an amazing stallion in your life like me, you’d be lost otherwise.” He ruffled Ebony’s mane, pressing a quick kiss to his coltfriend’s cheek before slipping out of the house. “Don’t burn down my house while I’m gone!”
“We won’t! Everything is made of concrete anyway!” Adhesive called back playfully, taking a sip of his water.
“Shut up, you know what I meant!” The stallion called back as he slipped back into the house, grabbing his bag from the table. “Almost forgot this, and if you can’t burn the house down, then...I don’t know, don’t get murdered or something. Bye, love you!” He slipped out of the house again, his bag hanging from his shoulder.
The stallion walked through the town with something very close to an actual smile on his face before he reached his destination. The convenience store not too far from the house, the ‘pegasus’ walked in and actually waved to the cashier before grabbing a carton of milk and putting it on the counter. “Good morning sir, find everything okay?” The mare behind the counter asked with a large smile.
“Yeah, just needed to grab some milk is all.” She began to ring him up when the door opened signaling the bell attached to the door. “Good morning sir, what can I do f-” The new patron pulled out a gun with magic and began shouting.
“GET ON THE GROUND!!!” The stallion yelled, his muzzle covered by a black bandana and his cutie mark covered with a cloak.
“Do we really have to..? I mean, the ground is kind of dirty...Can I just like….Stand here or-” The gray pony’s words were cut off as he felt the cold barrel of the gun press against the side of his head.
“GET ON THE F*CKING GROUND!”
“Okay, okay, okay, yeesh...No need to yell, I’m standing right next to you.” Circuit slowly lowered himself to the ground, warily glancing at the gun wielding pony next to him. The stallion glared at him a moment before trotting off to make sure the other patrons and workers in the store had listened to his instructions. The cashier next to him had all but dropped to the floor and was covering her head with her hooves in fear, shaking uncontrollably. It was only a matter of time that she’d do something stupid in her fear.
The robber walked back over and aimed the gun at her. “You! Start emptying the register and put the cash in this bag!” He shoved a dirty burlap bag into her hooves and pulled back the hammer of the gun.
“C’mon, leave the poor mare alone.” Circuit piped up, seeing that the mare seemed to be having trouble just getting to her hooves from how badly she was shaking. “Let me do it, I’m sure I can figure out how to work one of those things.” The masked assailant turned the gun towards the ‘pegasus’. “Fine by me.” The masked stallion turned his gun towards Circuit and narrowed his eyes. “Start shoving money before I blow your brains out.”
“Oh, well, isn’t that a lovely image. Thanks for that, just what I needed today.” The ‘pegasus’ slowly got to his hooves, grabbing the bag from the shaking mare. “Alright let me just...Oooh boy, these things have gotten a lot more complicated since I was a teen..” He let out a whistle as he slid up the cash register, scanning over all the buttons on it. “Let’s see um…”
“Hurry up! I don’t have time for this!” The robber cried in anger, the gun shaking in his magical grasp as the stallion began to become anxious and worried.
“Don’t rush me! I’m still trying to figure this thing out!” He waved a hoof at the gun wielding stallion, trying to get him to calm down. “Just calm down a second, I’ll have it open in a bit…Hopefully…” He muttered the last part to himself as he continued to mess with the cash register.
“That’s it, I don’t have time for this! Open that damn register or I’ll start shooting!” The gun changed and turned towards the mare cowering on the floor from before. The mare who had been behind the register, she was a pale purple earth pony with golden mane and tail, black glasses and a book with a quill cutie mark.
“Oh Faust please no…” She cried softly, burying her face in her hooves in fear.
“No no no no! Just calm down, don’t be an idiot!” Circuit cried out, his voice starting to waver slightly as he struggled to open the register. “Just leave the poor lady alone!”
“I warned you! Get that register open or I’ll shoot! Well this is me shooting!” The magic surrounding the 9mm gun pulled the trigger and the hammer swung forward. Time seemed to move in slow motion as Circuit surged forward to block the bullet. He blocked the shot so it wouldn’t hit the poor mare and suddenly pain ripped through him as the bullet pierced his skin and into muscle and organ. It wasn’t fatal, but something had been punctured, the ‘pegasus’ fell to the ground blood pooling around him as his monocle clattered to the ground and shattered.
