//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Putting the Pieces Back Together // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 8 She wasn’t sure what had brought this on, Derpy Hooves had never been one to examine her life before in such great detail, but standing in the lobby of the Royal Hospital’s main building for the first time since being released had brought many emotions flooding back to her. She remembered how she’d felt about being in a coma. Life passing her by while there was nothing she could do about it. In the long run, she supposed it had been a positive experience; she’d made friends of Lyra and Bon-Bon, two ponies who disliked her before realising how much they actually appreciated her. Derpy had never actually had friends in Ponyville before that... or anywhere else for that matter. Derpy had long been a loner; her eyes had been the source of her problem. Her Amblyopia, lack of depth perception, and a general clumsiness had lead to many rumours ranging between that she was dim-witted, and severely mentally handicapped. Neither of which were true, while she wasn’t the smartest pony in the world, dim-witted was far from the truth. In fact, Derpy had acted as if she was mentally handicapped at one point, going over the top as possible trying to make a point. Though in retrospect it had been an awful idea, ponies saw what they wanted to see. Now here she was trotting through the Royal Hospital lost in thoughts when she’d discovered that she’s accidentally bumped into somepony. Derpy jumped back in surprise. Standing before her was a pitch black pony with an equally black mane, amber eyes not unlike her own. She recognised this pony. “Doctor Nightcaller?” she asked. The pony smiled. “Actually, no. Nightcaller is my sibling. I’m Doctor Nightsinger. It’s good to see you again Miss Hooves.” Derpy looked confused, Nightsinger chuckled. “You were my patient for a short while when you were in a coma.” He explained. Derpy took a good look over Doctor Nightsinger, giving her more questions than answers. “But... how can Doctor Nightcaller be your brother when he’s an earth pony, and you’re a pegasus?” Derpy asked, noting wings tucked under Nightsinger’s medical coat. “That would be because Nightcaller is a pegasus who had the misfortune to be born without wings.” Derpy had heard of this, wingless pegasi were the rarest birth defect known to the pegasus pony, supposedly the chances of it happening were 1 in 10,000. They were often mistaken as earth ponies in ground based towns. But in truth they had every other pegasus ability, including being able to stand on clouds. Mind you it was a mite useless, because without wings, a wingless pegasi couldn’t get to a cloud anyway. They could however walk across Cloudsdale, though this was more dangerous than not, as holes in the city were quite common. Without wings it was a death trap. “Oh...” Derpy said quietly to herself. “Is there anything I can help you with Miss Hooves?” Nightsinger asked. “Oh! No, I’m quite all right, I wouldn’t want to take away from your busy schedule,” Derpy said, snapping out of her thoughts. “All right,” Nightsinger said with a smile. “But if something does come up, go to a nurse’s station and ask them to page me.” “I will,” Derpy promised. The two parted ways and Derpy advanced towards her goal. … Pinkie Pie was lying in a hospital bed; her eyes shut tight, her mouth full of breathing tubes and a magical machine measuring brain, heart, and respiratory activity at her side. This was why Derpy had chosen her; she too, was in a coma. According to information that the Doctor had gathered from three fillies he’d met. Pinkie Pie’s brain had been fired by having high ampere electrical current (which the fillies had mistaken for voltage as many young ones did,) but had run off saying something about getting their cutie marks before the Doctor had been able to get much more remotely useful. That was of course assuming that the fillies’ information was right at all. Derpy sat down on a bench next to Pinkie Pie’s bed. “Hello Pinkie Pie, how are you?” Derpy asked, not exactly expecting a response, so she was not surprised when she didn’t get one. “I know what you’re thinking, ‘Derpy? When did you get out of the hospital?’ It was two weeks ago, do try to remember, because I’ve been pestered with that question by everypony,” Derpy found herself smiling at her own joke. “I know what you’re going through, you know? I’ve been in this state too. I got lucky; I was in it a relatively short amount of time... I really hope you wake up soon. You’re young and full of life! You can’t let it just pass you by!” Pinkie Pie breathed at her. Derpy frowned, not at Pinkie Pie, but at herself. This was silly; she didn’t know what she was doing. Pinkie Pie couldn’t hear her and she was wasting her time. Or at least that’s what she thought, Pinkie Pie twitched. Derpy’s eyes grew wide in shock, had something she said done that? “Pinkie Pie?” She twitched again. As far a Derpy could tell, Pinkie Pie wasn’t actually awake, just that she was responding, she looked over to the magical monitor, Pinkie Pie’s brain activity had skyrocketed. This had to be good, right? Derpy dashed out of the room towards the nearest nurse’s station and asked them to page Doctor Nightsinger. The pitch black pegasus quickly made his way to Pinkie Pie’s room, giving her a look over. “Is it good?” Derpy asked, noting the brain activity. “I’m... not sure?” Nightsinger said. Derpy frowned at this statement. She wanted Pinkie Pie to wake up more than anything. The two pegasi noted as the monitor showed that Pinkie Pie’s brain activity