Chapter Fifteen: Awake
Phoenix stirred and tried to look around. She was getting tired of passing out so easily. She also hated waking up while feeling so sluggish and exhausted. Her eyes felt like they were sinking back into her skull and her mind could barely fathom what to do next. A faint aroma of strange-smelling chemicals and overly clean scented bed sheets caused her nose to tingle in annoyance.
After a few minutes of pretending to sleep, the events of earlier started to flood her mind. She felt shameful about what she did, but still, she couldn’t pretend to sleep forever.
Taking a chance, she glanced up and cracked one of her eyes open, only to meet Spitfire eye to eye. They stared at one another for a long while and the only noise that got through was the occasional beep from her heart monitor. The uncomfortable silence surrounding that was only slightly less irritating than the feeling of an intravenous drip in her hoof. This time she decided not to yank it out.
“Hmm, morning,” Spitfire said. The mare stood off to the side with quite a few other guests in her room, all of them sleeping.
“Hey,” Phoenix mumbled. She couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, even now with several other foals off in the distance just staring at her. A torrent of emotions struck her in the chest and she could feel what she’d done play out again and again. She had never felt that sad before and certainly never let her emotions spill out so freely before.
“You know it almost seems surreal, uh, you know what that word means, right?” she asked awkwardly.
Phoenix snorted and nodded.
“Right. It’s just, usually, children go nuts when they see me, especially pegasus ponies. But not normally in that way,” she stated rather fiercely.
Phoenix had no real response, all she wanted to do was end the conversation, but that wasn’t gonna happen anytime soon she was sure. She was growing grumpier by the second and the lack of a good night’s rest was taxing her.
“I mean, usually I wish for all of them to just quiet down, but now that I have it… “ she trailed off and shook her head.
“Why are you still here?” Phoenix spat out. “I’m fine now, or whatever. You can, you know, leave,” she pointed out.
The mare scoffed and even chuckled a bit. It grated on her nerves. “Yes, because you seem perfectly fine on your own.”
Clenching her teeth, Phoenix slowly stood up on her bed and cracked her neck. “I’m not dead. I’m fine.”
For a while, she just stared at Spitfire who seemed to be comprehending what she had said. The mare’s eyes had closed and she was taking deep, steady breaths. “You’re not dead... Filly, that does it. I don’t care what any princess or doctors or nurses have said to me. I don’t care one bit anymore. You and I are going to have a little chat and I’m not leaving you until we get through it. Understand?”
There was venom in her voice and Phoenix could quite clearly tell that she had struck a nerve. After a few more moments of staring, she slumped back into her pillow and groaned. “Whatever. Talk all you want-- could somepony get me some coffee or something first? If you’re gonna blabber on I’d at least like this headache to be gone first.”
“...Aren’t you a little young for that?”
Phoenix had grabbed her pillow and squashed it over her face in an attempt to drown her out. “Aren’t you a little… shut up and get me some or I’m sleeping.”
Phoenix expected the stupid mare to respond or to shuffle off, but when she heard nothing she peeked under the pillow and spotted a glaring Spitfire. Their staring contest lasted for minutes before Phoenix’s heart monitor started to flare up. The filly felt her headache worsen and her vision doubled over.
“Are you--”
Phoenix waved her hoof and closed her eyes. She took steady breaths and tried to calm her nerves, but the monitor kept going. “C- cof- coffee please,” she mumbled.
That actually got Spitfire to fly off in a hurry, literally. Phoenix spotted several of the foals and a nurse who looked up in shock at the speedy mare. A doctor yelled in her direction, but he was swiftly ignored and a moment later the mare had returned with a steaming cup of coffee and her doctor. The latter of which seemed dizzy and quite confused.
“You, lay down,” Spitfire commanded while pointing in her direction. Phoenix gulped and nodded.
Spitfire turned to face the doctor and barked out another order, “Can she drink coffee, yes or no?!”
