One Way

by jroddie

17: of Venom and Thunder

17

I stared up at the Angelic with eyes full of tears. He looked down at me with an expression full of satisfaction.

“Edwin, for shame. To think that you could assault someone in such a manner! How rude! And then to think that you could kill me with such weak magic.” He tutted. He looked over to the sword, which was floating over the grass. I followed his gaze. The sword was losing it’s color, turning grey. I could see the tip of it fading from existence, turning into dust. The Angelic eyed it carefully.

“Looks like the venom is taking effect.” He muttered. I tried to move. I grunted in pain, feeling the broken bones in my leg gouging the flesh. The Angelic blew lightly on the sword. The entirety of it dissolved into dust, flowing away with the breeze. He turned back to me.

“You see, Edwin... The most dangerous thing about manticores is not their speed, nor their physical strength, nor sharp claws. The most dangerous aspect of a manticore is it’s venom.” He articulated in a voice sounding like water flowing over smooth pebbles. It was so luxurious and smooth, which was in stark contrast to the pain of my broken leg. I looked up at him, with loathing fresh in my eyes . His ashen mane flowed around his black head.

“A most curious thing, manticore venom. Not only does it kill, but it also annuls magic. Theoretically speaking, if a unicorn were to be stung by a manticore, they would lose the gift of magic until the venom completed it’s cycle through their body. This leaves the pony unable to cure itself with magic, rendering it effectively dead. Then the manticore may peruse it’s kill as it pleases, often elongating it’s suffering for hours on end.” He explained. I could feel a harsh feeling in my veins, as if someone had rubbed alcohol on an open wound. I moaned with the pain. The Angelic chuckled lightly.

“Tis but a hint of what you have in store for you, my most troublesome Numbered. To tell you the truth, I actually hatched this manticore myself, when I was reconstituted after the Fourth had destroyed me. His name is Boe, if you were wondering. You probably weren’t.” He added, noticing me grunting in pain. He continued, deriving a small smile from my suffering.

“The venom will course through your body for the next few hours. It will literally dissolve your own muscles, turning you into a mushy lump of protein fragments. It will slowly detach your cerebellum from your spinal cord. Your movements become jerky and rough within the first few minutes of being stung. Within the next hour, you will be unable to move your own muscles, however little of them there may be left. You will be able to breathe, but not blink or move. A few hours after that, breathing will become laboured. You will find that your own body does not listen to what it is told. Your eyes will most likely dry to beyond being able to see at about the same time. You will gasp for breath, listening to your own heartbeat grow fainter, fainter, fainter still. Then... It will stop. You will live for about twenty minutes after that, then your brain will die of oxygen starvation. Your sentience will slowly degenerate over that twenty minutes, leaving you so stupid as to wonder why you are dying. It is the worst twenty minutes that any creature would ever have to endure.” Said the Angelic. I growled at him through bared teeth, clenched against the burn of the venom. He leaned down to meet my angry gaze. He was smiling as if he had just seen a laughing child, or held a baby animal.

“And frankly, Edwin... To me, it will be a most enjoyable twenty minutes of any of my lives. That is, if Boe decides not to eat you first. Pray to whatever you worship that he does, Numbered, for it would be a much kinder death than if he were to not.” He whispered. I yelped at him, feeling something paw my back legs. I tried to make it stop, but I could not. My magic had left me entirely. All I could do was wiggle my hindlegs invitingly. The Angelic stood upright, rubbing one of his blood-stained hooves on the grass.

“I, for one, have business to attend to; I cannot simply stand and watch ponies die, Edwin. I have princesses to steal.” He said happily. I sputtered at him through my teeth, unable to find a rebuke sinister enough. He winked at me with one of his large crimson eyes. His horn glowed with a blood red aura, and then stopped. He turned to dust before me, blowing on the wind to far away places. I grunted and moaned, trying to move.

The venom was already affecting my movement, making what would normally be smooth and controlled actions into spasms and jerks. I could feel my mouth foaming from dryness. The manticore was pawing me and licking me every now and then, making me burn even more whenever it touched me. Nothing happened for a good long while.

I heard myself wheeze. This worried me to no end, remembering what the Angelic had said. It took me longer to breathe than it had before. I couldn’t move any of my legs or my neck. I could hear the distant thunder. I could barely feel anything anymore, other than the licks and pawing of the manticore and the fire of the venom pulsing through my veins. I could hear the rolling thunder, much louder now. I felt a drop of rain land on my ear, giving me a moment of blissful cool through the fiery pain of the venom. Another drop landed on my body, making me feel even more grateful. The manticore made a high piercing keen. I would have winced, but I could no longer move the muscles in my face, if they were even still there. The rain began to fall much heavier, and I could hear the thunder even clearer. I thought about the time when I was the cause of such a noise, and it made me sad. A raindrop landed on my dried eye, which felt amazing. I could not feel happy about the rain, because I would not be able to enjoy it much longer. I heard my breathing growing more raspy by the second. And for a long while, nothing could be heard or seen except the swaying grass or the patter of rain. The manticore had long fell silent, which I assumed meant that it was sleeping.

