1 Rematch
Rematch
“Sweep! Sweep! Cloud Sweep, get your flank out of bed,” Fast Flight shouts as I fall out of my bed, “You’re gonna be late again!”
Late? Oh, no! Today is the flight test!
“Hold up, be right down,” I shout to her.
I jump out of my bedroom window, spread my wings, and ask, “What time is it?”
“F-five O’clock,” she says as she looks down at the clouds beneath us.
“Five,” I say disappointed like, “Why did you wake me up six hours before the exam?”
“I, um, I wanted to spend some time together.”
I look at her angrily, “You are so lucky you’re cute.”
We spend our first hour flying around cloudsdale and venture out. About a mile away from the city we just sit there and talk.
“Hey, Sweep,” She calls.
“Yeah?”
“How old are you?”
“Thirteen. Why do you ask?”
“Well, it’s just, y-you don’t have a cutie mark. I mean that’s ok, bu-”
“Stop, change topic. Now.”
Me not having my mark has always been a burden. Not just to me either, my parents get bombarded with questions as well. My mom says, “Oh, he’s just a late bloomer,” but my dad is worried I will never get one. Despite our “equestrian” society, those without a mark hardly make it anywhere in life. That’s really bad, but consider the fact that this has never happened to a pegasus. Nopony knows what will happen to me.
“So,” she says, “I heard you beat that rainbow haired girl in a race.”
Shocked I say, “That’s what’s being spread? I think it ended with a tie.”
“So that means you are just as fast as she is.”
“No, it means I got lucky.”
“But-”
“But nothing, I learned that somethings are better left alone.”
I swear, just as I said that, Rainbow Dash appeared out of thin air.
“Hey,” she shouted, “I heard you been telling ponies that you beat me!”
“Actua-”
“You wanna go again? Maybe I won’t go easy on you this time!”
“Easy? After how exhausted you looked last time, I’d say you barely got a tie,” Aw crap. Now I’ve done it.
“Oh. It. Is. ON!”
“Hey, Fly.”
“Y-yeah?”
“How much time we got?”
“About two hours.”
“Good, gives me just enough time to whoop some flank.”
“But, our date.”
“Relax. After the flight test I’ll treat you to dinner, later.”
About half an hour later Rainbow Dash and I get to the top of town.
She looks at me, “Ya might want to cancel dinner. It will take some time to dig your way out of my dust.”
“Yeah, yeah. I hope you fly faster than you talk.”
“Whatever. Let’s get the rundown,” She pulls out a map of town, “First we go around the factory, then over town square, then we go under and circle over the entire city and towards the flight camp. Got it?”
“Hmph, and I thought this was going to be challenging.”
She lets out a low growl, “On your mark.”
I growl right back, “Get set.”
Then we both scream, “GO!”
We waste no time and go towards the factory. She reaches it first but has to wide of a turn.
I speed past her and scream, “What happened to not going easy!”
This must have really made her mad, because she got the look of ‘when this is over you are dead.’ Ponies in town square realize what’s going on and start cheering. I have a fair lead, so I wave. Well, that was a mistake. A certain rainbow colored pony somehow managed to get ahead of me. I snap back into focus and dive beneath the city. I may be fast but I still have problems flying, so I have to waste time and make myself right side up. Rainbow Dash apparently does not have this problem. I muster up all I have and somehow get the lead again, not much of one though. We begin our ascent over town. I look ahead and I can see the finish point. I see other ponies making their way to the camp. Well, at least I won't be late. I look back and... SHE’S GONE!
“Above you,” I swear she almost sang those words.
We are head to head. I try to go faster. *CRACK* I lose consciousness.
2 Strange Beginnings
Strange Beginnings
Where am I? What, who’s that?
I get out of the bed that I’m in. What is this... hard stuff, beneath my hooves? I go towards a mare sleeping in a chair.
“Ma’am,” as I speak she wakes up.
“SWEEP,” she shouts as she jumps onto me, “You’re awake!”
“GET OFF,” I push her off, “What’s going on!? Where am I!?Who the hell are you!?”
Aw crap, she’s crying.
“Sweep...,” how does she know that name?
“Sweep,” she calls again, “It’s me, Fly.”
“No, it’s not true, Fly is a year older than me! You’re like nineteen!”
I can feel the room spinning.
“Sweep, I don’t know how to tell you this. But, you’ve been in a coma.”
“NO! YOU’RE A LIAR,” I collapse, she runs towards me.
She catches me and shouts, “Nurse,” She runs out the room and I spot her cutie mark, It really is Fly!
I pass out, again.
