Minor Turbulence

Minor Turbulence Part 1: Troubled Past

Chapter: 4 Aftershock

By: Midway Bridge

I woke slowly after that lightning strike.  Frankly I was surprised that I was still alive.  At that point I didn't want to be though, since the amount of pain was overbearing made being dead seem like an easy alternative to living.  The thought of suicide crossed my mind more than once actually, I attempted it once too back a few years before.  If the orphanage didn't have such cheap ceiling support beams you wouldn't be hearing this story.

Moving on from that dark chapter of my life, I found myself in the hospital and with more pain than I thought possible.  Literally all of my muscles were sore; from my hindquarters to my jaw, everything ached of a thousand pains and sometimes twitched involuntarily.  My head felt like it got hit by a freight train, my throat was dry, and for the life of me I wanted to eat just about anything to satisfy my hunger.  All in all:  I felt like shit.

I guessed that I was in a hospital, based on the fact that a machine beeped in perfect sync with my heartbeat.  I didn't feel the desire to open my eyes though, if the staff thought I was asleep they wouldn't bother me with questions or anything and just let me rest.  I felt a pressure on my face, rather more or less a ring of pressure which was most likely an oxygen mask to keep me breathing.  I tried to turn my head but it was immobilized in a somewhat uncomfortable position.  Sleep felt like a good idea.  The warm blanket was plenty enough to lull me back into a dreamless slumber.

When I awoke the second time I felt much more aware of my surroundings.  Outside I could barely make out PA announcements paging doctors to various wings of the building.  Wings...

Sweet Celestia I couldn't feel my wings!  I tried to flex them but I couldn't tell if they moved or not.  I instantly engaged panic mode struggling against my physical restraints.  My eyes shot open only to let bright white light blind me.  I didn't care.   I jerked my head forward and freed myself from the oxygen mask.  My breathing instantly became heavy like I was trying to breath with a full load of bricks on my chest.  I used my teeth and hooves to pull off the heavy blanket.

My eyes were still adjusting to the light but I could clearly make out my wings.  They were wrapped completely in tight white medical tape and had poles supporting the delicate bones underneath.  At least the worst of my fears was gone when I saw the wings to still be there.

I didn't notice but the machines steady beeps became a long frantic high-pitched tone.  It wasn't 10 seconds before nurses and doctors rushed in expecting me to flat line.  To their relief, I wasn't about to, but I felt dizzy and my vision started turning black.  I sunk back down into the bed.  Air was so hard to breathe in; each breath was becoming more labored with each gasp.

I felt the mask be placed on me and air came back to me as easily as it did on the surface.  I clutched onto the device for dear life with a zealousness I never thought I had before.

"You shouldn't be up, what were you thinking?"

I didn't answer.  I wouldn't dare to depart with my lifeline for even a split-second to answer such a pointless question.

"What's your name kid?"

I breathed in from the mask before speaking.  "Turbulence, but my given name is Stormy Weather."

It sort of came out really fast so I could fit it in one breath.  I quickly returned to the mask before I had to inhale.  From that point on I decided it would be easier to answer as short as possible.

"Alright Turbulence, are your parents around?"

I hated that question.  They always assume that you have them.

I shook my head no.

"Somepony I could contact?"

I gave that question some thought before answering letting the machines fill the silence.  There was only one pony who I would like to see.  "Ms. Sunshine."

"And she is?"

"Teacher."

"Where does she live?"

"Near Marisburg." I took a breath.  "1/2 days fly." By Celestia I sounded worse than Wheezer during an asthma attack.

"Oh, earth ponies don't fly."

Wait.  I looked at the doctor searching for set of wings that weren't there.  Earth pony.  Since the doctor was an earth pony, I had to be on the surface.  Where the hell was I?

Almost as if sensing my confusion he told me where I was, I wasn't in the Cloudsdale hospital like I originally suspected, but rather the Marris View hospital.  Not only a few miles from the orphanage.  So I made it about halfway, that's good I guess.

"Rest up now, alright?"

--=====--

I must have fallen asleep for a long time after that because the next thing I remember was waking to a hushed conversation between the doctor and Ms. Sunshine who apparently just arrived.