I tried to console myself to fate. I would never see Luna again. Her light blue hair, the way her cheeks turned purple when she was embarrassed. I would never again hear her squeal with delight. I could never hear her voice again. Her soft, delicate feathers were something that I would never feel again. The scent of oranges was something that I would never again smell. I would have cried, but I didn’t have the muscles to cry anymore.

I would never again see the Doctor. His odd mannerisms were a thing of the past. I would never again ride in the mystical blue box, taking me to places and times unknown. The vast cosmos splayed before me, with the only thing limiting me being my ability to choose.

I would never again see Antony. I would never be able to show him my sword. I would never see him again. He was a true friend, sticking with me even when it looked like I was to be killed by my own kind.

My life in Equestria was everything I could ask for, and then even more than I could ever have dreamed of. I lived. I loved. I fought. I cried. It was much, much more than anything had when I was a human. Who was I to complain? I had already cheated death once, and I supposed that this was just a way of it catching up to me. I had only been alive for a few days, yet I did more than most could do with an entire lifetime. A dark corner of myself felt greedy to be begging for more. I cried silently where nopony could see.

The slight drizzle became a storm. My eyes became blissfully damp under the torrent of water. I could see the flash of lightning on the grass. The manticore’s outline showed for a brief moment in the storm. I could hear the thunder, even louder than before. Then, suddenly, everything was white.

The world seemed to be on fire. The grass, the trees, everything. I could feel my body, every single inch of it, burning. This was worse than the venom, because it was real fire. I did not know if it was some heinous adaptation of the manticore. But.

With the fire came an odd sensation. It was pain, yes. But I could move. It was as if my body was rebuilding itself after the fire swept across my broken form.

I felt my foreleg twist and wrench itself into position. I screamed through my teeth as it fused itself back together. I could scream. The flames rushed over me, making me shudder with it’s odd magic. It healed me. The burn of venom was slowly replaced by the tongues of flame. tried to move my hooves. They wiggled on the grass. I felt overjoyed at this. I wiggled them more, relishing in the sensation. I rolled around, trying to put out the fires on me. The burns were nothing compared to the joy of movement. I rolled onto my hooves, then stood. I could see the manticore in the trees, growling. It lunged from the treeline to attack me. It seemed to be frozen in midair as it flew. I thought of how dangerous a creature it was, of how it was so deadly. I felt an immediate hatred for it, and had a strong desire to see it dead. No sooner than the thought entered my mind that a gloriously bright bolt of lightning shot down and speared it to the ground. In my perception of time, it seemed as if the manticore was suspended in a pillar of purest white marble. I smiled at this as I shot into the sky. I felt so happy. My first thought was to see Luna. Luna, smiling and happy. I closed my eyes as rain hammered into my face. I thought of her when I told her I was going to take her back to Equestria. I opened my eyes. I was shooting through dry night air, my mane flung back against my head. I blinked, and the world exploded around me.

Unconsciousness is much akin to sleep. It gives the body rest, and is a way for the body to recover from trauma, but the similarities end there.

“Damn, Doctor.” Said a voice.

“I know.” Replied a smooth tone.

“He’s pretty bad.” The first voice remarked

“I know.” Confirmed the second voice. There was the creak of a door opening, and then the sound of hooves on stone.

“Do either of you two know what happened?” Said a regal, feminine voice. There was no reply.

“I will be sure to tell you in a minute or two. I want to be here when he wakes up.” Said the regal voice. I groaned, stretching my self supine across whatever it was that I was lying on. Everything in my body popped. I hummed in satisfaction.

“Edwin?” The first voice asked. I rolled over to the direction I assumed it to be in.

“Yes?” I replied. I opened my eyes. There were three blurry shapes in front of me. I rubbed my eyes with my hooves, and the scene focused in front of me. The three ponies were sitting with their backs facing a stone wall. Celestia was sitting to the left of the Doctor, who was in turn sitting to the left of Gespard. The Princess’ hair was waving to the right, blowing in the Doctor’s face. He was nearly buried in her waving, multicolor mane. It managed to conquer the Doctor to reach over and tickle Gespard on the cheek. He was stoically avoiding paying the offending lock of hair any attention. I looked at the ponies assembled.

