Chapter Three: Outburst

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daisanshou: Yatsuatari

だいさんしょう：やつあたり

第三章：八つ当たり

Chapter Three: Outburst

The Mane Six and Luna walked out of the hospital together, Luna fuming some of her anger.

“Can you believe that child? What rudeness!” she complained.

“Oh, come on, Luna. He’s probably just going through a rough time. His health will improve, and his attitude will get better,” Twilight hoped.

“He’d better. If he wasn’t in his situation, his head would be on a spike in our bedroom!” Luna bellowed, gaining horrified stares from the Mane Six, as well as ponies near the group.

“Princess Luna, I think you’re being too hard on him. Give him a chance!” Fluttershy requested.

“My dear Fluttershy, have no idea what that creature is capable of doing. He could cause mass destruction!”

“How?”

“We can tell. That book gives him power!”

“Hmm…Now that you think about it, when he got really angry and started shouting, the book did start glowing…” she started, but was interrupted by Luna.

“See! It gave him the ability to shoot lightning!”

“I, however, think it was pure coincidence.”

“Ugh! There’s no winning against you, is there!?”

“Again, give him some time, and I can guarantee you that he will change! If you were nearly killed, burnt severely, and had all of your memories stripped from you, you’d probably be in that state of mind, too!” she challenged. Luna stared at her.

“You know what? Fine. We’ll give him some time. But don’t come crying to us when he is burning down your home!” Luna accepted.

“Thank you,” she sighed, rolling her eyes.

“In any case, we must be heading back to Canterlot now. We are anticipating the results of your little…experiment,” Luna bitterly announced. Within a few moments, her chariot arrived, and she stepped in. “Farewell, my little ponies,” she ended. The chariot took off towards Canterlot.

“I can tell that it’s going to be a major problem whenever those two meet,” Rarity thought out loud.

“What kahnd of things could’ve happened to ‘er to make ‘er that negative tow’rds Gash?

“I don’t know. I guess he did make a crack or two about being dumb, but is it really something to want to kill over?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I think he’s hilarious!”

“Of course you would think it’s hilarious. You’re the one who was called smart!” Twilight retorted.

“Girls, let’s not start to argue. We already have enough to deal with at the moment,” Fluttershy requested.

“Hmph,” Twilight huffed. Rainbow Dash grinned.

“Well, I must be getting back to the boutique. I have some dresses to make for very important clientele in Canterlot,” Rarity informed.

“I think my animal friends will be hungry by now, so I should be getting back home soon,” Fluttershy said.

“Big McIntosh has been fillin’ in fer me fer the past few hours, so Ah should be getting’ back to Sweet Apple Acres,” Applejack continued.

“I think I can smell the cupcakes from here!” Pinkie excitedly stated.

“I’m gonna go back to practicing my moves!” Rainbow Dash announced.

“And I have a report to write for Princess Celestia!” Twilight avowed.

“Alright. See y’all later!” Applejack yelled. The group split up, each other going to their own destinations.

Twilight had arrived back to the library, and she was writing a message on a scroll, the report to Princess Celestia.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

At the hospital, we met the young child, who Princess Luna called a ‘Humen,’ or ‘Human,’ of which we have named ‘Gash.’ During the entire time that we were there, Luna seemed to be very aggressive and negative towards this creature, without any provocation. When she first saw him, she even picked him up and threw him against a wall using levitation. After this, Gash got up and shouted some words in a foreign language out of anger, and after he shouted one word in particular, his red book glowed, and he released a wave of electricity, striking her and leaving him momentarily unconscious. While I cannot be sure, due to the chance of coincidence, I theorize the book is a spellbook of sorts, and that Gash has the power to release its magical properties in the form of a bolt of lightning.

After he woke up, I used a translation spell so that we could understand him and vice versa. Soon after, we each introduced ourselves. In introducing himself, we learned a shocking fact – he has high-level amnesia. He claims to have forgotten his entire past. This is when we learned he couldn’t remember his name, and named him Gash, after some speculation from the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash, about a long gash right above his nose. Unfortunately, we had to leave immediately after this, so we couldn’t learn anything else about him.

When we first met him, we couldn’t understand his personality very well, as we couldn’t understand him, and the incident with Princess Luna had just occurred. However, upon translating him, it became very apparent that he has a rude, snooty attitude, even to the point of calling I and Princess Luna dumb after asking questions. He seems to be intelligent, as he could easily find fallacies in our statements, and use them to his advantage.

Overall, I would say that this first meeting was a bit of a rude awakening. I can’t tell for sure if it will always be like this when talking with him–if this is just caused by the stress of his situation, or if he is normally in this state of mind-but it is upsetting to see him in this kind of state.

Beneath is a picture of the red book.

I am looking forward to your analysis.

Yours, Twilight Sparkle”

“Okay, Spike! Send it off!” she directed. He sent it off with a breath of fire.

Gash had fallen asleep after eating, and was awoken many hours later by a nurse.

“Excuse me?” she said.

“Yes? What is it?”

“I’m here to give you a bath.”

