As I walked up the stairs to the second floor of the farm house with Applebloom upon my back as it rained outside I thought over what had happened today. Got a surprise visit from Merthyr were I finally met Twilight, got into a fight with six extremely tough bodyguards, nearly gave Merthyr to an enraged Fluttershy but finally got him to forgive me for letting Twilight learn about his porn, found out Merthyr is way more paranoid and insane than I thought, and now I'm at Sweet Apple Acres taking Applebloom up to her bed after my failed attempt at cooking a home meal. This was quite a good day too bad for me it was going to get a little extension since the universal powers just loved to mess with me. Though I was unaware of this as I slowly put Applebloom into her bed and tucked her in before leaving the room and heading for my own bed. Looking forward to a good nights sleep and a more calm tomorrow. As I entered the guest room and shut the door I laid my armour and Zapada on to my dresser along with my vest and pocket watch onto the bedside table. As I drifted off to sleep only one thought danced through my mind.

[I wonder if Merthyr would lend me his swords and show me how to use them if I ever Asked?] And with that I drifted off to sleep with thoughts of sword fights and pirates for some reason. Man my mind is weird.

"Bunnies are cute!" I screamed as I awoke only to wonder why I was dreaming of pirate bunnies till I heard a sound from outside not caused by the storm. A sound that while faint was obviously not caused by a storm at all. As I quickly jumped from my bed pulling on my glasses, cloths, watch, armour, and Zapada before leaving my room to check up on Applebloom. As I trotted down the hallway I saw that Applebloom’s door was ajar and after I rushed over and looked inside I saw no sign of the little filly at al. At this I began to panic slightly my already frayed nerves bringing thoughts better left unmentioned to the front of my mind. I immediately rushed outside and into the storm flying just below the trees as fast as possible in the direction I thought I heard the sound come from. As I flew through the trees only one thought flashed across my panicking mind.

[Please be safe, Please be safe. Please be safe.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Red-->Applebloom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Thunder, freezing, monster, lost, darkness, fire, rain, Scoots.] These were the thoughts that rushed through my mind as I stood with Scootaloo as we huddled together under a tree somewhere in the apple orchards. I had come outside when the rain had started after hearing Scootaloo from below. We had planned to go get Sweetie Belle and try to get our storm watching cutie marks. We had gotten lost in the orchards as we went on our way and then the thunder had started and the rain started coming down in buckets then, as we thought nothing could get worse, we saw something moving in the distance heading our way. Even though it was only visible occasionally it still plagued our minds constantly and we had decided to try to hide in a hollow at a tree's base.As the figure countinued to come closer Scootaloo nudged me and pointed up the tree with her hoof and began to climb into its higher branches. I quickly followed hopping the thing wouldn’t find us. As the creature came into focus me and Scootaloo were already in the topmost branches and what I saw nearly made me lose my grip as a flash a light prevented me from getting a second look at the thing as it jumped to us at speeds that even Rainbow could never hope to ever reach only one thought went through my mind.

[Is that a pocket watch?]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Applebloom-->Red~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I blindly flew through the orchard with the same thought repeating over and over in my mind. Which was almost deadly as while I rushed I barely noticed a small speck of purple off in the distance that immediately disappeared again but I had seen it and there was only one thing that color that would be anywhere near Sweet Apple Acres, Scootaloo. As I redoubled my efforts heading there at just over 50 knots, the fastest speed I’ve ever gone in real life, against a massive head wind that nearly ended me a couple of times. As I finally reached the spot where I saw the glimmer of purple I saw Scootaloo and Applebloom in a tree but then something terrible happened. The smell of ozone began to fill the air, my coat and mane began to float up slightly, and it hit me, lightning strikes after those signs. And it always aims for the highest conductor, usually a lightning rod atop a house or some daring animal, but in this case that conductor was the two little fillies in front of me. As this hit me I immediately launched forward stretching every muscle, every tendon, all my strength, skill, and magic into simyone goal. To go as fast as possible, to literally race lightning and kick its ass, and I wn’

t oing to lose just at the last moment as I flashed forward my pocket watch flew from my pocket flashing in the light as I reached the fills and popped open with the lightning streaking towards its inner flap just as I came close enough sending thousands of volts to me and sending me careening into the tree in front of me as I slipped into darkness as only one thought passed through my mind.

[They’re safe, they're safe, they’re...safe...]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Red-->Scootaloo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no!” I yelled to myself as Red and Applebloom fell from the tree,both unconscious and the only difference being that Red had a slight full body charing. As I watched them fall through the tree only one thought entered my mind.

