Wildfire: Lighting the Flame

Dusk sat on his seating pad beside Wildfire’s bed, watching his best friend’s chest raise and lower rhythmically as she slept under the influence of the drugs she had been given. Again and again in his head he ran through what he would say to her when she woke up. For what felt like the millionth time the midnight blue stallion glanced up at the clock on the wall. The hour that Doctor Cross Hatch had predicted that Wildfire would be unconscious had come and gone thirty three minutes ago.

Again Dusk sighed into his hooves, secretly very grateful for the extra time that Wildfire was asleep. Shamefully part of him wished she would sleep and sleep and not wake up for a long time. At least that way he would be spared the awful, unenviable task of telling his best friend the life she knew was over, and it was all his fault.

The incessant unrelenting ticking of the clock seemed to echo around the hospital room, the only other sounds in the room coming from Eirene, the sand coloured earth pony student nurse who was busy checking Wildfire’s pulse and temperature and making notes on her clipboard. An almost insufferably cheerful mare, she had volunteered to work with Wildfire after she eventually woke up because she was hoping to specialise in caring for the visually handicapped.

“Hmhmm…” Eirene murmured around her pen as she wrote her notes, “Respiratory rate is normal at thirty nine beats pet minute, and temperature is normal at thirty eight point five degrees Celsius. Bandages all nice and clean, no leaking or bleeding.” The nurse flicked her dark brown mane out of her green eyes as she took a peek under the bandages and the gauze, “Scars seem to be setting nicely.” With her hourly checks completed Eirene placed the clipboard in the holder at the foot of the bed and sat on her pad opposite Dusk at the other side of the bed.

“Excuse me, Highness,” Eirene politely interrupted Dusk’s train of thought, her Baltimare accent derailing his self-pity.

"Just Dusk, please Nurse Eirene." Dusk corrected absent mindedly, not even having to think about the request.

Eirene blushed, “Excuse me, Dusk,” she corrected with an embarrassed smile, “I’m going for a coffee, would you like one?”

“Tea, earl grey, please nurse.” Dusk asked without looking away from the sleeping pegasus tucked in the bed.

"I'm awfully sorry Dusk,” the nurse smiled as she reached the door. “The best I can offer is foul tasting vending machine coffee, and the least said about the tea, the better.”

“In that case nurse,” Dusk allowed himself what felt like a rare smile, “Awful coffee will do nicely, thank you.”

“As you wish, Dusk. I'll be but a moment.” With a swish of her dark brown mane Nurse Eirene disappeared through the door to the vending machine just down the corridor.

“Yeah…” Dusk answered, still not looking up from his friend. Again he wondered how in the wide world of Equestria he was going to tell her what had happened. “I'm so sorry Wily.” He muttered as he squeezed her right hoof.

He was about to say something else when he was cut off by a squeeze of his own hoof. “Wily?” He asked quietly.

“Ugh…”

Wildfire squeezed the hoof that was holding hers again, this time a little harder.

"Ugh...wh - where am I?” She felt the comfortable softness of the bed under her, but it didn’t feel like her own at home, plus it didn’t smell of her marefriend, which put her ill at ease. She tried sitting up but the dull pain in her head blossomed into one that threatened to tear her skull apart so she gave that up as a bad idea.

“Wily…”

Dusk’s voice sounded from her right side, though she had never heard her best friend sound like that before. Turning her head in his general direction the very next thing she noticed a split second later was the dark. Why was it so dark? Wildfire had never experienced a dark like this. The blackness was absolute. Even the darkest room she’d ever been in had had some degree of illumination. Not like this.

Wildfire turned her head to the left then right again. No matter where she looked the darkness was total. Panic started to rise in her breast as a horrible realisation settled upon her.

She couldn't feel her eyes.

“Du…Dusk…” Wildfire croaked out, her brain registering the soreness in her throat where the ammonia gas had burnt her.

"I'm here Wily, don’t worry.” He said as he gave her hoof another reassuring squeeze.

“Dusk…wh – where am I? Why…why can’t I see anything?” She asked, his hoof doing nothing to quell the rising fear in her gut.

“Wily…there was an accident at school. You’re in Canterlot Royal hospital.” Dusk started to explain as the nurse came back in the room, carrying the three coffees on a tray balanced on her back.

“Dusk, here’s yours,” Eirene breezed as she took the handle in her mouth and passed the styrofoam cup to the stallion. “Wildfire I wasn’t sure if you’d be awake so I got you one anyway.” The earth pony placed the last two cups on the bedside cabinet on the left of the bed and took up her seating pad.

“How are you feeling Wildfire?” Eirene asked as she blew the steam off of her own coffee.

“Um…” Wildfire turned her head to the left, where she thought the nurses voice was coming from. “Dusk said I was in the hospital?” She asked uncertainly.

“That’s right, I’m your nurse, Nurse Eirene, or just Eirene, if you prefer.” The nurse winced as she sipped her coffee, and held a giggle as Dusk did the same. “I’ll be looking after you and providing the awful coffee.” She added with a snigger.

"Nurse...I just asked Dusk, but I’ll ask you, why can’t I see anything?” Wildfire asked, not at all sure whether or not she wanted the answer.

Dusk glanced over at the nurse, suddenly very grateful that somepony else was here to field this question instead of him.

“Wildfire,” Eirene started, only to be interrupted by the yellow pegasus laid in the bed.

“Call me Wily, please Nurse Eirene.”

“Alright, Wily it is.” The earth pony mare smiled at her patient. “Wily, the reason you can’t see is because the accident you had earlier today has left you blind.”

Wildfire lifted a hoof to her face and felt the bandages wrapped across her ruined visage. “AaaAAH!” She winced with the sharp pain as she touched on where her eyes should be, the sockets blossoming with agony. “I…I’m blind?” Wildfire asked, the fear clearly audible in her voice, “W – Will I recover?”

Eirene cast a nervous glance at Dusk, who picked up on the student nurses discomfort and took a deep breath, Wildfire’s hoof still held in his own. “Wily…you uh…you um…won’t recover. I’m sorry Wily.”

“What…I won't recover?” Wildfire asked, stricken and distraught at the news she had just been given. She didn’t want to believe it, believe that her life was over, that she was blind. “I’ll never see anything again? N – not ever?”

“No…” The admission all but crushed Dusk’s soul. “I’m so sorry Wily.”

“B – but…how…why?” Wildfire laid in the bed, confused as she tried to process what she’d been told.

“Blitzwing threw acids in your face, Wily. Your eyes…they um…the doctors say they exploded in your head.” Dusk explained, feeling sicker and sicker with each word, each syllable of each word, that he spoke. “I'm sorry…”

“STOP SAYING YOU’RE SORRY!” Wildfire threw Dusk's hoof back at him as her temper exploded. “I’M THE PONY WHO’S BLIND!” The pegasus screamed, not caring that her lungs and throat were burning raw, “WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU SORRY FOR?”

“Wildfire…please calm down,” Eirene put her hoof on her patients shoulder, causing her to jump in panic. “I'm sorry Wildfire, but you need to calm down.”

“Wily…” Dusk started, his head in his hooves as Wildfire started to take deep breaths. “It…it was my fault.”

“What?” Wildfire asked.

“Oh I’m sure Dusk didn’t mean anything by it Wily.” The nurse tried to intercept the outburst she could see coming. Sadly she wasn’t quick enough.

“Shut up, nurse.” Wildfire snapped, silencing the student nurse who ‘eeped’ as she turned her head in her direction. “Dusk,” she said dangerously, “What do you mean, it's your fault?”

“You weren’t paying attention in the science lab.” Dusk said quietly, each word ripped from him. “I showed Blitzwing the scroll that made him snap. It was all me, Wily. I…I’m so sorry.”

“So…he was aiming for you?”

"Yes....yes he was.” Dusk almost whispered, unable to look at his friend.

“Why?” Wildfire asked, her simmering temper barely held in check from her earlier outburst.

“Why what, Wily?”

“Why show Blitzwing that scroll? So what he won for that second. So what Dusk? You had to know how he’d react, D.” Wildfire demanded of her friend.

“Wily, I had no idea he’d lose it like that, I swear!”

Wildfire raised a hoof for silence and cut across the midnight blue pegasus. “You knew he’d react though, didn’t you?” She whispered as her voice threatened to give out, “You wanted him to react, you wanted him to rise to that stupid scroll. Well congratulations D, he reacted, and here we are. Was it worth it?”

“Wh – what?” Dusk asked, disbelieving of what he’d heard. “Wily please…”

“DON’T CALL ME WILY! GET OUT!” Wildfire screamed again, causing a doctor to look around the door frame, only to be waved away by Eirene.

“Wil…Wildfire…” Dusk couldn't remember the last time he’d used his best fiend’s full name. “You don’t mean that, please!”

“YOU DID THIS TO ME! GET OUT!” She screamed again, her hooves searching her bed for something to throw. Finding nothing she seized her pillow and threw that instead.

“Wily, what the buck?” Dusk exclaimed as the pillow missed him by a clear four feet to bounce off the walls to the floor.

“Prince Dusk…” Nurse Eirene stooped to pick up the pillow, “I think you should leave, please, my patient doesn’t need this stress.”

Dusk slid off the seating pad he was sat on, but made no movement to leave. “I'm not leaving!” He said with a stomp of his hoof, “We need to work this out.”

“GET OUT!”

“Your Highness, please…” The young earth pony mare took a deep breath and squared up to the Prince. “My patient has requested you leave. Um…please do so or I'll summon security.”

"Fine...I’ll go.” Dusk turned to leave and paused in the doorway. “Wildfire, I really am so sorry.”

“Just go Dusk.” Wildfire said quietly as she rolled over in the bed she was laid in, hoping she was facing away from the door. “Leave me alone.”

For a few seconds the only sounds were those of diminishing hoof-steps on the hospital’s marble floor.

For almost a whole minute after that there was utter silence in the private room.

“N – Nurse?” Wildfire whispered tentatively to the room, unsure if she was alone or not. She desperately hoped she wasn’t. She really didn’t want to be left on her own. Wildfire felt wretched for screaming at her best friend like that, whether he had caused her accident or not, Dusk was her friend, practically a brother to her. Emotion welled up inside the young pegasus. She had never wanted to cry so much in all her life. Her shoulders heaved and she snivelled into her second pillow but nothing happened. Try as she might no tears came.

Wildfire jumped slightly as she felt a hoof lightly brush her shoulder.

“I'm here Wily.” Nurse Eirene said quietly as she gently laid her hoof on Wildfire’s shoulder. “I'm not going anywhere, I'm right here, as long as you need me.”

“Nurse…” Wildfire whispered as she felt for and eventually found the earth pony’s hoof with her own, “I can’t cry, why can't I cry?”

Eirene moved around the bed to face her patient and without asking pulled her into a tight hug, closer than was strictly required for a nurse and patient, but the earth pony decided the situation called for it. “Well, I’ve read your notes that were provided by Doctor Cross Hatch, and I think I might know why you can't cry, Wily.”

“Why?” Wildfire asked in a small tiny voice.

“Well…I would tell you, but you might yell at me like you yelled at your best friend.” The earth pony teased, bopping the blind mare’s nose with her hoof.

"I won't, I promise.”

“Alrighty then. As I said, I’ve looked over your notes, and it seems that when the acids hit your face and combined together they released a out of heat and energy. Put simply Wily your eyes boiled then exploded.” Eirene paused to let that sink in for a few moments before she continued. “Evidence suggests you can't cry because you have no tear ducts anymore. They were either cauterised or severely damaged.”

“Oh…I see.” Wildfire said as she mulled over the nurse’s words. “So…what do I do now?”

Eirene giggled at her patient’s question and proceeded to answer it like it was the easiest thing in the world. “Easy Wily. You live. You live and you do whatever it is you want to do, because you aren’t going to let a little thing like being blind hold you back, are you?”

