Running into a Brick Wall
Chapter 36
Running into a Brick Wall
The ear piercing scream emanating from Heartbreak’s mouth shattered every soap bubble in the bright and sunny park like the many Hearth’s Warming baubles on the tree when an all too curious cat or little foal had become far too enamored by the sparkly display and just had to touch the shiny!
Heartbreak was being held awkwardly aloft by a struggling Rainbow Dash who could only protect her delicate hearing from the bansheep-like cries of agony by pinning her ears back. “Geez! You’re heavier than you look!” she said, grunting and keeping her head turned away from the pain emitting noise hole.
Heartbreak snorted and gritted her teeth. “Put me the fet down!” she growled, her mane and tail writhing about.
“Alright! Geez! No need to get your tail in a...” Dash paused, due to the fact that Heartbreak’s tail was trying to coil around her back leg! “Twist! Hey! Knock that off!”
Heartbreak found herself suddenly being dropped to the ground before letting out a sharp yelping sound as the only thing keeping her from greeting earth was her tail latching on to Rainbow Dash!
“Hey!” Dash cried out. “Let go!”
“What are you talking about?!” Heartbreak’s pain tainted voice shouted back.
“Oh! Oh! Let me help!” Fluttershy exclaimed, wickering and prancing in place before hovering a few feet off the ground to take a hold of her student.
Just as if on cue, Heartbreak’s tail uncoiled, sending the tan mare careening into a startled, not quite pillow of pink and yellow.
Heartbreak let out a cry that was not too dissimilar to a yelping dog and a pained horse, after which came a stream of obscenities.
“Mother fetting fettity fet fet fet! WHINNNY!!! Of all the fetting!! Fettity son of a fetting bisket! *Angry horse noises!*”
Cream Puff now having just trotted over covered her mouth in shock. “Ya... ok there H.B.?” She asked, her ears drooping as she approached with caution.
“Fiiine... I’m. Just. Fine!” She cried out, right before Fluttershy set her down as gently on the ground as she could. However, once all four hooves were touching green, it was quite clear to every pony present that H.B. was very much not ‘just fine’.
The moment her left forehoof met with the grass below, a terrible shutter, an awful tremor coursed its way up the appendage and traveled through her body from tip to tail.
Out of some sort of instinct, the hoof jumped into the air! This however only served to exacerbate the pain even further!
Heartbreak once more found a torrent of angry horse sounds flowing from her mouth as her eyes shut tightly, and her hind legs seemed to be fighting the urge to kick upwards!
Marmalade, who had trotted over to see the commotion, covered her son’s ears as the two other mares that were with her joined her in expressions of shock over the primal obscenities being thrown into the sky.
The grapey mare clutched the cluster of purple pearls around her neck. “My goodness! Can’t you see that there are foals present” she chided.
“Such language in a public space! Very unladylike!” scolded the apricot mare.
“Now, girls, Fox Grape, Floragold,” Marmalade began, her hooves being pushed away by a frowning Mars. “I’m sure that Miss Heartbreak has a reason for polluting our air with such...” she paused. “Vulgar profanity...”
“Yes!” Heartbreak snapped, her body fighting the urge to convulse. “I’m in Excruciating PAIN!”
The three mares glanced at the quivering hoof that Heartbreak held aloft skeptically.
“Well, nothing is poking the skin, so it can’t be that serious...” Fox said dismissively.
“Surely there would be a sharp bend somewhere if something was actually broken...” Floragold said dubiously.
“From where we were sitting, you barely came into contact with that tree before...” Marmalade looked over her sunglasses. “Rainbow Dash came to your rescue! Are you sure you aren’t just being dramatic?”
“I hate to agree with them, but how hard did you hit that tree?” Dash asked Heartbreak with a clear side eye.
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy exclaimed, shocked at her friend.
“Ex-cuse me Dash?!” Heartbreak snorted before wincing and taking a sharp breath in. “You did hear the CrAcK, right?! You were right there!”
“That could have been a branch snapping!” Rainbow retorted defensively.
