A Different Kind of Paradise

Chapter XII: Ascension

When some think of a hospital’s emergency room; they may picture frightened doctors hurriedly pushing gurneys containing bleeding, screaming patients back and forth, the sound of sirens, sobbing families, and AEDs carrying through the halls.  This was far from the truth, especially here at Ponyville Hospital: but for Gabe, it might as well have been.

After being shook from his nightmare in the middle of the night Gabe had learned that Twilight had fallen comatose.  Neither he nor Spike knew what was wrong, but they were scared, so they rushed her to the hospital.  Right now the doctors asked for the two to step out while they run diagnosis.

Gabe turned his head to look at Spike.  No doubt the young dragon was taking this far worse than he was, Gabe may have had feelings for Twilight, but to Spike she was almost like a mother.  He and Gabe may have started things off on the wrong foot, but they had to be there for each other.  Gabe put a hoof on Spike’s shoulder and gently rubbed it.  “She’ll be O.K.”  Gabe started to assure his friend.  “From what you two have told me she’s been through much worse.”   He forced a small laugh, hoping to brighten the dragon’s spirit, but to no avail.

Spike looked just as grim and afraid as the moment Gabe found him.  He had stopped crying, but that did not mean he was still frightened.  “This is my fault.”  He said, shocking Gabe.

“Don’t say that!”  Gabe said, horrified that Spike would ever think something like that.

“It is though!”  Spike replied, sobbing.  “I should have been helping her with her experiment, not making fun of her!  If I was there, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”  He started to cry again.  “And if this is something bad, and something happens to her, I…”  He began to bawl as he pressed himself against Gabe.

Gabe put his foreleg around the dragon and began to cry to.  He though everything was going so well, he thought he could finally get over his desire to go home and see his family and friends again, but then this had to happen; and if this was life here he might as well have stayed back home.

“Um…”  A voice caused the two to look up.  A female white pony wearing a nurse’s cap over her pink hair was looking at them.  “You two were the ones with the unicorn Twilight Sparkle yes?”

“YES!”  Spike jumped off of the chair and ran towards the nurse.  “Is she O.K.?”

The nurse sighed and said “you two should follow me.”  She opened the door the two boys were waiting outside of and waited until they got through.

Inside Twilight was lying on a hospital bed, still unconscious; she had been placed in a hospital gown and was connected to a monitor that displayed her vital signs.  Despite everything being so calm, the two still felt scared for her.  “What’s wrong with her?”  Gabe asked the nurse.

“I think my colleague can answer that.”   The nurse answered, shortly before leaving.

An orange unicorn in typical doctor garb that was in the room looking at a clipboard earlier stepped forward and explained his thesis.  “It seems that we have some mental manipulative magic backlash; a rare condition that only occurs when a unicorn um…” he fumbled, looking for the best word.  “Botches, a spell pertaining to mind control and the like; the raw energies take control of the unicorn who attempted to cast the spell, and since there is no master to give the command the victim does nothing, hence the comatose state.”

Hearing all of this did little to assure Gabe and Spike; even though now they knew what was wrong, they had no idea how to fix it.  The silence as the two stared at the unmoving body of their beloved unicorn was deafening, finally Gabe asked the question they were both thinking.   “How do we fix it?”

“That’s just it.”  The doctor replied, his voice taking a turn for the worse.  “Usually something like this can be dispelled with certain counterspells, but this rare case has resisted each and every one.”

“Danny’s magic!”  Spike shouted.  “Don’t you remember Gabe?  Both you and Twilight said that it wasn’t normal mind control!  And Twilight probably got some of it stuck in her doing all of that research!”

“You’re saying you know what kind of magic caused this?”  The doctor eavesdropped in.

“Sorta” Gabe replied.  “We don’t know all of the details, but it has something to do with a unique power a friend of mine has.”

“Why that’s wonderful!”  The doctor exclaimed.  “If you can bring him here we might be able to get to the bottom of things.”

For the first time all night Gabe was in high spirits.  He turned to spike to tell him to wait here, only to see him halfway out the door.

“I’ll be back before you know it.”  Spike waved before blowing a raspberry and running out the door.

A short chuckle from the doctor caught Gabe’s attention.  “Well I guess the only thing we can do now is wait.”   As if on cue another nurse ran in and began whispering into the doctor’s ear.  “Oh my.”  He said.  “I have something urgent to attend to, when that dragon gets back with whoever he sent out for come and find me alright?”

Gabe nodded to confirm.

Not a moment after, the two medical ponies ran out of the room.

After the door shut Gabe turned to the pony lying in the bed.  He solemnly trotted over next to her, lifted up one of her unmoving hooves and held it firmly between his.  “We’re gonna fix this.”  He said in a serious tone.  “Don’t you worry.”  He took their collected hooves and pressed it against his forehead.

Seconds of this ticked by, but Gabe didn’t care.  All he cared about was lying in that bed, waiting to be awakened.  Soon though Gabe picked his head up and asked “what do you want?”

Sure enough; Justice was standing right behind him.  “You’re getting good at this.”  He replied slyly and stepped forward, to be beside Gabe.  He looked at Twilight’s body and sighed “how unfortunate.”