"Well...I…”

“No!” Eirene laughed out loud as she tousled Wildfire’s black mane. “I didn’t think you would! You’re a firefighter! You're a poet, you’re young and you're pretty!”

Wildfire couldn’t help but smile at the student nurse’s enthusiasm, even if she didn't feel it herself. “I…I guess you’re right, thanks Eirene.”

“Remember, just because you have to change the way you live, doesn't mean you have to stop living altogether.”

~ ~ ~

“Stupid damned traffic!” Air Raid groused as she pulled up outside the hospital’s main entrance. The lime green mare checked her watch and cursed again. “Buck! Two hours to get through Canterlot! Bucking rush hour!” Air Raid slammed her hooves into her Fiesta’s steering wheel in utter frustration.

"Damnit, Wily's gonna think I don't care!” Air Raid exclaimed to the thin air around her, killing her car’s engine as she placed her left hoof on her driver’s side door release.

Five minutes later and Air Raid was still staring at her door release as a familiar midnight blue blur took off into the early evening sky headed for the castle.

Fifteen minutes later and still Air Raid was sat in her car, one hoof on the door release and the other on the gas station flowers she had bought on her way over.

Air Raid genuinely had no idea how long she was sat there for, or for that matter why she was still sat there. She just couldn't bring herself to open the car door. ‘This is ridiculous Raid!’ She chastised herself impatiently. Even so she remained in her car seat, staring at her door release like it was holding her prisoner.

'Your marefriend is in there, somewhere, she needs you Raid!’ She thought to herself, trying to motivate herself to get out of the car. However instead of opening the door she sat back in her seat with a dejected sigh that seemed to echo through her car.

‘She’s blind though. She needs proper care. I didn't sign up to be a carer…’ Air Raid tried to justify herself to herself, which in the circumstances made her chuckle a mirthless laugh.

‘What did you sign up for then? A quick fumble? A bit of fun?’ Air Raid caught sight of her reflection in the rear view mirror and found she couldn't even look herself in her grey eyes. She knew deep down inside what the answer was.

Because she was still sat in her car and not in the hospital with her marefriend.

Air Raid closed her eyes as she laid her head back against the headrest, her blue mane spilling over her shoulders. Again she sighed as she tried to organise her thoughts in a way that made her feel a bit less wretched. She failed miserably.

“Hey!” The shout was accompanied by a series of sharp raps of a hoof on the driver’s door window that shook the lime green mare out of her reverie, as well as scaring her half to death.

“Hey!” Darkstar shouted again as she motioned for Air Raid to wind down the car window. “How's Wily? Have you been to see her already?” The alabaster unicorn asked as she stuck her head through the now-open window.

“Well…” Air Raid wanted to bury her head under her wing and die from shame. “Not…exactly, no.”

“Huh?” Darkstar cocked her head, seeing the cheap flowers on the passenger seat. “You haven’t been in to see her have you?” She added incredulously.

"No...no I haven't been to see her.” Air Raid didn’t look up at her friend as she answered her.

"Any good reason as to why not? I mean, how long have you been out here?” Darkstar demanded, the fur at the back of her neck starting to rise.

“I…I just don't know if I can do this Darkie, y’know, be a carer…” Air Raid’s voice trailed off under the fierce look that her friend shot her, and she fell to silence mumbling something about a blind mare and her career.

"Raid!” Darkstar yelled through the window, “Wily doesn’t need a ‘carer’, she needs her marefriend to love and stand by her!”

"I...I dunno if I can…”

“You don't know if you can…” Darkstar repeated incredulously. “Are you kidding me Raid? Seriously? Who was it who stood by you the most with your Scootaloo’s Syndrome? Oh yeah…that's right, that mare in there!” Darkstar punctuated her point by thrusting a hoof to point at the hospital.

"Darkie...how am I supposed to race with a blind mare in tow?” Immediately Air Raid felt wretched the second those words left her mouth. Was she really that shallow?

“You…you are unbelievable!” The white unicorn stomped her hoof into the Fiesta’s door, uncaring of the dent she had made. “What do you love the most? Wily or your career?” Darkstar stared at the lime green mare sat in her car and gave a cold mirthless laugh as realisation took hold. “Don't bother answering that, you’re still sat in your car when you should be by her side like she was by yours!”

"I bought her flowers!" Air Raid's reply felt as feeble as it sounded.

“A lot of good they are out here in your car, Raid.” Darkstar sneered in contempt at the self-pitying pegasus. “Give them here,” she said, and without waiting for a reply levitated the flowers in her yellow aura to float with the ones that she had bought. You didn't have to look hard to see Darkstar’s were better quality than those Air Raid had bought. “I’ll give her your bit store flowers shall I? Is this all she’s worth to you?”

“Hey!” Air Raid snarled as she shot her friend a nasty look, “I rushed over here from the track, they were the best I could get, alright?”

“Rushed huh?” Darkstar pushed herself up from the car door with a last sneer. “Doesn't look like you're in much of a rush now, does it?”

“Whatever you say, Darkstar.” Air Raid fired up the ignition on her car, slamming the Fiesta into gear and revving the gas pedal. “I don't have to listen to this from you of all ponies.” She snapped angrily as she secured her seatbelt across her body.

“And what’s that supposed to mean, huh?”

“Been to see your crazy old mom recently, Darkie?” The minute the words left her muzzle Air Raid knew she’d crossed a line, by the look of sheer fury on the unicorn’s face.

“How dare you bring my mom into this! This has nothing to do with Shining Star!” Darkstar flushed in anger at her friend. It wasn't that she was embarrassed by her mother, far from it. She and her brother Brightstar had never hidden the fact that their mother was currently residing in Canterlot Asylum, or that that’s where she was due to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. What hurt the most was that a pony that Darkstar considered a close friend had used her mother’s insanity as a weapon to deflect from her avoiding seeing Wildfire.

“Don't like it now the horseshoe’s on the other hoof do we?”

It was true, Darkstar hadn't been to see her mother for a few months, but that wasn't the issue here. “Air Raid…” Darkstar’s cool tone chilled the pegasus to her very core. “My mother can't even recognise me or anypony else, as well you know, but hey, thanks for bringing it up, friend.”

"I'm sorry Darkie, I can't do this.” Air Raid gunned her accelerator and drove off from the hospital in a screech of tires and the smoke of exhaust, leaving the outraged unicorn standing alone with the tyre tracks burned onto the road.

“We’ll see about that, Raid!” Darkstar stomped her hoof as she watched the car drive off down the street. Lighting her horn with a pale yellow aura, concentrating her magical power on the rapidly disappearing vehicle. “Raid…” Darkstar visualised the word in her head, projecting it further than she ever had before.

"What th…?” Air Raid jammed her right hind hoof on her brake pedal, performing an emergency stop in the flow of traffic that earned her the sounding of car horns from several passing drivers. “Darkie!?”

Darkstar stood immobile at the roadside, her eyes and horn glowing yellow with power. “I know you can hear me Air Raid.” She thought savagely, sending her voice to the occupant of the distant car. “Try not to run over any blind ponies on your way home.”

~ ~ ~

“Remember, just because you have to change the way you live, doesn't mean you have to stop living altogether.” Eirene smiled as she gave Wildfire a gentle hug, her hooves applying almost no pressure to the pegasus’s shoulders.

Darkstar stood outside the open door to room two one four and smiled at the nurses words. She knew next to nothing about this mare but the unicorn decided she liked her already. ‘Oh Wily, you poor little thing…’ Darkstar thought as she looked at her injured friend in the hospital bed. The bandages over her face hid the scars she knew were there. Quickly Darkstar stamped on her train of thought, that kind of sympathy was the last thing her friend needed. Like the nurse had just said, Wildfire needed to know that nothing had really changed, that she didn't have to stop being here just because of what had happened.

“Wily,” Eirene said her name warmly while breaking the tender embrace, “Look at me and tell me what you see.”

"What? You're asking me to look at you? Seriously?" Wildfire asked, grumpily crossing her forehooves in front of her.

Eirene just smiled, and in a tone that reminded the watching unicorn of a teacher explaining something very simple to one too stubborn to listen said, “You aren't looking at me correctly. Use your hooves Wily.”

Darkstar smiled, she really liked this nurse.

The earth pony took hold of Wildfire’s left hoof and slowly guided it to her own face, allowing it to settle on her cheek before letting go. Hesitantly Wildfire moved her hoof along the nurse’s right cheek, against the fur and below her eye. Gingerly, with the same touch that one would handle a delicate flower, Wildfire moved her hoof around Eirene’s eye abd up to her muzzle, her hoof finding her nose and upper lip. Moving it straight upwards up the bridge of her nose to her forehead Wildfire discovered her nurse was an earth pony. Moving carefully left and right from there Wildfire felt Eirene’s ears, her left she discovered had a notch missing from its outer edge.

“So…” Eirene said with a smile after the yellow pegasus had lowered her questing hoof, “Describe me, the way you see me.”

“Well…” Wildfire stopped and thought, considering her answer. “I dunno, um…I know you aren’t a unicorn?” She offered with a smile; she definitely hadn’t felt a horn.

“Good, you might want to feel a little lower then, to make sure if there are wings or not.”

Wildfire carefully moved her hooves down her nurse’s neck and along her back, noting with curiosity the little indented bit of her neck where it joined her collar bone. Starting on her back Wildfire felt well-defined musculature and the end of Eirene’s shoulder blade. So far nothing screamed ‘pegasus’ at her. Reaching the dock of her tail Wildfire moved her hooves down and worked her way back up the nurse’s flank. It was only when she reached her upper foreleg having felt nothing in between that she was sure.

“You’re an earth pony. You're a mare, because you have a less angular face than a stallion’s. Your left ear has a notch missing on it’s outer edge. You have a short muzzle with soft downy fur and two small moles on your right cheek.” Wildfire sniffed her hoof, catching a hint of a scent. “You use jasmine shampoo?” She offered hopefully.

“Spot-on Wily! Well done!” Eirene enthused, clapping her hooves together delightedly. “Although, how can you be sure I'm an earth pony?” She asked as her smile turned into a frown when she saw the edges of Wildfire’s mouth turn down. “Wily…what’s wrong? What is it?”

Wildfire looked down, her voice dejected. “I can't feel any stripes, just like touching you doesn't tell me what colour your fur is, or what colour your mane is and what shape or colour your eyes are. Just touching you doesn't show me your cutie mark does it? All I can do is touch you. Big deal.”

“Yeah Wily,” Darkstar decided that was the time to announce her presence and she trotted loudly into her friend’s hospital room, her hooves purposefully loud so Wildfire knew where she was. “It is a big deal.”

Wildfire automatically snapped her head to the right in the direction that the clopping of hooves came from, her frown instantly turning upwards at the sound of her friend's voice. “Darkie!” She exclaimed with a wide grin.

The clopping hooves stopped in front of the injured pegasus, and Darkstar lit her horn with a grin and a wink at the nurse, willing her to stay quiet. “When a simple touch is all you can do then yeah,” Darkstar started as she cast her spell and made her voice appear from behind the yellow mare, “It is a damned big deal.”

Wildfire jumped as her friend’s voice suddenly appeared on the bed behind her, causing the white unicorn to fall into a fit of giggles, and a second later Eirene and an outraged Wildfire joined the giggle fit too. “Hehehe…nice one Darkie,” Wildfire giggled, “Though I officially hate you and you’re bullying a cripple.”

“Pfft…” Darkstar finally said, recovering from her giggles. “I’ve got you with it before, I’ll get you with it again. And let's be honest, you never saw it coming before so nothing’s changed.”

Eirene giggled for a few more minutes before she too recovered herself. “Haha…oh…D –Darkie, was it? Oh that was a good prank.”

The unicorn gave a low theatrical bow. “Indeed, Darkstar, showmare, dancer extraordinaire and all-round awesome friend and pranker at your service. And you are nurse…?”

"I'm Nurse Eirene,” she quickly supplied, clapping her forehooves in delight. “You’re very skilled.”