The doctor bristled slightly and scoffed. “I would appreciate it if--”
“Yes or no?” Again her voice was practically dripping with venom. At this point, Phoenix was clutching her head with her front hooves as the world around her continued to spin. The pain didn’t stop and she could feel the ever-present compulsion to down a Shining Phoenix canister. Or coffee, whichever came first.
Suddenly she felt something gently push her hooves out of the way. Blinking, she noticed the doctor was carefully examining her all over.
“Well?!” Spitfire said. It was clear her patience was running thin.
Phoenix backed up a bit. Her doctor was now focusing on her eyes and only her eyes. “W- what?” she said, though it came out as a tiny squeak of a voice.
“You’re on some sort of drug, aren’t you?”
Phoenix nearly choked on her breath. She went to deny it, but both adults just stared at her with a knowing glance. Spitfire squinted her eyes, it was subtle, but it was enough to let Phoenix know that she was in deep trouble. She sighed and looked away.
“Yes. Ca- can I please have some of that coffee?” she mumbled. She felt so tired and she wasn’t shy about sharing it anymore.
“Are you insa--” The doctor stopped himself and took a deep breath. “What drug have you ingested? It’s important, Phoenix,” he said, raising his voice as Phoenix turned away again. “Please. We found your… canister in your pack but we have no clue what it is. But you do, don’t you?” he pressed.
Phoenix chewed the inside of her mouth and considered her options. The pain had grown from a dull ache to a piercing feeling in the back of her head and radiated outwards towards her eyes. She tried taking deep breaths to calm it, but it did very little.
“Phoenix, we need the truth. Please, it’s for your health. You could be in serious danger and if we don’t know what it is then--,” the doctor tried to get out but Phoenix interrupted.
“Coffee or I don’t talk,” Phoenix mumbled. Already the intoxicating scent of the dark roasted drink was driving her mad. Her body needed something to satiate the addiction to her drug. Coffee would certainly do as a substitute.
The doctor cleared his throat and shook his head. “I cannot advise that--”
“One sip, kid. One sip and you tell us everything. Right here, right now.”
The doctor shot Spitfire a dirty-looking scowl, but she seemed to ignore him. Spitfire gave Phoenix no smile or angry stare, however. She waited, patiently.
Just sniffing in the aroma sent shivers of delight radiating throughout her body, it was enough to ease the headache by a fraction of a bit. She sighed and gave a stiff nod. The steaming cup was brought up to her muzzle, held out by Spitfire, and Phoenix gave the tiniest sip. Just the heat alone cleared her head just enough to think with a tad more clarity than before. The beverage flowed down to her stomach and radiated a warm, pleasant feeling that didn’t let go. Phoenix had closed her eyes and hadn’t opened them yet. It simply felt too good, like a niche that she hadn’t been able to scratch for hours that suddenly stopped. But, eventually, she let out a quiet sigh and pushed out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
“Better?” Spitfire asked.
She nodded.
“Right,” she started and set the cup aside, “let’s start with this drug. What is it?”
Phoenix shrugged. “I don’t know its name, really. I just know where I got ‘em.”
“Where?”
“The Shining Phoenix, um, an army.”
“What army?”
At this point, Twilight had stirred awake and surprised everypony by stepping forward. “You were in an army?”
Phoenix figured there was no more use in keeping it in. They knew something was up, she wasn’t going anywhere, and fighting them was pointless. She sighed, again. “Everypony was, we had to be. Better than dying.”
Twilight and Spitfire shared a look, but the former spoke up. “Maybe you should start from the beginning. Take your time, please. We really just want to help.”
Phoenix looked away from her and stared through the window out to Ponyville. She still felt tense, but it was better than facing their eyes. “It started really fast, it was at the Summer Sun Festival. Things got dark, really dark. And it just stayed that way. There was so much screaming and chaos. It was nuts. Then she showed up. Nightmare Moon. Nopony ever saw Princess Celestia again, she was just gone. We were left to fend for ourselves. Heh, it seemed so long ago…” the last part she had mumbled and simply trailed off.
