Derpy's Bebop

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Woosh.

Blues woke up from his sleep and tried to open his eyes. He could hear the distinct sound of a medical ventilator connected directly to his mouth, breathing the air his lungs couldn’t inhale by themselves.

The same sounds again. He tried to open one eye, but it was as if his eyelids had been closed shut with hot wax. The other sound from earlier... that beeping... faster. Faster now.

An electrocardiogram? He remembered hearing that thing for hours when he had been with his dad at the hospital, keeping him company.

Cobalt would lay there on that neat and tidy bed, white sheets, white walls, all so clean all so sterile, all so dead, and Blues would stay there and talk about his day, his band,

“I’m this close to make a real group dad, just like yours”

but mostly listening to him. Old Cobs wasn’t a great talker, just like his son, but they shared some good memories, like that time when they had played together at the Jazz Grotto. Sometimes the old stallion would even talk about earlier memories, of the times when he was a kid and had smoked corn cigarettes with his friends, ending up vomiting his soul out on his doorstep.

“That’d been a mess ... took me two days t’ clean the steps, an’ even after that I’d been grounded for three months, three! Sweet Luna...”

Of course though, there were sadder days, when he used to cry his eyes out and putting his head on his dad’s shoulder telling him not to go,

just to wake up, that he couldn’t stay without him, please dad stop it please for the love of fuck wake up wake up God damnit wake up oh God somebody please Dad? oh God thank you thank you thank you I thought I had lost you don’t do it ever again you bastard please I beg you okay yes I’ll be fine of course I’m just a little shocked you old coot oh shut up I’m not a baby, I know it will happen. You just got me by surprise. Now shu- no he’s fine he’s just passed out for a second yeah it was me I kind of- sure I understand. I’ll get out. See you tomorrow old timer don’t you try to die when I’m out, you hear?

He smiled when leaving the hospital, but he cried his eyes out that night, alone. He spent days and days in there. Sometimes it happened again and they had to drag him away from the bed. The doctors didn’t know if he would wake up, in the last days. Cobalt was tough, but cancer was a leech, sucking out all what was inside his body and with that his usual sly grin, his good natured temperament, his figure. Blues used to look at some old photos of his father, a real stallion with large shoulders and a chest wide as a wardrobe, getting thinner and thinner to the point when he had been looking like a skeleton lightly wrapped up in a skin blanket. It was a pitiful sight. He just kept staring at the door, not even looking at him, as if something was going to come

and you know what’s coming Bluesy, oh yes you do, the old whoop it all, God’s best cure for sure, yessir that would cure Cob’s lungs, that would cure just about anything, sweet pea

and he was merely waiting for it, as if death herself would open the door and whisper to him sweet words of defeat and eternal rest from his suffering.

End of the road ol’ buddy, don’t forget to pick up our latest body bags, they come in blue navy now how’s that for fancy-

Blues opened his eyes.

Beep.

Whoosh.

How long had he been there thinking about his dad? Just because of that damn

Beepbeep. Beepbeep.

noise, too many memories, too many hours in a room with a dead man. He was looking at a white ceiling, one resembling so much the one he had just dreamed of. He blinked a couple times just to check if he was still sleeping and tried moving his head to the right, staring at a flat screen monitor keeping track of his steadily rising heartbeats and a series of tubes connected to a mask tightly fixed to his mouth, which he thanked silently.

He heard a chair moving to his left, then a hoof. He felt it pressing on his arm and involuntarily jerked away for the surprise,since he was being examined by two large weird eyes. or better,by one... the other seemed to be looking at his chest. The whole situation was kind of awkward, as he was being examined intensely by a wall eyed mare in a hospital bed he couldn’t remember anything of. He squeezed his eyes and looked at her again, trying not to chuckle. She was probably just a nurse doing her job, no sense in making it worse for her.

He tried to breath, but that stupid mask didn’t let him. Personally he didn’t feel so bad, just a few - Oh sweet God my chest!

The grey mare had tried to hug him for some reason, sending jabs of pain inside his brain from what he could only assume were broken ribs. It was as if he had been hugged by someone wearing a suit made of kitchen knives. He squeezed his eyes in pain and released a high pitched scream of suffering through the thick layer of plastic, as the “probably not a nurse” quickly moved back to her seat and looked at him with a concerned expression.

