Lightning Rod Battles Alzheimer's
Circuit Breaker sat patiently on the first train from Manehatten to Canterlot with his two children next to him. Each of them peacefully used their father as a pillow while they napped on the early morning train ride. Circuit draped a wing over both of them to keep them warm and it also served to give him some peace of mind, knowing his children were close by.
While his kids rested he was reading for work, he was looking over budgets, spreadsheets and reports from R&D. His company was on the verge of a breakthrough that would revolutionize the energy industry in Equestria, providing viable non-magical energy sources for pegasi and earth ponies. Not having to rely on unicorn magic was a big deal to a lot of ponies and harnessing electricity was the key. His company had been working for years towards the technology sinking large amounts of funds into its creation and development and soon the fruits of their labor would bear out. Until then, the company would struggle to operate in the black.
Over past three months he’d been struggling to make ends meet at home. A lot of restless and sleepless nights had plagued him recently. Paying for the best education in Manehatten for his son Cloud Sweeper, his daughter Honey Cake, and paying for the care of his elderly father Lightning Rod wasn’t cheap. The stress was beginning to take its toll on him. But his pride and parental instincts wouldn’t let him show the burden of being a single father who valued family and education so highly. He did his best to hide his stress from his kids; he loved them too much to make them worry.
*****
Once a week for the past five years, the trio made the trip by train to Canterlot to visit Lightning Rod.
Five years ago Lightning Rod’s mind began to deteriorate, signs of memory loss and slight confusion were the subtle hints that dementia was beginning to manifest within his brain. Not one to take his father’s health lightly, Circuit brought his father to the top brain specialists in Equestria where they diagnosed Lightning Rod with Alzheimer’s. It was a tough pill for both father and son to swallow, knowing that Lightning Rod’s brain would slowly rot away.
Circuit the best facility in Equestria that specialized in the care and treatment of patients with Alzheimer’s and similar ailments. He hoped that a cure could be found, but if not he knew his father would be getting the best care possible by ponies who specialized in the field.
*****
Movement from beneath his wing broke Circuit’s concentration from his work; he withdrew his wing back to his side and looked down. His daughter seemed to have finished her nap. After a long yawn, a couple of stretches where she sat, and blinking the sand out of her eyes, she sat up in her seat looking at her smiling dad. “Daddy?” she asked groggily.
“Yes Honey?”
“Do you think grandpa will remember us today? I had a dream that he was all better.”
Circuit’s ears flickered quickly and then drooped. He took a deep breath and cleared the frog in his throat. “I hope so Honey… You know he loves you both so, so much,” Circuit said weakly. Turning away momentarily he used his wing to clear the glistening wetness from his eyes. He didn’t think that question would hurt so much.
“I know daddy, but I miss old grandpa. He was always so smart and funny.”
Circuit used his free wing to rustle Honey’s mane. “Daaad!” Honey protested.
“I miss him too… I miss him too.”
Circuit extended his wing and wrapped it back around Honey Cake, bringing her closer to his side. He leaned down and gave her a quick nuzzle and booped her nose with his. He looked over towards the clock inside the train car. “We’ll be there soon. If you want to rest some more I’ll wake you when we get to our stop.”
“No, it’s okay daddy, I want to keep you company,” Honey returned her father’s nuzzle.
Circuit looked down are his daughter and smiled. “Okay munchkin.”
For a moment Circuit looked down at the wing his Cloud Sweeper was under to check on him. He was still asleep and snoring softly. Circuit swore that the young colt would probably sleep through the end of the world if they ever aligned.
For the rest of the train ride Circuit and Honey watched the sprawling landscape pass by through the window.
*****
Circuit Breaker, Honey Cake, and Cloud Sweeper stepped through the doorway and into the reception area of ‘Dr. Neuro’s Longterm Patient Care Facility’. Behind the front desk sat one of the secretary ponies who the family had grown familiar with. She gave them a worried look as they walked up to the desk.
Sensing her distress Circuit stopped halfway to the desk, turned around to face his children and crouched to make himself eye-level with them. “Hey, I bet you two can’t tell me how many fish are in the fish tank over there, if you can we’ll go out for ice cream later.” he said as he gestured over at the large ornate tank on the other side of the reception area away from the front desk.
“Pft dad, you’re on!” Cloud Sweeper exclaimed, as both him and Honey Cake galloped over to the tank. “This is gonna be easy!”
“Yay, Ice Cream!”