Just as Heartbreak looked as if she was going to go off on Dash, Pinkie Pie flashed onto the scene accompanied by two new faces!
“Fluttershy! Dashie! H.B.!? What’s going on?! My tail was twitch-a-twitching, followed by a horrible forehoof shake-a-shake, and some really violent ear twisting, which usually means that some pony has suffered a fracture in their leg!” she exclaimed. “And that is just noooo good!”
Heartbreak’s ears pinned back at the sudden intrusion of the loud, bombastic pink party pony’s prattle. “Grrreat to know, Pinkie!” she said through gritted teeth while still holding her hoof up, before testing it on the ground only for it to jump again sending the tan mare into whimpering fits.
“Festivities?!” called out the near magenta, pink-ish, mare dressed up in a dress that was decorated in a myriad of dice, dominoes, and card suits. Adorning her ears, purply-pink mane, and neck was odd game piece themed jewelry. She clasped her hooves over her mouth, her cerulean blue eyes full of fright. “Fest-Tiv-Ities! Momma Joyful has nom-noms!”
Heartbreak once more winched and fought the urge to cover her ears as that would only bring more pain...
“Oh... I’m sorry. Was I being too loud?” My name is Joyful Jubilation!” She offered a friendly hoof to shake. “You haven’t happened to see a ferret scampering about have you?” She was greeted with a less than enthusiastic glare from the tan mare.
“Joyful, can you not see that she’s not in the best of spirits?” An even toned dirty green stallion asked, pushing the only stripe of white in his jet black mane out of his face. “I need a trim, Joyful, remind me of that when we get to Ponyville.” He looked back at Heartbreak. “Based on her posture and angusted expression, one can easily deduce that this is the pony who has suffered the traumatic event that Pinkie Pie was speaking of...”
“And just who might you be?” asked the apricot jam colored mare in an almost accusatory tone.
“I’m Puzzle Box. Co-owner of P.B. and J.J.’s Puzzles and Games Emporium and riddler of minor mysteries...” he said flatly.
“Then you’re obviously not a doctor,” Marmalade scoffed.
“No, I am not,” Puzzle Box replied just as flat as before, only this time his head was lowered to the level that Heartbreak was holding her hoof to. He glanced up at her with orange-gold eyes. ”May I look?” he asked with an odd mix of indifference and mild fascination.
Heartbreak gave a troubled glare and a harsh snort.
“You’ll have to forgive her...” Fluttershy said, trying to place herself between Heartbreak and the three aggressive mares. “She’s not very trusting of new ponies...”
“Especially sstallionsss...” Heartbreak muttered under her breath, all while doing her best to hold her balance.
Puzzle Box’s expression blanked for a moment as if he was attempting to quizzel out a riddle. “Oh...” He finally said. “Rest assured, I have no interest in any part of you other than what’s going on here.” he said very neutrally. “I also promise to be as gentle as I possibly can.”
Marmalade giggled. “That’s what they all say, isn’t it girls?” her two friends joined with a light chortle. However, they all only received glares from the eight others gathered. “Humph, tough crowd...” she muttered. “I don’t see what the big deal is she’s obviously-”
“Suffering from a fracture of some kind,” Puzzle Box interrupted like a skilled surgeon with a scalpel.
Cream Puff tilted her head. “Really? Beggin’ yer pardon, but how can ya tell?”
Puzzle Box eyed Heartbreak’s forehooves. “There’s a... three degree aberration in the line of this leg compared to the other one...” He tapped his chin.
“I am so glad we've figured out that I'm- and I don't know why this is even a thing- not faking an injury! Now can we please, for the love of Luna, stop chewing the bit and actually do something about the pain I'm in!?" Heartbreak whinged, being past the verge of tears.
"I would suggest immediate medical assistance?" Puzzle Box said.
Joyful stopped her ferret friend fetch quest and applied a hoof to her face. “Puz, there's some medical supplies in the wagon?”
"Yes. There are." Puzzle replied.
"You should go get them, " Joyful said, nudging him.
