Chapter Two: A Rude Awakening

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Dainishou: Burei na Kanki

だいにしょう：ぶれいなかんき

第二章：無礼な喚起

Chapter Two: A Rude Awakening

Twilight was galloping to the hospital, and about halfway there, Spike was feeling a message from the princess coming on.

“Twilight, stop for a moment, please,” he requested. She came to a stop, and he burped out the scroll, which landed on the ground in front of Twilight. She levitated it up and opened it.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

While I myself cannot make it due to royal business, Princess Luna will be joining you. She should be arriving at the hospital shortly. I hope that all goes well when this child you speak of. I am anticipating the results.

As for the book, I would like you to send me a picture or drawing of what it looks like. While I don’t think I will, I may be able to find others like it in the magic library.

Yours, Princess Celestia”

“I guess that means we’ll meet Luna at the hospital then,” Spike inferred.

“I think you’re right. Anyway, let’s continue onward.”

The other five were now wondering in amazement as to how the child could have possibly survived through his injuries.

“It really is amazing. Anypony I know would’ve died from that level of scarring,” Rarity stated.

“I know, right? I didn’t see a single place on his body that didn’t have fruit punch all over it!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Fruit…punch…?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t like the thought of blood, so I imagine its fruit punch instead! Really…dark, gooey, hot, sticky fruit punch…” she trailed off, her mane and tail deflating into a flat state.

“Uh…Are y’okay, Pinkie?”

“Mhm…”she said, looking slightly depressed.

“If ya say so.”

“How are you all doing in here?” A voice said from the doorway. A nurse walked into the room.

“I’m alright,” Rarity replied.

“Ah’ll be fahne,” Applejack answered.

“I’m good,” Rainbow Dash reposted.

“I’m alright,” Fluttershy rejoindered. During this time, Pinkie Pie still remained silent.

“You don’t look so good,” the nurse informed Pinkie. “Would you like some water?”

“That would be terrific,” she boldly replied.

“Alright. I’ll be back in just a moment,” she stated, walking back out. She returned a few moments later with a large glass of iced water.

“Thank you,” she accepted. She took quick chugs of the liquid and found herself refreshed. “That’s really good water!” she said, her mane inflating. She kept gulping down the liquid at a speedy rate.

“You should slow down. If you drink too much in a short amount of time, your eyes will explode!” Rainbow Dash shouted, causing Pinkie to do a spit-take.

“Omigosh, really?!”

“No. I had you there for a second, though!” Rainbow answered, laughing. The others chuckled at the somewhat morbid humor.

“Nn…un…” a muffled voice shouted. The group looked up to the bed, and noticed the child starting to struggle.

“Call me shocked as a worm struck bah lightning, he’s waking up!” Applejack exclaimed.

Twilight had just arrived at the entrance of the hospital, about to walk in, when a voice from the sky interrupted her.

“Halt, Twilight Sparkle!” the voice boomed. Twilight turned around and looked up to see a carriage.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight yelled.

“We have received word from our sister that a child of an unknown species has crashed upon the grass of the fields,” she bellowed, stepping off her carriage.

“That would be correct. I’m glad you could make it,” she replied, bowing.

“Do you know anything of this creature?”

“Unfortunately, not. The only thing I know is that it was almost dead when we found it, and that it had a strange red book.”

“Oh yes. Do you have the book with you right now?”

“I do,”

“Please, allow us to see.”

Spike lifted the book up, and Luna levitated it. She opened it.

“Hmm…We’ve never seen characters like this before. Maybe it’s the language that child reads and writes?”

“Possibly. I wouldn’t doubt it. Princess Celestia asked me to make a drawing of the front cover and send it to her, so maybe she’ll know something about it.”

“Alright. Shall we head in?”

“Let’s.”

The two mares headed inside, and walked up to the receptionist counter. She looked up.

“Good morning, how may I help y-“ she began to say, but saw Luna.

“N-N-Nightmare M-Moon?” she stammered, stepping back. Luna sighed at this, and Twilight rolled her eyes.

“No, this is Princess Luna. You know, Princess Celestia’s sister?” Twilight attempted to clarify.

“Uh…yes,” the mare stuttered. “My apologies, Princess,” she finished, bowing low, her head behind the counter.

“’Tis fine. We understand. Anyway, we are here about the child that was brought in earlier. May we go to see it?”

“Of course. Right this way,” she said, bringing the two mares to the room the others were in. “Here we are. He is in intensive care, so take caution around him, please,” she instructed.

