Monster

Skyward

I haven’t been the same since Orion was reward the wound. That long wound that reached from his shoulder down to his back. At first, I couldn’t move. No one could. Then, Fire Dash flew faster than before and reached the castle, bringing back my mother, aunt, and uncle. Even aunt Twilight and her friends. It was the first time I’ve seen aunt Luna so upset and scared, to the point where she didn’t allow anyone to touch Orion but herself and Discord.

He had been passed out for a while now. Today marked the second day of being passed out with little signs of waking up, and I feared I may lose him. We all feared we might have to bury a prince. A colt who barely lived. Luna was not happy, Discord wasn’t either and they changed.

As for me, I only stayed by Orion’s side. Praying he would wake up and resume like nothing happened to him the day before, like we all just stayed out of the forest. Like he was still normal without a scar that would remain with him for the rest of his life.

Like his usual self.

But he never did wake up. Orion didn’t show any signs of waking up yet. The doctor who came in said he couldn’t find anything wrong with Orion. No infection, mainly because we gotten to the wound fast enough. We treated the wound regularly, placed new bandages on. Everything we could do to prevent the infection.

That changed nothing about how I viewed this, and I knew word would get out faster than they wanted. Everypony would be speaking about Orion’s accident. His scar that would be there for life, everything would be spoken about. He’d be in the shadows of the rumors for the rest of his life.

I didn’t want that, and I always mumbled how I could’ve taken his place.

I took the blame.

Being older, it was natural. But apparently, Twilight and her friends didn’t think so. Saying it wasn’t my fault, and a very rude comment from Rainbow Dash. She said it was Orion’s fault for going into the woods and getting the scar. Bringing us all into this.

Aunt Luna snapped at her, and nearly screamed but Uncle Discord managed to calm her down, and hissed at them to go away until Orion woke up, and dared Rainbow Dash to tell his son that when he woke up. Making Orion feel two times worse than he was. He even mentioned the possibility of Orion never waking up.

We all got scared, and I remembered the conversation brightly and clearly.

“You know, if Orion hadn’t had gone into the woods, dragging our foals with him, none of this would’ve happened. They would all be okay, and not scarred for life. This is Orion’s fault.” Rainbow Dash said after a moment of looking at my sick and wounded cousin. I felt my blood boil.

“Are you blaming my son?” Discord challenged, growling. “You have guts to be doing that.”

“Rainbow Dash! That is not the right thing to say! We should be focusing on Orion! Not who was to blame for all of this. Maybe it was one of the twins.” Rarity hissed. “You should not be blaming poor Orion.” She ran a hoof through his mane. His soft, mane.

“Just saying.” Rainbow shrugged.

Aunt Luna held a death glare and growled lowly, it was not much of a surprise. “You have deep, deep, bravery for insulting my son while he is knocked out. I should have you thrown out, and...!”

“That’s enough, Luna.” My mother’s voice was all but calm. I could hear the shake, worry, and fear mixed into her tone. She was scared for her nephew. We all were scared for Orion. But the other foals couldn’t see him. They wouldn’t allow them but me to see him.

Saying Orion would’ve wanted only me in this case.

“When my son wakes up, I dare you to say that to his face. Allowing him to feel two times worse than the wound is causing him. He cannot even wake up! There is a chance he never will!” Discord shouted. “You will have to live with those words for the rest of your life.”

I cried.

My hoof touching Orion’s. I began silently praying he’d wake up and tell me everything was okay. That nothing was wrong with him. That we could return to play fighting with our wooden swords. I spent so long crafting his’s, I might have said I bought it to my mother, but I had helped.

Created it for him.

That’s why it said Orion on it. So done with grace, with the symbols he adored. The symbol of the Moon, Chaos, and Spirit. He loved them all. So, I engraved it on his sword.

But now, he may never see it again.

I wanted him awake and alive, well, and perfectly fine. Perfectly healthy. I wanted my cousin back. I wanted my Ori back, so we could do everything we wanted together. Us against the world.

“Please... Ori, wake up.”

Monster

Rainbow Dash

The twins were silent as we went out to eat. They poked at their food instead of digging into the food they ordered. They didn’t speak, and I wonder if this had to do with the Orion situation. But what bothered me was how Sorin’ didn’t think nothing was wrong with them.

Like this was normal and I didn’t plan on getting us apple pie for a treat after we finished eating. I worked my butt off to get us the money for this treat!

Fire Dash was the one who acted the most off, and my eyes narrowed. The colt who looked like me, but with a flaming red coat and his daddy’s eyes, wasn’t going off about how he was the fastest flyer in his class. He was dead silent, but at least his brother made an attempt to speak.

Sorin’ broke the silence.

“You two know how Orion is doing?” His tone was soft, and I guessed the twins told him about Orion. “Any sign of him waking up?” He liked Orion. We all knew it.

Cobalt shook his head. “No. Skyward says there’s a chance of him never wakin’ up again. Discord told him that it might happen, and if it does come to that, then there’s going to be a big funeral. Everypony is going to be attending. In honor of Orion, and his family.”

