The Ward

Chapter 2

For the second time that morning, the stallion once again found himself swimming in a sea of black, struggling to pull his mind from the thick fog dragging him down. When he opened his eyes, the same fuzzy vision as before made him question once again where he was. Things filtered back in, injury, doctors and pegasus came to mind, but little else. Though he strove to know, there was a wall there, a white blank wall with nothing on it.

What should have been on the wall of memory were things of his foal-hood, the memories of running through the field, soaring from cloud to cloud when he had first learned to fly, what his mother had made him for dinner after a day of buzzing low over the grass and dodging the obstacles in his way at high speed.

Memories of when he was a colt, done with primary school and had moved on in the world. When he took his first job, that was probably fuddling with the weather as he was a pegasus. The hormones raging as he returned late at night, much to his parent's disappointment, glaring at him when he tried silently to fly through his open bedroom window.

Memories of getting his cutie-mark, starting a career, finding that special somepony and raising foals of his own with her.  So much of this wall was empty.

Instead all he had was the memories of the last few hours. Broken ribs and a shattered mind were all that was left of him. Hallways of light blue and the clamoring of ponies whose minds had gone sideways, or never fully formed. It had to be said, that with his current state, a Psychiatric Hospital was the the best place for him. However he landed here, however long he had to stay, this was where he was now.

With such memories locked away, or completely forgotten, he would be unable to function in the real world. If he was guided back to his home and whatever lay inside, it would have been an overwhelming experience. If there was something there that he couldn't understand, there was a distinct possibility that there was no pony that would be able to walk him through his life.

"Corona?"

He heard a voice call out. It was the same as before, Lillian the nurse. All he could manage in return was a slight groan, as his brain had still been putting the pieces of what he did remember back together and then bring him back to the world of the conscious.

"Lay still, you fainted." her soft voice continued. Once again she had sat down beside him and cradled his head in her hooves. As much as he could figure she was not afraid of him. Or what he was before, and that drove him to wonder about the chain of events that brought him here.

After laying still for a few minutes the answer to the question of his vision flooded back into his head.

"Where are my glasses?" Corona asked, feeling about his muzzle where they had been sitting just a few minutes ago.

"Right here." she answered, and plucked them from the floor. "The frame is a little bent though."

The stallion placed them on his head then took them off to re-bend the frame back to a comfortable position. He looked up to see the mare's face, her warm expression caused him to smile. From the corner of his eye he saw Dr. Fetlock standing near the corner of his desk and taking care not to come closer than need be.

"Nurse, would you please help Mr. Plume to the chair and escort him back down to the main floor." Dr. Fetlock commanded, as if his continued presence annoyed him. "I have several other patients to check on, with therapy session to conduct as well."

"Wait!" Corona shouted from the floor, flipping himself forward to get to his hooves but stopped as he was met with a sharp stabbing in his chest. This caused him to slowly stand up, gritting his teeth at the pain. "I -I want to know why I'm here."

"Mr. Plume, I called you up here today to verify a change in behavior. And I have. As of right now I am running late and I cannot be stalled any longer. I have an opening in my schedule tomorrow after tea and we can speak on the matter, if I see fit, at that time. Nurse Lillian, I would ask that you stay with Mr. Plume for today's duration and monitor his health. Dr. Stitch mentioned that he believes that he may have sustained a concussion. Report any changes to him." Dr. Fetlock spoke, gathering up his coat and several files and headed towards the doors. "You can let yourself out." With that, he was gone.

Corona was most confused. The doctor seemed at first that he was baiting him, trying to get the stallion all riled up, watching the response to his aggressive behavior. Whatever he was expecting to happen didn't. After having gleamed all relevant interest, he was to be swept aside until it was convenient for him to once again engage.

Once again he looked out the window and involuntarily his wings spread open. It would be nothing to buck a chair through the large panes and fly to freedom, to at least get away from this place. Everything in his mind was urging him to do so, but his body had been crippled so that it was impossible. For the moment.

His thoughts were side tracked as a massive roar ripped through the room, echoing off the walls loud enough so that Lillian could hear it. He folded his wings, heeding the warning of his ribs. At any rate, he was not getting far on an empty stomach.

