"Mom, have you seen Boulder anywhere?"
Maud's toneless voice echoed in the ears of Cloudy Quartz, causing her to freeze in the middle of washing the dishes from dinner. Sweat dripped down the side of her face as her mind quickly sought to think of an answer. Her heart began to pound in her chest as she gave her answer. "No, dear. Not since he told me he would be waiting where you left him."
There was silence as Maud stood behind her mom.
Thump-Thump
Cloudy Quartz's heart sped up, her anxiety building. The silence seemed unbearable until finally the emotionless voice of her daughter could be heard once more. "Oh, that's right, I forgot I left him there. Thanks, mom."
As the hoofsteps behind her signaled Maud's leave, the old matriarch of the Pie Family breathed a sigh of relief as her heart rate returned to normal. Continuing the washing of the dishes, her mind unwillingly brought back memories of Maud’s accident; specifically what happened during her hospital visit.
***
458 days ago
“ Doctor, how is she?”
It had been twelve days since the accident that had almost cost Maud her life. Cloudy Quartz and the rest of the Pie family had been grieving over the potentially life-threatening surgery Maud would have to undergo to reconstruct her skeleton and repair her severed nervous system. It had been brutal, standing before her unconscious daughter as day after day, she had been non-responsive; paralyzed.
That day however, The Pies received a letter by post, urgently requesting their presence at the hospital. Now as her children and husband sat in the nearby chairs, Cloudy Quartz stood eye to eye with the doctor, dreading the answer. “She screamed.”
“Screamed, Doctor?”
Her eyes were flecked with hope as the doctor explained. “Last night, the nurse on duty was changing Mauds bandages and IVs when upon inserting the drip into her foreleg, your daughter began to scream...in pain.”
“She felt...Are you saying she felt pain in her foreleg, Doctor?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Mrs.Pie.”
Tears began to form in the mare’s eyes, as relief flooded through her. For the past twelve days, she had been wrestling with the fact her daughter may never have feeling in her limbs again. True, pain was less than ideal but it was far better than nothing. “That’s wonderful, Doctor. Is she awake? Can we see her?”
“Yes-Well about that..”
“Doctor! We finally managed to sedate her, sir!”
The voice of a nurse came from down the hall and was approaching quickly. She seemed out of breath and her uniform had a long slash in it. Panting and out of breath, the young mare reported in. “S-sorry it took so long.”
Cloudy Quartz looked at her in concern. “Doctor, what’s going on?”
The doctor, who was examining the tear and subsequent cuts underneath, explained the situation; the look in his eyes almost haunting. “It began an hour ago. While changing your daughter’s bandages, she opened her eyes. They were surprisingly lucid, and then she asked the nurse a question.”
“She-she spoke, doctor?”
“Yes. She asked the nurse if she wanted to meet her new friend.”
“New...Friend?”
The doctor wiped his brow and fidgeted with his spectacles, before responding. “An imaginary one, one she had named Boulder.”
“Imaginary...Doctor, my daughter is not known for making up things. Whoever this Boulder is, it must be real to her.”
“No kidding.”
The nurse spoke up, interjecting into the conversation. “When we told her we couldn’t see this Boulder, she went quiet, but only for a moment. The next thing we know she went ballistic attacking us and screaming in pain as she attempted to move her limbs. One of the nurses tried to sedate her and got too close to her muzzle and well...At least my uniform isn’t a permanent crimson red.”
“How is she by the way?”
“It’s not looking good doctor; her foreleg looks like a timberwolf took a sizable chunk of flesh from it. We only just stopped the bleeding.”
Cloudy Quartz’s ears perked up and her muzzle became slightly crooked in a half-assed attempt at a smile. “I’m sorry, nurse, there must be...I must have heard wrong. Did you say my daughter attacked...No...No, I must have heard wro-”
“That’s right ma’am.”
“My daughter? Maybe there has been some mistake...I’m talking about...My daughter’s name is Maud. Gray fur?”
“Yes ma’am that’s her.”
Her expression hardened. “Young mare, my daughter would never...Where is she? MAUD!”
Everypony in the waiting room, working there or otherwise, stopped and stared at Maud’s mom as she called out her daughter’s name again and again.
“Ma’am please stop shouting, we’ll take you to her room.”
“I-I’m sorry I just...It’s just shocking to hear that my daughter would...I mean…”
The nurse’s eyes softened and she spoke softly. ”Ma’am, I understand. We need you to stay calm though, we have a few high-strung patients as it is and we don’t need them riled up. Please follow me. She is currently in room 178.”
It didn’t take long for the two to arrive at room 178. Upon opening the door, Maud was revealed sleeping peacefully. Cloudy Quartz saw no sign that her daughter could possibly have assaulted the nurse. That is until a moment later, Maud whispered a single word: “Boulder.”
It was then her mother’s blood ran cold as her daughter smiled in her sleep; revealing the crimson stain of fresh blood on her teeth.
***
Imaginary. As she stood there placing a clean dish on top of a nearby stack, Cloudy Quartz was lost in thought. A swift shiver went down her spine as the door creaked open once more. “Hey Mom, Boulder and I are going to go visit Pinkie in Ponyville. Going to thank her for introducing us to her friends."
*CLINK*
Imaginary. As the next dish, now scrubbed clean, was placed in the drying rack, Cloudy maintained her composure as she replied to her daughter. “Alright, see you both when you get back.”
As the door closed behind her, the matriarch overheard a cold, uncharacteristic laugh from her daughter followed by her emotionless words. "It's a shame they couldn't see you. I agree, Boulder."
Imaginary. That's what they said. Taking the dishrag she had used to clean the dishes, she twisted it to wring it out. From the rag poured a watery crimson as it was washed down the sink. Pausing for a moment she stared at the dishes she had been washing; each having just the faintest tint of red across the face. She sighed and turned to the dinner table to finish cleaning up. "Such a mess."
Cloudy Quartz lifted the limp hoof of Rarity and slowly mopped up the pool of dark crimson the alabastor-furred Unicorn lay face-down in. She didn't respond to the touch; not that she would with, the gash in her neck where a butter knife lay embedded. "Such a mess."
The Unicorn's fur had taken on a demonic hue of rose-colored splotches and next to her lay the limp form of the Pegasus known as Rainbow Dash. The cyan blue of her fur was now splattered with dark red speckles, her head thrown back. Her eyes now sported a pair of forks, jammed half-way into her sockets. Imaginary.
As Cloudy mopped up the carnage her daughter had left behind she whispered softly "If only they too, had been given such an imagination. Perhaps they too, would have seen Boulder."
