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// 04 - Awakening Horribly 
// Story: Second Chance 
// by Cxcd 
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Knock Knock…
Lyra let out a grunt that sounded similar to that of a wild bullfrog. The bed she was in, her and Bon-bon’s bed- was simply too comfy to step out of. Her eyes flittered open for half a second, before fluttering closed once more. The blanket was like stepping hoof-first into a hot spring, and the mare besides her was the most comfortable thing she could imagine. Lyra pulled her hoof forwards, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her closer to her chest. Then, she let out a sigh.
“Lyra…” The grunting Bon-bon said into her chest. “Sm-pony’s at the door.”
“I know.” Lyra sighed out. “Let them knock.”
“Sm-pony, Lyra. Sm-pony’s at-”
“I know, I know.” She repeated, automatically and methodically rubbing Bon-bon’s blue and pink mane. “Probably just Muffin the post-mare, or… I don’t know…” She breathed in and out, as if she was meditating, letting the warmth of the two envelop. “It’s the weekend. I’m not getting up unless Discord splits Equus in half…”
Knock Knock…
“Miss Heartstrings?” A muffled voice said through the door, as if the mare on the other side quite literally pushed her mouth against the keyhole. “Miss Heartstrings, it’s me!”
“Neighbors are so noisy…” Lyra used her magic to tug on the blanket, covering the two ponies more. Now, Bon-bon was beginning to stir, much to Lyra’sannoyance. She tightened her grip.
“Heartstrings, our… patient is awake!” The mystery mare said. “And I think you would be the-”
The door shot open. The nurse, the same one that had washed Lyra of a filly’s blood the other day, was standing there, still dressed in her garbs. She took a large step back as she caught sight of the turquoise Unicorn, her hair sticking up at uneven and messy angles.
“Did you… just get out of bed?” The nurse asked.
“Yuh.” Lyra nodded, stepping outside quickly. “She’s awake?!”
“Y-Yes, ma’am. She’s awake, and… well, she’s a fighter, that’s for sure!”
“Ohmy- Okay!” Lyra turned around to watch as Bon-bon pushed the door back open, her mane in a similar state of dissaray. Lyra lit up her horn and flew a manebrush directly over Bon-bon’s head, and began working at her mane. “Okay! Bonny, we’ve been prepping for this! We gotta go!”
“Prepping for… what, exactly?” Bon-bon asked, yawning. “The only thing we’ve prepped for is you going into labor, and I hope that’s not happening right now-”
“No, silly!” Lyra galloped towards her mare and slid to a stop, grabbing Bon-bon’s cheeks and squishing them until her mouth poked out awkwardly. “She’s awake! The filly!”
“Oh.” Bon-bon pulled away from Lyra, gasping loudly. “OH! Oh, my Celestia! It’s happening!”
“Come on! We have to go to the hospital!” Lyra turned back to the nurse. “How long has she been awake for?! Is she-” But, as she talked, she quickly noticed that the gray nurse was suddenly absent. Probably galloped back to the hospital, if she had to guess.
“Does my mane look okay?!” Bon-bon shouted from the bathroom. Lyra took a deep breath, and galloped inside.





When Lyra and Bon-bon showed up at the hospital, more specifically the door in which the mysterious filly resided, she could only describe the area as a complete and utter warzone. Although no tell tale marks of a common warzone, there was a group gathering, huddling around the door. Nurses and doctors alike, looking at one another.
“What’s going on?” Bon-bon inquired. A few of the staff turned to look at her, but it was a doctor towards the front that gave her his full attention.
“Lyra? Bon-bon? What on earth are you two doing here?” He asked.
“One of your nurses. She told us what was happening.” Bon-bon explained. At this, the brown-coated doctor cocked his head.
“I didn’t send out a nurse…” He hummed. “Never mind that. What’s important is that you are here. And we need your help.” Lyra leaned her head to the side, watching as a brave soul opened the door to the room. She was immediately met with an entire IV stand being thrown through the tiny gap, making her stumble back and a horn-privileged user closing the door for her. “She’s gone AWOL. Which is normal for a recovering patient, but we’re scared to try and force her to do anything, out of fear she’ll aggravate her stitches. You, Lyra, saved her from death. I believe you should be the one to make contact with her.”
