Chapter 2: Hysteria

Few questions were asked. Feather managed to answer the broad details about the situation on the medical documents and Pipsqueak completed the finer bits. Featherweight felt chained by invisible cables, constricted by his inability to concentrate, like a puppet as he followed the vocal commands of the nurses and Pip.

He blinked and they were down the hall, tight and cramped. Pip filled the nurse in on the fine details, something that Feather couldn’t be bothered with at that moment. He blinked again, this time, he was laying down in a gurney, Pip sitting next to him, looking worried and worn out. Featherweight had an IV in him, a cable hooked up to him, and a patient gown wrapped around him. An incessant beep smashed against his ears, adding onto is already agonizing headache. He blinked again, looking up to the heart monitor and wincing each time it gave an update on his cardiovascular health.

‘Why is the sound of me still alive making me want to get run over by a stampe-Oh. Right.’

Featherweight gave a weak laugh before wincing and immediately going to rub the spot where it hurt. A bundle of wrapped cloth prevented him from touching his recent injury, and Featherweight slowly let his hoof drop down to his side. All of this movement caught the attention of Pip and brought a relieved smile to his face. He got up out of his chair and came to the right side of Feather’s bed.

“Featherweight, I’m so, so sorry. I was just tryna get you outta the way of the stampede. You ‘eren’t moving out of the way an I didn’t want you to get hurt. I didn’t mean to make you hit your head. This is just a mess.” Pip was quick to break into tears as he bowed his head, not wanting to look at the state Featherweight was in.

Featherweight groaned and looked over to his friend. ‘He was only moving me to help me. He didn’t mean to give me this concussion. How long have I been out?’ Featherweight thought to himself, reorienting himself to the room around him. The lights were low and the blinds were closed, though he could see enough through them to note that it was late at night. “I’m having a hard time remembering what happened. Could you fill me in?” Feather asked, smiling lightly at Pip.

Pip’s breathing shuddered a moment before he collected himself and looked up at his frail friend. “I-I’m not really sure myself. I was walking back from the school house after the meeting,” Pip began, not noticing the immediate tension that filled Featherweight’s body. “I heard a commotion about something coming. I felt the ground shaking and could hear the sound of a stampede coming along. I got worried and started looking for places to hide or take cover, but then I saw you. You were walking straight toward the stampede. It was still kind of far away so I called out to you, but you kept walking.”

“I called again and again, but you just kept walking towards the stampede. It was getting closer. I ran up to you and grabbed you around your camera to get your attention, but I must have pulled too hard or you were really thinking deep about something, because after I pulled you, you tripped and hit your head against a rock, pretty hard actually. We ran for cover and I kinda figured something was wrong since you were acting really weird. When you had blood on your hoof from your head, I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do except ask if you needed to go to the hospital. Dumb question to ask, but I asked it and now we’re here. You scared the nurses a couple of times.” Pip said, recalling the events that happened thus far and calming down.

“What do you mean? What did I do?” Featherweight asked, concerned about the gaps in his memory.

“You don’t remember?” Pip asked in surprise. “ We were walking down the halls and then all of a sudden, you became really anxious and angry. The nurse said it was normal, but you kept on saying ‘what am I going to do?’ and whenever we would ask you what you meant, you got defensive and didn’t go past that main phrase. While in the examination room, the doctor had me in there with you. I think the doctor said it was to have someone familiar close to you to keep you more calm. He said you had a concussion and that nasty gash had to have staples in it. Look, Featherweight. I am really sorry. I just did what I did on impulse.” Pip finished off, starting to get upset again.

Featherweight was able to recognize that and replied, “Pip, don’t feel like that. If it weren’t for what you did, I would have been squished or badly injured or worse! The reason why I didn’t hear you was because I was angry at what the parents said at the meeting. I was in a really bad place.” Featherweight said, watching as Pip’s expression turned from guilty to very concerned. “Not...Not that bad. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” He tried to rephrase his answer, but gave up. He resumed his story, trying to explain without getting too emotional. It wasn’t working well. “You heard what they said. It was full of excuses and things that just weren’t true. You know me!” Featherweight ignored the headache and started getting intense in his demeanor. “I wanted to go onto that trip. Ever since I heard that it was a vacation where I could hang out with you all the way back in December, I was excited and counting the days to it. When I heard that we were going to Vanhoover, for FREE, it made me absolutely wild! I don’t think I told you, but that is where some of the best photo galleries are as well as it being the home of Henri Bisson. It is a month away now, and they are telling me that I can’t go?!” Featherweight, blinked, his eyes blurring for a multitude of reasons, his breathing starting to quicken and get heavier. “For what? The budget for the trip dropped unexpectedly? No one knows why?”

Pip was leaning away from Featherweight, so not to get in the radius of his boiling rage.

“It’s a load of pony feathers! Do I do a lot of work for the student council?” Featherweight asked, blinking again, tears flowing down his face freely, breathing heavier now and his heart rate showing up a lot quicker paced than it should be on the monitor.

Pipsqueak nodded. “Yeah, you do. A lot more than most of us. I am in full agreement here, but I think you need to calm down, mate. You’re under a lot of stress right now, but you really need to take it easy. You calm down, and we can talk about this when ya’ feeling a bit better,” Pip bargained.

Featherweight crossed his legs, clenching his jaw and stiffening up. Already, he felt worn out. Already, each time he blinked, it was harder to open his eyes than the last time. “It just isn’t fair” Featherweight said as he blinked once last time before drifting off to sleep.

Pipsqueak sighed. ‘He will be out for Celestia knows how long. It is late. I need to go back home. Strange no one else has come to visit.’ Pip thought as he walked out of Featherweight’s room to start the slow trudge home.

Author's Note

Second chapter! Woohoo. Thank you so much for following along with this and I hope I can start updating at a better pace soon!