"Oh, yes. I will go get them," he said, turning and trotting back to the carriage.
Heartbreak winced and whimpered, all the while, Marmalade and her friends gave questioning looks. Fox Grape was giggling while whispering something.
It didn’t take long for Puzzle Box to return with a medical kit, some sticks, and a few long puzzle pieces that looked like they would make a good splint in a pinch.
"Can you please straighten your leg?” Puzzle Box asked.
“Y-yeah! S-s-sure!” Heartbreak said through clenched teeth, pushing her foreleg out straight with much difficulty.
With Fluttershy’s assistance, Puzzle Box placed the various sticks and game pieces parallel to Heartbreaks’ leg and began the process of wrapping it up before finishing it up with some decorative duct tape to hold everything in place.
“There. That should be good for... a little while.” He looked up at Heartbreak. “You should get to the hospital... really fast.”
"I got this!" Rainbow said, hovering above Heartbreak and looking as if she was about to pluck her up off the ground.
Heartbreak ducked and pulled away from the pegasus. "And just what do you think you're doing?"
"What did it look like?" Dash asked, confused. "I'm gonna fly you there! After all, I am Equestria's fastest flier!" she puffed her chest and pridefully proclaimed.
The color suddenly drained from Heartbreak's face and the sparkle fled her eyes as her pupils constricted.
"Nope," she asserted, slinking further away.
"What? Are you going to try riding your bike?" Rainbow asked, motioning her forehooves to the distorted front wheel. "Cause that might be-" She tried for a surprise mid sentence to once again, liberate Heartbreak from her earthy bounds.
"NNNOPE!" Heartbreak shouted out, falling to her right side, all four hooves in the air.
"Oh! Come on! Stop being a little filly and just let me-" Dash tried swooping down!
Heartbreak quickly tottered over and pronged back to all fours out of Dash's reach. This of course caused a shock of pain through her body and across her face! "NO! DaSheee! No MoRe fffly-eeing today!" she panted out.
Cream Puff and Fluttershy almost instantly came to the panicking pony's side, the one without the makeshift splint, to offer a comforting hoof and a possible way to pull H.B. from the edge of the whirling panic attack that threatened to make this situation at least twenty percent worse.
"It’s all right H.B.," Fluttershy began in the most soothing voice she could conjure. "You don't have to fly if you don't want..."
"Y-yeah... no... no more flying... d-don't-dont wanna fly..." Heartbreak stammered, shaking her head while looking at the ground with a thousand trot stare. “No... no fly...”
As Cream Puff lightly hugged her favorite mare's front right leg, she couldn't help but feel so helpless. That's when she spied what looked like a dartboard peeking between drooping branches of the weeping willow trees.
"Missus Jubilee-jubilation?"
"Yes, little filly?"
"Y’all said that ya got yerselves a wagon?"
"Well, yes, we're moving our games and puzzles to our new location! It’s a perfect little local too! Right across the way from this delightful looking little tea shop!" Joyful suddenly caught onto what the cream colored filly might be asking her next. "But we hardly have room for ourselves, let alone another pony..."
"We might be able to squeeze her in under the box games, where Submarenia and Apologies are, between the O'n'O core books and Oligopony. That space is vaguely pony shaped," Puzzle Box mused tapping his chin while looking at the sky.
"Puz, we're not cramming-" Joyful stopped and blinked, looking lost for a moment. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name..."
"I haven't given it to you yet," the agonizing mare said, trying to control her breathing. "My name is Heartbreak, please call me H.B." she managed to say more than a little exasperated at this point.
"Oh.. Heartbreak... I mean, H.B..." Joyful awkwardly corrected herself. "She must be the one that Pinkie Pie was talking about!" She exclaimed, turning to the chalky mint green stallion.
"Hmm, yes..." Puzzle Box replied, looking Heartbreak up and down. "She does indeed match what Pinkie Pie illustrated in both appearance and temperament..."
Heartbreak gave a confused, inquiring side eye to pinkdinious pieacus promoidois who could only awkwardly giggle and squee in an attempt to quell any notions that she had said anything damaging.