Well, I am just screwed. If “Fly” was telling the truth then I’m now about eighteen, hospitalized, and by the feel of the “hard stuff” I am not in Cloudsdale either. Well, Fuck. Things couldn’t possibly get any worse.
I start to wake up again, “What the hell, why can’t I move?”
I see Fly by a nurse, “ I had her restrain you. If you collapse again, that would be bad.”
“Collapse,” I ask, “Why would I collapse again? I know where I am, no need to panic.”
“Well, there is still some news.”
“News? What is there that could possibly be news right now?”
“It’s your wings. They’re, umm, they’re gone.”
“What do you mean gone,” I am starting to panic now, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN! LET ME UP! LET ME UP!”
“Sweep, calm down, let me expla-”
“YOU ARE STILL LYING! YOU ARE A FUCKING LIAR! LET ME GO HOME!”
“Sorry ma’am, we have to sedate him,” I hear the nurse say, “DOCTOR!”
A man walks in, “Hold him still.”
I can feel the needle go in my back, it hurt, but then it felt really good. I felt really tired, then I passed out again. I can’t describe the feeling of losing consciousness, it’s like going completely down in a dark cave. You can still think, but you see absolutely nothing.
Another time to wake up, yippee. Anyway I can hear the doctor saying, “The effects of the drug will still be present, now would be the time to tell him the news.”
Fly is still here, “Right. Has this ever happened before?”
“No. Honestly he is extremely lucky to be alive.”
I try to talk and all that came out was, “W-wut, happen m-...?”
“Oh, you’re awake. I’ll leave you two alone, good luck,” the doctor says as he leaves.
There is a cold, awkward, silence.
“Hap-happy birtday,” I stumble out.
“What,” she starts crying.
“I musht hav mished a lot.”
“Yeah, yeah, you did.”
“Sho, wut newsh?”
“Um... your wings had to be amputated.”
“Nuh uh, why would that happen?”
“When you were falling, you broke through the clouds. The only reason you survived is because the trees broke most of the fall, and your wings. Please understand they tried everythings to save them,” she buried her face into her hooves.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“How come, you here now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why you no in Cloudsdale?”
“I moved here, in Manehatten.”
“But, why?”
“For you. I loved you so much that I convinced my dad to move out here. And when I became legal they went back to Cloudsdale.”
“Do you still love me,” finally I can start to actually talk.
“Yeah, I still love you.”
“Good, then can you undo these straps?”
“Are you going to try and run?”
“Where would I go even if I did?”
“Good point.”
And so we started talking, about a lot of things, mainly what I missed. Fly checked with the doctor, and I should be released tomorrow morning.
The dawn of a new day, and what a crappy day. I was up all night trying to figure out why, not why am I here, but why ME? Of all the ponies this could have happened to... it happened to me. I don’t like the way things are going right now, I thought of suicide like four times last night. I could have to, the window is unlocked, the only reason I didn’t was her. I couldn’t do that to Fly, especially after how long she waited for me.
“Knock, knock,” the doctor said as he strolled into the room.
“Morning doc, why are you so happy?”
“Two reasons. One: You get to go home, meaning you lived. And Two: With you out and about you can pay off your bill,” He is smiling ear to ear, “Oh and with you doing jobs to make bits you might even find your mark.”
“Well then, when do I leave?”
“Ms. Flight is filling out the papers now. And in case you’re wondering the bill will be sent through mail, have a nice life!”
What a jerk.
After about another half-hour of just waiting Fly steps into the room, “You ready to go home?”
“No doubt about it. I really can’t wait to hear more about how the world changed.”
“Well, I do still have to tell you about the city first.”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s go already.”
“Alright, we might have to call a taxi.”
“Why? Well first, what’s a taxi?
“A taxi is a thing you call when someplace is too far away to walk.”
“Walking? Oh, right,” I say as I look at my scars. I hang my head low.
“It’s fine, walking is surprisingly enjoyable.”
“Well let’s call this ‘taxi’ thing.”
Out front we just stand there, until Fly puts her hoof in the air. After a couple minutes this yellow colt pulled up cart in tow, “Where to ma’am?”
“Fourth and Westfield.”
Confused I ask, “What’s a ‘Fourth and Westfield?’”
“It’s a street corner.”
“Ok, now what’s a street.”
“I don’t understand it too well either. It’s basically a glorified pathway.”
“Oh, well that’s pointless.”
“That’s what I thought. They are apparently here for safety.”
“Well that makes no sense at all.”
“I know right. They spent all those bits to pay those workers for things like repair and construction, but that money could be spent on a whole lot more.”
“Well, at least your speech has gotten better,” she starts blushing.
“And you still know how to make me embarrassed,” she starts to stare at me.
