A series of glimpses into the stormy life of Gale Force as they struggle to find their way though a sunless world
A series of glimpses into the stormy life of Gale Force as they struggle to find their way though a sunless world.
Content warnings for: depression, self harm, attempted suicide. This story is set in the world of Captain Hoers' webcomic The Sunjackers (Which I recommend you all read). It was written by me and a friend, Lovecraftian Hitchhiker, over the course of several months as we laid out the personality and backstory of a character I intended to use in a tabletop campaign in a series of vignettes and short stories.
Mkali had always been a devoted teacher, giving out lessons whenever the small colt asked him anything. The colt wasn’t always ready for fifteen minutes on how a gentle stallion should behave, but always gave his best effort to pay attention anyway. This trend continued as Haki asked his beloved father why it was that they were buying flowers from the shop.
“Mares must always be treated with respect Haki, when you meet one that you know is dear to you after some time away, or meet one that you know will be dear to you, it is traditional to bring gifts of flowers. All of these that we will be seeing today are going to be in our lives for quite a while, so I am procuring a gift of flowers for each of them.”
Haki lights up with a smile, immediately moving to gather a few flowers from the shop, “So I need to get them flowers too.”
Mkali places a hoof on Haki’s shoulder, “My gifts will be enough so you don’t need to get flowers for them yourself.”
The Ryde to their new home took hours, taking even longer for Haki who couldn’t color in his book with the bumps on the road, quickly getting frustrated with the lines extending across the page. His mother and father on either side of him kept him feeling warm and calm despite the uncomfortable feeling of his outfit, and he was able to sleep against his mother for the majority of the trip, though she woke him up fixing his mane as they approached the house.
The first thing he noticed was how much darker his new neighborhood was, no tall buildings, just short little houses with ice covered lawns. His mother whispers to his father but he can’t quite hear what she is saying, wriggling as soon as they pull to a stop, very ready to move his little legs again.
Haki’s blazer wasn’t meant for such cold but he barely noticed that as he saw Mr. Wind from his father’s video chats open the door to greet the family, and begin helping unload the luggage despite the grateful dismissal of Mkali. Haki of course grabbed the largest bag he could carry showing off his coltly strength.
Practically prancing into the house, he saw a living room full of ponies and griffins that he had never met before, three adult ponies, and two griffinesses, and a filly sat with snacks ready for entertainment and celebrating before the work of setting up the rooms for the new members of the household could commence.
With some hesitancy he puts the bag next to the door, not sure where to go with it, but doing his best to stay out of the way of his dad, and Mr. wind. His father follows suit with the placement of the large bags greeting the new people with familiarity, and passing out flowers to the griffenesses the mare and… one of the stallions. Mom must have been correct in saying that Dad was a little dumb sometimes. The adults laughed and the stallion blushed, but Haki didn’t quite get why it was funny.
The mare nudged the little filly, who obediently walked over to Haki. The little filly dressed in a rainbow of mixed colors clearly having dressed herself with a sock from four different sets none of which even remotely matched, and a bright pink jacket that didn’t quite match her gray coat. She gave a wide smile, held a hoof to her chest and introduced herself with a “Hi, I’m Gale, what’s your name?”
Haki couldn’t help but notice the most important feature. This filly had not been given a flower. He held up a hoof with a, “Hold on,” before he darted off in search of a flower in the back of the car. Finding no spare flowers from his father's suppy, he dashed back into the house and past a now pouting Gale, clearly upset by the fact that he didn’t have a flower for her. His mom raised an eyebrow at him, but there wasn’t time to explain his mission.
Scouring the depths of the forign building rewarded Haki with a treasure trove. A bountiful array of flowers behind only one locked door. A fitting reward for an adventurer such as himself. Still the bushes in the corners of the room confronted him with different types of flowers. Clearly he was going to need to pick the most beautiful one for making the little filly wait. The filly already had lots of colors so she could have a white flower like the other mares. He judged the plants carefully and decided the white roses were the perfect pick, and the ones he could reach without climbing onto the counters. He still had to stretch, putting both forehooves into the pot soil, the plant cutting at his muzzle and drawing blood from his lip as he gripped the rose’s stem, cutting through it with his teeth.
The little colt returned, victorious. Mud on his forehooves and a cut on his lip badges of adventure. He walked up to the little filly offering her the rose, and as she took it he spoke “Dad said mares deserve flowers, so I had to make sure a pretty filly like you got one too. I’m Haki.”
The little mare, rose in her teeth, turned red as the adults started to laugh. Haki looked up at them, confusion evident on his face. “Flowers for a mare, isn’t that what’s fair?” The little filly’s father smiled at Haki replying with “Gale is a colt.”
“Hey Haki,” the pegasus colt called out as he entered the zebra colt’s room
“Yeah Gale?” Haki responded, his muzzle buried in a book.
“You know Sign and Thunder?” Gale asked, taking a seat by the bed.
“What about them?
“Well, you’ve seen them kiss right?” he said with a faint blush.
Haki looked up from the novel. “Why? Are they making out in the kitchen again?”
