A pony wakes up in the Everfree Forest with no recollection on how he got there, or even who he is. But one thing he does know is that he can see lights.
Fluttershy is told by one of her robins that there is a pony who's lost in the Forest; and because it’s getting dark, she decides to help him. Come to find out, he’s lost not only physically, but mentally as well. She has to tread carefully to gain his trust. Especially when she finds out how scared he is that she, Fluttershy, and her friends might hurt him. What will the mane six have to go through to figure out where this mystery stallion came from?
The first thing I remember was the ground. I felt wet from the dew, cold, and I was lying on patches of grass and pine needles, some of which were on me. My body was stiff, but it didn’t hurt… much, it was just uncomfortable. For now, I just stayed where I was. The sound of my breathing as my only companion, along with a few critters as they scurried around me.
It was dark. I opened and closed my eyes a few times to see no difference. I tried to remember how I got here, but my mind was empty. Where I was? Nothing. What I was? Nothing. Who I was? Again, nothing; your guess was as good as mine.
I let out a groan as I began to rise. My mouth felt gunky, I stretched my limbs, back, neck, everything. Then I just stood there, listening. It sounded like I was in a forest, I could hear the leaves rustling on the branches of the tree’s, I could hear a river fifty feet… maybe more? But what stood out the most was a warm feeling on my face. It was coming from one direction, like a campfire? It was low to the ground, and the light breeze was adjacent to the source. There were no sounds of crackling flames, and the warmth was consistent, which meant there was only one thing it could be, the sun. But it was still dark.
Fluttershy turned her head toward the window. There was a bird frantically hitting the glass desperately trying to get her attention. The Pegasus opened the window, and the robin began chirping rapidly. “Mr. Feathers slow down; I can’t understand you when your chirping like that.”
The robin landed on Fluttershy’s hoof and continued chirping. “There’s a pony in the Everfree? They look lost? Oh dear, it’s getting late I should help them before it gets any darker. The Everfree Forest is a lot more dangerous at night. I’ll grab my saddlebag, in case their hurt, then I’ll be right out.” In no time, Fluttershy was all packed and ready. She opened her cottage door and ran towards the forest boundary, “Lead the way Mr. feathers.”
I managed to reach the riverbank safely and was drinking deeply to quench my thirst. I never thought that the sweet taste of liquid running down my throat could feel this good. I stopped drinking once I felt satisfied, panting as water dripped from around my mouth.
The air felt colder, I knew that meant the sun was setting, it would soon be night. Being in a forest alone after dark was never a good sign. I had to keep silent, if I didn’t, I might attract predators. I had to stay alert and… something is coming. I can hear their footfalls on the leaves and branches. They’re getting closer. I laid down as low as I could, maybe whatever it was wouldn’t come this way. Maybe they would see me and leave when they saw I wasn’t a threat. I was scared.
“Hello? Anypony out there?” A voice called out; I wasn’t alone. I was about to call out for them when a paralyzing fear overcame me. A feeling that they might be hostile, that they would want to hurt me. Maybe I should keep quiet, not say anything. It felt like my heart wanted to pound out of my chest.
“Oh, they’re over there? Okay, thanks.” The footsteps became louder; they sounded like hoofs, but there was only one set. Who were they talking to? “Can you hear me?” the voice sounded soft and motherly, but I was still too afraid to say anything, “I know you're lost, but I can help, I’ve been through these… Oh, there you are.” I held still hoping they weren’t talking about me, but the footsteps were coming straight towards my attempted hiding spot.
The yellow Pegasus walked towards the pony that Mr. Feathers led her to, “Um, my name’s Fluttershy, what’s yours?” the young stallion looked like he wanted to melt into the forest floor as he just stayed where he was. “Hey, are you hurt?” She placed a hoof on his shoulder. “I have…” the pony slapped her hoof off of him and scurried away.
“St st stay away! D don’t touch me!” he practically crawled behind the first bush he reached, which somehow took a while.
“Okay, I won’t touch you. But we need to leave before it gets too dark, can you at least tell me your name?” The young stallion only answered with panicked breathing. Fluttershy hovered in the air and flew around the bush. This time she got a better look at him. He looked no older than her age, maybe younger, and what she first mistook as shadows, turned out to be bruising. He seemed malnourished, and it looked like he hadn’t seen sunlight in a long time. His coat was a mess, his mane was unkempt. “Oh my.”
Hearing her voice made him jump back, “wha… where are you? Get back.” his gaze was unfocused and sporadic.
“Don’t be afraid, I’m here to help.” Fluttershy landed close to him, avoiding contact, “First, we need to get out of the Everfree forest. It’s not safe after dark.”
“Ever… free…forest? Is that… where I am?” He asked, sounding confused.
“Yes? Do you know how you got here?”
He spoke in quick bursts with long pauses. “No… No… I… I… I can’t… I don’t…” It sounded like he hadn’t spoken to anyone properly in a long time, and was terrified to do so, “I… There’s nothing… Nothing, no, no memory… Nothing.”
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. You don’t remember anything, not even your name?”
“Nothing.” His breathing began to slow down.
“Look, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help,” Fluttershy was amazed at how scared this mystery stallion was, “Look at me, do I look dangerous?”
“No… Dark… everything’s dark.”
“Everything’s…?” Then it hit her, he was blind, “Oh dear, this just got more complicated,” She said mostly to herself. “You’re going to have to trust me okay?” she said slowly and softly, “I can lead you out of the forest and somewhere safer. Then we can find out where you came from, I have good friends who can help with that. But first, I need you to grab my tail.”
She turned her body away from him and said, “Hold out your hoof, and don’t let go.” The young stallion slowly extended his hoof. As Fluttershy draped her tail over it, she felt him tense up like she was rubbing salt into a wound. “That’s it.” The stallion relaxed slightly once he felt safer, “Now, just follow my led.” With that, they began their walk out of the dangerous forest.
After only a few minutes of weaving through trees, Fluttershy felt the tug from the blind stallion stopping. “Is something wrong?”
The stallion was turning his head in multiple directions, acting like he was about to have a panic attack. “Lights.”
“Lights?” Fluttershy looked around trying to find what he was referring to, but she saw nothing.
“Lights… Bad… Bad lights… Bad lights run… Run!”
“I don’t see any… wait I thought you were…” A rotten smell hit her nose, one she recognized.
“Bad lights… Bad lights…” he repeatedly mumbled over and over, like a broken record.
“Um, so when you say bad lights, you don’t mean…” a low growl came from their right. “Timber Wolfs.”
“Run, bad lights…Bad lights, run.” Two more wooden predators came into view. By now, it was so dark, all that could be seen of them were their silhouettes and glowing green eyes.
“Okay, I see the bad lights now, and yes we need to run.”
“Yes… run… bad lights.” The timber wolfs started to move forward.
“But I’m not going to leave without you,” she put herself under the stallion then lifted him onto her back, he was lighter then she had anticipated “Hang on!” Then she ran with him clinging to her like a wet and frightened kitten, Timber Wolves hot on their trail.
They had to double back the way they came to escape the closure the wolfs had them in. It sounded like there were at least six or more following them through the woods, barking, howling, and snarling at their prey. “STOP!” screamed the young stallion making Fluttershy screech to a halt. At that moment a Timber Wolf landed a few feet in front of the two ponies, right where they would have been if they had continued. “GO!” Fluttershy made a hard right, glad that he was able to see the ‘bad lights’ better than she could.
“Oh no, I lost track of where we are. Gah!” A wolf snapped to the right of her. “Let's just hope we can lose them.” She could feel the stallion shaking as he sobbed and felt his warm tears on her neck.
“We’re going to make it out of this, okay?” she was starting to feel fatigued. As lightweight as he was, the young stallion still weighed her down with the combined weight of the saddlebags Fluttershy was still wearing. It was only a matter of time before she became too exhausted to keep running, “As long as I’m here, I promise that I won’t let any of the bad lights hurt you.”
The stallion started sniffling, “Left.”
“What, they left?” Fluttershy sniffed the air but could still smell Timber Wolf breath.
“Left.”
“You left something behind?”
“Left!” this time he held out a hoof.
“You want me to go left?”
“Go… Left… Go!”
“Okay,” A Timber Wolf’s paw swiped at them grazing the feathers on Fluttershy’s wing “Gah! Left. Going left!”. She began to recognize the trees in this part of the forest. “We’re almost out of the wood’s, it’s just up ahead. I have a friend who lives there, she should be able to help if she’s still up.”
“Alright yawl, let git inside an’ have us a proper supper. Don Know bout the rest of ya, but ahm all tuckered out.” Applejack said as she finished locking the barn up for the night.
“Eyup.” Big Mac said, agreeing with his sister.
“Wait fer me, ahm not gonna miss out on this meal, It’s a Granny Smith special!” Apple Bloom announced with the same amount of excitement as she had all day.
“Applejack!! Help!!” yelled a faint voice in the distance making the Apple siblings look in that direction.
“That sounded like Fluttershy,” Apple bloom stated.
“Sure did. Yawl head inside I’ll go see what up. Leave some food fer me ya hear?”
Big Mac licked his lips, “Eyup.”
Applejack sighed, “Fluttershy, this better be more important than missing out on a Granny Smith special.”
“They're still following us? Usually, they stop at the edge of the forest.” Fluttershy and her passenger were now running through the trees of Sweet Apple Acres with a dozen wolves behind them. The yellow Pegasus was starting to reach the end of her limit, “APPLEJACK!!” a shadow came over Fluttershy blocking the light of the moon, the shadow of a Timber Wolf. “AHHH!!!” the Timber Wolf landed on the ground in pieces.
“Hope yer hungry. Cuz there’s more where that came from!” Applejack bucked the tree she was next to causing more apples to fall, she bucked a few apples into the hoard of Wolfs causing three of them to crumble. It didn’t take long for the Wolves to make up their mind and return to the forest. “That’s right, run! Crawl back to the foul hole you came out of before ah turn yawl ta firewood, ya varmints!”
Once there were no more wolves, Applejack turned her attention to her friend, “Fluttershy, you know better than to be in the forest this late. What were you doing, and who is this.” She said, pointing to the scruffy looking stallion still on the back of the yellow Pegasus.
Fluttershy was panting, slowing getting her strength back, “Well, Mr. Feathers, he’s a robin, told me that there was a pony in the forest that looked lost.” Explained Fluttershy, “I went in there to help him find his way out. But shortly after I found him, the Timber Wolfs attacked.”
