Chapter Four
The ache that echoed off his ribs only amplified Ledger’s emotions, feelings of rage and guilt and betrayal mixed and swirled inside his mind and fought to vent outwardly in some kind of self-loathing anger. But despite all that, he was as to be expected. Rather happy to find that he had no fully broken bones, only host to a pair of cracked ribs that were charted to recover before he would even board the train to visit the dragons.
The doctor in charge, however, had acted as if he were the most important case in the entire hospital, due to his position in the queen’s court. And it made Ledger sick to think about it. He knew there were at the very least two ponies who should have had a fair share of the attention given him, but had been passed over in favor of the queen’s pet human. Should they learn of it, they would undoubtedly hold a grudge against him for it, as if he had a say in the matter.
Ledger knew there wasn’t any reason to be so mad about it, since there was nothing he could to change it, but it still held to his bones, always present, and his face showed it. It was frightening to the ponies to see such anger on the features of the man, though he tried to keep it hidden beneath a nonchalant pout. Ponies would move aside like he was on a warpath, and it only angered him more.
He paced the castle anxiously with a small pill bottle of pain relief grasped tightly in a fist. He passed his room for the third time since leaving the medical wing and started on another loop through the halls. Knowing that nothing of worth awaited him in his room, only preoccupied sitting and fuming. And he could do the second one while walking, so he saw no reason to relax and sit down.
A couple ponies saw him passing again and moved aside, exchanging quizzical expressions in the wake of his footsteps, not understanding what drove the Relations Officer to such a fit. Nor would they. Ledger had an image to uphold, even if it was begrudgingly. Truth was, noone in the castle thought that the queen would actually hire someone to deal with relations, it seemed like the polar opposite to the queen’s actions. Not to mention the strange alien hardly fit in with ponies at all.
So, logically, everyone assumed the title was a front. Assumed he was actually some sort of deep dark agent, to spy on them, to gather info, and to report it back to the queen. Some extraterrestrial mercenary, working for the queen and her money. He’d tried, once, to do away with that rumor. In fact, it had only been a few days ago now, he’d tried to help one of the stallions who pulled his carriage.
Now look how things had turned out.
He didn’t blame Caramel, no, Caramel had done what he thought was right.
He blamed Guitaga. That dirt bag had turned on him for no reason, had tried to tackle him to the ground instead of attempting a peaceful capture. After Ledger had done all he could to help out Guitaga, for the very most minor thing, and Guitaga had turned on him instantly because Caramel has asked him too.
It was very clear he was to always be the untrustworthy monster of the queen’s court. He could build an orphanage and solve world hunger and ponies would still suspect an ulterior motive, children would still panic when he passed by, and stallions would still flinch when he looked at them. His thoughts burned his mind with fiery anger, a force that singed his sanity as he kept it in check. In this fit of emotion he only barely recognized he was passing his room again, but he didn’t care. And he went for another loop around the building.
He tripped as he turned the next corner, stumbled over something he hadn’t seen, and he landed on his knees, sending a painful vibration through his injured ribs. He paused for a minute to wait for the pain to subside before he tried to stand again. “I’m so sorry!” He heard a female voice call from behind him, followed by a scrambling sound as she tried to make her approach.
Ledger lifted himself off the ground almost immediately, not waiting for her help. “It’s fine.” he turned to face her, and blinked as he recognized her, he couldn’t place a name, but he recognized the face. It’d been so long since he’d heard it. He felt like she was one of the few who had received names from the fandom, but he supposed he could be wrong about that. But despite not knowing her name, he still wasn’t surprised that he recognized her face. Facial recognition had long since become cliche in his day to day life, and the surprise in seeing ponies he recognized had quickly faded away. And as he looked at her he saw the fear that began to find it’s way into her eyes. Something even more common than the familiar faces.
“I’m so so sorry!” She repeated, a renewed vigor in her words that had been missing before, confirming beyond a doubt that she had recognized him. “Very sorry sir! I’m such a clutz, didn’t watch where I was going, I didn’t mean to trip you sir. I swear it, I really didn’t.”
“Shuuut up.” Ledger pled, a sort of agony in his words at the way she had begun to grovel for his forgiveness. “Just leave me alone okay? Then we’ll be even. Okay? Okay. Great, let’s do that right now. Good bye.” He reversed his direction, heading back towards his room. He really had no desire to deal with this right now. Or ever again, for that matter.
He walked past her and he thought for a moment that he heard her take a step towards him, but she stopped almost immediately in hesitation. Not a moment later the air was filled with whispers that barely seemed to pass the teeth of their speakers, sounding more like hurried gusts than words, due to the fear they had of the biped. But he didn’t need to hear the words to know the topic.
He slammed the door shut behind himself as soon as he stepped over the threshold, only to flinch at the explosive sound it made when it collided with the door frame. With clenched teeth he walked over to the nearest chair and slouched over, his fingers knit together in a ball while regret consumed his mind, overriding the anger without killing it, letting the damnable fire char his emotions into a mess of black soot.
His foot tapped relentlessly against the stone floor as he waited. He glanced at the clock, then looked away immediately, it was still a long while before he would be going to sleep, but there was nothing he wanted to do, nothing he could do, but sit here and fidget like a kid on a sugar high. His eyes darted over the room and he spied a pill bottle at the far end of the room. One that he’d had for a long time.
He broke his vision off the see through orange container and turned it to the wall.
And then Ledger counted the bricks.
It was somewhere between his fifth count and his sixth count that a knock came at his door. He approached it, his mind empty of the emotions that had tortured him earlier. He still felt a unquenchable black goo in his gut, but he tried not to think about it. He instead answered the knock. Behind the door was the mare he had tripped over, and in sudden clarity the name came to his mind.