“What? No not this time I just mean, you’ve seen how they kiss yeah?”
“Well yeah, we all have, what about it?”
“I was just wondering um, have you wondered what it feels like?” Gale stammered out.’
The zebra thought for a moment. “Not really, I mean my mom would kiss me all the time.”
“Yeah, so did mine,” the pegasus replied, “But well, what Sign and Thunder do looks a lot different from that.”
“I guess, why do you ask?”
“I um, I wanted to ask if maybe you’d...” he trailed off into a mumble as his face slowly went red.
“If I’d what?” Haki replied.
“If you’d like to try it,” he practically whispered the last few words.
The zebra’s face went red. “What, kissing?”
Gale could only nod in response, too flustered to speak.
Several long moments passed before Haki, face still red as a tomato, sat up and responded in a soft tone. “Yeah. Go shut the door and get up on the bed with me.”
The pegasus nodded eagerly and trotted over to the door. He shut it and, making sure it was locked, returned to the bed where he climbed up onto it. The two colts sat facing each other, blushing profusely until Gale broke the silence. “So, how should we...” but his question was cut off as Haki leaned in and pressed his muzzle against Gale’s.
After another moment the two colts drew back from each other and awkwardly looked away, each not wanting the other to see them so flustered. Haki was the first to speak, mumbling “that was...”
“Weird,” Gale muttered in reply.
“Really weird,” Haki agreed.
“But also I kinda...”
“Want to do it again?”
“Yeah.”
Haki placed a hoof on Gale’s cheek and, turning his head to face him, leaned in again.
Haki lay in his bed waiting for the knock he knew was coming, the two colts had spent practically every night of the past two years in each other’s bed and they had it down to a routine. Lights out, wait 10 minutes for Gale’s parents to go to bed, another 10 to make sure Haki’s folks were asleep and then there it was, a gentle knock at the connecting door and a voice softly called out, “Haki?”
The zebra slid out of bed and made his way over to the door, he undid the latch and opened the door to reveal the face of Gale on the other side. The two colts shared a quick kiss and silently made their way to the pegasus’ bed.
Gale slid under the covers first and scooted to the side to give Haki room. The zebra wasted no time in joining Gale and with a nuzzle wrapped his front legs around him, but as his hoof brushed against the inside of Gale’s leg the pegasus whimpered in pain and jerked in Haki’s grip.
“Gale? What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, ignore it.”
Haki sat up and turned on the bedside lamp. “Are you hurt? I’m really sorry if I hurt you.”
“I said it’s nothing,” he replied, hints of fear creeping into his voice.
“That didn’t sound like nothing, let me see.” Haki reached for Gale’s leg but the pegasus pulled away from him. “Gale? You’re starting to scare me.”
“Promise you won’t tell,” said Gale, his voice shaking
“Won’t tell who?”
“My parents, promise you won’t tell them.”
Haki stared at Gale for a long moment before he spoke. “I promise, now please let me take a look.”
Another long moment passed until, shakily, Gale held out his leg towards Haki. The zebra took hold of the leg and, looking closely at the inside, found a row of small cuts.
“Gale what happened here?” Anger crept into Haki’s voice. “Did someone do this to you?”
“No! It’s fine Haki, just forget you saw it”
“No Gale. If someone’s hurting you I’ll fucking kill them! Who did this to you?”
“No one did this to me Haki!” He tore his leg from the zebra’s grip and held it close to his chest.
“Then how did this happen!”
“I did it to myself!” he said with tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. “Please don’t hate me.”
“You did it to... Why?”
“Because it hurts less than doing nothing.”
Haki grabbed the other colt and pulled him into a hug. “Gale, if you’re hurting this much you need help”
Gale buried his face in the zebra’s chest. “I don’t need help, I can deal with this myself.”
“Gale, at least let me help you. I love you.”
“If you love me please just let it go. I don’t need help, I just need you to hold me okay.”
Haki took a deep breath and gently kissed the top of Gale’s head. “Okay, I’ll let it go for now.”
He leaned over and switched off the lamp as Gale laid back down. Haki pulled the blankets back over the pair and carefully wrapped his legs around the pegasus again. With another kiss to Gale’s cheek he whispered, “I love you Gale.”
After a pause Gale replied, “I love you too Haki.”
Haki lay in bed, his mind racing. He had slipped away from Gale’s bed early that morning to find his parents and told them what he had discovered. They told Gale’s parents and they had confronted Gale. All Haki heard from his room was Gale’s yelling, and then Gale’s crying. But it was 20 minutes after lights out now and he was waiting for that knock. Another five minutes passed but still no knock, now he was worried.
The zebra slipped out of bed and walked over to the door where he softly knocked on it and called out, “Gale?” When he received no response he tried the door and, finding it unlocked, entered the pegasus’ room. “Gale Force? You okay?”
The pegasus turned over as Haki approached his bed. He said nothing but as the zebra put his front hooves on the bed to climb in, Gale pushed him off.
“Gale?”
“I hate you.” He turned away from Haki and pulled the blanket over his head.
“Gale? What’s going on?”
His question was met only with silence and he stood there in shock. “Gale, I’m sorry. I just… I needed to help.”