“You're lucky that you were at the edge of my orchard,”
“Actually, I got lost during the chase. I didn’t know we were this close to your apple farm, but somehow he did.” She started getting her breath back. Fluttershy looked at the stallion on her back, “How did you know?”
“Smells good.” He said, with his nose in the air. He slipped off her back and made his way towards one of the trees.
“Oh, you could smell the apples.”
“Smells… good,” The stallion was drooling as he tried to reach the fruit on the branches above.
“I know this might sound a bit sudden,” Fluttershy said, looking at Applejack, “But can he stay here? Just for tonight, I don’t know how well he’ll react to my animals.”
“What are you… don’t tell me he ain’t got a place to stay! Fluttershy ah don’t know bout you, but this fella looks like he’s a few apples short of a bushel.” Applejack said gesturing to the Stallion, “Not saying ah don’t want him to, but he’s raisin’ a few red flags fer me.”
“There’s more I need to tell you about him, He doesn’t remember anything, and he’s blind, but for some reason he can....”
“Lights…” he was facing the two mares as he said it, “Lights.”
“Good… Good lights.” He pointed to Applejack then Fluttershy and back. “I see good lights… good… smells so good.” He began trying to reach for an apple once more.
Applejack leered at the stallion, “What do ah look like, a firefly? Ah ain't no insect.” It was at that moment they heard a stomach growling. “You sound hungry.” Applejack said as she grabbed an apple off a branch. “Here,” then she tossed it.
When it hit the stallion, he yelped, “Stop … Help! No! Help! No, no, no, no…” He went into the fettle position and began muttering to himself.
“Ah’m Sorry, it was a force a habit. Ah’m not use ta tossin’ apples at blind ponies.”
“Well he is blind, and as you can see, he’s scared. When I found him, he didn’t even know where he was. You should have seen how he reacted when I first spoke to him! He was behaving like I was about to give him a beating!” Applejack looked at the whimpering Stallion.
“Ah think Ah know what ya mean.” Applejack said, as she looked at the cowering pony and picked another apple. “Ah’m sorry, ah didn’t mean ta scare ya like that, Here hold out yer hoof.” He remained mostly in his balled-up form, but his nose was pointed towards the apple he was sniffing in the farm mares’ hoof. “Go on, eat up.” He slowly moved his hooves to grab the apple. He took one bite before practically shoving the rest down his throat.
“Whoa, Nelly! Chew! We don’t want ya ta choke!” but by the time she finished speaking, the apple was consumed core, seeds, and all. “looks like somepony fergot ta be fed this month.”
“More?” he pleaded.
“Here, here’s some more,” Fluttershy said, handing him four more apples.
The young stallion sniffed them, then his head perked up, “Bad light.”
“They’re back?”
“If ah remember right, you said that ‘bad lights’ meant Timber Wolves?”
“Bad… Big… Bad light big…” The stallion was pointing at the pieces of Timber Wolfs that were starting to come back together, “Big bad light.”
Fluttershy and Applejack stood there watching the growing pile of timber, Applejack spoke first, “Uh, ah think we should…”
“Go inside?”
“Yep.”
“Good idea, you carry him.”
“What! Why?”
“Because I carried him last time and I still haven’t fully recovered. I would lead him with my tail again, but he doesn’t look like he would be fast enough to keep up.” Fluttershy said strongly clarifying her reasons, “Don’t worry he’s not that heavy, and right now this isn’t up for debate, now let him ride you!”
“Alright, alright, Ah’ll carry him. Hop on.” Fluttershy gently led him as quick as she dared onto Applejack’s back. “Woo-wee! When’s the last time you ate? Yer lighter than an empty cider barrel.”
“Applejack!”
“Ah’m runnin, Ah’m runnin.” The two mares ran towards the house, leaving the super-sized Timber Wolf to howl, lose interest, then turn around and head back to the forest.
“Gone… Bad light’s gone… No more bad lights… Good… Smell… Smells so… so good.”
“You must be talkin’ bout the meal Granny Smith whipped up,” Now that they were out of danger, Applejack unloaded the stallion. Fluttershy placed her tail in the stallion hoof to be his guide, “yer in luck, this is a special occasion.”.
“Ooo, a Granny Smith special?” Hearing that made Fluttershy consider to stay a little longer than she originally planned, “I haven’t had one of those in a long time.”
“Yer welcome to a bite… if Big Mac an Apple Bloom haven’t eaten it all already.”
“Hungry… Smells good.”
“Ah’m sure we can find ya something ta eat there’s plenty a food fer guests.”
“Applejack, he still needs a place to stay tonight,” Fluttershy reminded her friend.
“Alright just for tonigh though, then we’ll figure something out tomorrow.” Applejack said in defeat as she opened the door to the farmhouse.
“Ah, come on!” Whined Apple Bloom, “If ya had taken ten more seconds, Big Mac and I would’ve had permission fer seconds. Hey there Fluttershy, who’s yer friend there?”
The two mares looked at each other for an answer, “Um, this is…”
“Good light,” he said, looking at Apple Bloom.
“Nice to meet ya Good Light. Ma names Apple Bloom, This here is Big Mac, Granny Smith, and you probably already know ma sister Applejack.” It was then the little filly noticed the condition of the stallion, “Say, you ain’t lookin’ too good. You alright?”
“Good… Good lights… No bad lights… Good… Safe… Smells good… so ho ho good… hungry.”
Big Mac looked at Applejack in a way that demanded an explanation but didn’t say anything. “What’s he going on about?” Apple bloom asked, “What’s all this talk about lights?”
“Ah believe Fluttershy was just about to tell me a little more about Good Light here, right?” Applejack said, passing the question over to the Pegasus.
“Oh, uh, right. But first let’s all sit at the table, and then I’ll tell you everything that happened.”
“Your light is big.” Good Light said, looking at Big Mac.
“Uh… yep?”
“Uh, because he’s a big pony?” said Apple Bloom skeptically, “That’s why he’s called Big Mac, and Granny Smith is over there.”
Good Light turned his head to the old mare. “Dim…Dim light,” He said, with a hint of sadness behind the words. He lifted a hoof to point, “Your light is dim… But tough.”
“Dim! You ain’t calln’ me stupid are ya!? I’m old, not deaf, and I’m sure as applesauce, ain’t stupid!” The Green mare rose from her spot only to have a loud crunch fill the room, “Gha! Darn hip replacement! Uh, wha was I just sayn’?”
Fluttershy’s, Applejack’s, and Big Mac’s pupils shrank as a grim look fell on their faces when they realized what he probably meant by ‘dim light’.
“Applejack what does he mean by dim light?”
“Ah’ll tell you when yer older.” The orange mare said, not wanting to answer her sisters’ question.
“How much older?”
“When yer older!”
“Ah’m ten seconds older then when ah asked, does that count?”
“Apple Bloom! You’ll know when yer older when yer older!”
“Alright, ah git it. But you’ve bin tellin’ me that fer years now, And ah’m starting to git tired of it. Can ah at least ask why Good Light is acting all strange like?”
Applejack opened her mouth to say no but stopped to think about it. “Later, but fer now why don’t ya set up the couch fer our guest. He’s… gonna be stayin’ here tonigh. Now, how bout we help ourselves to some Granny Smith… Hey, slow down! Yer gonna swallow somethin’ that ain’t food!”
“Little late fer that sis,” Apple Bloom said before pointing at Good Light, “looks like he already swallowed Granny’s favorite mixn’ spoon.” The ponies watched Good Light coughing as he choked down the wooden utensil, beating his chest with his hoof, then resumed eating like a wild beast as if it never transpired.
“Wha was that bout me dyin’ soon? Ain’t gonna happen ah tell ya!... Ain’t… Gonna… Happen.”
“It hurts…” Good Light said, hunched over on the couch.
“Not surprised, that’s what ya git when ya eat the way you were… And when ya swallow a mixin’ spoon.” Applejack said draping a blanket over the stallion. “I’m still tryin’ ta figure out how you ate more than all of us combined. You ate the rest of our meal, our leftovers, and our back up leftovers. I was just about ta have Big Mac stand guard at the barn to protect taday’s harvest.”
“ugh…” was his only response.
“Don’t you worry none. Nothin’ a little sleep won’t fix.” Applejack said at the door of the living room, “Hehe I was about ta ask if ya wanted the light on, but I guess it makes no difference to ya.” Applejack turned out the light, then left the room. “Sleep well.”
Applejack entered her sister’s room to see Applebloom sitting up on her bed. “somthin’ bothern’ you sugar cube?”
“Na, ah’m just thinkn’ bout Good Light.” Apple Bloom said, remembering what Fluttershy told them. “Ah feel kinda bad fer him. Mostly fer being in the situation he’s in. No memory, or sight. Ah can only imagine how he’s feeling right now.”
“Right now, ah think he’s feeln’ like he shouldn’t have eaten so much. Now, bedtime means bedtime, go to sleep.”
“Okay, ah’ll try ta figure out what his cutie mark means tamorrow with the crusaders. Maybe that’ll help us find out where he came from.”
There were lights everywhere. Big lights, small lights, bright, dim, fun, bold, adventurous, and many others of all kinds. There wasn’t a place to look that didn’t have a light dancing around in one way or another. Well, except there. It seemed like something should have been there. Like something was there, but there was no light, or there. Or there. Or… there was a light there, but it disappeared, that one too, and that one. As more lights began to disappear, the more unsafe I felt. I had to run. I don’t know why or where, but I knew that I needed to.
Why did I need to run? There was nothing there. But I felt like something that should be casting light wasn’t, was that what I was afraid of? No, this was something else. These lightless things were eating the lights around me, and there weren’t very many lights left. Pretty soon, I would be alone with whatever monster I was trying to run from, and I didn’t want that. I started to panic, scream. There were only a few light’s remaining I had to warn them. I was too late, there was nothing, and I knew I was next.
My hooves fell into this oozy pit, they didn’t cooperate, and I kept tripping on obstacles. I screamed louder. Then It grabbed me. They grabbed me, hundreds of lightless being trying to consume everything I was.
I fought back with everything I had, screaming. And then I heard a voice, “HOLD STILL!!!”
Help me, please!! I wanted to say, but I couldn’t form the words as I was being attacked, I just screamed and fought with all the strength I could muster.
