Not Ron Drawde

by Petrichord

2.2 "...The fool who lies to himself..."

Starlight Glimmer lay in her hospital bed, trying very hard not to think about her upcoming conversation.

Or maybe she was. It was hard to make up her mind, which - given that she had all the time in the world to lie in a hospital bed and try to forget about how every bit of her coat itched - was probably for the best. Sending her thoughts around in circles did little more than replace “mind-numbing boredom” with “slightly less than mind-numbing boredom,” but it would have to do.

Unless the conversation would do.

Maybe she could ask for a book the next time the nurse came in. Any book, any subject, didn’t matter. She could read a thesaurus at this point, a medical dictionary, something to keep her occupied that didn’t necessarily involve talking to-

“You!”

Starlight sighed. “Hello, Trixie.”

“Don’t ‘hello’ me!” Trixie fumed, storming over to Starlight Glimmer’s bed. “Do you have any idea how utterly imbecilic you’ve made me out to be? Here I am, practicing a great and powerful array of prestidigitations for next saturday’s show, only to find out on excessively short notice that my assistant won’t be around to assist me at all?”

“Trixie…”

“And then I find out that she’s done something so...so utterly inane that I’m having a hard time trying to articulate it with words! Words! And now I’m expected to carry on with my career, woefully short-staffed like this while you laze about in some ivory-towered-”

“Trixie. I’m okay.”

Trixie stiffened. “You...you’re what?”

“I’ll heal. I’m going to be okay. I promise.”

Trixie blinked.

The clock ticked once, twice.

Then, with awkward restraint, Trixie leaned over the bed and gently wrapped Starlight Glimmer in a hug.

“Don’t.” Trixie’s voice wavered. “Don’t ever do something like that again.”

“I’ll try not to.”

“Don’t try. Promise. I was so worried…” Trixie trailed off, sniffing.

“Shhh. Don’t cry, okay? I’m not going anywhere for a while.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not crying.”

“I believe you.” Starlight patted Trixie’s back. “Thank you for coming to see me.”

“Refusing to see my assistant? While she’s under the weather? Please. Nopony’s that gauche.” Trixie sniffed again and pulled away from Starlight Glimmer, a sardonic smirk on her face. “Well, except for Twilight Sparkle.”

“Huh? What’s wrong with Twilight?”

“You mean, besides the fact that she hasn’t visited you at all?”

“I know that Fluttershy and Soarin were hurt, too. Maybe something’s seriously wrong-”

“More serious than snapping your horn off?”

“I don’t know, okay? Nopony’s told me anything.” Starlight frowned. “Wait a minute. How did you know that Twilight hasn’t visited me yet?”

“Uh, because I asked the nurse if anypony else had visited you?”

“No, I mean...how did you know that Twilight’s been visiting anypony at all? Did the nurse tell you that?”

Trixie blinked. “Um. Starlight? Hello? Do you seriously think that nopony knows that you were in an accident?”

“I haven’t really been thinking about it. Major reconstructive surgery, remember? I’ve spent most of my time either sleeping or blissed out on ether. Between that, eating and trying to figure out how to sit up without being in pain, my schedule’s been pretty much booked. Did the hospital send out letters, or something?”

“Send out letters?” Trixie gaped. “It’s been all over the news! Did you seriously think an accident that monumental would get quietly brushed under the rug?”

Starlight paused. “Um. I don’t know?”

“Wh-okay, Trixie. Okay. Deep Breath.” Trixie rubbed her eyes. “Do you have amnesia, or something?”

“I...yes and no?”

“What.”

“I remember who I am, and all that, but...I don’t actually remember anything about the accident. I think my brain’s blocking it out.”

“Could be something to do with your horn. Uh. I didn’t mean...yeah. You know I didn’t mean it like-”

“I know.”

“You really don’t remember?”

“Just what the nurse told me. And she hasn’t told me much. Um...There was something that happened to Fluttershy, Soarin and me. I think...we were in Cloudsdale? Or close to it? I remember being up in the sky. That bit’s personal memory, anyway. Twilight was supposed to fill me in on the rest, but…” Starlight Glimmer frowned. “I wish she had stopped by at least once, come to think of it.”

“You didn’t miss much. I mean, as far as I can tell, and I’m only operating on a couple of days of hearsay and newspaper articles.” Trixie sat next to Starlight, resting her hoof on Starlight’s arm. “You were up in Cloudsdale near the Wonderbolts Academy, apparently. You and Fluttershy. The Wonderbolts were running an unscheduled buzz towards the Cloudsdale library, but didn’t check for foreign traffic. Boom,” Trixie added as she knocked her forehooves together. “Four-way accident. Cue the paramedics, the emergency services in Cloudsdale and Canterlot alike, and me pulling out my mane while getting bounced back and forth from clerical office to clerical office, trying to sign off on hundreds of pages of paperwork just to see you for half of a freaking hour.”

