Pound and Pumpkin Tales 2

by Never2muchpinkie

8-8: It's my fault!

With a snap they arrived outside Ponyville Hospital.

Walking inside the hospital the trio of Mayhem, Twilight, and Spring went to the reception desk.

The nurse greeted them pleasantly, though her smile grew strained as she recognized Twilight.

“How can I help you, Princess?” she asked.

“I’m here to see my brother,” said Spring from Twilight’s back.

Now her smile faded entirely. “Oh, it’s you, Spring. Your parents are here visiting too. I’m afraid there’s still been no change.”

“Okay. Can you give us directions?”

She nodded, and told them how to get to his room.

They thanked her and took off.

A few minutes later they arrived at the room. Spring hopped off Twilight’s back and trotted into the room. “Mom, Dad!”

They both turned to her. “Spring Meadow?” said her father. “What are you doing here?”

She hopped up onto his lap and hugged him. “It’s gonna be alright now,” she said with a sniff. “Everything is gonna be just fine.”

“What do you mean?” asked her mother.

Twilight knocked gently on the door. “Hello there,” she said pleasantly.

Their eyes bugged out of their heads as they saw her. They both hurried to rise and bow to her. “Hello, Princess Twilight.

“What brings you here?”

“It’s a bit of a long story,” said Spring, “but he’s going to be okay.

“Princess Twilight, these are my parents. My mom is Clear Water, and my dad is Still Lake.”

“Pleased to meet you,” said Twilight. “Well, you already know who I am so why don’t you introduce yourself now?” She pushed Mayhem forward.

The two of them looked at him bewildered. They had never seen a creature like him before.

“Hello,” said Mayhem, waving to them. “My name is Mayhem the draconequus.”

A bead of sweat came down Clear’s face. “You, um, certainly have a knack for, uh… unusual companions, Princess. First the dragon, and now this.”

“Oh, Spike hasn’t been replaced,” said Twilight. “Mayhem is a friend of mine who’s here to help you.”

“Help out how?”

“Mayhem can grant wishes,” said Spring. “He’s going to heal my brother.”

Clear’s knees grew weak. “C-can you… can you really do that?” Just the idea that he could help her son was enough for her to put away any misgivings she had over his appearance.

“I’ll do my best,” said Mayhem.

He floated in the air, hovering over the comatose pony in the bed, feeling a little afraid. His powers had never let him down before. He had created new worlds, living creatures, altered the very fabric of reality… but even his great powers had their limits. He couldn’t bring someone back from the dead. Forest wasn’t dead, so that wasn’t an issue, but what if his powers couldn’t help someone in a coma?

Spring had been devastated by her brother’s injury, and her parents in turn. Even their friends were deeply affected by it. Everything was riding on him right now. All their hopes… all their wishes. If he failed at this he would only cause them so much more pain.

There was no point in dragging it out. Whether he succeeded or failed it was to his benefit to do it as quickly as possible.

He focused all his attention on Forest’s face, and snapped.

A few seconds passed, and everyone but Twilight was looking at him strangely.

“He should be alright now,” said Mayhem.

Clear’s eyes narrowed. “Is our suffering some kind of joke to you?” she said angrily. “Did you come here just to make a pun at our expense? ‘Oh, he’ll be better in a snap.’ Ha ha!”

Still looked at Twilight, fuming. “And you! You went along with this?”

Twilight remained calm. “I understand your frustration, but Mayhem’s abilities aren’t as flashy as unicorn or alicorn magic with their colored auras. For him, his magic really is done in a snap.

“Give them a demonstration.”

Mayhem snapped again, and Twilight turned into an earth pony.

All three of them gaped at Twilight wide-eyed, speechless.

Spring rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. “Did… did he just…”

Mayhem snapped again, and her horn and wings returned.

“As you can see,” said Twilight, “Mayhem has very impressive magic that goes beyond even alicorn capabilities. That was why I downplayed his powers as just creating realistic illusions for playing games.”