He stood there a moment longer but when Gale still didn’t respond he walked back to his room and climbed into his own bed. With tears gathering in his eyes he pressed his face into a pillow and cried himself to sleep.
Gale and Haki sat together at a cafeteria table, one of the pegasus’ wings draped over the zebra’s back as they ate. A grey pegasus zony soon joined them at the table and slumped over her tray opposite the couple.
“Okay what’s eating at you Storm?” Gale set down his sandwich.
“You’ve been acting off all day, something happen?” asked Haki.
Storm Front looked up at the two. “It’s nothing guys, I’m fine.”
The two stallions shared a look and turned back to face her.
“Storm, I live with Gale. I can tell when someone’s not fine.” Gale slugged him on the shoulder at that and Haki chuckled. “Sorry, but it’s true.”
“I’m getting better,” Gale muttered. “But he’s right, we can tell you’re not okay. What’s going on, Storm?”
The zony pushed aside her tray and laid her head on the table. “It’s Pearl Necklace, that unicorn in our Equestrian Literature class, I tried to ask her out yesterday.” The mare covered her face with her hooves. “Said she ‘wouldn’t be seen dead with a mare, let alone with a half breed’.”
Gale and Haki quickly scooted around the table and laid a wing and a hoof over Storm’s back. “That bitch, she doesn’t deserve someone as sweet as you.”
Storm struggled to fight back tears. “I-if it was just the rejection I’d… I’d be fine but-” she burst out into sobs, “-she threatened to out me to everyone. It’s already bad enough being the only zony here but now they're all gonna know me as ‘that dyke hybrid’.”
Haki’s face hardened. “She did what? Come on, we’re gonna go talk to the vice principal about this”
“I already tried, they won’t do anything. Said it was my word against hers.” She drew her wings around herself. “Pearl says she won’t tell if I write her essay for her but I’m already struggling with my own. I can’t do two and she’ll tell and no one will speak to me ever again.”
Gale pulled Storm Front into a hug. “Hey, come on. If nothing else you’ll still have Haki and me. But it’s not going to come to that because we’re gonna fix this.”
“H-how,” she sobbed out. “I’ve only got two days. How am I gonna do both essays by then?”
“You’re not.” Gale stood up from the table. “We’re gonna get proof she’s blackmailing you. Then we can go to the vice principal.”
“We just need to get a recording of her talking about it,” said Haki
“How are you gonna get that?”
Gale Chuckled. “Haki can get any mare to talk.”
“Well, most mares,” Haki corrected, and after a moment added. “And a lot of stallions.”
Haki walked through the halls with his best swagger. Head held high, stepping with confidence and, most notably, without Gale. Heads turned as he passed and among them a pure white unicorn, Pearl Necklace.
The mare trotted after Haki and called out to him, “Haki, is Gale Force not around today?”
The zebra stopped and turned back to the mare. “Pearl right?” He brushed a hoof over the front of his jacket and set the phone in his pocket to record. “No, Gale is with Storm Front, though I suspect his advances won’t get him very far there,” he replied with a knowing grin. “But if you’d like to walk with me I’d be glad to have company.”
Pearl nodded and the two set off down the hallway as she replied, “Oh they definitely won’t, she tried to ask me out yesterday.”
“Oh? Well with a pretty mare like yourself I can’t exactly say I blame her. I take it that she didn’t get very far with you?”
“Of course not. I mean, me dating a mare? Do I look like a dyke?” Pearl gave Haki a smile. “After that, she got really scared that I’d tell folks.”
“Seeing as I haven’t heard any buzz about it I take it you’re not telling?
“Well, not just yet.” She grinned. “I’ve got her writing my essay in exchange for my silence.” She stopped to look at her phone and check the time. “I need to get over to my next class, I’d like to talk to you again sometime though. Maybe you could buy me lunch?”
Haki kept walking though. “Sorry, but I don’t date bigots.” After turning the corner he pulled out his phone and, confirming that it had caught everything, sent a text to Gale and Storm. “I have it.”
The trio gathered outside of the vice principal’s office. Gale had a wing draped over Storm’s back as Haki came down the hall to join them. He nudged Storm’s side with an elbow. “Ready?”
“I guess,” she replied. “Are you sure this will work? I mean, it’s Pearl and I’m… me.”
“The evidence is too solid for them to just ignore, and they know that if they do I’ll just put it out in the next student newsletter,” said Gale. “So come on, let’s do this.”
After a long talk with the vice principal and another hour waiting the PA system crackled to life with a loud “Pearl Necklace to the office please, Pearl Necklace to the office.” Gale and Haki shot each other grins and turned to Storm Front.
“Told you we could fix it,” Gale said with a proud smile. “She’ll be too busy cleaning up her reputation after this to start spreading rumors about you.”
Storm Front threw her legs around Gale and Haki and mumbled thank you after thank you between tears of gratitude.
Gale woke to an electronic beeping forcing its way through the fog in his mind. He couldn’t feel half his body and whatever he could feel was stiff and ached. The lights were too bright, the noise was too loud and this didn’t feel like his bed but when he tried to sit up and look around he discovered his front hooves were strapped down.
