Music: Life Essence

by Ghij of Prophecy

Nursed Into Friendship

It’s a strange feeling, waking up dazed and confused. Shortly after my episode, I was taken into intensive care and given heavy medications that were supposed to keep me passing out and having seizures. They didn’t do much since it happened two times within a month.

I was told it was within a month, but I couldn’t keep track of the days anymore. I could barely recognize my own face because it wasn’t like the faces around me. All I had to keep my sanity was my iPod and visits from the princesses. They said they might have a cure for all this, but they would have to diagnose what my ailment is before they could ask.

“Ask who?” I called through the bathroom door as I looped a rope belt around my pants. I had just taken a bath and was putting my newly washed clothes on when the nurse knocked.

“Princess Celestia didn’t say. I was just told to relay a message to you.” She called back.

“Thank you, Nurse Fill Joy!” I heard a hum of approval as I slipped my Scorpio shirt over my head, laced up my Converse, and opened the door. I quickly closed it again and went to the mirror to check my hair. Using the brush on the counter, I brushed down on all sides and shook my head a couple times. Parts of my hair were still sticking out, but I ignored it and opened the door again.

My bed was in the corner with a highly decorative bed side table beside it. The room was primarily silver all around, but gold lined the walls and made up most of the accents. There wasn’t much else besides a window that took up a whole wall and the stacked medical shelf that sat above my bed.

It was a nice sight to wake up to, whether it was a good nap or a horrible encounter with my ass-hat of an alter-ego. Both times I went back; it was to the same place as the first. The only thing that changed was the color of the water. The first time it was a pearly blue. The second, it was a deep purple and the third was a vibrant orange. I tried asking the disembodied voice why it was changing, but it apparently didn’t know either.

‘That thing is screwing with me, I just know it.’ I thought as I sat on my bed and reached for a ceramic jar of medicine. I uncovered the top and took a swig. The medicine sizzled as it slithered down my throat, but by this time I was used to it. The first time hadn’t gone so well. I went to take a drink, like I was instructed, and when it reached my tongue I gasped and nearly choked to death.

It was a weird concept to me; just drinking a gulp of medicine. Normally a doctor would say something about dosage, but in this world it didn’t matter all that much. It wasn’t any medicine like on Earth, where exact measurement is put into each pill. As long as you didn’t drink all of it in one sitting, you would be fine and the medicine would kick in.

I use the term ‘Kick in’ loosely, mostly because it didn’t have much of an effect on me. Other than feeling a little giddy for no reason, I felt nothing. If anything, I take it just to feel happy. I wasn’t a junkie, mind you, but it was hard to genuinely feel happy in a world that was foreign to me. My family must be worried sick. My sister, on the other hand… maybe. We weren’t exactly the best of friends, so she probably had a hay-day with all the attention she probably got.

She always did want to be an only child.

I re-sealed the jar and placed it back on the shelf among the hoard of other medicines I am now required to take.

‘Where did Nurse Fill Joy go?’ I pondered, ‘Probably to go cheer up some of the other patients.’

Sliding off the bed, I grabbed my iPod and stuffed it into my pocket. The door to my room was identical to my last one but silver with a golden border to match the rest of the room. I swung the door open and heard laughter from down the hall.

‘Poor dude.’ I thought. Earlier this week a stallion had eaten a dish that was cooked with peanut oil and had a severe allergy attack. While a human, in worst cases, would be in the hospital for a few hours, allergies are more powerful with ponies. For the first day, he looked like a mushy, yellow marshmallow. He couldn’t open his eyes and couldn’t breathe on his own. The day before was the day he was able to actually speak. Nurse Fill Joy had made it her mission to be with him as much as she could, being the natural caretaker that she is.

I can sympathize with the guy, being that I have the same allergy. Well, I’m allergic to just about everything, so I can sympathize with a lot of people. I would have gone to talk with him, but my appearance probably wouldn’t be a good sight to someone who met with Death and faked him out.

One thing I liked about being in the castle was that I was given permission to roam around, just as long as I stayed hidden. Celestia must’ve realized that keeping me in a small room for a month probably wasn’t the best idea, so she put a charm on me. As long as I stood on my toes, I could move as quickly as I wanted and not make any noise. I had asked about invisibility, but she mistook it for wanting to sneak out.

‘Like I’d want to leave this place; I’m fed, pampered, and I don’t have to lift a finger!’ I thought as I snuck past a group of pompous looking ponies on their way out of the throne room. They had smiles on their faces, so that must’ve meant they made some money.