"It's almost lunch time. With the busy day you have had, it's amazing that you hadn't collapsed sooner." Lillian chimed in and grabbed the wheelchair, moving it slowly to the side of the pegasus. "We are serving asparagus with jalapeno` boiled potatoes today."

"All right." Corona nodded slightly. "I am beyond peckish."

Lillian held the chair steady as the stallion climbed into the seat, and whirled him around to the doors and from there to the lift.

"Did you hear Dr. Fetlock? I'm going to get to stay with you all day."

The way she said this told Corona that the mare was holding back from bouncing in the lift with happiness. It was odd, Lillian and Dr. Stitch, presumably the doctor who had taken care of his wounds, spoke as if they were talking to a foal. There was a pace in their voices that seemed slower, so that he would understand them, as if there was something wrong with him. He brushed the question away, as there were more important ones that needed to be clarified first.

"Nurse Lillian, is it?" turning his head back over his shoulder he asked.

"Yes it is! But you can just call me Lillian."

"Ah, ok. I have a question. Why am I here? What did I do?"

"Oh, darling. That is not something I can tell you. I know why, but it is something that you will have to converse with Dr. Fetlock about, as he is your Doctor." she gave him a pat on the head.

He didn't want to argue, just play along to get along and see about getting out of the Hospital as fast as possible.

"Why are you treating me like a foal? I can understand you quite well. I don't need to be treated as if I were daft. I am quite old enough to see to myself." Corona voiced roughly.

"Mr. Plume-"

"Corona, please."

"Corona. This whole ordeal would seem as if it were a nightmare. But it is very real. I don't say this to many patients, but if you want me to frank, then I will be blatant."

Her abrupt change of tone was most alarming. The bubbly and cheerful Lillian turned tail and became as stark as day.

"Once you have a chat with Dr. Fetlock, you will know what I am talking about. But you have your head screwed on strait, more so than anypony as a patient. Things seem right now as if they don't make sense and that you should not be here. Right now this is the only place you should be." She moved around in front of the stallion and grabbed a hoof laying in his lap and looked into his eyes.

"You are sick, genuinely. I can't say how at this moment, but believe me you are. You are here to get better, and if you want to, it will happen."

"I d-don't feel sick." he stammered.

"Yesterday you were kicking and screaming, as every day before since you were brought in here. No pony could get close to you, let alone any of the doctors or orderlies. There was no way we could give you anything to calm you down aside from sedatives. You spent most of your time alone, strapped in a straitjacket. It made you a bit more manageable, but was not practical."

Corona sat quietly in a disturbed manor, not quite believing what he was hearing, but it was the first bit of anything he had heard that shed light onto why he was here.

"Every day you were here was a struggle, and everypony wanted nothing to do with you. Last night there was the usual kicking and screaming. The two orderlies who were sent to put you to bed were not aware of the handling procedures, and once you began to bite and kick, the responded with force and injured you. They beat you unconscious and left you in an isolation cell."

The explanation was valid, as far as the injuries went. But he wasn't a violent pony, was he? With a blank memory there was no way to actually recall what happened. He was at the mercy of whoever put him here, and now at the mercy of those around him. And those around him thought he was insane and dangerous.

"It was wrong for them to do so. I just hope that whatever pony you were before last night, whatever pain you were carrying is gone. And if you should feel that monster start to crawl in the back of your mind again, that you let me know. No matter what any pony does, they should never become the horror that you were."

He couldn't wrap his mind around it. The idea that he was crazed beyond words, lashing mindlessly out at anypony seemed alien, he was calm now and hadn't done a thing. Something had caused him to do it, some great pain that had shattered him, shattered his mind. And it was still creeping around in his brain somewhere.

"But now you have full control of your body again, hopefully whatever cause the fits of black anger have been knocked out of your head. When you meet with Dr. Fetlock tomorrow he may be able to tell you something that can jog a memory. Get you back on the right track."

The idea of being a storm of flailing hooves and screams was appalling to Corona. In his current condition such a thing would be unwise, his body needed quite time to heal and get well again. Now stuck in the hospital where he would have to gamble waiting out for the doctor to allow him to leave or resting up until the pain was bearable enough to fly out of here.