“Of course. Thank you!” Twilight replied. The two walked into the room.

“We’re here!” Twilight announced.

“Good afternoon, our loyal subjects,” Luna introduced. The group looked at them, and bowed their heads low.

“Ah didn’t think you’d be joinin’ us, Princess Luna. Ah thought Princess Celestia was comin’,” Applejack quizzed.

“Unfortunately, she had royal business to take care of at the moment, so she sent us.”

“Oh.”

“Nn…uh…” the child stirred again. Luna finally turned to face the creature, and her eyes widened.

“What is a human doing here!?” Luna shouted, her horn flaring, pointing at the child.

“You know what it is?” Twilight asked.

“Of course I do! It’s the absolute worst creature that could’ve ever landed here!” she screamed.

“Nn…Ah!” he yelled out, opening his eyes as wide as he could. The first thing he saw was Luna’s glowing horn, pointed at his neck. He put one of his hands to his head.

“Uu…Nani wo okotta? Atama ga itai.”

(“Ooh…What happened? My head hurts.”)

“Silence!” Luna shouted. The child raised his brow at her quick hostility.

“Omae wa dare?” he asked.

(“Who are you?”)

“I said ‘Silence!” she cried out, putting her horn up to his neck.

“Kore wa nani!?”

(“What is this!?”)

“Princess Luna, what are you doing!? Stop!” Twilight ordered.

“No! This is a pest that must be exterminated!” she shouted, levitating the child off of the bed, disconnecting him from all of the machines and fluid sacks. She flung him into the wall, very hard, and jumped back to the other end of the room. He slowly stood up, using the wall as support.

“Ore wa onore shika shiranai sa! Soshite, 'ore to fuzakerareru’ to omou!?” he yelled.

(I don’t even know you, and you think you can mess with me!?”)

He ran towards her, and the book on the table shimmered red. This caught Twilight’s attention, but she quickly looked back at the creature, a human, as he revved up his fist.

“Kitanai ama! Fuzakeru na!” he screamed.

(You dirty bitch! Don't screw with me!”)

When he yelled that, the book glowed brighter. His eyes turned completely yellow and his fist opened.  It shot out a large bolt of golden electricity, hitting Luna directly in the front, sending her flying back through the wall behind her, and out into an alleyway. The force of the attack pushed him onto his backside, unconscious. This gained the attention of some nurses, who rushed into the room.

“What happened in here!?” she asked. There was no time for anypony to reply, as Luna jumped back into the room through the large, brand-new hole in the wall.

“Okay, ENOUGH!” Twilight shouted, using a spell to keep Luna away from the child. The nurse slowly backed out of the room.

“Do you understand now why this child needs to be sent to the next world!?” Luna roared.

“Well, to be fair to the child, you did threaten and attack him first, and without reason,” Rarity replied.

“Yeah, no offence, but you had that one coming, princess,” Rainbow Dash added.

“Rarity, could you levitate him back onto the bed and reconnect him?” Twilight requested.

“Of course,” she complied.

“How could you possibly side with that monster!?” Luna called at the top of her voice.

“Well, for one, we don’t know ‘im, or anythin’ about ‘im. And for two, that was completely unjust of you to do that, Luna,” Applejack defended.

“Yeah, you’re just being a real meanie-pants to him!” Pinkie continued.

“He didn’t deserve that one bit,” Fluttershy finished.

Surprised to hear that all of the Mane Six were against her in this situation, she dropped to the floor and hung her head in guilt and shame. The group paid no more attention to her at the moment, giving mind only to the damaged child.

“Is he alright?” Rainbow Dash dumbly asked.

“Ah think ‘e’s just unconscious fer now,” Applejack replied. To her shock, the child opened his eyes soon after she said that.

“Never mahnd. ‘e’s still awake,” she retorted, the group looking back to him.

“Sorry about that, little one. Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, softly stroking his red, blood-soaked hair with a forehoof.

“Wakarirarenai yo,” he replied.

(“I can’t understand you, you know.”)

“I don’t think he understands us, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, walking up to him. “I know a translation spell, so I can cast that on him to make him able to speak and understand our language. The only downside is that it will give him slight amnesia, making him forget events that happened within the last couple hours or so,” she finished, her horn slightly lighting up. The child went to intercept it, thinking it was an offence.

“Don’t worry, this won’t hurt a bit,” she said in a gentle tone, softly batting his hand away. He just stared at her as she touched her horn to his forehead. He went unconscious.

