Ponyville: Two For My Baby

by MisterNick

A Nightmare and an Angel

It’s a sterile hospital room and I’m a mess of tubes and fluids. When I open my eyes for the first time all I can see is the never ending stream of medical progress coursing into me and out of me. The tubes breathe for me; eat for me and everything in between. I’m just there to witness it and listen to the steady beep of the heart monitor until I drift off to sleep.

The doctors and nurses are nothing more than the sound of hooves on tile, the flurry of white fabric and the occasional scratching of pencil on paper. They never say a word when they busy themselves with their tasks in my room and hurry out. Night after night is like this and each time after they visit my eyes grow heavy and I’m out like a light. I dream of nothing.

One night it’s different. I open my eyes and gaze into the darkness and find it gazing back at me. Her pale blue eyes dimly shine from the shadows as she slowly steps forward. Her sharp teeth flash in the moonlight as she smiles down at me. It’s Nightmare Moon.

I can’t move. I try not to breathe but the machines give away my distress and beep erratically as she moves toward my bed. Her cold gaze fixes on mine as she speaks, “Well, detective it seems you know who I am.”

She rears back extends her forelegs and begins to clap her hooves together. “I must say, you did more than I ever expected you to be capable of. I mean, you tried to assassinate one of my most prized ministers. The doctors aren’t sure they can make him whole again but, I’m sure we’ll figure some way to make him useful still. So, good job.”

I grunt as I struggle against the cords and machines in vain. As I struggle her applause ceases and her customary frown returns casting a shadow over the room. Her eyes narrow as she leans over me, “Unfortunately for you you’ve failed in your little mission and now I have you.”

The blood drains from my face as she says the last part. I quit struggling even though the monitors continue to show fight within me, there is none left. She’s right. She has me.

“I’m going to fix you up,” she says as she pulls away, “I’m going to make you healthy again. You won’t even have those pesky headaches that make you utterly worthless to any of us anymore. But, it won’t matter. Because in the end you won’t be able to save her.”

“Who,” I croak out before immediately gagging on the breathing tube.

“Cadence of course,” she said with a smirk, “We will find her, ensnare her and eventually rework her. We’re going to keep you in the dark Shining Armor until you admit what an evil disgusting reprobate you really are. All those foals, tsk tsk tsk. When you do we’ll let you go. No other pony will care or believe anything other than that confession. No door will open for you in friendship. No pony will care what happens and by that point none of what you fought for will even matter.” With that she reaches forward and caresses my forehead. I drifted off into a cold uneasy slumber. Hopelessness and darkness were my only companions and their nightmares ran roughshod over me.

I don’t know how long I was out. It could have been weeks, but when I awoke she was there with me. Cadence. She smiles at me, so innocent and caring it brings tears to my eyes. She sits next to my bed for a while saying nothing and watches over me like a parent with a sick foal. Finally, though her smile melts away and she states, “They’re telling everypony that you did it. That you were the kidnapper and that you did all those awful things that I know you didn’t do. That you couldn’t do.”

“Cadence,” I mutter the tube no longer in my throat, a development I welcome.

“Nopony will listen. The world’s gone crazy! It’s almost as if it doesn’t remember the way things were and the way they could be again.”

“They know with what they live with kiddo. After a bit bad times become the norm and everything else is just a fantasy.”

She sighs, “You don’t even remember me do you?” Her eyes dampen as she looks at me and when I don’t answer her she wipes her face and clears her throat, “Of course you don’t.”

“I saved you at the station… the warehouse,” I say quietly.

She looks away, her eyes focusing on the shadows as she slumps in her seat, “My guard told me I shouldn’t come. That for a lot of reasons it would be too difficult.”

“It’s not safe here,” I say as I caress the back of her head, “I want you to stay safe. Don’t ever visit me again. Don’t even think about me. Live for me and it will all be worth it to me.”

Cadence turns to face me and casts a wounded gaze my way. She holds my foreleg gently between her hooves and whispers, “I can’t do that. I’ll always think about you.”

“Cadence…”

“I won’t visit you, but I’ll write you. I’ll use the name Mia Moore; it’s a play on a part of my full name. They won’t figure it out. They’re very basic.”

“Just stay safe.”

She taps the desk and a lone guard enters the room. “I will,” she says as she walks to him.

“Thank you,” I mutter.

Her guard passes her a long coat with a hood. Cadence slings it on with a flourish and pulls the hood down to obscure her face from passers-by before she casts one last glance back at me. When she does she whispers, “I love you,” before exiting, her guard hot on her heels.

I smile and think about what a sweet filly she is, but know that she’s wrong in saying those three little words. She loves the idea of me. I’m no hero. I couldn’t stop Sombra before and wherever I end up I’m not going to be able to save anypony there either. But, maybe if I hold out long enough, she might just have a chance to grow up and have a life that not even the darkest of nightmares can take from her.

They want me to confess to things I never did. It’ll never happen.

Comments

[CoffeeMinion]

A very cool, moody chapter! Digging the mistress of the dark here (I'm partial to the concept of course ), though I have to wonder why she seems so restrained when it's clear that she wants to go for the throat.

The only questionable thing I noticed in here were some oddities with comma usage. In some cases, they seemed either missing or misused.

[MisterNick]

7455077 Ah comma splice my old friend... there's an ancient Equestrian saying about punctuation being being the flavor of the soul... well there is no soul in this place.

In all seriousness though I'm miserable about comma splices and I'll probably have to dig out whatever book I have on proper comma usage at some point if I still have it.

As far as why she doesn't go after him well ... there are reasons for it. At one point I'd intended to do like 5 of these stories and ultimately it'd be explained.