William stared around the hospital room in disdain; the painfully white color was nearly stinging his eyes, and the pungent smell of disinfectant affected his nostrils in a similar manner.

Loneliness was something that William was accustomed to.

He sometimes likened it to a rat; a large, vicious black thing with nasty incisors that gnawed at him when he least expected it to. It was a feeling that he disliked with a passion, and one that had mysteriously become something that William had slowly begun to hate even more in the past few weeks. It was that pale shadow in his mind, that slim fear and doubt that crept in only when he was completely and utterly alone. So, it was mildly perturbing when the same feeling slowly arose in him more frequently, no matter who was around. It was almost as if he had no way of combatting it any longer, as if he would be devoured by an invisible beast and his every endeavor to avoid it would end in futility.

With that grim bit of imagery in mind, William clasped his hands across his stomach and exhaled heavily again, staring up at the ceiling as he clung to his journal.

“Would it help if I said I was sorry?” Scootaloo rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

“Unless your words can mend broken bones,” William retorted blandly. “I sincerely doubt that it would serve as much more than a form of emotional compensation.”

“Oh, come on, Will…” Sweetie Belle shifted uncomfortably as she sat next to Scootaloo. “You know she didn’t do it on purpose. Right, Scoots?”

Scootaloo said nothing.

“Right, Scoots?”

“Of course not, of course not,” Scootaloo snickered playfully. She eyed her own name badly scribbled on his cast, and turning away from his propped up leg, quickly asked “So, when can you come out again?”

Sweetie Belle calmly slapped her in the back of the head.

“Ow! What, what did I say?”

William resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose at their antics, his mind wandering. He didn’t mind them, though, to be honest. It had been quite a while since Rainbow Dash had left with the unsettlingly familiar orthopedist, and he couldn’t quite place his finger on where he’d seen him or why it disturbed him so.

“Wi~ill,” Scootaloo nudged him again. “You’re going all creepy-quiet again.”

He nodded distractedly, and cleared his throat.

“I apologize,” William rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “My mind was… elsewhere.”

Sweetie Belle glowered suddenly, shifting in her seat.

“You shouldn’t be the one apologizing,” she frowned, only for Scootaloo to hang her head.

“Is Apple Bloom not coming?” William asked suddenly with a false interest, looking about the room as if she were hiding in plain sight.

“She had farm chores to do,” Scootaloo perked up helpfully. “You know, this time of the morning and all.”

“Ugh, what a shocker.”

William flinched at the sound of Diamond Tiara’s voice, the scowling filly standing in the hospital room’s doorway. He then frantically began searching around the bed for a panic button that wasn’t there.

“Really,” she flipped her mane and allowed herself into the brightly lit windowless room. “Is it such a surprise that the Apple family relies on foal labor just to scrape by?”

“Nopony wants to put up with you, Tiara,” Scootaloo spat angrily, her wings flaring as she stood. Sweetie Belle corralled her back with a single hoof, unwilling to provoke a fight.

“So… what are you doing here, Diamond Tiara?” Sweetie Belle strained to sound polite, although it was obvious that she was put off by the filly’s foul expression.

“None of your business.” Diamond Tiara frowned even more deeply, looking over to the panicked boy. “If I want to see William, I’m going to see William.”

“How did you even know we’d be here?” Scootaloo scowled suspiciously, pacing back and forth before her like a nearly rabid dog, leaving William struggling to find a way to drag himself out of the bed without injuring his propped up leg.

“None – of – your – business,” Tiara seethed again, sidling calmly beside the now sweating William. “And as for you,” she placed a hoof calmly on his cast. “Aren’t you even going to say hello?”

“H-hello, Miss Tiara.”

“See?” she smirked at the frustrated pegasus. “He has no problem with a good friend visiting. Isn’t that right, William?”

“I loathe you with every fiber of my beahhhh!”

He jerked in agony as white hot splinters of pain rippled up his leg from the place Diamond Tiara pushed down, his stomach churning violently from the intensity of it.

“Cut that out!” Scootaloo slapped her hoof away, to which Diamond Tiara only smirked again and rolled her eyes.

“Oh, please. I’m just having a little fun with him.”

“Not – fun…!” William seethed through clenched teeth, his hands still shaking as he clamped them over his cast protectively.

Even Sweetie Belle began trying to edge forward and move the filly out of the room without getting physical.

“They’re right, Tiara,” the unicorn narrowed her eyes dangerously. “I don’t care what you’re going through, that was out of line.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she refused to give ground, flipping her mane in an almost antagonistic manner.