“If… if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it,” said Still, looking like his namesake.

“Me neither,” said Clear.

All eyes were drawn to the bed as they heard a groan coming from it. Forest began to squirm a bit, and Clear and Still both moved closer to the bed, their hearts racing. Spring hopped up onto the bed.

A few more seconds passed, and he grew quiet. Their disappointment was immense. He groaned again, and suddenly his eyes opened a crack. Another few seconds passed, and his eyes fluttered open. He put a hoof up to block the sunlight as his eyes adjusted.

All three of them were too shocked to do anything at first, but Clear was the first to react. She collapsed against her husband and began crying.

The noise got Forest’s attention, and he sat up higher. “Mom? What’s wrong?”

“You’re talking!” said Still, starting to cry himself. “You recognize us!”

“Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?” He looked around the room. “Wait. Am I in the hospital? Why?”

“You got into a bad accident and were in a coma, but everything… everything’s okay now, Son.”

Clear walked over and hugged him. “I’m so glad to hear your voice again. You don’t know how lonely the house has seemed without you.”

“A coma?” said Forest, blinking. “For how long?”

“Three months.”

His eyes widened. “Three months!” he said incredulously, sinking back onto the pillow. In a quieter voice he said it again to himself.

Twilight put a hoof on Spring, saying happily, “Well, you got your wish. You must be so happy. I bet you can’t wait to give your brother a big welcome back hug.”

Spring rose up, but instead of going to join her brother she hopped off the bed and headed for the door.

Twilight looked at her with confusion. “Where are you going?”

“I… I don’t belong here,” she said with a sniff. “I don’t deserve to be part of this family reunion.”

Mayhem blocked the doorway as her family looked on with concern and confusion. “Why would you say something like that? You were so concerned for your brother that as soon as you heard about my power to help him you took off to find me, and wouldn’t even give yourself a moment to catch your breath.

“And now… now that you finally have him back you’re just gonna leave without even saying anything to him?”

“YES!” she screamed emotionally. “It’s like I told you at the start! It’s my fault! If I had listened to my family when they told me I wasn’t strong enough yet this never would have happened!”

She took in a shuddering breath, hugging herself. “I tore apart our family and made everyone suffer! I don’t even deserve to look at him anymore!”

Clear took a few steps toward her daughter and said, “Spring, it was just-”

“SHUT UP!” she said angrily.

Twilight used a spell to muffle her voice outside of the room so Spring could vent without disturbing the other patients.

Spring spun around, stomping her hoof with each repetition. “Shut up shut up shut up! I don’t want to hear it!” She was panting hard. “It doesn’t matter what you say! It doesn’t matter how many pretty words you try to use. It doesn’t change anything!

“It doesn’t matter if it was ‘just an accident.’ It doesn’t matter if I never intended for it to happen. It doesn’t stop it from being my fault. He never would have been hurt if I hadn’t been stupid and broke the rules. No matter what you say that won’t change.”

Her body tensed as she took in a shuddering breath, tears coming down her eyes.

Everyone was quiet for a little while.

Mayhem put a hoof over his heart, feeling a deep ache inside him. It all felt too familiar to him. He remembered thinking Masky was a terrible pony for hurting Fluttershy and the ones she cared about, until the next day when he came to Fluttershy and bawled his eyes out as he showed her how much pain he was holding inside.

He had thought Flurry was a terrible pony too for calling him hideous and a freak, only to see a short while later that she, too, was holding in a heavy weight on her heart. In the end, they weren’t bad ponies. They were only lashing out because of the ache in their soul.

Pound and Pumpkin had told him about the time they ran away because they felt like everyone hated them after they got suspended from school.

Peppermint had told him about the day she met Pumpkin, how she had slapped her baby brother in a fit of jealousy and thought she was the scum of the earth. She felt like she deserved it when her father slapped her in return in his tired state.

So many ponies, suffering… needing someone to be there for them. And, right now, he wanted to be there for her. He wanted to free her of the burden she had been carrying, because he understood it better than anyone.