"What happened exactly?"

"He flew directly into the bad storm that was out of control from the eastern seaboard.  He was struck by lightning and collapsed midflight.  Thankfully we had somepony catch him before impacting the ground and rolled to take the fall, saving his life and most of the damage."

Somepony… saved me?  Who would bother to go out of their way to save me?

"How is he?" asked Ms. Sunshine.

Him or me?

"Turbulence will be fine, he has a few minor injuries and some trauma to his chest where he was struck by the lightning, and his wings are quite fragile so they will need to be casted for at least 3 weeks."

"Turbulence?"  Now she sounded quite confused.  I imagined her raising an eyebrow like she did whenever I asked a strange question.

"Yeah, that's what he called himself.  Quite fitting I suppose."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, look at his wings."

"Yes?"

"Kids his age usually need a kids medium sized cast.  He's wearing an adult small."

"Is that bad?"

"Well no, it's just… different.  He has a condition called magna alis, a genetic defect that makes your wings grow nearly twice as fast.  It's a dominant trait that only can be passed down from direct bloodlines.  Quite exceptionally rare too.  What's fitting is that he'll never be able to fly normally.  His wings are just simply too big and strong for his smaller body."

Well that sure explained a lot.

"I see.  I should have never sent him to flight camp."

"Not every pegasus is meant to fly.  Though I have heard of a few with his condition who overcame it.  In fact they became stronger fliers because of it, but for him, it'll be best if he remained with four hooves on the ground."

There was a long pause, a ruffling of papers, a few taps of a pencil or pen (a habit that Ms. Sunshine would do when she was reading), followed by a few minor comments about medical terms between her and the doctor that I didn't understand.

"Will he be permanently damaged from the lightning?" she asked after a while.

I hoped not.

"Electrocutions are always a tricky matter, but most likely not.  It's amazing really, he's incredibly lucky that the voltage barely crossed his, but as a precaution we'd like to keep monitoring his vitals."

"The worst is the burn mark across his chest, it's asphyxiating his right lung making it incredibly difficult to breathe.  Until he's fully healed of it, he'll need to wear the mask."

"So how long is he going to be here?"

"A 2 weeks stay at best but we'd like to keep tabs on him after that."

"That's some strange cutie mark on him though,”  he commented.

Cutie mark?  I was very tempted to crack open my eyes to get a good look at my supposed cutie mark.  Thought it was needless to say I was excited beyond reckoning.  I wondered exactly what it would be, and who it made me.

"It looks almost volatile, what are his talents in to get a mark like that?" asked the doctor.

"I didn't know he had one, must have earned it at flight camp.  I'll ask him when he wakes." I felt her run a hoof through my mane in an endearing way.  "I'm proud of you Stormy."

You know that feeling, like when you feel warm and fuzzy?  I have very few of those moments but this was one of them.  I could stay like this forever. But like all things good that happened to me it had to end.  Ms. Sunshine promptly left after the doctor did leaving me alone to myself.  I knew I shouldn't get up, but I was so intrigued with what my cutie mark could be.   Curiosity won over my concern for my health, and I took off my oxygen mask and threw off the covers.

What I saw didn't surprise given the events as of late.  It was a cloud and lightning bolt, not entirely unlike Rainbow Dash's own cutie mark.  Only it did look different.  The cloud wasn't white and puffy, it was black and foreboding like it was threatening to rain any minute.  The lightning bolt also wasn't like her nearly iconic multicolored mane, but a sinister yellow streak, a stark contrast on my otherwise grey body.  What I liked best about it most was that it matched my coloring perfectly.  I had seen some cutie marks that looked horrible since they didn't match their bearers coat and mane.

I lay back down with a smile; at least I got something done right in my life.  Even if my mark was bound to come, I was happy with it.  A black storm cloud.  It was more than perfect.

--=====--

The next few uneventful months of my life went slowly, painfully so.  I took it one breath at a time.  I slowly worked myself back up to healthy cardio levels.  When walking up and down staircases didn't practically kill me, I decided to once again to try flying.