“She’s just being a bully because she’s all torn up about Silver Spoon,” Scootaloo stated quietly, and was surprised when Diamond Tiara scoffed.

“Oh. Yeah. Her,” she rolled her eyes again. “Yeah, she’s gone.”

“Gee,” Scootaloo deadpanned. “You sound like you miss her just so much.”

“Oh, hey,” William piped up suddenly, desperate enough to climb out of the bed and drag himself away from the ensuing storm. “I-I think I heard Miss Dash…”

“So?” Tiara sneered. “You’re just jealous because you aren’t my friend.”

“You’re bonkers!” the pegasus butted heads with her, and Sweetie Belle began prancing back and forth as if she weren’t certain whether or not it would be best to intervene. “As if I’d ever be jealous of a snot-head like you!”

“You should be, it’s not like you have any way to compete!” Diamond Tiara shot back haughtily.

“Nopony has to compete with you!” Scootaloo shoved her angrily.

“Not just because they’d lose,” Tiara sneered. “You’re just a little brat since your parents left you because you’re an embarrassment as a pegasus!”

Sweetie Belle was thoroughly surprised that Scootaloo hadn’t attempted to ram the simpering filly into the wall at that, but she was even more surprised by the sudden change that had come over her friend.

“I’ll bet Silver Spoon killed herself just because she didn’t want to listen to you anymore.”

Diamond Tiara opened and closed her mouth, but couldn’t quite seem to speak. She slowly but surely lost her arrogant, overconfident aura that had been slowly building. Before they knew it, her features closely resembled that of a horrified fish, for as often as she was silently moving her mouth.

“… She-she – you’re lying,” Diamond Tiara took a single step backwards, suddenly unsure of herself.

“It might’ve been that way,” Sweetie Belle shook her head slowly. “The suicide thing, I mean. I-I mean, well… she tried it before, it might have been what-what it was this time… and…” she trailed off eventually, the guilt-stricken pang of inner torment leaking onto Diamond Tiara’s face.

“… Suicide.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said quietly. “We think so.”

Slowly, ever so slowly, Diamond Tiara turned her wide eyes toward William, who was currently in the process of trying to slip out of the bed without hurting himself. One arm and leg dangled precariously over the edge, and he gripped the bed tightly as her icy, expressionless gaze landed on him.

“… You knew.”

“… Sorry?” William asked, freezing in place.

“You knew,” Diamond Tiara’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head as her rage swelled. “You knew, you knew what she tried!? You knew she tried to do it the first time, you knew and you didn’t tell anypony!?”

It was William’s turn to gawk and stutter, and Scootaloo’s and Sweetie Belle’s eyes were locked on him.

“You knew!” the filly shrieked hatefully as tears slowly started trickling down her face. “You knew, you knew you son of a BITCH!”

And with that, Diamond Tiara launched herself between the fillies and began mercilessly pummeling William. He toppled to the floor when the second blow struck, vainly covering his face by the fourth, and by the time the seventh landed on his injured leg he was already in too much pain to realize it when Diamond Tiara was finally tackled by the other two. He was lost in a flurry of pain, shouting and desperate scrabbling for escape before a pair of large hooves roughly jerked him from the fray.

“What in the name of Celestia is going on in here?!” Pinkie Pie bellowed, carefully replacing the silently shaking boy onto the hospital bed as Rarity magically separated the other three. They each levitated sluggishly in the air in the mortified unicorn’s telekinetic grasp, and Scootaloo seemed to have a black eye.

Diamond Tiara, of course, eloquently replied with a violent, ear piercingly loud scream of pain and anger.

“Oh. Oh. Oh, um. Oh,” Sweetie Belle stared shamefacedly with wide eyes at her elder sister’s disapproving glare.

“Diamond Tiara frickin’ mauled Will,” Scootaloo spat, wiping her lip.

Rarity promptly dropped both Sweetie and Scootaloo, dumping them both unceremoniously on the floor.

“What in the world – no, I don’t want to hear it!” Rarity dragged the vehement Diamond Tiara out the door. “Out, out, out! Where are your parents, young lady!?”

Pinkie Pie simply stood in confusion and shock, looking back and forth to the slowly dwindling incoherent wails of Diamond Tiara and back at the other three.

“… Okay, what did I miss?” Pinkie blinked slowly, letting out a long breath.

Scootaloo crawled onto the bed next to the shaking William, and calmly said “Diamond Tiara started picking fights.”

