21st Century Schizoid Man
"Why are these rooms always so white?"
"I couldn't tell you, Brendan. I'm not an architect or designer. Just a simple pony"
"I wasn't asking you, specifically. I was just asking out loud, love."
"Bored already, hun?"
"As bored as you can be when you're strapped to a bed like a fucking animal."
"Well, you DID bite the last nurse's hand pretty deeply, sweetie. The poor dear may need stitches. I'm surprised they didn't muzzle you, either."
Brendan gave a slight tug to the leather straps securing his arms to his sides, as he shifted uncomfortably on the small, firm bed he lay upon.
He was trapped.
Trapped in a white room, with white walls, white ceilings, and white floors, that produced a God awful squeak when the nurses or doctors walked in and out of his room.
At least Marey was here.
The love of his life.
A fucking horse.
Er, pony, as she put it.
It didn't matter what she was.
He loved her.
She loved him.
And everything was right in the world.
Besides the fact that the room Brendan was currently in was part of St. Benedict's Home for the Mentally Unstable.
A nut house, to put it bluntly.
He never could truly figure why his parents put him in this place.
He was rational!
He was sane!
His doctor didn't think so.
He said that he was a schizophrenic. That Marey wasn't real.
Bullshit!
How could his own eyes lie to him?!
How could his senses betray him?!
He could feel her soft, cyan coat and stoke her silky, mane.
Her mane.......
It was gold in color, that shined an otherworldly brilliance when the sun light reflected off it.
Her smile......
That smile could make dying roses bloom again, could make fallen stars rise again.
Her eyes........
They were deep pools of sapphire blue, swirling amid her enchanting face, like the waters of the ocean right through his window.
She had voice that could break the hearts of angels, and a laugh that could warm the souls of Lucifer and his Fallen Brothers in Tartarus.
How could someone so vivid, so wonderful........so beautifully real be a figment of his imagination?
It was impossible!
It was all lies!
They just want her for themselves!
All of them!
Mom, dad, Dr. Bennent!
They couldn't have her!
They tried to give him pills, to make her go away.
He never took them. Even when they'd try to force them down his throat.
He'd spit them out. All over the damn floor.
He'd smirk while they cleaned up his mess.
Then they began trying other methods.
God, they were horrible.
All the poking, prodding, stabbing, and shocking.
Cold water and isolation.
He could hardly bare what they were doing to him.
But through all the pain, he'd open one eye, and there he'd see Marey, smiling at him.
Tears in her eyes.
Telling him to stay strong.
Telling him that she loved him.
And, though it hurt so much, he'd smile and laugh.
Loudly.
Happily!
She loved him.
He loved her.
He stopped counting the days that he had been here.
He didn't care anymore.
Besides the doctors and nurses here, the place wasn't so bad.
It had quite the romantic view around sunset.
The colors of the sky, purple, orange, and red, clashed with the deep blue sea before St. Benedict.
The smell of the sea.
The sound of waves crashing against the crags of the cliffs.
When they would stand in the courtyard when the doctors would let them out, Marey would always talk about how this placed reminded her of her old home.
Equestria, she called it.
A beautiful paradise.
This place could've compared to her home's natural beauty and wonder.
He'd just smile and nod, the two leaning next to each other.
Everything would've been perfect and serene, almost as if he wasn't imprisoned, but on vacation with his beautiful girlfriend.
Or marefriend, so it was called from where she came from, she said.
Why did she come here from her peaceful Equestrian land?
He never asked.
Not once.
She just appeared out of the blue one day.
While he was eating breakfast, no less.
And that day had to been one of the greatest days of his life.
She told him things.
That she'd been watching him for a long time.
That she came to be with him and only him.
To love him.
He knew it was crazy.
She wasn't a human.
She was a horse.
A pony.
From a land where magic was real. Where impossible things happened.
But it never seemed to matter.
He could never fully describe the feelings that he felt when he first met her.
It just felt right.
Like it was destiny.
Almost as if God the Father sent this mare to Earth just for him and him alone.
Oh, if he could move, he would have fallen to his knees and thanked the heavens until nearly keeling over, exhausted.
But he couldn't.
He was strapped to a small, white bed, in a small, white room, all because he bit a nurse earlier today.
She deserved it.
She tried to give him those damn pills again. To take Marey away from him.
He was labeled "dangerous", now. That he had to be kept under watch, until Dr. Bennent and several others could decided whether or not to go through with a correctional surgery to fix his head.
A lobotomy or something.
He didn't care.
For all he knew, these could be his final hours, if not final minutes, if not final moments with the love of his life.
Everything seemed so surreal to him.
So out of body.
"Is this all happening?"