The lift reached the bottom of the shaft and he was wheeled out into the main hall. With glasses it was easier to see everypony and the features that were blurred.

The hospital was made from white marble, veined in light blue. Following this theme, the walls were painted the same hue of light blue at chest height. Everything was clean and new, at the very least well taken care of. The pipes and other ugly utilities had been buried under the light grey slate floors long before the hospital was finished. Massive single pained windows, raised out of the reach of anypony so that they could not be broken lined the arching stone at the walls.

Two blue uniformed security guards sat near the front door, watching for any escape attempts. Though most of the patients hadn't the mental capacity to realize where they were, much less that it was the exit. But there were the few that still tried.

Behind a large semi-circle wooden desk was a well groomed mare dressed to the nines. She was there to direct family and friends for the patients in addition to answering the telephone and processing papers for deliveries and intake of patients.

"If you get lost, Miss Ingvarr at the desk can help you. But for today I'm going to be your shadow." Lillian explained.

Corona mumbled a low 'Hmm.' as they passed. The mare behind the desk gave a hearty smile and waved her hoof as they passed. But to anypony watching, they could see a bit of trepidation behind her eyes, slowly watching them pass and breathed a small amount of air in relief when the two entered a hallway.

It was the same hallway where he had been taken to the infirmary get patched up, the two once again returned there.

"You need to wash your mane. Trotting around with blood plastered to the side of your head is not a good thing." Lillian said, backing the chair where Corona sat, into a open necked sink. Corona didn't say a thing, merely nodded and let Lillian lower his head into the bowl.

The mare used her magic to grab the small headed sprayer and carefully began to wet his orange mane, taking care to avoid the sutures. Soon the water began to ran clear as the crusted blood. Instead of using a stream of water to clean the wound, she grabbed a small towel, wetted it and began to slowly mop away the rust stains from the yellow fur.

"You are all clean!" she smiled. "How do you want your mane styled, how do you like it?"

That was a question, before it was merely an unkempt mess. First thing that came to mind was speed, as a pegasus, it would make sense to have a short cut to maintain a style, as most longer manes tended to sit swept backwards by the whipping wind as they flew.

"How about up, and swept back?" he shrugged, it was possibly the first and last choice he was going to get to make independent of a medical professional's opinion.

"All right!" Lillian grinned cheerfully, and grabbed up a hair dryer and comb.

This whole hospital wasn't such a bad place, at least there was one pony that was being kind to him. Corona enjoyed the mane washing and if such things were a sign of his stay here, he did not want to jeopardize potential future benefits.

Lillian finished and brought a mirror from a nearby drawer, letting Corona see her work, but not handing the mirror to him.

"That looks rather good." he smiled, beginning to feel more like a pony than a wretched mess.

"Good, now let's go get something to eat." the mare said, tiding up the sink area before pushing the stallion towards their destination.

From the infirmary he was wheeled down a long hallway lined with doors at regular intervals, mostly the lower offices and supply closets, all locked, he was sure. At the very end of the hall was the cafeteria, instead of entering they stopped a room labeled 'Auxiliary Wardrobe', right before the entrance.

"Alot of the patients can get messy in the cafeteria, so we keep a decent supply of clean clothes nearby so they can be changed as needed." Lillian remarked while rummaging through the drawers of clothes, looking for something that was not the readily available vests that were folded neatly inside. "Ah, found it."

She produced a black vest from the bottom of the drawer. It didn't look thin like the other vests, but rather had some heft to it.

"You are going to have to wear this from now on. It will be removed once a day, generally when it's bed time, but put back on in the morning."

"What is it?" he asked, curious as to why it looked menacing. Thick rolled edges where the front hooves went though for the comfort of the wearer. The neck was wide, but not enough to slip past the chest, just enough to avoid any constriction of the neck in any position a pony would be in. A gleaming metal zipper with a wide loop of thick leather instead of a small pull made the garment look more secure, the belt that wrapped around near the waist made the entire thing look more like a bondage implement than something to wear.