“Get out of here.”  Gabe snarled at the demon.  “You have no place here.”

Upon hearing this Justice gave a soft chuckle.  “Do I now?”  He asked.  “As far as I can tell I’m the one you need here.”

“Go away.”  Gabe wasn’t interested in anything Justice had to say.

“Just think for a moment.”  Justice began to reason with Gabe.  “Twilight couldn’t figure out Danny’s magic in 49 hours of strait studying, and she’s the best this whole damn country’s got.  What hope do these doctors have?”

Now it was Gabe’s turn to laugh, it started out slow but turned into a real mocking laugh.  “So that’s your game.”  He looked up at Justice, just to shake his head in disapproval.  “You want me to free you so you’ll release Twilight.  You’re real slick you know that.”

“Hm, I hadn’t thought of that.”  Justice played it cool, unable to keep a straight face.

Gabe was starting to boil over with anger again “you” he snarled.  “You did this to her.  You knew how I felt, and that’s why you did it.  I always knew you were a psycho but to do this is unbelievable!  All of that time I put up with you thinking that you were just some annoyance that would eventually grow up!  But I was wrong, you’re a freak that I should have had extinguished right from the start!  How could you even do this you… you… YOU MONSTER!!!”

Those last words shook the hospital room.  Justice never flinched or moved once.  Soon he began to laugh and before Gabe could respond said “those were some pretty fierce insults.  But that’s just my opinion, what do you think Daniel?”  He asked while looking over Gabe.

Gabe felt like he had just been hit by a meteor, he slowly turned around, filled with dread, and saw that Justice’s words were true; Danny was standing in the doorway with a horrified look on his face.

“I did this?”  He asked, shaking.  “I-I hurt Twilight?”  He started to back away, his eyes brimming with tears.

Gabe let go of Twilight and motioned towards his friend.  “Danny; no, you misheard me.  Please just listen.”

“You said I was a monster, a freak.”  Danny shuddered, backing away from Gabe even quicker now.  “I hurt Twilight because I can’t control myself.”

“Danny STOP!”  Gabe cried, trying to get through to Danny before it was too late.  “You have to listen to me!”

Just like the first time Danny cried out and a huge wave of icy-cold force blew Gabe against the wall and knocked around some of the hospital equipment.  When he spoke again his voice was fluctuating with Justice’s, much to Gabe’s horror.  “I knew this would happen!  I always ruin EVERYTHING!  I just wanted things to be nice for once, but I had to hurt people and lose control AGAIN!”  He yelled in pain as he put his hooves on his head.

“If you don’t stop now things are going to get a lot worse!”  Gabe yelled.

“SHUT UP!!”  Danny yelled.  “I am sick of you always trying to control me and everyone else!”  He then scraped the ground like a bull and charged forward at Gabe, his eyes burning with anger.  But right before he hit Gabe saw his eyes change and heard him softly say “no.”  His anger melted to fear as he forcefully pulled himself up and instead of goring Gabe, leapt onto a table and smashed through a window.

Gabe pulled himself and looked out of the broken window and saw Danny running away from the hospital and into the woods.  All the while a cloud of blue mist surrounding him. “NO!”  Gabe screamed, he then pulled himself onto the window frame, jumped out, and ran into the woods after him.

Gabe hadn’t caught up to Danny yet, but his trail was easy to follow; a swath of destruction followed behind Danny’s path.  “DANNY!!”  Gabe cried, hoping that his friend would have the strength to fight the darkness in his heart.

Soon after Gabe started hearing voices, he was horrified to hear whose voices, but was glad he was getting close.   When he came to a freshly-cleared clearing he took one look and with eyes the size of dinner plates said “God in Heaven help us.”

Danny was in the center of a vortex that showed everyone who had ever slighted him before; each one mocking him with their own calling cards that haunted Danny’s psyche, causing Danny to curl on the ground and cry.  The sound of their laughter and taunts were maddening, enough to make even the boldest man shudder, the twisted faces of the figures from Danny’s life would undoubtedly haunt Gabe’s nightmares if Justice didn’t.

But of course there was the one voice that stood out above the rest.  “You’ve fought for long enough Daniel, I thought it was long ago that you gave up; willing to do anything for the pain to stop.”

Danny could only give a blank, broken expression as he spoke.  His voice was monotonous, as if he was in a deep trance “gave up, stop the pain.”

Gabe realized he was doing nothing when he should have been stopping this insanity.  He ran into the clearing, passing through the wall of phantoms to snap Danny out of his trance.  Justice noticed this.

“Look what we have here Daniel.”  Justice forced Danny to look at Gabe.  “The one who hates you more than anyone else; of course it’s only fair, you did take his life away from him.”

Gabe rushed forward, grabbed, and shook Danny.  “THAT’S NOT TRUE!”  He yelled, hoping to drown out Justice’s maddening choir.  “Danny you have to stop!”

Danny snapped out of his trance, but not for the better.  “Stop, please.”  He began to cry and struggle from Gabe’s grip.  “Please I’m so sorry; I didn’t know this would happen, not to you!”

“Yes, YES!”  Justice gleamed with excitement.   He was getting stronger, and Gabe could feel it.

