A New Lease on Life

by Digital Phoenix

Chapter 6: This is How Rumors Start

Chapter 6:
This is How Rumors Start

At some point during his musings, Kyle must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew, he was woken by a nurse laying a tray of food at the foot of his bed. “Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” the nurse said, sounding a bit nervous.

“Don’t be. I’ve slept long enough as is.” Kyle reached for the tray, but stopped short when he saw its contents. “What is that?” he asked, eyeing the green mush plopped in the center of the tray.

“Ground alfalfa with a side of steamed carrots,” she said, giving Kyle a strained smile.

“Sorry, but I can’t digest alfalfa,” he said giving the mush a disdainful look.

“Oh, my apologies. I wasn’t informed,” she said, a small amount of fear showed in her eyes.

“That’s okay, no harm done. If you could maybe get me an apple, that should hold me over for a bit at least,” he said, trying to give the nurse a reassuring smile.

“Ah… um, yes, I should be able to do that. I’ll be right back,” she said as she made a hasty retreat.

“I wonder why she acted like that?” Kyle thought out loud. He didn’t get long to contemplate the nurse’s odd behavior before there was a knock at the door.

“Can I come in?” The familiar voice of Twilight sounded from the other side of the door.

“Sure, come on in, Ms. Sparkle.” She walked into the room, giving Kyle a look that he was all too familiar with. It was a look that brought up all of his worst memories, the look that said ‘I have bad news.’ “What’s wrong?” Kyle asked. He couldn’t help the anxiety that began to build.

“I have some good news and some bad news. What would you like to hear first?” The sinking feeling in his gut grew worse.

“Tell me the bad news first.”

Twilight shifted on her hooves uncomfortably as she looked at the floor. “Ihavn’tfoundawaytosendyoubackandican’tevenfigureouthowtoreplicatetheresultsthatgotyouhereI’msosorry!” she shouted in rapid succession. Her eyes never left the floor. A few seconds of silence fell between the two and Twilight’s expression continued to dampen as time ticked by. Soon, Twilight was near tears. “I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault that you’re here and hurt. I can’t even get you back home. You must hate me…”

Kyle’s instincts as a big brother kicked in and he wrapped Twilight in a hug. “Twilight, I don’t hate you at all, not even the slightest amount of resentment.”

“But I stole you from your home, and, with the same spell, nearly got you killed! How can you not be mad?” she shouted as she pushed Kyle away.

“Well, for one reason. No, make that two. First of all, if you didn’t steal me away from my home, I would’ve died. Second, you got me to the hospital just in the nick of time to save my life yet again. So, no, I’m not mad at you,” Kyle finished with a genuine smile.

“Wait, how did me bringing you here save your life?” Kyle’s smile fell as he recalled the last moments before his arrival.

“Someone pushed me from my apartment window on the thirtieth floor,” he said, anger filling his voice.

“WHAT?! Why would somepony do that?!” Twilight shouted, visibly paling.

“I could only guess that they wanted me dead.” The room fell silent as the words sank into Twilight’s mind. She was a bit slow processing Kyle’s revelation, but, once it clicked, she wrapped him in her hooves and wings.

“Kyle, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” Twilight said into his chest.

“What are you apologizing for now? You weren’t the one who pushed me,” Kyle said, absent-mindedly petting Twilight’s mane, taking comfort in her embrace.

“I know, but I just don’t know what else to say. How could anypony want to harm another in such a way?” Twilight said, looking up at Kyle.

“There are many, many reasons why someone would do that. Why someone would do it to me, I couldn’t–” The sound of a metal tray hitting the hard floor cut him off. Kyle looked to the door and saw the nurse from earlier staring at Twilight and himself with wide eyes, a huge blush covering her face. Confused, Kyle looked back at Twilight and it clicked. Twilight wrapped up in his arms, she returning the gesture, faces a only a few inches apart. To complete the picture, in his haste to comfort Twilight, he forgot to grab something to cover himself. The blush that covered his face would have a tomato envious of its shade. “It isn’t what it looks like!” Kyle shouted, grabbing the sheet from the bed to cover his shame.

“Yeah, what he s-said.” Twilight stammered out from the other side of the room, her face not looking any better than Kyle’s. Twilight, for her part, teleported to the other side of the room when it dawned on her what their position looked like to an outsider.

“Um… sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” the nurse said as she made a quick retreat out of the room.

“Wait! It wasn’t what it looked like!” Twilight said, trying to run after the nurse, but ended up slipping on the tray of food. Twilight only managed to stay standing with a few flaps of her wings. “Please, it wasn’t… Awh! Just what I needed: rumors running around about the new princess and her extraterrestrial coltfriend!” Twilight sank down and covered her face with her hooves.

The room quickly fell into an awkward silence that felt like it swallowed all of the ambient noise. The oppressive silence continued on for what felt like hours before Kyle couldn’t stand it any longer. He tried to find something he could use to break the silence. “So… Um… Nice weather we’re having?” Kyle winced at his awkward choice of subjects.

“Y-yes, the pegasi have made it quite a nice day out,” Twilight said just a little too enthusiastically, pulling herself from her hooves and looking over at Kyle.

“Wait, did you just say ‘pegasi?’ No, forget that question. Did you just say that they made it a nice day?” Kyle said, a dumbfounded look on his face. “You're not trying to pull a fast one on me, are you?”

“No, I’m not trying to deceive you, and yes, I did say the pegasi made the weather.” A thoughtful look playing across her face. “Why do you ask? Is the weather not controlled by pegasus ponies where you come from?”

