My Own Flesh and Blood

by NioFox

5: A Pound of Flesh

A Pound of Flesh

"… and over here you can see the royal-" Princess Celestia dry sneezed mid-sentence, "Excuse me! My goodness, this is simply not my week!" she laughed, quickly dispelling the nagging feeling that accompanied her outburst and trying to make light of the interruption.

She was in the middle of giving her esteemed guest a tour of the castle that morning. The young bison girl strolling beside her was called Little Strongheart by her people. After learning about an ... altercation that almost became a serious incident in Appaloosa, the Princess had formally invited a representative of the girl's tribe to join the yearly delegations. Strongheart, as young and inexperienced as she was, had been the only one to volunteer.

Since meeting her, however, Celestia had grown quite fond of the little bison; perhaps due to the close resemblance to her little ponies. In spite of feeling extremely out of place among the other more ... cultured delegates, the girl managed to remain cordial, for the most part, only causing a minor fuss at the banquet when she unwittingly demonstrated how to eat without utensils.

Out of all the others, the Princess quickly found Little Strongheart to be the most enjoyable company, and they ambled on through the ornate corridors, laughing about this and that, quickly forgetting the matter entirely.

---

Twilight Sparkle slowly reached toward Alpha Centauri, a mixture of curiosity and fear clashing for control of her facial expression. "Alpha … are you alri-" she squeaked in pain before she could finish the question. Just as she had touched him, in the blink of an eye he had grabbed her hoof and twisted the entire fore-leg ninety degrees in the wrong direction, a bit further than it was meant to go. Twilight's knees buckled as she twisted her body reflexively, turning in the same direction in an attempt to ease the discomfort. By the time she had snapped her head back up to look at him his other fore-hoof was an inch away from her face, frozen as if he had stopped himself or- had expected something decidedly unfriendly to occur at that point.

Blinking back a tear from the pain as emotions she had never felt before erupted in response to his sudden unprovoked attack, her horn lit up with its magical transparent purple glow as she levitated him into the air causing his hold to slip and releasing her twisted limb. But he was accelerated too quickly, crying out as his still healing wings were squeezed between his body and something she did not see. At first Twilight was just glad to be free of his grip but then it dawned on her just how much she had lost control of her magic when she looked up to see him flatted against the roof, his expression was now one of complete confusion and hurt, the innocent glow had returned to his eyes as he started to mouth the word 'why', still surrounded by the purple glow.

Twilight jumped nervously, eyes wide and irises tiny, when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. It was just doctor Heartstrong looking at her worriedly, but in her state of elevated stress her magic failed and in the same moment Alpha began to plummet to the floor. Twilight was still staring at the doctor with the shock and confusion of the moment when his own horn lit up and he caught the young stallion just before his face could break his fall.

Twilight had been in dangerous situations before, even ones where she was attacked without provocation like that time with the Hydra, but never by another pony and she had never hurt another creature in her life. She looked back and forth between them nervously before attempting to speak, "I- I …" she stuttered slowly standing up. Tears began to well up as she broke into a gallop and bolted out of the room whimpering.

"Sunspots! What happened to her?" Alpha spoke up rubbing his tender appendages once he had been released. The doctor had followed her retreat with his eyes, but now brought them back to his patient.

"A better question, son, would be what just happened to you," he stated with a hard but professional expression.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Alpha asked in confusion. Doctor Heartstrong looked at him carefully for a moment, searching his face for signs of deception.

Finding none he tried a different approach, "What do you recall happening in the last few minutes?" he asked.

"Ummm … well I was talking to … err … what was her name?"

"Twilight Sparkle."

"Right right, I was talking to her as I was looking out the window and then next thing I know I'm looking down at both of you with what looked like the same crazy glow around me as that time when she lifted me out of the crater!" The doctor rubbed his chin with a frown on his face for a moment, but quickly stopped as he nearly lost his balance when he was left standing on only two legs.

"So you don't remember attacking Miss Twilight?"

"What? No I- why would I ever do that? She saved my life! Look, I don't know where I am or how things work here, I don't even remember where I came from, but I get a very strong feeling when I think about the debt I owe to her!"

"Well you're off to a pretty bad start if you intend to make good on that debt son … so you don't remember nearly breaking her fetlock joint with those fancy moves of yours?" Alpha's expression just became one of stark disbelief, his jaw worked uselessly as he tried to say something but he brain wasn't quite in sync.

"I … did that?" he asked in a far quieter tone, his expression slowly changing to one of deep sorrow.