“Oh yeah, nurse,” Wildfire sniggered on the bed, “She’s skilled alright.

Darkstar positioned herself in front of her blind friend and gave her a quick kiss on the tip of her yellow nose to let her know where she was standing. “Touch me Wily. Look at me, sweetie.”

Wildfire cocked her head in confusion. “But…but I know what you look like Darkie.” She said uncertainly.

“No sweat flanks,” Darkstar whispered with another tender kiss to her friend’s nose, “Look at me now, with your hooves.”

Gently and carefully Wildfire slid her hooves up either side of Darkstar’s chest up to her neck, feeling every bump and ting crevice in her skin under her surprisingly soft downy fur. ‘Was Darkie’s fur always this soft?’ She thought to herself while her hooves reached her jawline. Wildfire couldn't help but smile as she gradually moved her forehooves around Darkstar’s face, a mental image of her friend’s face starting to build up as she began feeling the curved definition of her cheekbones and the slope of her nose leading up to her forehead. Moving up either side of her friend’s head she felt her long tapering ears, which twitched when they were stroked by the explorative hooves of the pegasus.

“Hmm…”   Darkstar released a contented sigh when Wildfire eventually found the base of her horn, the toes of her hooves subconsciously starting to rub the magical appendage. “Aaaah…” She whimpered quietly as the frogs of Wildfire’s hooves began to slide gently up and down its length.

Straight though she was, Darkstar had to admit this was the start of an amazing horn-job.

“Um…Wily?” Eirene interrupted her patient with a tap of her hoof on Wildfire’s shoulder. “I think that’s enough touching now, don't you?”

“Huh?” Wildfire asked, “You want me to stop?”

“Please don't stop…” Darkstar whimpered as the stimulus of the rubbing hooves was removed from her horn. Playfully she pouted at the nurse. “I was so close! C’mon, a few more rubs would do it!”

“I said no, Darkie.” Eirene giggled at the frustrated unicorn. “Not in the least because it breaks a dozen hospital rules, I don’t know how powerful your illusions are. An uncontrolled horn-gasm could upset the delicate machinery and monitors who knows how far away?”

“Fine, I guess you have a point.” Darkstar acquiesced with a smirk and a pout directed at the nurse. “I'll sort myself out later.”

“Anyway!” Eirene exclaimed, changing the subject by picking up the bouquet of flowers in her hoof that Darkstar had bought in and placed on the bed when she had first entered the room. Holding them in front of the blind mare the earth pony smiled, “Smell these Wily, they’re beautiful.”

"Alrighty,” Wildfire leant forward until her nose brushed the flowers and giggled as the scent of daffodils, narcissus and daisies hit the back of her nose, making her sneeze. “Ooh Darkie these smell lovely! Thank you for bringing them, I love them!”

Darkstar smiled sadly as her friend enjoyed her flowers; she didn’t have the heart to tell her that they were from her when Air Raid’s had been so pitiful, besides which, Darkstar had made sure to dump those awful flowers in the first waste bin she had come across in the hospital. Grimacing slightly at the foul taste it left in her mouth Darkstar decided to lie instead. “Oh they aren’t from me, sweetie…” Darkstar was very glad at that moment her friend couldn’t see the disgusted look on her face, though she was sure Eirene had her suspicions, thankfully she didn't say anything. “Air Raid asked me to bring them in for you.”

“Air Raid?” Wildfire snapped her head up from the flowers and towards Darkstar’s general direction at the mention of her marefriend’s name. “You saw Raid? Why isn't she here, did she say when she was coming?”

“She uh…well, she…see the thing is, Wily, well the thing is…” Darkstar fumbled over herself, unsure of how to answer. Thankfully her new best friend stepped in.

“Air Raid phoned ahead and left a message while you were sleeping Wily,” The earth pony mare lied easily, picking up on what Darkstar had said with the flowers. “She sent the flowers with Darkie here as a sorry for not coming straight away, isn't that right, Darkie?” She asked with a pointed nod in the unicorn’s direction.

“Uh…yeah, yeah that’s right.” Darkstar decided then that she really, really liked this nurse, despite also hating Air Raid and herself for feeling the need to lie on her behalf.

“Aw…” Wildfire squeed as she smelt the flowers she believed were from her marefriend. “She’s so awesome! She knows how much I love daffodils!”

“Yeah…Raid really is something else alright.” Darkstar’s grumble went unnoticed by Wildfire who was preoccupied with investigating the flowers that the unicorn now held for her in her yellow aura. Eirene however, did notice the sour expression on Darkstar’s face and laid a hoof on her shoulder.

“You alright?” The nurse mouthed silently to Darkstar, who merely nodded by way of reply. Tapping her shoulder Eirene pointed a hoof first at Wildfire, then Darkstar and finally at herself before finally angling her head sharply at the window and mouthing “Us, walk, outside.”

Darkstar nodded with a smile, suddenly feeling the need for a whole load of fresh air. She’d never been prone to claustrophobia like Wildfire but right now the pegasus’s hospital room felt very constrictive and overbearing. “Hey, Wily, you wanna go for a walk?”

“A walk?” Wildfire asked with a foalish excitement, “Like, an outside walk? Can we, really?”

“You big foal…” Darkstar couldn’t help but giggle in spite of her soured mood; Wildfire’s excitement was just too infectious. “You’re blind, not paralysed, come on – march!”

“But…Darkie, I don't even know where the door is, or how to get outside, let alone actually walk outside, come on!”

“Your friend is quite right Wily!” Eirene exclaimed as she placed her hoof on Wildfire’s shoulder and gently guided her off of the bed to stand on her hooves. “After all, you aren’t an incapable. Like Darkie said, march!” She sniggered, her foreleg already starting to guide her to the door.

"B - But...I’m a victim…” Wildfire pouted playfully, in the manner of a filly being told she had double math homework, “Can't I be a little bit incapable?”

“Hey!” Darkstar stomped her hoof so loud it made Wildfire jump with shock. “What kind of attitude is that from Canterlot’s finest firefighter?”

Wildfire blushed a bright red, turning her fur an incandescent glowing orange. “Darkie…I don't even know if I can do my job anymore.”

“Well tough!” Darkstar stood close to Wildfire’s left flank and gave her a gentle nuzzle. “You’re not wallowing! Silverbolt wouldn’t let you, and neither will I!” Darkstar gave her friend another nuzzle as the trio started walking. “Besides, I’m not having your mom haunt me for being a bad friend.”

“Yeah,” Wildfire giggled, “Mom let you off for Las Pegasus. Keep on being mean and I'll tell on you.”

"And knowing your mom she'd haunt you for even thinking about quitting on yourself, now c’mon sweet flanks, lets go outside.”

~ ~ ~

Princess Twilight, who after exhausting her usefulness at the university found herself a loss as to what to do with herself, had decided to pay a visit to the palace, in the hopes of sitting for a while with her old mentor. Despite the fact it had been at least twenty five years since her ascension and therefore subsequent ‘official’ dismissal from the role of Celestia’s student, Twilight still sought her council from time to time, when something occurred that threatened to overwhelm the young alicorn.

Twilight hadn't sought out Celestia’s company like this for a good few months. Usually if something bothered her, Twilight would go to her marefriend Rainbow Dash for solace, and, more often than not the brash pegasus would give it. Then there were those rare times where Rainbow was unable to help; times like a student suffering a grievous injury in her class as a result, direct or not, of something she did or helped to arrange. Also she wanted to ask about the signed scroll that Dusk had in his possession.

As she landed in the palace forecourt with the intent of quietly slipping up to the east wing and the welcome sanctuary of Celestia’s suite however, a strong grey hoof had seized her roughly and pulled her into Luna’s suite. Recovering quickly from her initial shock Twilight fired up a minor repulser field to shake off whomever had hold of her. This turned out to be a very angry Octavia Melody.

“Twilight, lower this barrier right now!” Octavia snarled, her strong hooves pounding on the shield Twilight had erected around herself.

“Um…no!” Twilight gave a panicked squeak, “Not until you calm down!”

"Calm down? What in the wide world of Equestria were you thinking, Twilight?!” Octavia demanded, stomping a hoof hard into the marbled floor of hers and Luna’s suite.

“Octavia, please, I'm sorry!”

"Sorry! My son could’ve been blinded and you’re sorry?!” Octavia shouted at the top of her lungs.

The large ornate doors to the suite suddenly swung open, moved by a powerful dark blue magical aura, so hard they hit the gilded walls of the suite’s antechamber and leaving clear indentations of the handles in the walls. The audible force of the loud bang serving to stun the outraged earth pony mare into momentary silence. Luna stalked slowly into her own suite, her steps deliberate and measured. Her usual billowy ethereal mane and tail hung close to her body as she entered, the Lunar Princesses turquoise eyes sparking with barely restrained power.

“That’s enough, you two.” Luna didn't need to use the Royal Canterlot Voice. The weight of power and authority she carried in her quiet tone was more than enough to get the mares’ attention as she stepped closer to them.

“Luna! What she did…she put Dusk in danger!” Octavia thrust a hoof at Twilight, indicating the purple mare.

“Tavi…calm down, this isn’t Twilight’s fault.” Luna said in the same calm tone as before.

Octavia stood back from the shimmering purple shield that covered Twilight and took several deep breaths, her temper however did not lessen in the slightest. “Then whose fault is it?”

Luna took a couple of strides, bringing herself within hoofs reach of Twilight and her barrier. Chiding herself with a wry smile Luna reminded herself she shouldn’t be surprised that her entrance hadn't dissipated Twilight’s shield when it should have. With her studious nature and tendency to avoid conflict it was easy to forget just how innately powerful and magically gifted the young Princess actually was. Laying a hoof on the lavender dome it coruscated brightly where she touched it. “Please drop the shield, Twilight, we need more information before we even begin to assign blame in this situation.”

Keeping a wary eye on the still-simmering Octavia, Twilight nervously cancelled the shield she had summoned around herself. “Here Luna,” Twilight used her magic to open her saddlebag and levitate out the two scrolls she had brought from the university science lab. “I believe these have all the information you need.”

Luna took hold of the two scrolls in her own dark blue aura and floated them in front of her and Octavia; laying a silver horseshoe-shod hoof on her wife’s grey shoulder as she unfurled the first scroll. “Ravenwing’s seal…” The Lunar Princess noted to Octavia with a sigh, a sigh which only deepened as they both read through the parchment held in air in front of them.

Luna’s turquoise eyes went wide with realisation as she scanned the text. “They…the family…they have an audience with the Day Court this Friday…to restore the Ravenwing family to their former standing.”

"Luna..." Octavia nudged her wife with a hoof when she reached for and turned the second scroll over held in Luna’s magic. The broken seal around the scroll was clearly legible, as was the stylised sun at it’s centre.

“That’s Tia’s seal…” Luna proceeded to unroll the second scroll, only for Octavia to take it up in her hoof and quickly read it to the bottom, the part declaring Ravenwing officially a ‘Luna’ matter and more importantly, the part of the scroll bearing Celestia’s signature.

“I can see that, Tavi…” Luna said tersely, the implications very clear.

“Octavia, Luna,” Twilight began nervously, her voice bringing their attention unwelcomingly back to the lavender mare, “Dusk admitted to me that he showed this scroll to Blitzwing in my class before he threw the beakers.”

“And…it doesn't take a genius to work out that Blitzwing showed my Dusk his scroll first.” Luna surmised with a grim look in her face.

“Luna, the other day, Saturday, remember Dusk came to you asking about this stallion’s family.” Octavia added, her anger towards Twilight starting to fade in favour of a new, more deserving target.

"I remember, Tavi. Dusk came seeking a, well a weapon, I suppose, for want of a better term.” Luna hung her head, recognising her part in this tale, “I dismissed him out of hoof, asked him not to mention that family’s name ever again…if I had taken the time to explain…”

“There still would’ve been acid in my class, Luna.” Twilight acknowledged, “I’m sorry, what happened was clearly my fault.”

