The Universe Hates You Specifically

Cycles of sweet oblivion that were unfortunately interrupted by blurry snapshots of the outside world; this loop had filled most of Onyx’s time for the last few hours.

In a phase of rare- albeit brief- lucidity, the tone was overwhelmingly one of concern, and it was clear that both of the two blobby figures hovering around the edge of his sight were exhausted. Edgar’s voice came from one. Fraught with worry, his accent was far more evident now.

“Fourth-degree? Hell-” the sound of a book clapping shut jarred Onyx into movement, or at least an attempt at it. Weakly, he curled his front left hoof closer to his body. The difference in position was barely noticeable, and his efforts took so long that it was almost impossible for him to tell if he’d moved or not.

The longer he thought about it, the more confused he got, and that beautiful darkness called to him once again, tugging playfully down on his eyelids. Perhaps the position he was in now was actually where he’d started… and the initial position was where the one he’d shifted to?

The griffon came into focus, suddenly dominating Onyx’s view. He lost himself in the colours; the black of the plumage upon Edgar’s crown; the tufty headfeathers that stuck out from the leather cap that he wore. The feathers grew brighter as his gaze travelled downwards- by the time Onyx’s eyes reached the griffon’s chin, they were still rather dark, but if one looked closely, it was readily apparent they’d changed in hue to a deep, rustic brown.

Just around his eye rings, that true blackness returned- a naturally occurring makeup that made the wan green of his irises blossom into a verdant forest. Onyx could think of nothing more enchanting.

A claw wrapped itself around his hoof. “C’mon bud.” The whisper may as well have been a gentle caress of the face to Onyx at that moment. He wanted very much to pour out his heart to the oblivious griffon, more than anything else in the world- but he could barely move, let alone speak.

A new voice broke through. “Please.” That was the mare- the one that Edgar had been looking for. “I understand that you’re worried but- Do. Not. Touch. Him.” Underneath all her grumpiness and bravado, she sounded stressed. Onyx really wanted to give her a hug.

And all too suddenly, his hoof was released, and Edgar moved away. “Yes’m. Sorry’m.”

Onyx wanted to voice his displeasure at this separation but could scarcely manage a moan. All thoughts of hugging the mare had dissipated, replaced with a cloud of vague violence, which soon also scattered, leaving him to sink.

Edgar’s voice brought him back up to the surface. “Now hol’up there a minute, hoss. Ain’t there only three degrees?”

“Look. If it’s a skin level burn, sure, and for the most part, yeah-” a bolt of pain ripped through him, as something prodded at a sensitive area on his withers. “-it’s only a third-degree burn, at worst.”

“Right.”

“But you can see that in some parts…” Onyx felt nothing at all. “Here. It’s gone all the way through the skin and the fatty tissues, damaging the musculature, nerves and even right- here!” She grunted in concentration, “Exposing the bone."

“Oh. Neat, I guess?”

Onyx was struggling to see this revelation as anything even approaching ‘neat’, but then again, he was struggling to see in general.

“So, umm… look, Miss- uhh-”

“Lulamoon.”

“Right. Well…” Edgar paused. “What else can you do for him?”

“More than I’ve done already? Honestly, not much. This level of damage is pretty extensive- it calls for a specialist, and I’m not confident that I can do anything else without making things worse.” She sighed and moved past Onyx. “He’s stable… ish. But he’s not going to get any better unless you get him to a hospital, and soon.”

"Hospital? Well, I 'spose we could head back to town- an' I'm pretty sure Onyx's gang has some kinda deal going on with the locals, so they're probably not gonna turn 'im over to the guards."

"Wait. What do you mean, 'we'?" Bea interjected. "I was just making sure he was stable- I'm not sticking arou-"

“Weeeellll shit.” Edgar yawned over the sound of her complaints. “Let’s get goin’ then.”