Lyra frowned. “Will she even remember me?”
“A-ha…” The doctor coughed. “Probably not… But, if you explain to her-”
“How can she explain to her anything if she can’t even get her head through the door?” Bon-bon asked angrily. “I can’t let her get injured! She has our foal!”
“Your-” The doctor took a step back and leaned to the side, trying to get a better look at her underside. He was immediately met by Bon-bon smacking him across the head. He grumbled, looking back up and rubbing the now developing sore spot. “You don’t look pregnant.”
“Early months.” Bon-bon said quickly. “Point is- you are not sending her in. What if she gets injured?”
“And what, we try and forcibly hold the poor filly down? She’ll split her stomach open by her struggling! Those stitches are only a few hours or so old.”
“Alright!” Lyra shouted, getting the attention of everypony in the hallway. “I’ll go in!” Bon-bon opened her mouth to argue, but was quickly cut off by Lyra talking louder. “I’m sorry, hun, but the doctor is right. All she needs is a friendly face, okay?”
Bon-bon flexed her jaw for a second or two, but after hesitating, she let out a sigh.
“Just… be careful, okay? The last thing I want to see is you or the foal getting hurt.” Lyra simply offered a reassuring smile and a quick peck on the lips that caused a few of the nurses to d’aww. She trotted towards the door, the staff moving graciously out of her way. “I’ll be fine, guys. Just… give me a second, alright?” She said generally. There was a murmur that sounded like encouragement, and without a second thought, she creaked open the door.
“Hello?” She asked into the room. “Is anypony here?”
She was answered by a glass jar being shattered on the wall next to her, thrown by some unseen entity. Lyra didn’t flinch, however, and bravely pushed herself deeper into the room.
The filly was perched on the headboard of the hospital bed like a parrot. Her wings were spread wide out, and she was crouching down. The first thing that Lyra noticed was just how white she was. Her coat was white, her wings were white, her eyes were red, and her mane was white. If Lyra didn’t know any better, she would’ve assumed she was an Albino pony- a pony without any color pigmentation. The filly gasped, quickly reaching down and grabbing another glass jar from a bedside table, holding it up dangerously.
“Don’t come any closer!” She yelled. “I’ll do it!” Lyra took a deep, shaky breath in, and lowered herself to the floor in an attempt to look less threatening. Whether it worked or not, she wasn’t exactly sure, as the filly didn’t react at all.
“Hello.” Lyra greeted again as softly as she could. “My name is Lyra. What’s your name?”
“My name is-” The filly frowned, flexing her jaw as her eyes darted left and right, her brows furrowing. “-isn’t important right now!” She stood taller on the headboard, staring through Lyra. “Why am I here?”
“I’m here because-” Lyra blanked for a second. “No, sorry. I mean- you are here because you got hurt.” She cringed as certain memories began to surface. “You were hurt really, really badly.”
“Yeah?” She asked, adjusting her hooves. “What am I?”
“Pardon?” Lyra asked, looking into her eyes. Her question wasn’t a joke, evident by her stern expression and unmoving lip. “Uhm… you are a Pegasus.”
“Bullshit.” She growled. If Lyra wasn’t currently scared of having glass chucked at her, she might’ve reprimanded her for her language. “Pegasus. Right. Now you’re gonna tell me Unicorns exist.”
Lyra blinked.
Then, slowly, she tapped the horn on the top of her head. The filly frowned, squinting her eyes. As if she couldn’t…
Lyra gasped.
As if she couldn’t see.
“Can you not… see me?” Lyra asked. The filly frowned, adjusting her jar threateningly.
“Maybe, maybe not!” She yelled. “Maybe I’m just fooling you, so you won’t hurt me!”