Blues tried to raise an arm and checked it off the “broken limbs list”. He waved it just fine, even though he was still recovering from the hit from earlier. As he tried to do the same with his legs he felt the mare’s gaze following his every movement, both happy and concerned at the same time. He stopped with a slight groan just after he had started, those were probably not broken but they hurt anyway, like everything else in his body. Everything except his chest ,that seemed to have been pierced with jagged knives by what probably was the most unwelcome hug in his life, but his head seemed fine. Just a bit of a headache, really. Then why was he there in that hospital bed, with a breathing machine? Pierced lung? Oh God I hope not. Maybe a cart accident or something.

Lost in his thoughts, he could still feel his unknown roommate’s gaze fixed upon him... or at least he thought she had been trying to, since with one eye she was looking at him while the other was looking down, as if she wasn’t sure on how to feel or if she should have stopped staring. It was probably a hard internal struggle for her but it was starting to get a bit uncomfortable for him too. He played her card back and started staring too, noticing small details he hadn’t seen before. First, how unkempt she was. She didn’t look so well , besides those eyes that, God bless them , had probably been the main thing anyone looked at when seeing her as he had experienced in first hand,she had a slight reek of sweat and her mane was collected in greasy locks but she didn’t seem to care. What was now covering almost her whole face was a full toothed smile, even though he could see that those ever-following eyes were streaked with tears at the same time. He started to get really uncomfortable around the mare for some reason.

She brushed her eyes with a hoof and fixed them on him, coming closer. He could see clearly the tiny broken vessels, as if she had been crying for hours, days even, before then. Has she been there for a long time? Had he? Why in hell again was he there? He started thrashing his head from left to right, trying to get up, he didn’t want to be there he wanted to go back to his home please I don’t want to be with her right now please you’re going to hurt me I know it-

He squeezed his eyes when he saw the grey hoof reaching for his face, not knowing what she wanted to do, just wanting to vanish away or go back to sleep, sweet sleep there’s no one there I can just go back to sleep yes let me sleep get away from me

Woosh. Click

stared at her as she kept on rambling of how much she had missed him and how happy she was of seeing him awake right now. Somehow though, he could breathe. Probably he had just been panicking before. He took a long breath and sank into the pillow, closing his eyes yet again. No matter how much she told him he had slept, he still needed some time to reorder his thoughts, preferably alone. It was all happening way too quickly, he couldn’t even remember why in holy hell he had been brought here.

He started feeling a ringing in his ears and then all the other sounds dimmed. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and cried out in pain, as the mare jumped to him. He felt his eyes water for no apparent reason and his eyelids grow heavier, until he couldn’t open them. Black. He felt like panicking, but his body wouldn’t let him. Everything relaxed. No more ringing. Still the voices were distant, alien, and distorted. He could hear a girl crying heavily and sobbing, as then everything disappeared.

***

“Please Miss Doo, you need to get out of here.”

The mare covered her face with her hooves and shook her head.

“Miss Doo, he woke up. We don’t know for how much he will be like this again, but we had to sedate him in order to stop the seizures. He’s not in a coma again, he’s just sleeping. You can go home now; we’ll inform you right away if- w-when he wakes up once more.” The doctor stammered.

She shook her head again.

“Ma’am you need to take care of yourself. He’s not in danger of death and most important he woke up again. The drugs will probably wear off completely in 8 hours or so, you can take your time. Please.”

“I-If” she sniffled and swallowed “He wakes up you’ll tell me when he-”

“Yes.”

Ditzy looked at him with sore eyes. “Can I... Can…” She swallowed again, feeling like she had something stuck in her throat. “Can I stay with him a few more minutes?”

“Five minutes. I’ll have the nurse be here by then Miss Doo.”

“Thank you...”

She heard the doctor sigh, but didn’t see him. She was trying to focus on Blues again. She felt the white coated stallion walk to her and put a hoof on her arm. “Ditzy, he will be fine. You trust me, right?” He gave her a confident smile, trying to make her feel better.

