Stolen Fire

by Tzelael

Mending Wounds

Stolen Fire

by Tzelael

Chapter 6: Mending Wounds

__________________________________________________________________________

It had been an hour since Rarity and Rainbow Dash got Pinkie Pie to the hospital. The two of them sat in the waiting room, and Rarity levitated the glass shards off of Dash’s back and into the nearest trash can.

Rainbow Dash let out a heavy sigh. She wasn’t accustomed to staying still for this long, and the sight of Pinkie Pie rolled away into a hospital on one of those beds made her stomach feel like it was withering away. Her train of thought shifted to the stallion she had fought against earlier, and her insides twisted in disgust at his memory. She turned around at last, making eye contact with Rarity.

“You and Fluttershy seem to know something about what’s going on here, so fill me in. What was with that...” She hesitated for a moment. “... Stallion at the cottage?”

“You still remember what happened when you saw him?”

“Well, yeah. Why wouldn’t I?”

“It’s just that no pony who’s seen him outside our friends seems to remember him or what happens around him clearly.”

“I wouldn’t forget something like that, Rarity. We’ve seen some weird stuff, but this...”

Rarity nodded and took a deep breath. “To be honest, Rainbow Dash, I really don’t know what he is. All I have heard about him comes from rumors in the town concerning a creature with unnatural strength that attacked the marketplace. Fluttershy told me that she took him in and that he wasn’t anything to worry about.”

“Yeah, right. Nothing to worry about. Except the part where it’s a monster that threw Pinkie Pie out a window.”

“Let me finish. Fluttershy told me that ponies seem to behave strangely around him and suddenly become violent. She’s convinced that he means well, or at least, that he wouldn’t harm anypony intentionally.”

“Why would she think tha–”

“I’m not sure, but... She seems convinced that he’s not a monster. I honestly don’t know what to think of this whole mess.”

Rainbow Dash turned around and leaned against the chair. “I saw that thing, Rarity. Whatever it is, it’s hardly a pony. It made these craters in the ground just by smashing it. I hit it with a lightning bolt, and it wasn’t even fazed. To top it all off, I saw down its throat... This...” Rainbow Dash fell silent, holding out her hooves and slowly moving them towards, and then away from each other.

“What was it?” Rarity leaned in with her brow raised.

“There was a... A blue glow in his throat. It kind of made me think of hot coals or melted metal. The weirdest thing was how I felt when I looked at it. It was...” Rainbow gulped for a moment, then continued. “It was like... Seeing somepony fall up, or seeing a cloud run away from you. It just felt so wrong. It’s like what happened when Discord was messing around with reality.”

At the sound of hoofsteps, the two turned their attention to the hall, seeing Doctor Stable approaching. Rarity and Rainbow Dash got up and met him in the middle of the hallway. The doctor pulled out a clipboard with some notes on it while fiddling with his glasses.

“Well, doc, how is she?” Rainbow Dash asked, rushing up to him. The doctor looked up from his clipboard.

“I won’t lie to you, she is lucky to be alive. We managed to remove the glass fragments out of her body and dressed her wounds, but we’ve got another problem. The X-Rays haven’t come back from the lab yet, but I’m certain some of her ribs are broken. We’re going to have to operate on her to repair the damage.”

“She’s going to be alright, isn’t she?” Rainbow Dash was frantic, eyes wide and a quiver in her voice. The doctor looked down at the clipboard and nodded.

“If the operation goes well, she should make a full recovery, but she’ll need to stay here for a few weeks for observation. Given time and rest, she’ll heal up in a jiffy.”

Rainbow Dash only nodded at the news. Rarity stepped up to speak to the doctor. “Doctor, do you know when she will be able to talk to us about what happened?”

Rainbow Dash quickly turned to her with a grimace on her face. Rarity held up her hoof and waited for the doctor to finish.

“Well... If all goes well, she’ll be able to take visitors a day after the operation is complete. Come back tomorrow and check in on her and we’ll be able to give you a better idea.”

“Very well. Thank you, doctor.” Rarity turned and left. Rainbow Dash stood in place for a few seconds before following her.

“Guess we’re going to have to tell everypony else about this.”