The robber quickly grabbed as much cash from the register as possible before bolting out and running off with Circuit on the floor, bleeding out.
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Ebony and Adhesive were laughing, she’d just told a story about how Circuit and her had met. “So there I was, banging on the door with him screaming that he’d call the police, and I just broke it down. He stared at me and-” The phone rang interrupting the conversation.
“I’ll get it.” Adhesive said with a smile before getting up off the couch and grabbed the receiver. “Hello? Yes this is he…” The phone clattered to the ground.
“Sir? Sir hello? Are you still there?” The mare on the other side of the phone spoke, the words sounding distant and far away since the phone was on the ground. She let out a weary sigh when there was no answer. “Look I...The hospital will contact you when his condition changes. I’m..I’m sorry.” After a few moments, the line went dead.
Ebony jumped up, very concerned. “Adhesive, what’s wrong?!” She cried, obviously very worried. The stallion didn’t respond for a few moments, his eyes slightly glassy as he blankly stared at the wall in front of him. He finally spoke after a bit, his words slow and distant sounding.
“Circuit...T-there was an incident at the convenience store, C-Circuit was..He got shot Ebony..The doctors don’t know if he’s going to make it through surgery…” Her green eyes widened and the mare stood there in shock before surging forward and grabbing Adhesive’s hoof. “Come on, we’re going to the hospital.” The golden mare dragged him upstairs before bursting through the door. “TAXI!!!” She roared, and somehow one actually came.
“Get in.” Well, Ebony said that but kind of shoved him into the taxi and then got in herself. As she slammed the door the hybrid looked at the driver. “Ponyville General, AND STEP ON IT!!!” Needless to say the driver literally put the pedal to the metal and floored it. Adhesive just silently let himself be dragged around, letting his head fall against the taxi window as he was shoved in. His eyes still had that same glassy look the entire ride, the information seemingly unable to process in his mind. He was trying, but every time he managed to start thinking about it, his mind would just shut itself down and refuse to even think of what happened, let out any of the possibilities.
“Do you know how far away the hospital is..?” He muttered, breaking the tense silence that had filled the taxi. Just then the vehicle stopped, and Ebony helped the stallion out before tossing the driver a few bits. “Keep the change.” She muttered before bursting into the hospital and slamming her hooves onto the front desk.
“Circuit Aquilus Heart, should’ve arrived less than an hour ago, we’re his immediate family, and we want to see him, now.” The receptionist stared at Ebony with wide eyes, her gaze slowly flicking over to the miserable looking stallion next to her.
“Riiight….Can you tell me your names please?”
“He’s Adhesive Jonas Stamp, and I’m Duchess Ebony Teresa Runwick.” The name made the receptionist gulp before she nodded. “S-second door to the r-right l-level t-two… He’s in s-surgery…”
“Right...C’mon...We should go wait in the waiting room…” The green maned stallion lightly tugged on the yellow mare as he shuffled over to the room, slumping down in one of the uncomfortable chairs. He stared up at the ceiling, his eyes starting to water as it finally sunk in. “W-what...What if he dies Ebony….?” Ponies bustled behind them as this was a hallway when Ebony surged forward and grabbed the stallion’s shoulders.
“Adhesive, look at me.” Her eyes softened but held sincerity. “I’m not going to let him be ripped away from you, not like Blaze was from me. I swear to you, he’s gonna be okay.” The mare then got up and looked through the small glass window to look at the doctors all crowded around Circuit’s unmoving form passing instruments and checking monitors.
“Do you trust me?” Adhesive slowly nodded, rubbing furiously at his watery blue eyes.
“W-what’re you doing..?”
“Something stupid.” His friend replied before she turned and burst through the door into the surgery room. Ebony put on a face mask and tied back her mane with magic before pulling gloves over her hooves.
“Hey! You can’t be in here!” One doctor cried before seeing her blood red eyes and determined expression and backing down.
“Now move and do as I say, we’re going to save his life if it’s the last thing I do on this Faust forsaken world.”