“I do. It’s me whom I don’t trust enough.” She walked over to the bed again and kissed the colt on his mask where his lips would have been. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, muffin, okay?” She whispered, “Don’t move from here.” She managed a slight, sad chuckle, while the doctor looked away. She was out of the hospital in a couple minutes.

***

Blues was flying in the air, feeling the wind under his wings. He steered and dived down to the surface of the sea folding his them, then opened them back at the last second, using the remaining momentum and a weak ascending current to about a couple feet over the water. He closed his eyes as the salt hit him at incredible speed, burning like hell, and then suddenly stopped. He squeezed his eyes and felt a small pain in his arm, feeling his body relax completely and his wings stiffen. He was falling down, but he couldn’t move his arms or legs, as he felt the water engulf him. He was drowning, trying to move, trying to flap his wings, but it was as if he didn’t have them anymore. He tried to open his eyes, expecting pain, but instead he could see clearly around him. He blinked a couple times as he looked around, feeling his body slowly sink in the depths of the ocean. He looked up at the light growing dimmer and dimmer, terrorized.

He tried holding his breath, but he could feel that in a way he was somehow breathing. He couldn’t close his mouth, but he... felt something around his neck. As if it was regularly opening and closing.

Deeper. No more light. Everything was becoming dark. He could hear a faint voice in the distance. There was something near him, but he couldn’t move.

“Need...out of here.” the voice spoke. It was guttural and sort of reminded him of something slimy. “Woke up... coma... again...once more.”

He hid the bottom of the sea with a loud thud. Everything around him was pitch black, as if his eyes had been dipped into tar. The voice was nearing though. It gave him goosebumps. It wasn’t good. He couldn’t have awoken more times, he didn’t remember that.

A faint light. Something resembling a small lantern was coming around. He felt like smiling, maybe this thing could-

Oh no.

Please not that.

He tried to run away but he could only stare at the faint light coming near him, ever so slowly, a nearing white-yellow blade of light . It didn’t bring nor hope nor salvation. It brought death. The huge lantern fish had tracked him and was quickly coming over, sprouting senseless words, but the only one that mattered to him was only one.

“Death.”

He tried to close his eyes in a pitiful act of self-defense against the sheer terror of the image, but could only keep staring. He let out a voiceless scream of terror as the gigantic creature ate him, still staring at its hundreds of needle-like teeth.

Light! Oh so much light it could burn his eyes, but he stared at it without any harm. There was a being of pure light inside the fish. The flesh walls all around him were white. The being was was standing still, radiating a soft golden light. Heavy tears fell on the floor of the fish’s stomach, filling it with sores as they touched the ground.

“It’s me whom I don’t trust enough” The creature said, creating a trail of weeping sores as she walked. A feminine voice, so sweet, so desperate. He couldn’t make out the details of her face, it was as if the tears were coming down from light itself. She was a radiant avatar of the dawn, an angel, a peace bringer, coming over towards him. She slowly kneeled over him and kissed him fully on the lips, engulfing him in the purest of lights. It was perfect. Everything in that instant was pure perfection... there was nothing that could hurt him then. He too, became light. A feeling of irresistible freedom overtook him as his limbs started glowing and he started floating slightly above the ground.

“I’ll be back as soon as you can Muffin, okay?” Life incarnated said. “Don’t move from here.”

Laughter and then...she vanished. Blues saw her turning into a small streak of smoke as he simply looked at her, as he emanated light illuminating everything around him. That angel had given him all she could before falling down and dying, giving him a chance to resist in his giant prison of alien flesh. He sat down and closed his eyes, waiting for his savior, finally able to talk again.

“I’ll wait for you... Muffin.”

***

A ring. Two. Ditzy took the phone in her hoof as she stared at the ceiling, as she had done all night. She hadn’t slept a minute, but her mind had wandered in a dream-like state since she had laid on the bed. She simply breathed into the phone, incapable of forming complex thoughts.

“Hello, is this Miss Doo?”

She nodded without thinking that whoever was on the line couldn’t see her. She blinked a couple of time and then stammered, trying to collect her thoughts “U-I--yes.”

“Blues Noteworthy woke up a few minutes ago. I had been told to call this number wh-”

She darted off the already open window to the hospital as fast as she could.

