The Blessing and the Curse

by Equestria Buck Yeah

Chapter 23

Rachel buried her head under the pillow when the morning sun crept in through the blinds and hit her. She tried desperately to fall back asleep, but the chilly morning and the annoying light wouldn't let her. She groaned as she sat up and wiped her eyes clean. She got her first look around the simple bedroom where little more than a nightstand, a bed, a mirror and a small dresser sat.

It may have been a bit late in the morning when the sun eventually reached the right spot to wake her – a little past eight – but she looked and felt half dead. Sleep didn't exactly come easy to her that night. The last time she felt so terrible in the morning was the day after Matt had been officially determined to have gone missing. The shower she finally managed to take after slogging out of bed didn't do much for her, just like it failed to so long ago.

After finishing drying herself off and dragging herself through something only partially resembling a morning routine, Rachel realized after briefly searching the house for her backpack that the only things that monster-thing sent her away with were what she was wearing and what was in her pockets. She must have been in another world last night, but thinking straight wasn't really on the table for her the entirety of yesterday. The lack of clothes itself wasn't anything tragic, as she had worn Matt's clothes before. Still, it was mildly irritating. At least he had a couple belts to choose from to keep his shorts from sliding off her.

Before she left the room, she got a good look at herself in the mirror and all she could see in Matt's shirt was him, his arms wrapped around her and holding her close. For a moment, she almost swore she could smell him with her. She hugged herself and slowly slinked away into the living room. A distraction was sorely needed and she didn't really take any time to look around the previous night. Maybe she'd find something inside.

Unfortunately, Matt's living room was only slightly less barren than his bedroom. His half-empty bookcase didn't appeal to her. The desk by the window had some papers on it, and the calendar sitting underneath them was clean save for a few days noted with times and what may have been names. With names like Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, it was a reasonable notion.

Her angry stomach led her to the kitchen. Okay, sure, making some food could help take her mind off things. A search of the pantry revealed some coffee, and she definitely go for a cup or three. It was a little strange seeing a coffee maker sitting on the counter considering what Matt had told her about Equestria. It just seemed to be a century behind her home technologically in some areas but not in others. She shrugged it off and checked the fridge. Several kinds of drinks, a pizza box – it certainly felt like his old place. There wasn't much else to choose from, and she wasn't in the mood for the few fruits and vegetables that sat in the chill drawers. Matt's breadbox was keeping some muffins fresh, so she opted for a couple with some butter. At least he had a toaster to make one process easy.

When breakfast was ready, Rachel carted them into the living room, set them on the coffee table and dropped onto the couch. While she might have been hungry, the knot in her stomach kept her from enjoying the food, and the lack of things for her to do to kept allowing her to fall back into a state of misery.

The clock beside the couch read a few minutes before ten. Shouldn't it be after noon by now? As if things couldn't drag any slower.

A knock on the door rang out as Rachel took a sip of coffee. She figured it was Matt's friends, but it was a bit early for lunch. Perhaps they were there to help get her better acquainted with the town while they waited for him to recover like they said they would?

Rachel's assumption would be tested as she found the orange one standing alone in the doorway.

"Oh, err, hi...Applejack, right? Ah'm sorry, Ah'm...kinda bad with names sometimes."

"It's alright. You've been through a lot the last couple days. And, y-yes, that's my name."

"Where are your friends?" Rachel asked as she looked around.

"I just thought I'd stop by a little early. I honestly kind of expected Twilight to already be here. I mean, she lives right over there, right?" Applejack quipped, nodding at the nearby library.

"Ah guess so." With a nod of her own, Rachel invited the cowpony in and shut the door behind her.

Applejack approached one of the chairs at the center of the room, but paused to look around before taking a seat. Not seeing Matt hanging out and chatting and sometimes being ridiculous almost made it feel like she was in the wrong house. Her ears slumped as she took in the quiet, foreign atmosphere, remembering days that didn't involve demigods and general insanity.