“Ebony you can’t-” The stallion started getting to his hooves before simply slumping back down into the seat. There was no stopping the mare now, not with how determined the mare was. “You better know what you’re doing..” He muttered quietly as he curled up in the chair, making himself as comfortable as he could for the long wait.
~A Few Hours Later~
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Ebony wiped the excess blood off of her hooves as she threw away the used gloves and face mask. She sighed in relief as the whole thing was finally over, Circuit had been stabilized and the bullet had been removed. It had grazed his right lung but overall the damage was minimal, the only real concern other than the loss of tissue in the lungs was the blood loss. The other doctors and some nurses were taking Circuit to a room so he could be more comfortable as the mare walked back over to the mail stallion.
“He’s going to be fine, I may have used a little magic to help sooth the damage… But he’s going to be fine.” The stallion in the chair slowly opened his eyes, rubbing at his watery orbs.
“R-really…? He’s...He’s really gonna be okay..? Swear to Faust?” He sat up in the uncomfortable chair, his eyes wide with hope and slight fear. The pegasus nodded.
“He’s going to be just fine, don’t worry Adhesive, Circuit’s okay. Come on, you can see him now.” She gently took his arm and lead him down the hall to a recovery room that looked just like any other hospital room except this one had a grey ‘pegasus’ on the bed.
“They didn’t know how to operate around all of his extremities, the metal ones, so I helped with that too. Would’ve been a disaster if they severed the main power cords.”
“Yeah yeah that’s nice…” Adhesive muttered dismissively, waving the mare off.
Circuit was hooked up to some machines that showed his heart beat, beep, beep, beep. An oxygen mask was over his muzzle and as he breathed it fogged up for a moment. In, out, in, out, his breathing was regular as well as his heart. A nurse was checking him and making sure he was as comfortable as possible.
“He’ll be fine, are you two his immediate family?”
“Er, yeah close enough.” The green maned stallion slowly made his way to his coltfriend’s side, gently grasping the hoof that didn’t have a bunch of i.v.’s stuck into it. “Do you know when he’ll wake up?”
“Soon I believe, he’s on a lot of pain medications and anesthetic at the moment due to surgery but he’ll be okay. I’ll just need somepony to come with me about the bill…” She said sadly, almost sorry that she had to charge them.
“I got it, don’t worry, I’ll cover everything Adhesive.” The golden mare gave Adhesive ‘s shoulder a soft squeeze before following the nurse to the counter. The white stallion smiled and nodded, waving at the two as they left the room. He dragged a chair over to the bedside, making himself comfortable as he sat down to wait for the other stallion to wake up. He didn’t have to wait long, as soon those foggy green eyes met his blue ones.
“Oh hi...I know you…” The ‘pegasus’ muttered, his voice slightly slurred from all the pain medication they had him on. That, and the fact that he just woke up. Adhesive smiled and let out a small noise of relief before bringing the hoof he was holding up to his muzzle and giving it a soft kiss.
“Faust you’re so stupid… I should never have let you go get that Faust damn milk…”
“Mm..S’okay...I’ve had worse…This…” He waved his stumpy arm at him, the metal prosthetic having been taken off before they’d started the surgery. “Hurt much much more. Being shot was like getting a papercut in comparison.” The white stallion let out a soft laugh before taking the metal prosthetic out from behind him.
“They gave it back to me after they moved you, well, Ebony sorta made them… She’s over at the register paying for treatment right now…” Tears began welling up in his eyes. “Oh Circuit.. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you, I don’t know how I could’ve gone on with my life if you had died..” The mail stallion sobbed.
“Hey hey shhhh, none of that, no tears here…” The injured pony let out a soft grunt as he wrapped his hooves around him, pulling him into his arms. He was careful to not pull him against his bandages of course. “Relax, it’s going to take a lot more than one measly bullet to kill me. You’ll just have to try harder next time if you really wanna get rid of me~” He teased lightly, trying to lighten the mood again.
His coltfriend smiled softly, cradling the grey stallion’s face in his hooves. “You know, I’ve had this for awhile, and now, I realized I can’t live without you. I love you Circuit Aquilus Heart, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. W-what I’m trying to say is…” The stallion pulled out a small box from his jacket pocket and opened it revealing a traditional gold engagement bracelet. “Will you marry me?”