"It's a grounding jacket. As a pegasus it is one of only two options you have." she explained.

"What is the other?"

"You will have to go to the medical bay and have your wings clipped." she said bluntly, holding out the jacket to him.

He recoiled at the thought. Pegasus getting their wings clipped was like a unicorn getting studded, a negating 'cone' physically and magically locked around their horn. Either option was undignified, but the first left him more or less intact, but fettered.

Corona fed his front hooves through the holes of the jacket and stepped out of the wheelchair. With great care, Lillian opened the vest flaps up and separated the velcro pockets and moved the flaps under his wings and re-secured them to the inner wall of the jacket. These pockets were there to keep the pegasus' wings doubly secure in their own area.  Unbeknownst to him, the zipper wasn't designed to close the garment all the way itself. After the teeth there were a great deal of tiny eyelets, their purpose was revealed when a long string levitated by Lillian was swiftly threaded through them.

"You have to tell me when this gets uncomfortable." she said, then began to draw the jacket tight around his chest. "Take a deep breath in and hold it."

The stallions chest slowly inflated, faltering a bit when he was bit by the daggers in his ribs. But the option of clipping made him press on though the pain.

The fetter was tightened to his skin, compressing any fur that got in the way. With the draw string tied in a bow, it was laid on top of his back and the zippered flap closed. The leather strap was passed through the belt and the belt folded over. Instead of a buckle, there was a steel pin that ran through the thick canvas, the belt and was lined up with the corresponding hole on the outer belt. There was no need for a lock, as a unicorn was always nearby, so Lillian focused on the end of the pin and with a bit of force managed to splay the metal shaft into a mushroom head, 'locking' the jacket on him. All a unicorn needed to do was concentrate on the shaft and split it to free the belt.

The jacket added a bit of bulk to his torso, but nothing as much as a winter coat.

"There." Lillian said, musing at her work. It was always much easier when the patient was compliant. She folded up the wheel chair and rolled it to a corner where it was out of the way.

"It feels weird." Corona scrunched up his muzzle and shook his chest as the jacket felt alien. Pegasus usually never wore anything over their wings, as the only thing that felt natural was air passing over them.

"I can always put in a request to get your wings clipped, if you don't like it." the mare shrugged.

"NO! No. Please no." the stallion whimpered and slowly began to lower his flank and creep away from her. "I-I'll just have to get used to it."

"Very good. Now let's go get some lunch before your stomach begins to eat your ribs. Besides, the medicine you took earlier can't be sitting well."

"No, they aren't." Corona grumbled. "What were they anyway?"

"For the time being, they were mostly vitamins and the pain killers. Some of problems in a pony can be solved by returning the natural balance of the normal elements inside them. For the time being Dr. Fetlock has though it unnecessary for any mood stabilizers or sedatives unless your behavior changes, but after tomorrow he may recommend a beginning course for your treatment." Lillian explained.

Corona had been following her without paying attention to where he was, and as she stopped he realized they were now in between  several other ponies waiting in line for lunch. He looked left and right, watching the ponies. Some seemed fine, merely waiting to fill their stomachs with food. Others fidgeted in place, unable to stand still.

The cafeteria was full of noise, the blur of many voices murmuring to themselves and other ponies, metallic clank of trays as they met the table or the floor with the occasional loud voice shouting obscenities or delight. Spoons clanked against teeth and hisses of steam from the sinks in the kitchen, cleaning the platters. All this noise washed over him and he started to breathe irregularly.

It was a wrought iron grip that seized his chest, not pain but the feeling that he was misplaced. He began to look all about the room, for somewhere that looked quiet. There was no silence to be sought here, just crooked smiles and the half closed eyes of those on heavy medications. There was something wrong with everypony in the room and collectively together he felt all of it pressing in on him.

Corona could 'feel' the sickness in the air, a black stench that had no smell, but traveled thickly down his throat. He didn't belong here, he was stuck and the longer time he spent in this place he was sure that in time he would become a shell, stuck in a wheelchair and looking blankly through glassy eyes on into infinity and shovel fed what every anypony stuck in his muzzle. Visions of this passed through his mind, a drooling pegasus devoid of any energy. He did not want to end up like that, and as much as he tried to shake the picture from his mind, it returned.