“Will you both stop? Please!” Octavia reared up to her hindlegs and brought her forehooves down hard on the marbled floor with a resounding crash that sounded like a cannon blast, silencing the two Princesses. “There’s only one pony at fault here and that’s Celestia!”

“Tavi…what are you saying?  My sister wouldn't…” Luna began for she was interrupted by her wife.

“Wouldn't she? How can you say that, Lulu! Look at this!” Octavia flung the scroll at the alicorn’s hooves, where it bounced and rolled to one side. “You wouldn't give our son what he wanted so he went to the next pony who could! How could she have been so damned reckless?”

Twilight gave a flicker of concentration and picked up the fallen scroll from where it had come to rest, treating it as a police pony would evidence. Floating it carefully back to her saddlebag she gave Octavia a resentful look. “I don't think Celestia intended to be reckless Octavia,” she said, coming to her old mentor’s defence. “I mean she probably had her reasons, but…”

"Her reasons?” Octavia stomped her hoof in anger at Twilight’s predictable defence. “I don't care what her reasons are! Wildfire is in the hospital, blinded! My son’s best friend! You've seen her about the palace, you know her, we all do! She isn’t just some random pony Twilight!”

Luna put a calming hoof on her wife’s shoulder, “Tavi, please, cal…”

“Lulu don't you dare tell me to calm down! Don't. You. Dare!” Octavia stomped a forehoof at her wife, so hard it scuffed the marble floor. “How in the world can you be so calm? Is it because it's not Dusk? Does that make it ok, Lulu?”

“Tavi…listen, please…”

“I will not listen!” The cellist stomped up to Twilight, who flinched involuntarily as she ripped the incriminating scrolls from the alicorn’s bags and angrily started to stomp out of her suite to the palace’s west wing.

"Um...Octavia? Where are you going?” Twilight asked, almost afraid of the answer.

“I'm taking this to Celestia, seeing as you two are seemingly incapable or unable!” Octavia snapped over her shoulder, not even bothering to turn around.

“Tavi, you can't just go stomping into Tia’s chambers unannounced.” Luna tried, ineffectively, to halt the earth pony.

“Can't I? We’ll see about that then, won't we?” Octavia slid the scrolls under her foreleg, trapping them against her chest as she exited the suite. “I'm your wife and her sister-in-law, I can go where I damn well like!”

~ ~ ~

“Celestia!” Having stomped her way angrily past the guards-ponies posted outside the Solar Princess’s suite, Octavia thrust open the large white marble doors decorated in gold with her cutie mark so hard one of the gilded handles shattered against the wall.

“Huh? What?” To say Celestia was surprised at the sudden violent entrance of her sister-in-law would have been an understatement…thoroughly shocked and stunned would’ve been nearer the mark. The white alicorn couldn't recall in recent memory of an instance where anypony had dared to enter her private chambers in such a manner. “Lady Octavia,” she forced a neutral smile, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You know what I'm here for, Celestia.”

"I'm afraid I don't.” Still smiling her practiced smile, Celestia put aside the scroll she had been working on and, sensing an imminent confrontation, levitated her quill and ink away from the mountain of completed paperwork stacked on her desk. “Please,” she invited, “Do tell me what I can do for you today.”

Octavia stomped right up to the desk and took both of the scrolls in her right forehoof and slammed them down hard on the desk, scattering parchments detailing land disputes, feuds and other official work that had literally taken her hours to complete all over the white marbled floor. “You can start by explaining these!” She exclaimed in fury.

Celestia blinked three times, staring at the two scrolls that the grey earth pony had practically smashed into her work desk. Of course she recognised her seal on one of them, the other she had no idea about. Levitating the one with her cutie mark seal on it in front of her she unfurled it and gave it a very quick look-over and instantly the Princess knew what had Octavia so upset. “I…I gave this to Dusk a day or two ago…”

“You admit you gave my son that scroll? Why, Celestia? Why would you?”

"Dusk came to me asking about this family, Ravenwing I think it was.” Celestia started to explain with a hint of worry in her voice. “I dismissed it as a matter for Luna, as it’s nothing to do with me. Dusk asked me for it in writing, it was no trouble to accommodate him.”

Octavia actually thrust her hoof all the way through Celestia’s desk, sending splinters of antique wood over the floor, so great was her temper. “You knowingly gave a teenager with a grudge a loaded gun? Do you have any idea what you’ve done?

“But…but I warned him…” The alicorn stammered as she backed away from the angry earth pony, stopping only when her large back was literally against the wall of her suite.

“You warned him!?” Octavia shouted as she advanced on the Princess. “His best friend is in the hospital blinded because of you! A family older than some cities in Equestria is ruined because of you! A young stallion is being committed to the asylum, BECAUSE OF YOU!” She screamed, picked up the incriminating scroll and threw it at her. “But that’s okay, because YOU WARNED HIM!”

"O - Octavia...p - please, I…I had no idea this would happen, I swear I didn’t!”

“Horse-apples you didn't! How dare you give my foal a weapon that could harm him! Is that why you banished yours, so you wouldn't hurt her as well?” The instant the words left her mouth Octavia knew she’d crossed a line. In all her time married to Luna she had never seen Celestia looking like she did right now. Indeed, if looks could kill the earth pony had no doubt whatever that she’d be a pile of ash right then.

"HOW DARE YOU!” Celestia screeched, her eyes ablaze as her voice reached Royal Canterlot volume, and her powerful wings spread at their full fourteen foot span. “Just because you are married to my sister do not think for a moment you have the right to mention Sunset Shimmer to me!”

“Celestia…I’m sorry…” All Octavia’s ire evaporated when the Princess began to leak tears from the corners of her eyes. That Sunset Shimmer had chosen to remain in the human world even after the estranged mother and daughter had repaired the bridges between them that long ago had been burnt was a constant source of suffering and pain to the white alicorn.

“SILENCE, Octavia!” Celestia snapped, then furiously wiped her eyes with the back of her foreleg; her wet tears glistening against her pure white fur. “I’ll see her again in a few months.” She said, thinking with a sad smile of the yearly four week visit that was now just around the corner. “But for you, right now, I will…”

“What in the name of Tartarus is going on?” Dusk Melody had raced up from the forecourt where Twilight had met him and hurriedly explained what had happened, he had pushed his way past his mom who was frozen like a statue at the entrance to the royal suite and now he stood in the open doorway staring in disbelief at the sight in front of him. “Mum…Aunt Tia…” Words utterly failed the young stallion. He hadn't believed his mom or Twilight when had landed back at the palace a few minutes ago. He had openly laughed at the very idea of his mum tearing strips off of his aunt. Certainly Dusk had never imagined he’d ever witness the scene he had when he ran through the open doors of his aunt’s suite; earth pony and alicorn at each other's throats looking for all of Equestria like they’re about to go to war with each other. A quick glance around the antechamber had confirmed it; the scattered scrolls, the destroyed desk and the two scrolls currently laid at his aunt’s hooves.

"Dusk…” Octavia started, caught like a rabbit in a car’s headlights under her son’s fierce gaze, “We were…um, just uh…having a chat, about those scrolls Twilight brought back from the university.”

"A chat? Really mum?” Dusk condescended to raise a skeptical eyebrow at his mum’s rather lame explanation. “Tell me, what kind of ‘chat’ required the destruction of a perfectly sound desk? Or would cause Aunt Tia to use her Royal Canterlot Voice?”

“Dusk…you don't understand,” Octavia waved a hoof at a quietened Celestia, “She had no business giving you that scroll! She has to be made to account for her actions!”

“Octavia, I…” Celestia began, only to be interrupted by her nephew when he stepped in front of the Solar Princess and faced his mother.

“Mum, you have to listen to me, it's my fault, okay?’ Dusk started to explain to the stunned earth pony, who currently had her mouth open. “I went to Aunt Tia for that information, I asked her to write it all down then I was the one who showed it to Blitzwing.”

“But…Dusk…”

"But nothing mum!” Dusk exclaimed with an annoyed stomp of his hoof, making a dull thudding noise on the marbled floor. “You warned me what would happen, Aunt Tia warned me what would happen. I chose not to listen, mum!”

“Son…you can't seriously blame yourself?”

“Why not?” Dusk asked his mother; “I am to blame, aren’t I mum? So Aunt Tia gave me that scroll, so what? She didn't bend my hoof behind my back and force me to use it did she?” Dusk took a deep breath, “Is what you’re doing to your sister-in-law any different than what I did to Blitzwing?” The midnight blue stallion then looked his mother and aunt in the eyes as he poured out his guilt. “I went to the hospital, I spoke with the doctor who treated Wily. I sat with her until she woke up and then I had to tell my best friend she was blind then, I told her it was my fault.”

“Oh…son, come here sweetheart.” Octavia reared up to her hind hooves and opened her forelegs to pull Dusk into a tight hug and proceeded to nuzzle her son’s neck.

“Mum!” Dusk blushed at the intimate contact, but still returned the hug with equal enthusiasm.

Celestia had recovered her regal stature, and waved to her sister to approach.  Luna also regained her composure during the reconciliation moved at Celstia's beckoning. Sharing a smile and a nod the royal sisters both joined in the cuddle-fest between mother and son. Edging around the snuggle pile Luna found her wife's ear and gave it a hard bite between her teeth.

“Aah…” Octavia gasped at the sharp pain in her left ear and rubbed her hind legs together as the pain sent a wave of pleasure through her body.

“You’ve been a very, very naughty mare, Tavi…” Luna whispered in the earth pony’s ear; “You’re going to get such a spanking in our suite later, I'll make sure you don't sit down for a week.”

Octavia shivered with delight, “Promise?”

~ ~ ~

“Where is she?” Cold Front demanded for the third time as he stood at the reception desk of Canterlot Royal Hospital – well stood would’ve been generous, leant against was more accurate.

“Where is whom, sir?” The nurse staffing the reception asked, also for the third time, her otherwise limitless patience being dragged to hitherto unplumbed depths by this infuriating stallion.

“Pegasus…mare…yellow, short, I think…” Cold Front slurred hesitantly, trying to desperately describe the daughter he hadn't seen for over seven months. ‘Is she a pegasus?’ He thought to himself, ‘maybe a unicorn? No…definitely a pegasus…’

Nurse Pureheart took a deep breath through her nose to steady her nerves then regretted it almost instantly as the overwhelming aroma of cigarettes and alcohol wafted through the security screen separating the two ponies. “Do you have a name, sir?”

"My name?" Cold Front asked stupidly as he staggered slightly to the left.

“No, sir…” Pureheart raised an arctic blue hoof to her brow and massaged her temples, brushing aside her royal blue mane and ground her teeth together to bite back the retort she desperately wanted to make to the idiotic stallion in front of her. Idly she wondered, not for the first time, whether she should’ve followed her sister to Manehatten. ‘Sure,’ she thought, ‘I could be on the coast helping my sister to treat that pegasus with the anger issues…but no…I'm here dealing with drunk stallions…’ Pureheart sighed internally and reminded herself yet again that she wasn't jealous at all of Sureheart. “Do you have the name of the pony you’re here to visit?”

“Oh…um…” Cold Front struggled to think for a moment before the name came to him in a rare moment of brilliance. “Wild…er, fire…yeah that’s it, Wildfire!” The indigo stallion smiled, proud of his recollection.

"Uh huh, just a moment, sir.” Pureheart tapped at her keyboard and in a few moments had Wildfire’s details flashed up on her monitor. ‘Oh…you poor bucking mare!’ Pureheart thought as she scanned the opened file. Checking the next of kin entry the earth pony did see a unicorn listed as the mare’s father. “Just a few security questions, sir. Your name and relation to Miss Wildfire please?”

“So…you do want my name then?” The unicorn asked, once again staggering against the screen.

"Yes please, for the security question, if you don’t mind?” Pureheart sighed, the Manehatten skyline once again filling her imagination.