“Yes... News will travel fast enough, though they ought to know.”

Rainbow Dash looked back at the hospital and lowered her head.

“You go back to Fluttershy with the news. I can cover more ground faster, so I’ll tell them.”

“Tell the Cakes first, darling. They’ll probably be wondering where she went...”

“Right.” Rainbow Dash ran toward the center of town, flapped her wings, then leaped into the air, flying toward Sugar Cube Corner. Rarity then trudged slowly down the path toward Fluttershy’s cottage, with her head heavy and a sinking feeling in her stomach.

****

Silence overpowered the cottage. Massive clouds muted the colors in the area, and thus made the landscape look darker and grayer. In the upstairs bedroom, Fluttershy cleaned up the shards of glass near the broken windowsill. She grimaced at the sigh of the broken window and at the points of impact on the ground below.

After she finished, she headed downstairs to check on the creature. He had been sitting in front of the fireplace since Rarity and Rainbow Dash left with Pinkie Pie. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, he still sat there. His right hoof shook and jerked toward the fire, though he stopped it before it could burn.

Hearing Fluttershy’s hooves hit the wooden floor, he looked up at her for a second. As soon as she looked back, he turned away and stared at the floor.

She hesitated, swallowed her fear before she approached him. Seeing his cutie mark didn’t help matters, as it reminded her of the titan whose symbol he bore. Her mind jumped to when he fought Rainbow Dash and to the mangled form of Pinkie Pie that lay outside her house. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Just... Try and talk to him... It can’t be what it looked like...” Fluttershy shuffled next to the creature and sat in front of the fireplace. He only occasionally glanced at her. The only sounds that were made for several minutes was the fire crackling and letting off sparks. The silence finally broke when Fluttershy turned to the creature.

“You... Didn’t mean to hurt her, did you?”

The stallion jerked in place as he stood upright. He turned to Fluttershy, though his eyes evaded hers while his head twitched to the side. He didn’t respond, continuing to gaze at the fire. She placed her hoof on his shoulder, nudging him to face her, though his eyes continued to avoid contact.

“Did you...” Fluttershy stopped, then began to gesture. She pointed at him first. “Did Pinkie,” she said as she held her hair up, trying to make it look a bit like her friend’s poofy mane, “Scare you?” She held up her arms and grit her teeth, her eyes very nearly going into the stare territory. He flinched a bit at the sight, remaining still afterwards when he finally looked Fluttershy in the eye. He slowly shook his head in response.

“He understood that?!” Fluttershy stood completely still in turn, her eyes wide in shock. She kept going, gesturing with her hooves while speaking slowly.

“How... Did Pinkie... Get hurt?” She held her mane up again while saying Pinkie’s name, then swung her hooves out, then down to show falling into the ground. The creature’s head slumped down and his right hoof shot up. It quivered as it slowly inched toward Fluttershy’s chest, then he tapped her as gently as he could. A low, gravelly sound rumbled from his throat, then came out of his mouth in a groan.

“Taaaaaag...” He drew the word out as though when he spoke the word, he had a difficult time stopping himself. His eyes were momentarily glued to the floor, but he held his head back up to look at Fluttershy. He blinked very slowly as his lower lip shook as a mournful moan rumbled in the back of his throat. Fluttershy, however, stared wide-eyed at him.

“He spoke! He actually spoke!” She took a moment to further examine the creature. Between his now-crestfallen demeanor and his first actual spoken word, Fluttershy began to understand.

“It was just an accident. Oh, thank Celestia... He didn’t hurt Pinkie on purpose.” She took a good look at him again, then looked outside the house at the destruction he had caused earlier. While he didn’t actively hurt Pinkie Pie, it was hard to ignore the massive craters in the surrounding area. Before she could contemplate them much further, there was a knock on the door.

“Stay here.” Fluttershy stood. He seemed to have no desire to follow her as he stared into the fireplace. When she opened the door, Rarity stood there, her face weighed down by worry.

“Hello, darling. May I come in?”

“Please.” Fluttershy stepped aside and let Rarity enter. The refined unicorn caught a glimpse of the stallion in the corner by the fireplace. She briefly saw his hoof quiver while it tried to reach into the flames. She looked back at Fluttershy and cleared her throat.