“Octavia.”
She looked at him, and her hesitant smile that he had only seen for a fraction of a moment disappeared. Her eyes narrowed. “How do you know my grandmother’s name?” Showing utmost practice, her tone hide her emotions, even when her face betrayed them.
Ledger exchanged glances with her for a fair while before he spoke again, wanting to see if a violent side came to light before he continued. “Would you like to come in?”
She flinched. Of course she flinched. Why wouldn’t she flinch. Ledger began to berate himself again. ‘Oh yea, sure, let me come into this room of the monster who yelled at me earlier, that sounds like a plan.’ He thought to himself, sarcasm covering every word. “Actually, the park. How about the park?”
A pained grin crossed her face, and she nodded.
The walk to the park was silent, Octavia, or at least, that’s what Ledger knew her as, she glanced at Ledger when she didn’t think he was looking, but Ledger didn’t bother glancing at her, he didn’t quite care enough to do so at the moment.
They arrived at the park, and sat in separate benches, facing each other on either side of some kind of jogging track. Birds were chirping, but Octavia was far too interested in this Relations Officer to care. She broke through the noise by repeating her last question. “How did you know my Grandmother’s name?”
“Not your name?”
“No, why do you ask?”
“You look like an Octavia.”
She glared at him as he said that and he felt a very faint sense of guilt for it. “My mother had considered it, but she didn’t in the end. Whenever I ask her why, she always tells me that the name carries bad memories for her. I imagine there’s something she’s not telling me about her death.”
“My condolences.”
“It was years ago, I’ve moved on with my life. I still visit her grave every year, but that’s the extent of it.” Her gaze narrowed again as she looked at him. “So how did you know it? You don’t look like the type to go digging through genealogy in your spare time.”
“Lucky guess.” She frowned in response. “So what is your name then?”
“Treble.”
“Still gonna call you Octavia.”
“Why?”
“Oh who cares, we probably won’t see each other ever again, it hardly matters if i call you Octavia does it?” His face was impartial as he said it, then he stood up and began to head back towards the castle again.
“Do you ever make any sense?”
“Oh, better not insult the Queen’s pet monster, maybe one day it’ll grow some fangs.” He looked at her and grinned, purposefully showing off his canines. She flinched away in instinct and he continued his lonely walk back home to count the bricks again. “And maybe a backbone too, wouldn’t that be something.” His voice far too low now for anyone to hear him.
Truth was, he was happy for Octavia’s visit. It took his mind off things for a short while. He was happy she hadn’t tried to kill him, but he very much believed what he had said about them not seeing each other ever again. His duties took him outside the capital quite often, so regardless of where she lived they wouldn’t see each other much. Which was probably for the best. He wasn’t entirely looking forward to death by cello after she decided to try and take him out of the equation just like his other 'friends' had.
When, at last, the sweet relief of sleep visited him that night, the lullaby was sung by aching bones and poorly tuned heart strings.
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This is a good ass story bruh
Hurrah! If only the chapters were longer
cant wait for the
moment when someone finds out how he knows about them
4513560 Amen Brother/Sister
Dream back-story next I take it? Wonder what happened to Caramel and Lyra's dad/brother/male relative and that other pony?
4513961
Haha, you renamed Octavia Treble. Depending on who you ask, she plays cello or bass, and would play in the alto and bass clef, respectively. Guess the cutie mark fits, though.
This is awesome! and to who ever gave that 1 dislike.....screw you.
Fantastic, can't wait for the next installment
4514228 Probably the same person who disliked your comment.
4516430
wha? disliked my com-.....
quickmeme.com/img/3d/3d0189cd8f86299ff7679ae09eb8032e858c1b3268289c55f6ec29e5907c207a.jpg
It's nice to see some originality with an HiE story. I look forward to reading more of this.
4517152 Hey! Now someone else did it, too!
4519275 Stop trolling the poor guy, he's probably having a mental breakdown from the negative criticism!
4519505 I have no idea what you are talking about.
4519542 THAT'S WHY YOU SHOULD STAP!
4519275
4519505
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4519552 I think I accidentally broke him. Sorry~
4519709 ... :/ thought so...
4519587
4519709
Is this still considered reviewing the story?
4519739
No. I was being an internet spaz.
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4519739
4519542
Man, and here I thought I had eight legitimate comments on one of my stories.
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4520956 Every story has at least one comment/chain of comments that does not have anything to do with the story itself, just like the one I was in just now, so you would have to be a freaking wizard for there not to be at least one comment/comment chain like that. But I will still apologize for all the annoyance it might have caused you (if any, but better safe than sorry!).
4521219
4520956 Nevermind, I read/understood that completely wrong. Now excuse me while I go stand in a corner in shame. And watch some studio Ghibli movies.
4521219 After all this maybe he can forget it all and write more of this sticky ambrosia that I wish to swallow with my eyes!
4521240 It's easier with your ears!
4521247 Maybe if he makes it an audiobook!!!
4521262 That would be delicious!
4520956
no no man its a great story! I just got distracted is all.
you should totally write some more chapters....aww come on man cheer up.
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That make you feel any better?
4521283
Ha, you fell for my ploy, just as planned.
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4521312
ohh hell, I'd rather be tricked into cheering someone up, than ignoring someone that was actually sad.
4521331
Good on you.
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4521283 Rainbow Dash is too cute not to make you feel better!
This fic is really interesting and I can't wait for the next chapter.
Character progression is good, the human is rightfully Genra Savvy,has the perfect dark atmosphere, and those gloves man, I can just imagine the guy thinking to himself how sinister he feels when he snaps them on.