“… Why?” she stared incredulously. Pinkie Pie seemed horrified, and kept looking between the three of them. Sweetie Belle guiltily looked away from her each time, her cheeks red as she stared at the floor.

“She’s kinda sore about Silver Spoon,” Scootaloo explained, and Pinkie Pie sadly shook her head. “She tried taking it out on Will. Now, she’s really sore,” she snickered.

“That-that isn’t funny,” Pinkie Pie started, only to be cut off by William.

“Is Mother coming back?” he wiped his eyes quickly, leaning slightly to peer out the open door. “She – I thought that she’d be back.”

“Dashie is-” Pinkie began, but bit her lip. “Actually, she is taking a while. Don’t worry too much,” she patted William on the head, and he winced when she carefully inspected his black eye. Pinkie took a sharp intake of breath when he cringed, and added “Dashie probably won’t be too much longer. I’m going to head over to the cafeteria and bring back some ice, ‘kay?”

He only nodded along with the other two, and they sat in silence for a while as Pinkie Pie left. William couldn’t help but notice the quiet latch of the door’s outside lock as she left, though. It was apparent that she didn’t look forward to any more unexpected fights.

“… Huh,” Scootaloo rubbed the side of her head tenderly, and pointed at William’s face. “Now we’re twins!”

“What?” he blanched, and she pointed at her black eye as she grinned.

“See?” she showed it to Sweetie Belle. “Battle scars! I can’t wait to show Apple B-”

“Is it true?” Sweetie interrupted, turning to William slowly. “Did-did you really know what-what Silver Spoon tried, and then didn’t tell anypony?”

William could have sworn that he felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. He felt as if he were going to be sick again, and from the look that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were giving him, William gladly would have traded a hundred more kicks and punches from Diamond Tiara rather than endure that look any longer.

“I-I didn’t think…” William stuttered, wringing his hands quietly. “I-I didn’t think that she would do it ag-again, I-I mean, I thought… I thought I fixed her…!” he gripped his fingers frantically, head whipping painfully back and forth. “I-I was so sure, I thought – I thought I fixed her-!”

He choked suddenly, unable to look at either of them any longer. William silently wished that Pinkie Pie would hurry back, so that he could hide beneath his sheets and never come back out.

Sweetie Belle regretfully looked away, and said “I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t think anypony could have known what – I mean, I know you wouldn’t – well…”

Scootaloo only patted him wordlessly on the shoulder, her face downcast as she sat next to him with her back to the wall.

“… Hey,” Scootaloo poked him in the shoulder after a long, agonizing stretch of silence. “Hey, Will.”

“Yes, Scoots.”

“Just look at it this way,” she rubbed her cheek slowly. “Diamond Tiara finally got her flank whipped. Today was a good day.”

Although he honestly didn’t know why, William couldn’t help but snort at that.

“Just off to the left, actually,” the chocolate colored blonde stallion pointed his office out to Rainbow Dash, who trailed behind him.

“This one?” Dash pointed at the wooden door, and he nodded gleefully.

“Oh, after you!” Egg White peeled open the heavy wooden door with a blatantly false smile. Dash breathed heavily through her nose and tried to make herself comfortable in the bland chair before the opulent mahogany desk. “Just popping in for a quick little chat, quick little chat.”

He locked the door behind them, seating himself easily in the large swiveling chair and relaxing painstakingly slowly as Rainbow Dash rapped her hooves against the side of the chair.

“And if you could get to it, please,” Dash seethed. “I don’t see why you couldn’t have told me in the hall.”

“There we go,” Egg rolled his neck, glancing down at a couple of folders on his desk. Sunlight filtered in through the red curtains on the window behind him, the only source of light so far. “I know you understand, patient confidentiality and all that,” he droned on. “Certainly wouldn’t want anypony overhearing anything important, now, would we?”

“I don’t care who knows what,” one of Rainbow Dash’s hooves jittered impatiently. “I don’t have all day.”

“Of course not, of course not,” Egg White agreed deliberately slowly. He smiled pleasantly as he glanced back down with fake interest at the papers on his desk. “I’m sure this won’t take up too much of your precious, precious time. Missus… Dash, was it?”

“Miss,” she corrected him nervously as his grin widened. “And it’s just Dash. Rainbow Dash.”

“Ahh, yes!” Egg removed his white overcoat, draping it lazily over the back of his chair before turning back to her. “Yes, yes you are. Hard to forget a patient quite like you, after all. Miss Rainbow Dash, the nymphomaniac.”

Dash narrowed her eyes suddenly, not realizing that she had stiffened up and stopped moving.