“Cold…Cold Front. That’s my name.” He slurred, still leant with his head against the screen. “I'm…uh, I'm her fath…dad. I'm her dad.”

‘Really?’ Was Pureheart’s first thought, one the nurse quickly stomped on with all four hooves. A quick check later and she confirmed that however regrettably, this drunken mess was cleared to go in and see his daughter.

"Can I see her then, or what?” Cold Front pushed his head away from the security screen and swayed a little on his hooves. “I came as soon as I heard, earlier today.”

"Today?" Before she could stop herself Pureheart exclaimed; “Sir, this happened yesterday!”

“Today…yesterday…tomorrow, what’s the difference?”

"What’s the diff…” Pureheart shook her head and screamed internally at this idiotic stallion’s foalishness, and wished dearly that she could deny him access to his daughter on the principal he was a massive drunken plothole, but alas she couldn't. ‘I bet he's violent too…he looks the type,’ she thought nastily.

“Where is it then?” Cold Front slurred, repulsing the nurse even more. “Where you keeping my kid?”

“Room two one four, ‘sir’,” Pureheart spat out the last word, only too eager to get this poor excuse for a stallion out of her face and as far away from her as equinely possible. “Down the hall to your left and follow the arrows to the Snowdrop Ward.”

“Fine…” Without a word of thanks Cold Front turned on his hooves and staggered first of all to the right a few hoof-strips to the right before realising his mistake and veering to the left, hiccuping and muttering things she couldn't quite hear under his breath that the nurse couldn't quite make out, but what she was sure were quite derogatory. Silently Pureheart wished he wouldn’t find the room, looking as she did so once more at the transfer request paper for Manehatten General Hospital she had in front of her.

“Ugh…I can't do this Eirene!” Wildfire exclaimed in frustration. “This is way too hard!” She threw the paper in her hooves to the floor and crossed her forehooves over her chest.

Clicking her tongue Eirene bent and retrieved the sheet of paper, breathing through her nose and reaching eight on her calming ten count. “Now Wily, dear, this is important.” The nurse passed the sheet of paper, which contained nothing but a series of raised bumps and dots, back to the sulky mare in the hospital bed. “If you want to read and write ever again, you need to learn Braille.”

“Ugh! But…but…” Wildfire threw up her hooves, almost sending the paper to the floor again, but luckily the nurse caught it in time. “It's not easy when you can't see the dots!”

“No Wily it's not easy, nothing worthwhile ever is, now is it?” Eirene smiled with infinite patience. “You’re still thinking with your eyes, you have to see through your hooves.”

“Easy for you to say,” Wildfire groused, “You can see what you’re doing…”

“No, it's easy for me because I can close my eyes and read the bumps through my hooves. Just like you will before much longer.” The earth pony smiled and stroked her patient’s cheek.

“Yeah right,” Wildfire muttered under her breath, but still loud enough to be heard. “We've been at this for hours and I'm still only on ‘A to J’.”

“Wildfire.” Eirene allowed a slight hint of irritation into her voice. “Give yourself a chance. You've been blind barely a day. There’s no rush to learn all this.”

“Sure there is! I wanna write poems again and I need to learn this craziness to do it.” She grumbled as she ran her hooves over the raised bumps dotted across the paper in front of her. After a few hours of learning she had finally started to recognise the first few letters.

"So?” Eirene asked with a little giggle. “If that's what you want to do, then you know what you need to do, don't you?”

"Yes, mom…” Wildfire rolled her shoulders, which they had agreed was Wily’s method of rolling her eyes, and went back to the Braille alphabet sheet.

“Nothing to it, but to do it!” Giggling the two friends recited Eirene’s favourite motivational mantra. One she had repeated over and over to Wildfire since yesterday. Eirene really wished Darkstar would come back. That mare was just the optimistic friend her patient needed.

“Exactly Wily!” Eirene clapped her forehooves together with glee and tousled her mane in a good-natured condescending manner that earned her a raspberry from the yellow pegasus. “My…I think she’s finally getting it! Wait Wily while I write it in my diary…’September the twenty-first, two thousand and twenty-five. Wildfire learnt something!’”

“Oh har de har, har!” Wildfire raspberried her friend again as she scanned the page with her hoof. “I've got A to J sorted, it's K to Z that’s tricky, Eirene.”

“Okay Wily, remember what we learnt about Braille?”

“That it’s a matrix of six squares, some are filled with a dot or raised bump; in different combinations these denote the different letters of the alphabet.” Wildfire recited part of the introductory paragraph to the Braille sheet currently in her hoof.”

“Uh huh, and what’s the trick on the paper?” Eirene asked and waited a few minutes for Wildfire to answer. When she didn't the nurse supplied the answer for her. “Remember K to Z are the same as the others but with an extra bump in the lower left segment.”

“Oh yuppers…of course!” Wildfire ran her hoof over the letters and confirms it for herself. “Okay…yeah I get it now.”

“Nurse Eirene to E. R. Room seven, Nurse Eirene to E. R. Room seven, please.” The earth pony mare scowled up at the intercom.

“Wily I'm going to have to go.” Eirene clipped her hooves on the tiled floor to let Wildfire know she was moving away. Pausing at the door she called over her shoulder, “I want you to have written your name in Braille by the time I get back.”

"Oh come on!" Wildfire exclaimed, “I'm not at home and I get homework?”

“No excuses Wildfire!” Eirene snapped sternly. “There’s a pen on the nightstand. You have the paper. Now stop holding yourself back and crack on!” She gave an annoyed stomp of her hoof to let her patient know she was serious. “I won't let you fail yourself, Wildfire.” And, with that she was gone out the door.

“Stupid Braille…” Wildfire grumbled aloud while she ran her hoof over the paper one more time. Sighing she realised Eirene was right. Right now the only pony holding her back was her. With another lingering sigh the pegasus reached over for the pen, almost knocking over her water jug in the process. “Ugh…stupid pen!” She took the pen in her hoof and bought it to her mouth, scanning the alphabet guide for the W. Dabbing her pen on the paper Wildfire drew three vertical dots and then made a fourth dot in the middle of the three on the left side. “There! W!”

Wildfire was about to start the ‘I’, she had made the dot in the middle of the left column when she heard a series of clopping hooves against the tiles. Listening she tried to work out who it was. She knew from the haphazard footfall it wasn't Eirene. She suppressed the feeling of panic when she realised from the volume that the pony was getting closer. “Hello?” Wildfire ventured when the mystery pony didn't deign to reveal themselves. At first the pegasus assumed it was Darkstar returned for a visit and any minute now she was going to get pranked by her friend.

Wildfire was about to ask again, and tell Darkie to stop messing her about as she wasn't in the mood, when a very familiar scent hit the back of her nostrils. A scent she hadn't smelled for over seven months but one she was sure she’d recognise at the end of time itself. It was a scent sent straight from the depths of her own personal Tartarus. Sniffing the air she picked it up again, this time to her right side. The unmistakable aroma of day old stale bed-sweat and cigarettes mixed with the pungent whiff of alcohol left Wildfire with no uncertainty as to who this pony was. “Oh um…hi, dad…” She instinctively flinched away from the smell.

“High? No I'm not high I'm drunk…” Cold Front stated with laughter as he mounted the seating pad at the right side of the bed after two attempts.

“Dad, I meant…ugh just forget it, will you?” Wildfire was going to follow it up but decided it wasn't worth her effort. “Thanks for coming, I guess, it's um…it’s been a while, um…how’ve you been?”

His laughter at his own joke stopped, “Whaddaya mean? How've I been?” He snorted, and gave his daughter a contemptuous look. “It's been great without all your stupid nagging all the time!”

Wildfire flinched at the sound of her dad’s outburst, “Dad I'm sorry I just care okay? You're killing yourself!”

“You, care for me?” Cold Front gave a nasty drunken laugh, “You're never home just like your mother and you’re just as useless.” He glared at his daughter as she trembled under the bed sheets.

"I...I'm not useless!”

“Don’t you argue with me!” he shouted, “You’re just like your mother. Useless!” He finally focused on the mare in the bed. “What happened to you? You look like shit.”

“What, didn’t anyone tell you,” Wildfire shouted back. “I’m blind, and I’ll never see again!”

“Now you’re even more useless than your mother,” her father stated with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Leave mom out of this! She died trying to provide for us, and you’re nothing but a drunk...” Wildfire belted out before breaking sobbing.

“Don’t you dare talk to me that way, missy,” Cold Front shouted back. “No one gives a crap about you, but I’m still here!” Again he snorted, “You can’t even fetch my beer now.”

“Dusk was here,” Wildfire mumbled into her hooves, “And I’m sure Air Raid will be here soon.”

Cold Front spoke with contempt, “That bag of hot air was here? Must have took one look at you and left.” The stallion spat on the floor. “And that fillyfooling mare will leave you too when she sees just how useless you are.”

“Shut up!” Wildfire heaved her shoulders and sniffled, trying desperately to release this pent up emotion, “Shut UP!” She yelled between sniffles.

“Heh…can't even cry properly…” Cold Front slid off the seating pad, already bored with this visit. “Are you good for anything apart from being a waste of fur and feathers?”

“I’M NOT USELESS!” Wildfire screamed at her cruel dad.

“Sure you are Wily, you just can't see it.” He broke out in laughter at his own joke. He lumbered off the seating pad, and his uneven hoof-steps receded to the door then halted. From the door he turned to give her one last look. “At least your mother had the decency to die, but I’m going to be stuck with you. If you can’t find your way home don’t bother to call me.” With that said he turned his back on his snivelling daughter and left her room echoing to the despair of its lone occupant.

Muttering to himself Cold Front staggered from his daughter’s room, utterly deaf to her distraught sobs. Walking past a mirror on his way to the reception he paused and found he didn't recognise the haggard stallion staring back at him through bloodshot eyes. “Damn you Silver…” He swore, striking the wall with his hoof. “You did this to me…”

Pricking up her ears at the hoof strike nurse Pureheart groaned internally when she saw her favourite stallion return from his visit. ‘And, he’s punching a wall and talking to a mirror…’ Without thinking about it her hoof wandered to the transfer paper still on her desk. ‘I don't need this, Sureheart said all I have to do is call…’ She was about to summon the hospital security when she saw the large cleaner Lotus Stripes pushing his broom down the corridor towards them. “Lotus, can I borrow you a second sweetie?”

Leaning his broom against the reception wall Lotus gave the nurse an easy smile and a nod of his head in greeting. “Sure Nurse Pureheart, what do you need?”

Standing next to the gentle giant of an earth pony Pureheart couldn't help but feel reassured and safe. Right now he was just what she needed. As the green coated stallion stood a clear two heads taller then her she had to crank her head back just to look up at him; jerking her head towards the indigo unicorn currently swearing at the mirror. “Can you get rid of that please?”

Lotus looked over and grinned at the stallion. “No problem Nurse,” he winked as he hoofed his chocolate brown mane, shot through with cream stripes, out of his eyes and within a few long confident strides found himself standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the inebriated pony.

“Excuse me, Sir.” Lotus said, his low quiet voice clearly audible next to the unicorn’s cursing. “You're making a scene.”

“So what?” Cold Front turned to face the stallion and quietened down as his sheer size began to sink in. “What’s it to you what scene I make?”

"Come now Sir, I'm sure that the mirror hasn’t done anything to you.” Lotus looked down at the stallion and chuckled, his joke going clear over the indigo unicorn’s head.

Cold Front struggled to focus on the towering earth pony, his brain wrestled with the idea he'd been insulted, but he wasn't sure. Another second of two spent pondering it made his brain hurt. “I’m done with this place,” he slurred to the stallion next to him, “I need a drink…”

Lotus grinned a wide grin. Here was a problem easily removed. Flipping open the pocket of his blue denim overalls he showed the very top of a hip flask to the other stallion and gave another low chuckle when his attempt to take it with his magic fizzled and failed in a shower of blue sparks. “Ah, ah, ah…” He said in the manner of a carer scolding a naughty foal, “Yours once we’re outside.”