Sorin’ nodded. “We’ll go.”

“And you decided this when?” I asked, a bit too harsh since both twins winced and flinched. “It cost money to go! It will be two times as much because it’s royalty!”

“Dash... it’s the twins’ friend who is on the line of death. You’re really thinking about how much money it’s gonna cost? We’ll save up, and head there. I’m sure Orion’s parents will let us in for free since the twins are friends with Orion.” Sorin’ mumbled.

Then, Fire shouted at us.

“I don’t wanna go! It’ll remind me this whole thing is my fault!” He slammed his hooves down onto the table, and earned a few looks from the other ponies in the restaurant. He had slight tears forming in his eyes and Cobalt choked back a sob. “I dared Orion to go into the woods, and maybe if I--no--if I hadn’t done it, he wouldn’t be in a coma! He wouldn’t have gotten the scar! It’s my fault... ”

“Mine too.” Cobalt agreed. “I did too.”

Sorin’ nodded, and gave a faint smile. “Thank you for admitting what you have done. You know what is wrong or what is right. You can tell the difference. But, why did you two do it? What made you do it to Orion?”

“We... we didn’t like him at first, but we saw differently, but... We feel so bad now, and he might not wake up. It’s all our fault. We just want to say sorry to him, but we can’t.” Fire Dash mumbled under his breath, but it was loud enough for us to hear him.

I blamed Orion for all of this, allowed Discord to snap at me with the possibility of Orion never waking up again, and this was becoming so clear. If the twins had told me before, than none of this would’ve happened. I wouldn’t have blamed Orion for the bruises my sons had.

I was so blind.

This could never be Orion’s fault, and I wouldn’t forgive myself if he never woke up and the last thing I said about him was how this was all of his fault.

Never.

Monster

Twilight Sparkle

Lapis was quiet as we ate dinner.

Flash knew what was going on because Lapis told us exactly what happened, and now he was barely touching his food. He picked at it with his hoof but never thought to eat it. Flash was becoming angry, and I knew this much because he held this frown on his face.

Surely he could be proud of the fact Lapis was worried about his wounded friend? His wounded cousin? Flash would need to open his eyes to be able to see how Lapis was doing so much more than mopping around, not doing anything, when Lapis was still doing his chores and homework for school.

He was just quiet is all.

Flash slammed his hooves down onto the table, making his son jump, and so did I. “Lapis, I am tired of this silence. You need to speak, do you understand me? You cannot stay quiet forever.”

“Yes sir.” Lapis weakly nodded, I knew he was always somewhat afraid of his father.

“Flash,” I said in a warning tone, “--be nice. Lapis is just worried about Orion is all. We should be more proud that Lapis is worried about him instead of acting like nothing happened.”

Lapis shook. “I-I saw him fall down. So much blood was coming out of his shoulder, I thought a vain was broken. I thought he might bleed out to death. I thought Orion was going to die but then... Eagle Wing saved him. He placed his wing over the wound and tried to stop the bleeding until Luna, Celestia, and Discord arrived with you. Eagle saved Orion.”

“Does not matter.” Flash mumbled, and I gaped. How could this not matter? Our foal and his friend saved Orion! Something anypony else would be afraid to do. “You should be more focused on doing what you do best.”

“I hate my cutie mark.” Lapis growled. This time, I gasped. “It’s just a shield with a shining Lapis in front of it. I couldn’t protect Orion, how do I deserve my cutie mark in protecting? It makes no sense. I want a different one. I want one I can actually follow. One, that I can always look up to and not feel bad...”

Flash was going to say something but he shut his mouth the last second, sensing it wouldn’t be a good time to speak up. He knew exactly what it felt like to hate his cutie mark because he once hated his mark, he told me this during our third date. Going more into explanation during fifth date when I asked him.

Both my son and husband hated their cutie marks because they couldn’t protect somepony they loved. Flash couldn’t protect his little brother from death, and Lapis couldn’t protect Orion from being wounded. They hated their marks because of their guilt.

For once, I didn’t know what to say, and I believe it was for the best.

Before I could open my mouth to say what I had thought of, the door slammed open and in came a rushing guard. He was breathing heavily, but I took no angry from his sudden arrival because they only did this if it was important. So, it must be important for him to come rushing in.

“E-excuse me, your highness,” The guard breathed heavily, catching his breath. “But I have news from Princess Celestia, Luna, and Prince-Consort Discord.”

“Speak!” I shouted without question, standing up with slightly wide eyes.

“Prince Orion has woken up. They wish to have you come to the Castle right away, young lord Lapis can come too. Even Prince-Consort Flash.” He said. “There is a carriage waiting for you outside. There will be no objections from what I have been told.”

Lapis jumped from his spot towards the door, looking over his shoulder. “Come on! Orion woke up! I need to see him and tell him I’m sorry I couldn’t protect him!” He was gone a moment later.

We followed suit.