1_13

Digital_Hex- - - - - - - -A fan-fiction by Digital_Hex

Chapter 13

        The silence that hung in the room frightened me. All of their eyes were on me, full of shock that I'd been listening in on them. None of them wanted to say the first word.

        Mrs. Dread, Mr. Rash and some pony I didn't recognize were all sitting down around a conference table, all three of them had news that I needed to know.

        “What happened to him!” I demanded.

        “Digital Hex-” Mr. Rash started, but I stomped my hoof, a large beat of bass crumpling the floor beneath it.

        “WHAT HAPPENED!”

        “Your dad, he...” Mrs. Dread began, “he was working on something, we assume, and there was an... accident. Your house exploded in a rather... violent fashion. Your dad is in the hospital.”

        “When... when was this?” I asked, head starting to swim. A few minutes ago, everything had been fine. Now, my dad was injured, in the hospital? Our house, gone?

        “About an hour ago, we just received the confirmation it was your dad.”

        “Confirmation? Why-”

        “I was nearby when it happened,” Mr. Rash said, standing up to reveal a few burn marks on his hide. “I rushed him to the hospital, he was intent on letting you know that he was fine, but...”

        “But what?” I asked him, on the verge of bursting into waterworks. Today had been a very emotional day for me.

        “He's not in the best condition...” he trailed off, receiving disapproving glares from the other two ponies.

        “You'd best watch your tongue,” the mare I didn't recognize scolded Mr. Rash. “While what you did was noble, the boy doesn't need to be hearing such negative things. I'm positive his father will be fine.”

        I think it was the fact she was talking about me in third person that set me off. It might have been the fact that she just assumed I was going to be fine.

        All I know is that I flipped shit.

        Next thing I knew, I was waking up in the nurse's office.

        I groaned, rubbing my head. I had a huge bump on the side of it. Looking round, I saw that the day was starting to turn to night.

        “I see you are awake,” the school nurse said. She trotted in, levitating a clipboard in front of her.

        “You think you can make it without knocking yourself out this time?”

        She worded it like a joke, but her face was anything but. I nodded.

        “Mrs. Dread will escort you to the hospital now.”

        Slowly, I picked myself out of the cot and out the door, meeting with Mrs. Dread. Together, we walked in silence out the door and towards the hospital. When we arrived, I was told to sit in the waiting room. The attendant even had the kindness in her heart to alert me that there was a kid's play room just down the hall, but I didn't have the heart to call her out on it. I was on auto-pilot.

        Ten minutes later, we were being led to my dad's room by a nurse.

        “And this is Mister Hoof's room,” she said, opening the door with her magic for us.

        “Thank you,” Mrs. Dread said while I just nodded.

        We trotted in, and there he was. Hammer Hoof, in all his glory: strung to IV's and wrapped up like a mummy.

        I lost it then. I cried. Rushing over to my dad, I shoved my face into the sheets covering him and cried.

        I must have been like that for... a while. After a time, Mrs. Dread managed to call me over.

        “His vitals aren't looking too bad, actually,” she informed me as she looked over a clipboard the nurses had left at the edge of his bed. “A lot of third-degree burns, but he was brought here fast enough that they didn't go any further than that. Shock would have likely gotten him, but- no, looks like he stabilized rather well.”

        Mrs. Dread let out a long breath of relief. “He's tough,” she chuckled dryly.

        “Yeah,” I sniffled, rubbing my head against my dad's side. He was asleep, probably from all of the stuff they were pumping into him.

        “He's going to make it,” Mrs. Dread assured me.

        A nurse appeared at the doorway. “I'm sorry, but visitor hours are closing. You have five minutes, then I'm going to have to ask you to please leave,” she said in a calm voice.

        “Thank you,” Mrs. Dread said, then turned back to me. She didn't say anything. She didn't have to.

        Reluctantly, I stepped away, wiping tears from my eyes.

        How could all of this have happened? It was a rhetorical question, of course. He was an inventor, it was a matter of time until something he was making blew up in his face, literally. But... why today, of all days?

        I trotted out of the hospital silently. It was a little after seven as we ended up in front of the town hall.

        “So now comes the difficult part,” Mrs. Dread said.

        “What,” was my quiet response.

        “Where you will stay. Your house is destroyed beyond use, and seeing as you have no other relatives in Ponyville...”

        I sighed. What was going to happen now?

        “I... I-” I began, but I was cut off. Who might have cut me off?

        “Hex! We've been looking all over for you!”

        I turned to see Raindrops charging towards me through the sky, skidding to a halt right next to me.

        “Woah, you don't look too good. You alright?”

        “Raindrops, what a... surprise,” Mrs. Dread said.

        “What happened?” Raindrops dead-panned. I wanted to tell her to get lost, to vent to the incredibly annoying mare, but...

        “My dad's in the hospital, house is destroyed.”

        Raindrops gasped in surprise. “Wha- wait- when did- OHMYGOSH!”

        Suddenly I was swept up in a tight embrace by Raindrops, crushing all of the oxygen from my lungs.

        “I'm so sorry! Is he alright?!”

        “He's... good. At the moment.” I choked out.

        “Raindrops, I think you should probably let go...” Mrs. Dread informed her.

        Raindrops slowly let her grip around me slack a little bit until I could just barely breath. Just barely.

        “Why are you here, then?!” Raindrops challenged Mrs. Dread, pointing at the town hall.

        “He has nopony to care for him, nor a house to live in, so-” Mrs. Dread suddenly paused, shifting tactics, “actually young lady, that is not of your concern!”

        “Yea-huuuh!” Raindrops argued. “I'm his friend, I can help!” she insisted.

        “What could you possibly-” Mrs. Dread started, but Raindrops shook me around like a ragdoll as she argued back.

        “He could stay with me until his dad's better!”

        Mrs. Dread cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me? You expect me to allow that?”

        “Yes!” Raindrops said confidently, staring Mrs. Dread down. Finally, after a couple minutes, Mrs. Dread backed down.

        “Fine. I've learned better than to argue with you for long. Just... no funny business, you hear?”

        Raindrops shook her head violently.

        “I promise. No funny business.”