Lost

by Cyanjames2819

Chapter 21: Torn Apart

In the Hospital of Ponyville, Fluttershy hummed a lullaby to her sleeping filly, Playtime. She slept close to her mother, her mane being caressed. Playtime's Cutie Mark glowed and wore a sly smile while she slept.

"She looks so peaceful." Rarity watched the filly sleep beside her mother. Happy that she was at least at peace when her mother woke up. The mare looked at her bandaged friend, "I hope you get well soon, Fluttershy."

She nodded in agreement, "I do as well." she looked down at her filly and smiled, either from her daughter's strange magic, or just the sight of her well being.

After a moment of thinking, she looked back at Rarity, "Can you take good care of her for me? I'm pretty sure the Doctors and Nurses won't let her sleep with me tonight." she asked and looked at herself, "And I'm not in good condition to take care of her."

Rarity smiled and nodded, "Of course, darling. I won't let you down." she answered happily.

Fluttershy smiled from ear to ear, "Thank you, Rarity." she reached out for her friend for a hug.

The Unicorn moved closer and gently wrapped her hooves around her, "Anytime, darling." she replied with a smile.

After half an hour of enjoying a little talk, Sweetie Belle bounced in the room happily, "Hi Rar-" she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Fluttershy covered in bandages and Playtime sleeping beside her. She started tip toeing towards her sister with a smile and sat down beside her, "Hi, Rarity!" she said happily in a quiet tone.

The mare smiled, wrapped a hoof around her and pulled her in, "Good afternoon, Sweetie Belle." she replied in her regular tone.

They separated and the filly looked at the injured mare, "Are you going to be okay?" she asked, somewhat worried. Fluttershy nodded in response.

The filly then rested her fore hooves on the edge of the bed to look at her friend. "She looks very happy." she said quietly as she continued watching her curiously and rested her chin on the bed.

Playtime then yawned and stretched on the bed, waking from her restful sleep. She finished stretching out her little limbs and sleepily opened her eyes half way. When she spotted Sweetie Belle starring at her, she jumped a little in surprise.

Sweetie Belle smiled at her, "Hi, Playtime!" she greeted her friend happily.

Playtime blinked a couple of times and smiled back, "Hi, Sweetie Belle." she replied back and rested her head down onto her hooves.

As the fillies talked and laughed on another bed, the mares were speaking to one another other about what Playtime likes and doesn't like. As Rarity found out, Playtime's only dislike are bad ponies, her friends and family getting hurt and nothing more.

Just as they stopped talking while the girls sang and played patty cake, a Doctor and a Nurse came in with a tray of food. The Doctor looked at Rarity, "Visiting hours is over, miss. Time to go." he said to her.

Rarity nodded, stood up to her hooves and looked at the two girls behind her, "Okay, girls. Time to go."

Playtime looked at her blankly, "I'm going to stay with her." she said to her.

Fluttershy sighed, "Sorry, sweetie. I can't take care of you right now. You should stay with Rarity and Sweetie Belle in their Boutique."

"But I want to stay with you." she hopped off the bed, got onto her mother's bed and hugged her tightly, afraid of being taken away.

The mare hugged her back, "It's okay, sweetie. I'll be right here. You can come and me visit every morning till I get better." she lifted the filly's chin and nuzzled her.

Playtime giggled at the mare's affection towards her. She continued to embrace her for a few more moments before looking back up at her, "Promise?" she said.

Fluttershy kissed her forehead, "I promise."

Playtime kissed her mother's cheek, "See you tomorrow." she said to her and Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

Playtime got herself off the bed and started following Rarity and Sweetie Belle out the door.

When the little group got to the main entrance to the Hospital, Playtime was a little hesitant stepping out. Sweetie Belle noticed her friend staying behind, "Are you coming?" she asked.

Rarity stopped and looked back at them when she heard her sister's voice. She saw the little white filly looking back and forth at them and the Hospital.

After some time, Playtime finally stepped out and slowly went up to them, deep in thought. When she got up to the mare, Rarity wrapped a hoof around her and rubbed her cheek onto her's, "Don't you worry your little head, sweetie." she looked at her, "We'll have plenty of fun. But first, let's get something in your little belly. You must be hungry."

Playtime smiled at her and nodded in agreement.

After dinner with Rarity and Sweetie Belle and practicing magic with friend, the two fillies were tuckered in Sweetie's bed and given kisses on their foreheads. "Sweetie dreams you two." she said to both of them.

They nodded in response and huddled together for more warmth and comfort.

Rarity blew out the candle and went out to gently close the door. She went to her own room and went under her covers with a sigh.

Back in Sweetie Belle's room, Playtime kept on shifting and moving around, keeping her friend awake as well.

After a moment of trying to go to sleep with her friend moving around beside her, she finally opened her eyes to see what was going on with Playtime. "What's the matter?" she asked.

The filly turned over to face her, "I can't sleep." she answered gloomily and quietly and moved her gaze down to her hooves, "Sorry I'm keeping you awake." she apologized and covered her face with her hooves and started whimpering and sniffling.

Sweetie Belle moved closer to her and wrapped her hooves around her, "No, it's okay, Playtime. Please don't cry." she tried to assure her whimpering friend, but only caused Playtime to whimper a little louder.