Lillian looked over to him, seeing his chest rise and fall rapidly and his eyes scanning the room, never staying on a single point. She moved in front of his vision and gently placed her hooves on the side of his head, forcing his gaze into her eyes.

"Corona. Hey!" she whispered. "What's wrong? Tell me what's wrong."

"I-I'm trapped." he gasped, eyes wide in panic and breathe coming in short gasps.

"Try to breathe slowly. In-" she took a long deep breathe in, "- and then out. In.. Then out."

"Ok, ok, ok, ok." Corona closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then slowly released it. He followed this fashion until he noticed that Lillian had a hoof on his cheek, the other down near his neck to feel his heartbeat through the artery.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"Y-yes. I just felt... trapped for a minute. The walls closing in."

"We can go outside after lunch and get some fresh air." the mare grinned and patted him on the shoulder.

Corona nodded. As Lillian backed away and retrieved two trays for them from the beginning of the line of serving trays he noticed something odd. When she was in front of his face, the two were eye to eye. She was roughly the same size as any mare within eye-shot to compare to, and came to a revelation. He was a rather small stallion. Either he had a small frame or he was...

"How old am I?" he blurted out in what would seem like a confused general question to everypony in the room.

"If I recall correctly, you are in your late twenties." Lillian answered, turning around with two trays, each carrying a large bowl and a small plate in her levitating haze. "Why?"

"Because I am just about as tall as you are, and other stallions in the room are a full head or more taller than me."

"Ponies come in all shapes and sizes, here take your tray." she moved the food laden plastic rectangle in his direction.

Corona took the tray into his muzzle and followed the nurse to an empty table in the corner of the cafeteria. He sat down and looked at what was for lunch. Inside the large bowl were the large chunks of diced potatoes poking out of a light colored thick cream, dark green diced jalapeno`s dotting it's surface. The plate contained five spears of rich green asparagus, steamed to perfection.

"This looks good. Not what I was expecting."

"There is alot more to a ponies health than medicine and doctors. Proper foods and vitamins can go a long way to solving the smaller issues. Good food is also important to one's physical well being." Lillian explained taking in a spoonful of the potato 'soup'.

Corona didn't waste time in picking up his own spoon and began to shovel the warm potatoes into his muzzle. The chunks were a bit starchy, but the sauce and jalapeno`s evened it out, having a salty hot taste that tingled the inside of his mouth and even his nostrils when he breathed out through them.

He wished he could remember the past meals he had, as he sat back it would occupy his mind to compare all of them to what he had just eaten and would come to the determination that they were no match to the fleshy green asparagus and tingling potato soup.

"That was good, what's for dinner?" he let out a small burp.

Lillian giggled a bit, "Still hungry huh? Well tonight is sweet hay and fresh strawberries."

"Sounds like that will be amazing as well. Where does all this food come from?"

"Aside from the exotic foods, it is all grown on the hospital grounds. We grow berries of all types, carrots, potatoes, peas, beets, turnips, mostly earthen crops. Apples, limes, sugar cane and corn come from local farms not too far from here. This helps the hospital budget, as the food we need is all grown and self sustaining." Lillian said pridefully.

Corona nodded, he was half expecting something horrible, an amalgamation of whatever was laying around in a tarnished pot, the gruel having long ago eaten away at the polished finish. It's acid touch filling, but eroding the stomach lining over time with it's horrid concrete like texture.

"This seems like a nice place." he mentioned while looking at the floors, walls and ceiling, showing it's age from wear, but pristinely clean and extremely well kept otherwise. The wooden borders of crown molding and baseboard kept polished and properly adhered to the walls, the drop ceiling had spotted tiles of newer pieces and older ones. Recessed lighting had all the lamps behind the frosted glass glowing brightly, not that they were needed, the spotless windows were letting in the mid-day sun.

"It has the best record in all of Equestria. Never had a valid problem since we opened nearly thirty years ago." Lillian boasted, puffing her chest out with pride. "Let's head outside and I can tell you all about the hospital." she motioned towards the exit of the cafeteria.