[...Fuck my life.] As I quickly hopped down the branches trying to remember what Merthyr had taught me about first aid. Sadly nothing was close to what happened he might teach me about bloo, gits, bone shatterings, and all that but nothing yet about trauma or electricity so I was on my own there. [Well can’t do fist id so what else? First off I need to see if they’re dead or not, no point risking the living for the remains even if it does feel weird to say that I gotta follow rules. Secondly if no ponies dead asses if they are close to death and if they are safe to move or not. Thirdly I need to check to see if there’s any form of predators or anything that could attack us, can’t help if you’re dead yourself. Finally I need to get them somewhere where there’s somepony who can help.] Going over the basic outline of what to do that my dad had drilled into my mind I quickly followed all the steps and was relieved to learn that they were okay for the most part and seemed stable more or less, no predators were nearby and they didn't seem to be at risk of moving. Now all I had to do was move them...now which way do I go? As I thought this over I continued to look over Red and Applebloom for any injury I might of missed earlier and find the best way to drag them cause while having a direction is good, being unable to move towards that direction makes it worthless. And then it hit me.

[Which way did Red come from?] And with that I had my direction. [Now how do I drag them there?] As the thought hit me I face hoofed at the fact that I had already messed up and found my direction before how to carry them. All  had with me was my scooter and the crusader cape Sweetie Belle had made for me. As I tried to think of what to do I remembered something, there’s a small wagon over at the farm that was meant for Applebloom whenever she wanted to help with the apple bucking. If I were to go get it I could strap it onto my scooter and get them out of here faster but then I’d have to leave them as well. Meh, Dad always said take calculated risks and that applies here. So I immediately grabbed my scooter and rushed towards where Red had come from, praying nothing bad would happen, all the while wondering only one thing.

[Why does not freak me out as much as it should?]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Transition/Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I finally returned to Red and Applebloom, the small cart in tow, I was surprised to see that Red had seemingly unconsciously opened his wing so that it covered Applebloom. The fact that he did that out of reflex though proved he at least had some mental capacity at least so that was heartening news. I quickly dragged them up into the cart, wondering how Red weighed so damn much, I realized that Red was still wearing his armour though the full body charing had made it hard to see it was still recognizable.

[At least now I know why he’s so damn heavy.] I thought to myself as I dragged Red’s body up into the cart, Applebloom still wrapped under his wing somehow, and quickly set to work towing him and Applebloom away. As I zoomed through the woods barely dodging trees and ruts in the ground, hopping my sense of direction wouldn’t fail me since I could barely see five feet away and so, by extension, had no way to tell in the monotone orchard where I was or going, with rain shooting into my eyes as I went at speeds that I barely believe I could have ever reached if I wasn’t so worried about the safety of my friends and pumping with so much adrenaline. Hell I was flapping my wingsso hard that ifI hadn’t been gripping my scooter so hard I’d have probably flown for once, training or not, I don’t think being earthbound would have been possible if I wasn’t holding my scooter in a death grip as I raced to wherever Red had come from. Praying that he had come straight to us and not taken some damn criss cross search pattern.I was basically banking on his inexperience which would cause him to hopefully be rash and just head straight out instead of searching correctly. Which, to my everlasting thanks, was a bet not wasted as I emerged from the orchard into the clearing around the farmhouse, the road into town clearly noticeable off to my right. I immediately shot off the path deciding the only place to go to would be the hospital.By now I was shivering and could barely feel my wings or hooves, my speed dreching me in freezing rain and forming a sort of bubble or the cart keeping Red and Applebloom dry for the mot part. I knew the feelings of the early stages of hypothermia from experience but I shove the pain into a corner of my mind for lter and shut the voice in my head screaming in my head to stop and get under cover. If I’ve learned anything about character from my dad it’s that you always view the lives of others above your own, even if he didn’t like how I had ended up believing in the same things as he did he knew how I was and let it slide. Besides, as the phrase goes, “The bridge of history is held above the sea of chaos, death, insanity, and all the refuse of the mind. Only by the thin pillars of self sacrifice, and the spidery arcs of tolerance forged in the single fire of loss fueled by the few rare martyrs of the past.”. And being a martyr is something that dad could never object to even to his own daughter.