“Yes,” Egg White inspected the bottom of his hoof leisurely. “I doubt that you remember, but I was the one that ran all the tests on that ‘broken’ wing of yours. Complete waste of time. Not a thing wrong with it, of course-” Dash wordlessly gripped her wingtips in her hooves, staring uncomfortably at the grinning doctor. “- but I remember. Oh, yes I do.”

“What’s this all about?” Rainbow Dash blurted angrily, furrowing her brows.

“… Do you like my new desk, Missus Rainbow Dash?” Egg asked suddenly, running his hooves lovingly over the wooden piece of furniture. “Imported mahogany, very fine. Very expensive. Very fragile, surprisingly, compared to the average mahogany. Easily scarred.”

Dash was halfway out of her chair when his next words hit her.

“Foals are easily scarred, you know.”

Dash stared at him, and his impish grin grew.

“Did you know that a mare could spend nearly an entire lifetime locked away for abusing a little colt?” Egg beamed at her with that same plastic smile, and he clasped his hooves together. “Please. Sit.”

It sounded much more like a command than a request, but Rainbow Dash complied nonetheless. Her heart raced in her ears, and a lump seemed to be forming in her throat.

“I-I didn’t – I wouldn’t hurt William!” she shakily sputtered out, her eyes stinging unexpectedly.

“Really?” Egg leaned in a bit. “Because that colt of yours seems to have quite a few… incriminating marks on him, if you know what I mean.”

Rainbow Dash breathed heavily, her head in her hooves as her mind seemed to fog from the panic.

“Oh, but don’t worry,” he grinned at Dash, and she hardly dared to raise her head to meet his unblinking gaze. “I’m sure that we can avoid any kind of confrontation with any legal problems, really. We could always… compromise.”

A sharp, sick feeling began slowly rising in Dash’s stomach.

“You see,” Egg White leaned back and toyed with a pen between his hooves. “You see, we both seem to have some issues that could easily be resolved by one another. You see, Rainbow Dash, your every file indicates that your rather severe hypersexual disorder causes you quite a lot of social issues, and I’m a very lonely stallion.”

Rainbow Dash almost whimpered when the comprehension struck her like a bag of bricks.

“… Please,” Dash looked up sharply with blotchy eyes, finding it hard to speak all of a sudden. “Please, please don’t, please, not again –”

“Oh, now, now, now,” Egg White chuckled suddenly, his fabricated good-natured laugh almost stinging Dash’s ears. “I certainly don’t want you to think that I’m taking advantage of your condition to suit myself, no~o.” He stared directly into her magenta eyes, his smirk spreading even further. “No, that would be terribly dishonorable as a stallion of medicine.”

A flicker of hope sprang up in Dash’s chest, and she grabbed it almost immediately.

And it was almost as if this were the very moment he was waiting for, as his next words seemed perfectly designed to make that hope dwindle and die.

“So, I’ll offer a compromise,” Egg White stated genially. “I’m going to help satiate some of your nymphomania and keep the whole ‘foal abuse’ under the lid, just for you.”

“… Fuck you,” Rainbow Dash choked. “Fuck you, fuck you.”

“Oh, I do love them eager!” Egg clapped his hooves together with another simpering smile. “But I’m afraid that during our little ‘sessions’ together, you’re going to be calling me ‘sir’. Hmm?”

“… Fuck you, sir.”

“There’s a good girl.”

Journal of William Zachariah Klaskovsky

Day 27 –

Mother seems to be distressed that I am not allowed to leave the hospital yet.

I am beginning to wonder a great many things that were not apparent to me before.

I do not know if perhaps it is from spending extended periods of time in this dreadful hospital, but my mind seems to be unnervingly latched onto the concept of death and dying lately. Of course, this could also have something to do with the knowledge that I may potentially be the cause of Silver Spoon’s death.

This has… occurred to me frequently. I do wonder if it may really be true, that it is because of my own actions – or, rather, inaction – that led to the girl’s suicide.

If this is the case – and god help me if it might be – then who is to say that I am not the monster they claimed me to be after all? Is it really my fault that the girl is gone, that because of my own arrogance, my own foolish assurance that I had simply fixed the filly that she has abandoned the mortal coil?

I cannot help but doubt myself. It keeps me from sleeping yet again.

And the look that Diamond Tiara gave me… it frightens me, and hurts me. Even more than the bruises, which I also wonder if I deserve. No, I am frightened because I do not know if Diamond Tiara is going to follow the same path as her friend.

And then her blood, too, would taint my hands.