"Some night last night, huh?" A.J. muttered.

"Yeah," Rachel sighed.

The pair sat in silence briefly, lost in thought. Making small talk with a romantic rival was harder than the mare anticipated. Though it wasn't as if she had experience having a rival not related to something athletic.

"So...how'd you sleep?"

"Didn't really."

"Yeah, me neither."

More awkward silence. Rachel re-broke the ice, biting her lip.

"Ya think...ya think he'll be okay?"

Now that had an answer she knew. She replied with a smirk, "Yeah...yeah, I do. Matt's been through, um...some interesting things since he's been here. Heck, he told you back at that hotel about that big cat we had to deal with a few weeks ago." The cowpony cringed at the worst part of the story, wishing she could erase the memory of a river of blood gushing from the side of his head. "I hadn't seen him look so awful in a long, long time. But, the doctors are real good and he's a tough bronco himself, despite being a little...mmm, I'll say off his rocker sometimes."

"What do ya mean?"

"You remember those things Matt told you about called the Elements of Harmony?"

"A little. Refresh my memory?"

"Course. Me and my friends are connected to these ancient artifacts that allow us to tap into some powerful magic somehow. We've had them for a couple years now and I still don't understand how it all works. That's Twilight's job," she chuckled. "Anyway, we've been through some pretty nasty situations that required us to use them – and a bunch where we didn't – and we've always come out okay. I know we could've handled that lion or whatever, but Matt insisted we stay out of harm's way. He's done that kind of thing more than once. He figures that if one of us, well, kicks the bucket that we wouldn't be able to use them. He may be right, but still." Applejack's orange cheeks turned a rosy red. "I ended up yelling at him about it a couple times. It's nice that he's protective of us and all, but I think he goes a little too far sometimes."

Rachel laughed to herself. "That sounds like him. Those first couple years we were datin', we got thrown out of more than one bar and other places thanks to him. He'd get all up in a guy's face if he thought they were hittin' on me or somethin'. Ah had to tell him to knock that shit off from time to time too. Ah'm honestly kinda surprised that temper of his didn't get him into more trouble."

"Funny enough, he seemed to calm down quite a bit after he got the best of Discord last time." Applejack pondered why for a second and shrugged. "Maybe it's because, like, he kicked the guy's flank that screwed his life up and felt vindicated after that? Who knows."

"Maybe. Just accepted what he had and where he was. Y'all did say ya couldn't find any way to send him back, so..."

"Yeah." The apple farmer's eyes drifted around the room and landed on a familiar framed clipping. "Y'know, if you want to talk surviving crazy odds, every time I've stopped by here and looked at that picture on his wall, I still can't figure out how he managed to crawl out of that monster, even after he told us."

"What do ya mean?"

"You saw that newspaper article on the wall, right?"

"Actually, Ah hadn't really noticed it. What is it?" Rachel asked as she and her rival got to their feet.

"Remember when he told you about that mountain-sized star bear thing?"

"Mhm. Thought he was just telling a joke or something, it sounded so crazy." She gently pulled the frame from its setting and removed the folded paper, skimming briefly over the article. "Didn't y'all try to stop him?"

Ashamed, Applejack shifted her gaze away from Rachel's accusing eyes. "He...didn't tell us anything. He asked us to get some things he needed, but the only one he said anything to was Twilight and that was after we gathered what he asked for. She didn't want to do it, but Matt wasn't budging. We wouldn't have either though if he had said anything to the rest of us, but that's probably why he didn't – he knew we would have tried to stop him. But we owe him our lives...our town. Needless to say, he's...pretty special to us."

The country mare's tone changed and she held her head up high, proud and confident. "When Twilight found him hanging out of that thing's mouth after he killed it and dragged him out of there, he was in bad shape. But we didn't give up on him and he pulled through. I can promise you we ain't gonna give up on him now."

They shared a smile.