The child opened his eyes and saw the large red book in front of him. It opened, releasing a huge wave of text around him. It entered his body from multiple points, and filled his head with knowledge of the Equestrian language. He suddenly found himself able to form words and phrases and soon after, sentences in his mind.

“What…is…happening…to…me?” he thought. To his surprise his thoughts came out as a visual phrase, the words appearing in front of him, as if there was a giant piece of paper before him. He experimented some more by asking questions.

“Where am I? What am I? What am I doing?” he asked. The same thing as before happened.

“Okay, this is weird. Is anybody there?” he shouted. For a while, no reply came. He looked around for a few minutes, unsure of what to do.

“He-llllllllllllloooooooo?” he drew out from boredom.

Suddenly, there was a flash of red light, and the book was shining. He turned towards it, and a large blast of energy was shot towards him. He tried to run, but found that he was trapped in place. The energy soon consumed him, and he felt an odd sensation. He closed his eyes, the realm around him disappearing.

The child awakened after about five minutes. He looked around the room, and saw the six ponies. The translation spell, having given him more amnesia, caused him to forget everything that had happened since he first woke up.

“Uh…Hello? Can you understand me?” Twilight asked him.

“Uh…Yeah?” he replied.

“Great! The spell worked!”

“Um…Okay. Where am I?”

“You are in the Ponyville hospital, in Equestria.”

“I have no clue where that is,” he remarked.

“Well, you don’t appear to be from here, so it’s only natural that you don’t know where this is,” she stated.

‘Way to point out the obvious…’ he thought.

“So, are you alright?” she asked. He looked at her with a blank stare for a moment.

“You’re pretty dumb, aren’t you?” he stated, emphasizing the word "dumb."

“What?”

“Well, I’m in a hospital, with bandages all over my body, connected to a cardiac monitor, being given intravenous therapy; and I’m surrounded by multicolor horses capable of speech and cognition. Given these facts, I found it idiotic that you asked me the question ‘Are you alright,’” he clarified.

“Well, I guess that’s true.”

“And plus, he did come out of the sky from a lightning bolt, wearing rags and surrounded by fire, burnt nearly to a crisp,” Rainbow Dash added. The child pointed at Rainbow Dash.

“She’s smarter than you are,” he said, pointing back at Twilight. Rainbow Dash stood proud when she heard that, chuckling. The others stared at the child from the insult.

“Why, I never…” Twilight started, but the child interrupted.

“Anyway, who are all of you?” he asked. There was a brief pause before Twilight started answering.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m the librarian here in Ponyville,” the lavender unicorn reluctantly replied. She had a dark purple mane and tail, with pink and violet highlights. She had purple irises, and on her flank was a large pink star with six smaller white stars around them.

‘She seems to be an obviously smart person, who likes to rub her knowledge in others' faces,’ the child thought.

“I’m Pinkie Pie! If you need a party, I’m the one to call!” the pink earth pony continued, shooting a confetti popper out of seemingly nowhere. She was pink all over, with a darker pink mane and tail that was very poofy. Her irises were light blue, and she had three balloons, a blue, a yellow, and then another blue, on her flank.

‘I can tell that she’s going to be the most annoying out of the entire group. She’s clearly insane.’

“You can call me Rainbow Dash! The fastest Pegasus in Ponyville! No, all of Equestria!” the cyan Pegasus boasted. She had a rainbow colored mane and tail. With magenta irises, there was a cloud with a blue, yellow, and red lightning bolt shooting out of it plastered on her backside.

‘Ah, the smart one. She seems to be full of herself. A cocky and arrogant person, probably chock full of stupid little catch phrases.’

“I am Rarity, and I am the fashionista of Ponyville, ” the alabaster unicorn carried on. Her accent was slightly English. She had a royal purple mane and tail, both of which were very curly near the tips. Her eyes were a slightly darker blue than Pinkie Pie, and there were three turquoise diamonds on her flank. The diamonds had small rings in the center, and there were eight lines connecting from the rings to the outside of the diamonds

‘She’s a fashionista? I can’t wait to see how ugly and ragged the clothes that she makes are.’

“Mah name is Applejack. Ah run the apple farm rahght outsahde of Ponyville, alongsahde mah Granny Smith and mah brother Big McIntosh,” the orange earth pony sustained. She had a clear Southern accent. Her mane and tail were light orange, almost yellow, and were tied up in pony-tails. She had light green irises and there were three apples on her flank. The child yawned.

‘Talk about stereotypical.’

“And I’m Fluttershy…” the yellow Pegasus said, very softly, to the point where the child couldn’t make it out.