“Why would I hurt you?” Lyra questioned, cocking her head to the side. The filly’s frown deepened. “Why didn’t I just hurt you when I saved your life?” The filly’s eyes narrowed dangerously, almost beckoning Lyra to continue. “I-I saw you fall. From the sky. You landed in some bushes, and I-I found you. You were… hurt. Really badly. And I-I’ve barely slept wondering if you’ll be okay.”
“Seriously?” The filly asked, her frown diminishing. “Over… me?”
“Seriously.” Lyra confirmed. “And if you’ll let me, I want to make sure you’re still okay.” Lyra took a deep breath out. “And I need to start with your name.” At this, the filly finally looked away. She bit her bottom lip, chewing as she took a deep breath, closing her eyelids.
“I… I don’t know.” She admitted. She slowly reached down to the bedside table, setting down the jar. “I know I wasn’t a pony! That’s obvious!” She sighed. “But I-I don’t know.” Lyra was shocked with what she was hearing.
“That’s… okay…” She ventured. She, carefully and so the filly could see her, stood up. She slowly inched her way towards the bed, to which the filly guarded her with her eyes, watching as she got closer. “Can you lay down?”
“Can I lay down-” She mocked in a higher pitch. “Of course I can.” Lyra smiled at this, if a bit put off by her attitude. The filly carefully climbed down from the headboard and laid down. “There. Is that better?”
“Yes it is.” She smiled. The filly looked up at her, and for a moment, they both made eye contact. The filly responded by cringing and looking away.
“Gah! You look like an owl! Why do all of you look like owls?”
“W-What?” She asked, confused.
“Your eyes!” The filly exclaimed. She nervously adjusted the blanket she was laying ontop of. “They’re the sizes of plates. Like, unnaturally big.” Lyra wasn’t exactly sure what to say, other than to blink and rub her cheek bone, feeling the socket of her eye and wondering if she had unusually large eyes.
“Your eyes are pretty big, too-”
“I know!” The filly yelled, making Lyra flinch. “I know.” She lowered her voice slightly, now using her hoof to paw at her own eye. “I… hate this.” She said cryptically. “I hate being this. I’m a tiny little…” She looked at Lyra again, observing her by squinting. “...pony. I’m a tiny pony, and I have tiny little wings, and I’m just…” She let out a sigh. “I’m just not feeling very good, right now.”
“Why?” Lyra asked. “I mean- You said you were a pony, which I guess isn’t normal for you, but I mean- Are you phsyscially okay? You took a nasty fall…”
“Well… I’m kinda…” The filly grunted, and rolled over onto her wing, exposing her belly for Lyra to see. Lyra almost screamed, instead letting out a stifled gasp as she pushed herself away from the bed. Across her abdomen were stitches. Stitches that looked as if they were giving out, letting blood seep through the shaved area and stain the blankets below. “Yeah, it hurts a little.”
“Oh-kay!” Lyra stood up, briskly trotting towards the door. “We need a doctor right now-!”
“Wait!” She yelled across the room. Lyra, against her will and logic, stopped, turning to look. “I don’t like being surrounded by those…” She sighed. “I’m hesitant to call them freaks, but… I’d rather have, like, one?”
“Okay-okay.” Lyra quickly rushed, very aware of the fact the filly was still bleeding out, even as they talked. “Is it alright if my wife joins us?”
“Your… wife?” The filly cocked her head. “I… guess?”
“Okay. Uh. Don’t… bleed out.” Lyra clicked open the door and stuck her head out. Some of the nurses and doctors had left, probably to tend to a few other patients. But there was still a considerable crowd, and by the way they were positioned around the door, she was quite confident that nopony had been listening in. The doctor- the one assigned to the mystery filly- stepped forwards, the same one that she had talked to earlier.
“How is she?” He asked. “Not throwing anything anymore?”
“No, but her stitches,” Lyra gestured downwards. “They’re open and bleeding a little.”
“Oh- okay!” The doctor quickly pushed past Lyra and into the room.
“And, uh,” Lyra pointed her hoof at Bon-bon, who hadn’t talked to anypony and was instead anxiously shifting weight on her hooves back and forth. “Bon-bon, you can come, too.” Bon-bon offered a thankful smile as she slid by her and into the room. “Everypony else! Go back to work. There isn’t anything to see here.”
