//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Behind the Veil // by FeralFox //------------------------------// Behind the Veil Chapter 2 by FeralFox After many an hour of writhing in pain from his extensive injuries, Marckus found himself in an exhaustion induced sleep. Though this rest did not free him of his pain, as he were sure to awake in an equally terrible state as he passed out in, if not worse. The previous events had taken their toll on his mind just as much as his body, as he encountered strange, colorful, and even sentient new life-forms to which his eyes had never perceived beforehand. He wished that they could have just been hallucinations brought on by pain, or shock, but to his disdain, they were all too vivid to be anything but real. In his comatose, his mind raced, never at ease, trying desperately to make sense out of these bizarre happenings, to rationalize, to come to a viable conclusion where none could be found. Clinging to a lifetime of problem-solving and deductive skills, he could come to no reasonable answer. And so, his mind continued, patching together blurry images of strange creatures, strange feelings underlining the intense sensations of pain, the questions he had answered about his trauma, in an attempt to reclaim his sanity. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Twilight had been watching the slightly repaired creature diligently since he had passed out, for any signs of developing conditions, or in case he decided that he had no more reason to keep the ponies alive. One could never be too sure. He seemed to be in a tremendous amount of pain, even though he kept a somewhat calm facade throughout the whole ordeal. The nurses were not able to administer any sedatives, anesthesia, or narcotics, because they were unsure of how their medicine would affect his body, so he had to suffer through all that went into mending and casting his broken limbs. Something that she wished upon nopony. She had been the only one to stay at the hospital, as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had vacated the gruesome scene with the intent to inform their other friends, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. The creature began to stir once again, forcing Twilight back to reality. She could see that he was in pain, and she was incredibly upset at her inability to ease it. Suddenly a though dawned on her: Should I tell Princess Celestia about him? She might know what to do with him, or where he came from even! Oh...but wait, maybe I should let him recover more before he goes through anything else too dramatic. Maybe I should consult my friends, they might have something to say... Another agonizing shuffle from the creature broke her attention as she gazed at the poor soul. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, just get some rest. “So what yur sayin' is that sum strange....thing just fell out uh the sky, busted through Twilight's roof, n' landed smack-dab in her bedroom,” inquired the orange earth mare. “and y'all just carried 'im through Ponyville to the hospital?” “Yeah, I swear! No joke! Twilight is still there, right now, keeping an eye on him.” Replied the cyan pegasus. “Him?” Applejack said, accenting the question with a raised eyebrow. “That's what he said.” Rainbow said, sounding almost as confused as Applejack. “I still can't believe that he was able to talk at all. Poor fella' took some pretty massive damage by the looks of it. I mean, I've taken some good hits before, but I'm meant to be in the air. That guy just plummeted like a rock. I don't know exactly what Nurse RedHeart did to him, cuz I was outta there before I saw anymore blood. Uuggh” She cringed at the thought of it. “Was it really that bad?” Asked the workpony, concern plain in her voice. “You should have seen the way it's.....um...er....front leg was bent. Definitely broken. He said he had more injuries, but I kinda zoned out a bit.” She trailed off at the end of her statement, feeling embarrassed that she should have been more attentive. “We should prob'ly head down there, see if there ain't sumthin' we can do do help. Besides, I wan'ta see wut this thing really looks like. He sounds kinda freaky how yur describin' 'im.” Suggested Applejack as she set down the dirt road that connected Sweat Apple Acres to town, Rainbow Dash hovering close by. Fluttershy landed gently on the front porch of Sugar Cube Corner, residence of Ponyville's Premier Party Pony, Pinkamena Diane Pie. More commonly know as Pinkie Pie. The sun was well past its zenith, cresting high upon the mountains, casting long shadows, signifying the day's advance. Business was slow this time of day. The timid pegasus gave a triplet of knocks so quiet one had to be