"And you also looked like you were about to smash her nose in the same fluid motion, but for some reason you stopped your hoof a hair away from her face. I've never seen anypony move like that before …" at this point doctor Heartstrong was convinced that no one could fake the emotions playing out over Alpha's face as it shifted between sorrow and distress while he was listening to the doctor's recalling of the events that had just transpired.

Alpha scrutinized the floor with his gaze for a full five seconds in silence before his head snapped back up. "I have to go talk to her … I have to make her understand I didn't know what I was doing-" he blurted out as he bolted for the door.

"Hang on," the doctor said calmly, lifting the Alpha off his feet and back over to the bed as they worked furiously in the air. "I haven't discharged you yet, I need to take a look at those wings after that little tussle. I also want have you sit down with a friend of mine for a little talk."

"Oh come on, this is important! Can't all of that wait until later?" Alpha asked in a frustrated manner.

"I'd feed a parasprite before I have any patient of mine running around with untreated injuries!" he exclaimed with finality. Just at that moment Bedside Manor came through the door rolling in a tray with two bowls full of soup and a few other new dishes even doctor Heartstrong wasn't aware were available in the kitchen.

"Ready f' round two luv?" she called with a cheery tone in her usual loud voice.

"Well I guess I could stay just a little while longer," Alpha grinned sheepishly as his stomach started to growl.

---

Rainbow Dash yawned and stretched. She had been camped out on a cloud above the hospital the whole night, tossing and turning unable to sleep properly as she dreamed up one fanciful idea after another about what kind of maneuver she was going to learn the next day.

Today was that day, but the lack of sleep was plastered across her features like the ill-begotten product of a frustrated abstract artist and several cans of paint. Dark heavy rings were under her eyes and there was a streak of dried saliva snaking its way down from the left corner of her mouth, taking several erratic turns as it reflected the tossing and turning she had been doing. She flew uncharacteristically slowly over to the nearest raincloud- and then right into it.

The cloud-pony hybrid emitted random noises one might hear from a shower stall after a big hoofball match for a few minutes before a refreshed Rainbow Dash burst free in a flurry of water droplets and dissipating cloud guts, all four hooves pointing out in opposite directions.

"Alright, time to become twenty percent more awesome!" she said to herself with her usual flare, pumping a hoof in the air before doing a back flip and speeding down to the hospital. When she trotted in with what could have been perceived as a disturbingly wide grin on her face, she noticed that the place looked quite different from the previous night. There were nurses pushing wheel chairs with ponies in casts, elder ponies ambling around shakily on walkers, friends and relatives were sitting, standing or hovering here and there interacting with the others. A few heads turned to look at her when she entered but quickly went back to what they were doing.

Rainbow Dash made it to the front desk and knocked on the counter to get the attention of a completely different receptionist from the previous night. The pale blue receptionist looked up and smiled, for some reason finding it particularly amusing that their coats were similar in color.

"How may I help you today," she said pleasantly, the smile never leaving her face and the paperwork she had been doing through laid one-side.

"Yea is he up yet?" Dash asked.

The receptionist tilted her head sideways, "Is who up yet honey?"

"That stallion we brought here last night," Dash replied impatiently.

"Name?"

"I don't know, he was out cold before we could ask him," her impatience was starting to become frustration.

"Time?"

"Night time! C'mon how many half-dead patients do you get in the middle of the night?" the level of Dash's voice was beginning to draw attention as the receptionist, still smiling, started looking through some papers on another corner of the counter she stood behind. There were two distinct colors for the papers that made up the stack and only one of them as the other color – the top one, but for some reason she started from the bottom of the pile.

"Are you kidding-" Rainbow Dash started almost at a yell now, but then stuck her hoof in her mouth as everyone in the room stared at her now. "Listen lady," she began in a whisper, "I don't wanna tell you how to do your job, but maybe could you check that top one first?" she ended indicating the pink sheet at the top of the pile.

"Okay," she replied never dropping her smile as Rainbow Dash began to think about how this mare could give Pinkie Pie a run for her bits. She skimmed over the information quickly before speaking again, "Seven-fifteen, John Doe, Ward B4 … does that sound like your coltfriend?" she asked innocently.

"HE'S NOT MY-" this time she bellowed and everyone in the room hissed there shushing noises at her. Rainbow Dash raked her hoof across her face and zipped through a doorway, only to return five seconds later. "Uh, where exactly is Ward B4?" she asked sheepishly.

---

"Well it looks like you got lucky again son, there doesn't appear to be any further damage to your wing bones from your little dance with the ceiling, but you're going to have to stay off them for a few weeks until the fractures heal … although, the way your body heals it could be a few days … we'll have to wait and see," Doctor Heartstrong finished, wrapping Alpha's wings back up in fresh bandages.