It wasn't what Corona wanted to hear, but information was information. Considering that he knew nothing about his life, the history lesson may jog a memory.

Lillian collected her tray and Corona his, after depositing them on a counter where a kitchen attendant could collect them, he followed the mare. Lillian began talking on the way.

  "Briar Hoof came about when the proprietor, Briar Thistle had a son. After a few years of growth, he noticed something odd about his young foal. Doctor after doctor examined the young foal and was unable to find a physical reason for his behavior. Medicine of the brain was in it's infancy, and not much was known about the afflictions that can arise in a pony."

"For months he searched for somepony who was willing to have a look at him. He then ran across a young doctor, Dr. Fetlock, who was beginning to break into the field of mental health. After speaking with the young foal, and numerous days of observation, he diagnosed the foal as being bipolar. As he could not care for the young one, Dr. Fetlock recommended some medicines, but urged that he be placed in a psych ward."

"Briar Thistle began looking for a safe place where his son could get the care he deserved, and came up short. Alot of the earliest mental hospitals were merely places where the sick of society were left. Being understaffed, the patients were most often medicated and restrained. Food was scarce and malnutrition ran rampant, alot of patients died from abuse and beatings. It was a sad time in the timeline of mental health history."

"Appalled at the living conditions, Briar began to seek out the possibility of creating a different kind of hospital. By all means he was wealthy, but as the costs of building a place where sick ponies could be properly cared for mounted, he had only one option. He sold everything he had, businesses, land holdings, most of his possessions and anything of value. He lived in a rough wooden shack near to where the entrance of the hospital is now, construction began."

"A year later, Briar Cliff was finished. Dr. Fetlock came to visit and saw the sacrifice Briar had made for his son. With the walls needing doctors and all the support it could get to create somewhere that was fit for his son, Briar spent months traveling to Canterlot, Manehattan, Detrot and even Las Pegasus seeking out financial support and those of the proper skill to fill his dream. I have even heard that he had an audience with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to explain his vision. Although they were both unable to get proper funds from the treasury, they gave him gifts. Princess Celestia gave him a fiery yellow gem that gleamed like the sun. Princess Luna gave him a pendant with a pure gold chain and a stone set in silver, the purest Lapis Lazuli Equestria had even seen."

"Gifts from the Princesses would have been able to pay for decades of supplies and doctors, but it was not the gifts that drew those to the hospital, but the symbolism that they represented. Equestrian mental health was a touchy political issue, and advisers for the princesses thought it best for them to stay away from the issue. With a blessing from the thrones, the lonely building far from any major city became a hub. Word spread that a proper mental care facility that was built for the owner's son, so that he would have the care he needed, to be treated as a proper pony, not just bits in the bank."

"In just a year the barren walls were humming with activity and a new breed of medicine and doctor was born. To have worked in Briar Hoof is a badge of honor, a doctor that used a light touch and realized that just like a cold, or headache, mental issues were something to be nurtured through with the best care. And off kilter or not, the patients are still ponies who deserve the best they can get."

"Briar Hoof is far from a scary place. All of the medical staff is here to help to the best of their abilities to help anypony get better, or at least be taken care of should their affliction be crippling enough for them to be a permanent resident. You are in good... no, the best hooves here. We can give all the best care and attention in the world, but ultimately it is the patient's choice to get better. "

"So Corona, whatever you may be thinking about the hospital, just know that we are all here for you, when you decide to be there for yourself. You can get better and go back to a normal life. But you have to decide for yourself that it is what you want."

They were outside now, the two sitting under a tree not far from the door. Corona had completely forgotten for a moment where he was, completely engulfed in the story being told. It was at the very least inspiring, that a father would give up everything for his son. He couldn't help but feel moved, and a tear trickled down the side of his face.

"What happened to Briar's son?" he asked, not to continue the story but because he was honestly interested.