He walked up to Spring and hugged her, tears streaming down his eyes. “I know how you feel.”

She let out a growl, shoving him away. “Oh, really? Did you almost get someone you loved killed recently?”

“Yes!” Mayhem replied bluntly.

She gave him a curious look, like she wasn’t sure if he was being serious or just telling her what she wanted to hear.

“And, unlike you, it wasn’t an accident.”

Twilight stiffened. “Mayhem, I really don’t think-”

“Please, Twilight! Don’t!” He looked up at her. “For me, this is personal.”

“Personal?” she said quietly to herself. Her eyes widened as a memory came to her. Earlier that day, right before they began to play their games, Mayhem had lost himself in fear and loathing. His past misdeeds came to the forefront of his mind, leaving him a crying wreck just like Spring. Even though he had been forgiven he still felt the weight of guilt and shame on him.

She understood him now, and why he couldn’t just let Spring’s feelings continue to consume her. Their feelings were far too similar.

“I get it, Mayhem. I won’t try to stop you, but…” She let out a slow breath. “If you tell this story it might make it more difficult to continue your weekly community service.”

“I don’t care about that!” He was blazing now. “This isn’t about me right now. I don’t care if my reputation becomes dirt or if they never want to see me again after today because of what I say.

“I just…” He blinked tears out of his eyes. “I just don’t want to see her in pain any more, and if my story can help her through her pain then I don’t want to hold back.”

He thought about Flurry, unhesitatingly taking all his attacks for the sake of keeping her friends safe. If the true nature of friendship was a willingness to sacrifice yourself for the people you care for then he wanted to do it too. He wanted to be just like his closest friends who all fought so hard to save him.

Twilight sat down and closed her eyes. “I understand. Do what you think is right.”

“What’s going on?” asked Still. “Is this creature dangerous?”

“He slipped up,” said Twilight. “Unfortunately, because his magic is so powerful, letting it get out of control caused a lot of pain all around. Once he came back to his senses he was immediately remorseful, all of us recognizing that it wasn’t really him acting that way.”

Spring glanced towards Twilight. “So he really did… almost kill someone close to him?”

Mayhem extended an arm. “I can’t really explain what happened without explaining what exactly I am. I’m not quite normal.”

“I think we’ve already established that,” she replied as she turned back to him, but her eyes went wide as his body turned into a purple-green plaid and became mist.

A few seconds later he reformed. “I introduce myself as a draconequus like my daddy, but what you just saw is what I really am.”

Her eyebrow went up, his statement distracting all of them from their sorrow. “So… what are you?”

“Put simply, I am magic. That’s all. Well, to be specific I’m chaos magic. I just take the form of my daddy because it’s the most familiar shape.”

“Okay. Um… is that important?”

He nodded. “It’s vitally important, especially to you.”

“Well, it cured my brother, so yeah.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s not what I mean.”

“So what do you mean?”

“My very nature is chaos, and yet just like my daddy before me I was able to control that power for the sake of love… at first.”

“At first?”

Mayhem nodded guiltily. “I’ve only been released into the real world as my own person for a few months, and getting to experience hugs and the love of the pony who chose to be my mother figure made me so happy I couldn’t have cared less about causing chaos, but something changed recently.”

“What did?”

“Boredom. I grew bored with life. I grew bored of the same things every day. I was too scared of hurting my mother to ask to visit my friends. I didn’t want her to feel like I cared about them more than her, so I kept it inside. Those feelings built up and up. Eventually she asked my friends to hang out with me on her own, but by that point it was too late.

“I wasn’t satisfied with the little board games. I wanted, needed something big, so I made a fake world where we could have a superhero adventure, but it wasn’t meant to be fun and harmless.

“I lost myself in my desire for chaos. Once I started I found I couldn’t stop. I stopped treating my friends like friends, but simply as playthings to ease my boredom.” He began to shiver, his eyes filling up with tears. “I erased their memories of each other and the knowledge they were only in a pretend world, making everything painfully real to them. I put them through such painful experiences, laughing all the while as I finally vented all the pent up feelings I had been stuffing down.