"Anyway, " Joyful rewound her train of thought. "We're not going to crane H.B. into a vaguely pony shaped hole surrounded by a mess. If only we had more room..."
"Well, I-" Marmalade began, only to be abruptly interrupted by a bright pink blur!
"Oh! Oh! I have an idea!" Pinkie exclaimed before raising Rainbow Dash's front hoof. "Dashie and I could take some of your games and puzzles to your shop! That way, you could have space for H.B. and she also gets to make up for all the terrible things that have happened, resulting in H.B. crashing into that tree!"
"Hey! It wasn't my fault that happened!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
=========
"And then what happened?" asked a massive maroon mare as she pushed her brick red mane out of her captivated cement gray eyes.
"Well, Brick House..." Heartbreak sighed. "I think Fluttershy 'asked' Rainbow if she could do it for her because as she put it 'it would mean so much to me if she would 'do this Dash'"
"Uh..." Brick House scratched the mop of a mane atop her head. "I don't know, I'm not always good with... knowing stuff, but Fluttershy sounded... well, stressed? Upset?"
Heartbreak looked down. "Yeah, I guess you're right, B.H." she chewed on her lower lip before staring at the makeshift splint cobbled from sticks, long pieces of a wooden puzzle, and rather colorful duct tape that was adorned with the emblems of playing cards: hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers, and blue moons- with all the little red hearts having jagged cracks drawn into them.
“Uhm... how did you get that?” Brick House asked, sensing the negativity coming off her friend. “And why are all the hearts... wait... uhm...” she pointed at every spot the shape appeared. “Broken... broken... broken... broken! Yup! All broken... They didn’t come like that, did they?”
“Oh, no. I got bored on the way here, so to occupy myself, I took out a white gem pen and drew them in, as a way to occupy myself from all the pain,” Heartbreak explained. “As to how I got this, Puzzle and Joyful put it together from their med kit and what they had on h-h-oof.”
“Oooh...” Brick House nodded, shifting her massive frame on the less than adequate hospital waiting benches. “Oh! Was f-fes-fest-” She snorted and shook her head. “J.J.'s pet ok?”
“Ha... If you mean ‘did she find him’? Then yes.” Heartbreak replied. “As far as ‘ok’? Well, I’m not a ferret expert but he looked rather... I wanna say... haunted? Fretful?” She shook her head and proceeded pretending that her left foreleg was made of the wood that, for the moment, was holding it in place. “Then again, that might be because he caught sight of me...”
“Why would any animal be scared of you?” Brick House asked, her head tilting to her left.
Heartbreak bit her lower lip. “Oh... cauuuse... I’m a stranger! Yeah... You know how animals are around strangers. Little Festivities was even doing that thing that ferrets do with their owner when they want to lead them somewhere, gently nipping Joyful’s ear and trying to tug her along to places that a pony can’t obviously fit!”
Brick House’s whole back end slipped off the waiting bench and ungracefully hit the floor! “I... wouldn’t know no nothing about things like that...” she said, her low voice sounding embittered.
“Eee... ffa...hah...” Heartbreak awkwardly garbled out. “My bad, B.H. I wasn’t thinking about your... uhm... size when I said that and didn’t mean to-”
Brick House waved her hoof almost dismissively. “Pffff! It’s ok, H.B.! I’m not bothered... cause...” she lifted up the mop of a forelock from her eyes that now sparkled with mischief. “I’ve got a secret... a secret way to be small!” she said in a hushed tone through an impish grin.
“O-oh?” Heartbreak raised an eyebrow as she fought a chorkle in her voice. “You got a secret spell or something?”
“Nooo,” Brick House said, shaking her head, before tapping her chin. “Well... maybe?” she suddenly bowed in excitement like an oversized dog all too ready for playtime. “Do you wanna see? Do you wanna see?!”
Heartbreak pulled back a little, trying to keep her hoof steady. “Eep!” she squeaked.