“Hello? Miss Doo?” The nurse asked once more, after feeling a loud blow on the other end of the phone. She hung up a minute later.

Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease tell me he’s alright tell me he’s fine please tell me he’s there and he’s fine pleasepleaseplease

She bursted into the hospital and ran to Blues’ room.

***

Again. The pounding on his head was different and the light hit him directly. Morning. People around him. Doctor, white coat. Nurse. Gas mask on my face.

“Mister Noteworthy.”

Voice. Fish. That’s the fish. Get away from me get the hell away from me this isn’t happening again for the first time this is happening again

“Mister Noteworthy, can you hear me? Please nod if you can.”

Blues looked at him and blinked. The pony in front of him wasn’t a fish and he most certainly wasn’t going to eat him. A dream. He nodded slowly.

“Good. Now I need to make a simple test to see if anything… happened while you were away. Nurse, we won’t be needing the ventilator.”
He felt a pop and the mask was removed from his face, as he started breathing for himself.

“Mister Noteworthy, can you please tell me your first name?”

“Blues.”

“Good, good. And do you remember why you were brought here?”

The blue colt looked at the doctor and sighed, shaking his head.

The medic looked down for a second, then back up to him. “Not so good, but that can happen in these cases. We don’t know what happened to you since the mare who brought you here was too shocked to talk. From your x-rays and the angulation of the ribs, you probably fell, and the quantity of shards we know it must have been a decent height. Say about ... ten, fifteen meters. We’ve found broken twigs and leaves on you, so my opinion is that you either fell from a greater height and a tree saved your life, or you fell straight from a high tree. You understood what I just said?”

Blues nodded and coughed slightly. “That’s why my chest hurts?”

“You’re lucky to be alive, Blues. Ribs don’t break that easily, but we can fix that. You’ve been in a coma for weeks. Probably hit your head on a branch before falling to the ground.” He addressed a nurse. “Can you please call this number and tell that mister Noteworthy is awake?” He took a piece of paper and handed it to her. “Miss Doo should be answering and coming here quickly.”

As the nurse walked out of the room, he strained to remember the name. “Ditzy?”

He gave him a look. “Ditzy Doo. She brought you here and has been waiting for you to wake up for all the time you were unconscious. Nothing could to get her out of this room, mister Noteworthy. We’ve decided to give her lunch and dinner while she was waiting for you to wake up, and I think she slept on that couch over there, but I can’t really know. I’ve always seen her awake during the day.”

“She... She’s been waiting for me. I was the one that should have waited for her...”

“Are you feeling alright, mister Noteworthy?” The doctor asked, looking at him with a clinical look.

“No... Well yes. Yes it’s just... a thing I dreamed. It’s nothing. Everything except for the chest seems fine.”

“I see. Well we just have to wait until she comes here. First we need to try some leg testing, see your reflexes. Your muscles have-”

A clop of hooves running.

“Oh I think she’s here.” He moved away sitting on a chair not to collide against the incoming mare, away from the door.

Blues swallowed as he heard the door slam open and saw a grey fury storm into the room.

“BLUES!”

It’s... her? Light? The merciful avatar of life? My savior?

He saw her smile. Pure joy. He needed her. He had waited for her. He needed to reunite and feel that instant of perfection again. Words failed him as he tried to open his mouth.

“Blues... God you’re alright...” She walked slowly towards him, almost hesitant, both her eyes fixated on him.

“Muffin...” He whispered.

As soon as he said that she started radiating happiness. She cried tears of joy as she hugged him. No more sadness. No more soul crushing loneliness. He was with her again. They were one again together.

He smiled through the pain. She was with him again. They were one again together.

He closed his eyes and relaxed, feeling her against him. Their lips had the texture of scorched earth, but to one another they were smoother than silk. He smiled as they kissed. She felt sugary, it reminded him of the candies he used to eat when he was a kid.

The scene lasted for thirty seconds at least, until the grey pegasus moved her lips to his cheek to let him breathe. She looked him with a loving smile.

“Miss Doo, could you kindly stop trying to eat my patient’s face and sit back for a minute?” The medic said, smiling.