“When they finally beat all the challenges I put in front of them they faced me, and their endless determination to win drove me crazy. I was supposed to always be in command, but they just wouldn’t surrender, never giving up despite the power gap between us.

“Even though I had been doing something evil, up to this point I had been still been controlling everything to make sure they didn’t die. I can heal injuries with just a snap, just like I did with your brother, but I can’t bring someone back from the dead.

“However… however…” He let out a sob, hugging himself. “In the heat of the moment, I was so lost in my enjoyment and my anger at them for not giving up that I really was going to let it happen. I forgot that they were my friends, and all that mattered to me at that moment was winning the game… no matter what it took to do it.”

Spring just stared at him. When Sweet had told her about Mayhem she had mentioned being off put by his appearance at first, but once they got going he had seemed perfectly friendly and cool. Her eyes moved to Twilight, wondering what she had been thinking when she let him loose to play games like these again.

The parents weren’t thinking too differently.

Forest wasn’t sure what to think, though there was something gnawing at him he wanted to ask when he had the chance.

Mayhem drew a circle in the air, playing a memory. Flurry and the rest were all holding hooves as she asked for them to lend their hearts to her. “In the end… I lost. I forgot the power of the magic of friendship.” Flurry’s eyes grew white as they all lit up, the Fire of Friendship coming out of her horn and emitting a light out of it.

“It knocked me out, and the next thing I remember was Flurry slapping me to wake me up. As I came to my senses I grew afraid of her. I wasn’t supposed to lose. It shouldn’t have been possible, but by combining their powers they had overcome my abilities.

“I thought that was going to be it for me. I had betrayed all of them and even erased the memories of their friendships with me so I could play the part of the villain. The light from the Fire of Friendship hadn’t destroyed me like it did the windigo’s so long ago, but it did seem to purge the darkness from me, making me realize all the hurt I was responsible for.

“I couldn’t understand how they had worked together so well when I thought I had ruined their friendships, but she explained it. Even if I took away the thoughts, I couldn’t take away their hearts. She could still feel connected to all of them even if she couldn’t remember them.

“And then…” He sniffed. “Then came the most painful thing of all: Flurry recognized me as well. Her heart remembered me… remembered the friend I used to be.

“I confirmed her suspicions, and to my surprise she hugged me."

The memory popped up. “I forgive you, Mayhem,” said Flurry.

“Why? I did so many horrible things to you. I betrayed our friendship and tried to kill you!”

“I know you made some big mistakes. Without my memories of you I don’t know if you brought us here because we did something personally to hurt you, or whether it really was just out of boredom, but what I do know is that you have the potential to be good.

"Just like Aunt Starlight, you can change your ways. You can become a better you, and move away from the bad you of the past."

“Are you sure about this, Flurry?” asked Pound.

“All I know of you from this battle is that you were our enemy. But this is something that seems to go beyond memories. When I stop thinking and just feel… a part of me remembers who you were before this."

Her brow furrowed in concentration. “I feel… like… like at one point you saved me. Saved me from something huge. You, and all these other ponies, changed my life forever. I truly believe that in my heart. And that’s why, even if I can’t remember the friendship we used to have, I still want to forgive you.

“You used to be our friend. Wouldn’t you like to be again?”

Tears slowly came down the real Mayhem’s eyes as memory Mayhem broke down sobbing. “After everything I had done, after I had betrayed my friends and everything our friendship stood for… her first action was to forgive me. Rather than condemning me she tried to coax me back onto the side of good and renew our friendship.”

He hugged himself as he shook. “Throughout my ‘game’ I felt like there was a fog over my mind. I was totally out of control with no one to rein me in. After I was defeated that fog went away, leaving me with only the weight of my guilt.