“GOOD LIGHT WAKE UP, YOU’RE ALRIGHT!!! IT’S JUST A NIGHTMARE!!!”
Yeah!! Tell me something I don’t know!… Wait that’s Applejack’s voice, she sounds close.
“CALM DOWN! Oof!” Good Light smashed Applejack between him and the hearth. “Ahm tryn’ ta help ya!! Gah!” Good Light smacked Applejack on the side of her head. She lifted the stallion off the floor, body-slamming him as she got a better grip, pinning him to the ground. “Take deep breathes, Okay! Ah need ya ta take deep breathes!”
Good Light was saturated with sweat, trembling, and she could feel his heart beating through the floorboards. At least he was no longer screaming or trying to shove her through the wall. “That’s it, just breathe, okay? Breathe… Good.” His shaky breaths were slowing down, and Applejack started to talk in the most calming voice she could pull off. “You’re alright… It’s okay… It was just a bad dream… Nothing’s gonna hurt you… Deep breaths… good... Ah’m gonna let ya go now okay?”
“Lights…” The word escaped his throat, sounding like a creaky floorboard as he choked back tears, “I can… see… lights.” Then he started bawling.
“Hey, hey, don’t cry. It’s alright.” She wrapped her hooves around him. “Now, would ya like to talk about it?”
Good Light coughed out every word that tumbled out of his mouth “I… gasp… I…sniff… I… sm… mel… ell blood… gasp… I smell blood.”
“Don’t you worry about that, it’ll be taken’ care of.”
“Mine?” Good Light croaked
“Nope.” Big Mac said, rubbing his jaw.
“Quiet!” Applejack snapped at her brother, “Now git some ice on that eye of yours and let me handle this.”
“AJ what bout you?” Apple bloom said, sitting at the bottom of the stairs, “Yer bleedin’ bad.”
“Go back to yer room!” Applejack said sternly. “Ah’ve had worse, ah can deal with this, no problem. Wait, on second thought, why don’t ya get some warm water and towels ready in the bathroom fer me.”
Good Light put his hooves to his head as he continued to blubber, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I didn’t…di..dn’t me… ean to… I didn’t… I… gasp… It was so… oh real… I… I couldn’t… they were… were everywhere.”
Applejack reverted back into her calm voice, “Now, now the bad lights can’t get ya. I won’t let them.”
“N… No… sniff… not bad lights…sniff… worse.” Good Light was beginning to sound more like himself, but his trembling voice still cracked with every word.
“Worse? What’s worse than bad lights?” Applejack wondered.
“Nothing… Nothing lights… s… something, but nothing… no lights… n… nothing lights.”
“Nothing lights?” asked Applejack, making sure she heard right.
“Yes.” Good light answered.
“Something… was there? But, there was no light?”
“Yes… Yes… nothing lights.”
“Uh hu, ah promise these uh, nothing lights, won’t hurt you okay.” Said Applejack, trying to sound reassuring.
“No… not here…” Good Light waved his hoof around indicating the room he was in, then pointed to his head. “In here.”
“In yer head… the nothing lights are in yer head?”
“Yes… No… No… Yes… No.”
“It’s either yes or no, it can’t be both. Are they in yer head or not?”
“Yes, but no… Yes, they’re in here…” He said, pointing to his head again, “but no, they’re… They’re real...” He said, waving his hoof again. “They’re real.”
“So, what yer saying is that ya know they’re not here, except in yer head, but they are real? These nothing lights?”
“Yes… Yes!”
“Okay,” Applejack said then yawned, “how bout ah sleep next to ya, will that make ya feel better?”
“Please… Please… I need a light… Any light… A good light… Close… I need it close.”
“Okay, okay, first ah have ta wash up, then I’ll be right back. Big Mac! Ah want ya ta stay next ta Good Light until ah return. I need ta put on some bandages.”
“Eyup.” The red stallion said, walking in with a bag of ice over his eye.
Applejack hissed through her teeth as the cotton ball soaked in alcohol touched the opened wound. “Sorry.” Apple Bloom said apologetically.
“Don’t be, it’s fine. Just help me wrap it shut so the bleedn’ can stop. Then go to bed, no but’s, no nothing. Bed. Understand?”
“Yeah.” Apple Bloom mumbled, not in the mood to argue. She pulled out the bandage wraps and gauze and started to wrap Applejack’s foreleg and head.
“Good. You need to help Big Mac with apple buckin’ tomorrow. I’ll clean up the mess in our livin’ room in the mornin.”
“Okay,” Apple Bloom responded, now finished with applying the first aid. She went back to her room and shut the door, while Applejack went back downstairs.
“Big Mac, help me put this couch back.” The two siblings flipped the sofa over and slide it back to its proper place. “Thanks, Big Mac, go git some rest, now… Good Light? What are ya doing?” Big Mac just shrugged and excused himself, returning to his bed.
Good Light was curled up on the floor under the coco table with no pillow or blanket. He didn’t answer or look like he wanted to talk. “Okay if you don’t want the couch, I’ll take it.” Applejack waited for him to respond, but it was in vain. “Alright then, looks like ah git the couch…” she jumped on making the springs creak for Good Light to hear, “The soft comfortable… yawn… springy...” Applejack was out like a light.
Applejack woke with a start. It was still dark outside, and she couldn’t remember how she ended up downstairs on the sofa until she saw the bandages on her leg. The farm mare looked where she saw Good Light taking refuge before she passed out, but he wasn’t there.
Applejack rolled off the couch and yawned defiantly, refusing to go back to the comfort of the warm couch cushion. Her mind was set on making sure Good Light didn’t cause any more trouble if it was the last thing she did.
When the farm mare walked into the kitchen, she saw her sister eating breakfast. “Morning sis, sleep okay?” Apple Bloom said to her sister.
“Not really,” The exhausted mare half waddled to the fridge and opened the door, “Ah had a dream that Good Light was a triplet, his brother was called Cuckoo Bonkers, and the other one was Pinky Pie. Ask me how that went.”
“You’re making it sound like ah shouldn’t.”
“Please… don’t,” the orange farm mare shuttered from the unpleasant recollection as she closed the fridge. “Speaking of Good Light, where is he?” Applejack preceded to drown herself in apple cider.
“On the roof, I think.” Apple Bloom said like it was no big deal, but Applejack sprayed her drink like it was sewer water when she heard her say that.
“HE’S WHAT!! What… what makes you so sure!” Applejack asked, not wanting to believe her sister's words.
“Well, Granny said she couldn’t find her mixn’ spoon ‘fer some reason’ so she went to buy another one, Granny also said she needed ta restock our food supply, so she’s just left to get to the shops early. And Big Mac’s out unlockn’ the barn. So, when I heard hoof steps on the roof I…”
Applejack didn’t wait for her sister to finish as she stampeded up the stairs to get to a roof accessible window. The window she found was already open, most likely by Good Light. Her head poked out as she scanned the rooftop. She saw him lying on his back with his hoofs behind his head. But he had shifted his head to look at her.
“Don’t move Good Light!” She said slowly with a raised voice, as she climbed out the window, “Ah’m gonna git ya down, okay? Just stay where you are, it ain’t safe fer you up here. You can trust me. I’m good light.”
Hearing Applejack talking the way she was, earned her a scowl from the stallion. “No, you’re Applejack. The temporary name your sister Apple Bloom gave me, is Good Light. I’m not stupid. And a good morning to you too by the way.”
Applejack nearly lost her hoofing when she heard him talking in full sentences. “H… Ho… how?” she said gawking.
Good Light stood up on his hind legs, “Extra! Extra! The pony who lost his marbles speaks like a commoner!” He declared like a town crier announcing the front-page headline of the decade. “Yeah, I understand how my first impression to you made me look like I had a mental disability, but no, I don’t. I came up here for a quiet place to think, and to help clear my head so I could at least string my words together.” He sat back down on the shingles. “Before you ask, yes I am blind despite seeing these… ‘lights.’ And no, I don’t know how I got to where your Pegasus friend, Fluttershy I think her name was, found me or anything before that.”
Applejack’s voice got serious. “Last night, when we meet…”
“Was nothing more than the rabbling of a pony who was lost, confused, hungry, and… and scared.” Good Light said the last words with a quivering breath. He turned away from Applejack sighing and hugged his back legs to his chest as he laid down. “Really… really scared.” It sounded like he was on the verge of tears again as he said those words.
Applejack didn’t know what to say, for more than one reason, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to at least try, “Uh… ya mind if ah sit next to ya?”
“No.” the stallion muttered at a barely audible volume. He heard the orange mare climbed the rest of the way onto the roof. “I said no. I don’t want to talk right now, and I don’t trust you or anyone else for that matter.”
“Now why wouldn’t you trust me, after all that happened…”
Good lights lifted his head and gazed daggers as Applejack, “Oh, I’m not mad at you or anything, but I have a whole list of reasons why I shouldn’t trust you.” He stood up and faced the farm mare like the adversary he saw her as, “First of all, you could be lying to me. It’s the easiest thing anypony could do to somepony who can’t even remember their own name. Second I’m clearly not from here. This place doesn’t sound like a city, so I’m guessing, small town, not very many residences, everypony knows everypony. If I were from around here, then you would at least have some idea of who I am, but you don’t.”
Applejack did not believe her ears. This pony was accusing her of being a liar of all things, and she was not going to let him get away with it. “Now wait just a minute…”
“No, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I ended up here, and I’m just getting started. I suspect that not very many ponies are blind like me, so that means I would be easily identifiable. But maybe you do know my name, and you’re not telling me for whatever reason, how would I know the difference? Third I was not very far from your apple farm. One possibility was that I was trying to escape from you but failed and now I’m back at square one. Number four, I realized you’re protective when it comes to family, so maybe this one will make more sense if I say it like this. What if it wasn’t me this was happening to but your brother, or better yet Granny Smith, and I was the one who did it. What would you do if you had the opportunity to spend five minutes alone with me? And how do I know you wouldn’t do it anyway regardless of what I did… do… have done?”
Applejack’s brain flat-lined when she heard him say what he did. “Don’t… even… joke! About something like that! I would never, in a million moons, treat any pony, creature, or anything like the way you look like you’ve bin treated.”
