Waking Eyes

The room went silent after Clouded’s announcement. Flare refused to look Clouded in the eyes.

“I don’t think that’s just it.” Flare said. Clouded looked at him.

“It was all a big accident. I caused it. That means that I killed them.” Clouded explained. “It may have been an accident and thus indirect. But murder is still murder. I’ve had to live with it my entire life.” She told Flare. He sat there a moment, wondering what would be the best thing to do.

“What happened?” Flare looked up and asked. “I don’t think it was just a simple accident. What caused it?”

“I told you, I did.” Clouded answered.

“Come on, Clouded, you know what I mean.” Flare said. “Please tell me.” Clouded looked at him. Her eyes showed concern while Flare’s compassion.

“Why do you care so much?” Clouded asked. “Why does it matter to you?”

“I care because that is what my mother taught me to do.” Flare said. “It matters because I care. I want you to be happy, Clouded. So please, Clouded, please tell me what happened.” He begged.

“I killed them after my experiments went all wrong.” Clouded said, trusting Flare.

“Experiments?” Flare asked.

“They were supposed to be healing potions. If I ever created them successfully, I could have potions to heal many illnesses and even physical injuries.” Clouded explained.

“Why isn’t this researched by Canterlot professionals? It seems like it could help a lot of ponies.” Flare said.

“It is illegal.” Clouded admitted. Flare looked at her in confusion.

“How? It seems to be helpful.” He asked.

“Because if not prepared just right, the one the potion is used on will die.” Clouded explained. “There were many ‘what if’s in making these potions.”

“Then why were you making them?” Flare asked curiously.

“My brother’s death.” Clouded said quietly. She looked towards the ground, holding back a few tears. Flare looked at her.

Man… She really lost everypony… Flare sighed. “Clouded, I don’t want to force you-”

“No!” Clouded interrupted. “Allow me to finish.” Clouded looked back towards Flare. “I’ve lived with this all my life, it is about time I finally accept that they are gone.” Flare knew how she felt. His response was only a nod to continue. “My younger brother had died from an illness. Doctors said that by the time they found out, it was too late. They didn’t even try to save him.”

“What was his name?” Flare asked. She looked at him, surprised at the question.

“Aurora Draft. Why do you ask?” Clouded wanted to know.

“It’s better to remember loved ones by their names. I never fully learned my parent’s names to tell you the truth. I only have Mom and Dad.” Flare admitted. Clouded thought about what he had said. A tear fell before she continued.

“You’re right. Well, he passed away at a young age. That is when I began to study first-aid and other healing matters. But one day, a few years after my brother’s death, I found this group of ponies.” Clouded said. Flare was confused.

“Who exactly?” He asked.

“It was a group of ponies who were secret to many, except those who seeked out their assistance in something. They were always robed, and all seemingly unicorns.” She told him. Flare’s mind clicked. No way… She isn’t talking about the same group that did that to Arrow… right?

“This is where you began messing with potions, isn’t it?” Flare asked.

“Yes, not with them however. I paid them for supplies. They seemed desperate for bits, so I could get a larger amount for cheaper.” Clouded said. “I’m not sure how they got them, but at that time it didn’t matter to me. Neither did the fact that what I was buying was obviously banned.”

“You had what you thought you needed in your hooves.” He commented.

“Yes. I began brewing potions in the basement of where I lived. At the time, it was still with my parents. But something seemed off, the potions didn’t have any effect when made. It seemed like they were only colored water.” She said.

“So what were they missing?” Flare asked.

“Magic. When I asked the group about it, they said everything they have done had magic involved. I had to fuse my magic into the potions while brewing the ingredients together.” She explained. “It was a very precise procedure. I practiced for months before attempting it.”

“What happened when you did?” Flare asked.

“The first couple times were successful. But the 3rd one I made with magic something went wrong. I rushed it, causing an explosion that knocked me into the wall. The explosion focused more upwards then anything so the upper levels in the house shattered and crumbled. I was hurt, but I knew I had to get out of there.” She explained.

“The house was on fire and the explosion destroyed most of its support; you had no time to waste before the house came down on top of you.” Flare commented.

“Yes, the fire eating away at whatever was left holding up the house. I was shaken, barely able to stand. I was able to limp my way out from under the house through the cellar door… I barely escaped alive that is.” Clouded stated.

“Was it locked or something?”

“No, but I was able to get about 10 hoofsteps away before the house slowly began to fall inwards, my parents still inside.” Clouded took a moment to think.

“The house fell.” Flare said as he imagined how she must have felt. Knowing her family was inside, just died before her eyes. He knew how it felt.

“It did. As it collapsed, I too fell to the ground. My senses started fading, I only remember thinking about how my mother and father needed help, but I couldn’t move to help them. I blacked out, everything becoming numb.” Clouded paused, trying to remember any more detail, but she couldn’t. “I woke up later in the nearest hospital. Bandages covered a good portion of my body.”