“A bath?”

“You know, to get all the blood off and to clean the wounds.”

“I know what a bath is. Am I going to be fully unclothed?”

“Yes.”

“Uh…” he began, awkwardly, not knowing how to respond. “I’d rather not…”

“I’m sorry, but it is Equestrian law that hospital patients in intensive care are given daily baths. So in other words, you have to,” she informed. He sighed.

“This officially sucks,” he complained, trailing the word “sucks.”

“It’ll take just a few minutes. Besides, you’re almost fully unclothed anyway,” she revealed. He looked under his sheets, and his eyes widened when he realized she was right. The only things he was wearing were bandages that were covering wounds, what few scraps of clothing that remained from when he first arrived and a towel wrapped around his waist.

“How did I not notice this? And why did you not put me in some sort of hospital garments?”

“Well, you were so badly hurt that we couldn’t risk having to move your limbs. And I doubt we have any kind of clothing that would fit to your body type,” she explained.

“You’re smart. I like that,” he complimented. She smiled.

“It’s what I was hired for. Aside from that, let’s get your bath going.”

“…Alright.”

The mare helped him off of the bed. He slipped and fell, rolling a few times until he found his head crashing into a wall.

“Oh my goodness! Are you alright?” she asked, concerned.

“Oh yeah. I’m just dandy,” he sarcastically remarked, using the wall as support to stand up.

“Well, good,” she said. He stared at her.

“I was being sarcastic.”

‘I guess the intelligence was merely temporary.’

“Oh. In any case, let’s get you to the bathing room,” she said, holding out a hoof.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“Let me help you.”

“I don’t need your help! I can walk on my own! Do I really look that weak to you!?” he shouted. She looked slightly hurt.

“S-sorry for trying,” she stammered. They both stood there for a good minute in awkward silence, not looking at each other. “Let’s keep going.”

The two walked through the hallway and into a long corridor that stretched from one end of the building to the other. Gash walked with a slight limp. About halfway down the tunnel-like structure, the mare led him into a room filled with many tubs and shower heads, laid out on the floor in a 3x4 grid. She led him to one of the tubs in the back right corner.

“Alright. I’ll take your bandages and towel off now,” she said.

Gash still looked very uncomfortable, and was hesitant to be naked in front of her. But alas, he took the towel, scraps and bandages off. The nurse levitated the rubbish over into a trash can and put them in. Gash stepped into the tub and sat down, with his legs folded.

“Alright. I’m going to start by…” she started, but was interrupted.

“By giving be a full body rinse, I know. Let’s just get this over with, please,” he begged.

Without saying any more words, she pulled the shower curtain across the length of the tub, and started the shower head. He let the warm water flow over his body, dripping along the scars that lined his body. Once he was completely wet, she turned the shower off and levitated a bar of soap and rubbed it along his body, cleaning the wounds. After washing his body, she lathered shampoo in his hair. Afterwards, she turned the shower back on, and to her surprise, all of the blood came off in a few layers, revealing not gashes or scars, but mere scratches. Her eyes widened.

“Whoa…” she said.

“Ah…” he happily moaned, his eyes closing, as the sensation of having clean skin aroused his senses. “That’s better.”

“H-How…wha…?” she stammered in pure shock.

“That feels nice. Blood creates such a horrible feeling.”

“All of it…came off…and no gashes or scars, either…” she said, amazed.

“I guess that means we’re done,” he said, stepping out of the tub. He took the towel and dried off his hair, then his arms and body, around his manly area, down his legs, and finally his back. He tied the towel around his waist, and turned back around. He saw her staring back at him, so he returned the stare.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” he asked,

“That’s the thing. The only major injury you have now is that gash on your forehead. All the rest are scratches.”

“That means the shower did what it was supposed to do.”

“I suppose so. So now that you’re clean, let’s get you back to your room so you can eat and get back to sleep,” she insisted. He sighed and followed her back to his room.

“Before I forget, the bathroom is that room right over there,” she said pointing to a door on the wall adjacent to the bed.

She left the room, and he, noticing the bloody sheets still on his bed, he stripped them. While getting a new spread, he felt his frustration turning to anger.

‘Why do these horses think I need so much help? I’ve got hands to use and feet to walk on,’ he thought. He started pulling harder on the spread. ‘Damn it, they think I’m weak! They think that just because I was a little damaged and that I'm a child that I was completely helpless! Why do they assume that I’m so damn weak? *Why!?*’ he mused.

He ripped the sheets in his rage. The nurse walked back in, and saw that his body had a small red glow to it, as well as the torn sheets. She showed a clear sense of fear, but decided to speak anyway.

“A-Are you alright?” is all she could ask. He looked at her, with daggers glaring in his eyes, and the aura intensified.

Red lines had formed, starting at the bottoms of his eyes and ended at the bottom of his face. Out of these red lines were lightning bolts that shot out all over his face. Some of his teeth had turned into fangs, and his hair was standing straight up, as if there was a big fan underneath him to blow it upwards. His fingernails had turned into sharp claws.