Ditzy jumped in surprise and yelped, looking at the doctor and then back at Blues. She giggled and licked his cheek up to his eye, then fluttered back to the couch, finally happy and relieved. The doctor had been so nice to her, letting her stay for the nights too for almost two weeks. Not that she would have moved anyway, even if they would have called the police she wouldn’t have budged. It was all her fault...

Blues looked at the mare smiling until the doctor came into vision again. “Good to know you’re fine and have enough strength in your mouth,” he chuckled. “But I have to test your other muscles as well.” He started testing his legs and hir arms, all seemed to be in order.

“Now, your girlfriend didn’t tell us what happened, but we know you fell down." He turned towards her “If you would be so kind...”

“W-well...” She looked from left to right and sighed. “Doctor, it’s just...”

“Come on.”

“We were flying... and he was holding to me, you know. Simple as that. I was holding him by the hooves... and well he... slipped...”

“I see. Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

“B-because... I let him go by accident. If I said that you might have called the police and I didn’t...want to stay away from...” She started sobbing. “It’s only my fault! I shouldn’t have said yes and I should have strapped him with something and when you said that Blues... I just let you go by accident because I was too shocked...”

Blues kept looking at her. His Light was the one who had almost killed him? “What did I say?”

She immediately raised her head and looked at him “What do you mean?”

“What did I say to you when we were... flying? And where were we flying?”

She stared at him and then the doctor, shocked. He was staring at them both. “W-What do you mean? What does he mean, doctor?”

The medic looked at her and said just one word.

“Amnesia.”

She stared at them both. “You don’t remember what happened?” She shook her head. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You’ll just need some time to remember everything..." she turned to the doctor. "How much do you think it will take for him to?”

“We’ll see” the white coated colt replied. “Now Blues, I know you just woke up but I need to know what the last thing you remember is. It could help us understand how much time it will take for you to regain your memory.”

Blues closed his eyes, everything was happening too quickly. He drew in a couple of deep breaths and relaxed his body, trying to remember.

Music. He remembered music and… singing. He remembered fire... Trees. Lots of trees. Flowers. It was night. The torches were blazing around the house dancing and swaying in the light wind. They had drunk a bit. It was a big event for ... something. They had decided to go around in a special place

The Everfree it’s in the Everfree

to celebrate.

“We were in a house... away from here. In the Everfree. And we had drunk a bit.”

Ditzy nodded. “It was our first year anniversary...”

Blues was taken aback for a second. One year with her and he didn’t remember?

“We went...” She looked at the doctor, then back at Blues. “We went to a nice place only we know. We watched the moon rise in the sky and you asked me if we could fly together. Then...” She blushed deeply.

He remembered one more thing. Her lips. She tasted of peaches. “We ate peaches before?”

She scrunched her face trying to remember “Yes... I think.”

“Doc I need a peach now. Right now.” He licked his lips and nodded. “Someone give me a peach before I go take it myself!”

Ditzy ran out of the room and started yelling “Peach! I need a peach! Someone!”

The doctor laughed and shook his head. The events had taken an unexpected turn. “Can I ask you why you-”

“Shhh.” He said still licking his lips.

“I got it!” she ran in with an unopened small package of peach jam and handed it to Blues. “What do you need it for?”

“Eat it. There’s no time!” The blue colt saw the mare ripping the confection’s lid off and swallow the jam. “Kiss me.”

She looked at him and cocked her head.”Wh-”

“We don’t have time! Now!”

The mare looked at the doctor for a second and then back to him. She kissed Blues with her jam-sticky lips as the colt hold her head still with his hooves firmly planted on her cheeks.

***

Who’d know that the stupidest ideas are the one who work better? Tactile and lingual memory works better than anything to dig up what’s been hidden, to give the spark that ignites the process of understanding and remembering. She had eaten peaches that were what he had felt before the fall, while kissing her. With that one memory another one followed and then another, until he began drowning in them. He remembered why she liked muffins, how she always looked cute when she tried to concentrate on a single spot with both her eyes just to look into his, her favorite color, all the small things that made her smile… he remembered why they were there what had happened.