"Mmmhmm," was all Alpha got out with his face buried in a bowl of Brussels sprout and oatmeal mash.

"Is he awake doc?" came a voice from the door. The doctor looked up to see Rainbow Dash zipping around the corner and into the room. "Aha! Now I've got you right where I want you!" she exclaimed with a scheming grin. Alpha was still holding the latest bowl of mash to his face, gulping and slurping at it hungrily, too busy to notice what was going on, or even that he was the intended participant of the conversation. "Hey!" she landed on all fours and marched over to him stomping every hoof along the way. When she was within leg's length of him she just stopped and stared, expecting that by now he would have finished eating … but he kept going; bent on licking the bowl clean while wearing an extremely contended expression.

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof and knocked on the bowl still held up to Alpha's face. He jerked it away as the noise generated so close to his ears was almost deafening from his perspective. When he realized there was a new pony standing in-front of, and staring at, him he looked at her and blinked a few times with a quizzical expression before he burst out "I remember you!"

Rainbow Dash fell over startled before hurriedly fluttering back up into a hover, "W-well of course you do! Is there anypony who hasn't heard of the amazing, stupendous, one-hundred and twenty percent awesome- Rainbow Dash, future captain of the Wonderbolts?" Alpha's head just twisted to one side in confusion.

"You nearly killed me in that crater yesterday!" he blurted out, doctor Heartstrong who had been listening intently from the word 'remember' now planted his face in his hoof before quickly trying to regain his balance.

"What?"

"You nearly gave me a heart-attack! Is that how you wake up people here?"

"Pfft, c'mon don't be a lightweight. Besides, if I hadn't flown up to see where you landed you might have really been in trouble in the time it would have taken for the others to get there! The way I see it you owe m-" at that point she realized he was bowing in front of her, "What are you doing?" she asked becoming both amused and gratified simultaneously as Alpha prostrated himself before her.

"It seems I have another debt to repay for my life, thank you," he said humbly, still bowed. Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin thoughtfully before landing on her hoofs.

'This is perfect! He'll do anything I want now, including telling me about that trick he did' she thought with an evil grin. She rested a hoof on his shoulder in her best impression of royalty and started in the most official tone of voice she could muster, "Well now, let's start with something small shall we? Tell me just how you did that trick out there yesterday."

"Trick?"

"Don't play dumb with me mister, you owe me remember?" she said removing her hoof from him and picking up his face to look straight into his eyes. "The move, the maneuver- tell me …" she regarded his confused stare for a moment before letting go of him entirely and rubbing her face with a hoof while hovering over to the window. "Oh come on! The sonic boom, the crater, the shockwave! There had to be some trick to all of that! I saw where the sonic boom came from and it was way too far up for you to reach the ground that fast! No pony is capable of that so there has to be some trick to it! Even if it was a flop … I mean- you weren't supposed to hit the ground and nearly die … right?"

"Wha-"

"I know! You need those to do it don't you? Wait here I'll be right back!" Rainbow Dash had disappeared through the window before anyone else could say another word. They all blinked in silence.

"With all due respect … are all ponies here weird?" Alpha's remark caused the doctor to laugh for the first time in two days.

"You seem to bring out the … weirdest in them," he chortled.

"Sunspots! I almost forgot- I've got to go talk to Twilight!" said Alpha hopping once before bolting for the door only to be levitated back to the middle of the room, upside down no less.

"Eh-eh-eh! There's still the business of that little chat to get out of the way," said doctor Heartstrong.

"B-b-but- this is important!"

"So is this," the doctor said grimly, looking over alpha with a critical eye. "But I suppose we can make an exception-"

"Yessssss-"

"IF- and only if, you promise to come right back when you're done!"

"Okay, yeah sure whatever, let me down now?" at this point he was squirming like a beetle trying to right itself.

"And I need to have someone escort you there … hmmm … oh you know what, Night Stick's shift should just be about over and I think he lives in that direction. I'll ask him to go with you."

"Okay okay! Can I go now?" Alpha asked impatiently. The doctor slowly brought him back down to the floor on his feet.

"Come with me then, let's get this sorted out- and by the way … a little friendly advice. I don't know about that 'make her understand' stuff you were saying earlier but, you may want to try starting with an apology."

"A what?"

The doctor looked at him quizzically; surely he did not hit his head that hard! "Say you're sorry?"

"I don't follow."

"What do you do when you have wronged somepony?"

"Fix it."