There is a long silence, well sort of, this place is really noisy.
The ride was enjoyable, until I found out you had to pay for it.
“Three fifty,” the taxi driver said,” and thank you for choosing Yellow Cart Cab CO.”
“Thanks for the ride,” Fly digs through her bag and eventually pays the man.
We walk up the stairs and I start to get tired, “You said walking wasn’t that bad.”
“No... I said, ‘it was surprisingly enjoyable,’ never did I say that it wasn’t bad or hard.”
“Well the whole truth next time.”
“Alright. Well here we are,” she motions her head towards a door that had ‘F22” engraved in it. She did something with the door and then opened it, “Sorry about all the papers, I have a lot of stuff to go through.”
“Better than medical equipment I guess,” I take an open seat on the couch.
“Hey, you quit your complaining. If it wasn’t for those doctors I would have lost you.”
“And if I wasn’t so stupid I, no we, would never have been put through this.”
“Cloud Swee-”
“Don’t you dare. That is the name of a dead pony, and until I have a reason to do something, I don’t have one,” I was confused. How did we get to arguing? I didn’t want to and what I just said hurt her. It hurt her bad.
“So... I’m not reason enough for you,” she was barely audible under the strain of her voice.
“You know I didn’t mean that.”
“No. I guess you didn’t,” I get up and walk towards her.
“Look, I’m sorry. I just need some time to settle in, that’s all. Then we can be as happy as we want to be.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I am,” we lock eyes, “I’ll look for work after four days.”
“Why four?”
“So I can get used to walking.”
“Seems fair. Speaking of practice, after three years in a bed, you probably don’t know what fun is anymore.”
“Well, I may need a refresher course.”
“Well, how about dinner and a movie?”
“What’s a movie?”
“I’ll tell you later, we should get some sleep.”
“Ok, but, where do I sleep?”
“Darn, I didn’t think of that. There’s only one bed, and the couch is half filled,” she had this devious look about her.
“You planned this; didn’t you?”
“Well... maybe,” she winks and leads the way to the room.
Wait... Only one bed. That means... Fuck I am so not prepared for this.
I slowly walk into the room and she is just getting into bed.
“Well come on, I won’t bite,” she got a smile, “Well, maybe.”
“How... considerate?”
“Just get in the bed.”
I lay in the bed for what feels like an eternity, but in reality, it was most likely four hours. I can’t sleep. I am tired and nervous, not a good combination. I get up and silently walk into the kitchen. While searching for some juice I hear a loud noise. Kind of like a thud and a rattle. I keep hearing it, I trace it the fire escape. I go out and I can barely describe what I see. Earth ponies, about five, moving so fast... and flying?
The blue one calls out to the lead pony, “Redd! We got a spotter!”
The lead, Redd, looks at me and they change course; I lose sight of them. I can hear noises from beneath me. I look down and they are just beneath my floor!
“Shit,” I shout, “How are they so fast?” I try to close my window, but a pair of red hooves block them. I try to run to the room but a yellow pony bursts through the front door.
Flight calls out, “What the hell is going on out there?”
The red pony hops over the couch and whispers in my ear, “Tell her everything is fine.”
Backed against a wall I say it, “Everything's ok, go back to sleep.”
“Good... you must be new here.”
“Heh, what gave it away?”
“The fact that you didn’t close your window right away.”
“What does that have to do with anything,” as I ask the other four laugh.
“Where you from?”
“C-cloudsdale,” the others suddenly stop.
“Then where are your wings? Hmm? Don’t lie to me, only pegasi can get to Cloudsdale!”
“What do you want?”
“Me? Me, I want it all. The question is, what do I want from you.”
“Well look around, there is nothing of value.”
“Listen here, I am not just a common criminal. I am what you would call an information broker.”
“A what?”
“Basically, I buy, sell, retrieve, give, and occasionally steal information for clients. Also, I deliver mail on Tuesdays.”
“And what does that have to do with me.”
“Nothing, we just ducked in here because the police are after us.”
“Wait... come again.”
“Well, Us+Open window-Cops=Safety.”
After a facehoof I say, “I must be having a nightmare.”
“Ooh! Now I remember you. You were in the paper yesterday, ‘The Miracle Survivor’.”
“Get out.”
“What?”
“The police are long gone. So unless I am to call them over here, GET OUT!”
“Why!? We’re having a nice talk and you’re a celebrity!”
“Get out of this fucking apartment. Because I don’t care how fast you are outside, but in a cramped place like this, a knife should hit at least one of you.”
“Ok, ok, see you tomorrow,” without noticing his entire gang had gone, and he just walked out the window.”
“Wait. What did he mean by seeing me tomorrow?”