The Heart of a Healer

by beyondthegrave

Tug of War

The school day dragged on. The lesson was something he learned about already, and Mystic wasn't paying close attention anyways. Pretending to care, he huffed and flipped through random pages of the worn textbook like he was searching for a page and was suddenly reminded of something his mother told him. ‘Only write down the key details! Believe me, if years of cataloging old spells taught me anything, you've got to know what is and isn't important.' He didn’t know what triggered that memory, but it annoyed him. He knew she had nagged him about it at some point, probably trying to get him to take boring lectures seriously.

But, before he could start heavily brooding, Ms. Cheerilee cut him off. “...Have a wonderful weekend! And remember class, your report on the application of Hayton's Three Laws of Motion is due at the end of the month!"

“Whatever, that sounds easy,” Mystic thought, and sluggishly finished packing up his stuff as the last bell of the day rang out.

Mystic gracelessly hopped out of his desk as the other ponies rushed out of the classroom with excitement, off to go hang out with their friends or whatever fun thing they had planned for the weekend, he supposed.

Mystic left the schoolyard and looked around apprehensively. He couldn’t recognize the way home, even though he was confident he had memorized it. Regardless, he made his way onto the winding dirt road and heard the unfamiliar call of farm ponies in the fields that stretched out beyond the horizon. A group of them passed by with their wheelbarrows of hay and oat, headed towards the village of identical thatched roofs.

The farm ponies spoke in an unfamiliar accent, and he couldn’t comprehend their jargon, making him crave the more comprehensible articulation he was used to hearing. He also missed the marked street signs and designated parks of Canterlot. The empty grasslands and bogs of Ponyville were nothing special in comparison.

Mystic took on a slow, hesitant gait and figured if he stayed on the main road, he would be fine, but the further he got from the school, the more confused he got. Stopping to read a weathered sign, he slipped, and his hoof landed in a small spot of wet mud, making him drop his saddlebag in the process.

"Oh my gosh, you need some help?” a yellow-coated filly with a red mane and bowtie said as she galloped up to him.

“I.. um.. nah. I’ll be okay,” Mystic said, embarrassed a filly had to see him like this. Mystic attempted to get up again but slipped onto his side, caking mud into his fur and tail.

“Here, grab my hoof!” she said with genuine concern. Mystic nodded and extended his forearm out fully as she did the same.

“Ready, one, two, three!” she exclaimed and pulled him back onto his hooves.

“T-thanks. I-I.. I-I need to be more careful.. I wasn’t paying attention. Uhm..” he said, unable to look at her without blushing and preventing his eyes from darting around involuntarily.

Apple Bloom laughed but quickly stopped when Mystic got even more flustered.

“Mystic, right? I’m Apple Bloom. It’s nice to meet you!” she said.

“Uhh.. its.. I’m… well, I was also glad to—I mean, it was nice meeting you too!” Mystic sputtered out, taken aback.

“Sorry for laughing earlier, by the way, but falling into the mud ain’t no reason to feel bad. Ponies trip all the time around here. Why it's practically a sport watching ponies fall in the mud 'round these parts. You should have seen me before I learned to watch out for those spots…”

Mystic shuffled his hooves and found it hard to focus on her lengthy spiel. Her kind gesture was just so different from what he knew. As he recalled, his old classmates acted like royals in court, who curated their interpersonal relationships with the discretion of such. They were a little obnoxious, but isn’t that how you are supposed to act? As Mystic pondered the thought, he became oblivious to her presence, watching chimney smoke billowing out into the dark and gloomy woodlands beyond.

“...and I could...if you want?” Apple Bloom said, offering something.

“I.. well, guess so?” He said, confused, his vision swirling slightly before it refocused back on her as his daydream ended.

“Cool! Here, let me help you get your saddlebag out the muck,” Apple Bloom reached down and dug her right hoof around the saddlebag’s handle and lifted it out, hoofing it over to him.

Instead of taking it from her, Mystic lit up his horn and precisely levitated the entire saddlebag back into position on his back as well as the remaining scattered papers and notebooks off the ground in a steady single motion.

“Like I said, I don’t really need your help,” he said neutrally.

“Well, uh alright then…” Apple Bloom said, blinking slowly, eyebrows raised above their resting position.

“A-are you sure?” Apple Bloom asked, surprised by his skillful display.

“Yeah, I am. My magic’s perfectly in my control,” he said, the neutrality in his voice slipping into aggravation as he dug his hooves hooves into the ground.

Apple Bloom backed up, hoping she hadn’t offended him. “I-I never said it wasn’t.”