“Oh! I’m sorry, H.B...” Brick House apologized, trying to steady the bench.
“It’s okay, B.H.” Heartbreak said through a tense but soft voice. Once she felt she was stable, she pushed up her glasses. “Yes. I would like to see.”
Brick House let out a high, or at least for a pony her size, excited squeal before turning and nosing open her sandalwood colored saddleback. From the cement, sawdust, and various detritus covered depths she pulled out a sketchbook!
Heartbreak did a double take. “I... didn’t know that you drew there, B.H...” she said.
“Oh.. no... I’m no good at that...” Brick House said with a lamenting chuckle. “Nooo, but there are ponies at the...” She looked around and lifted a hoof near her mouth as if to cover a supersecret secret. “Hu-mare con...” she said in a hushed tone. “That did, an’ I gave them bits to draw my char-char-ca-... my ‘sona’!”
“Oh?” Heartbreak looked at the cover of the sketchbook as it was offered to her. She grimaced and sighed.
“Something wrong? You don’t wanna-”
“I do!” Heartbreak insisted. “It’s just... I have a hoof condition that keeps me from picking things up with said hooves, and now with this one in a splint...”
“Oh... OH! Let me! Let me!” Brick House said, reaching over and opening the book to several colorful pages filled with drawings of a single character. “Here she is! Little Seer!”
Heartbreak blinked at the very small, short, almost spiky red haired ‘hu’sona’ presented to her with a bit of recognition in her eyes. “Oh, wow. Uhm... These are really good. I like the splashes of color in her ‘mane’ and hey! Rounded ears!”
“Uuuuhm! At the con when you were talking about that, I de-side-ed that I wanted to see them on her!” Brick House exclaimed, with an air of pride. “You no-no-not-”
“Notice anything?” Heartbreak finished for Brick who was now sheepishly nodding. “Uhm... She’s really... small?”
=========
Once again, I think Equestria is fucking with me. Though it could just be pure coincidence that Brick House’s ‘Hu’sona’ looks like my former...
No...
I don’t wanna call them that... The partner who I was so callously ripped away from?
Sure, she was Dave’s ‘wife’ at the time, but she wanted out of the abusive relationship and... fet. Locks, this is like the second time this day within the hour!- That I’ve been reminded of that night and everything I’ve-
“H.B.?” Brick House’s voice shatters the window of my mind like... well... a brick.
“Huh?! Small!” My voice leaps out of my throat and my ‘arm’ once again sends me shooting pains!
“You... .you alright, H.B.?” the gentle giant of a mare asks me. “Cause you kind of... looked... uhm...”
“Lost?” Fuck. Now’s not the time to have a panic attack Heartb- H.B. Apologize to Brick and try to be in this moment! “I... I guess nearly crashing into that tree shook me up more than I realized. Anyway! Yeah! Seer looks very small, or at least that’s the impression I’m getting from the oversized clothes... The massive tea cup and the pencil that she can barely hold really sell that idea!”
Brick smiles and nods. “Eeyup!” she gives a wistful sigh. “Just like when I was that small!”
“Baah?” I have to do a mental check to make sure that I heard this red hulk of a pony right. “I-wait... you’re saying that you were-” I point to the drawing on the page. “This small?”
Brick taps her chin, the gears in her head pushing to turn. “Well...” she lifts her forehooves and places them maybe a kittens’ length apart. Her tongue sticks out a while she’s figuring this out in her head. “Maaaybe this big? Daddy said that I could fit on the frog of his hoof, an’ momma said that she barely had to give me a push! She also said that ‘if it weren’t for her cra-cra-cravings! She might had not known she was expectin’!”
The mental image of all that hits me like a ton of bricks, pun very much intended. A ton of micro-brick foals.
“Uhm... well... hmmm.” That’s the best you can come up with?!
“Gooo on...” Brick House cranes her neck down to meet my gaze. “Say it...” she has this bemused-expectant look in her eyes.
“Say... what?”
“It’s ok to ask...” She blows her forelock out of her eyes. “How...”
It takes me a solid second to get where she’s going here.