With both of them distracted for the moment Circuit walked up to the front desk. “What’s wrong? What happened?” a worried tone coming from his voice.
The secretary’s look had grown worse. Her ears twitched and she trembled, she looked just about ready to burst into tears, it was obvious this news was going to be bad. Circuit mentally braced himself for the worst.
“Your dad… He’s been moved to the lower floor… I’m, I’m so sorry, Circuit.”
Circuit knew it would happen eventually, but knowing still didn’t diminish the impact of hearing it. He nodded at the secretary and responded with a soft “Thanks”.
He wanted to curl up and cry.
The facility arranged patient rooms by severity of their condition. If a patient’s room was on the lower floor then that meant that the patient‘s condition had worsened to a point where they needed constant monitoring to make sure patients didn’t wander off the grounds and that lucid moments were rare, if not no longer possible.
Circuit quickly signed the visitor book, grabbed the three visitor passes, grabbed his children, and they made their way to the elevator to go down to the bottom floor.
Once inside the elevator with the doors closed Circuit decided to break the news to his children. “Hey kids… Daddy has something to tell you two.” His voice trembled as he spoke, his two kids looking up at him. He didn’t know how they’d respond to the news, but telling them was better than leaving them in the dark about this. “Grandpa’s room was moved to the lower floor.”
“What! Why’d they move Grandpa?” Cloud Sweeper worriedly asked.
Honey Cake’s expression fell; she understood what being moved to this floor meant.
“Grandpa got worse Sweeps. He may not remember any of us now,” Honey’s voice trembled now as she answered her brother. A few tears fell to the floor of the elevator.
“Is that right Dad?” Cloud asked, looking over at his father.
Circuit was only able to solemnly nod in response.
“Oh…”
The family stood silent inside the elevator for a few moments, the full weight of everything hitting them. Eventually it was Honey Cake who hit the button to send them to down to the lower floor. “I don’t care if grandpa can’t remember us, maybe there’s a chance he’ll have a clear moment. And even if he doesn’t, he’s still family,” Honey Cake said, stomping her hoof in frustration.
Circuit spread his wings and embraced both Cloud Sweeper and Honey Cake, pulling them in close. “I know Hun; I just wanted both of you two to be prepared for the worst. Don’t think for a second that we’d stop visiting just because he can’t remember us. We all love him and that’s all that matters.”
The elevator stopped and its doors opened allowing them onto the secured floor. Circuit looked down the hall and spotted the main nurse’s station. The three of them made their way over to talk to a nurse and get directions to the correct room. After some introductions and some small talk from the nurses, Lightning Rod’s primary nurse came around the corner and spotted the family.
Nurse Malady had been taking care of Lightning Rod from the beginning and it seemed that she even took it upon herself to continue to care for him. Even though once a patient was moved to this floor there was no obligation for the nurse to continue. Most nurses just let the specialists on this floor handle things once a patient was moved.
“Hey you three, I’m sorry about the bad news,” Nurse Malady said sincerely. “But if you follow me I’ll show you to his new room.”
The family was happy to see a familiar face and each let out a nervous breath they didn’t know they were holding. Knowing Lightning Rod was still in good and familiar hooves alleviated the worries they each had. They followed Malady down a set of hallways and stopped in front of Lightning Rod’s room. Malady stood in front of the closed door and turned to face the three of them. A dejected look appeared on her face. “Before I let you in to see him, I want you all to know that he’s been really out of it today. His mind has been all over the place and I can’t honestly tell you if he’ll even know who you are when he sees you. With that in mind, don’t try and force anything you’ll just anger and confuse him. If he doesn’t recognize you that’s okay, he’s still a chatty pony and we all know he loves the company.”
Malady looked at each of them and nodded doing her best to reassure them before she stepped aside and let them in.
*****
Lightning Rod’s family slowly walked into the room. He was currently sat up on his single pony sized bed and staring at a small framed picture that stood on the night stand next to the bed. His eyes were glazed and a blank expression adorned his face. He heard ponies enter his room, but he paid them no mind he was fixated on the picture for the moment. The picture had three ponies in it, one Pegasus stallion, a young unicorn filly, and a young Pegasus colt. All three of them looked so happy to be together, a small part of him had a thought that the ponies in the picture looked familiar, but that thought was quickly washed away and forgotten.
Lightning heard somepony clear their throat. He slowly turned away from the night stand and was soon faced with three ponies in his room. He blinked a couple times and looked at them blankly as his brain failed to remember who they were. “Hello, who might you three be?”