Good Light gave her an accusing stare, “Do I look like a joke to you? You’d be surprised how fast somepony can change overnight. Some… thing did this! to me. As far as I’m aware; whatever, or whoever, it was is still out there, and Apple Bloom could easily be their next victim. That concludes my list as to why I won’t trust you. Until the thing responsible is found and given what it deserves, whether it is you or not. In the meantime, I will have trust issues with just about everyone I come into contact with.”
“Yeah, well, FINE! Be that way!” Applejack stormed back to the window she climbed through.
“I’m not mad at you! I just want to be alone right now…” Good Light slumped back down and buried his face into his forelegs. He felt tears burning his eyes, but they weren’t falling.
Applejack entered the attic grumbling to herself, “Ah don’t believe… How could somepony be so…” She slammed the window shut, “Who does he think he is, talking bout my family like that! Why ah oughta…” she bucked the wall leaving a hole, dust falling into Apple Bloom’s red hair as she stood stock-still.
“Uh…hehe, Hey sis…” she said with a nervous chuckle
“Apple Bloom?” Applejack said in disbelief, “What are you doing up here? Ah didn’t see ya, ah coulda…” The orange mare didn’t want to finish what she was about to say.
“Ah heard Good Light say something about losing his marbles, so ah figured ah’d give him some of mine, since ah’m not using them anyway.” Apple Bloom held up a small bag of marbles in her mouth. “Ah thought it would at least help him feel a little better.”
“That’s mighty kind of ya sugar cube, but he ain’t referrin’ to them kinda marbles.” Applejack said, concerned about what could happen if the marbles reached the blind pony on the roof.
Apple bloom looked at the small bag, “Well then what did… Oh, those kinda marbles.”
“Hold on, where did ya hear that term!?”
“On one of our school trips, we passed the hospital and ah heard Dimond Tiara say somethin’ like that. Although it didn’t sound too friendly when she said it.” Apple Bloom answered.
“Because it ain’t,” Applejack said, “So don’t be saying things like that again, ya hear?”
“Alright, but ah still wanna give him my marbles. Ah reckon he’s havin’ a rough time and like ah said, ah wanna help.” Apple Bloom almost pleaded.
“Okay, but maybe when he’s not on the roof,” Applejack said, then she had an idea, “If ya really wanna help, I remember you saying that you wanted to figure out what he’s cutie mark meant.”
The yellow filly beamed when she heard that. “That’s right, his cutie mark! I’m going to look at it right now.” Apple boom darted to the window, but Applejack stepped on her tail to stop the overly excited filly.
“Hold your horses. There’s somethin’ about Good Light Ah need ta tell ya.” Then Applejack preceded to fill Apple Bloom in on the conversation she had with Good Light and to be careful. Once the filly climbed out, the window, Applejack looked at the hole she made once more. “Ah guess he did have some point, but ah intend ta prove him wrong. Ah’m somepony he can trust.”
Good Light heard the distinctive sound of hooves, he didn’t need to look at their light to know that they belonged to Apple Bloom. “AJ told me bout ya having trust issues,” She said, but Good Light didn’t respond. “Mind if ah sit next to ya?”
“It’s your house,” the stallion muttered with his face still buried in his for hooves, smothering his words, “And I’m just somepony who doesn’t even belong here.” It was clear he didn’t want to talk, but Apple Bloom was determined to make sure he felt welcome. She sat next to him and looked out on the horizon the purple glow of dusk slowing turning golden.
“If yer scared because of the dream ya had last night,” Apple Bloom said as reassuringly as she could, “My sis would always tell me ‘That’s all it was, a dream, nuttin’ else.’” Good Light shifted his gaze to look at her, then, the little filly had an idea. “Hey, maybe we could ask—”
“Sad light.”
The filly gave him a quizzical look, “Pardon?”
“Your light is sad. Why?”
“Ah don’t know what you’re talking bout.” Apple bloom huffed as she turned away. She glanced back at Good Light, who seemed to be staring right through her, and her white lie. She gave a sigh of defeat, “AJ, Big Mac and I lost our parents. Ah was too young ta remember what they were like, I do remember having nightmares though. Applejack would come into my room, or ah would go to hers, she’d tell me things that would help calm me down, then if they were really bad, spend the night with me so I felt safe. Granny would also try ta help, but I remember AJ the most. They never got as bad as what I saw last night with you though. But ah know somepony who can help, Princess Luna. She’s an expert on that sorta stuff.”
Good Light buried his face into his hooves again. “By all means, I’m all for any suggestions. Not like I can do anything about it.” The stallion’s negative attitude didn’t look like it was going to be changing. Apple Bloom then recalled why she wanted to talk to Good light, “Say, can ah look at yer cutie mark?”
Good Light head snapped up to face the filly, “What, why?”
“Ah think it can help find out where you came from.” Apple Bloom answered, “My friends and ah started a group called the Cutie Mark Crusaders. We help others with finding their special talent.” She tried to look at his cutie mark, but like the rest of him, it was still caked with dirt. “If ah can figure out what yer talent is, that’ll narrow down where we need ta look ta find yer past.” She went around him to find the same problem on the other side, “But I’ll need ta brush some dirt off of it first.”
Good light wordlessly stood up and allowed the filly to do what she needed to “Wow, this cutie mark looks really unique.”
“What?” Good Light said, confused by what she was saying.
Apple Bloom brimmed with excitement at the opportunity to talk about her favorite topic. “Well, most ponies have a cutie mark that looks simple and straight forward. For example, a rose, an hourglass, bubbles. My sister has three apples, and my brother has a big one cut in halve. But then there are more specific lookin’ ones like a pair a skis, fossil bones, I knew a pony who was good at dancin’ and his was a top hat in a spotlight.” The filly sat down and tapped her chin with her hoof. “My cutie mark along with my friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell are shield insignias with different emblems, meaning we’re meant to be together—”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t need a history lecturer about a tattoo on my rump,” Good Light said interrupting the filly sounding slightly agitated, “just get to the point, tell me what you see, and what you think it means.”
“Well there’s a mask, the kind that only covers the top part of yer face, but the eyeholes look like spotlights shinin’ down on a pedestal with a pony in a cape standing on it. Like ah said, really unique and detailed.” Said Apple Bloom finishing the description “Probably some kinda show business or something, Ah’m not sure. But trust me, ah’ll do what ah can ta figure it out.”
That word again, trust. Good Light didn’t know why, but for some reason, at that moment he felt like he had had it. The stallion’s head swung wide as he looked towards Apple Bloom, “Again with the trust? Yes, I’m having a little difficulty believing others at the moment, so how about we do a little trust exercise to fix that.” The stallion stood on his back legs, holding his front hooves outward for balance. “Tell me, what is directly below us between here and the ground?” He began walking down the peak of the roof starting from the back of the house, going towards the spire with the weather vain. The entire time Apple Bloom was trying to contemplate what he was doing.
“Uh… nothing?” Apple Bloom almost couldn’t watch, concerned that he was going to lose his hoofing, but he never did.
“Nothing? No… No wires, or poles, or spiky fences, or anything like that? Just the ground and nothing in between?” Good Light turned around when he reached the spire and faced the filly at the end of the roof.
“Uh… No?” The yellow filly began to rapidly glance between the ground below and the stallion that looked ready to run. Her heart started racing, now realizing what he was about to do. “Wait! Don’t tell me yer—!”
Applejack was on the ground floor when she heard the pounding of hoof steps going across the roof. About mid-way, the rhythm changed. In the corner of her eye, she saw a form falling past the window. The orange mare rushed to the window, threw it open, and stuck her head out, seeing Good Light on the ground. Applejack turned her head skyward and saw Apple Bloom staring down at her in bewilderment. “What happened?! Ah told you to not ta give him marbles while he’s up there!”
Suddenly there was laughter, “Wow, right now it looks to me that you don’t even trust your own sister,” Good Light staggered up from the ground still chuckling as he rubbed the new sore areas on his body. “That was so much fun. Believe me, I’m fine, my legs just bucked when I landed. We were only doing a trust exercise,” he looked back up at the filly on the roof. “I asked her what was down here before I jumped, just like Jungle Gym taught me. Now I trust her a little bit more.”
“That still don’t make it right ta…” Applejack paused when she realized something about what he said, “Who’s Jungle Gym? Ah don’t know anypony by that name.”
Good Light stopped giggling, “Jungle Gym…” he repeatedly said, stretching out the word in different ways. Then he grunted frustrated in his failure to remember. “It was right there but… Gah! Maybe if I jump off the roof again, I could—”
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!!” Applejack bellowed, “Ya coulda been hurt more than ya already are, or worse.”
Good Light gave her a menacing stare, “And what would I have to lose if that did happen?”
“AJ, it looked like he knew what he was doin’, it was actually pretty cool lookin’.” Apple Bloom counteracted.
Applejack gave a snort, climbed out the window, and walked over to Good Light. Good Light could see her light was enraged. She deeply inhaled before speaking, “Ya might think ya got nothing ta lose, but if Fluttershy found out you got hurt, or worse, then I could lose more then just one friend, her and you.” Hearing the farm mare calling Good Light a friend through the stallion for a loop. “Now ah don’t know who did what to ya, but if and when ah find out, they will regret ever crossing me.” Applejack held her gaze with Good Light, “How about we put our differences behind us and turn over a new leaf. Ah made a promise ta Fluttershy ta keep an eye on you, now ah’ll make a promise ta help you find out who did this. You have my word, deal?” she spat in her hoof, mostly out of her habit with Rainbow Dash, and held it out. She then wondered how the blind stallion would react to the gesture. Good Light, remaining skeptical, had a sorrowful look on his face. He knew she wasn’t lying, her light said so.
“Ah can help too!” Apple Bloom called out, “And ah think ah might know what yer special talent is! But first ah need ta get somepony ta make sure ah’m right, ah’ll be right back.” Apple Bloom climbed off the roof and into the house.
Good Light gave a sigh, “Alright, I’ll put my trust in you. But until they are caught, you along with everypony else I’ve meet so far will still be on the list, just not as high. However, there is one exception.” Out of nowhere, there was a growl of a stomach loud enough to be heard by Apple Bloom who was rushing out the front door. “What he said.”
Applejack stood gaping in disbelief, “Ya got a be kiddin’ me!”