Mystic’s face blushed as red as Apple Boom’s mane. “Moron! She never said anything about that,” he thought.

“Y-you’re right.. Um, sorry. I-I need to go now,” he said shyly, and awkwardly trotted off.

After trying to navigate several different unpaved roads for a couple of minutes, Mystic realized he should have asked for directions and scolded himself. Eventually, he found the small loft on the outskirts of the town that he and his mother occupied. Before entering, Mystic found a tree to scrape his body against, but it was a fruitless endeavor.

=========================~♡~♡~♡~=========================

“Honey? Are you home?” Sunny knew he was but asked anyway. Briefly, she heard the door handle twist twice, making her recall a habit that she was sure he had outgrown. Opening doors was one of the first things she and her husband Firelight had taught him to do with his magic.

"Mystic, hold on a moment..." she called out gently, but he didn't provide her with a reply. "Is everything alright?” she said, hoping he’d answer.

Sunny trotted out of the living room, pulling herself away from one of her novels. The sight of a grubby, filth-ridden Mystic greeting her in the entryway made her gasp in shock, his coat looking more mud than fur. Mystic weakly nodded his head and pawed at the wet sod and earthy patches that still stained his muzzle. She could tell he was ashamed of something, but Mystic wore a convincing stoic expression, a look she felt didn’t suit him.

“Oh goodness! What happened? Look at you, here, let me help. Those tail knots look painful,” she said, worried, and hurried over to him.

“I… slipped,” he said plainly as he set his bag down in frustration.

“You’re not hurt, are you?” she said, and began to check for bruises. “And where were you? It’s almost been a half hour.”

Mystic swatted away her hoof pat-down and came close to snarling. “I-I fell into the mud when some dumb filly distracted me,” he said as he turned away from her.

“O-oh, okay,” Sunny kept quiet for a moment and assumed that he was in one of his nasty moods and pressing him would only irritate him further. “Well, I-I’ll run a bath for you, is that alright?” she asked cautiously.

Mystic nodded in confirmation, and though he never changed his demeanor to show it, a hot bath did sound nice. He and his mother entered the bathroom that was opposite the kitchen. It was furnished with the typical appliances. Most notably, a white ceramic tub with a brass outlet positioned to the left of the door, and to the right, a sink sat above a wooden cabinet with a mirror above it. Sunny took hold of the bath’s faucet handle and nudged it on. The release of the hot water made a hissing sound, and with it, a small stream steadily filled up the space.

“Remember, don’t stay in there too long, I don’t want you to overheat!” she quipped.

“I know,” he said sardonically and scowled slightly.

“I.. well, of course, no pressure, take all the time you need. I’m going to go get dinner started,” Sunny smiled and walked outside, leaving the door open a smidge, like she always did.

Mystic shoved the door shut and turned the water off. The room’s temperature quickly swelled from the bathwater, creating a cloud of steam in the room, but before moving for the tub, he turned to observe himself in the mirror. It was strange, though. Even after rubbing some of the condensation away, no matter how close he looked, his reflection still appeared obscured. He shrugged and dismissed the odd feeling, reckoning it must be the mud stains that still covered his disheveled fur.

Looking up at the top of the tub, he noticed its tall concave design was something more suitable for an adult pony. He could ask for help but couldn’t bear the thought. He first jumped a bit, then reached his forearms over the top edge and wrapped them inwards on the tub’s curved inner slope. With his hooves secure, he managed to kick off the floor and push the rest of his body inside, the momentum making him tumble and roll onto his back with a splash.

“Having fun, dear?” Sunny said playfully, laughing.

“I’m, uh, sure,” he bit his lip and grunted, stifling any sign of pain.

A bottle of soap and a brush were thankfully left on the sink counter, and he grabbed the former first, nearly emptying the plastic container into the growing murky water. The solution mixed in, and predictably, foam swirled around him. He took the brush and began scrubbing his ears, neck, back, tail, and everywhere else, cleansing himself for what seemed like an eternity. Still unsatisfied, he plunged his head underneath the dark bubbling surface and held his breath. He ran his hoof through his mane repeatedly and combed for that last piece of dirt lurking somewhere in his mane, determined to find it.

Mystic kept sifting through strands of his hair, certain that an irksome piece of muck was still clinging to him. His lungs began to sting as he felt an uncomfortable dizziness, but he decided a few more minutes was all he needed. He rapidly shook his head in random directions to get it out, but that frantic movement only lowered his oxygen supply.

Disoriented and confused, he inhaled, but black streaks of shadow crept into his vision as the bath’s water began to rush into his nose and mouth.