Sitting on a chair beside the bed, Haki was woken by the sudden burst of activity next to him and turned to see Gale struggling against the restraints. “Gale! Gale stop, it's okay.” He pushed the call button on the bedside table and stood up, laying a hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder. “Please, calm down. You’re gonna hurt yourself more.”
“Haki?” He looked over to the zebra beside him. “Where am I?”
“The hospital,” he replied with tears in his eyes. “They told me what happened”
At those words it all came rushing back to him. The roof, the jacket, the fall, it should have worked. “It was an accident, I was trying to fly down,” she said between sharp breaths.
“With your wings tied up?”
“They got tangled in my jacket.”
“Storm Front saw you tie your jacket around them!” the zebra cried.
Silence hung over the room until Haki leaned over and kissed Gale on the cheek, tears dripping onto the pillow beside his head. “When they told me I thought I’d lost you.”
“I’m sorry Haki. I’m so sorry.”
At that moment a nurse came into the room. “Gale Force, finally awake? I hate to interrupt you two but I’ll just need to squeeze in here.” She walked up beside the bed as Haki returned to the chair. “I’m going to release your legs but don’t try to move just yet okay.”
Gale nodded in response and the nurse slowly undid the straps.
“Okay now slowly sit up for me. I just need to do a quick check and I can get out of your mane.”
He braced his front hooves against the bed and pushed himself into a roughly sitting position, wincing as his lower half dragged across the sheet. Finally able to properly look around he noticed an IV tube running under the blanket around his hind legs. “How long has it been?”
“Almost two days,” Haki interjected before the nurse could speak, “We didn’t know what to tell Elektrum.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Okay Gale Force, can you move each of your legs for me,” the nurse asked.
He stretched out each of his front legs easily but when he tried to move a hind leg it felt numb and slow to respond and when it did move it jerked and banged against the side of the bed with a loud clang. Gale reached for the blanket and pulled it to the side revealing two suntech legs where his own had been, the plastic tube running into a port on the left leg. “What…”
“That’s to be expected with new prosthetics, it may take you a few days to get used to walking again.”
At that moment a unicorn walked into the room “I can take it from here nurse.”
“Okay doctor.” She handed him the tablet as she made her way out.
“Let’s see now.” He scanned through the tablet. “Gale Force, pegasus, 16 years old, male, attempted suicide, severe blunt force trauma.”
Gale gave Haki an apologetic look.
“You’re lucky to be alive young stallion, and lucky you didn’t break your spine. They had to replace both hind legs and both hips. You’re going to want help walking for a while. And while you managed to avoid injuring your wings you did crack two ribs so I advise not flying for at least a week.”
“I ah… I see,” Gale choked out, his voice threatened to give way to sobs. “When can I go home?”
The doctor frowned at the question. “That will be up to the psychiatrist, you’re on suicide watch kid. They’ll probably want to keep you a few more days but since we don’t have a pediatric ward you’ll be staying in this room if they do.”
With each word Gale’s heart sunk further and it was all he could do to keep from crying. A few more days here, away from home, away from Haki. Why couldn’t it have worked. It should have fucking worked.
“Gale Force? Are you listening”
The words shook him from his thoughts. “What.”
“Do you have any other medical questions? Otherwise I’ll let the psych know you’re ready to see them.”
“O-oh, no.”
“Okay then, the psychiatrist should see you in the next few hours”. The doctor left the room muttering to himself, “And so young, what could possibly be so bad.” He shut the door behind him.
Haki walked back over to Gale’s side. “Gale I’m so sorry, I-” But he was interrupted as Gale threw his legs around the zebra and wept. At a loss for words all Haki could do was hold the sobbing pegasus.
He didn’t remember leaving the hospital, just stepping into the cold air. His parents' wings draped over his back for warmth.
He sat in the back seat of the car, huddled up in the corner as small as he could get. His father and Thunder Hoof sat up in the front of the car and his mother sat in the back with him, they had given him a new jacket and it was pulled tight around him.
They had asked if he wanted to stop anywhere but he’d declined. He didn’t want anything, he just needed to be home.
On the seat between them lay a bag from the pharmacy, the doctors had sent him home with antidepressants and painkillers. His mother had said something about it but he hadn’t heard it.
They had ridden in near silence since leaving the hospital, he had been held there for another two days after waking up. Two days confined to a room, two days of being scrutinized, two days without Haki. How was he going to face him after this?
His mothers voice broke the silence. “Gale, we’re here. Are you gonna be good to walk or do you need help?”
Looking up he realized the car had stopped and they were all looking at him. He resisted the urge to shrink away even further and instead opened the car door and shakily stepped out. “I can do it myself.”
The others followed suit and his mother grabbed the bag on the way out. two figures waited by the front door, Call Sign and Elektrum, and a third figure ran towards him, Haki.
Oh Celestia, what was he going to say, this was Haki.
The stallion who had given him flowers, and who he had only given pain.
“Haki I-” but he was cut off by Haki’s lips against his and the zebra’s legs around him.