Another grumble was heard but not as loud as the first one, “he disagrees.” After yet another grumble, Good Light continued, “And would like something that isn’t apple-related—” his stomach interrupted, “as apple-related as last night.” To the mares surprise Good Light spat into his hoof and held out. She took it, and they shook in agreement.
Good Light leaned to his right, eyes fixed behind Applejack, “What is it?”
“Looks like Fluttershy’s bringing a few… five? Six! She’s bringing six friends this way.” Good Light’s face scrunched in thought, “There’s a pegasus, a unicorn, earth pony… a dragon and I almost overlooked Fluttershy’s animal.”
“You can see them from here?” AJ looked at the house, amazed to know he could see their lights through objects, but then she did the math, “That’s only five. Didn’t you say there were six?”
“Their light keeps changing.” Good Light’s eye’s fixated on the fluctuation of the light, “It’s a mix of Pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony? Mostly unicorn though.”
“That must be Twilight, she’s an alicorn.”
Good Lights ears perked up, “An alicorn? She’s a princess!?” he gave himself a quick sniff, “I think I’m going to rinse off real quick while you prepare breakfast. Can you lead me to the tub?”
Fluttershy didn’t get much sleep, she had tried for hours, but Good Light’s predicament plagued her mind throughout the long hours of the night. She eventually gave up and decided to begin her morning routine a few hours early. Except this time, she started with a letter to her friend:
Twilight,
I’m writing to you at this time because I need to ask you a favor. Last night I helped a pony in the Everfree Forest find his way out. But unfortunately, he has lost his memories and does not know who he is or where he’s from.
Another crucial thing to mention is that he is blind and looks as though he had suffered from severe physical abuse. I need you to send letters to the girls asking them for their help, as well as Princess Celestia. The actions used on the pony that Applejack and I nicknamed Good Light, for reasons I will explain later, are undoubtedly considered criminal acts and whoever is responsible needs to be brought to justice for what they did. When I go into town, I will meet you at the fountain, and once everypony is present, we’ll go to Sweet Apple Acres where he is currently staying.
By the time she finished writing her letter, there was an overflowing pile of discarded rough drafts in the garbage can and scattered across the table and floor. She wanted to say as much as she could, but the words never came out the way she wanted them to and her lack of sleep only made thinking more difficult. She gave the letter to a grumpily awoken rabbit to deliver to Twilight as she tended to the rest of her animals.
Twilight’s pacing had begun to leave a noticeable ring around the fountain, and the nervous expression on her face was so tense it was threating to be her new permanent look. “Twilight! You need to chill-lax. You’re giving me cramps just watching you.” Rainbow said worriedly.
“I’m sure Fluttershy just went a little overboard with a description on a minor problem.” Said Spike trying to be as reassuring as he could.
Twilight gave a look like she had been told ‘you misspelled your name.’ She then pulled out the letter that Angel had tied to a rock and thrown through her bedroom window, which was fixed with a simple repair spell. “Allow me to reiterate Fluttershy’s exact words. ‘The actions used on the pony that Applejack and I nicknamed Good Light, for reasons I will explain later, are undoubtedly considered criminal acts and whoever is responsible needs to be brought to justice.’ End Quote.” Twilight tucked the letter away then continued, “It’s not like her to be that harsh with… well anything, I just wish I knew more about what she meant by that.”
“Why don’t we ask her?” Pinkie stated, “She’s right over there.” She pointed at the yellow pegasus that was trudging in their direction. Out of nowhere, the ringing of an alarm sounded as her mane started buzzing uncontrollably, “Oh! That my cake timer gotta go. Be right back.” The pink earth pony zipped off to Sugar Cube Corner
“Oh dear, Fluttershy you look absolutely dreadful!” Rarity said, seeing the current state of her friend. “did you get enough sleep?”
“Sorry, I can’t talk right now,” Fluttershy was interrupted by a yawn, “I need to meet my friends at the water fountain.”
“Uh, first of all… we are your friends, and this is the fountain.” Rainbow corrected, “Second, judging by the bags under your eyes, the zombie-walk, and your brain's sluggish reaction time to realize that, I would have to say you pulled an all-nighter.” When the cyan pegasus saw her friends giving her a questioning look, she continued, “What? I’ve done it enough times to know what it looks and feels like.”
“Hm? Oh, sorry Rainbow, uh yeah I didn’t sleep at all last night,” Fluttershy’s head drooped as she gave a sigh, “I just couldn’t sleep, not after what happened last night.” She ended with another yawn.
Rarity pulled out a teapot and poured some into a cup, “Here, drink this, it’s helped me stay up when I’m working on big orders.”
Fluttershy took the cup and downed it in one swallow. “Thank you, Rarity. Wow, I can already feel it working.” She said, holding out the cup for another drink.
Twilight then spoke her concerns, “Fluttershy, can you tell me what’s going on? That letter you sent to me didn’t sound like you at all.”
“Oh that? Sorry if I worried you, but that’s what kept me up.” Fluttershy explained, “After hours of it stewing in my head all night long I became more and more angry. Now just thinking about it makes me so peevishly distraught, I just can’t believe that such a monster could exist.”
Twilight and Rarity was taken aback while Rainbow Dash whistled, “Dang girl, you didn’t hesitate to say those words! Whatever happened to that pony, must’ve been bad.”
Fluttershy mulled over the words she spoke and squeaked covering her mouth. The sound of a wagon was heard as Pinkie Pie came around the corner with a massive triple-decker cake. “Sorry, I could have had this done sooner if it wasn’t such short notice.” Pinkie said, bouncing towards her friends. “No biggie though, I got it frosted just in time, hope he likes it. You girls ready to head out?” Fluttershy nervously nodded her head, and the group set off to Applejack’s.
As the mares walked through the trees of Sweet Apple Acers, Fluttershy filled them in on the events of the night before. When she was nearing the end of her story, they saw Apple Bloom galloping down the road towards town. When the filly saw Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, Twilight, and Pinkie, who was carrying a large cake in a wagon up ahead, she skidded to a halt causing Pinkie to jump in front of the cake hoofs in the air, “Careful illustrators! Your drawn sound effects almost ruined my Super-secret-special-occasion-get-well-soon-hope-you-get-you-memories-back-welcome-to-Ponyville cake.” A brief moment of silence followed.
Apple Bloom had stopped moving forward, but she jogged in place, “Hey girls, hey Spike. You, comin’ over ta see Good Light?”
“Yeah, we’re coming over to say hi to the stray Fluttershy found last night.” Rainbow snickered earning her a stare from Fluttershy.
“Rainbow Dash! He is a pony, not an animal!” Fluttershy said, staring her friend down. “And he’s lost and scared and confused. That’s why we are going to help him find out who he is and where he came from!”
“Okay geez, I admit that was a bad joke. But to be fair you do bring in a lot of stray animals,” Rainbow said in her defense, “I was just trying to… not… keep talking…”
Fluttershy looked back at Apple Bloom who was still trotting in place, “You look like you’re in a hurry, how’s he doing, is everything okay?”
“Well, he’s doing fine but…” Apple Bloom stopped moving her legs, “Last night, he had a nightmare. Real bad one too.”
“Oh dear, what happened?” Fluttershy said in shock and concern, wondering what Luna was doing at the time.
“It all happened so fast.” Apple Bloom said with the memories replaying in her mind. “Let’s see… First, he was screaming. By the time I got downstairs, he was winning a fight against the couch.” She said as she reenacted what she saw, “Which he then threw at Big Mac when he tried ta hold him still. After that, AJ went in ta try and calm him down. She did, but got pretty banged up in the process.”
“Wait, how bad is it? Is that the reason you’re in a hurry!?” Fluttershy said now with great worry.
“No no, she’s fine, that’s already been taken’ care of. Ah’m actually going ta see Starlight ta ask her somthin’.” Apple Bloom said reassuringly, “Ah think ah know what his cutie mark represents but ah need ta ask somepony their opinion and she’ll know where they are. If ah’m righ’ then that might narrow down where ta look ta find out where Good Light came from. Is she at the school Twilight?”
Twilight rubbed her chin thoughtfully and said, “If I remember correctly, she is scheduled to work today at—”
“Alright Thanks,” Apple Bloom interrupted then took off in a puff of dirt.
“Wait, we still have… never mind, right now I’m more worried about Applejack.” Twilight said, everyone agreed and quickened their pace.
“Applejack!” Twilight forcefully knocked on the farmhouse door without actually pounding, “Apple Bloom told us you got hurt, Are you okay?” The alicorn knocked again as the door was pulled open.
The orange mare stood in the doorway greeted by gasps when her friends on the other side saw her bandages. “It ain’t as bad as it look’s,” She said not wanting to discuss the matter, “I was just caught off guard with how strong Fluttershy’s colt friend really was. In fact, ah think it’s safe ta take em off.” She then preceded to remove the bandages revealing the scabby sores of the flesh wounds she sustained hours earlier.
Fluttershy blushed when she heard Applejack say that, “Um… speaking of Good Light—”
“Yeah, about that… you’ll need to sit down for this one.” The farm mare ushered them into the kitchen upon which they saw towering stacks of pancakes, but what was more noticeable was the intoxicating aroma filling the room. Applejack had a pot simmering on the stove full of syrup, not just any syrup but buttery apple cider cinnamon syrup.
Rainbow was the first to speak, “Uh, you weren’t expecting us were you?”
“Good Light told me yall were headed this way, and he asked—” Applejack paused in thought, “Well actually, his stomach did all the talkin’, but anyway he asked me ta make breakfast and ah figured since you were comin’ over ah’d make a little extra.” She flipped a pancake and stirred the syrup pot and poured more mix onto another pan.
“He’s still hungry?!” Fluttershy said with shock, “Well, not to say I’m surprised, but that is surprising considering how much he ate last night.”
Applejack scoffed when she heard that, “You can say that again, Pinkie ah think you’ve met your match.”
Pinkie smirked at that remark, “Challenge…” she slapped her hoof on the edge of a plate causing the pancake tower to go airborne only to disappear in one gulp “…Excepted,” the empty plate made a perfect landing next to the fresh batch on the stove.
Once the six mares and dragon were seated at the table, and Angel had his bowl of carrots, Applejack told them everything that happened starting from when Fluttershy left. She told them about the nightmare Good Light had with the nothing lights, the conversation the two had on the roof, and that he was willing to work with them to find his past, despite having an issue trusting others.
“So where is he now?” Twilight asked out of curiosity.