Stretching the stiff wings from being casted for a few weeks and then neglected for a few more felt great.  I didn't do any strenuous flying just leisurely gliding and basic stuff that I never really had a problem with at camp and ended with one 'almost' crash landing.  I had to stop when my heart started to palpitate, but I knew now at least I wouldn't be stuck on the ground and forced to work as a fry cook for a living.

The hospitals method of 'keeping tabs' on me was a weekly visit to a doctor.  He'd ask me all sorts of questions about my health, emotions, est., because after all being struck by lightning was supposedly 'traumatizing'.  They wouldn't know what traumatizing was for me.  Parental abandonment:  Distraught.  Bad friends or lack thereof: Meh.  Getting struck by lightning: Traumatizing?  I don't think so.  Try poor judgment on my part.

I didn't take any of the therapy parts seriously.  Whenever he asked me how I was feeling.  I'd say some smart ass pun like, electrified, enlightened, or glowing.  He wouldn't laugh and ask me all sorts of nagging questions. It was incredibly boring so I just tried to answer as short as possible to get out.

The real questions came when he talked about how I felt about being alone.  That subject was a bit touchy for me.  That question I would just dodge around.  I'd say, "It feels okay to be by myself," leaving no real room for more questions about it.  Truth was I wasn't sure how I felt about it.  I felt stronger and independent like it was me against the world.  But I also missed that small taste of companionship with Ditsy.  Of course I kept that to myself I wouldn't tell my actual thought to a stranger.  How could he possibly help me?

My relationship with Ms. Sunshine grew more tense.  I knew she wanted to look after me since I was like a surrogate son to her, but she worried about me too much.  She would ask me multiple times a day how I was feeling, what I was going to do and if I needed to take a break from class.  It was extremely frustrating.  She treated me like a foal who just learned how to walk.  She would baby talk me on occasion, which I felt insulted my intelligence.  So after a while I started spending less and less time with her, and did my own thing whenever I wanted, which more often than not, resulted in trouble.  Most of the time I would get in trouble at the orphanage, but on occasion I'd get detained by the local law enforcement.

I think it was a bit hard on her though.  I would really try not to do anything bad or disruptive, but I couldn't help it.  She wouldn't yell at me or even get mad.  She'd just put on a smile and quietly clean up the mess or fix any problems without a word.  Besides how could she yell at a crippled orphan?

It went on like this for years, long after I had fully recovered.  We grew to be so distant practically no words were said between us at all.  We simply coexisted in the same building, saying what we had to when we had to, but no more or less.

It all came down to a boil one night after lights out.  This was my favorite time to sneak out since the rest of the orphans were goodie four shoes and stayed in bed.  As if being good would get them adopted.  Pah!  I've been there for sixteen years now and the only ones that get adopted are the boot-lickers, the snobs, and the pathetic naive ones.

Anyways, I unexpectantly found Ms. Sunshine in the classroom which was directly below the sleeping quarters.  The room was lit with a measly candle that barely shown enough light to distinguish her face from the desk and papers that laid on it.  She had a rare scowl that adorned her face.  It must have been something really bad.  Curious to see what it was I made way from direction of the front door and into the classroom.

"Hello."

She jumped at the sound of my voice, yelping a bit in fright.  She composed herself when she realized that it was only me.

"Hello."  Her face brightened a little, but still had a look of worry.  "You shouldn't be out of bed."

It wasn't really in an ordering, condescending, or patronizing tone.  It was simply a comment.

"What's got your tail in a knot?" I questioned walking up to the dwindling flame so she could see me better.

"A job opened up in an elementary school, and I applied.”  She answered.  “That's where I went last week for an interview."

I honestly didn't know she ever left.  I must have skipped class that day, a new found hobby of mine that I was getting a lot of grief about.

"Let me guess, you're upset that you got declined?"

"No, it’s far from that."

"Wait...” the look on her face didn’t show of rejection, it showed of a much deeper sorrow, one of loss and pain, a feeling that I knew all too well.  “You didn't get regected did you?"

She shook her head no. "Here's the letter of acceptance."