“...Four-way accident? It’s just Fluttershy, Soarin, me…?”

“Oh, yeah. Spitfire.” Trixie winced. “I’m not surprised the nurses didn’t bring that up.”

“Oh.”

“She was the one that hit you. She was going way faster than Soarin was, and then you had some kind of reflexive-magic-shield-thing on top of that, right?”

“Great. I killed the Wonderbolt captain?”

“Not on purpose! Like, if anything, the onus is on her. I still had a ridiculous time trying to convince Golden Shield that I wasn’t some protester, though. Stupid bureaucrats.”

“Like...comatose-dead, or deep-paralysis dead, or…?”

“Closed casket. Unquestionably closed casket. Trust me. I kind of, uh...sort of used a bit of sleight-of-hoof on one of the photographic journalists that got to the scene before it was cordoned off. And I returned it, okay? I’m not a thief.” Trixie held up her hooves. “But yeah. I’m guessing that you guys went skidding off the clouds after the impact, and I’m gonna guess that she was going way, way faster than Soarin was, because, uh...you’ve heard of the phrase “shovels and hoses,” right?”

Starlight Glimmer winced. Agony reflexively flared up beneath her coat, and Starlight bit down on her lip to stifle an unwarranted shriek of pain.

“Crud! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Give me a bit.” Starlight Glimmer took a deep breath, then another. Gradually, the pain began to trickle out of her, evaporating without a trace into the sterile hospital air. “...See? Everything’s fine.”

“No, it isn’t-”

“Everything. Is fine.” Starlight exhaled. “Okay?”

Trixie bit her lip, then nodded.

“Look. I know that you want to help me, but what would help the most right now is information. I’m starting to suspect that the hospital’s keeping information from me on purpose, and i’m irked by that. I can’t move around that much, so I need you to give me updates on what’s going outside of this room. At least until I can get back on my hooves, okay?”

“Okay.”

Starlight Glimmer grinned. “The Great and Powerful Trixie shouldn’t find it that hard, right?”

Trixie blinked, then cracked a grin. “Of course not. It’s mere foal’s play for The Great and Powerful Trixie to act as a professional eavesdropper.”

“Good. Okay, how much time do you think we have left to talk?”

“Theoretically, all the time in the world. In practice, I’m sure the nurses wanted me to take fifteen seconds, tops.”

“Wouldn’t want to keep them waiting, I guess. Okay, so look. There’s one more thing I want to know before they boot you out. Not that I don’t want to talk to you for as long as possible, but-”

“You need to know how other show ponies pull off their tricks.”

“Of a sort. I want to know what’s happened to Soarin and Fluttershy.”

“Soarin should be out of the hospital in a day or two. The newspapers seem really excited to be reporting that bit of good news, at least. I don’t know anything more specific than what the news has fed me, though.”

“And Fluttershy?”

Trixie paused. “Um. I don’t know right now.”

“...But?”

“Look. I don’t like most of your friends, but they’re still your friends. If they haven’t visited you at all, then I’m going to assume it’s bad. Really bad. Uh.” Trixie paused. “Actually, I guess I’ve got a question for you.”

“Lay it on me.”

“I haven’t heard anything about Discord. Like, I know he and Fluttershy were close. Really close,” Trixie added, pressing her forehooves together for emphasis. “So either he’s somewhere else entirely, or he’s been somewhere in this hospital - and like I said, there’s been complete radio silence about this place, figuratively speaking. I think you need to find out which one it is, before something bad happens.”

“He’s our friend-”

“He’s the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. I’m not saying that he’s not your friend, but think about who he is and what he can do.”

Trixie tucked a strand of mane behind one ear.

“And Starlight? Think about what he could do if he got really upset.”

Comments

[dark-pony]

“And Starlight? Think about what he could do if he got really upset.”
oh my.....

[howard035]

7858179 I've always felt bad for any pony that hurts Fluttershy, because whatever they do to her, they won't deserve what Discord does to them.

[Duplex Fields]

Oof. I think I've glimpsed where this is going, and I don't want to stop reading, but there isn't any more at the moment.

[Kimochiru]

This is a really interesting piece, and I especially love the supposedly "individual" stories here. I sort of feel them lightly intermingling already. I might have a faint idea on how this will go, but I'll have to wait and find out!

[LoveMLPForever]

Wow, this is a really intriguing story. I hope it updates soon!