“Hello, my name is Fertile Soil, and I’m here to talk with you about your feelings as of late. I’ve been told you’ve not been feeling too great?” Parroted the mare in front of me in an almost mechanical yet welcoming manner, as if she were reciting a script from memory, but really believed she could help me.
Because of this I chose to do the only thing I was taught to do when being greeted, ignore her completely and return to thinking about what I was going to be doing in the time I had where I wasn’t going to be sleeping. Which as I was already running on fumes anyway, all that came to mind was to lay in bed humming tunes to myself quietly.
“…Hello? Equestria to Haze?”
That brought me out of my foolishness in an instant. “How do you know my name?” I replied curtly
“It says on the form that you came here with mister, and now that you’re paying attention will you not properly introduce yourself mister…?”
“You already know my name, what’s the point?”
I honestly had no idea what the point of this was and because of that I refused to play this mare’s game. If she wanted to ask stupid questions she was going to get unhelpful answers
Fertile Soil just remained silent, looking at me expectantly and probably drawing from some secret font of patience she had stowed away in that mane of hers, which to be fair I hadn’t really noticed was tied up in braids and hanging off to her right in a swirl of reds that rose petals would be jealous of. On that note, I hadn’t even looked at her since I walked in this room that was obviously meant to look welcoming and cosy with beanbag chairs and a faux-sterile air to it, with the mare in question being sat, if you could call it that as it looked more like she was half laying, half leaning on the side rest, across from me on a brown loveseat. Now that I actually looked at her I noticed she was quite pretty with an aquamarine coat and ruffled wings that looked like they needed preening but weren’t messy enough yet to actually bother with doing.
Then as I looked up from her wings, which I admit I was staring at for longer than I wished for as it sent a pang of guilt through me, I saw her smirking with mischievous eyes that just screamed ‘I knew what you were thinking buddy’ and oh how wrong she was… at least for the most part.
“Your brain finally gained enough steam to tell me your name yet?”
As I was too busy staring at my captor opposite me, this brought me to the disadvantage of not having prepared what I was going to say next, much to my embarrassment and Fertile Soils amusement.
“You’re pretty” Thanks Brain. I outwardly sighed, but internally I was dying inside. Why brain, why have you forsaken me?
But right off the bat with no hesitation Fertile Soil just responded with an “I know buddy, but usually you’d be the one trying to my name right now…”
Sighing, I just accepted that I was stagnating this session and dad would be disappointed if I wasted this time, he worried too much. But then again he isn’t without reason these days.
“My name is Purple Haze, I am in my last year of a construction apprenticeship with my father’s business and I am a Pegasus with one wing” I relented with a tinge of venom in my voice “Happy now?”
“Yes, because speaking about yourself is one of the best ways to start the healing process Purple Haze”
Before she continued speaking, Fertile Soil shifted though some papers before finding the one she was looking for, which turned out to be a sealed brown envelope that was concealed within the white mountain.
“Now, I know this is a bit blunt but before we begin I’m going to have to fill in a couple forms for the official side of things and to get a couple autographs from you to sell when you become famous!” At that last part she winked at me, if she kept this up I might actually like her
“First, do you prefer being called ‘Purple’ or ‘Haze’?” Inquired the enthusiastic mare in front of me.
“I don’t like either because I hate my name, but I guess ‘Haze’ is what I usually prefer being called” I admitted sourly, dampening my mood a little.
“Really? I like it, a handsome name for a handsome colt!” Flattery will get you everywhere Fertile Soil “Besides, it’s waaay better than being a Pegasus called Fertile Soil, right? Imagine being a mare whose first name is ‘Fertile’” She deadpanned
“BWAHAHAHA” I was thinking that as well but hadn’t dared to speak up about it, jeez this was golden.
“Yeah yeah laugh It up ‘Hazey’” If you could measure smugness right now, she’d be on the metre at about a five out of seven
“Not to but a dampener on the mood, but I still need to get back to the task at hoof, now when you were referred to me I’d been told that you were feeling a little under the weather after your accident and that you have trouble sleeping, is that right?”
Now I was fidgeting with my hooves, looking down at them as if they were the most interesting things in the world. I didn’t want to talk about this or my feelings with somepony, to be entirely honest even if I wanted to I wouldn’t know how. Its not like I’m a little filly, I’m a colt! We don’t do feelings we’re tough! But I guess I had promised dad I would give it a try, so I might as well for his sake, not because I want to!