“How... did you get so... big?” I almost cower in asking this. I might be wrong but there’s a... something that you’d think I, of all pon- beings. Beings would recognize more.
Brick House waggles her forehooves over the edge of the bench. “Well, it’s mostly the reason I’m here... to get a checkup with Dr. Stable and a fill up on my med-med-” She grumbles. “My pills.”
“We’re in a hospital, I don’t think you need to be ashamed about needing meds...” She snorts a little at me. “Uhm... continue your story!”
“Well, it all started when I was a li’ Brick...” She gives a smile while looking up distantly. “Little enough that I was able to play in my daddy’s tool box!”
“That sounds awfully dangerous...” She’s describing this with the same joy and nostalgia one would use for a jungle gym or playground, but for some reason all I can imagine is all the sharp edged rulers, super pointy nails and screws, and heavy headed hammers; all of which are practically begging to turn a tiny brick red pony into a mangled, maimed, blood red splatter...
“Oh... there wasn’t anything too danger... ous...” She waves her hoof dismissively, before stopping and tapping her chin. “Or so we thought. My daddy, Mason Bricklayer kept all sorts of things in there... tools, pretty sparkle rocks, papers, and pictures of family... Well, one day he had enough of me playing in there and put it far out of my reach.”
I glance around, not so obvious that it looks like I’m disinterested... Crumbs. She noticed.
“Something the matter?” she asks, concerned.
“Uhm, nothing, just checking if Fluttershy and them have returned from dropping my bike off... please... continue...”
Brick House nods. “So... uhm...”
“Your dad put the toolbox out of reach.” Being able to help others remember where they had stopped their stories and refresh them... Just another little skill that I picked up with my... with my last girlfriend... her... Focus, H.B. Pay attention to Brick House!
“Yeah! So, then, I started to grow! Momma and daddy were really happy at first. They thought I was gonna be Lil' Brick forever! ... But then...” She looks away, her tail whipping a little. “I just kept growing... and growing... and growing! By the time it was time for me to start school? I could almost see eye to eye with the teacher!”
“That’s... pretty big...” Gee, H.B., you don’t sound enthused. Here Brick House is telling you her personal backstory and all you can say is ‘That’s pretty big?’
“Heh... Yeah...” She once more dangles her forehooves over the waiting bench. Though ‘dangle’ is barely the best word one should use to describe it. After all, the tips of her hooves are just scraping the black and white checkerboard linoleum floor that I have grown far too accustomed to seeing for the past week. “I kept growing though... my cla- the other colts and fillies... espe-ally the fillies... started callin’ me names and teasing me...” Her ears are drooping and her entire body grows sullen...
“That sucks there, B.H....” I can feel that pain being who I am... the memories from my childhood and being seen as an ‘easy target’ because you’re different push their way up to the surface. “P-ponies can be so cruel sometimes...” Fetlocks… I mean... fuck, fuck, my voice cracked.
“Yeeaah, I don’t like thinking about it... what with the teasing and not fitting in a desk... or through the door… and havin’ to stick my head through a round window during the winter...”
“What?!” A frosty shiver goes down my back as my brain forces me to imagine what that would be like. “That’s just... I mean...” The words are escaping me as I practically... no, not practically, definitely feel... offended? Upset? Just pissed off on Brick’s behalf. “That’s so unfair!” I finally spit out. “Your teacher should have done more!”
“Well... I did have a pillow to sit on... and a blanket to cover my butt!” Brick’s words sound like apologetics for a system that wasn’t made for a pony built like her. “A colt and filly from school gave them to me...”
“That’s still pretty messed up!” I tense up as the urge to keep my hoof still has lost again, waiting to gesticulate with my forehooves. Curse you, Italian blood! Diluted as you may be, you’re still giving me the desire to talk with my nonexistent hands!