"Me either," Rachel said. She nodded curiously at the small, empty plaque just above where the frame hung. "What's this?"

"He held onto the knives he used. When that mountain lion showed up, he asked Twilight to pop over here and get them for him. Whoever took the cat's body away must've taken his knives too. Unfortunately, we don't know who took them or where. It's a shame, really. I can understand why he'd want to hold onto 'em. Now it's almost like a part of him is gone."

"Yeah." The young woman's content smile faded, replaced with one of sadness. "Y'know, Ah...Ah never really thanked y'all for lookin' after him with everything that's happened...keeping him safe."

Applejack joined her in glumness and sighed. "I just wish we could've done so this time."

-----

Eleven long days went by while Rachel became a bit more accustomed to the quiet, small, equine town with help from Matt's friends. They had no problem paying for what she needed and introduced her to some of the ways to pass the time. In a way, it was reminiscent to them of how they looked out for Matt when he first came to Equestria.

Over those eleven days, the party made eleven visits to the hospital. There had been little change in Matt's condition. His vitals were still there and he was doing alright, but that was about as far as it went.

Aside from a couple more new and harmless additions to Ponyville from Earth, there hadn't been anything out of the ordinary. Mercifully, there hadn't been any sign of Discord either. The Elements figured it was only a matter of time and had alerted the Princesses about what happened. For what little good it would probably do, Celestia and Luna tripled the number of guards throughout Canterlot in case he decided to show up. Sleep for them suddenly became a thing of the past.

Celestia also left the Elements of Harmony with Twilight and her friends just in case. They were never seen without them on, and the six mares spent most of their time together in preparation for the worst. Still, they worried that the relics wouldn't be enough as they were ineffective last time.

It had gotten late on that eleventh day with the moon halfway in the sky, and Rachel and the girls had left the hospital a few hours prior. When she wasn't thinking of Matt while she sat in his home, the dreadful boredom was most days fairly overpowering to young woman. How he managed to cope for so long without all their little electronics and gadgets baffled her. Though she didn't know it at first, a knock at the door at such a strange hour would be the thing that cured what was ailing her. A turquoise pegasus greeted her with some good news and would be off to six other places after delivering it.

-----

If it wasn't so late the night before and far after visiting hours, Matt would have been bombarded by a group of relieved friends. The staff at the hospital would probably have still been reluctant to let them stop by and see him since one of the first things they did when he woke up was run some tests. He was understandably weak, but they found everything to be as good as they could be given what he went through. His bones, having been shattered so badly, hadn't been completely repaired by the doctors' healing magics just yet, so removing the numerous casts was out of the question. Whether or not there was any permanent damage remained to be seen. At least he got a lovely morphine drip.

Three more days with numerous, irritating tests crawled by with Matt showing very gradual signs of improvement. Obviously, he felt his best when his favorite girls stopped by to say hello. It was lucky he was able to get any better with Pinkie jumping on his chest to give him a hug every day despite being told to stop doing that. When they weren't around, he usually slept. Without even being able to turn his head to look out the window or space out with a television on, there wasn't anything for him to do. He was offered the radio, but to be honest, he wasn't the biggest fan of most popular Equestrian music.

The following afternoon, it was business as usual with only a little over an hour of visiting time left. During their stays, doctors and nurses would come and go, see if he needed anything, and inform everyone of any changes. With all eyes on him, the sound of somepony entering the room and grabbing his charts didn't get their attention. A voice did.

"Oh my my my, that doesn't look good at all."

They spun around in horror to see Nurse Discord skimming over the information.

"You!" Rachel snarled.

Despite the cramped quarters, she leapt to her feet and grabbed her chair, intent on smashing his head in. A snap of his finger stopped everyone in their tracks. Once he finished reading, he replaced the chart and walked up to the most helpless – but by far his angriest – of his victims.

"So, how are you feeling, Matt? You've certainly looked better. But today's your lucky day! You're being released!"