"And what if the wrong was not physical, what if it's on the inside?"

"You mean … like pulling a muscle?"

"No! Not-" the doctor sighed in frustration, "Her feelings boy, you've hurt her feelings!"

"Is that like … what did you call it earlier … a fetlock joint? But you said I nearly broke it, did she suffer some other injury as a result?"

"You can't be serious … ok how about this: when you think about not being able to remember anything … what do you feel, what do you experience?"

"… I don't like it."

"And what about when you woke up in that hole yesterday- besides the pain from your wounds … what did you feel then?"

"Well I really didn't like that!"

"That's something like how Miss Twilight probably felt when you attacked her, except she may still think you did it intentionally … so in a way it's actually worse."

At this point Alpha looked the doctor square in the eyes with his mouth open, understanding finally beginning to dawn on him. Alpha followed him out of the ward down a few corridors and into the lobby in silence, twitching fretfully all the way there while deep in thought. Night Stick was at the counter scribbling on a piece of paper, probably filling out a report and signing out, just finishing as they approached him.

"Mister Stick?" called the doctor. Night Stick looked around.

"Sir?" he responded respectfully.

"I know you've just gone off-duty but could you do me a favor?"

Being new to the job, only two weeks in to be precise, Night Stick was eager to prove himself and gladly accepted when the doctor explained the situation to him. But just before they left he was pulled aside hurriedly, the doctor whispering to him as Alpha started to walk outside and take in his surroundings. The first thing that he noticed was the air; so rich and full of life. Then there were the sounds; wind in the trees, the birds singing- the sounds of life itself! He quickly became overwhelmed and fell back onto his haunches with a sound of amazement escaping his mouth. But as amazing as he found it, the moment was short-lived when he remembered the task at hand.

Looking back at the two ponies still in the open doorway he called, "Are you coming?"

---

Rarity had been up early that morning, her overflowing enthusiasm driving a level of creativity she had never before achieved. Various design sketches were strewn around the room; draped over furniture and sticking out of every nook and cranny. Everything from shoes to hats to corsets was sketched hastily on the clutters of paper. A particularly complicated design for a stallion's outfit was pinned up on the central workbench and Rarity was cutting out patterns to fit to one of her wooden model ponies. The diamond-plated obsidian shoes were already fitted to the model and every now and then she glanced at them adoringly.

Rainbow Dash crashed through the door in a flurry of wooden bits, hooves and loose design sheets caught up in the commotion. She came to rest, tail-end up in the opposite corner of the room, emitting a sound of pained apology.

Rarity cringed and without turning around and mumbled to herself, "Oh dear, is it that time already? Couldn't you possibly wait another day Dashie darling?"

"Hey! We had a deal!"

"Oh but look at all this wonderful inspiration they've given me," Rarity exclaimed waving a hoof around her shop, "How about an hour longer? Five minutes?" she put on her most endearing grin. By now Rainbow Dash had recovered and stood with a deadpan expression and a hoof out indicating that Rarity should hand over the shoes. Reluctantly she levitated them over to Rainbow Dash who promptly grabbed them with her teeth.

"Well I think I'll at least come along. I'm going to need some measurements for one of my newest creations!"

---

There was a knock at the library door as Spike tip-toed on a ladder trying to get the last of the books back onto the higher shelves. When Twilight Sparkle had arrived earlier she went straight to her room without as much as a word to Spike. There were few things that could keep Twilight away from her studies, even fewer when she had a deadline to meet and Spike had been extremely concerned. When he knocked on her door without getting an answer he had decided she needed to be alone for a while and did his best to finish cleaning up in anticipation of the biggest study-fest they had ever done when she inevitably tried to drown … whatever it was that was bothering her in piles of books.

Another knocked broke Spike out of his thoughts but unfortunately did not break his fall as he crashed to the floor when he lost his balance, the books he had tried so hard to place smacking him in the face. He groaned, not at the potentially painful experience his tough scales had all but negated, but because he knew his clean up job was now still unfinished.

"Coming!" he called, getting up as his new literary helmet slid from his brow. When he opened the door he was doubly surprised; first by the almost fully healed pegasus in front of him, and again by the security pony next to it. "Uh … can I … help you?" he asked unsure what this house call could possibly be about. Had Twilight done something wrong?

"Is Miss Twilight Sparkle home," asked Night Stick in an official tone. Now Spike was really getting worried.

"Uhhhhhhhh," he delayed, betraying a look over his should toward her still shut room door, "She's … busy … right now, is something wrong sir?"