I looked over the document with disbelief.  Sure enough she had landed a job at a remote school in some forgotten corner of the world. I hardened my expression realizing what came next.  This is why I didn't love anypony.  But I didn't know if I still loved her.

"Good for you.  Now go and get lost. I don't need you here." The words were every bit as vile and bitter as I wanted them to be.

"That's a real shame.  I was planning on taking you with me but now I'm having second thoughts." She paused, “Stormy what happened to you?  You used to love me."

"The names Turbulence now.  It has been for four years.  It makes me weak to love."

"Stormy don't be like that. Come with me.  Please."  She was practically begging.  "You'll be happy."

"The only thing that hurts more than being alone is being sent to be there."

"I'll never abandon you.  I swear it on Celestia's morning light."

"Then what are you doing now?  Didn't you make that same promise to the others?" I pointed upwards where the rest of the younger kids slept.  Empty, broken, promises.  She should have told them the truth and better prepared them for the real cold world instead of filling it with fantasies.

"Stormy it’s not like that-"

"Do you even have a plan? The opening salary isn't even enough to cover the two of us!  You never think these things through."

"We'd think of something."

"Yeah, like what?" I demanded.

"I don't know.  Is that what you want to hear!?"  She raised her voice at me.  She never did that before. "Do you enjoy tormenting others and putting them down!?  Do you want me to not take you with me?!"

Five years ago I'd have jumped right on it and said sianara to the other kids.  Now, I feel like everything she said before was just a lie.  She didn't care about the others, she didn't want to be fair to them, she didn't want to adopt them all, just me and her.  What I would have killed to get was starting to look like not even worth getting out of bed five minutes earlier for.  I knew now that she wasn't perfect.  She was flawed. I didn't see it  before because I didn't want to look, blinded by petty love.  No more.  I didn't need her anymore.

"Miss  Sunshine?" interrupted a new squeaky voice in the room.  We had been so involved in our argument that we hadn’t noticed a third guest to enter.  It was a small foal with big sleepy eyes like she just woken up.  I didn't know her name, didn't care either.  "Why are you yelling?"

"I'm, well…” she searched for an answer, “never mind me, I was just upset."  She stopped explaining herself and put on one of her fake smiles.  "Just go to bed sweetie, I'm sorry I woke you."

"Okay," yawned the small kid.  She trudged away slowly.

We listened for her to walk up the flight of stairs, before we said anything else.  We had no desire to bring this conflict to the attention of those not a few feet above us.

"Stormy listen..." Ms. Sunshine began.

"No." The words didn't pain me to say them like I thought they would.  "I won't come with you."

“Don’t be ridiculous." She laughed nervously as if what I said was some kind of an ill-timed joke with a bad punchline.  "I know that you’ve wanted this for a long time.”

“That was true when I didn't know what I wanted for myself and my future.  Now, I do know.  And you’re not part of it.”

"…what?  I thought that…" She sniffed to hold back the tears.

"I'm no kid anymore.  You can't lie to me like you can to her."

Her face fell in defeat.  "Very well, if that's how you feel." All traces of her composure left, her voice trembled and her eyes watered freely.  "You should walk yourself to bed now."

And so I did.  I had no desire to see her cry.  I won't be made weak by others anymore.

"You'll always be Stormy to me,” she called behind me, "even if you don't see it in yourself.  Goodbye."

I didn’t reply.  I didn’t even grace her with turning around.  I kept walking.  If I turned back now I might never be able leave her.  I became stronger than ever that night, outgrowing my silly childhood affection.  I was truly independent.  No family.  No friends.  Just me.  Alone.  I thought I was happy.  Ever since that night a void slowly formed inside of me, and it wasn't until it was too late that I realized what it was; It was a void that never could be filled; a void of regrets.

The next morning she was gone, only leaving a letter of resignation on the desk.

End Part 1

~----------~

Disclaimer: I am not Laruen Faust incognito, and henceforth I do not own MLP: Friendship is Magic. I make no claim for Hasbro’s characters or world. I am just a humble fan fiction writer, nothing more.  Please leave your questions, comments, and constructive criticism in the comments below so I can better myself as a writer and enhance your experience as a reader.