“Nopony stopped her over there?”
Phoenix turned back to face the Princess and shook her head. “You lot tried, um, I think-- Elements of whatever. She used mind control and you, uh, failed,” she said lamely.
Twilight just shook her head in bewilderment. It just didn’t seem possible, but she stayed quiet and nodded for Phoenix to continue.
“A lot of foals were tossed into these camps to be re-educated,” she said with air quotes. “It didn’t take me long to bust out of there, and that’s where the real fun began,” she spat.
Phoenix closed her eyes and tried to focus on the sweet aroma of the coffee cup, it wasn’t much, but it helped her relax just enough to keep going. Thinking back on her memories was painful, but not enough to cry.
“Most of the adults I found were under her spell. I had to run quite a few times, lots of close calls. Eventually, I don’t remember how long… I heard of a resistance movement. But I didn’t know how to find them, they were scattered and hidden.”
It was subtle, but Spitfire had leaned in and actually let her sip just a bit more of the heavenly elixir that was coffee. Phoenix smiled slightly and quietly thanked her.
“I wasn’t sure what to do. At one point I was just hiding away at this abandoned camp in the Everfree. I didn’t feel safe, but safer than being out in the open. I guess.”
A few moments later, she felt something soft and fuzzy hold onto her left hoof. She didn’t know who it was, but Phoenix never brushed it off. It felt nice.
“I wandered for weeks. I didn’t really have any plans, I just didn’t want to get caught. Occasionally I’d bump into some small groups, but they weren’t much help. Sometimes we’d stick together for a day or two and we’d try to figure things out, but I still couldn’t find the resistance. I remember one night I was beginning to think that they’d fallen, or maybe they didn’t exist. I heard so many stories of what happened to ponies who were caught. Mind control, imprisonment… death.”
The hoof now held on tight and it took Phoenix a minute to collect herself. “I don’t know what got over me, but I got this idea. I had to think deeply. Where could ponies hide anymore? I’d seen the dark queen’s army all over, even in the forests. But surely there had to be somewhere so hidden and so… deadly, that it would hide you. And then it hit me: The Dread Timbers.”
“Y- you c- can’t just go there, Phoenix. What--”
Phoenix held up her free hoof and opened her eyes. Princess Twilight had been the one to embrace her hoof and was speaking. She stopped talking and matched eyes with her. “I know it’s dangerous, but what choice did I have? I didn’t have anything left to lose--”
“You had your life to lose!” Twilight exclaimed. “You could have… you…” the princess trailed off and looked away.
“Could have what? Nopony was left, Twilight. Not you, not any princess or anypony. I didn’t want to die. I really didn’t want to die, but I didn’t have any options left.”
There was more uncomfortable silence, which Phoenix was starting to hate. So, she pushed forward.
“The first few nights weren’t exactly fun. I didn’t sleep the entire time… it didn’t seem like anything slept there. On the third night, I noticed that I was drifting off randomly.”
“Without sleep, your body will start taking micro naps during the day. You could end up getting really sick!”
“It wasn’t just that, I think I was poisoned. One thing I’d heard about that forest is to never touch the trees if you can help it. Took me four more days to find the army. I was starving and hadn’t drunk any water in a very long time.”
She wanted to keep going, but the Princess stood up and took a very deep breath. “I think we should stop here. T- this is getting a bit disturbing.”
“Then you can leave,” Spitfire said rather coldly. “She needs to get this out,” she pointed out rather stiffly. Twilight’s pout was swiftly ignored.
“I don’t have to do anything,” Phoenix said.
Spitfire sized the filly up and examined her for a few moments. The little pegasus pouted and looked away with a mild blush. After a while, she smirked and looked away. “Then I’ll just leave,” she said and surprised everypony by stepping away. “I wash my hooves of this little nightmare. Farewell.”