There was a general murmur of disagreement as everypony- purposefully slowly- moved away from the door. A second later, Lyra pulled her head back in, and sighed.
“So.” Bon-bon was standing at the base of the bed, staring down at the filly, who was now being worked on by the doctor. “You’re the filly who gave my fiancee quite a scare the other day.” She lowered her head down until she was making direct eye contact with the poor foal. “I only have one question to ask you…” She got even closer than she already was, making the filly gulp nervously. “Are you okay?”
“Wh-huh?” The filly blinked, pulling her head back. Bon-bon did the same, smiling slightly. “I mean- I’m hurting pretty good.” She watched as the doctor worked on her stomach, (Pulling? Redoing? Fixing?) her stitches. “But besides that, I think I’m alright?”
“That’s good.” Bon-bon sat down. “I wouldn’t want such a cute little filly to get hurt, now would I?” Lyra took a step back at the unexpected mushy side of Bon-bon that suddenly reared it’s head. Bon-bon reached forwards, pinching her cheeks as she made a cooing sound.
“Augh-” The filly pulled back. “Geez- you remind me of my mother!”
“Speaking of which!” The doctor said, pulling a stitch closed tightly. “We need to find your parents, little one.” The doctor stood up and stretched like a cat, whisking away a clip board that was attached to a wall.“ First things first: I need a name. We can’t exactly keep calling you little one, now, can we?”
“Well… you might have to.” She gave a nervous laugh, which made the doctor raise his eyebrow. “You see, uh, the thing is, I can’t really, uh, remember my name.” She offered a goofy smile. “But that’s it! I can remember loads of other things!”
The doctor was silent for a minute, and although he wasn’t looking at the filly directly and instead staring at the board, the expression on his face was evidence enough of the internal concern he was now developing.
“Oh… kay…” He warily said, marking something off with his hoof and pen. “How about your parents? Do you remember your parents names?”
“Cindy Smith and David Collins.” She responded automatically. The three adult ponies in the room looked at one another with varying levels of confusion.
“Those… don’t sound like pony names.” Bon-bon said, adjusting herself so she sat closer to the end of the bed. “Are you sure those are your folks names?”
“Pretty sure.” She nodded, again. “Cindy’s my mom, and David’s my dad. They used to get into arguments a lot, so they split up. Mom took custody of us, so that’s why my last name is…” The filly’s jaw flexed as her thoughts deepened behind her eyes. “...Smith. That’s right, isn’t it? My last name…”
The doctor let out a cough as he scribbled a few more notes.
“I think that’s all we’re going to do for today.” He quickly said. “I will have a nurse in for you in a moment, uh…” The doctor fumbled with his words, looking down at the filly. “Erm… S-Snow?”
“Snow.” The filly grumbled. “I guess it will have to work for now.”
“Alright, Snow. I’ll have a nurse in for you in a moment. She’ll replace your bed linins, and help you with anything else you need.” He put the clip board on his back and trotted out the hall. “Lyra, Bon-bon, a quick word?” He asked.
“See you later, buddy.” Bon-bon offered a smile as she rose, trotting away.
“We’ll be back in a minute, okay?” Lyra waved as she exited. “And no more throwing things, please?” The filly- now dubbed as Snow- let out a little laugh as she shook her head, which Lyra took as a good sign. She exited the room, and let the door swing shut.
Once closed, and the group had trotted a good few steps down the hallway so Snow wouldn’t hear them, the doctor took in a deep breath.
“I think I’m gonna schedule her for a brain scan for today.” He said, fetching the clipboard from his back and beginning to write things down.
“Doc, she doesn’t know her own name.” Bon-bon said concernidly. The doctor took in another deep breath, stopping his writing for a moment to rub his eyes. “That’s not normal.”
“I know it isn’t.” He pressed his hooves back onto the floor in concentration. “Look… This may just be a symptom of a concussion. It’s not out of the question that a few… memories can slip after a long fall like that. It could… but it also couldn’t. I don’t want to take any unneeded risks with my patients, so were gonna figure her out before she leaves here.”