“You almost died yourself. All of this because you never wanted to see anypony around you hurt.” Flare commented.

“I wish I hadn’t. Now everypony I loved is dead.” Clouded admitted.

“But yet you are a master at healing magic.” Flare said. “You continued to study healing ways. Most would quit afterwards, so didn’t you?”

“I had nothing more to lose.” She answered. “I worked so hard at it, and it cost me so much. If I were to just drop it, I would have no reason to be alive.”

“I see…” Flare thought for a moment, taking in all of what he had just heard. Clouded acted strong, but he could easily see she was at the brink of crying the entire time. Flare knew that. “You continued studying healing methods and such, but my question is, how come you can heal using magic while everypony in the hospital cannot?”

“As I said, this kind of healing is precise. Any imperfection in casting the spell and the results could either be completely the opposite effect or can directly kill the one who you’re trying to heal.” She explained again. “It was outlawed for that reason. The reason I can do it with ease is the amount of time I’ve studied it for so long, first working with potions even. It’s true, magic took some adjusting to, but once you understand it, you’ve only got to work on how much magic is getting casted what way.”

“It would probably be easier to explain this to a unicorn. I don’t know the first about magic casting and such.” Flare said. “But you never really answered my question. You explained the magic part, but not how you got there. How do you know it can kill somepony?”

Clouded looked away, not wanting to answer. “Medical science has a dark history. Go back far enough and with some experiments on smaller animals, you can learn a lot.”

“You tested on small creatures?” He asked, surprised at that fact.

“Science has never been pretty. But I wasn’t going to use full grown ponies. I did it for the better.”

“I know, it just seems…” Flare began

“So wrong?” Clouded finished. “I understand how you feel. I didn’t like testing on innocent creatures, but the end result was worth it. Each failure was another step to success.” Flare thought about what she had said, comparing it to himself.

Every failure was another step to success… I won’t argue on that. “I see. This is why you chance getting in serious trouble. You just don’t want anypony hurt around you anymore.” Flare said. “At the party, I never had been to the hospital and you could easily see that. So you took it into your own hooves to fix me up. Now, I randomly appear with a young filly that’s hurt. It definitely flew some red flags. You were trying to protect her and I thank you for that, but please trust me.”

Clouded looked at Flare. The whole reason Flare had been here. Both were trying to defend Scootaloo, but in completely different ways.

“I trust you enough to be careful with her, if you answer one question.” Clouded said.

“Ask away.” Flare said, prepared to answer about anything.

“Where were her parents that entire night?” She asked. Flare’s heart skipped a beat. Her parents… He thought of many reasons on why they could be away, the only problem was that he wouldn’t be able to lie to her anymore.

“They are gone. She doesn’t know where they are and neither do I. That is why I was with her, of course I didn’t know that until after we left. She broke down and told me everything.” Flare answered honestly. He knew he shouldn’t tell, but it was the only thing he felt okay with telling Clouded.

“I see…” Clouded said, seemingly going into a world of pure thought.

“Look, Clouded, please don’t tell anypony.” Flare began to beg, his head hung and his hooves raised together. “Please Clouded, I’d rather you report me than to make her uncomfortable.” He was powerless, everything now depended on Clouded.

“I trust you to take care of her. I won’t report her nor you. You both seem to have a good understanding of what to do.” Clouded said. “Not telling anypony else would be the first thing for you to learn though, Flare.”

“Trust me, I didn’t and don’t plan to. But I had to now… for her.” Flare stated.

“Yes. I forced you into telling me. Don’t let anypony do that to you in the future.” Clouded warned.

“I won’t, I promise.” Flare said then glanced around the room. He saw the sandwiches Clouded had prepared. What a waste… He thought and chuckled a bit.

“What?” Clouded asked.

“We didn’t eat really at all.” Flare pointed out. Clouded looked and smiled.

“No, we were too busy with other matters. Do you even want yours still? I was never really hungry in the first place.” Clouded asked.

Flare’s eyes widened. Arrow… he kinda asked me to get him some food… “So you aren’t gonna eat yours?”

“I’ll probably save it, why?” Clouded asked.

“If you don’t really want it… Maybe I could get it in a bag, for Arrow.” Flare said innocently. Clouded just shook her head and trotted out. Returning from the kitchen with a bag, she put both hers and Flare’s sandwich in the bag and hoofed it to Flare.

“There, you had better not keep him waiting too long.” Flare took the bag in his mouth and nodded.

“Thanks Clouded.” Flare managed to say. They walked to the door, Clouded opening it for Flare. Flare walked out and looked back for a moment. Clouded smiled slyly.

“Have fun at school Flare.” She said and waved. Flare was confused and just stood there looking at her. “I just wanted to see how it felt to say that. Goodbye Flare.” She said and waved. Flare waved back before Clouded closed the door.

Alright, back to Arrow.