They had gone to the Everfree to celebrate. It was going to be a special day for Ditzy and him, but not for what she thought it would be. Blues was going to ask her to marry him that night. He had everything set, including the wine. He had started asking her while they were flying, forgetting how tipsy she got even without wine.He remembered that he had only started his speech, and a second after... slipped off.

Pain. Deep excruciating pain.

“I remember.” He said while breaking the kiss.” I remember everything, Muffin.”

She smiled, still a bit confused, but happy.

“Thank you.” he told her, while kissing her again. “ Ditzy...” he teared up. “Ditzy, Ditzy Ditzy! My Light.” She hugged him and he held her close to him, stroking her mane and nuzzling her cheek. “You didn’t have to wait me for so much...”

“Hush...” The mare said, before kissing his forehead and laying her head on his collar bone.

The doctor smiled at the scene and looked at the now-oh-so-interesting white wall.Of all the things that happened during his career, this was entering his top ten for sheer weirdness.

Blues would have gladly kept staying in that dream-like state with Ditzy, but when the pain killers lost their hit completely his chest hurt too much to keep her close. He fell asleep as she kept nuzzling the tired, drugged and happy colt.

The day after that and the next ones she was still at his side. Now that Blues was awake again though, Ditzy understood how tired and unkempt she was. She made sure he had a nurse by his side all day long just in case and flew back to their house.

Our house...

She took a two hours bubble bath until the water became cold and then walked groggily to the bed, drunk with fatigue (and leftover champagne to celebrate) falling into a merciful and dreamless sleep. When she woke up she left herself get cuddled by the warmth of the late afternoon sun until she got up and walked the cold wooden floor to make her some lunch, remembering how bland the hospital food tasted like. After a few desperate connections, her brain still struggling to work, wishing she was still on the mattress, she decided to order something, being incapable of handling anything more complicated than a fork.

She never got anything delivered to her, usually. It felt somewhat wrong. It was her job after all, as an electrician would feel if someone else had installed an electrical outlet in his house. Even those times when she ordered pizza she went to take the food herself: It was kind of her pride, she was the mailmare, she was the one who carried letters and packages, why should she get something delivered to her? It was how things were supposed to go. That was one of the reasons why she just stared at the delivery boys when they knocked on the door. It was like looking in a mirror. She could picture herself doing what those kids were doing and it weirded her out. What confused them more though was the awkward way she stared at them, one eye on the door and the other on their faces, following them. They got away as fast as they came, every time with a generous tip.

Thai... she had never had Thai food before, but her stomach really seemed to have appreciated her choice. Same with Indian and Italian. They all had weird complicated names. She ordered three at random from every menu, the first, the last and something in the middle... It was always Blues who used to order these things when he was feeling too tired to cook something up. She had told him spicy food was what had helped him those days when he had to work double time in the fields to stay awake enough not to fall on the floor and fall asleep there. She didn’t really mind after those days of rice, peas, jelly, jam and the occasional juice box. She’d eat a whole cornfield, with dirt as dessert.

Once her stomach was full and she had slept another half day, she went back to the hospital. Blues greeted her with a kiss on her nose and one on her forehead, the way she liked it. “Has it ever occurred to you that we're disgustingly cute?” he said chuckling.

She slid in the bed and nuzzled him tenderly, “A lot. But at least we’re in the right place here,” she giggled “in case we were to give someone diabetes...”

He laughed and made her a bit more of room to lie more comfortably, holding her close to his chest. She tried to move a bit away from it but he shook his head “It’s getting better, don’t worry. The only thing I want now is to hold you” he kissed her lips and smiled again “and painkillers. But you’re a close second.”

“Oh shut up you junkie.” she giggled and rubbed his nose with hers “You think I can get some too?”

“Ma’am, that’s only for the hard working ponies in pain like me” He faked a groan of pain. “But I can give you my jelly if you want.”

“Your jelly?” She smirked. “Oh you… It’s going to take you more than cheap jokes to conquer me again.” She stuck out her tongue and hugged him again. “I missed you Bluesy. I missed you so damn much...”

There goes my heart. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Wait a bit. When you’ll be home. I want to do this like It’s supposed to be and that takes time.

“I missed you more.”