“She was also having a hard time seeing.” Lyra said. The doctor raised his eyebrows, but didn’t seem too concerned. “She kept saying she wasn’t a pony, and that I had really big eyes.”
“Do you?” Bon-bon asked, squinting her own eyes at her. “I don’t think you do?”
“That could also be hoof-waved away as a concussion…” The doctor sighed. “I’m very concerned there is an underlying issue that we don’t know of. Without a medical record… we just simply have no idea.”
“You don’t have a medical record?” Lyra asked.
“That’s why I made up a name for her. Snow. I have nothing to go off of, and although it is still very early in the investigation, no parents, guardians, or homes have come forwards for her, and no missing foal reports have hit Ponyville for a white Pegasus filly matching her description.” He sighed, flipping to the back of the clipboard. “I see you two have already signed the release forms. Once she is done here, then she can be taken home in your custody. I’ll still have you two go over-”
“Woah-woah-woah-woah!” Bon-bon almost shouted, waving her hooves erratically. The doctor paused, peeking his eyes over the top of the clipboard as Lyra stared, dumbfounded. “We didn’t sign any release forms!”
“You… didn’t?” He asked, looking back down at the clipboard. He turned it around to face the other two ponies, and both of them began reading. “This isn’t your signatures?” He asked. Lyra and Bon-bon paled as they read, realizing that yes, it was their signatures. “You two have already been cleared by Princess Celestia herself, apparently. And your house was examined just yesterday and also cleared for guardianship.”
Lyra and Bon-bon simply just stared.
Then, they looked at eachother.
They looked back at the doctor.
“I don’t think we’re ready for-”
“We’re in!” Lyra shouted. Bon-bon let out an involentary cough as her head whipped to Lyra.
“Lyra! We’re not in!” She whispered back, although very certain that the doctor could quite clearly hear them. “We have a foal on the way, and the house isn’t ready, and we’ve been saving up for so long and we’re not ready to spend-”
“OH, and also!” The doctor flipped down the clipboard, more towards the back. “You will be getting a stipend of one-thousand bits per month from the crown to help pay for Snow and anything she may need or want. The hospital bill has also been waived.”
Bon-bon just guffawed, shaking her head as if she was dreaming to wave herself back up.
“I’m sorry, but who is doing all of this?” She asked. “Who in their right mind would give us custody of a foal? We’re just not ready for this!”
“And I’m saying we are!” Lyra rested her hoof against Bon-bon’s withers. “Bonny, when are we ever going to get another chance like this? Somepony took all of the guessing out of this process. With a foal on the way…” Lyra leaned closer. “Wouldn’t our foal like to have an older sister?”
“Gosh, Lyra.” Bon-bon sighed. “Really pulling at my heartstrings, aren’t you?”
“My name isn’t Heartstrings for nothing~!” She giggled. But Bon-bon still didn’t look so sure.
“This is a lot of responsibility.” Bon-bon argued. “This isn’t just a decision that we can make in thirty seconds. This takes a lot of planning! I mean- what will my parents think? What will your parents think?”
“Bonny, this filly was dropped from the sky into my hooves. Literally. It would be like disrespecting Celestia to not take care of this foal. She’s obviously special, and she needs us.”
“I-” Bon-bon bit her lip and looked away. “Can we- Can we just sleep on it for today?” She asked. “I don’t want to make this decision lightly…” Lyra frowned deeply, tapping her hooves up and down in rapid succession.
“Fine.” She sighed out, coming to a stop. “But that’s it. One day, and we’ll talk tomorrow, okay?” Lyra gave a wry smile as she began trotting back to the room. “I wanna get back to her.”
“And one more question.” The doctor said. “I’m just curious. You said that a nurse came and told you that the filly- Snow, was awake. Could you maybe provide a description?”
“Oh. Of course.” Lyra nodded. “She was an Earth-pony with a gray coat and a pitch black mane. Does that help?”
Lyra and Bon-bon both felt the uncomfortable eyes of the doctor as he started blankly for a few moments.
“That description doesn’t match anypony on our workforce.”