[url= www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-4wUfZD6oc ]Play this if you dare risk it.[/url]

As I continued on my way ignoring the numbness that was slowly reaching towards my chest until I could no longer feel my wings, forelegs, and hind legs as I refused to stop as I began to made of fire but still I kept going. I went faster and faster refusing to stop as my body felt as though covered in boiling tar and pitch while being hammered upon constantly by small balls of lava causing such strong delusions of heat that the earlier below zero feeling seemed like a far off paradise from the tormenting hell fire that consumed me as all thought soon left my mind all except one thing remained among the thousand of voices screaming out in pure agony as hell fire consumed them turning them to ashes but they then simply continued to scream out in horrendous mind shattering voices of pain and misery. Only one though refuse to go and leave me in peace, a thought that kept me awake and forced me to experience this hell on earth.

[Must save them.] And with that I was suddenly blinded, as my ears were assaulted by sounds I could not define, as shapes moved that I could not make out, as a wall came into view and hit me with  force I could no longer feel, as a thought that had drove me so farr and through so much could not be heard, and as a new thought replaced it before finally allowing me to seep into my agony and let it all end and lose all my grip upon the world.

[They’re safe.] And then I was gone and into the oblivion called nothing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scootaloo-->Nurse Red Heart~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Bloody hell.] Red Heart thought to herself as she collapsed onto the couch on the far wall in the small on call room situated on a hallway connecting the front desk with the E.R., as she slipped into a slightly british tilt as she always did whenever she felt her job was getting the better of her to try to calm herself with how unfitting it sounded with her voice, but for once, its signature clash of wording and voice had no effect on her sullen mood. Not three hours ago Scootaloo had crashed into the front office suffering extreme hypothermia with a cart filled with her son Red and Applebloom who were both suffering from high voltage shock resulting in extreme muscle cramps which made some parts of them stiff as a board and was putting a overly large amount of stress on the muscles causing some to tear, let alone how this would later on affect their nerves and if they could ever be able to regain perfect muscle coordination with how many nerves were damaged, was something Red Heart did not want to think about. Of course they would at least live, Scootaloo on the other hoof didn’t look like she had the chances of anypony she’d seen that wasn’t already on their deathbeds, hell, some of those ponies probably had better chances of jumping up and perfectly start singing opera than the little filly had of ever lasting through the night, and that’s what was causing her sullen mood. While Red was her son and Applebloom was lie a niece almost she knew that they would at least live so to her they were fine for the most part, when you work at a hospital long enough anything can seem better than death, and even the death doesn’t seem to affect you much after awhile. All jobs had unexpected perks. A hospital taught you was t find the silver linings in deaths and try to move on not worse for the wear, that is until somepony you care about is the one dying in your hooves. Then it becomes a different ball game altogether. Being as of how Merthyr was never able to live with Scootaloo he usually had her stay with some relatives but he was as close to Red as a twin and considered Red and all his relatives to be his own blood so some were surprised when they learned I was one of the “relatives” who kept an eye on Scootaloo while he tried to raise money for a house. So it doesn’t need to be said me and Scootaloo were close, she was like my own daughter of sorts and seeing her like that tore my heart out and to the devil went the remains of it as it was shredded and lit aflame. And the worse part was that I couldn’t do anything for her, I couldn’t give her a blood transfusion since she wasn’t suffering blood loss, it was summer so there was few medicines for hypothermia about since the shipments weren't scheduled for another two months, and of course having Red use his healing magic was completely out of the question. So as I laid there, my muzzle buried deep in the couch cushions, legs flayed all around me, and unshed tears of frustration, pain, sorrow, and fear just barely held back by clenched eyelids I did the only thing I could to try and help stop the torment of my mind. I drifted off into a shallow dreamless sleeps with hopes of a better tomorrow, a tomorrow in which a little orange coated filly with a purple mane and tail would be hopefully alive to see.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~12 hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Nurse Red Heart-->Red Cross~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“TOFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I screamed aloud as I awoke om  nightmare involving, Pinkie Pie, what appears to be a rape dungeon, Celestia, Killjoy, a party cannon, pie, and rainbow colored tofu. Oh and also a green pegasi that kept flying around the air drinking coffee while constantly repeating the word “Nyan.” through the whole damn thing. That was some scary ass shit. But just as I was about to try to figure out what the fuck just happened my body suddenly folded in upon itself as my muscles stopped listening to my commands and crushed my body into positions that only Blossomforth had ever reached without some form of muscle relaxer, least to say, it felt like I tore myself a new anus and then all those reactions brought up pains that I didn’t remember ever causing and further contorted my body increasingly making my body feel like it was in the center of the fucking sun. Luckily for me a nurse had been on standby in my room and immediately injected my body with some nerve dampeners and muscle relaxers. I knew it wasn’t painkillers cause while my body went numb my head remained clear and sharp from the sudden pain that had jolted it awake. As I layed flat trying not to cause another movement owing whatever that caused the pain would only get worse whether I could feel the pn or not. As soon as I inched my body to a comfortable position I turned to the nurse who immediately cut off me of as I opened my mouth.