Circuit stepped forward toward Lightning Rod and tried to gulp away the lump in his throat. “Hello sir, do you remember me?” he asked.
Lightning Rod looked at Circuit more closely trying to focus on his appearance, even going so far as to lean in closer. Still no memories of Circuit came to his mind. “I can’t say that I do,” Lightning Rod shrugged.
Both Honey Cake and Cloud Sweeper stood off to the side of their father and watched as their grandpa couldn’t remember their dad. Both of them were shaken and trembled as they looked at their grandpa with sad faces. Both of them whimpered softly trying to hold back tears.
Lightning noticed this.
“Who are these two adorable young’uns?” He asked gesturing toward them with one of his wings. “What’s wrong little ones?” He asked with a worried look. “Come here let me show you a neat trick.” He gestured with both of his wings for the two children to come close and they did. They still had sullen looks on their faces but they each waited with intrigue. Lightning Rod flared his wings out wide and slowly started to roll his wings in small circles. “Now back when I was in the Military during the war I had a squad mate who taught me this trick.” The air surrounding Lightning Rod’s wings began to faintly glow and a soft crackling sound filled the air. “When we weren’t in the air and there was down time on base he would go around trying to cause trouble, always trying to prank me or our other squad mates.” Lightning Rod slowly moved his wings toward Cloud Sweeper and Honey Cake’s noses. Before they knew it Lightning Rod booped both of them at the same time and caused the small electrical build up in his feathers to be discharged on to the colt and filly. Both of them yelped at the sudden shock and tingly feeling.
Lightning Rod heartily laughed while looking at the two young ponies. Circuit Breaker quickly joined in the laughter too once he saw the outcome of his fathers ‘trick’. Cloud Sweeper and Honey Cake were confused, why would causing pain to another be funny? Each of them turned to look at one another and instantly figured out why their father and grandpa were laughing. All the hairs in their manes and coats were standing up straight on end causing the two of them to look like little puffballs. Both of them started to giggle at the other. Their giggles quickly turned to full blown laughter as well.
The room wide slowly laughter died down and was soon replaced conversations between Lightning Rod and the three. Lightning Rod always enjoyed talking to ponies and even though he didn’t know these three he knew they were great company. He talked about his time in the military during the war, his friends lost, and his travels. He bragged about his son and his grandchildren, how smart and talented they all were, he even made a comment that the three of them would probably all get along great with each other if they were to meet.
Hearing all this from Lightning Rod caused Circuit Breaker, Honey Cake, and Cloud Sweeper to choke up. It hurt so much to hear this praise from their beloved family member only for them to not even know who you were. Watching him slowly forget his family who stood right in front of him was agonizing, they feared that eventually even his memories of the three of them would wither away and disappear. All three of them wished and prayed they wouldn’t have to see and experience that moment.
If any of them were looking closely at Lightning Rod’s eyes they would have seen faint moments of lucidness. Only split seconds, nothing long enough for him to get a real word out. For Lightning Rod it was torture. With a flicker to his sight, his real mind would give small screenshots of what he heard and saw when it gained control, only to be dragged back into the recesses of his mind; a small corner where he could only sit and watch as his family talked to a shell of himself.
*****
Eventually it was time for the trio to leave, before leaving Cloud Sweeper and Honey Cake ran over to their grandpa tackling him into a dual hug. “Ooof, hahaha, what’s this for little ones?” Lightning Rod asked.
“We um, wanted to thank you for cheering us up,” Honey Cake squeaked out.
“And for telling us all those cool stories! They were awesome! You were pretty awesome back then gran- umm sir,” Cloud Sweeper exclaimed.
Lightning Rod embraced both young ponies with his hooves and wings, hugging them tightly. “It was my pleasure little ones.”
Breaking the hug both Honey Cake and Cloud Sweeper hopped off of Lightning Rod and made their way back to Circuit
Breaker’s side ready to leave the room. “Thanks for having us da- sir,” Circuit said.
Lightning Rod nodded and smiled at them with that same glazed look, then waved them goodbye.
Author's Note
RIP Grandpa, miss you old man(He passed 7 years ago).
I think I suck at Titles.
Feel free to point out any errors.
Homework assignment if you're up for it... Critique me! Is the dialogue good? Pacing? Am I 'telling' too much? Did it make you sad?!?!? Input is appreciated, just be civil.
I wanted to do more with this story, but *shrug* I don't know, this seemed like an 'okay' ending point.