“Uhh, yeah I don’t sleep all that great after what happened and I’m sure I just need some sleep is all” I totally swerved her question there, but it’s too late to go back now.
“Haze… I can’t help you if you’re not being open with me, this is a team effort and I don’t want your fathers’ money going to waste on these sessions” Fertile Chided
“How about Instead of telling me how you feel, you tell me what happened in this ‘accident’? Is this how you lost your wing?” I could see a hint of sadness behind her eyes, it was probably pity. It’s always pity.
“Yes, it is how I lost my wing, but I lost more than just a bit of feathers and flesh. Before I say what happened, I probably need to add a little context for it to make sense. It all started at flight camp…” And so I began to recite my tale to the mare, who cringed at my choice of words and involuntarily hugged her wings a little closer to herself.
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“Come on Haze! What are you waiting for?” An impossibly scratchy voice yelled cockily back at me
Now I was definitely not anywhere close to being as fast a flier as this rainbow coloured demon in front of me, but I wasn’t as slow as some of the other ponies here at flight camp. Which naturally made me the target of the multicoloured menace in front of me, I chose to ignore her and just focus on my manoeuvres. I could never do swerves properly and ended up crashing into what I was supposed to be avoiding, I’ve been told by the instructors that it’s the momentum not being blah blah but I know it’s gotta be because of the taunting this filly keeps giving me is distracting. Just one more attempt before food…
“HAZE, COME ON IT’S NOT THAT HARD!” Hollered the vocal equivalent of a record needle scratching a vinyl.
And slam I go for the bajillionth time today into the cloud barrier, most non pegasi think all clouds are soft, but this one sure feels like stone to me.
“Wow, thanks Dash that was real helpful” I called out with enough sarcasm to stir with a figurative spoon
“No problem dude” I’m not sure if she knows how to detect sarcasm, either way the last I saw Dash she was flying towards some starting line for a race that had been set up while I was wallowing in my dramatic flop, after the bullies gave her some trouble first, I wish they’d just grow up honestly…
Either way I figured the race wasn’t going to start for another ten minutes so I decided that was ample time to get quickly washed up and still catch the end of the race before anypony even noticed I was gone. So I snuck off to the showers and spun the tap with my wing, while that was filling up I made an effort to see what was fixable in ten minutes, my coat was a royal purple as my name suggested, but my mane was a permanent bedhead of green no matter how much I had tried to tame it, it wanted to be free so I had to relent in the end. Not after spending a valiant effort brushing it to no avail.
My eyes however, were a foggy purple that almost had concerned the doctors when I was younger that I was developing some kind of anomalous cataract, and had also been the reason I was named ‘Purple Haze’ among other things I’ve heard about my parents from family members, but I wasn’t supposed to talk about that.
By the time I’d finished my analysis, the sink had filled and with another spin the tap stopped. As I had no idea what to use the now cold water for I opted to dunk my head in the water to cool my face and quickly soak my wings, numbing them from the aches of the appalling attempts at manoeuvres throughout the day. This did have the downside of reducing my wing movements for about ten minutes however.
With my personal vanity intact, I finally left the showers after exactly 9 minutes and 42 seconds, not that I was counting or anything… I totally was. I decided to take the long route to the place where the non fliers would be when watching a race, which happened to be right on the edge of the camp, near where the cloud platform we were on ends. I always enjoyed walking this way because it gave me a view of the horizon just past Canterlot and the surrounding forests and valleys. I loved being outdoors and my dream was to find something to do when I grow up related to being outside, like doing what my dad did which was transporting emergency rainclouds to places like farms in droughts or to fires
“I thought you said your dad worked in construction, and that you were his apprentice?” asked Fertile, suspicion in her eyes that I was lying to her.
“Yes, he does but he was a Firepony before that. Versatility is key in this life” I responded without elaboration any further
“Anyway, back to the story..”
I was enjoying the view from the perimeter of the flight camp, more specifically the large lake we were situated above in case anypony accidentally fell while training, why they couldn’t just have an extra layer of clouds below the one we were on made no sense but I guess the ponies that run flight camp know what they’re doing…
BOOOOM
…And as if to tempt fate I was very violently blown off of the edge of the clouds to plummet through the air to my impending doom.