“Pinkie’s been hurt quite severely... The doctor said she’s going to need an operation and several weeks to recover, but he says she’ll recover with time.” Rarity glanced over at the creature again, then bit her bottom lip for just a second. She looked back at Fluttershy and lowered her voice.

“Rainbow Dash also told me about her... Confrontation with your guest.”

“Wh... What about him?” Fluttershy asked apprehensively.

“I’ll be brief, darling. Have you ever seen his throat... Glow before?”

“What...? Why do you ask?”

“It may have something to do with where he came from. Have you seen the bottom of his throat glow before? A light blue color?”

Fluttershy looked back and forth in thought.

“Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the inside of his mouth... Did Rainbow Dash see something like, well... That?”

“She did, but it’s how she felt when she saw it that concerns me. She said it just felt... Wrong, like something Discord did to the world when he was attacking Ponyville.”

“You can’t possibly be suggesting–” Fluttershy suddenly blurted out and she briefly caught the creature’s attention. She looked into his eyes, and as soon as she did, he looked back into the fire.

Fluttershy resumed the conversation in a more hushed tone. “You aren’t suggesting that he’s some monstrosity Discord made that was left behind after we used the Elements of Harmony to defeat him, are you?”

“I don’t know for sure, darling, but I think it’s a possibility we should consider... I think this is something we should bring up with Twilight. She’ll probably have a better idea and can help us find a clearer answer.”

Fluttershy’s face fell at the idea of the involvement of their old foe. While she couldn’t dismiss the idea, something inside told her that it couldn’t be the case. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she knew there had to be another explanation.

“I guess we can talk about it more when we get to visit Pinkie Pie after her operation is done... In the meantime, I want to ask you a favor.”

“Of course.”

“You said you’d teach him how to speak and write...” Fluttershy looked at the creature, then back at Rarity. “Are you still willing to do that?”

Rarity’s eyes widened, her lips curling downward as she considered.

“I suppose, well... Under the circumstances, I believe it might be best if I...” Fluttershy gazed at her pleadingly, Rarity looking back for a few seconds before. She let out a sigh and gave in.

“... Oh, alright. I’ll teach him. But only if you’re there with me... Ashamed as I am to admit it, I’m the slightest bit... Frightened of him.”

Fluttershy nodded slowly. “Of course. I think you’ll find that he’s nothing to worry about.”

Rarity looked over at the figure hunched next to the fireplace and muttered softly to herself.

“I hope you’re right about that...”

****

“Phew! Finished.” Twilight sat down in a nearby chair. She finally took a breath after she observed her handiwork; thousands of books arranged in exactly the order she intended, all of them first in order of subject, then in order of the authors’ name. Spike climbed down a ladder with a duster in hand, then yawned when he reached the bottom rung.

“About time, too... I think it’s getting close to naptime.”

“Spike, you’ve said that for the past three hours.”

“And now it’s closer than it was three hours ago.”

Twilight snickered as she lounged back in her chair. “Alright, Spike. Go ahead and take your nap. I think you’ve earned it for the da–” She stood up straight as she heard a knock at the door. Twilight pulled herself up on all fours and walked to the center of the hall.

“It’s open!”

The door opened slowly, and a unicorn stallion walked in. His coat was a soft blue and his mane a faded yellow. When Twilight looked over at his side, she saw his cutie mark, which was a lit candle in front of an open book.

“You are Twilight Sparkle, librarian of Ponyville and Student of Princess Celestia, correct?” His voice carried with it a subdued Canterlot accent. He got closer to Twilight after he stepped in the doorway, looking straight into her eyes, his own a deep green.

Twilight shifted away uncomfortably, then backed into the table in the center of the room. “That’s right... Can I help you?”

“I am Professor Flamebearer of the University of Canterlot.” He adjusted a pair of thinly-framed glasses His eyes narrowed while crow’s feet on their sides became visible. “There is something wrong in Ponyville and you are uniquely qualified to help me fix it.”

Comments

[Syzygy]

This story is oddly captivating. Please, do go on.

[Focusphobia]

The antagonist appears!

[Snow123]

A Hunter appears to "solve" this issue.