At that point Alpha's impatience started to get to him and he deftly stepped past both Night Stick and Spike into the library. "Twilight? Are you here?" he called as they both stared him, surprised by his audacity and just plain rude behavior.

But before either could protest, "Please go away!" Twilight Sparkle's muffled voice came through the door but the words were clear enough.

"Alright you heard the lady, come-" started Night Stick, walking in past Spike toward Alpha, but stopped when he saw Alpha leap nimbly over to the door where he'd heard the voice coming from, "hey-"

"Twilight please hear me out!" Alpha yelled at the door before putting his ear to it, hoping for a response. After a few moments of silence he continued, "The doctor told me what happened, I don't know what … why …" he began to trip over the words. "That wasn't me, I swear!"

"Who was it then?" came another muffled reply.

"I … I don't …" he was really messing this up and he knew it, but the words in his head were just such a jumbled mess. 'Maybe I should have thought a bit more on what I wanted to say on the way over here' he contemplated to himself. He jumped slightly when he felt a hoof on his shoulder. When he looked behind him Night Stick was looking at him in pity, but made it clear that it was time to go. Alpha defiantly shifted to open the door and managed to push it slightly ajar before he was yanked away.

"That's enough, come on buddy, back to the hospital with you," Night Stick asserted, pulling Alpha along with a firm grip.

"Twilight … I … I'm sorry," he managed to remember the doctor's advice, not putting up much resistance anymore. Words had failed him, or he failed at using them … either way there was nothing more he could think to say at that moment that would not sound completely stupid. He barely understood what had happened between them himself.

'Cursed memory loss! Why couldn't I have broken my legs or something instead … in fact … why did any of this happen in the first place? I must have been pretty bad at … whatever it was I was doing … maybe a fresh start is a good thing … but now I seem to be screwing this up too!' he chastised himself mentally. Just as they had reached the front door again Twilight stepped out from behind her door, her face still streaked with half-dried tears.

"Wait-" she called. All eyes turned to look at her now. Night Stick just catching on to what was really going on and Alpha looking just as withered as he did back in that crater, Spike on the other hand was taken aback by her appearance and after a moment of putting two and two together he turned an angry stare on Alpha.

"Hey! What did you do to her?" Spike demanded angrily his protective instincts kicking in.

"Spike … it's alright. In fact … I should be the one apologizing right now," Twilight began.

"Don't be silly, it was I who-"

"Quiet!" commanded both Spike and Night Stick simultaneously. Alpha tried to make himself as small as possible. Twilight wiped at her face with a hoof, staring at the floor the whole time.

"No I should have remembered what the doctor said about you being sensitive to another pony's touch … and I overreacted … I could have seriously hurt you with my magic- I've never hurt anypony in my life! I just … I panicked and I overreacted and I hope you can forgive me for that and how rude I was just now after you came all the way here to talk about it," she finished now looking up at Alpha who just sat there by the door, dumbstruck.

Night Stick gave him a soft kick in the side, breaking him out of his spellbound trance, at which he quickly got to his feet and walked over to Twilight. "I'm sorry I nearly broke your hoof … and nose … even if I don't remember doing it," Alpha started as both Spike and Night Stick stood gawking behind him, "I would never intentionally hurt the pony that saved my life, that's about the only thing I can say with confidence despite this whole memory loss thing. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you … anything at all- just name it!" She giggled at that.

"You're sweet but … unless you know anything about the nature of magic caught in a cross-stream then I don't think there is anything you can help me with today," she said looking into his eyes with a smile.

"Oh I'm sure I could help out some other way ..." Alpha looked around the library at all the books, "I could help you find books on … whatever that was you sa-"

"Sorry bub, that job is already taken by yours truly," interrupted Spike, thumbing a claw toward himself with a smug grin on his face, "Twilight's number one assistant for life!"

"Well how about cleaning-"

"That's me again."

"What about food-"

"Me."

"Maybe I could get-"

"All me."

"Look Alpha I really appreciate the offer, but Spike is pretty possessive about his job," she smiled at the baby dragon, "And unfortunately too many cooks spoil the broth as the saying goes. Still I'm glad you came by … maybe you could come by tomorrow or something but I really have to finish my paper by this evening," said Twilight.

"Oh … well … okay … see yah," he sighed dejectedly.

"Goodbye Alpha," she said gently, closing the door as they left.

Would he ever be able to repay these kind ponies for all they had done for him? Would he ever be able to repay his growing debt to Twilight Sparkle specifically? These thoughts constantly troubled him as Night Stick escorted him back to the hospital, taking his express orders not to let Alpha Centauri out of his sight very seriously.