Heartfire's Tale: Flashbacks and Nightmares (Part 1)

Heartfire woke up several hours later, the light of dawn slowly breaking the horizon. He sat up, rubbing his head, the hangover starting to kick in. It felt as if Rainbow Dash was kicking thunder clouds in his head, and it was splitting his skull. He looked around the room, and to his surprise, saw five different ponies sleeping in his room. He recognized the blue pony with lemonade yellow hair, laying on the love-seat with his fillyfriend. She was tan, with a thick, midnight black mane. She looked up at Heartfire as he looked over the room and gave him a smile.

He remembered Joanna, the purple pegasus who had carried him home. He gave her a weak smile, then realized she was still asleep. It was hard to tell with her goggles on. As he continued to look around, he noticed the pony in the bed next to him, and smiled. She was a sky blue pegasus, with a dark brown mane that flowed gracefully down the side of her face. It had a streak of bright blue that ran through it, bringing bright color to the chocolate brown mane.

As he got up, he almost tripped over the last pony, though there was no way he could have missed him. He was a large, tan, bulky pony. No, pony wasn't the word. Stallion was more the word. He was huge, almost as tall as Heartfire, and bulky. He looked like he ate iron for breakfast, whole. As he neared the door, he looked back at the ponies in the room with a confused look on his face. Why were they here? How did they get here? Three of them weren't even pegasi, and even Heartfire couldn't lift Iron Coat's bulk. He trotted down the hall, pondering the situation, until he reached the living room. He looked up, and knew how they had gotten there. On the couch sat a worried princess.

"L-Luna!?"

The princess jumped at the sound of his voice, then rushed over to him.

"Oh my goodness! Are you alright? Joanna came and got me the second she had found you, and I gathered your friends!" She hugged him, squeezing the air out of him. He hugged her back just so she'd let go.

"Fucking... hell... Luna... take it easy!" he gasped, catching his breath. "I'm fine, I just..." he hesitated, searching for the words, "I just went for a walk last night."

Luna looked at him with a worrisome look on her face. "Joanna said she found you covered in scratches, with your leg cut to pieces." She looked down at his bandaged leg, and so did he. Only now did he notice the throbbing.

"Yeah, I'm fine, really."

"Did you..." She hesitated, "Did you go back there?"

He looked down at his hooves, a sorrowful look on his face.

"Yeah, I did."

...

Heartfire hurried onward, carrying the injured filly on his back.

"Dammit Over-Lap! You should have gotten more practice before trying to show off! You're just like Tom!"

He rushed the unconscious filly to the local infirmary. As he entered the doors, the nurses hurriedly took Over-Lap from him.

"What happened!" came a cry from behind him. He turned to see Scootaloo standing behind him, a worried look darkening her features.

"She was trying to show me a loop, but she flew out of control. She crashed into me. I came out fine, but as for her..." he tossed the filly a sorrowful look. "Not so much."

"Well, hopefully the damage isn't too extensive. I'd hate to see her sent to the surface permanently."

Heartfire shuddered. "Yeah..."

They waited for the nurse to come to them.

"Nurse Redheart! How is she?"

The nurse smiled at his concern. "She's fine, she just suffered a broken wing. She'll be out in a week."

Heartfire relaxed, and Scootaloo turned him towards the door. "Let's go," she said, "she'll be fine. There's nothing more we can do. You did great," she reassured him with a smile, "if I ever get hurt, I hope you're around, ya big softie!"

He gave her a smile. "Thanks Scoots. I'm glad I got her here. I freaked out when she was knocked unconscious. I thought the worst."

"Well, thankfully it didn't come to that."

"Yeah..."

"Alright, now, let's get you home. You need to rest up for tomorrow, and I know the best way to help you relax."

They trotted toward Heartfire's place, because neither of them felt like flying at that moment.

...

Heartfire sat on his living room couch, alone, as his friends woke up and came into the room. Luna had left hours ago due to her royal duties, so Heartfire made himself some tea and sat alone in the living room, sifting through his thoughts.

The first one to enter the room was Silent Song. She gave him a smile as she drifted in, her wings lightly fluttering. He offered her a mug of tea, and when she declined, a mug of cocoa. She happily took the cocoa, sitting down near him and sipping happily.

Next were Artsy and Joe, who trotted into the room together. Ever since he had met them, he knew they'd be together, but only recently had they made it official. They always looked so cute together, always by each other's sides. They weren't the mushy type either, which is probably why Heartfire never minded hanging out with them.

About thirty minutes later, in trotted Iron Coat with Joanna on his back. She had removed her goggles and was rubbing her eyes, having just woken up. Iron Coat didn't even seem to notice she was on his back, even though she kept shifting around. He plopped down on the floor next to Heartfire, and Joanna slid off onto the carpet.

"Alright, now, why are you all here?" Heartfire looked around the room, receiving looks from everypony there.

"Isn't it obvious?" Artsy spoke up first, "We're worried about you. When Joanna and Luna told Joe and I that they had found you cut up, passed out drunk in a gutter, I demanded we were brought here. Iron saw us and demanded to come too, and Silent was already on her way here. She seems to just know when you're in distress." She smiled at Silent, who blushed in return.

"Yeah, scrawny. What's been going on with you lately? Last time I saw you like this, I had to save you from a drunk unicorn with a broken bottle."

Everypony looked at Heartfire, who thought out his next words carefully.

"My past has been haunting me recently. I..." He hesitated. "I thought I could fight it back by drinking it away, but it still seems to burn itself into my memory. I think... I think it's trying to tell me something, like SHE is trying to tell me something."

Joe looked at him. "Who?"

"Scootaloo." It came from Silent, who was staring at the ground. "His fillyfriend." She spat out the last word, looking at him.

He met her look with a glare. "She's not my fillyfriend. Never was. We were just... close." He looked down at his hooves, the memories of the orange mare flooding into his mind. "I think... I think she knew something, and left me clues in our time together. That's why my memories are fighting my actions. No matter what I do, no matter how much I drink, I can't fight them back. I have to find out what it means."

Everypony just looked at him, until a voice spoke up from behind Iron Coat. "We're with you." Iron Coat stood up and moved, revealing a now standing Joanna. "You're our friend. I may believe the idea of Scoots leaving hints behind to be ridiculous, but there's definitely something there. We're your friends, and we're going to help you figure this out, together." The other ponies nodded their agreement, and Joanna trotted over to Heartfire, holding out a hoof. Heartfire smiled took her hoof, standing up. "Thanks guys."

Joe patted him on the back, grinning widely. "Of course. We're your friends!"

Artsy came around Joe and poked Heartfire in the side. "Aren't we?"

Heartfire couldn't help but smile wider. "Absolutely! I love you guys!" He turned to Silent, who was still sitting where she was before. She looked at him and nodded in agreement. "We're with you. I'm with you. We'll do this, together." Heartfire smiled.

Downing the rest of his tea, he looked to Joanna. "Where do we start?"

She walked over to him and placed a hoof on his forehead. "Here."

And at that, another memory surged into his mind, burning into his thoughts.