“I draw quite the crowd, don’t I?” I said jokingly. The Doctor scoffed at me

“‘Quite the crowd’ indeed, Edwin. Not to mention that you blew a hole in the Palace last night! Not to mention that we had to scrape you off of the side of a cliff! Not to mention that we couldn’t even heal you because your unconscious mind happened to erect a shield around your body, not even allowing us to contact you! Both of the Princesses’ talents combined were not enough to surpass the wall you erected to separate yourself from the rest of the world! This would be no cause for such a crowd, only that you accomplished such a feat unconsciously!” The Doctor huffed. He was rather mad, by the look of his askew hair and his aggressive bearing. My eyes widened at his exclamation. Both Celestia and Gespard turned to stare at him. The Doctor did nothing, but continued to stare at me. Celestia raised a hoof to her mouth and cleared her throat.

“Well, Edwin, now that you are awake I can finally tell the events of what transpired evening of last. At about two in the morning, there was a loud detonation on the western side of the palace. Guards in that section reported all of the glass gone from the windows, and there were even reports of an entire room forcibly removed from the Palace, floors, walls, and all. Nopony was in the room at the time, but still. Further investigation found all of the metal surfaces to be imbued with a strong electric charge. Further investigation still found a large crater to be in the edge of the cliff. The Airborne Third was dispatched to find what they could. Leiutenant Dash came to my chambers at three this morning to tell me what she found. A white pony was found in the bottom, or should I say top, of the crater. It took myself and three of my most talented unicorns to extricate you from the cliff. You exhibited powerful magics indeed, Edwin. When we tried to heal you, your mind lashed out against the healing magician.” She said slolemly.

“Is that pony alright?” I asked, worried. Celestia looked at me angrily.

“We’ll tell you when we can find all the pieces.” She said with a shaking voice. I felt regret wash through me. Celestia continued.

“We could touch you physically, but contacting you with magic was impossible. We were able to bandage you, and that is what we did. Luna tried to fix you with magic, and I had to forcibly remove-” Celestia was cut off. I had no desire to hear her finish the rest of her story. When she said Luna, the midnight blue princess was all I had eyes for. I immediately closed my eyes and thought of Luna. I felt the cool breeze and opened my eyes. Luna was curled up on a blanket in the middle of the room. She wasn’t wearing her crown or her shoes. I walked up to her, and nudged her with my nose. She mumbled softly.

“Luna, it’s Ed.” I mumbled. She rolled over to face me, still half asleep. She brushed her nose with mine. My nose filled with the sweet scent of oranges. A scent I thought I would never smell again. I felt my eyes well with tears.

“Medwun?” She mumbled, squinting her eyes at me. I smiled.

“Yes.” I said. She smiled, her sleepy eyes still not opening.

“Cahm to behd, Medwun...” She muttered. I struggled to keep a sob from breaking out of my chest. After reconciling myself to death, this was all too much. I’m not sure who I made happy to deserve a life like this, but it was the best decision I ever made.

“Okay, Luna.” I whispered, my voice hitching with the sheer joy of the moment. I lied down behind her, curling up in the warmth of the blanket. I snuggled against her neck. She hummed a happy note.

“I love you, Luna.” I whispered, trying not to cry.

“Ah love you too, Ed.” She mumbled. A lone tear streamed down my face. I reached a hoof around Luna to hold her closer. He hugged it with her forelegs. The struggle against sobbing was a losing one. I gently wept. Tears freely ran down my face. Luna turned her head to try and look at me.

“What’s wrong, Ed?” She asked, suddenly worried. I looked up at her with teary eyes and said

“I’m so happy, Luna.” I managed to say. She smiled.

“Good.” She replied. I reached up to kiss her on the cheek. She giggled softly, laying her head back down.

“I’ll see you in the evening, Ed.” She mumbled, going back to sleep. I hugged her tighter to me. Her soft wings were pressing against my chest.

“Good morning, Luna.” I replied. She hummed low. I slowly lost my grip on the daytime and sunk into sleep

My dreams smelled like oranges.

Comments

[Sweetie_Belle_Derelle]

Confound these stories I find that already have X Number of chapters already completed!

I shall read through them anyway!!!!

[jroddie]

10663 I SALUTE THEE, BRONY!

the first few kinda suck, but i'm working on them.

[jroddie]

10705 Edwin is entirely oc.

[Sweetie_Belle_Derelle]

10672 I can't wait for the next chapters to come out!

also, for some stange reason, some parts of the story made me think of the song: Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult.

[Darkness_take_you]

I think it was the previous chapter the made no sense at all, but after reading this one I understand whats happening

[adrenalinrush]

d'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[MrRainbowBlast]

214017 to finish your sentence i will say: daz so cuuuuuuuuuute

[adrenalinrush]

214017 wow, rereading this i thought that I was a complete idiot for commenting that.... but then again I feel justified again. Still one the best fictions I've read in a while!