had begun to lower. “NO!” Derpy shouted. “You can’t go! Not when we’re so close!” Pinkie Pie gave no response, her brain activity continued to lower. Derpy watched as the machine ticked closer and closer to zero, tears were forming in Derpy’s eyes. It wasn’t fair! Everypony needed Pinkie Pie back! “She’s going,” Nightsinger said. Pinkie Pie’s brain activity went to zero. She was brain dead. “I’ll give you a few minutes.” Pinkie Pie was still breathing, but that was because the machines were keeping her going. Doctor Nightsinger backed out giving Derpy some time alone with Pinkie. Derpy was in tears, an hour passed, two, and she only stopped crying when she ran out of tears. The lights began to flicker. Derpy looked up and began to hear something, a muted warbling sound and a light ticking noise that sounded extremely familiar. Derpy did not have long to wait to figure out what it was. From under the door, a small cloud of black smoke poured in through the cracks. Derpy panicked, it was smaller, but it acted exactly like the cloud that she had seen in the future. It hovered up above Pinkie Pies bed, and despite the fact that it didn’t have a face, Derpy was sure it was looking directly at her. The smoke tore it’s interest away from Derpy, looking at the brain dead Pinkie Pie, it began to envelope her. Derpy panicked again, she wanted to swing at it, make it go away, but something was keeping her legs from moving. After a few moments, Derpy saw that the monitor was showing an increase in brain activity. Derpy’s eyes widened and the smoke drifted away from the bed ridden earth pony. “You... you helped her?” Derpy asked the smoke, not exactly expecting an answer. The cloud seemed to look back at her, but then did a hundred and eighty degree turn and zipped away under the door. Pinkie Pie began to stir; she opened her eyes, and looked over at Derpy. “Two weeks huh?” the earth pony said weakly. “Glad to see you’re all okie dokie lokie!” … Doctor Nightsinger was amazed to say the least when he walked back inside Pinkie Pie’s room to find not only Derpy, but an aware Pinkie Pie, sitting up and talking with her. “Hi!” Pinkie Pie said. Derpy was smiling brightly. She didn’t know what exactly had happened, but she was glad to have Pinkie Pie back. … Pinkie Pie and Derpy returned to Ponyville to find that everyone else had returned as well, at the Ponyville Library, Trixie and the Doctor were in the process of hanging party decorations when Derpy and Pinkie Pie walked in. “Are you throwing a party for me!?” Pinkie Pie gasped loudly. “Not jus’ you sugarcube, all o’ us!” Applejack said as she stepped inside the Library after Pinkie Pie. Already gathered were Twilight Sparkle, Trixie, the Doctor, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Spitfire, (Rainbow Dash had seemed to have regained slight control of her wings, as they were no longer drooping to the side.) Applejack, Braeburn, and Big Macintosh had walked in behind Derpy and Pinkie Pie, not to mention the few other town ponies who had been hanging about outside. Pinkie Pie was smiling brightly at the “Welcome Back” banner that Trixie had just hung with her magic. “I don’t know about everypony else, but it’s been way too long since we had a party. So let’s get this PAR-TAY started!” … Derpy was having a wonderful time; she was an uncommon sight at parties, maybe only going to two or three thrown by Pinkie Pie in her entire life. The hard times were over. They’d brought the town’s life blood back into the fold, but Derpy was still troubled by what she had seen. The image of the entire Everfree forest burning to the ground did not sit well with her, and the black smoke... She was less sure of the smoke now than ever. When she had first seen it in the future, it was trying to hurt her, the Doctor, and Trixie, but it helped Pinkie Pie... maybe there was some misunderstanding? Derpy was sitting outside on a bench, night had fallen, and the moon shone bright. “Beautiful isn’t it?” the Doctor said as he joined Derpy outside. “I’ve been thinking about things,” Derpy said, explaining why she wasn’t at the party. The Doctor smiled at her. “Well we do have a lot to think about, don’t we?” Derpy nodded in affirmation. “I have to go away for a while,” the Doctor said plainly. Derpy looked at him, her mouth falling open. “Just a small while,” he said reassuringly. “What about the black smoke? What about Everfree forest?” Derpy asked. “I messed up when I went forward in time with you. Instead of taking you a week into the future, I took you a few months...” the Doctor explained. “Don’t worry Derpy Hooves. I promise you that I will be back in time to deal with whatever caused that to happen, and if I’m running late, it’s because I can’t get my box to go where I want it to.” The Doctor smiled at Derpy warmly and reassuringly. “I will never abandon you.” Derpy knew his words to be true; she would be seeing this crazy pony again. “Goodbye Derpy. Keep Trixie in line,” he said with a wink, and walked off to where he’d left his box. Derpy smiled again. She knew she had nothing to worry about... except for the way her fridge was going to smell when she got back into her flat. She heard the box whine as it disappeared from the town. Only to have it reappear in front of her seconds later. The Doctor poked his head out of the door. “By the way, I have a gift from Derpy Hooves five years in the future!” He tossed her a saddlebag, inside was the rent money she owed her landlord, plus enough to cover her for the next month. The Doctor smiled and shut the door, disappearing again from the town. Derpy smiled, she had a letter to send.