The kiss felt like it lasted an hour and was all too short as Haki drew back and pulled him into a tight hug. “Welcome home Gale.”
Elektrum rushed over and grabbed onto his fore leg and held on tight. “I missed you Gale, everyone missed you so much they’ve been crying.”
“I… I’m so sorry.” He wept into Haki’s shoulder.
“It’s okay Gale, it’s okay. You’re home,” Haki whispered.
“Yeah. Now that you’re home they’ll all be happy again”
Call Sign exchanged words with the parents and Thunder before he called over to the trio. “Come on you three let’s get inside, it’s cold out here and there’s a hot meal waiting inside.”
Reluctantly Haki and Elektrum let him go. He tried to stand up and walk but after two steps he stumbled and had to be caught by Haki.
“Here, let me help.” Haki pressed up against Gale’s side. “Lean on me and go slow.”
Elektrum ran on ahead and the two stallions made their way indoors with slow, measured steps. They shut the door behind them and shook off their jackets before proceeding to the dining room.
The four families settled down to dinner. Dishes were passed around and food was served but he just sat there and stared at his plate. Haki poked his side
“Aren’t you gonna eat?.”
“Not hungry.”
“Gale…”
He sighed, picked up his fork, and poked at the food. They had prepared his favorite spiced carrots but it all tasted bland. He still forced himself to eat, if only to avoid upsetting Haki.
The meal was finished and dishes pushed to the side, Elektrum had run off with her parents while Haki still sat next to him. Around the table sat his parents, Sign, and Thunder.
“So, Gale,” his father started, “I know you probably don’t want to talk about this much but there are at least a few things that we need to go over now.”
He shrank in his seat and looked down at his front hooves, unable to meet anyone’s eyes. He heard a chair shift across the floor as Haki laid a hoof on his own.
His father fidgeted with his wings. “I guess the first thing is, we’re sorry. Clearly we missed something we should have seen. We all thought you were getting better after… that.” The stallion looked down at his own hooves. “We failed you, and we’re going to do better.”
“Second thing is school,” his mother continued, “Do you think you’ll be able to go tomorrow? We all understand if you’re not ready yet, but we think it will be easier the sooner you do.”
He looked up at his parents, who were both looking back at him with surprisingly fragile smiles. Was he ready? four days was so long, everyone was probably talking about him. What were they going to say to him?
A kiss from Haki shook the pegasus from his thoughts. “I’ll be with you Gale, you’ll be safe.”
He took a deep breath. “Okay.”
His father let his wings settle back at his sides. “Then starting tomorrow you and Haki won’t be taking the bus, Thunder or Sign will be dropping you off and picking you up.”
“That just leaves one more thing for tonight” Call sign levitated a carton out of the freezer and 6 bowls from the cabinet. “We did some rearranging, Haki is going to be sharing a room with you.” He passed out the bowls of ice cream around the table. “That way there’s someone on hoof if you need help getting around or something goes wrong.”
The four adults and Haki all dug into their bowls, but Gale sat and stared at his for a minute. It was pistachio, his favorite. They had clearly gone all out for him, and he still didn’t feel like eating.
Haki looked up from his bowl at the pegasus. “Gale, you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He grabbed the spoon in a wing and scooped up some of the ice cream. He could barely taste it.
He walked out of the dining room with Haki, behind them the adults conversed in low tones but he couldn’t make out any of the words. Haki was pressed up against his side for support as they turned down the hallway to his room, now their room.
“Storm Front’s been asking after you. She’ll be happy to see you back at school.” Haki paused for a moment. “Please don’t be angry at her for telling, she was so scared.”
“I’m not angry.” He tried to keep walking without Haki but stumbled and nearly fell again until Haki caught him with a hoof. “I promise.” He didn’t feel angry, He didn’t feel anything.
Haki gave him a nuzzle when they reached the door and opened it for him. As they passed through the doorway he looked around the familiar but now strange room. The zebra gently nudged him towards his bed. “Come on, let’s get you into bed.”
Carefully, and without a word, he crawled under the covers and Haki slid in behind him and turned off the lights. He could feel the zebra’s comforting warmth against his back and strong legs wrapped around his barrel. He was home now.
The last thing he remembered that night was a whispered “I love you,” in his ear.
Gale Force sat on the couch, head hung low. Haki sat beside him, holding the pegasus in his legs. Across from the two sat Call Sign, tears stained the cheeks of all three stallions. On the table between them lay a small pile of pills, the painkillers Gale had been hiding. None of them spoke for a long while until Call Sign broke the silence, his voice trembling.
“Why?”
Gale couldn’t meet his eye, let alone reply.
“How are we going to help you if you won’t talk to us?”
Gale pointed to the pills with a pinion. “You can help by giving those back.”
Haki broke out in a second round of sobbing and pulled Gale closer to him and Call Sign looked like he was about to join him.
“Gale… why? What are we doing wrong? Is the medication not helping? Did something new happen? They aren’t giving you trouble at school are they?”
The pegasus drew in on himself, pulling his legs in tight and and his wings around himself. “Nothing’s helping, they should have just left me on that balcony. At least then I could have died with my own body.”