The doctor began to sputter nonsensical syllables. “B- but yo- you can- can’t just--”
“Yes, I can. He is her guardian, not me,” she said while pointing to the sleeping Soarin’. “If little miss perfect doesn’t want others knowing about the life-threatening drug that she’s on, then who am I to--”
“I don’t know what it is you stupid old hag!”
The silence that overtook the foal wing was so definite that you could hear a bit drop. More so, you could hear Phoenix panting and breathing while her heart monitor started beeping louder and faster.
Spitfire narrowed in on the filly and crawled onto her bed which made Phoenix back up in fear. “Consider yourself incredibly fortunate that you’re sick or you’d be in a world of trouble. Now, I’m sure you don’t know what it’s called or exactly what it is, but I bet you know where it comes from. You must have details on what’s inside, something. And that something will help save your life.”
The doctor continued to stutter out his words. “I- I never said her life was necessarily in danger, Miss Spitfire.”
“I doubt you would share that information with a foal, especially in this scenario. But you were thinking it, no?”
“I… “ Phoenix glanced over to the doctor and couldn’t help but whimper a tad. The stallion sighed. “There is a slight possibility that the strange reactions that you’ve been having could eventually destabilize your magical signature. I- in fact, it may have already started doing that.”
“...” Phoenix looked away and started to nervously clutch her hooves together, she even began petting one in a vain attempt for comfort. Something about what the doctor was talking about seemed awfully familiar.
“If that happens then it won't take long for--”
“I get it, I’ll die. You can stop sugar-coating it, doc,” she said with a scowl.
Spitfire leaned back and cracked her neck in a few places. “So, this isn’t exactly the right time to be stubborn. And trust me, I know stubborn. I know when it’s necessary and I know when it gets in the way. So, out with it, filly.”
I could actually die. Already she could sense the growing headache and weakness that came along with it. She sighed. “I, erm, I don’t know the ingredients list. B- but I know what they probably used.”
Twilight shot her a skeptical look with her ears raised. “And that is?”
“Alico- Alicorn Blood,” she said very quickly. Just saying it made her feel ill and she could see Twilight blanching at the mention. “P- Princess Cadance was part of the resistance and she volunteered to help. I was never allowed to know what was in it, but s- she kind of hinted that it was her blood which helped make the serum.”
It took the mare known as Princess Twilight Sparkle all of three seconds before she outright fainted on the spot.
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If you can't take the truth than you shouldn't have asked Twilight.
10852027
Truth.
Wow that really surprisingly
Let’s just hope she doesn’t have to mention drowning spitfire brutally to death. Lies just, sweep that under the co- rug. I said rug.
10852296
Glad to hear it.
10852297
Or Twilight getting burned alive by Zecora.
Good story so far can’t wait to see what will happen next
11008713
I've been trying to finish it, but I promised myself to try and just keep to one project at a time and I intend on keeping it. Right now, I'm writing a crossover that's about halfway finished and I don't wanna publish it until I have all the chapters ready; I feel it's less rude to anyone interested since I've been so behind on my two live stories here. 
Thank you!
11008744
No problem a lot of your stories are very engaging and fun to read.
11038495
I really appreciate that. Been working on a Fallout Fic, but I haven't forgotten about my old stuff!
11038510
Is it just a fallout fic or a fallout equestria fic?
11041745
Fallout Crossover. Not Fallout Equestria... Crossover. I do hate that there's no real name for a HIE style crossover that's not set in the Fallout Equestria universe.
11041776
Not familiar with the term hie
What does it mean
11041778
Human in Equestria. A common trope for this site. It's also HiE.
11041786
Ah I knew of human in equestria but never seen it referred to hie
I hope there is alot more to this fanfiction because its good as fuck
11119592
I mean, there is, but I need to re-work the others chapters in the same way I did this.
But thank you.
11574380
No, not yet. But I did write myself into a corner so I've been slowly trying to crawl out of it.
11574580
How deep is this corner man
11718786
Deep enough. I may need to rewrite major parts of the fic.
Finally, re-read this thing. I may know how to finish it. But I still feel the story worked until the last chapter. Tough to say.