“Okay, just so I know I heard you right,” Rainbow interrupted, “You said he jumped? A blind pony, jumped, off of the roof?” no matter how many times she repeated that in her mind, it sounded more epic each time she did.
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity exclaimed, “Is that honestly, the only thing you can think of, and nothing else?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Rainbow counteracted with a voice filled with excitement, “I can’t wait to meet somepony crazier than I am! Yeah, I admit it was a little dangerous for him to do that, but you said that he said he knew what he was doing right?”
“Back to my question,” Twilight said over the tangent conversation, “where is he right now?”
“When ah told him you were an alicorn, he realized that meant you were a princess,” Applejack explained, “he wanted ta make himself more presentable, so he’s washing himself off in the tub.”
“Remind me again, was he the one with the stripy hat, red bowtie, and ventriloquist dummy or did he have the pet polka dot elephant that wore a magic beanie,” Pinkie interjected, “I’m still getting those two mixed up.” Everyone in the room stared at her like she grew a second head again.
“Pinkie,” Applejack said, trying yet failing to hide her agitation, “I don’t know why, and I don’t care how.” She stood up, walked over, and looked down at her pink friend. “But if you say one more word about that, I will never sell you another drop of apple cider for as long as I live… ever!” It was at that moment, a door upstairs opened and closed, followed by hoof steps coming down the stairs.
“I hope he doesn’t get all formal with me,” Twilight said unenthusiastically, expecting the opposite to happen. In which it did.
Good Light walked into the room and bowed, showing his respects to the princess of friendship. “Your majesty. I, a lowly commoner, am humbled to have one such as yourself aid me in my time of need.” He was answered with dead silence. Despite the foreboding stillness, when he saw their light’s, he knew something was wrong. “Is something the matter? I didn’t offend you did I? If so please accept my deepest apologies.” What the group saw was appalling, they wanted to gasp or cry out in horror, but the stallion’s appearance left them speechless. Good Light had washed most of the dirt and grime out of his once chocolate brown fir and not-as-tangled blond mane. In doing so, the dark bruises, in all their glory, were now in full view and much more vibrant than before. There were also bald patches in his coat exposing scar tissue, freshly opened sores, as well as vertical cracking on one of his hoofs.
“Spike…” Twilight said, struggling to not stumble over her next words, “Write another letter… dear Celestia.”
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy sat with Good Light in the waiting room of the Ponyville Hospital ER. Rarity was at the spa making special arrangements for when the Stallion gets released, Twilight was outside waiting for Celestia to talk about Good Light’s condition, and Pinkie was at Sugar Cube Corner making improvements on the cake.
Good Light’s ears were swiveling rapidly, trying to be in every direction at the same time. The more time that passed, the heavier his breathing became. His right shoulder wouldn’t stop quivering, and the shakiness was spreading to various parts of his body. The stallion’s distress got to point where Fluttershy had to say something, “There’s no need to worry, nothing is going to hurt you.” Hearing her say that did little to calm his nerves. When the yellow pegasus saw this, she continued, “If it helps any, you could tell me what’s making you so tense. Keeping it in won’t help us help you.”
Good Light gave a sharp inhale followed by a hard exhale, then he spoke in a fearful whisper, “Clicking… the echoes their… gasp… their everywhere…” Sweat was dripping down his face, and his speech had reverted back to when he was found. He could hear every hoof step echoing throughout the building.
“You’re okay, I’m right here,” Fluttershy said rubbing his back.
His emerald green eyes kept darting around. The moment they approached the hospital, he told them the lights were fuzzier than they usually were, now they were almost blacked out entirely. “The walls… they… they’re closing… in… I… I need… I can’t… Air… I need air… I can’t breathe!” he began to hyperventilate “I-I-I can’t go back!!”
“Hey, look at me. Look at… err my light…? Uh, whatever just look.” Rainbow Dash put herself in front of Good Light and made him face her. “Focus only on me. My light, and my voice. Just me, nothing else.”
“Careful Dash.” Applejack warned, preparing herself for Good Light to start freaking out. “Last time I laid my hoofs on him when he was like this, didn’t end well for me or Big Mac.”
Ignoring her friend’s advice Rainbow continued and moved her hooves down to his shoulders. “My friends and I have fought off plenty of villains and monsters, there isn’t anywhere in all of Equestria safer for you to be than with us.”
Being used to having panic attacks, Fluttershy started teaching the stallion a few different exercises that have helped her. By the time Good Light was ready to be looked at, his distress level had dropped to a reasonable amount. However, his shoulder was still shuddering uncontrollably, and he acquired a bloody nose, staining the white fur on his muzzle.
“Okay, mister… Light,” Said a white earth pony mare when she came through the doors. “Due to your circumstance, our policy requires you to use a wheelchair during your stay. I have one ready for you right here. Do you need a guide?”
“That would be us,” Fluttershy said quickly as she stood up to led Good Light over to the chair.
Applejack and Rainbow got up as well but were stopped by Red Heart. “I’m sorry but the same policy only allows a maximum of two individuals, aside from staff, to accompany the patient. One of you will have to stay behind.”
The two mares stared at each other, the AJ spoke first, “Ah’ve spent the most time with him, ah think ah go.”
“Ugh, fair enough, I’ll go wait with Twilight outside,” Rainbow said compliantly as she slowly flew out the front doors. When she got outside she saw Twilight taping her hoof impatiently.
“Rainbow, what doing out here?” Twilight asked when she saw the cyan pegasus sit down next to her.
“Stupid hospitals and their stupid policies.” She said under her breath, “Only two ponies are allowed to be with him while he’s getting treated.” She said in a mocking tone.
“You sound upset.”
“Ho-oh, I’m only getting started,” Rainbow got herself into a fighting position, “When I get my hoofs on the one who’s responsible, I’ll knock them all the way to Tartarus!” she started kicking the air aggressively.
“The policymakers?” Twilight asked.
“What? No! I’m talking about the one who hurt Good Light.” Rainbow said clarifying what she meant to her previous statement. “I just… grr, now I understand why Fluttershy was so upset. What’s taking the princess so long!”
Twilight saw the royal chariot heading their way as Rainbow was ranting, “I think you’ll be able to see them by the time I finished this sentence.” The chariot landed and the princesses exited to greet Twilight and Rainbow Dash, who bowed respectfully in their presence. “Thank you for coming at such short notice,” Twilight said greeting Celestia.
“Not at all, my faithful student.” Celestia said regally before a concerned look crossed her face, “Now about your letter, I do have to question your choice of words. The description of the pony in it did seem a little… excessive to put it lightly.”
“Believe me, I wish it was, but every word is about as accurate as it gets.”
“Okay, so I’m going to have move you around a little in order for me to do a full examination,” Red Heart informed. “Are you fine with me coming into contact with you? I’m only asking because you seem a little jumpy.”
“It’s most likely the environment,” Applejack said informing the nurse, “Ah think it’s reminding im of the place this happened at.”
Good Light remained silent for a moment before he answered, “Will it… hurt?”
“Well… maybe, but this is a place for healing, and sometimes that means it will hurt, but I promise that it will all be worth it in the end.” Red Heart said, carefully sugarcoating the words with her voice.
After Good Light didn’t say anything, Fluttershy provided him encouragement, “It’s fine, you can trust her, she’s very good at what she does.”
With a shaky sigh, Good Light spoke, “Okay… I’ll try not… I’ll… try… I’ll allow it. I just want to get this over with.”
Red Heart brought out a small flashlight while gently holding the stallion’s eyelid open making him tense slightly, she then observed the reaction his irises had with the sudden change in light. “Hm, pupils are non-responsive, which tells me that there isn’t any light entering through them. In other words, you are in fact, completely blind.” The nurse took note of this on the clipboard. “But it says here you can see lights… instead of ponies… or animals? We’ll have to run a few tests later to find out what’s causing that.”
Next, she delicately placed her hooves on the stallion’s cheek and chin, “Okay, I’ll need to turn your head this way… good.” She looked at every mark and scare on that side of his face before moving his head again, “And now the other side… let’s see if we can take care of that nosebleed.” The nurse walked over to a cupboard and pulled out a jar and a q tip, “This might feel a little weird but all I’m doing is putting a tiny dab of balm inside your nose to stop the bleeding. I’ll need you to hold as still as you can. Hold your breath… good,” Good Light clenched his jaw as she applied the gel. “And… done. Very good, you’re doing great. Now, next will be the ears and after that, I’m going to look in your mane and see what’s hiding in there.”
“Is that… really necessary?” Good light said backing away a little with a hoof on his head.
“I’m afraid so.” Red Heart said regrettably, “The more we examine the better we’ll understand what to treat you for. Now, this otoscope is going to feel a little cold” Good Light shied away from Red Heart as she inserted the metal cone into each of his ear canals, “That looks… like you have an ear infection.” The nurse made a note of what she found before moving on.
Good Light squeezed his eyes shut and scrunched his face as the nurse gently laced her hooves through his hair, “Oh dear, that’s a nasty looking bump you got there. It looks like there’s something lodged in it as well and it’s most likely infected,” she went back to the cupboard and pulled out tweezers, cotton balls and rubbing alcohol. “Remember how I said that sometimes healing will hurt. Well, this is one of those times. It looks pretty bad, but I should be able to remove it. I do have a numbing agent, but I can’t guarantee it will take all the pain away.” Red Heart said apologetically, “It might be best if you two held him for this.”
Applejack cracked her neck and stretched her forelegs, “Ah got this Fluttershy.”
The yellow pegasus gave her friend a serious look, “Not a chance, I’ll hold him with you. I know you said he’s stronger than he looks, but I’ve wrestled bears and manticores, but before we do anything else,” She lightly placed a hoof on Good Light, “I am really, truly, sorry about doing this, but please understand that we need to in order for you to get better. Okay?”
Good Light gritted his teeth to the point where the other mares could almost hear them cracking under the stress. “just do it!”
Applejack and Fluttershy locked the heaving stallion into a firm hold of as Red Heart applied the numbing ointment, “Alright, now for the hard part, I’m going to remove it on the count of… three!” The stallion’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as the small jagged barbed object came out, then a scream followed.