“They couldn’t do that Gale, and we can’t let you die now.” Call Sign sighed. “You need help, you need serious help. And I’m scared that it’s more than we can give.”
Gale bolted upright at that. “Don’t send me back! I can’t go back to the hospital!” he tried to reach for the pills with a wing but Call Sign grabbed them in his magic before Gale could get them.
“Gale stop. We’re… we’re not going to do that. We’d never put you back in there.” Sign walked over to the sink and dumped the pills down the drain. “But we can’t just leave things as they are. I thought we were doing a good job but we failed… again.”
The unicorn pulled out his phone. “I have to tell High Wind and Monsoon, We’re going to have to talk about this but for now you’re… not safe Gale, and you’re clearly not okay. And I don’t know how to fix that but fucking tartarus I’m going to keep you alive.“
“Until we think you’re safe again, one of us will be with you at all times. And we’re going to try and get you out of the house more, clearly it’s not good for you to be stuck in here all the time.”
He sat down beside Gale and put a leg around the pegasus. “Gale, we all love you. Your parents, Haki, Thunder and I. We all love you, and we want you alive and happy. Please let us help you.”
Gale pulled himself into a ball on the couch. “I can’t do this Sign, I can’t.”
Sign pulled the shaking pegasus into a hug. “Then let us do it until you can.”
Gale followed Call Sign through the doors of the radio station, sticking close to the older stallion as they passed the front desk. “Are you sure about this Sign?”
“Of course I am, the guys have all been dying to meet you,” replied Call Sign. He pushed open a door and led them into a break room. A deer and a gryphon seated at the table turned to look at the newcomers.
“Darach, Eisen,” Sign called out to them, “Meet my colt, Gale, I’m gonna be showing him the ropes around here.”
“It’s about time you brought the guy in Sign.” The deer held out a hoof to Gale. “Pleased to meet you Gale, I’m Darach”
Gale reached out and shook the buck’s hoof. “The pleasure’s mine, Uncle Sign’s told me a lot about the two of you.”
“Only good things I hope,” Said the gryphon. “So, you are looking to get into radio, young man?”
“Yeah.” Gale nodded. “I wanna shine a light on the real issues.”
“Oh?” replied Eisen, “Going to be a muckraker like old Call Sign there?”
Sign shot the gryphon a mock glare. “I’m only 2 years older than you, Eisen.”
Darach chuckled and playfully punched Call Sign on the shoulder while Gale and Eisen got lost in conversation. “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised he’s just like you huh.”
“What can I say,” Sign beamed at the deer, “we raised him right. He’s got a real talent for it too.” He sighed. “And he really needs something in his life, hopefully this can be it.”
“Hey, I know how it is. Don’t worry, we’ll help take care of the guy” He put a foreleg over Sign’s back. “Besides, judging by how he’s keeping up with Eisen I think he’ll go far here.”
Gale paced in front of the consol, going over the script held in his wings. Call Sign watched him from the doorway.
“Nervous Gale?”
The pegasus half jumped at Sign’s words. “What, nervous? No, I'm just excited is all.”
Call Sign stifled a chuckle and walked over to Gale. “It’s alright to be nervous, I was too before my first solo broadcast.” He put a hoof on Gale’s shoulder. “But you’ve got nothing to worry about, you’re gonna do great.”
Gale took a deep breath and pulled the unicorn into a hug. “Thanks Uncle Sign. I promise I’ll make you proud.”
“You already have Gale. Now hurry up, you're almost on.”
Gale glanced at the clock and muffled a curse. He quickly took his seat at the desk and pulled the headset over his ears.
Sign made his way out of the booth and called out over his shoulder, “Knock ‘em dead kid.” He shut the door behind him and turned to Eisen. “Everything ready?”
“Always is,” the gryphon replied and gave a quick thumbs up to Gale. Eisen flipped a switch on the console and the lights flipped to ‘On Air’.
“Good evening Hoofington the time is 19:00. We’ve got a few stories for you tonight, first up…”
“... and that concludes our evening news, we’ll be turning you over to our night DJ in just a moment. From all of us here at Hoofington Radio we wish you all a warm night and pleasant dreams.” Gale flicked a switch on the console and the ‘On Air’ light flicked off. He gently pulled off the headset and placed it on the desk.
The pegasus stood and made his way shakily to the door and left the booth. Eisen shot him a grin and a thumbs up. “Great work kid. Come on, Sign’s got something for you in the break room.” The gryphon stood up and beckoned for Gale to follow.
The two entered the break room to find Darach and Call Sign waiting at the table, each with a massive smile. Bowls of ice cream had been set out for the four of them.
“Told you you could do it,” said Call sign as they reached the table. He levitated a bowl to Gale, pistachio ice cream.
Darach bumped Gale on the shoulder with a hoof. “First solo broadcast, you’re one of us now Gale. And we couldn’t be happier to have you.”
“Th-thank you, all of you,” he said, choking back tears of joy. He scooped a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, it had never tasted sweeter.