As the filly continued to cry, Sweetie Belle started thinking of what to do to calm her down. She then thought on how Fluttershy and her sister Rarity humming and singing a lullaby to her to get her to sleep or calm down. With that in thought and doing what she liked to do in her alone time, she chose a song.

She silently cleared her throat, blushed, somewhat embarrassed and started humming Fluttershy's lullaby.

After a moment, she noticed Playtime calming down little and more so after. When she felt Playtime relax and her breathing became rhythmic, she stopped and listened if she done her job. Her ears twitched a couple of time, trying to listen and all she heard was Playtime's breathing. She looked at her and saw she fell asleep.

She ever so gently wiped her tears away from her pink cheeks and pulled the blanket to cover her friend and herself a little more. She yawned and closed her own eyes to go to sleep.

Before she herself could go to her little dream land, she heard Playtime mumbling about her mother and father. With that, she embraced Playtime and fell asleep with a sly smile when she felt Playtime's positive magic.

Deep in the Everfree, Nightmare was tiring out from blood lose and fatigue from constantly running from her attacker. She looked back as she ran, limping. Nebula showed no signs of slowing down and was gaining on her very quickly.

All of a sudden, she tripped with a yelp and fell on the ground face first. She groaned in pain from both the impact of the fall and her slamming onto her wounds.

She tried to get herself up to her hooves but the fatigue in all of her muscles prevented her from doing so.

"This body's too weak to go on." she said to herself and looked back with tired, heavy eyes to see the dark mass getting closer with every second.

After the last few moments of thinking, she came up to a decision, "Live to rule another day." she said and then her eyes and mouth started spewing out black, inky smoke.

When Nebula caught up to his target, he saw all but a glimpse of the cloudy mass darting through the forest. He looked down at the body laying down on its side, wearing a dark brown cloak.

She barely breathed, lost a lot of blood and unconscious.

He wanted to continued to pursue his target, but the body it left behind was still alive... barely.

He then made his decision and looked down at the mare, "I'll find you in time... and time is all I got left..."

He gently levitated the mare onto his back and started searching for a shelter to treat her properly.

"It's going to be a long night..."

The night sky was full of stars and the ever bright moon, but dark clouds were moving in with the sound of heavy rain and thunder strikes.

He started looking around to cover the mare with. He then found what he was looking for and plucked the large leaves from the ground.

After wandering around for an hour in the rain, Nebula found a cave with vines hanging down from the mouth.

He slowly took his head in to see if it was being occupied, thankfully it wasn't.

He got in and found a large patch of mushrooms near the end of the cave. He quickly went over to it and gently levitated the wounded mare down onto it.

He was very thankful of Twilight's books, knowing what to do this time, but with a more badly injured mare.

With the items in mind, he got back out to search for them in the rain.

Short time later, he got back in with the items wrapped in large leaves, levitated beside his head. He shook his body to get rid of the water on him, got up to the mare and looked at her cloak. He took it off her, gripped the end as he levitated it and started ripping it to make a bandage out of it.

He laid the cloak on the rocky floor, as well as the new bandage and took out the contents from the wrapped leaves and on the floor to see what he had.

He grabbed the pile of wet sticks and started drying them with his hot breath. When he finished, he made them into a little pile and spat out a small fire ball at them. It lit up brightly and warm. He then dragged the mare's cloak closer to it to get it dry and grabbed the bandage to dry it a little faster over the flame. Once it was dry, he grabbed two large mosses from the pile of items and went over to her.

He lifted her ever so gently with his magic, covered her wounds with the moss and wrapped the bandage around her. She groaned and winced a little in reaction, but quickly relaxed right after.

He turned back to the flame, grabbed her cloak, spread his right wing and hung it there. He moved it a little closer to the flame and blew on it to quicken the drying process.

While he continued to blowing, he started thinking about his family back in Ponyville. He hoped Fluttershy and Playtime were okay, especially Fluttershy. He cringed at the at image burned into his mind when he briefly saw her lying on the grass and closed his eyes at Playtime's terrified expression once she saw him.

Once the mare's cloak was dry, he shook his head to get rid of the images and turned back to the mare to cover her with her cloak to keep her warm through the night.

He laid himself down near her, but made sure he wasn't in the way of the fire. He got himself comfortable, rested his chin down onto the floor and closed his eyes to try and get some rest.

Fluttershy sat on her bed, looking down at her hooves in thought. "Where did you go?" she said silently and looked out the drenched window and into the Everfree forest. "I need you more then ever, Nebula." she continued looking out.

Nebula's ears twitched and looked out the cave mouth in response. "I'm sorry... I'll be back one day." he answered and rested back down.

Author's Note:

I hope this was okay. Any thoughts?
Till next time, have a nice and good reading.

Night: Crap, that was close. What made you change your mind to save me?
Me: What? Oh no, I didn't change my mind.
Night: But why am I still alive than?
Me: In time... (I sat back, crossed my legs on my coffee table and used my hands as a pillow) Just wait and see.
Night: (Shuttered) I think I don't want to see my own death.
Me: Too bad. You got no choice.
Night: I hate you.
Me: You're very welcome. (I smiled without a care in the world)