“The very idea that she was just going to overlook what I had done just to have her old friend back only made me feel worse. I couldn’t accept it.

“When we got back to the real world I restored their memories, intending for that to be my final act. I told you that I’m just living magic. Once I use it all up I vanish and become a part of Discord again, and only he can let me out in my physical form again. I intended to remain inside him forever, so I could never harm them again. I told them to forget me, feeling like they’d be better off that way.”

Spring was biting her lip. She was understanding his feelings more than she wanted to admit. “So then… why are you still here?” she asked quietly. “Even if your friends forgave you I don’t think Princess Twilight would just stand idly by after hearing about what you’ve done.”

“The parents of all my friends are mad at me, and right now I’m not allowed to see any of them. That’s true.”

“And how does this all relate anyway, Princess?” asked Still. “Sweet Pea said you were gathering some children for a friendship exercise. That’s the only reason our daughter heard about him in the first place.”

“Mayhem showed genuine remorse for his actions,” said Twilight. “He is still new to friendship, and is still learning about proper boundaries.

“As he said earlier he is literally chaos magic from Discord. Like most children he can fight off his destructive impulses by focusing on the feelings he has for others, but he is a unique case. As a being of chaos his very being literally demands chaos or he gets rambunctious.”

The parents looked at each other before looking back at Twilight. “And you think that makes him safe to be around other ponies?” asked Clear.

“As I explained to the parents of one of his friends when I came up with my plan for his reformation, his power itself is not dangerous. You think of chaos as something destructive, but all it really means for him is just wanting things out of the ordinary to what’s normal.

“What I determined is that boredom is much harder on him than it is for others, and so long as it doesn’t build up he’s perfectly docile. So, then, the natural thing to do was to consider how to stop it from building up. I couldn’t have him lose control like this again, so for his community service he would grant wishes to other children to get his quota of chaos in. With me being there as a moderator in case things go too far he could bring happiness to others as well as forge more bonds that would encourage him not to act this way again.

“Mayhem even went beyond my expectations, showing he was preparing for this day as well. He created a bunch of new rules for his fantasy games that made safety the top priority, both physical and emotional.”

“You’re a princess,” said Still, "so if you want to pardon him then that’s your call, but I don’t feel it’s right to hide something like this from others he’s going to be interacting with.”

“If I wasn’t there to observe then I would certainly agree with you, but I don’t feel it’s right to sour everyone’s opinion about him before they even see him. That’s why I didn’t want him telling about his past and I made his powers seem like less than they are. It’s forging these new connections that are going to keep him in line.”

“Hmph! Didn’t stop him from betraying his friends before. He still threw it all away just for the sake of a good time. Why should we expect a few more friends to make things any different?”

Spring saw Mayhem get a forlorn look on his face as he bit his lip, and she found herself identifying with him. “Stop it, Dad!” she said angrily. That got everyone looking at her. The anger quickly turned to sadness. “You don’t have to rub it in! Doesn’t it hurt enough without reminding him of his mistakes?” Her eyes were shimmering with tears.

“If Twilight hadn’t done what she did then I never would have heard about it from Sweet Pea.” She put a hoof to her heart. “When I heard about his powers I immediately raced over because, more than anything else in the world, I wanted Forest to wake up.

“He’s the only reason you have your son back, so stop picking on him! Or have you forgotten that already? Would you rather Forest still be unconscious?”

The two of them got guilty looks on their faces.

Mayhem was surprised she was standing up for him.

“We got a little off topic,” said Twilight. “We lost focus on your daughter.”

“Yeah,” Clear said quietly.

“Mayhem,” said Forest, speaking for the first time in a long while.

“Yes?” he replied.

“I’d like to make a request for a wish.”

“What’s that?”

“I want to see what I’ve been missing.” He had a somber look on his face. “It seems like my sister has been sitting with some heavy feelings.”

Mayhem stared at him, hesitant.

“What’s wrong? Can’t you do it?”

Now he looked away. “It’s not that I can’t, but… well, it’s not my place to invade someone’s memories for everyone to see without permission.”