With that Cold Front followed Lotus out of the hospital without any further incident. The green earth pony gave Pureheart a nod to say everything was under control on the way out that earned him a simpering giggle from the relieved nurse. Outwardly Lotus smiled in reply, though inwardly he wanted nothing more than five minutes alone with her. He idly wondered as he walked if it would take that long to wipe the stupid smile from her muzzle. He dearly wanted to test his theory; it’d be a simple matter to get her to his storeroom and then…but no, Amethyst needed him here.

“Alright we’re outside, gimme the juice!” Cold Front demanded the second his hooves touched the front lawn.

“Alright buddy,” Lotus unscrewed the flask and passed it to the desperate unicorn.

“He…Hey!” Cold Front shouted out when Lotus pulled the flask from his mouth. “What's the bucking idea?”

“My name’s Lotus Stripes.” The green stallion said softly as he sat on his haunches on the short grass of the lawn. “Why don't you tell me what's up, then I might let you have a bit more to drink, hmm?”

Cold Front dropped ungainly to the lawn beside the much larger pony. “Cold…Cold Front…that's my name.”

“See? Now we’re getting somewhere.” Lotus chuckled, offering a bit more of the flask, which the unicorn accepted without question. “Now, what's up?” He asked quietly, pulling the flask away again.

Hesitantly and with many slurs Cold front told Lotus the whole tale, embellished here and there, he told him of his daughter’s blindness and how useless she was to him now and of course, how inconvenienced he was as her dad facing the prospect of having to look after her. The more he talked the more whiskey Lotus gave him, and the more he drank the looser his lips became. By the time the flask was three quarters empty Lotus knew just about everything about Cold Front, his daughter and his life.

Listening intently Lotus played the concerned understanding friend role to a tee, even going so far as to hang a sympathetic hoof over the unicorn’s shoulder. “Hey…” He spoke up eventually, his deep voice getting the unicorn’s attention, “Sounds like you have a problem, Cold Front.”

“So what else is new?” Cold Front snarled angrily. “Useless mare’s always been a problem.”

"I understand. I totally understand my friend.” Lotus grinned like an angler pony reeling in a prize catch. This grade A selfish idiot was just the pony Amethyst had him stationed here for. Just another little push. “I'd hate her if she was my kid too.”

“Told her not to bother coming home if she can't find her own way…useless bundle of feathers.”

“You did the right thing buddy, totally.” Lotus pulled his new ‘friend’ into a hug, “I can't imagine how hard it's going to be for you, for the rest of your life.”

“Hard…rest of my life? What do you mean, Lotus?”

"Well, just think about it. Your life is pretty much over, isn't it?” Lotus smiled a predatory smile that’d put a timberwolf to shame. “All you are now is her carer. No more booze for you, gotta be sober at all times, Cold.”

“Bucking useless burden!” Cold Front spat, feeling every word the earth pony had just said as a dagger to his very soul. “I wish she'd never been born!”

“If you really feel that way, I know somepony who can uh, shall we say, make your problem ‘go away’?”

“Go away?” Cold Front could hardly believe his luck. All his hearth warming eves had come at once. A few moments ago he was looking at a lifetime as a carer, now miraculously his future was cleared to do as he wished. “How can you make it go away?”

“Here, take this.” Lotus Stripes pulled a rectangular business card from another pocket of his overalls and passed it in his hoof to the indigo unicorn.

Cold Front turned the card over in his hooves to read the front of it. “Helping Hooves Residential Care Home…Director, Amethyst Glory.” He read out, his eyes managing to focus long enough on the words to read them.

“Hm, hmm. You ring that number, do exactly what Amethyst Glory tells you to do. Next thing you know, you’ll be living it up in the bars of Las Pegasus, not a care in the world.” Lotus chuckled as he hoofed over the hip flask. “Have that on me my friend.” The earth pony stood and turned his back on the drunk unicorn without another word; the evil smile he wore on his muzzle spoke volumes. Warden Glory would reward him handsomely for this.

~ ~ ~

Air Raid found herself trotting through the doors of Canterlot Royal Hospital in something of a fugue state. Part of her dearly wished she’d had the nerve to come yesterday to see her marefriend. That part of her felt utterly wretched and the phone call from Darkstar after her visit hadn't helped in the slightest. Then there was the other part of her. That little selfish nugget within her that didn't want to be here in the slightest. It was these conflicting thoughts and emotions that warred within her as she stepped into the reception. Her heart wanted to walk forward while her head wanted nothing more than to get back in her car and drive and drive and not look back until Canterlot and Wildfire were a distant memory.

Half way across the white marble floor of the entrance Air Raid froze, standing between the foyer and the reception area. Shamefully she looked back to the car park, her hooves itching to fire up her ignition and run. Her hoof took a step backwards towards the entrance. ‘I was a fool to come here’, she thought, taking another step back. Consumed by her thoughts she didn't notice the arctic blue earth pony in front of her.

“Excuse me, can I help you?” Nurse Pureheart asked, fresh from extended break she had requested after dealing with that vile drunken unicorn.

“Huh? What? Help me?” Air Raid was brought rudely back to herself, the nurse in front of her waiting politely for a reply.

“Yes, can I help you?” Pureheart’s practised smile started to slip a little as she sensed the presence of another idiot. “You seem a little lost. Who are you here for?”

“Um…I'm uh, I'm here for um…W, Wildfire…” The lime green mare stuttered when she replied, still desiring to be anywhere but here.

“Oh, Miss Wildfire?” Pureheart immediately brightened up. From her brief chats with Eirene the nurse had firmly decided she liked the little pegasus. “You want room two one four, down the corridor to your left. You're her second visitor today, Miss?”

“Oh right uh, Air Raid,” she murmured, not really listening.

“Air Raid…Air Raid…” Pureheart tapped her chin with a hoof, searching her memory for the name and where she’d heard it before. “Wildfire’s nurse says she’s been asking after you…” Her eyes went wide as realisation sunk in. “Her marefriend? You know she’s been here since yesterday, right?” Pureheart stomped a hoof in frustration.

“Hey…gimme a break, I've been busy alright?” Air Raid retorted.

“Busy? You do realise that with a traumatic injury it is important part of recovery that their loved ones are nearby.” Nurse Pureheart smiled, “At least you are here now and I’m sure you can provide better support than that drunk stallion that came to see her.”

Air Raid paused, stopped in her tracks. “Drunk stallion? So her dad’s been then?” Air Raid felt really sickened now, even that useless waste of fur had been here before her.

“Yes Miss Raid,” Pureheart smiled sweetly, happy to see that her ‘nurse-speak’ had produced the desired effect. “Her father paid Miss Wildfire a visit earlier today.”

“Oh…right, well um, thanks I guess…” Air Raid muttered as she turned on her hooves and made her way down the corridor, her walk barely reaching a trot; with every step the racer’s hooves seemed heavier than the one before it, until she was standing silently at the open door to her marefriend’s room.

“Damnit!” Wildfire exclaimed in annoyance. She'd written her name four times now and four times she'd mixed up the ‘E’ at the end with the Braille symbol for ‘I’. She was sorely tempted to throw her pen away and have done with the whole thing, but like Eirene had said, nothing to it but to do it. And, more than anything, Wildfire wanted to show Eirene she could do it. “Right…c’mon Wily, you got this, concentrate you dumb filly.” She chided herself and picked up her pen again to try a fifth time when her dad’s visit played across her mind for what felt like the hundredth time since he left.

Cold Front’s cruel words flashed across her brain like a spark to tinder. “I am NOT useless!” Wildfire emphasised to herself, using her dad’s jibe as motivation to try again. She wasn't sure when her nurse would be coming back from her emergency call, already it had been three hours going by the chime of the clock, but when she did come back Wildfire wanted to have something worthwhile to show her.

Air Raid stood motionless outside the open door, hardly daring to breathe lest her presence be given away. She saw her marefriend sat up in the bed wearing the dull grey hospital gown, her gaze almost instantly deaden to the bandages wrapped around her face. ‘Jeez…how bad is it?’ She thought to herself. She had been unable to get Dusk on the line yesterday and Darkstar wasn't returning her calls at all. Again the lime green mare had the urge to just go home.

“Excuse me, can I help you?” Eirene whispered quietly at the side of the pegasus, causing her to jump a clear two feet in the air in surprise.

“I’m uh…here to um…see Wily.” Air Raid whispered back, keeping her voice low so as not to disturb Wildfire who was still working at her writing.

“Well, go on in then, silly; she won't bite.” Eirene giggled, “I'm Eirene, by the way, I'm Wily’s nurse.”

“Yeah hi…I'm Air Raid…Wildfire’s…Wily’s marefriend.” The lime green mare muttered.

“Oh, you’re Wily’s marefriend are you?” Eirene asked, her mask of professionalism threatening to slip. “It's so nice to finally meet you. Wily’s been asking after you since she woke up. Yesterday.”

“Hey!” Air Raid snapped, “Don't start busting my ass, I'm this close to going home alright?”

“Then by all means do so Miss Raid.” Eirene said quietly, no anger in her voice. “I won't stop you, nor will I make excuses you either. My priority is sitting in that bed trying hard to write her name.”

“Whatever…”

“Miss Raid,” the earth pony started wearily, “I have just come from assisting a four hour emergency surgery. Do not ‘whatever’ me.” She said tersely as she turned her back to the selfish mare and trotted noisily into the room, making sure her hooves clipped on the tiled floor.

Wildfire immediately lifted her head up from her paper at the sounds of the hoof-steps and pricked her ears; she knew almost immediately it wasn't her dad come back. Sniffing the air Wildfire couldn't help but grin when the smell of jasmine hit the back of her nose. “Eirene! Look what I did, I did it, look!”

“Wow Wily, that's amazing work well done!” Eirene enthused, genuinely proud of her patients efforts while she had been gone. “Hey…did I mention my top student who’s done top work gets a surprise?” The nurse grinned back over her shoulder at the stock-still pegasus who śhook her head frantically.

“A surprise? I get a surprise? What is it?” Wildfire dropped the paper and clapped her hooves together excitedly.

Eirene giggled at Wildfire’s sudden excitement. “Let's see if you can guess, shall we? I'll give you three clues.”

“Oh come on I hate guessing games!”

“You’ll like this one Wily, I promise”. ‘I hope, at any rate’, the nurse thought to herself. “Now…your surprise is a pegasus mare, she’s green and she has a steering wheel cutie mark. Can you gue…”

“AIR RAID!” Wildfire clapped her hooves together excitedly, smiling a side smile towards the door. “Babes I missed you, where've you been? What’ve you been doing?” Wildfire gushed, too thrilled to let her marefriend answer, “It doesn't matter you're here now! I've missed you so much! C’mere, I wanna cuddle!” Wildfire opened her hooves and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Ten minutes later and Wildfire still had her hooves open waiting for the cuddle from her marefriend. “Raid? Babes what's wrong?” She asked in a tremulous voice.

Eirene shot the immobile pegasus a nasty dangerous look and mouthed to her silently ‘Get. In here. Cuddle her. Now!’

Air Raid looked from one mare to the other and rolled her grey eyes, mouthing ‘fine!’, the lime green mare clipped her hooves hesitantly into the room towards the open forelegs of her waiting mare. “Nothing’s wrong Wily, I'm fine. I…I'm here for you sweetie.” Pulling Wildfire into a tight hug Air Raid buried her head into her marefriend's shoulder. Hidden by her black mane Eirene couldn't see the pained grimace she pulled as she smelt the acid-damaged scars under the bandages.

“Put your homework down a minute Wily,” Eirene pulled Wildfire’s black bangs from her bandages and noted the discolouration there. “I need to change your bandages and clean your scars.”

Air Raid instinctively pulled away from the all-to-brief cuddle and looked with a barely contained disgust at her marefriend’s bandaged face. “Y – You have to do that now?”