He turned his head to his right, meeting Marey's gaze, as she lay on the small bed next to him.
"Is this real. Are you real? Am I real?"
Marey moved her snout to his face, giving his cheek a loving nuzzle.
He could feel the hairs of her coat brush against his skin.
It gave him goosebumps.
"Did that feel real?" She asked him, her voice soft and soothing.
He nodded his head.
"Yes, it did," He replied," But if I could feel you, why can't anyone else? Why can't they see you? Touch you? Hear you?"
She giggled softly, giving his cheek a soft kiss.
"Because I'm your mare, Brendan. Not theirs."
He could feel tears welling up in his eyes.
"But I want them to see you. Just so they could leave me alone. Leave us alone. I want them to see this beautiful, loving, adorable creature before my eyes. But they can't. And because they can't, they hurt me. They hurt me so much, love. I don't know how much stronger I can be."
Marey's began to water, as she smiled sadly at her friend.
At her lover.
"It doesn't matter what they think or what they say, Brendan," She choked out,"All that matters is what we think. What we feel."
She lifted one of her hooves to his cheek, while he closed his eyes, sobbing softly.
"I know they hurt you. They hurt me, too. But every time I see you bearing it with a laugh and smile, because you love me, I never feel more proud of you. Because I DO love you, you silly human. That's why I'm always with you. Why I'll always be with you."
She continued to stroke his cheek, while tears fell from his eyes.
She kissed his cheek again, tear drops rolling onto her snout.
"Please don't cry, Brendan. I'm here for you. I'm here with you."
"B-But t-they're gonna t-t-take you a-a-away, Marey! T-they're gonna hurt me, maim me, do something horrible to me!"
She shushed him softly, cradling his head between her fore hooves.
"You know that's all rubbish. You know I'm not going anywhere."
Brendan could only smile sadly, as he nuzzled his head against her.
"I want to hug you. I want to hold you so badly, if not for these straps."
Marey giggled again.
God, he loved her giggle.
It made butterflies flutter around his tummy.
"Is that all? These measly little straps? Here, let Marey get those for you."
She released his head from her furry grasp, before moving her fore hooves to the buckle heads of the straps that kept Brendan pinned to the bed.
With a flick of her hoof, the straps came undone, falling limply to the side of the bed.
"Why didn't you do that earlier?" Brendan asked with a cocked eyebrow,
Marey merely chuckled.
"What can I say? You looked sexy all strapped up and helpless."
He flashed her a cheeky grin, blushing madly.
"Now, shush and hold me. I wants me some cuddlin', mister."
He smiled, wrapping his arms around her.
"Aye, aye, ma'am."
Marey nuzzled into his chest, humming softly, wrapping her fore hooves around him, as well.
The two lovers lay in comfortable silence, basking in each other's presence.
Everything felt good.
Everything felt right.
Nothing could spoil the moment.
Not God or the Devil.
Not the screaming from other patients, all put away here for hearing and seeing things they shouldn't.
Not even the straps that once bound him bothered them.
Nothing could spoil this bliss.
This peace.
Except one thing, that is.
The sound of footsteps.
Hard, black shoes against white tile.
"They're coming," Marey said softly.
With melancholy.
Brendan whimpered.
He could here the sound.
Not only were their footsteps coming, but they were wheeling something.
The sounds were heading straight for his room.
He wrapped his arms tighter around his mare.
He could feel the tears leaking again.
"They can't have you, Marey."
He choked back a sob, as he stroked his silky, golden mane.
"I won't let them. They can't have you."
She stroked his back, cooing comfortingly.
"I know you won't let them take me, Brendan. But when they get here, you have to be strong. You have to go with them."
He couldn't believe what he was hearing from her.
The sounds were getting closer.
"B-but, who knows what they'll do, Marey! What if they take you away?! Make you not exist any more?! Do-"
She grabbed his face between her fore hooves, and pulled his lips to hers.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl, as the two lovers melted into each other's contact.
She broke the kiss, staring into his dark, brown eyes.
"I exist," She said,"Say it. Say that I'm real. Say that I exist."
"Y-you, you're real, love. You exist. You always have."
They both could hear the door opening.
The sound of conversation.
The squeak of shoes against tile.
The roll of wheels.
Marey slowly began to dissolve before him.
Her eyes, still the deepest blue, her coat, the color of the sky on a summer day, her mane, still gold as sun light.
"Be strong, Brendan," She said, tears falling from her eyes.
"Make me proud....."
He smiled sadly, wiping his eyes as the footsteps stopped at his bedside.
"I love you," He said to nothing. To everything.
"I love you, too....."
"Hey, who the hell unstrapped the patient?"