"Well, after five years he was declared fit enough to be released. He does drop by weekly, a condition of his release, to talk with Dr. Fetlock and to refill his medications. But he felt that his father had given up too much for him, and the years of watching his son try to get better had taken a toll on his father's health, Amethyst Thistle worked hard so that he could buy back what his father had sold, House, businesses and land. He brought his father to the house where they grew up, the one that was sold and brought him inside. Briar was confused when this happened, but became overjoyed when he was told the events that brought him and  Amethyst here. His health returned, though not fully, when he saw that his son was able to do everything he had, after his rocky past. The two still live there today, and Amethyst is now taking care of his father."

The stallion was floored. Such a story was one for an epic tome, something to be shared as a beacon of light that no matter what anypony is facing, it can be overcome.

"That is an amazing story. I hope that someday I can go back to my regular life, if I can remember it." his heartfelt grin changed to more of a slack lipped smile, as his life was tattered alot more than a sick foal with somepony who wanted the world for him. "I just wish I could remember..." he trailed off, rubbing a hoof in the thick grass.

Lillian had taken a posture right next to him, their two sides almost touching as they laid in the shade of the tree.

"Have you thought that it may be better that you don't?" she asked.

"Why would that be good? I have no memory, no smiling good times to help me through this place. I'm a lost, confused and sick mess." he voiced, as if she dare think that it was better this way.

"I am just saying that there may be a reason why your mind has blocked out your memories. That there is something so painful that your brain is protecting you from. If you were to remember, it may break you completely." Lillian was no longer speaking to him in a pointed way, but rather speaking at him as more of a warning. She knew why he was here, who he was, knew what he did and it burned in her mind that a confused stallion was being kept from the truth. At least until tomorrow.

"Do you want to stay outside a little bit longer? There are only a few hours left before bed."

"Yes, I think that I need all the space I can get." he sighed, knowing that he was going to be enclosed in a few hours until who knows when.

"Ok. Anything else you want to talk about?"

"Yes, but you already said you can't answer the one thing I want to know." he muttered, watching her face twist in pain as his fire to know burned, and she knew that it was burning. "I just want to watch the sky for a little bit longer." As Corona mentioned 'sky' the canvas jacket around his torso bulged as his wings pressed outward on the fetter. A pegasus was more at home in the air.

"Very well." Lillian nodded.

The two remained silent in the yard for a while, paying no heed to the other ponies laughing and thundering about on the lawn, as if they were the only two ponies that existed. Corona watched the sky with hungry eyes, wanting to see the world from several hundred feet above the ground, to take a nap in the clouds as the looked invitingly soft. Inspiration struck him.

"Can you bring a cloud down? Not a huge cloud, just a small one.?" he asked, seeing that she was a unicorn and could manipulate them with magic, just not physically.

"I can try." Lillian stood up and moved out from under the tree. She selected a small cloud and reached out with her mind. Unicorn magic was almost a sixth sense, allowing them to feel and move objects without touching, as well as being attuned with enchanted objects and the air itself, feeling out both good and bad. The small cloud became alight in a golden yellow hue and began to descend to the ground. Such a small cloud wouldn't upset the weather.

Corona couldn't wait, as soon as the puffy white object was within range, he leapt onto it's surface. There was no feeling in all of Equestria to compare to the surface of a cloud. The ground was hard and unforgiving, clouds on the other hoof were soft, the bottoms of his hooves sinking into it's surface an inch.

Pegasus had been masters of the weather and were relied upon all over Equestria to keep things in balance, giving the proper areas rain as needed, and avoiding catastrophic weather events that if left to themselves would destroy entire towns. It was a unique form of magic they possessed that allowed them to handle the weather, not one that required spells and concentration, but was more of a feeling, a touch. While he was unable to fly, perhaps indefinitely, it was nice to feel what he was born to handle.

He couldn't contain his happiness and began to carefully bounce around the fluffy cotton candy he was standing on. Corona pushed small portions of the table sized cloud this way and that, just because he could.

Lillian grinned along side him, it brought her great delight that she was able to make somepony smile. Corona had settled down on a plume of his hoof whipped cloud and closed his eyes. He was still grinning even as he slipped into a deep sleep.

He could sleep for half an hour before it was time to head inside for the night. But it was going to be the best sleep he could remember.