“Well... yeah, if you say so, H.B.” Brick awkwardly mutters. Geeeze, she wasn’t anything like this when dealing with what’s his nam- Narrow Beam. “But! I didn’t have to deal with it for long, cause as soon as I got my cutie mark?” She motions to the nearly invisible red brick on her flank... Seriously, the only thing that makes the magical butt picture stand out is the texturing and outline. “My momma and daddy told me that I was gonna work with them! Like my daddy said ‘You might be nine years old, but you’re a big pony now and you can do big pony things!’”
“Huh...” I don’t think I want to bring up the topic of childhood, or in this case ‘foalhood’... or yearlinghood? Whatever. Foalhood slavery with Brick House, wait, did she imply that she was fully grown at nine?! “Uh... just how old are you?”
“Fourteen...” She says with a sheepish guffaw. “I hope that does mean you’ll think little of me...” she kicks her hoof and bites her lip.
I’m pretty sure she meant ‘don’t think less of me’, but I’m going to ignore my writer's voice for... her sake.
“I can’t think less of you, B.H.” Literally, I literally can’t think less or little of a pony, who the last time we interacted, literally lifted me off the land and realigned my lumbar. “You’re a really strong... mare.”
Brick seems to like that as she widely grins and nods. “Yes I am! I was so strong, my daddy had me doin’ things that would us-usal-usally! Take two, sometimes three of his best must-tangs to do!” she gives a dopey giggle. “Boy, those stallions were sure embar-bar-ress-ed when their boss’ ‘little’ filly could do their jobs!”
“I can imagine!” A giggle manages to slip out with my words. This turn in her story? Imagining those guys being out done by this mountain of a mare? It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling for some reason.
I can’t for the life of me figure out exactly why seeing that I myself was once a guy, granted a guy that would most likely be cheering B.H. on... but still a guy... but. I’m not going to think about where these feelings are coming from! I’ve got enough on my plate...
“Well... yeah... until... it happened...” Brick’s ears droop once more and her tail whips.
There’s a pause in this little story that’s happening and the quiet is only filled by the hospital’s music and chatter of the other ponies as they go about the reasons that they’re here. I’m terrified of asking what ‘it’ was, but finally the words win their battle.
“What... happened?” Geez, asking that was like walking on broken glass. Hey! No brain! Not the time for music!
“It was... a fall day... durin’ the Running of the Leaves... There was colors everywhere an’ daddy wanted me to take this big stack of bricks up a st-steep hill...” She looks down at her hooves. “I had nearly hooved that stack up the hill when... when... I was feeling all wobbly-like... like I had no breath... like I had spun around but I was standing still... then everything went really dark...
“When I woke up... I was still on the hill, but there was a doctor pony, a unicorn standing over me and all sorts of wires and... tubes with bags on them hooked up to me! His name was Dr. Stable and boy howdy was I ever lucky that he was traveling on that road or the only stone I’d be carrying would be ‘grave’!”
“Haaa...” Come the almost muted disjointed half laugh. “Y-yeah... really lucky.”
“He was talking a lot of hard words that my daddy made soft for me. That it was as if my body an’ heart was in a race, my body grew too fast and my heart just couldn’t keep up... I was going to need to get my heart strong again and take special pills for the rest of my life...” she, once again, gives me this goofy grin.
I smile and nod all the while biting my lower lip. Suddenly there’s a slight chill that goes through my neck. This reminds me that the shooting pain is still there, but only if my leg/arm turns ever so slightly and only if I’m thinking about it. Despite B.H’s story being so long and sad... it’s really helped keep me distracted!
“Sounds like Dr. Stable was really set on keeping you stable!” That’s right H.B., grit through any pain and laugh it away! Take that Pain Hurtzalot!
Crap... now I have the mental image of a little broken misshapen pony-thing that looks all sad cause I’m not paying her any attention.
“Yu-hu! He ever was!” Brick smiles widely while nodding her head. “Not only that, he wanted to know why I grew up so fast!” She turns a little pensive. “Buuut to do that, I’d have to go to the hospital... and my momma and daddy were really worried about how much that would cost...”
“Ugh...” I roll my eyes. “Even in Equestria where ponys' exact talents are tailored to ‘healing others’ and magical cures are far from snake oil, the ever looming unfair monster that is ‘health care costs’ is a thing...”