Good Light threw the two mares holding him off as a ball of electricity surrounded him, sparks flew off of every surface the lightning struck. “WHAT IN TARNATION!?!” Applejack cried out, Fluttershy and Red Heart just screamed in terror. “GIT DOWN!!” Unfortunately, the small room provided very little cover, so all three mares ended up backing themselves into a corner while trying to avoid being hit by stray bolts. Good Light, now hovering, spontaneously burst into blue and white flames, columns of crackling flames lashed out as randomly as the electrical energy.
The flaming, out of control stallion glared at the three helpless ponies with the power of a thousand Fluttershy's and bellowed, “WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PATHETIC WORM!?! YOU HOR… Y-YOU HEARTLESS, HORRIBLE, OVERGROWN—” As quickly as it started it ended. Good Light fell to the ground with a hard thud, out cold. No electricity, no flames, but the most surprising of all was no damage, on him or the room for that matter. If it wasn’t for the limp body of the unconscious stallion in the middle of the floor, it was almost as if the whole ordeal had never happened.
Nearly a minute passed before anypony said anything, and the one who spoke was Rainbow Dash who came barreling through door with a battle-cry, “What’s going on?! Who are we fighting!?”
“Rainbow? How’d ya know we were in trouble?” Applejack asked the over-stimulated pegasus.
The cyan mares face turned bright red from embarrassment, “It might be debatable as to whether I may, or may not, have been hiding in a cloud outside the window?”
“You were spying on us.” Applejack stated bluntly.
“Okay, yes, I was spying on you guys.” Rainbow admitted, “And for good reason, I brought backup for… whatever was happening in here!”
Twilight, Celestia, and Luna quickly entered from behind. When they saw no signs of anything they turned to nurse Red Heart, “Don’t look at me! I blacked out!”
When they looked at Fluttershy she answered similarly with, “I’m still trying to figure that out myself.”
All eyes fell on Applejack who had just stopped looking at the hair on her foreleg and was now sniffing the air, “Yall smell that?”
Everyone promptly sniffed the air, “No? What are you smelling?” Twilight asked.
“That’s just it, ah don’t smell anything either,” She answered. “Good Light literally exploded in a ball of lightning bolts and white-hot flames. You’d think that’d be enough ta do… well, somthin’! But my fur ain’t even singed and I don’t smell any smoke.”
“I do,” Luna said as she stood in the doorway, “But it smells like it’s coming from—” the sound of the fire alarm cut off the rest of Luna’s statement.
It took nearly ten minutes before every patient was brought outside to safety from the burning hospital. Once it was cleared, Rainbow was on her way back with a battalion of pegasi towing rain clouds with them. They were easy to gather considering that Rainbow’s call for help had the words ‘Hospital’ and ‘fire’ used in the same sentence. However, upon arrival one of the maintenance workers at the hospital, a turquoise stallion with a coral mane, began yelling for them to stop.
“What are you talking about?!” Rainbow yelled back, “We’re trying to help put out the fire!”
“It’s no good, water will only make it worse!” he yelled back.
“…What!?!” Rainbow couldn’t believe what she just heard him say, “In what universe does water not put out a fire,”
Twilight ran over to the stallion, “Is it an electrical fire?” she asked him.
“Yeah, it is. Four machines up in flames, just like that.” He said confirming what Twilight suspected. “One minute they’re purring like a kitten, the next they’re screaming like a blazing banshee.”
“Rainbow!” Twilight said as she flew up to her friend, “I appreciate your efforts, but water is the last thing you want to put on this kind of fire right now.”
“But—” Twilight silenced her before she could say anything else.
“If it does spread we will need you all on standby but being a pegasus you should know that water and electricity don’t mix well.” The alicorn reassured her, “Just stay put for now, in case we can’t get things under control.”
Rainbow Dash turned to the gathered pegasi, “You heard the Princess! Everypony be ready if and when they call for backup.” She noticed Rarity within the gathering crowd then flew down to meet with her.
Twilight joined up with Luna and Red Heart, who were questioning the pony from earlier, “Twilight, Clean Sweep was just informing me on what the machines that caught fire did.” Luna said.
“This is a relatively new device, still under beta testing. What it’s supposed to do is lower the levels of—” his words got muffled out by the sound of sirens coming from the Fire Department.
An old graying stallion with a horseshoe mustache and firepony outfit hopped out and began to approach the Alicorns, “Smoky Trails,” he said, greeting them in a hoarse voice, clearly having inhaled his fair share of smoke from previous fires. “You got any intel on what we’re dealing with here?”
“Electrical Fire,” Clean Sweep and Twilight said simultaneously. Clean Sweep continued, “in the boiler room, you’ll need to use some kind of foam to extinguish it.”
“All I need to know is what kind of fire it is and where it’s at, my team will take care of the rest.” Smoky Trails said before he began barking orders at the other firefighters.
“That’s great,” Sweep said. “But it’s not going to be possible for any of you to use—”
“Twilight!!” Rainbow Dash rapidly flew over to the purple alicorn pulling her attention away from the other conversation, “Something’s wrong with Good Light!”
“Wrong how?” Red heart asked
“I-I-I don’t know!” Rainbow said in a state of panic, “At first I thought he was waking up or something but then he barfed all over Rarity, her mouth was open, it got in her eyes, and now she’s having a mental breakdown on how it will weeks to get the smell out of her mane and—”
“Rainbow!” Twilight said over her friend’s tangent, “Good Light?”
“Right, a-after he threw-up that’s when he started… it looks like he… he’s… Rah!! You better just come see for yourself, hurry!” Twilight and Red Heart followed Rainbow Dash. When they arrived, they saw Fluttershy staring at a gathering crowd to back off, Applejack was helping her with crowd control, Rarity was crying, and squirming in small jerky movements and on the ground was Good Light.
“Looks like he’s having a seizure,” Red Heart said, quickly assessing the symptoms. She cradled his head before she continued, “First thing we need to do is keep his head protected, but other than that, there’s not really much else—”
“Red Heart,” Twilight interrupted, “Look at the foam around his mouth, what does it look like to you?”
At first, Red Heart had to hold back her frustration on being told how to do her job, but after a closer look, she saw what Twilight was trying to tell her. The froth that was around Good Lights’ mouth had a glittery appearance to it much like how a glowing unicorn horn would look when casting a spell. “This is worse than I thought, we’re not just dealing with a normal seizure. We have to get him to an operating room stat!”
“Do you know what’s wrong with him?” Asked Fluttershy.
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong!!!” Rarity shrieked makeup dripping down her face, “He threw up!... ON ME!! Do you have any idea how disgust—” Twilight gave Rarity a hard slap across the face and silence pursued.
“If we can’t reverse his condition and stop it from getting any worse than it already is right now!” Twilight said clearly infuriated by Rarity’s words, “HE IS GOING TO DIE!!”
“Waahhgaga!” Star Glow jolted to an upright position panting heavily and dripping with sweat, her sheets and white mane clinging to her body. The cobalt blue mare plopped her head back onto the pillow. She rubbed her face and stared at the ceiling, “It was just a dream…” She rolled over to her side and curled up slightly, “It was just a dream… It was just a dream… It was… so real… that was too real.” Sighing, she could feel herself wanting to cry.
It didn’t make any sense. It couldn’t have been… him? “Why now?” Star softly whined to herself as she played with a little tuft of mane in front of her eyes. “I don’t get it.” Eventually, she got out of bed and spent the next few minutes straightening her sheets. When the bed was made to her liking, Star started to leave but looked back before exiting. She grabbed the perfectly smooth sheets and blankets in her magic yanked them off and brought them downstairs to wash the sweat out.
After taking care of the bedding and rinsing herself clean, she entered the kitchen and saw her old friend Gold Dust sitting at the table eating his favorite meal, breakfast. Star gathered the dirty dishes and started washing, drying then putting them away. When she was done, the mare went to the broom closet, grabbed a broom, and began sweeping the floor in silence. “I know that look,” Gold said finally.
“Hm?” At first, Star didn’t realize he was speaking to her, but when she did she looked at the dark green stallion.
“You’re thinking of him again, aren’t you? I understand it was difficult losing him, but how many times do we have to go through this? We all took it hard but face it Star he’s—”
“I had a dream,” Star said quickly as if it were one word, knowing how the conversation would take a bad turn.
It felt like an eternity before Gold started to chuckle softly, slowly escalating into laughter. The stallion stopped laughing and threw the table to the wall. “Where was that dream when we needed it most Star!? Where was it five years ago before we gave up looking for him!? Six years ago when he went missing!?!” Star didn’t say anything because she knew that whatever was said would be twisted into something she never intended for it to mean. “Say something Star… ANSWER ME!!” Gold Dust stomped his hoof and hung his head, an egg-sized lump catching in his throat. “I spent half of my family’s inheritance trying to find him for you… for us… do you know how hard it was for me to get it all back!” he regretted saying those words the moment they tumbled out of his mouth, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” He turned away and put the table back in its place.
Gold Dust sat back down on the chair he was on before, then nothing was said for some time. “He was… the only reason they ever came.” Star cleaned the mess off from the floor and wall, still not saying a word since the conversation started. “Star, talk to me, he was my friend too. I just don’t understand why this is happening now.”
Star stopped what she was doing and looked directly at Gold Dust, “I am asking myself the exact same things as you are, okay? So you can keep asking me every single question you have in as many different ways you can think of, but I don’t have an answer to a single one… I don’t know!” She screamed at Gold, letting out her frustration on the matter.
“Maybe it’s because I finally mastered my special talent, maybe it’s… a million different reasons why! But the fact is that it won’t do you any good to ask me… I MISS HIM!” Star’s voice began to crack as tears started to form. “He’s all I can think of every day Gold. All these years, something kept telling me he’s alive even though I keep telling myself that he’s not. Now I get this and it’s like everything I knew before is backwards… Some psychic I am,” Star Glow broke down crying on the spot. “I couldn’t even save Shadow Gazer!” Slowly, Gold Dust approached Star Glow, picked her up, and wrapped his hooves around her. The next ten minutes were spent with him comforting her as she let her feelings run their course.
A group of doctors and nurses shuffled in and out of a tent used as an emergency operating room. With the hospital in Ponyville temporarily out of commission, Celestia had teleported most of the patients to the Canterlot General Hospital until further notice. But the circumstance that Good Light was in caused the need to avoid exposure of spellcasting for the time being. That included teleportation.