“Do I look like I'm alright!?” he screamed. His voice sounded like there were two voices put together, one medium sounding and one low, as if it was demonic. She backed against the wall, petrified. “All of you horses have done nothing but look down on me the entire time I’ve been here! Why do you assume that I’m weak!? All of you!? You think that just because I have a few scratches that I’m helpless!”

“I-I-I was o-only trying t-to h-help…” she stammered before he interrupted.

“Do I look like I want your help!?” he bellowed, causing her to start crying. A bolt of lightning struck outside of the hospital window as he said that.

She said nothing more before she galloped out of the room and down the hall, sobbing. Doctors and nurses from other rooms took gazes from out of their rooms to see the broken down mare running off, out the front doors of the hospital.

“What just happened?” one doctor asked.

“I have no clue. There was quite a ruckus in that room in the back. Should we go look?” another quizzed.

“Nah. It seemed to have gotten pretty heated in there, so I think we need to wait for it to cool off,” a final one suggested. Most of the doctors and nurses shrugged before heading back into their rooms.

Gash put on a new spread and sheet before climbing onto the bed. He mumbled something to himself before closing his eyes and tried to fall asleep.

“And now I really need to use the bathroom. Good thing that mule told me it was that room,” he said to himself, dropping off of the bed and walking into the room. He did his business and flushed the toilet, and went to wash his hands. After doing so, he looked in the mirror.

He had dark brown, almost black, spiky hair that covered most of his forehead, parting slightly in the left. It drooped about halfway down his neck in the back, and slightly covered his ears. He had a small nose in the middle of his face, with his slightly rounded mouth hanging right below it. Right above his nose was the gash of which he was named after. His eyes were like half-circles, hazel-yellow and somewhat large, and were positioned diagonal to his nose, spread slightly. He had a round chin that lead down to his neck and somewhat slender frame. Down to where the mirror cut off, he had a flat chest, but as he looked down, his belly curved slightly outwards. He had faintly skinny legs and arms, both of which had scratches running down them. He had small hands and feet, with the palm of his left hand being burnt.

Gash walked back into the room and laid back down on the bed. He looked up at a clock on the wall, and it read 10:37. He got into a comfortable position on his side and dozed off.

Meanwhile, the Mane Six had gathered at the Golden Oaks Library after a hard day’s work. At the same time that Gash was having his outburst, his book was showing odd behavior. The entire book was glowing, but one page in particular had shined.

“What’s happening?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s shining!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Is it dangerous?” Applejack quizzed.

“I don’t know what’s going on. Let me open it,” Twilight answered, levitating the book over to her. She flipped it open to a page near the front of the book. On the right page, there were a few red lines pulsating with light, and she also noticed red lines on the left side of the page as well, near the top. The other text was sea-blue.

“These characters…they’re glowing. What does it mean?” she asked. “I can’t read any of these. Can any of you read them?” she inquired, passing the book to Rarity. Lightning struck outside, and the thunder boomed.

“Unfortunately, I can’t,” she revealed, levitating it to Pinkie Pie.

“That’s a big no-no for me!” she shouted, throwing it to Applejack.

“Ah can’t read this. I do notice that there's more of these red words on the other page, though. Maybe they're related,” she noted, handing it over to Fluttershy.

“I can’t understand what this says. I’m sorry,” she whispered, giving it to Rainbow Dash.

“These letters are all chicken-scratch to me,” she finished, flinging it back to Twilight.

“Hmm…these characters are strange, and it happened so suddenly. Do you think this might be connected to Gash in any way?”

“Possibly. It is his book, anyway,” Rarity wondered. “It makes sense, I suppose,” she added.

“I guess that we can ask him about it the next time we see him,” Rainbow Dash suggested. The group agreed on this. Applejack looked at the time. It was 10:37.

“Well, lookie how fast tahme has gone bah. Ah think it’s tahme for me to get home and hit the hay,” she said, yawning. This earned a collective yawn from the group.

“I guess that it is getting pretty late,” Fluttershy added. The group stood up and walked out the front door, stopping for a moment in front of the door. Just then, a mare galloped by, sobbing. It was raining now.

“Hey! You alright?” Rainbow Dash shouted, earning exactly no attention from the mare as she continued on. “Huh.”

“I wonder what happened to her?” Pinkie thought.

“Hmm…I can’t say. I hope it gets better for her, though,” Rarity stated. The group yawned once again.

"So, girls, I think that we should go to the hospital at around two o' clock tomorrow afternoon to go check up on Gash. What do you say?" Fluttershy requested. The others nodded.

"Sounds like a plan!" Twilight said. “Well, I’ll see you girls later. Good night!” she said, walking back inside.

“Night!” the collective shouted, each going towards their homes to get a good night's sleep.

Twilight walked up the stairs to the second story and saw Spike had already fallen asleep, laying in his basket with his favorite blanket. She smiled, walking over to him and softly nuzzling him, before walking to her own bed and jumping into it. She set the book down on the table next to her and got cozy on the sheets. She covered herself and closed her eyes, falling asleep shortly afterward.