Sunny, cutting up a tomato for a salad, whistled an upbeat tune when her ears pricked up, stopping when the typical bath noises had ceased. Something was wrong.

The absence of bath noises had gone on far longer than what she was comfortable with. She stopped prepping the salad for a moment and hesitantly called out, maintaining a fair and neutral tone. “Honey.. Um.. Dinner’s almost ready.”

Mystic desperately flailed underwater for a couple of agonizing seconds that felt like hours, searching for the bottom. When he found it, he pushed himself up just as Sunny flung open the door and rushed over to him, waves splashing and emanating away from him rapidly.

Mystic tried attempting a facade of control by refusing to take in too many oxygen-greedy breaths but couldn’t prevent himself from coughing up water and spitting up soap as a panicked Sunny hastily lifted him out and above the water’s surface.

“I’m.. I.. just.. breathed.. In a little.. water. I’m okay mom.. please.. put.. me.. down,” he said between sloshy water-filled gasps.

Sunny complied but felt wrong doing so. She put one hoof on his chest and checked his pulse, confirming it had slowed down. She put the other hoof to his dripping wet blue mane, brushed it over to the side, and furrowed her brow. “Please.. Let me look in your eyes for a moment, alright?” Without waiting for his acknowledgment, she moved in closer to examine him.

“Mom, what is it?” he said nervously, afraid she might assume the worst.

“I.. can you see me clearly?” she asked sternly.

“Y-yeah.. Yep. I told you, I’m f-fine,” he said as he flicked his tail to an unheard beat.

Sunny hugged him briskly while glancing at his retinas again, confirming that his eyes did look somewhat glossy. Mystic's words did not match his body’s physical distress signs.

Sunny backed up briskly after realizing that, and not wanting to draw attention to the gravity of the situation, she said, “Mystic, please dry yourself off. I need to finish getting dinner set. I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

The almost brusque brush off from Sunny startled him at first, making his pupils dilate. Sunny only acted like that when she was deeply worried. “Oh.. uh. Yeah, uh, got it,” he said through clenched teeth.

Mystic pulled a spare towel off the rack and shimmied it across his hind legs and barrel a few times but stopped drying himself shortly. The short contact with his mother’s aura had done the towel’s job, and he sighed despondently. With great hesitation, he grabbed the handle to manipulate it accordingly.

“I.. No.. It’s for the best,” Sunny lamented under her breath while she shakily placed two bowls of green on the table. In a moment of weakness, Sunny lowered herself onto the chair and sighed with little energy left. She let her shoulders slump and head sink down onto the table, taking hold of her shiny silvery necklace, letting out a couple of restrained choked whimpers and sniffles.

Mystic saw his distraught mother and felt like he was underwater again. His legs, which now felt as heavy as a ton of bricks, dragged his body forward slowly.

Sunny immediately straightened up from her slumped position on the chair as she heard her son approach. “Hi sweetie, I was just about to call you. I’ll bet you're hungry from your first day at school!” she said in an overly cheerly tone, compensating for her wet red eyes and behavioral shift.

He climbed up on the chair opposite hers but was in no mood to talk, her tonal contrast angering him. “No, not really,” he replied flatly, keeping his haunches squarely pressed up against his body. He stared down at his food, clammily fidgeting with the fork and perusing pieces of lettuce.

“Do you.. want to talk about what happened just now?” she asked nervously.

Mystic shoved his fork down into the lettuce and kept his head down. “No, because I’ve already told you what happened,” he said indignantly and took a bite of the salad, chewing slowly so he didn't have to speak.

The two ponies sat at the table eating in silence, and the only discernible sound that could be heard was the crunching of lettuce leaves and the occasional swallowing noise. Sunny cleared her throat and hesitantly made one more attempt at conversation. “Did you.. What did you learn at school today?”

Mystic twisted his fork into the salad several times and said, “I.. learned.. that.. you..”, he mumbled in a restrained tone, barely above a whisper.

Sunny leaned in with her elbows on the table. “What was that dear..? I couldn’t quite hear—”

Mystic took his hooves off the chair and slammed them onto the table, making their bowls rattle. “What’s for the best, mom?” Mystic growled from across the table.

A spike of anxiety hit Sunny in the chest, making her feel like she had been punched in the stomach, and she dropped her head in anguish. She recovered quickly though, and craned her neck back up to meet his gaze, giving him a charmingly soothing smile.

“Oh, sweetie.. The move to a this new school. I know that.. you didn’t like it. But your dad and I thought it was for the best.”

“Right. You know, I think I’m going to do my homework now,” he said coldly.

Comments

[Fire Flareon]

This is an interesting idea, it looks pretty good so far.