As I crept through the main lobby I could feel the cold stare of the guards’ eyes. I turned to face them and stopped.

‘How do they look so similar?’ I thought as I looked them over. The color of their coat and eyes were the same, as was their facial structure. The eerie feeling of their eyes burning through me overpowered my feeling of wonder, so I bolted down the hallway. I must have run as fast as a gazelle because before I knew it, I was at the entrance of the Royal Gardens that lay on the other side of the castle.

The garden was splendid with wonderful scents filling the air. The sunlight shafted through the leaves, creating a beautiful shadow effect on the ground. The wind was flowing with grace, the leaves that hung above me swaying with a soft rhythm, and the sounds of the chimes that lay hidden somewhere within the vast forest of a garden.

The many exotic plants around me were beautiful, although one of them started to move when I came near it. The bench that sat in front of a towering tree looked inviting, so I sat down and slumped into it. I took out my iPod and scrolled through for a while, looking for a nice, slow song. I found a nice, slow piano song from when I was a kid.

I hit play, and my eyes immediately felt as if they had weights fastened to them. I let my head fall over the edge of the backboard, and my eyes slowly shut themselves.

It felt like it was only seconds before I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Hoowhat?” I opened my eyes and saw that I must have been out for a few hours. The sun was just above the horizon.

“I wanted to know if you wanted to come see the princesses raise the moon.” Nurse Fill Joy tapped my shoulder a few more times to wake me.

“Alright, I’m coming.” I muttered as I muted my iPod and slid off the bench. As we were walking a few of the low-lying leaves and branches smacked me in the face, so I was nice and awake by the time we got to the viewing area, which was just across from the exit to the garden. The pathways that wound around the castle were beautifully decorated with ribbons and pink and purple pastel colored candles. I could barely make out the stars, as there was still light coming from the sun, and I saw the same constellations that could be seen on Earth.

‘I’ll need to ask Luna about that one…’ I took my seat and looked up to see both Celestia and Luna’s horns glowing with their respective colors. They didn’t look to be putting forth too much effort, as they looked to be charging their magic. I could also see Twilight standing behind Celestia, her horn glowing a dark purple, and some weird… thing standing behind Luna. I saw no horn, but it did have two mismatched wings on its back. Its eyes were crazy looking, and it had a different body part for each limb. One thought kept trying to invade my mind every time I looked at him.

“That looks extremely familiar.” I thought out loud. Nurse Fill Joy took a seat beside me.

“What does?” I pointed to it and she laughed. “That’s Discord. He recently came back from being imprisoned in stone. He used to be evil, but one of Twilight’s friends turned him good. He serves Celestia by… well, I don’t really know how. I just know he has a purpose.”

I scratched the back of my head in thought. “What did he do to get turned to stone?”

“He turned Ponyville into a town of Chaos. I didn’t get to see it, being stuck here with the patients, but the residents told me it was horrible. It took Twilight and all of her friends to take him down.”

“They turned him to stone?”

“Yes, with the Elements of Harmony. Twilight and all of her friends from Ponyville are the Element Bearers. If anything, it was really convenient that they happened to meet right at the time of Nightmare Moon’s return.” A visible shiver ran down her spine.

“Nightmare Moon? That doesn’t sound very pleasant.” I slid down in my pony-sized chair to try and get comfortable.

“It was what happened when Princess Luna was filled with jealousy over her sister’s fame. While everypony played in the day, they all went to bed at night. Princess Luna didn’t think this was fair, so she lashed out at Princess Celestia. She was banished to the moon for a thousand years.” She smiled. “Princess Luna returned when Twilight and her friends used the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon. The Elements stripped away her hate and jealousy.”

“So, can that happen to anyone?” She looked at me, confused. “The whole ‘Nightmare’ thing?” I asked with heavy concern.

She brought a hoof to her chin. “No, I don’t think so. It may just be something with immortals, like the princesses.”

“That’s very reassuring.” I said. ‘A demon version of an immortal princess… that’s fantastic.’

“Oh, it’s about to start! I watch them every day and night, and it always makes me smile.” Fill Joy said with glee.

I was prepared to be blown away as the show began, but as both princesses lifted into the air, their horns glowing and shining with intense light, the light increased its intensity tenfold, and I instinctively shielded my eyes with my arm. I tried to look a couple more times, but the light only grew. By the time the sun had been lowered and the moon had peeked over the horizon, the show was over and I was pissed off.

“Well, that sucked.” I said. I folded my arms.

“What do you mean? That was amazing!” Fill Joy challenged.

“I suppose it would have been if I could have actually seen it.” I muttered under my breath. Fill Joy’s face softened in understanding.

