The Living Shadow Makes it to Ponyville

SubChapter 2: Onwards to the Hospital

She carried him through the small town of Ponyville, bringing looks of shock and terror from its residents towards the grief-stricken mare. Several ponies trotted up, asking if they could help, but she solemnly ignored them and walked on. It was not long before her friends had taken notice of her burden. Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and even Pinkie Pie soon followed her along, barraging her with questions about what happened how they could help. She outlasted the salvo of inquiries with one remark that she kept repeating through her quivering lips:

“I have to get him to the hospital by myself. I can’t leave him.” This was said in a robotic tone that forced her friends into a puzzled – and worried – silence. Even Pinkie was caught in a state of befuddlement at this sudden change in her behavior. They truly expected her to ask for help from her friends, but something was a little off about her. The six mares continued on to the hospital, all but Fluttershy making nonverbal remarks and assumptions about her behavior.

At the end of the golden yellow dirt path flanked on both sides by decorative trees and shrubbery stands the Ponyville Emergency Hospital. Patients of various shades, ages, and illnesses roamed about inside and outside of the building. These patients had seen the ill escorted here many times before, so their reaction to the sight of a young mare carrying a limp body was nowhere near as surprised as the reception from the townsfolk. Nonetheless, they were still in disgusted awe at the spectacle. The group of six (seven if you count the motionless stallion still atop Fluttershy’s back) marched in grim unison, Fluttershy leading the group for a change instead of Twilight, towards the reception desk. The kindly face of the receptionist stared blankly, first at the group, then at the stallion lying on the yellow mare’s back. She spoke with a calculated, almost monotonous voice.

“How may I help you?” The shamelessly oblivious look in her eyes caused a surge of aggression throughout Rainbow Dash, who had kept at the back of the group. Of all of them, Rainbow Dash felt the most unease about their circumstances.

“Seriously, you’re gonna ask that?” The rainbow-mane mare burst. “This guy clearly needs serious help, and you ask a dumb question like that? Do you have any idea how long it took to get him here?” The receptionist drew a deep breath at this, as if the verbal lashing had created a mirrored sense of aggression in the calm pony. Maintaining her level head, the receptionist answered with the most generic response.

“Please take a seat, the doctor will see him shortly.”

It seemed like hours before the doctor, a kind and stout brown stallion, dressed in a white lab coat and the telltale stethoscope, trotted into the room. He took a look at the body Fluttershy carried and immediately raised a call for nurses to take the limp stallion to the emergency room. Another nurse with grayish pink fur and a neatly brushed pale pink mane escorted the six mares to an examination room just across from where the other nurses had taken Fluttershy’s burden. Fluttershy, believing her task to be completed, let out a sigh of relief.

“Go to him, go to him now. Remember what you need to do…” The voice trailed off into unintelligible echoes inside Fluttershy’s formerly eased mind. How was the voice still in her head? How could her friends not hear it? These thoughts appeared in her head synonymously with the voice. She did not have time to ponder these questions further before the voice ruptured again. This time it came with a violent headache that forced her to kneel in pain.

“Fluttershy!” screamed the others in unison. They swarmed to her side, worried about their friend.

    “Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” asked Twilight.

“Darling, are you alright?” Rarity inquired.

    “Whoa now, you all right there, sugarcube?” asked a most distraught Applejack.

“Fluttershy! Are you okay? Did you fall? Are you hurt? Do you have a headache? What’s wrong?” shouted Pinkie.

    “Hey, Flutters, you all right there?” asked Rainbow Dash, desperately trying to keep cool. Fluttershy struggled to stand back on her hooves.

“Oh, I’m fine. Just a little headache, that’s all… Where did they put him?” Fluttershy’s attempts to change the subject were in vain as the ponies huddled around her. Consumed with the need to help the mysterious pony, she forced herself through the wall of peers, headed out of the exam room, and attempted to open the locked doors to the stranger’s emergency room. Upon finding herself unable to gain access to the room, she sat by the door, tearing up. Her friends found Fluttershy silently weeping outside the doors to the emergency room. All efforts to console her were invariably trumped by the repeated phrase that she kept mumbling while rocking slowly back and forth.

“This is my fault. I did this. I am a bad pony.” This phrase was repeated under her breath for hours – to the dismay of her friends – until the doctor and two nurses adorned in medical masks emerged from the swinging doors of the emergency room. The doctor spoke gravely.

“I’m sorry, we did all we could. He’s conscious, but he’ll die within the hour.” These words hung in the medicated air like stagnant fog watching over an unsuspecting populace. “If you wish to, you may speak to him.” The doctor and his nurses stood aside the doors to let them in.