The front door slammed shut and Gale stumbled down the hallway. A CadGo bag hung from one wing. He came around the corner to the living room where he found Call Sign and Thunder Hoof sitting on the couch.
“Gale,” Sign called out. “You’re back. Did you have any luck finding another job?”
Gale set the bag down on a table with a thunk. “Funny you should ask that,” he replied, words slurring slightly, “turns out luck has nothing to do with it.”
Thunder Hoof sat up at that. “Have you been drinking, Gale?”
“Only a little. See, Darach, remember him? Darach got a job at the station over in Ponyville. So I asked if he’d give me a recommendation there. Of course he said he would. So imagine my reaction today when he called me and said the manager laughed at the suggestion.”
Call Sign stood up from the couch. “Laughed? You were the best host we had, and a good technician. If anything, the other stations should be fighting over you.”
“You’d think that.” Gale pulled a whiskey bottle from the bag and set it on the table, it had clearly been opened already and was missing a notable amount. “Darach thought it was strange too, started poking around. And do you know what he found? That I’m blacklisted.” He twisted the cap off the bottle and took another drink. “Apparently Glass Mountain is worried I’ll do the same thing you did.”
Call Sign stood there in shock but Thunder’s voice cut through the silence as he crossed the room. “Gale, how much of that have you had?”
“I can still think, so not enough.”
He laid a hoof on Gale’s shoulder. “Why don’t you give me the bottle, we’ll get you some dinner and we can talk this out. Okay?”
“If you want some, grab a glass but I intend to finish this bottle tonight.”
Call Sign shook the fog from his mind and joined Thunder at Gale’s other side. “Gale, I’m sorry. You… you know I didn’t mean for any of that to affect you.”
“Wasn’t your fault, I wasn’t exactly quiet about supporting you. And now I’m never gonna work in radio again.” He grabbed the bottle again but Thunder put a hoof on it. Gale looked up at the older pegasus and, with a shaky voice, pleaded, “Don’t, please don’t. I’ve already had too much taken from me tonight.”
“Gale, trust me you don’t want to go down this path,” he responded. “I’ve seen where it ends and it’s nowhere good. Please, give me the bottle.”
Gale released it and slumped over in his seat. Thunder quickly tucked the bottle up in a cabinet out of sight and the two older stallions pulled up chairs next to Gale, each laying a leg across his shoulders. “Gale,” started Sign, “we can find something for you, we can get through this. I’ll try and find another independent station or something for you.”
“I already looked, we were practically the last holdouts. This job was my calling Sign, this was something I could do. Now that’s all gone. Now there’s nothing.” He stood up and shook off Thunder and Sign’s legs from his back. “If you won’t let me drink I’m going to bed.” He left down the hallway towards his shared room.
The older stallions shared a look, they knew that tone from Gale. “Call Haki, tell him to get home,” said Sign. “I’ll keep Gale occupied.”
Thunder nodded and pulled out his phone as Sign set off after Gale.
He reached the door but found it locked. “Gale?” He knocked on the door. “Gale, can we talk?” When he received no response he continued, “Gale I know it looks dark but we can fix things. We can find something for you. Please open the door.” Still no response, he lit his horn and reached through the door. He fumbled with the latch for a moment before it popped open and he swung the door wide.
Gale stood on the bed. A scarf was tied around his neck and he was trying to fix the other end of it to the disused ceiling fan. But he froze as Call Sign entered.
Sign’s voice shook. “Gale, please put that down. I promise you this isn’t that bad.”
“Of course you’d say that, your career was already ending. Mine was just starting and it’s already over.”
“That doesn’t have to mean your life has to end.”
“It already has!” he shouted back.
Call Sign slowly walked towards the bed. “Gale, please don’t do this. At least let me try and find something for you.”
“You already did everything you could for me. I’m sorry.” He turned back to the fan but before he could act there was a burst of motion and light. The scarf was torn away in Sign’s magic and the unicorn had grabbed his front legs and knocked him on his side, pinning him against the bed. “Fucking, get off of me, just let it end already.”
“No Gale, I’m sorry. I swore I would keep you alive and dammit I will.”
A half hour had passed, Haki had arrived home and the four stallions now sat around the table again. Gale was slumped over the table, crying into his hooves. Haki sat beside him, his front legs wrapped around Gale. Call Sign and Thunder Hoof flanked the young couple. Around them on the table sat several take out cartons that Thunder had gone out for. They had encouraged Gale to eat but he had barely touched any between bouts of sobbing.
As the crying tapered off Call Sign pushed a glass of water towards Gale, which he gulped down. “Ready to talk?” the unicorn asked?
“Y-yeah, Sorry.”
Thunder Hoof passed one of the cartons to him. “First, try and eat some more, it really will help.”
As Gale started to eat, Call Sign spoke, “Gale, I promise I will find you something. It’s not fair that my actions have affected you like this, and I will find a way to fix this.”
Call Sign slumped over the table, scattering the papers across it, he was at his wits end. Everywhere he looked Glass Mountain stood like a barrier, blocking off any hope of a job for Gale. Each passing day saw him watching Gale fall deeper and deeper into that hole and he didn’t know how much longer he could take it. Gale hardly left his room these days and was barely eating.