“I know; it just takes a couple of times to get used to it. There’s always tomorrow.” She offered as she hopped off of her chair.

“Eh, maybe if I’m not sleeping.” I said. “Oh, and make sure to tell that guy with the peanut allergy that I said hi.”

“Why, do you know him?” She asked.

“No, I just know what he’s going through.” I said as I walked with her.

“Are you allergic to peanuts too?” She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side.

“Well, yes. You guys made me put all my allergies on that list, remember?” I said, thinking that I would have to do it again.

“Yes, I do. I just never read any of it. Care to share?” She asked. I looked down at her and saw the best puppy dog face I’d ever seen.

“Does it really matter that much?” I asked. In response, her face only got cuter. “Fine. Do you have an hour?”

I proceeded to tell her all my many allergies, mostly to foods, and the encounters that came with them. I had to explain many things to her because most of them involved things that could only be found on Earth, like T.V.’s and game systems. We went back to the bench in the garden so it would be easier to think, rather than walking aimlessly around the castle. She told me she was off of work for the night, so I spent a few hours telling her about many things from Earth. I started with video games because that was the easiest subject for me, and it slowly turned from electronics and gaming to music and famous artists.

“So, this ‘Michael Jackson’, did he actually… do that stuff?” Fill Joy’s face was filled with disgust.

“Well, I really have no idea. There’s still this big debate over it, so people still don’t fully know. I, personally, wouldn’t care too much either way. He made some really good music.” I said as I searched through my iPod to find a certain song about a criminal…

A criminal… that was smooth…

“But he could have molested children! What if one of those kids was you?” Her voice rose to a yell, and I shrunk back.

“… I have no rebuttal.” I admitted in defeat.

“Exactly.” She smiled, her face beamed with victory. “Any other artists that you like commit any horrible crimes?”

“Not that I can think of, sass-master.” A mock scowl slithered onto my face. “Although, I think a few of them have either died or been killed.”

“You talk about death like it’s nothing.” Her tone was soft.

“In my world, there’s plenty of shit hitting the fan every day, so I guess I’m just used to it. There is so much conflict on Earth that it’s actually hard to think differently. You see so many things trying to recruit you into different branches of combat just to go to another country and kill people. It’s either that, or we can’t even handle our own country. There are murders, car wrecks, pollution, and homophobia all over the world.” I took a breath of the fresh air and exhaled. “I’m almost glad that I’m in this world. I haven’t heard of anything like that so far, so it sound like this place is a Utopia.”

“I guess you could say that. Equestria’s not perfect, but the princesses try their hardest to make it that way.” Fill Joy stood and walked over to a small flowerbed full of roses.

“Let’s hope your leaders decide to keep me, then.” I looked up at the stars and saw the Big Dipper, or at least what I thought was the Big Dipper.

“What do you mean?” Fill Joy called.

“When I first woke up here, I was in the city below this place. I was apparently just lying in the street, and no one knew how I had gotten there. Truth be told, neither do I. When I was dragged to the princesses, they gave me a choice. I could either try and prove that I wasn’t a threat, or they could banish me somewhere.” I paused to look for a different constellation. “I had already been taking a walk before I appeared here, so I was already tired and scared. I chose to write an essay to prove my intelligence and that I had no ulterior motives as to why I happened to appear in the heart of a peaceful country.”

“They had you write an essay? What was it about?”

I smiled. “Music. I didn’t really have to write about much in particular, just something that I thought would turn their eyes away from me. Once they’ve declared that I’m not a threat, they’re going to find somewhere for me to live.”

“I hear Ponyville has a couple residents who are willing to take in some roommates.” Fill Joy suggested as she picked a flower from the ground.

“For an alien? I doubt it.”

Author's Note:

Hey guys! I got this chapter done in about a day, which is my new personal record. If you find any mistakes in grammar or spelling, feel free to put a comment or message me.

Starting on the 29th, I have to be gone from 8 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. for Marching Band practice, so the chapters may take a couple days to get out. I would really much rather stay at home and write, but I can't back out of Band. (No matter how afraid I am of my teachers and their questions.)

I'm hoping that the length of each chapter will increase with every update, so I'm trying to work on that.

Thanks everyone.

Comments

[hs0003]

This is pretty good :) I was hoping for more Discord as soon as you mentioned him. But due to the lack of him in the tags, I doubt it'll happen..
Liked and faved

[Cynical Brony]

Good luck with band

[Ghij of Prophecy]

2939562 I wouldn't completely rule him out if I were you.