The traction and bandages were replaced with the clothes he was wearing in New York, dropping him onto the soft mattress. Half of Matt's vertebrae felt like they broke all over again from the short fall. His painful hollering could be heard through half the hospital. A steady chorus of approaching, stomping hooves made Discord raise a wall out of the floor and block off the doorway – not that anypony in the facility would have been able to do anything anyway. He just wanted to amuse himself without interruption.

Matt's cries made the spirit gasp. He almost seemed to have a look of genuine concern on his face. "I'm so, so sorry, pumpkin. Let me fix that."

His friends started to panic as Matt was gently lifted off the bed and a glow overcame him. Little by little, the agony subsided and eventually disappeared, leaving Matt and everyone else perplexed. Discord's eyes shimmered white and he glanced over every inch of his enemy's form, double checking his work. His brilliant eyes shifted yellow in color and he stared intently at Matt's chest. With a curious rub of his chin, the monster set the man on his feet, feeling as normal as can be. None of the pain was there and he could move all his limbs without a problem.

Matt jumped away, into his group of still-immobile companions, nervous but ready for an attack of some kind that just never came. If only the rest of them could help do...something, anything – if it would even matter!

"What the hell do you still want with me?! You fed off all those people! Just leave me the fuck alone!" he screamed at the monster.

"I just need to check one little thing first, okay?"

With a thought, the contents of the room vanished and in the center appeared a shallow pool of water. Without warning, Discord grabbed the back of Matt's neck and forced his head under. Matt kicked and twisted and fought but couldn't get free as he rapidly started losing air. Eventually, his body slowed and twitched.

"Stop it!"

"You're killing him!"

"Let go of him, you bastard!"

As he began to drown, Rachel suddenly started screaming. Her body was glowing gold and fading in and out of reality as it was before. It caught everyone by surprise save for Discord. A few seconds later, he started to do the same.

After fighting off the agony he was in for as long as possible, the menace yanked Matt out of the water and collapsed to all fours, breathing hard and clutching his chest. The man hacked up what felt like a lung's worth of liquid. It took a moment for everyone to recover, but Discord was first to his hooves.

"You...y-you s-s-son of a bitch!" Matt wheezed.

"Just as I thought. Anyway, relax, sonny boy. Allow me." In a flash, his heart rate was restored and any lingering fluids were taken out. That didn't stop his shaking, but it would do. "There we are. Right as rain again!"

Did Matt ever want to take a swing, no matter ineffective it'd be!

"Now, if you don't mind, girls, I need to step up to the plate and take charge of this simply awful situation you've all put him in," Discord continued.

"Us?! You're the one who nearly killed him, you maniac!" Applejack shouted.

"You can't see the danger he's still in? No matter. I've got the perfect place set up for him to make sure he's out of harm's way once and for all. Toodles!"

And in a puff of light, Matt and Discord disappeared. With their enemy gone to who knows where, the girls were able to move again and the barricade in the doorway went away. Rachel fell to her knees, frozen in disbelief after watching Matt be taken away yet again, this time right in front of her.

"Wh-what happened?! Where'd they go?!"

"Matt! Matt!"

"Can you hear us?!"

"Where are you?!"

"Matt!"

Comments

[lumberjack]

Well I suppose it was obvious that Discord would figure it out.

It was a short chapter but I always want more anyway. See you in 2 weeks!

[Equestria Buck Yeah]

5164212 I guess by now the 2-week thing is nice and predictable, but that doesn't seem like a bad thing! Perhaps at the upcoming finale I should wait an extra month or two just to troll. Probably would've had this chapter out a little faster, but with the new WoW pre-xpac patch...nom nom PvP nom delicious tank goodness that makes my enemies die at my feet!

[Equestria Buck Yeah]

5199267 Thanks! I'll be the first to admit my first fic was a bit amateurish. Reading stuff from better writers and putting in some time helps quite a bit.