The unicorn was shaken out of his thoughts by a wing on his back, Thunder’s voice cut through the grim thoughts. “Still no luck Sign?”
“Nothing, Glass Mountain has a complete stranglehold on it all. And anything they don’t own just, doesn’t have anything open.” He put his hooves over his muzzle. “I don’t know if I can save him this time Thunder, I did this to him and I can’t see a way forward.”
Thunder pulled the unicorn into his side with a wing. “Hey, come on, you know it’s not your fault. We’re gonna get through this.”
Call Sign pressed his muzzle into Thunder’s shoulder. “I really don’t know Thunder.”
The pegasus held the crying stallion in his forelegs. They sat there for a minute until Thunder spoke again. “I may have a solution,but you might not like it. I know a few folks who are looking to get a station going.”
Sign slowly pulled his face from his husband’s shoulder. “What do you mean? How come I didn’t hear anything about it?”
“Well, it's not exactly going to be legal, but it’s a job. He’ll have a home, there will be folks looking out for him.”
“A Vox station? You know how often those get raided! There’s no way Gale would survive prison.”
“I know. But I know this guy, he’s good, he can keep their tracks hidden. I’d trust him with my life”
“I’d hope so if you’re asking me to trust Gale’s life to him.” He leaned back into Thunder’s side. “But, we don’t really have many options. Tell your friends we’ll talk to Gale about it.”
“Good evening everyone, you're listening to Vox Radio with DJ Hurricane, broadcasting from a brand new secret location. Can’t keep us off the air that easily coppers. It’s coming up on 19:00 and if you’ve been listening to us for long you’ll know I usually find some topic to complain about around this time and tonight’s no different.” There was the thunk of a glass on a table followed by the sound of liquid being poured into it. “That’s right folks, it’s a whiskey night so settle in.”
“Tonight we’re going to be talking about healthcare. Now, back before the sundown Equestria had this thing called universal healthcare, that means that everyone’s medical costs were paid for out of the national budget and that no one got denied care because they couldn’t afford it. After the sundown though the whole system was privatized to ‘save costs’ under Medicart and they’ve been jacking up the prices ever since. A bottle of pills that would have been free before the Sundown now costs me 500 bits and still only costs them 2 bits to make. Trust me I looked it up. And I swear I’m not just salty because I got my refills today.”
“The whole system was deliberately restructured to funnel wealth to the rich and drain the pockets of the rest of us. And if someone should die because they can’t afford it or they shut down a clinic that wasn’t profitable enough, then that’s just ‘unfortunate’. Well murder is what I call it. Anyway, let’s get the next set started. You all know I don’t smoke but a lot of you do so here’s ‘Give the Anarchist a Cigarette’.”
Gale Force walked out of the ‘recording studio’, a bottle of whiskey held in one wing and a glass in the other. “Yes Haki I did take my meds today I was just talking about it on air. Ah, you were listening.” He sighed, rolled his eyes and took another drink from the glass. “No Haki, it was just water. No Haki, I'm not lying. Because it’s part of the act, I’m fine. I promise. I love you too Haki, miss you.”
Gale paced anxiously in the tiny studio as the phone rang. Today had brought a lot of changes, good ones but with them still came worry and doubt. Haki answered on the second ring and his warm voice came through the speaker.
“Gale? Is everything alright? I wasn’t expecting you to call until after the show, did something happen?”
“I’m okay Haki, something did happen but it’s… it’s a good thing. It’s scary but good.” The pegasus took a seat at the console, hooves tapping on the desk “It’s, you remember how Storm Front was into me but couldn’t figure out why?”
“Yeah, you were like, the one stallion she ever showed interest in, what about it?”
“Well, I think I know why now. Turns out I’m not a stallion.”
There was a short silence followed by a loud thunk as Haki replied, “I am such a dumbass, how did I not notice that.”
Gale gave a nervous laugh. “Hey, don’t blame yourself here, not like I noticed either. Not till now anyway.”
“I know but looking back… how the fuck did I not notice. How did you figure it out?”
“That’s a bit of a long story.” She took a deep breath. “There was this weird little ex-fascist, said something about how my ‘song was too feminine to be a stallion’. Couldn’t stop thinking about it after that and fucking, turns out she was right.”
“Your song?”
“Yeah I don’t get it either, something about how I move, I was a bit distracted when she was explaining okay.”
“Fair. Do you know what you’re going to do next?”
“Kinda, that mare apparently knows a few doctors, gonna see if any of them can hook me up with hormones. And if not I know Radar Receiver can get me anything.” She paused and took another breath. “Haki… Do you think you could move out here? I miss you, and I’d really like to have you with me through this. I know it’s a long way and you’ve got your job there and…”
Haki interrupted her with a brief chuckle. “Gale, I've been just waiting for you to ask. I’ll start packing as soon as I get home. I love you. Also isn’t it time for your show?”
“Ah shit.” Gale checked the clock on her phone. “Yeah, I gotta go Haki, I’ll call you again after this okay. I love you.” She hung up the phone and grabbed the headset off the desk.