Bea was obviously not on board with this idea, but the mare’s ongoing protests and the subsequent laconic responses from Edgar were totally lost to Onyx, his momentary bubble of consciousness popping and sending him careening back into sleep.

~~~

She leaned into the warmth of the fur to escape from the windchill, half-heartedly scratching at the blisters just above her hoof where she’d be chained. “Ugh.” Edgar glanced up at Bea’s exclamation, chancing a tiny smile.

“What’s the matter, Ms. Lulamoon?”

She idly let her eyes wander down to meet his, rolling them as she took stock of his expression. “Just Bea is fine, Edgar. I’m not some stuffy matron or a schoolmarm.”

Satisfied with the response, his smile stretched further across his face. “Shucks, I dunno,” he stroked his chin thoughtfully before fixing his sight on his destination, “with the way you was going earlier, ya coulda fooled me, Bea.”

They flew in relative silence, and although she didn’t say it, she was thankful that Edgar had let her sit atop his back, instead of being roughly clutched in one of his claws, like she had been earlier. Besides, that less than gentle treatment probably hadn’t been too great for Onyx’s injuries either- hence Edgar was now clutching the stallion to his chest, both arms wrapped around him in a bear hug.

“In all seriousness though, I’m glad that you’ve been so reasonable ‘bout all this.” Edgar remarked, focused on the dark blotches on the landscape that marked out the town ahead of them. Then the subdued mirth left his voice, and his brow hardened a little- “But once we’ve got Onyx looked after… me an’ you need to have a chat, ya hear?”

“Me an-” She looked at him in disbelief. “Edgar, it’d be ‘you and I’.”

“That’s beside the damn point!” as Edgar rose his voice, his entire body tensed up, and consequently he squeezed Onyx a little too hard, eliciting a groan. The griffon’s demeanour immediately softened back up, and he subtly rocked the unicorn’s body as he whispered to him. “Woah- easy there, bud. ’m sorry. Just- just go back to sleep, mmk?”

When Edgar was finished, he craned his neck back around to Bea, who was wearing a sly grin of her own now. “What?” He hissed, not wanting to raise his voice.

“You two are adorable. How'd you meet?”

“Naw Bea, it ain’t like that.” She kept looking at him, staring while maintaining the same smug expression. “I swear, it ain’t!” She tilted her head to the side as if considering something, tapping her chin delicately with a hoof. Edgar scoffed, before snapping his head round to look at something in the distance. “And don’t go changin’ the subject, all sneaky like.”

“Hmm.”

A scowl overtook Edgar’s features. “Hey! Whassat supposed to mean?” he grumbled, half to himself, before pointedly looking back up at her. “Dun’t forget; the only thing between you, and a very long fall, is me.”

She tittered into the frog of her uninjured hoof. “I’m just saying; if it ‘ain’t like that’,” she imitated Edgar’s voice, exaggerating his accent. “Then maybe… you should put a bit more effort in.” He blinked, and for a moment Bea felt the hair on her coat rise up, and her muscles seized up in anticipation of retaliation.

Then he snorted, and let out a little chuckle.

“Whatever you say, lady. Regardless, all I wanted to say is dun’t go running off, alright?” The distant twinkle of the lights intensified, and the hospital grew more defined as they approached. Edgar continued, deadly serious. “We’ve still got other matters to attend to, and the score’s not even just yet.”

“Sure. Fine. I’m not going anywhere.”

“An’ what was that about correcting my grammar?” It was Edgar’s turn to imitate his passenger. “Well then Missus ‘I’m not a schoolmistress’, or whatever it was that ya said,” his falsetto was definitely lacking, but it got the point across.

She laughed. “I do not sound like that. And besides, I said schoolmarm- that's like, a totally different thing to a schoolmistress.”

“You sure know an awful lot 'bout schools for somepony who's not a teacher." Edgar needled playfully, "But hey, whatever you say... ma’am.”

Their soft laughter pealed out, and by time the silence had returned, both relished it. The awkward discomfort of the first flight had now been almost entirely replaced by quiet camaraderie. They reached the hospital with little drama, and Edgar set about tracking down the same doctor from earlier, while Bea looked for somewhere to get a late snack.