“No I d-” He bit his lip and kissed her again, she was just too damn cute. Ditzy accepted the kiss and returned it, hungrily. She had been waiting for him to wake up for too long and now he was there for her his lips his eyes his mane... God she loved his mane. She ran a hoof in it and felt him shiver slightly under her touch, knowing that was one of his soft spots. He could keep running her hoof into that unruly tangle of hair for hours and she knew he’d enjoy it just as much. Actually she needed to do that sometimes soon, just the two of them on the bed as he nestled his head on her chest and she played with his hair...

He deepened the kiss and felt a short jab of pain in his chest. Painkillers, wherefore art thee. He didn’t want to stop, but he moved a bit away from her, just enough to still feel her warm coat against his but not to press against his ribcage.

She licked his lips once again before stopping and moving away from him. “Blues, if we keep this going again for one more minute I won’t be responsible for my actions.” She panted slightly and moved away from the bed, but he held her with one hoof. “What if I wanted you not to?” He whispered in her ear, nibbling at it gently. She gritted her teeth and moved back on the couch, an angry look on her face. “Don’t tease me you... you horny...thing.” She was flushed.” If you try that again I’m going to make you fall down again, I swear.”

He was grinning widely. “I’ve been declassed to a thing now?”

“Until you learn to...”She bit her lip and shook her head “Until you learn to behave in a public place and not taking advantage of my condition you sly bastard...” that only made him grin more. “Fine, fine” he laughed wholeheartedly “I’ll keep my jelly then.”

“Oh shut up!” She was blushing madly. “If that’s how you’re going to be I might have preferred when you were sleeping...”

He turned serious. “About that. I dreamed of you.”

“I swear Blues if it’s about the same thing as before...” She looked up at him and saw his expression. “It’s probably not about that, thank God. What did you dream about?”

He tried to recollect his memories of the nightmare. “It’s...fuzzy. I remember I was flying, then something happened and I fell down to the bottom of the sea. A huge fish ate me and then you were in there.”

“Inside the fish?”

“Yes, inside the fish. It was... all glowing. All golden and white and you looked like an angel. Wait... no you were glowing. Yes you were there and all around you there was this warm light and you were crying, but I couldn’t see your face. Then you came to me, I couldn’t move, you know how it happens nightmares... anyway I couldn’t move and you were coming over me and I thought: this is the avatar of light herself. Not Celestia. You... were similar though. An angel of some sort.” He nodded and closed his eyes, reviving the moment. “And you told me you’d be back and to wait there, but when you kissed me... God. Everything. Everything was right. I wasn’t in a giant fish’s stomach, but I was... floating. You were giving me a new life. I know it’s confused... the whole dream is. But I knew you were there and giving yourself for me to live, because after you kissed me and gave me that source of light, you had vanished.” He opened his eyes and looked at her “And I knew that I’d wait for you even though I didn’t remember who you were. I knew I’d wait for you for my lifetime to get that feeling of Harmony, of bliss, with you.” He smiled. “And when it happened, it was even better than I imagined it would be.”

She looked at him and slipped back in the bed. “I love you. I would abuse this word every day to show you how much I do, but I don’t think it can carry the strength of how much I care.” She kissed his forehead “For.” she kissed his nose “You.” She kissed him with her eyes closed. “Never forget that, my blue sapphire.”

“I won’t, angel eyes.”

***

Ditzy spent every afternoon after that talking with Blues and occasionally cuddling with the colt when they were sure no one would be entering the room; she wasn’t free to stay there as much as she wanted now that he was awake, but they made each meeting count. Blues’ Ribs were healing fast enough, even though he complained of how much painful was to grow back one’s bones,

“It’s either that or you get one made of metal. Even though the thought of having a cyborg boyfriend is interesting... I’d stick to what the doctor said, Blues” she giggled.

at least it wasn’t going to be in the hospital for more than another week. At the time he was done with the therapy, he was feeling good as new, though it’d take him some time to fly again with Ditzy. At least without a saddle.

They hoofed it to their home, Ditzy holding his side even though it didn’t hurt.

“I can walk.” “I know.” “... Then why are you helping me?” “Because you’re soft. And because I feel like it.” He rolled his eyes and gave her a peck on the cheek “just don’t let me fall down again this time, okay?”“Maybe... If you give me another one on my other cheek.” she said grinning.