Rainbow circled the tent showing the anxiety that she and her friends were feeling. However, having disrupted the operation one too many times, Twilight placed a magical barrier around the tent to keep distractions out. Eventually, out of foalish spite of being forced to wait, Rainbow flew up and perched herself atop the forcefield. Afterward, Twilight started to track down the stallion from earlier to find out the reason behind the spontaneous combustion.
The search led her to the room that the fire started in. Now that it was out, it was safer to come and go as needed, and Twilight needed answers. When she entered the room, a cherry red stallion with a silver main and a blue, oil-stained coveralls greeted her. This wasn’t the same stallion, but he looked like he would know something, “Your majesty.”
He started to bow, but Twilight stopped him, “Just skip the formalities, please, that’s an order.”
He gave her a tense look as if he was about to be grounded, “Uh, okay if you insist.”
“Thank you. So,” Twilight turned her attention towards the part of the room that was undoubtedly the fire’s origin. “Tell me what we’re looking at, what exactly are these?”
What she saw we’re four machines that, to her, looked like radiator heaters. Each one was roughly the size of a small wagon in a shape similar to a triangular prism and had a circle offset from the center closer to the floor. All of them were blackened by the flames that were now extinguished and covered in foam.
The stallion opened his mouth to speak, but a louder mare’s voice interrupted what he was going to say. “Out of my way! Move! My children are in there!”
Twilight made a brief scan of the room but saw no sign of foals or any young creature. A lightning blue colored mare with frost tipped hair wearing a red pair of coveralls covered in grease and oil marks barged into the room.
She threw her hooves to her head, “MY BABIES!!” She jumped and landed on one of the machines in question like she had spontaneously become magnetized to it and started coddling it.
“You poor things, what happened to you?” The machine responded with a creaking groan from the added weight. Twilight was afraid that the part she was clinging to would break off.
The blue mare began shushing it like it was a crying foal that had fallen and hurt themselves. “Don’t you worry, mommy right here. Mommy will make you feel all better in no time.” She cooed, nuzzling it before sliding down to the floor and held a hoof behind her, “Toolbox!”
“Yes mam?” said the red stallion Twilight was just talking to.
The mare head snapped around and she looked at Toolbox like he was one responsible for ‘hurting’ her ‘babies.’
“Toolbox, toolbox, toolbox. Tool! Box! I need my Tools!” she said shoving her face into his.
“Uh, right your tools. I’ll go grab them.” Toolbox turned and began to gallop out of the room.
Seeing this the Mare yells back to him, “What do mean it’s not here!? What am I even paying you for!? I expect my tools to be where I need them to USE!!” she turned back towards the machines, grumbling something about the incompetence of her employees.
Twilight finally took her chances and approached the mare. “I take it you know a thing or two about these machines.”?
“Know them? Princess, I built them.” She turned to properly greet herself to Twilight, shaking her grease-covered hoof with the princess, “Name’s Grease Monkey, everypony calls me Grease.” Grease pulled Twilight closer with a glare, “Call me Monkey and you’ll know why they don’t.”
Releasing Twilight, who planned to wash her hoof the first opportunity she had, Grease said, “So you want to know about my babies, hu?” She pulled out an accordion fold photo holder with four pictures of the Machines inside.
Pointing to the top one, Grease went down the list, “This is Tie Rod, my little goody two shoes. He does everything the way I like it. Now Lug Nut, he’s a real work horse, twice the power… for three times the energy.” Twilight helplessly sat and listened to Grease talk about each of her ‘babies.’
“This one is Spark Plug, he only lets me work on him otherwise anypony else will get shocked!” Grease raised her voice out to a pony approaching the machine. “Piston here is trouble maker number three—” a loud revving and banging erupted from the unit second to the farthest in the room sounding like a broken washing machine.
“Whoa, whoa hey Lugnut take it easy!” Grease ran over to it and gave it a hard buck, “Down boy… I said, down!” She gave it another buck and there was a pop, hiss, then silence.
By this point Twilight was done waiting, she was determined to get the answers she came for. “Look, Grease, all I want is to know what these machines do, and why they burst into flames.”
Grease gave a sigh before she spoke, “Okay, but it would be easier to show you. I need to check and make sure they aren’t damaged anyway.” The mare popped the cover off the central circle revealing a handle.
“I know you’re eager to get back to work,” She said to Lugnut, “but you… Need to...” She grabbed the handle and attempted to twist it but looked like she was struggling.
“Drop it.” She stopped trying with her hooves and instead bit down on the handle using her teeth. “I said drop it Lugnut!” She started growling like a dog with a bone.
Twilight tried to help using her magic, but to her utter amazement she had none in her to use. She tapped her horn and tried again but it was to no avail.
Grease then noticed a puddle of liquid leaking from underneath another unit. “Oh great!” She gave up on trying to move the handle. “Who forgot to change Piston’s oil?”
Two hospital maintenance workers looked at each other, one saying, “I didn’t know these took oil.”
“They don’t.” Grease responded, making her way to Piston and started to climb under the machine. “And don’t ask me where it’s coming from, because I can’t figure that out even if my life depended on it.”
“I got your toolbox mam.” Said a stallion who just entered. He was an all grey, middle aged stallion wearing the same uniform as Toolbox.
“Perfect. Vice Grips.” Grease demanded from under the machine.
“Yes mam?” Responded the same stallion.
Grease came out from under Piston and looked daggers at Vice Grips, “Where’s Tool Box?!”
“Uh, they need some help with—”
“You know what? I don’t want to hear it. What I want are vice grips!”
“Right, vice grips, here you go mam.” Vice Grips handed Grease the tool. She took it and went back under Piston to take care of the oil leak.
“Hey, uh, Vice Grips?” Twilight called out, “Can you hand me a crowbar, or just something to help me turn this?” She said while trying to twist the handle that Grease was earlier.
“Push and turn!” Grease informed Twilight, “You need to push the handle in first and then—” Spitting and sputtering noises interrupted what Grease was saying. “Dang it Piston, that went up my nose!”
Grease crawled out as quickly as she could, face and main drenched with oil. “Can any of you get over here and clean this up before Spark Plug zaps it into flames or something worse?! Seriously what are you all standing around for!?”
Grease clomped over to Twilight and Vice Grips dripping with fluid, “Make room.” She gestured for them to move to the sides while they were still in a position to twist the handle. She gave a well aimed buck, causing it to pop and release. The compartment had to be spring-loaded the way it slid open, ripping the tool out of the hoofs of the two unsuspecting ponies holding it.
Inside there were rocks. Ones that Twilight was all too familiar with. “Are… Are these...?”
“Pieces of Chrysalis’s throne.” Grease finished for her, “You see princess the times are a changin’, magic and machines are starting to grow closer together faster than ever before.” She sounded proud of herself as she carefully looked over each rock.
“However, it’s been discovered that magic can actually cause interference with the readings of sensitive equipment. Think of it like a magnet next to a compass. That’s what these babies were made for, to reduce the amount of magic in a given area.”
Grease walked over to the next unit, “Tie Rod, you’ve been kind of quiet, you feeling alright bud?” She put her ear up against it and knocked on the side, “Yeah, that doesn't sound too good, but I should have you operational in no time.” Grease was able to open it with much less difficulty. Again, it had the same rocks. “The problem is though, spells are still needed in performing surgeries and applying medical treatment.”
She picked up one and eyed it closely like she had seen a flaw. “So rather than just completely eradicate all of the magic, it allows a small amount to still be usable. It’s enough to do what is needed but not enough to mess too much with medical results allowing for a more accurate reading.” Grease lowered the rock to put it back, but it slipped out of her hooves. When it hit the ground she had stepped forward in an attempt to catch it, but doing so shot it under the next machine over. “Dang it.”
Twilight was only half listening at this point, her mind had wandered to another issue regarding Good Light. “What would happen if there was a sudden surge of magical energy released within the range of these machines?”
“Sister, that is precisely why I have four of them.” Grease said, struggling to reach for the misplaced piece of mineral. “The more magic one of my babies has to regulate the more they overheat. What doesn’t make any sense though is that this is enough to challenge Celestia herself… I mean I’m sure that she’s more than capable of doing this much damage, but this happened way too fast.”
Having finally grabbed what she was after, Grease began to wiggle back the way she came, but in doing so noticed an issue that needed to be dealt with. “Oh crap! Flat head!”
“Yes mam?” said a stallion from across the room.
“Are you kidding me! Who names their offspring after tools! Seriously, this naming system is a nightmare!” Grease cried to the heavens in which her pleas would forever remain unanswered.
“Sorry, I just… over ninety percent of the time when I need a tool I insead get a ‘yes mam,’ not a ‘here you go,’ or ‘What size?’ No! I am, by some unknown twisted reason, always talking to the one pony named after the tool I am asking for!”
“Righ, flat head… here you go.” Vice Grips said, handing her the screwdriver.
“I would like to make a statement regarding these machines,” Twilight said, making sure she didn’t sound offensive in what she was going to say next.
“Shoot, I’m all ears.” Grease said, although it was in the same manner as somepony who was tuning out their surroundings.
Twilight took a breath before she spoke, “Don’t get me wrong, these are impressive, I’ll admit. However, I have conflicting opinions. On the one hoof, they may very well have saved some of my closest friends.”
“That’s what they’re for, saving lives.”
“While on the other,” Twilight continued, “they may be the reason a stallion is currently in critical condition.”
The sound of an object clattering to the ground was heard, but it was the lack of cursing that drew everyponys attention. Grease poked her head out and looked at Twilight, “Wait, back up a bit.”
She pulled herself out from under the unit she was operating on and stood in front of the princess with a look of concern. “Are… you saying… So a pony got hurt and… could be dying? Because of these?”
Now that it had been said, Twilight stood her ground in her opinion, “Quite possibly, yes.”
Grease’s mouth quivered like she was saying something but no sound out. She then gave a look of malice, before bucking the closest unit. “Okay, you listen to me, you little brats!” she said marching down the line like a high ranking general. “If mommy finds out that you have been lying to her this whole time, I will personally disassemble all of you down to the last ball bearing and convert you all into pencil sharpeners!!”
Grease went back to work on the critical issue from earlier. “You ungrateful little gremlins you’re lucky that I haven’t— yeouch! Spark plug!” She gave the machine a good hard kick, “you know mommy hates it when you— Ah-ha-ow. Okay mommy is sorry. If you can let me prove that you’re innocent then I won’t recommission you… that’s a good boy.”
