When Lightning Strikes...

by neighsmith

Chapter 3: The Long Road

Chapter 3: The Long Road

Churning blackness surrounds you. It’s tangible. But is this real? Where am I? I want to sleep, but I don’t feel tired. Where’s Fuze? It’s so dark that I can’t even see my own hoof. Do I even have a hoof? I can’t see anything. Wait... what is that? It looks like a light? A fire? A white fire burned in the distance, so far away that to you it was a pin-prick in this void of color. Maybe I can move towards it? Yah, I am getting closer. The fire seemed to get closer and closer, even though you yourself weren’t sure as to how you were moving without an apparent body. Soon, the fire moved towards you, without you even trying. The emanating light gets so painful to look at that you have to close your eyes in an attempt to block out the permeating white. The fire seems to sear through your eyelids re-exposing your eyes to the fire. As you focus on the middle of the light, trying to make out an indistinct shape, the darkness in the background fades, your peripheral vision fills with light and fuzzy objects. A murky background appears, illuminated by the blinding brightness.

As your eyes find clarity, the shapes and objects become clearer. A nurse... She seems familiar...

“Welcome back Mr. Spark. Didn’t expect to see you under my care so soon, but hey, it’s a small world, right?” the mare who you could now identify as the same nurse as the one who had tended to you the previous day spoke warmly.

“What happened? I was at a diner and then I was-” You stop, wondering how to describe where your consciousness previously occupied.

“Fuze said that you just passed out mid-conversation while you two were at dinner... That foal won’t stop asking about you, he hasn’t left the waiting room since you came in.”

“How long have I been out?” you ask, shaking your head at what you imagine Fuze was doing right now, while pulling yourself into a more comfortable position in the bed you are lying in.

“Not long. Maybe about three to three and a half hours,” she said thoughtfully. She trotted over to the door and smiled, before turning to you and asked, “Should I let Fuze know your awake?”

You nod your head, trying to mentally brace yourself for the oncoming onslaught of laughter/energy/talking that was named Fuze.

~~~~~~~~

That poor Spark... what did Fuze do to trigger that repressive coma? I’ll have to have a word with him before he goes in. The nurse thought to herself as she moved out into the waiting room.

“Fuze, Spark is awake and ready to see you.”

A smile like that of a billion waking new born foals, each one adorned with a smile, and emanating a melodious little giggle, lit up his face.

As Fuze started to pass the nurse, she held out a hoof and stopped him, leaning close to whisper in his ear. “What’s with you? First the bomb, now this? What did you do that caused this?” Maybe that was a little harsh... Oh well, there is no time now for afterthoughts.

A look of confusion hit him. “I... don’t, you mean, he, it...”

“Yes, Fuze,” she said the colt’s name with disgust. “You caused his momentary lapse of consciousness.”

His face fell, causing all but the most stoic, the most cold-hearted, to feel as if all of those billion foals just died of some horrific disease. All at the same time.

The nurse, however, did indeed have a heart, even if it was a size to small. “I’m sorry to be so blunt Fuze, but...”she was at a loss of words to describe why she was so angry with him. “But, I’m just worried for Spark is all. I’m sure that you didn’t mean to hurt him. Is there anything that you said that might have offended him?”

“Well, I was just talking about my job, and then asked about how he got his cutie mark, nothing crazy.” Fuze responded, his face sullen.

Cutie marks... maybe he has a troubled past... “Fuze, what do you know about Spark’s past?”

“Well I know that, well actually... I don’t know very much. Whenever I get close to anything remotely related to anything before I met him, he stutters, and then changes the subject...”

Definitely old trauma. “Well then, I think that it would be in everypony’s best interest if you tried to stay away from that subject. Oh, and please, just be wary when you talk to him. For his sake,” she said curtly. “I am sure he will be better in no time. Now, you can go in.”

The nurse held the door open, and a sad, depressed Fuze stepped in.

~~~~~~~~

To your confusion, Fuze’s entry was quiet. In fact, you think it is the quietest you have ever seen him. He approaches the side of the small hospital bed with a ghostly expression. Fuze’s face stayed unreadable as he looked over at you.

“Is something the matter Fuze?” you ask, scared that Fuze was mad at you for ruining his dinner. Your concern only grows as Fuze stays silent. “Look, I’m horribly sorry for ruining your dinner, I get it if your mad at me...” you look away while speaking, then a pair of solid hooves wrap around you. The sound of sobs reach your ears in your presently shocked state.

“How can you be sorry when you haven’t done anything wrong?” Fuze almost shouts, but his is muzzle to far buried into you coat.

“What are you talking about?” you ask him.

“I not a very good friend. The only colt who I actually want to be with, and all I can do is hurt him,” The sobbing colt says apparently to himself.

“That’s not true!” you say indignantly to Fuze. He looks at you and blushes when he realized that he said his previous statement out loud. “You have been very kind! Besides, the bomb incident was my fault, and I don’t think you can control me passing out randomly,” you jokingly state.

“The nurse said that the coma you fell into was because of me.” Fuze says. This shocks you, because the mare who let Fuze in, the one who had been so soft toned with you, didn’t seem like the kind of pony to blame others, but it that did certainly explained why Fuze felt so bad.

Why would she go tell something like that to Fuze, who is probably the nicest pony in this whole town? “Buck the nurse!" you say "That is all she is! Just a Nurse! Not even a doctor! What does she know? You had nothing to do with my, ‘coma', or whatever she called it! ” You say this to help Fuze, and even though you know the last part is a lie, you actually don’t blame Fuze for trying to start up a conversation, so you don’t want him to feel guilty over something that clearly wasn’t his fault.

“You really think so?” Fuze asks you with a half smile forming. “Does this mean we are still friends?”

“Nope...”you reply, a mischievous smile on your face.

“Oh... I guess I’ll be lea-” he says before you cut him off with

“ We are best friends!” you shout out before laughing so hard that you fall off the bed with a loud thump.

Fuze looks unimpressed for a moment, but his happy demeanor soon returns as he laughs at you. “ That was really cheesy, you know.”

“But that isn’t the funny part, it’s that you actually fell for it!” you continue laughing.

“Alright, you got me, which means you better watch your back, because you know what happens when you play with fire, you get burned. And in this case, the fire is me, and the burning is pranks! Mwahahaha!” He cackles out maniacally, then snorts in laughter.

“Yah, yah, let’s just get out of here... I think the hospital is starting to get to you...” you say with mock concern.

“I was just kidding, jeez, silly-willy,” he responds.

You and Fuze leave the hospital at about 2 A.M. So naturally, you both fall asleep as soon as the two of you step across the threshold, causing you both land in a heap just inside of the door. The sound of your slowed breathing mixes with his, melding together harmoniously. The transpiring melody is befitting only of Luna's night.

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Thanks to my editors/pre-readers , Mobius of the Moon and CosmicAfro, my story is some what readable. Enjoy!

Comments

[Mobius of the Moon]

Alright, it's up! Good job so far, smith!