“Um… No…”

Twilight waited for Kyle to elaborate, but when he it looked like he wasn’t going to, she asked, “So, then, who controls the weather?”

“No one at the moment, though there were a few promising developments last year. They just needed to work out some issues that arose from the testing. It still has a couple of years before it’s ready to be put into use.”

“So, if nopony controls the weather, how is it created?”

“Simple. Water evaporates and rises up into the atmosphere where it cools and condenses to form clouds. Once the cloud becomes saturated enough with water, droplets will form and fall back down to Earth to repeat the process.”

“So what you’re saying is that your weather just happens?” Twilight said, looking at Kyle with an enthusiastic glint in her eye.

“Basically, yeah,” Kyle said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I am curious though, how do you control the weather?”

“Pegasi ponies have innate passive magic that allow them to interact with and manipulate clouds. They get–” Twilight’s explanation was cut off by the door to the hospital room flying open and in bounced a pink poofy pony, causing Kyle to clinch his fists and tense up.

The pink pony looked like she was preparing to shout something, but stopped when her eyes landed on Kyle. Her ears folded back and a frown appeared on her muzzle. Even her hair seemed to deflate somehow.

“Pinkie! Did you really have to barge in here without knocking?” Twilight asked, looking over at the pink mare. Twilight open her mouth to say something else, but paused when she saw Pinkie’s demeanor. “Pinkie is everything alright? You look down.”

Instead of answering Twilight, Pinkie walked up to Kyle and said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Mystery Pony. I didn't mean to scare you. I only wanted to make you happy because hospitals are no fun, and being hurt is no fun, and being in a strange place that you don’t know is even less fun. Since you’re in a strange place that you don’t know, hurt, and in a hospital, then you must be having less than no fun, so, once I heard that you were here, I thought, ‘oh, I know what would make me happy: having friends visit me in the hospital,’ but then I realized that you didn’t have any friends here yet, so I asked myself, ‘if you didn’t have any friends then what would be the next best thing?’ Then I was like, ‘making new friends!’ So, I came here as soon as possible so that we could be friends and then you wouldn’t be lonely and you can have start having fun!”

Kyle just sat there, unable to form a coherent response to the tsunami of words, and a little uncomfortable with how close Pinkie was. He looked at Twilight, silently pleading her to get this pony out of his face.

Luckily, it seemed that his message was received. “Pinkie, could you backup a bit? I think you’re making Kyle uncomfortable.”

Her hair lost even more of it’s poof, but she did as she was asked. “Do you not like me because I scared you?”

Taken aback by this question, Kyle couldn’t help but stare at the mare for a few moments as he tried to figure out just what was going on. “Um… I don’t know you, but I could say that I don’t dislike you just because you came barging into the room like you did.”

“Oh, good! I thought that you wouldn’t want to be friends with me because I scared you when you were hurt and bored and lonely! Now I’m going to go set up your Sorry-I-Scared-You-and-Nearly-Made-You-Not-Want-to-be-Friends-With-Me-and-Welcome-to-Ponyville Party!” Before Kyle had a chance to decipher Pinkie’s mile-a-minute speech, she was out the door, a pink, pony-shaped cloud where she stood. Just as Kyle was settling back in bed, Pinkie popped out from under his pillow. “Ooo, sorry! I almost forgot Rarity asked me to give these to you. See you, bye!” With that, she was out the door in a flash.

“Is… is that normal?” Kyle asked, looking over to Twilight, who had a bemused smile on her face.

“Only for Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said, putting up her hoof to quiet Kyle’s next question. “Believe me, it’s easier just to accept it and let it be.” Kyle closed his mouth, letting the unasked question die, and nodded. Instead he decided to look at the parcel that he had received from Pinkie. It was an unassuming brown paper package wrapped in twine. Kyle pulled the string off of the package, unwrapping it. He couldn’t help the smile that touched his lips when he saw its contents. There, in the packaging, sat his clothes, fully repaired. Even the holes that had been worn into his favorite hoodie had been mended.

“Twilight you will have to thank Rarity for me. She did a wonderful job! These look the same as the day I got them.”

Twilight gave him a nod. “I’ll let her know you approve.”

Kyle lifted his hoodie to take a closer look and a note fell out of its folds. Kyle grabbed the note and gave it a once through. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the rather unorthodox letter.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked, curiously looking at the paper in his hands.

“Oh, just this note,” Kyle said, handing the note to Twilight.

She took the note in her magic and read it out loud. “‘Darling, you simply must let me make you something that is not such a crime against fashion! Once you get out of the hospital, come over to the Carousel Boutique so I can take your measurements. Twilight can show you the way. Sincerely, Rarity.’ That’s Rarity for you,” Twilight said, chuckling as well.

“Would you mind stepping out for a bit so I can change into my clothes?”

“Sure. I’ll be right outside when you’re done.” Twilight walked over to the door but turned around before she exited. “Oh, before I forget, the doctors cleared you to leave. All you need to do is fill out some forms and you’ll be free to go.”

“Thanks.” With a warm smile and a nod, Twilight left Kyle to change. He couldn’t help but wonder what life had in store for him now. His expression darkened. “I hope that it is better than the last few years.” He quickly got dressed and walked out of the hospital room. Despite the dark thoughts, he couldn’t help a small amount of hope build inside him.

Author's Note:

Another one bites the dust, another one bites the dust.
Big thanks to PeerImagination for editing this!
Next chapter Twilight at twilight.

Comments

[alfaomega]

yay more!

[masterblotart]

that so funny, what gonna happen next chapter?