“Yes!” The earth pony stamped her hoof in indignation. “Yes I do.” Eirene seethed inwardly at this selfish mares utter lack of interest in what was supposed to be her lover. She shook her head; sadly she’d seen this too many times, especially here in Canterlot where a pony’s ‘image’ was everything. Smiling sweetly at the green pegasus she tried a different tack. “Actually, you timed your visit nicely. You can observe what I do for when you have to do this yourself.”

“Yuppers Raid,” Wildfire giggled, “You get to be my sexy home nurse!”

Air Raid stood stock still, her right forehoof still on Wildfire’s left shoulder, grey eyes wide as saucers as Wildfire’s eight words sank into her stunned brain…”You get to be my sexy home nurse!” What little smile had been on her face quickly slid to be replaced by an uncertain frown. “N – Nurse? I…I dunno about that…I'm not exactly trained…” Air Raid wrong silent as her voice trailed away to nothing. This was it, this was the end of her career. The great and talented Air Raid, winner of almost every major race Canterlot had to offer. She was young. Her career was a promising one. Now it was a good as over almost before it began.

“Rubbish, Air Raid.” Eirene snapped, the nurse very quickly approaching the end of her rope. “You don't need medical training to tend to Wily’s scars. Just watch me, and please, do pay attention.” The nurse then proceeded to tear the medical tape securing the soiled bandages at the back of Wildfire’s head under her black mane. With a practiced ease Eirene started to unwind the bandages, taking the time to explain to Air Raid what she was doing and, what to look out for when changing the bandages, where to apply a soothing cream and how tightly to reapply them.

Air Raid watched with a morbid fascination as Wildfire’s nurse slowly unwound the bandages covering her marefriend’s damaged face. Every single instinct screamed at her to run away, to get in her car and get as far away as equinely possible. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get her hooves to obey her. She found her breath hitching at the sight of more and more burnt and discoloured yellow-brown fur as it was revealed. “It hurt, Wily?” She croaked out,  finding her throat had gone dry.

Wildfire turned her head in the direction of her marefriend’s voice. “Yeah Raid, it hurts. Only when the morphine wears off though babes.”

Eirene paused halfway through removing the bandages. “I'm afraid Wily will be in a constant amount of pain for a while to come yet Air Raid,” Eirene sniffed, pointedly using Air Raid’s full name. There was just, something, about this mare that didn't sit with the earth pony. Not at all.

Air Raid didn't like the sound of that very much. A constant amount of pain sounded like it needed a constant amount of care. Care, if she was totally honest with herself, she didn't know if she was prepared to give. The more she heard the more it sounded like her career was expected to at best be put on hold, at worst over. ‘It’s not fair! I've worked bucking hard to get where I am…why should I give it up?’

“Y – Yuppers…” Wildfire started then winced and hissed with pain as Eirene put a little too much pressure across the bridge of her nose. “It hurts like a bucker, but at least I have you to look after me…right?” She asked nervously when Air Raid didn’t reply straight away.

"Sorry Wily, my bad.” Eirene giggled as she unwound the rest of the bandages, “You can spank my flank after, okay?”

“That's what you said last time!” Wildfire laughed, forgetting that Air Raid still hadn't answered.

“Yes I know,” Eirene sniggered as she finished removing the bandages, “And, no matter how much I begged you still didn't spank me hard enough.” The nurse laughed at hers and Wildfire’s little in joke then she gave her a little peck on the forehead, an action that made Air Raid’s skin crawl under her fur, and stepped back. “There we go. We’ll let some fresh air get to those pretty scars of yours. Do you good before we put you on some clean bandages.”

Just before the earth pony stood back Air Raid reflexively turned her face away. ‘Pretty scars? Who’s she kidding?’ For an extra measure she clamped her eyes shut, having no desire to even look at her marefriend.

“Thanks Eirene!” Wildfire exclaimed with a wince as the room temperature air of the hospital room made contact with her now unprotected face. “Raid, babes, my nurse says I'm still pretty. What do you think, am I still something to wake up to?” Wildfire asked uncertainly, crossing her hooves under the bedsheets. ‘Please don't leave me…please don't leave me…say I'm pretty, Tartarus Raid, say anything!’

‘You used to be pretty…ugh how can I wake up to that?’ The thought shot through Air Raid’s brain. “You uh, you look just fine, Wily. Just fine.” She said through her closed eyes.

"Aw babes! You're so sweet!” Wildfire giggled, clapping her hooves together in delight from what she perceived was a genuine compliment.

Eirene was outraged by Air Raid’s attitude. Wildfire had told her all about this mare after Darkie had left yesterday afternoon and from she had been told about the pegasus, if anypony would be empathetic and understanding it would be her. Now confronted with the most unsympathetic, uncaring and downright selfish behaviour she’d had the deep misfortune to witness. It was all the infuriated earth pony could do not to erupt in a rage then and there. ‘Sweet, my left fetlock,’ she thought angrily.

Smiling dangerously Eirene decided it was time she ended this charade right here and now. She had seen this type of behaviour before and she had no doubt she’d see it again. Loved ones turning on or abandoning family or partners because the relationship wasn't easy anymore. Ponies like Air Raid made her sick. Still, having her eyes closed like that gave her an idea how to resolve the situation. She only hoped Wily wouldn't be too affected. She liked that pegasus.

“Wily, I'm just going to the other side of the room for your supplies, okay?” Eirene didn't wait for a reply before she clopped her way noisily around the bed. The earth pony smiled vindictively as she rounded the end of the bed and walked close to Air Raid’s tail. ‘Wily, forgive me…’ With that thought in her head the nurse walked past the pegasus sitting on her haunches and stomped her left hind leg down hard on her blue tail, impacting scant inches from where it met her dock. “Oops…”

“Aah!” Air Raid gasped more in surprise than pain and without thinking opened her grey eyes and found herself looking directly at Wildfire’s ruined face. Reflexively Air Raid staggered backwards away from the hospital bed, away from the injured pegasus. “AAAAH!” This time her gasp was one of fear and revulsion as she drank in the burned yellow of the discoloured fur around Wildfire’s face, the green / brown of the pitted acid marks, the melted and scarred flesh that stretched across her face where her beautiful chestnut brown eyes used to be. Air Raid tasted bile and vomit in her mouth as she looked in horror at her marefriend’s scarred tissue. She could see the sunken skin of the now empty eye sockets covered by the acid scars, and it was all she could do not to throw up in disgust.

Wildfire heard the sharp intake of breath from her partner sat by the left side of her bed. “Raid? Babes what's wrong?” She asked, turning her head slightly towards the sound of the gasp.

‘Oh Wily, what have I done?’ Eirene thought with her back to them both.

“AAaaaaAAaaaHHH!” Air Raid screamed. And screamed. For a full minute she screamed, unable to vocalise her emotions any other way. Finally after what seemed like an age the green mare ran out of breath and shuddered to a haggard awkward silence that, in the wake of the terrified scream, seemed to stretch for eternity. An eternity in which the only sounds where the breathing of the three mares.

"R – Raid…Raid…wh – wha…” There was so many things whirling around Wildfire’s brain that her questions all muddled and what came out of her mouth was a garbled mess.

“W – Wily…I'm sorry I can't do this…” Air Raid interrupted, standing to her hooves.

“Wha…what d’you…I don't understand….you said I was p – pretty…”

“I lied! Okay I lied! I'm sorry Wily but look at you…you aren't my mare…she was pretty; you…you just aren't.” She turned on her hooves and started to head towards the open door.

Wildfire heard the clopping of her hooves, “Raid…please, I'm still your Wily, come back…”

Air Raid didn't bother to turn around or even look over her shoulder as she paused halfway to the door. “I can’t do it Wily…I can't care for you. I have my career…my racing…you're hideous...I can't be seen with you looking like that…” Feeling thoroughly wretched Air Raid took another loud step away from her now snivelling mare.

"Raid please..." Wildfire reached with her hoof, grasping at the very air. "Come back, talk to me, please!"

Air Raid just carried on walking. “Sorry Wildfire...we had fun while it lasted. Fun’s over, babes.”

“Raid!” Now it was Wildfire’s turn to scream, as the sound of hooves receded away. “AIR RAAAAID!” Wildfire reached out further with her hoof, hoping to catch the retreating mare. “Come back…please, please come back!”

~ ~ ~

“Eeuurgh!” Cold Front resisted the urge to spit out the awful cold coffee he bad purchased at the hospital cafeteria. “Tasteless muck!” He groused to nopony in particular. For what must’ve been the seventh time since he had sat at the table he checked the clock. He was to meet this mare, this Amethyst Glory, in the cafeteria at twelve noon, and it was already five minutes to the hour. “Dumb mare’s probably messed me about,” he muttered under his breath. “Knew I shouldn't have listened to a mare.” Cold Front snickered to himself. Sat here alone in the hospital cafeteria that Thursday afternoon he felt a lot braver insulting Amethyst than he had been talking to her on the phone the

day before. He couldn't put his hoof on why but the mare unnerved him. There was something about her voice that made his fur stand on end. Still, the deal was all but done now.

The cafeteria clock began striking the first chimes of twelve and the unicorn stallion inhaled, about to curse Amethyst’s apparent tardiness when a small commotion at the doors caught his attention. A mare’s voice could clearly be heard, and it sent the same chills down his spine that it had on the phone. “I said ‘out of my way!’” He couldn't see her yet but the sense of power was overwhelming, even from here. “Pathetic mare!” The voice sounded in utter contempt before a resounding hoof stomp scattered the few ponies at the cafeteria doors.

Getting his first look of Amethyst Glory, Cold Front’s first reaction was to drop his jaw idiotically. Her coat was a similar lavender to that of Princess Twilights, her golden yellow mane, while it might’ve been long was scraped back from her forehead and held in a tight bun. Her clothes only promoted this severe look; a black pin stripe suit with white shirt covered her upper body, while a simple long black skirt hid most of her hindquarters, though from the broach on her left lapel the stallion guessed her cutie mark was a glowing amethyst crystal. A pair of black rimmed half-moon glasses and a set of black horseshoes competed her look; namely the look of a fifty-something austere mare that Cold Front knew instinctively it'd be next to impossible to intimidate.

The mare walked with a definite sense of purpose to the table where Cold Front waited. By the time the clock had finished chiming twelve the unicorn mare had taken the seating pad and was looking over the cafeteria’s menu, pointedly not paying the stallion any mind. A waitress pony quickly appeared and the lavender mare ordered a coffee for them both.

“You'll pardon me,” Cold Front sniggered his nasty laugh, “I didn't think we were here to share coffee.”

“No. I will not pardon you. It is clear you do not ‘think’ very often.” Amethyst Glory gave the stallion a very dispassionate look over her glasses. “Of course we are sharing coffee. This is a cafeteria.”

“But, but…” Cold Front stammered with a frown furrowing his brow. This just didn’t make sense. A deal such as this that they were about to sign together…well, the stallion expected to be behind closed doors at the very least, not in the middle of a busy cafeteria surrounded by a crowd of ponies.

Amethyst removed her glasses with her magic and rubbed her closed green eyes with a hoof while she tried to fathom the stupidity of this pony. “You would prefer a moonlit back alley patrolled by police and the Royal Guard, perhaps, hmm?” She sighed, “Look around you, Mr. Front, we are talking normally, we are acting normally; or as close to normal as you can manage I am sure. Nopony is paying us the slightest mind.” She spelled it out for him as she replaced her glasses on her nose.

“Oh…right…well, I suppose you know what you’re doing, Amethyst.” The indigo stallion took a sip of the coffee and offered the mare opposite him an encouraging smile, which she ignored.

“First of all it is Ms. Amethyst. Kindly do not address me common again.” The lavender mare rolled her green eyes. “Secondly of course I know what I'm doing. Do not presume me to be a fool. Now, tell me about the property I am buying today.”