“What, now?”

“It’s Fluttershy…” she repeated, slightly louder.

“Fluttershy?” he asked to clarify.

“Mhm…” she reassured. She had a pink mane and tail, as well as turquoise eyes. On her flank were three pink-winged and blue bodied butterflies, in a triangular pattern.

‘Someone, get her a damn loudspeaker. One that goes up to 1.21 jigawatts.’

“And we,” started Luna, who had got up and was walking toward the bed, ”are Luna, princess of the night. We command the moon to come forth once the sun has set, bringing night,” the dark blue Alicorn stated.. Her mane and tail were a lighter shade of blue, and had an ethereal effect to them, flowing, with no wind. She also had turquoise irises. She was wearing light blue shoes on her hooves, and a black crown on her head. Around her neck was a black garb with a crescent moon on it. Her flank also had a black background with small splotches surrounding it, and a white crescent moon.

‘She controls the moon? Is she some sort of goddess? She claims to be a princess, so maybe that has to do with it…and she speaks in the third person. Why does she do that? There is a first person for a reason!’

“And what about him?” the child said, pointing at Spike. Twilight turned her body to show his face.

“My name’s Spike. I help Twilight around the library. I’m a dragon. ” the purple dragon added from atop Twilight’s back. He was completely purple, except for where his mouth was, and down his belly and his tail. He had green eyes, and his ears were also a pale-green. He had lime-green scales running down from his forehead to the tip of his tail, which had a spear-like tip. His hands had four claws, and his feet had three toes. There were also two small fangs coming from his mouth.

“A dragon? The kind that breathes fire?” the child asked.

“That’s right,” Spike grinningly replied.

“That’s so cool!” the child raved. Spike smiled.

‘That’s more like it. Maybe we can go burn down some villages or something sometime’ he thought, grinning.

“And what is your name?” Twilight asked. The child thought for a good minute, the others just staring at him, waiting.

“Well?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I…don’t know.”

“You…don’t know? What do you mean ‘I don’t know?’” Luna asked. He had a good ‘-_-‘ face.

“You’re pretty dumb, aren’t you?”

A vein burst in her forehead. She glared at him, her mouth gaping wide at his insolence. She didn’t know how to respond to this question. She smirked slightly.

“You think I’m dumb?” she asked,

“In the sense that you can’t process a simple statement, yes. I think you are dumb.”

“Hmm…are you really in a position to be calling anypony here ‘dumb?’ You can’t even remember your own name!” she retorted.

“I can’t remember anything,” he backfired. They stared at him.

“Nothing?”

“Yup.”

“Twilight, how much amnesia did that translation spell give him?”

“It should’ve only been a couple hours worth of memory.”

“Based off that knowledge, he must have amnesia from another source.”

“Ah wonder what could’ve caused that level of amnesia…” Applejack pondered.

“Do you have any ideas, Princess Luna?”

“Not a clue.”

“Hmm…” Twilight wondered.

“Well, we’re gonna need to call him something, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That’s right. What could we call him?” Rarity added.

“How about ‘Hairless Ape Creature?’” Pinkie suggested.

“Or maybe ‘Shorty?’” Twilight furthered.

“What about ‘Gash?’” Rainbow recommended.

“’Gash?’” Twilight wondered.

“Yeah. The most noticeable thing about him is the gash on his forehead, so why not name him after that?”

“I like that name,” the child agreed.

“So, ‘Gash’ it is, I suppose,” Twilight sealed.

“I’m sorry, everypony, but you have to leave soon so that we can feed him and tend to his injuries further,” the nurse from earlier said, walking back into the room. “Have the issues from earlier resolved yet?” she awkwardly asked.

“Temporarily,” Luna replied.

“Wonderful.”

“I guess that means it’s time for us to leave for now,” Pinkie restated. The group turned around to the door and exited. Twilight levitated the red book, which Spike caught. Fluttershy remained by the door. She turned around.

“When is the next time we’ll be able to come back?” she asked the nurse.

“It will be tomorrow at the earliest. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. We’ll see you later, Gash,” she said, waving and smiling, turning back around.

“Bye,” he said, waving back, giving his best fake smile. She exited the room.

‘Finally, those annoying ponies left. Now I might actually be able to get some peace and quiet. What is the deal with them? They all seemed so…cheery, happy. Disgusting. How could they live like that, constantly? It makes me feel like I could throw up rainbows’ he thought, trying to sit up.

“It’s feeding time,” the nurse said. He fell back.

'Damn everything…’