“Hello Red long time no see eh?” The male nurse said as I finally got a good look at him and remembered his name, it was Steady Blue He was one of the best ponies at calming down patients and had a lot of strength in case force was needed to subdue any patients. “Well here’s the short of the tale for ya. you were hit by lightning and crashed directly into a tree, Applebloom told u you were trying to protect them but when you got close enough A bit of the lightning arced to her but she’s fine for the most part. She’s in better condition by you at least. After that we can only guess at what happened and it seems like after you two fainted Scootaloo went and got a wagon from the Apple family farm and lugged you two back here as though the gates of Tartarus and opened and the devil nd she had spit in his face just beforehand. When she arrived she was barely alive and the fact that she was conscious is unbelievable. She’s currently in the E.R. been there for just over 15 hours, she was experiencing extremely advanced hypothermia when she first came in. Whether she lives or not is uncertain but the truth is you’ll be more likely to go to Canterlot and get a one night stand with Fleur De Lis than see that filly survive the next 12 hours, little girls held in there though we’ve had some close calls but she’s sticking to the pale for now so we can’t be certain.” And like that I was speechless, not by the injuries though but the fact that Scootaloo had done all that. I meen with the injuries we’ve suffered I’ll be able to get us up in a couple hours when my wings start working again that is. It was the fact that Scootaloo had done that that left me speechless and or good reason. Even I would’ve fainted from hypothermia on the way here under those conditions and we’d all be dead yet one little filly had done all that and was still alive and would soon be up to top conditions after my wings were usable again. Before I could get over my shock and say anything Steady cut me off yet again.

“Merthyr showed up around eleven hours ago when we were finally able to spare somepony to go tell him. He’s been running back and forth between yours and Scootaloo’s rooms till that other pony with him stuck him in Scootaloos room and told him she’d watch you.” At this I was surprised that Merthyr had actually valued me as highly as he did his daughter to the point where he couldn’t decide where to stay. Though he probably hadn’t heard anything when the hospital staff told him of our conditions and assumed me and Scootaloo were both at the same risk level. “She just left for a second to make Merthyr eat something, Damn guy wouldn’t stop sitting there holding Scootaloo’s hoof. Didn’t shed a damn tear, he’s one good actor or a pretty tough father. Anyway Applebloom is currently asleep along with Scootaloo and your mom, poor dear was nearly bawling her eyes out so Cold stone put her into a longer sleep to help her calm down hopefully. Also I was asked by Red Heart to give you this if you woke up before her.” He continued as he opened a manila folder and planted it in front of me.

“I already know what’s in that folder since I was the one who was in charge of the procedure but only Red Heart and Fluttershy know what’s in there as well. So know this, Merthyr has no clue about what I’m giving you right now when you’re done reading it just through it in the hazmat bin. It’ only a copy and so it doesn’t need to be saved.” And with that he left me alone with the folder which I had yet to look at, I contemplated just throwing it into the hazmat bin, it was actually a shoot that led straight to the incinerator meant for heating the wing of the hospital it was located at. But quickly hushed the thought. This somehow related to Merthyr and even if I didn’t want to read it if for his sake than for nothing else. This was a decision I was to soon look at with disdain, joy, hatred, but most of all a calm sense of something that had to happen, so as my eyes looked down and analyzed what the papr in front of me said and my jaw dropped right at the first line, I knew why this was a secret so well kept for at the top of the page it said.

NAME: Scootaloo.G.Pyrho

Genetic-Mother: Fluttershy.T.Lilthuiam

Genetic-Father:Red.Crossed.Hearts

Named-Father: Merthyr.L.Pyrho

“Holy shit...” Was all I could say before I fainted from what I saw. I was a father to my best friends daughter who is the daughter of the pony who has hated me all my life. And I don’t know how any of this could have happened. Next Chapter: Of Daughters And Unexpected “Assistance”. Estimated time remaining: 9 Minutes