Frightened, Gabe wrapped his hooves around the frantic Danny and did anything he could to bring him out of his nightmare.  “When Beatrice died, and I felt alone, you were the only one who took it seriously, you helped me face my demons now let me help you face yours.”

“Face the demons.”  Danny said, he had stopped squirming, but was still shaking.  His shaking got worse when he began to breathe heavily and soon yelled at the top of his lungs.

Gabe held on through the ordeal and to his joy saw that all of the phantoms, even Justice himself were beginning to fade away, soon enough all of the voices were gone and they were the only ones left.  Danny stayed motionless as Gabe began to cheer “Danny!  You did it!  I always knew you had it in you!”

Danny still hadn’t moved, and that scared Gabe.   “Danny?  Danny we won!  Be happy!”

All Danny did in response to that was begin to cry.  But soon after his glasses fell off of his face, and he looked up, his eyes still closed.  And after one last sob said “No, we didn’t.”  He opened his eyes and Gabe screamed when he saw that they were the same frigid blue hue as Justice’s.  “I’m so sorry Gabe.”  Not a second after he said that he cried out in pain as his body began to convulse.

Danny’s back began to tear itself apart as two massive wings tore their way through.   Gabe could only reel in horror as Danny’s torso and limbs began to expand, the bones giving off sick cracks as they moved about and grew to different sizes and his torso and arms becoming humanoid and the muscles becoming toned; all the while Danny screaming in agony, his voice becoming more and more like Justice’s.  Danny’s blue coat faded to a sick bleach-white as two sets of wicked claws tore through his hooves, rending the skin; along with the spikes that went up each forearm.  His back legs began to bend and twist as a set of lupine claws ripped out of those hooves, and snap the leg at its new ankle point; just before these wicked paws stomped on the ground for emphasis.  When Danny’s scream had become a dark growl his head began to go through the sick metamorphosis; his face flattening as his snout grew longer, his teeth being replaced with vicious wolf jaws.   When the last detail was complete the beast just stood there, its head dropped down and its arms drooping by its sides.

Gabe was paralyzed, speechless, horrified beyond all comprehension at the nightmarish transformation he just witnessed.

Gabe nearly soiled himself when the huge beast began to laugh Justice’s signature laugh.  He opened his eyes and with a soul-piercing gaze, leered at Gabe with a sickening grin.  He then raised his arms and repositioned his feet as he spoke his first words in reality, taking care to pause after each one.  “I. Am. UNLEASHED!!”  His laughter sent chills up Gabe’s spine as it echoed through the night sky.  Gabe trembled in terror as Justice focused his attention back onto him “and it’s all thanks to you.”

“NO!”  Gabe finally managed to force through.  “What have you done?!  Where’s Danny?!”

Justice just laughed a dry cackle before responding.  “Are you still going on about that?  Forget it” he seemed to take pleasure in saying the next few words.  “Danny doesn’t exist anymore.”

This rocked Gabe to the core.  “Doesn’t exist?”  He choked out, terrified.

“Just an old memory waiting to fade away” Justice confirmed.  “In the end it was either going to be him, or me; but fortunately you chose the one that would help you more.”

“I didn’t choose.”  Gabe said, actually arguing with the beast that was towering over him.  “I didn’t want this.”

“Oh” Justice slapped his forehead.   “Where are my manners?  We had a deal.”   He said.  He then snapped his fingers in a dramatic fashion.  “There” he stated.  “Now Twilight’s all better.”

“Weren’t you listening to me!?”  Gabe yelled, now officially over his fear.  “I don’t want this!  I don’t want one friend if I have to lose another!”

“Don’t worry I was listening.”  Justice mocked as he turned away from Gabe.  “I was listening to the Gabriel that wants people to look up to him and see him as noble, but what I’m really hearing is the Gabriel that sees the truth; to get ahead, sacrifices must be made.”  As if to make a point, or to be disgusting, Justice licked his lips.  “Well I must be off now” Justice began to excuse himself.  “My end of the deal isn’t satisfied yet.”

Gabe charged forward and grabbed Justice’s leg.  “You’re not going anywhere until you give me Danny back!”

With that Justice grabbed Gabe, and flung him against a tree.  “Listen here boy!”  He was tired of Gabe’s self-righteous act.  “Tomorrow at sundown I will have everything I need to return us to the human world and rule it side by side; and when I do, I expect the you who first awakened me to be the one who crosses through the threshold with me.  Am I clear?”  The nightmarish glare Justice had on his face could send Death himself running in sheer soul-breaking terror.

Gabe just stared, battered and frightened.

“Good” Justice said smugly.  He prepared to take off into the night sky.  “Don’t worry” he looked back and said “I’m sure you’ll make an excellent ruler of our utopia.”  With that he spread his wings and flew into the night, his demonic silhouette soon disappearing into the dark, starless, moonless sky.

Gabe got up and limped to where he last saw Danny.  He gently grabbed his friend’s glasses, one of the lenses had a crack across of it; a reminder of how this entire mess was started by his hoof.  He began to sob as tears started to flow; he then lifted his head and screamed as loud as he could into the night.