“It’s fine,” said Spring emotionlessly. “Maybe then he’ll treat me the way that I deserve.”

“Well, I guess that settles that,” said Forest.

Mayhem felt uncomfortable. He didn’t want to bare her heart. It would be enough to just express her feelings and for them to listen, wouldn’t it?

He looked towards Twilight, hoping she would give him an out. “Twilight, I told you that you’re in charge of my magic today, and I’d only do what you told me to do.”

Twilight could see the conflict going on in his mind. She took in a slow breath. “Mayhem… a broken heart is something that isn’t healed without pain from all sides. To truly learn what glue you need to mend it, it starts with understanding. With understanding comes compassion and empathy. Isn’t that why Flurry forgave you?”

He flinched.

“Do you remember this?” She summoned the image from Pumpkin’s ceiling. “You created yourself as the villain as a symbol of your faith in your friends that they'd do whatever it took to bring you back if you ever went down the wrong path. I don’t believe it was mere coincidence that you recreated those costumes when you did it for real. Even in the midst of losing control of yourself your subconscious mind was begging to be rescued.”

Mayhem gently shook, tears coming down his eyes.

“Your friends dove into your darkness to pull you out of it, shining the light of their hearts on you. Here before you is another who is drowning in the darkness.

"You told me this was personal for you. Are you unwilling to dive into her darkness to pull her out of it?”

She walked a little closer and sat down next to him. “I will make no demands of you. So long as you’re not using it for evil I have no place forcing you to act. However, I feel you may be the only one here who truly understands her feelings.

“Do what you feel is right in your heart.”

He thought of his friends again. He had counted on all of them. Spring might not feel she deserved help, but her heart was clearly screaming out in pain. He couldn’t refuse someone who was in need, not when he understood her so deeply. She even seemed to feel a connection as well, standing up for him when her parents dug into him for his own mistakes.

He nodded. “Okay, Twilight. I’ll do it.”

He looked over at Spring, who had a defeated expression on her face. “Is it truly alright if I show your heart to everyone? This is something extremely personal.”

“I already said it’s fine, didn’t I? I don’t care what you do.”

Mayhem closed his eyes and sighed. “Alright, then.”

He raised a claw and snapped, and the room around them dissolved until it grew black.

Comments

[KingJoltik]

Hmmm...this should be interesting.

[DeltaXeno1138]

I was worried when Forest didn’t wake up immediately. I imagined it would be more like a second or two would pass before he woke up as if he was just asleep.

I feel like Spring will have an easier time do to speak in regards to how her family is going to treat her. Yes, her brother was injured, but he didn’t go through mental trauma like the kids did when Mayhem lost control, and I would imagine her parents would be far more forgiving since she’s directly responsible for getting him the best help possible.

[Never2muchpinkie]

9909363
You have to remember that the truth isn't relevant to how she feels. If you think of Flurry's introduction the only thing that stopped them from solving her issues is just that they didn't know what her specific issues were. Flurry made a lot of assumptions and made them true in her mind when they were absolutely false.

When it came to Forest I didn't delay his awakening for dramatic tension but partly because I wanted that bit of dialogue. And partly just because I thought that even if he cured the coma then at that point Forest would just be sleeping, and he stirred due to the noise.

[badninja]

I think this family needs to sit down and talk this out. They did damage to their daughter by focusing on her brother so much after his accident. Yes it was nessary but they should have seen it would affect her.

[Never2muchpinkie]

9909519
Well, that's something they're going to see for themselves in the next chapter.

This sort of thing has a real life precedence for me, though the situation is way different. When my grandfather had a stroke he spent the rest of his days in the hospital, and my mother and grandmother basically spent every day there until he passed. I was in my mid or late teens and self-sufficient, but the house did feel a lot emptier with all 3 of them constantly gone.

[Lord King Cocoon]

I'm looking forward to how this turns out. I've got a box of tissues ready and everything.