Cold Front shifted uncomfortably on his seating pad at the table. Sure he’d physically and verbally abused Wildfire in the past, but property? That was a hoof-step too far. “I uh…I wouldn't call her property,” he said feebly into his styrofoam cup.

“I do not care what you call it, Mr. Front.” Amethyst sniffed derisively. “The pegasus is property, nothing more, nothing less. Now, I will ask again. Tell me about the property I am buying today?” She asked in the manner of one not accustomed to asking the same question twice.

“Wily isn't a…a thing, Ame…Ms. Amethyst…”

To the stallions very great surprise the lavender unicorn actually gave a bright tinkling laugh. “Please Mr. Front, do not make me laugh.” Amethyst’s demeanour immediately reverted to her stern visage. “It is a little late in the day to grow a conscience, Mr. Front. If you cared for it in the slightest you would not have dialled the number that Mr. Stripes gave you, and we would not be having this conversation today. Now. For the third time, and please, do not make me ask a fourth, tell me about the property?”

Cold Front quailed under the harsh gaze the unicorn mare gave him. “Well, she…um, it, is nineteen, has a yellow coat and a black mane. Sh…it stands about so high…” Had indicated a rough height with his hoof but again fell silent under the look he received.

“I did not request its life story, Mr. Front.” Amethyst levitated a manila folder from her bag and proceeded to sift through a small sheaf of papers. She settled on one and lifted it up to scrutinise it. “Now, I understand from Mr. Stripes that it is blind. Is this correct?”

"Um...yeah, yes that's right Ms Amethyst.” The stallion affirmed as he took a mouthful of his coffee.

“Excellent.” Taking a pen in her green aura she filled out a couple of boxes on a separate form while Cold Front drank his coffee. “That means more money from the state for a serious handicap. Now, does it have any other health issues I should be aware of?”

“No, not that I'm aware of, at any rate, Ms. Amethyst.”

“Hm…I suspect what you are not aware of would fill a small library, Mr. Front.” Amethyst smirked as she lifted her cup to her lips. “In good health apart from the blindness. Very good. Now, I understand from Mr. Stripes that it has friends and a marefriend?”

At this Cold Front brightened up almost instantly, his nasty smirk quickly reaffirming itself. “She…it, was close with Dusk Melody, but Wildfire threw him out Tuesday and he hasn't been back. As far as her marefriend is concerned Air Raid dumped her yesterday. She won't be an issue.”

"They are separated? You are quite sure of this, are you Mr. Front?” Amethyst asked with a raised eyebrow. “Now, I understand it worked as a reserve in the Residential District Fire Team. I assume this been taken care of, as per our conversation over the telephone yesterday evening?” She drained half of her coffee with barely a grimace at its bitter taste. Appearances must be maintained, after all.

“Oh…oh yeah they’re apart alright.” Cold Front sniggered nastily, remembering Wildfire pouring her heart out to him earlier that very morning. “Fillyfooling mare dumped her, stomped on her heart good and proper. As for her job, I took care of the fire chief Hot Spot earlier today.” The stallion finished his coffee looking suitably proud of himself.

“Explain, Mr. Front. What exactly did you do?” Amethyst enquired as she waved a hoof to get the waitresses attention.

“Well, what I did,” the stallion began with a chest puffed out with pride at his own ingenuity, “Was tell him she was gone and her she wasn't needed. How’s about that, then?” He grinned, clearly expecting a standing ovation from his audience for his brilliance.

Amethyst removed her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose in annoyance. Oh…how she’d love to give him to Miss Amber Leaves to play with, but two things held her back; namely he wasn't worth her time – Amethyst sincerely doubted he’d last more than thirty minutes - and, as much as she hated to admit it, if she wanted the state money she needed this stallion alive. “Details, you witless unicorn, I need details.” Amethyst hissed as she replaced her glasses and held up a hoof for silence when the waitress got within earshot.

Giving the pegasi waitress her order of two more coffees Amethyst turned her attention back to the indigo stallion sat before her. “Details, please Mr. Front.”

“Well…I met Hot Spot, the fire chief, here at the hospital. He'd come to visit Wildfire this morning. I stopped him going into her room, I brought him in here and told him she had resigned from her job in the reserves and was going to live with family in Fillydelphia.” Cold Front grinned, “And, this is the clever bit, I went in the room and told my kid she had been fired from the Fire Team, told her Hot Spot had no place for a blind pegasus.”

“And, you were convincing, yes?” Amethyst asked as she levitated out a new official form from her saddle bag and passed it to the stallion in front of her.

"Oh yeah, they both bought it alright. I had 'em hook, line and sinker.” Cold Front sniggered, then looked over the form he had just been given. “What in Tartarus is this for?”

"That, my dear Cold Front,” Amethyst Glory started as the orange pegasus mare bought over their coffees on a tray held in her mouth, “Is a legal document saying you willingly give the pegasus known as Wildfire over to the care of me and my staff from this day forth. It gives me alone guardianship over it and it also states that at no time shall you ever attempt to reclaim possession of it.” Amethyst's ears twitched and flicked at the proximity of the waitress. Silently she cursed herself; in explaining herself to this buffoon of a stallion she had risked being overheard by this orange mare. A shame really, as she was rather a pretty pony as well.

Using the pen Amethyst had slipped him with the form he hurriedly signed the document without bothering to read it. All he was interested in was the promised cheques, which he had yet to see. “There y’are, Ms. Amethyst, now where’s my money?”

“Ah yes, let us discuss your renumeration.” Amethyst allowed herself a tiny smirk at the confused expression on the stallion’s face. No doubt he was working out what she had said. “I have your Lloyds account details which were provided to me by Mr. Stripes,” the lavender mare levitated her phone from her bag and laid it in clear view on the cafeteria table. Lighting her horn once more her phone was surrounded by a green aura and screens flashed up quickly as options were selected. “As you can clearly see,” she said, activating a green ‘pay’ button on her banking screen, “The sum of twenty thousand bits has been deposited into your account.”

Cold Front’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Twenty…twenty thousand bits…”

“Yes, twenty thousand bits.” Amethyst said the figure like it was nothing. “Six thousand is an advance on the monthly payments you'll receive and fourteen thousand is to ‘encourage’ you to forget you ever had a daughter. Do we have a deal, Mr. Front, or shall I cancel the transaction?”

“No! Um…no, Ms. Amethyst that won't be necessary.” Cold Front’s wide eyes practically spun like gambling fruit machines that had just hit the jackpot. “We definitely have a deal.”

“Excellent.” Amethyst levitated the completed paperwork away neatly into the non-descript manila folder. Nopony in the hospital cafeteria had any idea that a pony’s future had just been decided in their midst. Not one of them had any clue of the dark future that awaited the pegasus in room two one four. “One last thing, Mr. Front, then you can show me the property.” She said, floating the full folder back into her saddle bag.

“Oh yeah?” Cold Front said distractedly, his mind already busy spending the money he’d just been given. “What's that then?”

“Mr. Stripes tells me Princess Luna visited it this morning and stayed for approximately twenty minutes. Is this correct?”

“Uh huh, Luna was here yeah, it was just after I caught Hot Spot that she turned up. I was with my kid when she came in.”

“Well?” Amethyst asked irritably, “What did the Princess want? Mr. Front the last thing I need is royal ‘interest’ in my property and my care home.”

“Oh…Luna stopped in to deliver a reward cheque to Wildfire, for saving her son, Dusk from being blinded. I have it here. Told her I’d deposit it in her Lloyds account tomorrow.” Cold Front levitated a crumpled up cheque from his own bag in his weak aura.

“Did she now?” Amethyst’s green eyes twinkled at the thought of acquiring more wealth. “And, how much was it rewarded?”

Cold Front smirked as he flattened out the cheque. “See for yourself, Ms. Amethyst.” He said, revealing the amount for five hundred thousand bits.

“You know…for a cut of ten per cent I can give you the name of a very understanding clerk at Lloyds bank, Mr. Front.” Amethyst smiled sweetly. Spend twenty thousand, earn thirty and gain a new piece of property. Today was turning out to be a very good day.

“And, Ms. Amethyst, why would I give you ten per cent of this?”

“Because, Mr. Front if you do not, you will never see a bit of that money. As it is, it can only be deposited into its account. My contact can remedy that problem for you.” Amethyst explained simply, in words she was sure even this stallion could understand.

“Hmm…a – alright…” Cold Front agreed. His greed persuading him that it was worth giving up fifty thousand bits to gain four hundred and fifty thousand in return. Of course it didn't bother him in the slightest that this was his daughter’s money.

"Very good Mr. Front, we are a clever stallion aren't we?” Amethyst giggled patronisingly at him. “At Lloyds ask for Steeljaw. He will take care of you and the ten per cent.”

“Steeljaw…got it.” Cold Front made a note of the name and slid off of the seating pad he’d been sitting on. “You want me to take you to her now?”

"To it, Mr. Front, take me to it.”  Amethyst corrected as she removed herself from her pad with decidedly more grace than the stallion.

The orange pegasi waitress watched the two ponies leave the cafeteria with a sense of dread and foreboding she couldn't quite put her hoof on. That lavender mare put the frighteners on her ‘something fierce’, as her grandfather would’ve said. Secretly the young mare was happy that at the end of today’s shift in the hospital she was flying to Cloudsdale to see her family. “You've had a lucky escape there Autumn Burst.” The waitress said to herself under her breath.

“Hey, Boss!” Autumn called to the sweating earth pony stallion behind the pass as she took off her apron and tossed it to the counter.

“Yeah?” He called without looking up from finishing the two dishes in front of him.

“You owe me three hours from last week. I'm knocking off early. Got family waiting on me.” Autumn grinned back as she reached the other exit to the cafeteria opposite the one Amethyst and Cold Front left through.

“Go on then, get!” Her Boss groused good-naturedly, “I'm too good to you mares. Hey Autumn, tell your little colt his uncle said ‘hi’, will you?”

“You got it Boss,” Autumn Burst flashed the stallion a warm smile before disappearing through the side exit.

Pausing at the open door to room two one four Amethyst was pleased to find the earth pony nurse that she’d heard so much about from Lotus Stripes thankfully absent. That was one ‘complication’ she could afford to do without. She already had that waitress to take care of. Sparing Cold Front the slightest of looks she whispered, “Leave us. You've served your purpose, such as it was. Now, go and make yourself remotely useful and sign it out at the reception.”

Amethyst Glory surveyed the yellow pegasus currently sitting in the hospital bed before her. ‘Hmm…a little small, but Amber Leaves can work with that.’ The care home director continued to scrutinise Wildfire as the pony tried to write something in Braille. Amethyst smirked as she tried through several attempts and finally succeeded in what she was doing. ‘It has spirit, I'll give it that much. I wonder how fast Lotus Stripes can beat that out of her?’ She wondered with an amused smile. ‘The blindness is something new, at least it’ll save on blindfolds.’

Clopping her hooves in a deliberately slow pattern to announce her presence she stopped just shy of the seating pad at the left of the bed. “Good afternoon, ‘Wildfire’.”

Wildfire looked up to the right where the sounds of hooves and the strange voice had come from. Something about that cold voice sent chills down her spine that she just didn’t like. “Hello? Who’s there, Darkie?” She asked hopefully.

“My name is Amethyst Glory. Remember it well, pegasus. I run Helping Hooves Care Home.” Amethyst explained, snickering at the confused look on it’s face.

"Hi Amethyst, um, sorry but I don't know what you’re doing here. I'm not going to any care home.” Wildfire replied, clearly this mare had the wrong patient.

“On the contrary. As of fourteen hundred hours today your father, Mr. Cold Front, signed you over to me.”

Wildfire looked down towards the bed, “Oh…” She whimpered uncertainly. “I see…”

"Oh, you'll see alright.” Amethyst stepped forward and raised Wildfire’s face up with a hoof so as to ‘look’ her straight in the face. “You'll see Tartarus by the time I am through with you.”