standing next to the door to hear them. Pinkie Pie appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, just behind Fluttershy, and gave an unnecessarily enthusiastic greeting. “Hi Fluttershy!” She said, practically in a yell. This was met with a shriek from the unexpecting guest, as she sprung several feet in the air. Pinkie continued on, her signature smile undaunted. “You here to buy some goodies?!” Exclaimed the cotton candy maned mare. “O-oh, hi pinkie” said the quivering pegasus, barely above a whisper “a-actually, I'm here to tell you about something important.” This caught the pink pony's attention. “Something bad happened, and Twilight told me to bring you to the hospital, i-if you have the time.” She sheepishly turned away, hiding her face behind her pink mane. “OH MY GOSH DID SOMETHING HAPPEN?! IS TWILIGHT OKAY?! WHAT ARE WE STANDING AROUND HERE FOR?! LET'S GO!!” Without so much as a word in edgewise, the hyperactive pony was off in a flash, leaving a still shaken Fluttershy in her wake. The four friends all arrived at nearly the same time. They were all silent, Pinkie included, as they made their way to the room in the hospital where the creature was lodged. One by one, they poked their heads around the door frame into the room. After seeing a nervous wreck of a Twilight meet their curious inspection and beckon them in, the slowly entered. Still, all remained silent. The privacy curtain was closed and Twilight could read the looks of Applejack and Pinkie Pie's faces, they wanted to see. In a whisper that would rival Fluttershy's, Twilight was the first to speak. “I'm glad to see that you could make it, but where's Rarity?” “She wasn't there. There was a note on her door sayin' that she went tah some fancy-schmancy fashion thing.” Responded Applejack, just as quiet. “Dash 'n me walked by the boutique on the way here.” “Well seeing as there's nothing we can do about it, she'll have to find out later. But for now, you guys have to stay completely quiet” Twilight said, shooting an preemptive glance at Pinkie Pie, who only responded by mimicking the act of “zipping her mouth shut”. “I'll only open the curtain if you can promise me that.” A collective of nods from the four ponies, all eagerly anticipating the curtain being drawn back. “Okay then, here we go.” She said as a faint aura enveloped the curtain in it's entirety. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marckus began to stir from his painful slumber into a more agonizing consciousness, his eyes once again blurred, his hearing impaired. As his perception came to be, he noticed not four, but five pairs of large, inquisitive eyes, lurking over his being. Strangely, he heard nothing. He cleared his throat to check his hearing, and as he expected he could still hear. His sudden act of dislodging phlegm caused the five pairs of eyes to shrink away and he could hear a few unconstrained gasps escaping from the owners of the eyes. As his vision focused, he could see what exactly owned those eyes, and to his disbelief, there were five creatures similar to the ones from before. What he believed to be visions brought by his unstable mind in order to help ease the pain were, in fact, real creatures, all standing before him. But in place of the white nurse-like creature was a similar creature, though dominantly orange in color with a sun-bleached mane. To make the situation even more unbelievable, it was wearing a brown, what may have been leather, Stenson. In addition to the hat-sporting creature was one of even more unimaginable features. It's main color was a vibrant pink with a mane that resembled cotton candy. He gathered what remained of his shattered sanity and began to speak. “Hh-hello...?” He spoke, his voice dry and raspy. There were more gasps, but only from the new creatures. A familiar purple creature stepped into the center and began to speak in an almost inaudible voice, decidedly female. “Hello, can you here me okay?” She said, concern abundant in her tone. “Chhan I get some whhater please?” He said, in desperate need of hydration. A small glass of water was suddenly levitated in front of him, surrounded by a light blue aura, the same of which seemed to be emanating from horn that sat upon the creatures head. He grasped the glass with his good hand, which seemed to spark interest in the others, as they had leaned forward to inspect his movements more closely. He touched the glass to his lips and tipped it up, gradually emptying it of its contents. After setting the glass back onto the table beside him, he began to speak once again. “Thank you, I was parched.” He said in a calm manor, trying to be as civilized as possible. “Now, can someone please tell me what is going on here?” To be continued...