My mind was racing at a million miles an hour and any cries for help were caught in my throat from the sheer terror of falling, though I did catch a quick glimpse at a rainbow blasting across the sky, not that it did me much help and I have a pretty strong guess as to who might have caused it. Right now however, I was trying to fan out my wings but due to the numbness from the cold water just minutes earlier and trying to open them with strong wind resistance, it would have been easier to give myself four dead legs and then immediately go swimming in white water rapids. I was getting closer to the lake now and surely one of the trainers must have noticed me now, there was a speck off in the distance of the flight camp that was rocketing towards me but I was falling too fast at this rate for them to catch me and I was too close to the water now for a pony of my limited flying capabilities to recover from this. All I could think to do was create as large a surface area as possible to slow me down a bit more by spreading my legs and wings out wide as if that was going to help when I was hurtling downwards whilst spinning enough to make a gymnast dizzy.
By the time I was about to accept my landing was going to really hurt, I saw my instructor was close enough to make eye contact with and that those three seconds we held it felt like ages past. Then everything went black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Is that how you lost your wing? Falling from flight camp into a lake?” Fertile Soil asked, while giving me a look of pure pity, I hate it when I’m being pitied, it makes me feel so fragile.
“In short, yeah. It’s a lot more complicated than that though” The ground suddenly became very interesting again when I was feeling insecure
“Do you want to talk about it?, or shall we talk about something else for now?” She suggested
“No, it would be a waste of time if I beat around the bush I guess” And so began part two of my story, ‘I bet I could publish this somewhere’ I thought to myself
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I woke up I was laying down in a hospital bed, but I didn’t realise that straight away because all I could focus on wasn’t pain, but the absolutely desperation to scratch my right wing and the sudden lack of movement in my wings altogether. I adjusted the way I was laid in the bed which seemingly woke up the nerve endings in my body as it erupted in an inferno of harsh pains and dull aches. Imagine laying down after walking for miles and miles on a bed of nails or thorns, that’s what the mixture of aches and pains could be compared to.
Now that I was very aware of my physical pains, it was time to go through the rest of the senses I guess. Smell, there was nothing that caught my attention other than the sweet smell of honey, for some reason, mum had told me once that she wrote a thesis on the use of honey to treat ponies but I didn’t think that I would really warrant that? It must be a jar nearby or something, I know that sis can just eat that stuff like mad, but really? Would they have taken her out of that fancy Canterlot school for this? From what I heard of that school, it’s just a tribalist’s heaven. I remember my sister’s face when she came back for the week after her first term there, if I ever got my hooves on the unicorns that made her feel unwelcome, Celestia help them… So in conclusion to my scientific(?) analysis of the honey smell: I should just open my eyes and have a look!
I groaned at myself for taking this long to think that, ‘Why didn’t I just do that in the first place?’ I’m getting sidetracked with thoughts of my family I suppose.
Contrary to what everypony thinks, when I opened my eyes I didn’t get greeted by blinding light that caused me to blink profusely. ‘I mean, it’s bright but not that harsh that it was impossible to see… oh wait, it’s night time. I guess this is pretty bright then’ I must have somepony watching over me because it seems as soon as I opened my eyes an earth pony nurse walked in, unaware that I was awake and clearly looking frazzled ‘Wait.. why is there an earth pony up in Cloudsdale?’ I won’t deny at this I did let out something between a squeak and an ‘eh?’ noise that should never be repeated… ever.
It was at this point that the earth pony finally noticed me and just went about as normal, doing her checks before coming to rest at my right side, where she just sat down and looked at me for what felt like an age, but was probably more like 2 minutes.
“Uh, hi?” Great Haze, real social butterfly
The earth pony, who now I looked at her properly was a yellow coated mare with a soft purple mane that was tied in a bun, shifted in her uniform which seemed to engulf her.
“Hello, would you help me a little and roll over to that your back is facing me? I need to check up on how your wing is doing dear” She replied in a soft yet cautious tone
“My wing? Why what happened to my wing? And how are you in a cloudsdale hospital? You’re an earth pony!” I was panicking now which to her must have been scary, seeing as she recoiled a little
It was also at this point when the poor nurse ran out of the room for an unknown reason that I started to look at myself more closely, hooves? Fine, Head? It felt like there were some bandages around my head but otherwise okay. Wings?
…
Wings?
…
I slowly looked down at my sides from how I was laid on the bed, all I could see was lots of bandages around my middle, “What did she mean, ‘I need to check your wing?’ she said it as a singular” I was getting more and more aware of myself now and past the aches and the pains there was one very prominent fact that I was slowly beginning to realise…
“I can’t feel my right wing” I stated, as if all feeling had vanished.
Author's Note
Wrote this at like 3am, there will be grammar, spelling and contextual mistakes. As well as poor writing form but I honestly don't care. See anything, point it out 💯