They sat on the front porch more or less half an hour later, watching the sun setting down behind the mountains before them. “It’s nothing like there in the forest... but it’s still always a sight, don’t you think?” He said as he held her by the waist. She nodded her cheek on his shoulder. “The full moon is next week, we could go watch it rise up... if you feel like coming there again. We can walk there if you like.” He kissed her head gently and raised his up quickly, as if he had just remembered something. “Fuck.... I mean uhm wait here. Just a sec.” he chuckled. “Sorry to break the mood but I have to take one thing.”

“It’s okay, don’t take too long. You know how it gets cold after the sun sets, I want my Blues with me.”

“Be right back in a minute. And God stop.” he raised and held her head with his hooves and gave her a peck on the lips. “Stop being cute. This instant. You’re going to kill me one of these days.” He walked inside and got to his room, trying to find that bloody piece of paper.

Where is it damn it where are you... okay okay calm down. You didn’t bring it to the Everfree because you had forgotten it, that’s good. At least you haven’t lost it in the falling... stupid ribs. Okay the notebook’s … here in the drawer, perfect. And the pencil too, good, good. But I haven’t left it here where she could find it... Think damn it,think... wardrobe... a tuxedo? Breast pocket! Right! Here you are you little bastard!

He took the heavily written and cancelled piece of paper from his father’s tuxedo and started reading it, trying to see if there was anything wrong with it. After re-reading it for the fifth time, he held it in his hoof and walked out back on the porch.

“Took you your sweet time. What were you waiting for?” she tapped next to her on the front step “Come on, it’s almost done.”

Blues looked at her. He really looked at her. He didn’t know if what he was going to do was right or if he should be waiting for it a bit more, but they both remembered that moment before he fell. Was she the one he really wanted to spend all his life with?

Yes. No hesitation. Do it, Blues.

“I can’t really sit right now. Mostly because if I move, I think I’m going to puke. But I need you to stand up, please.”

She looked at him with a weird face, a strange mix of emotions while getting up. The sun’s last rays illuminated her mane just perfectly, like molten gold swimming over a pool of light blonde hair. Those two eyes, so rapt and staring at him, in expectation.

She’s worth it.

He inhaled and looked into her eyes. “I don’t believe in a love like the one you see in the movies, Ditzy. When I think of love there’s no... fireworks, no perfect situations, not just kisses and laughter. I don’t believe in a love when everything always goes right, when there are no problems, where there are no fights. When I think about that, the real Love with a capital L... I think of two people who enjoy sharing their lives together, a warm , lovingly cooked meal when coming back home tired, not because you want to be said “thank you” but because you want to make him feel you care for him or for her. I think of someone to hold while asleep, I think of someone to talk and joke with, be immature and serious.” He smiled at her face, she was getting where this was going at. He continued, biting his lip not to stammer. “When I’m with you, I feel at ease, I feel satisfied, I feel happy, Ditzy. We may fight every now and then, we may not always be too close, but when I look into your eyes... when I look into those golden circles and you try to focus so hard looking back at me, I know that I want to spend every day of the rest of my life with you.” He inhaled again and exhaled shakily. This was harder than he thought.

“Ditzy. Muffin... I didn’t know that in my heart there could be so much to share before I met you, but I want to be with you. I want to fight, I want to cry I want to be there when you need me, I want to laugh and hold you in my arms until I have no more strength.”

He kneeled down and looked up at her. She was already crying, but they were tears of joy. The only ones that had the right to exist on her beautiful face. “Ditzellia Esmeralda Doo. Will you marry me?”

She threw herself on him. The door was still open from before and the sun had already settled behind the mountains, but there was a certain light still coming from there. The soft hues of gold and purple were filling the air, night was coming. They were almost in the same situation as they had started their life together. It wasn’t raining, but the tears from her face were quite enough.

“Yes...” She whispered. She planted a full kiss on his lips as they both hugged as tight as they could to one another, there on the hard wooden floor.

There was a certain spark around them, one you rarely find in young lovers. The night may fall down soon, but that spark… It would light up the rest of their lives.