“Well... Ma and pa didn’t come from a family with lots of money, shoot! Brickworks is a really small place... there are uhm... one... two... three... uhm... four... uhm... five! Five families there! They didn’t have much money.” I can hear the all too relatable shame in her voice. “Which is why they were really happy when Dr. Stable said he’d do it all for free! As long as he could ‘figure me out’, and once he did... heh... it turns out that it was all my fault...”
“Uhhh, how?” Comes my involuntary practically slack jawed response.
“Well, you know how I said I was playing in my daddy’s tool box?” Geez, yeah, that’s where her yarn of a tale started. “Well, that crystal dust in there was all magical and got it into me, and then up into my pat-patu-uhm...”
“Pituitary gland?” Ask that as gently as you can. Try not to sound irritated.
“Yeah! Heeee, sounds like you’re spitting! Pi-tu-a-terry gland!” She giggles... or chuckles or whatever. “Anyway, crystal dust got all up in there an’ was doing things to me... Dr. Stable was able to remove it... though...” Brick lifts her forelock... Oh, fet, there’s a tiny scar just near her temple... She then waggles her other hoof in front of her face. “It... did things to me... I get... tingles... and numbness...”
“Oh... geez...” Brain damage or something neurological. “It... could have been worse... you got lucky I suppose...” Ugh... I kinda wish my brain wouldn’t simulate that numbness.
“Yup! But why I was really lucky is that I got to meet Lyra Heartstrings while I was in the hospital! She was in ‘cause she got herself trapped in this funny looking mask with glue? I think... But she kept me company and I learned about...” she brings her voice down again. “The humans... she even helped me come up with Seer!”
“Oh... that was... nice of her.” And we’ve come full circle...
“Yeah... I really like my little Seer...” Brick sniffs and wipes her nose. “They remind me of when I was little and... the world was so... big... And promises meant everything... When life was just so...wonderful.”
“Wow...” Fuck... those feelings she’s throwing off are hitting me really hard.
“I’m starting to worry about Lyra... She hasn’t been to too many H.L.C meetings in uhm... one... two... months!” She taps her chin and pulls out a tissue before blowing her nose.
“That seems... odd... Also... There are H.L.C. meetings?” I know asking that is a dangerous thing, but it... could be interesting... be something to do outside of reading, crusaders, and of course, learning lessons with the girls...
“Yup! It’s uhm... on saturday... But not the next and then one Saturday but not the next!” She smiles widely and then leans over like she’s sharing some super secure secrety secret or something. “It happens when the hands are up and right...”
“When the...” It takes me a moment to realize she’s saying ‘three o’clock’. It just sounds like something too clever for her to say! There go my internal biases. “Oooh... I get you...”
Brick giggles. “You wanna come?”
“I...” I know I said it could be fun as something to do, but then again! It’s putting myself at risk! There will be ponies there! Ponies with a weird obsession with humans! What would I even-
The whining of the hospital waiting room doors along with a dark brown nurse pony whose name tag reads ‘Hot Biscotti’ enters my ears and jars me from what feels like a high school drama line of questioning.
“Brick House?” she announces while looking at her clipboard. She then bothers to look up and see the monument stack of a... filly? Mare? Learning her actual age is troubling me on that point. “Oh good. Dr. Stable is ready to see you now.”
"That's me!" She pushes herself off the bench and looks back at me. "I'll talk to you later, H.B.... If you want to know more... You'll... uhm..."
"Send you a letter using the fireplace?" She nods vigorously. "Uhm," Come on H.B.... "Y-yeah... Maybe I'll drop you a letter."
Yeah... Maybe.
Stats
Page generated in 0.021 seconds
Total duration
1,108 users online
2,004,258 hits today, 1,872,792 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Welcome to: "Finish the Line!"
The comment game where I begin a Line, and you finish it!
Let's begin!
"She's a..."
11833498
"narrator narrating herself while narrating the narration!"
:3