//------------------------------// // Complications // Story: Treason // by Trevosta //------------------------------// Complications "Well, Sergeant, it would appear that you have a rather severe concussion." The doctor said without looking up from his clipboard. "I figured as much." Geronimo responded dryly. "Drink a lot of fluids, and take these when a headache appears." he said giving the bruised Sergeant a bottle of pills. "Thanks" Geronimo said, readying himself to leave. As his curiosity got the better of him, the doctor said, "If you don't mind me asking, how did this happen?" That caused Geronimo to laugh, confusing his doctor, "Well, always watch where you're going in Sweet Apple Acres. And don't aggravate Rainbow Dash. Anyways I will see you later Doc." The implications of what this pony was saying sunk in to the doctor as his patient trotted out of the room. The pain that this pony had just lived through was almost impossible to survive. Just thinking about it made the doctor shudder. ------------------------------------------------- "Ugh, I am starving, I have only had that one sandwich in two days, and I need food. Great now I am talking to myself." he muttered while he was walking into town. He approached the fist place he saw to buy food, which was an apple stand being run by that Big Mac stallion. "Hey, I would like to buy one bushel of apples, also I would like to apologize for how I acted towards you and your sister yesterday. I was wrong, and I am sorry, so what do you say?" Big Mac was getting the bushel of apples ready while Geronimo was going through his apology. "Don't worry 'bout it." he said and pushed the basket towards the veteran. Before Geronimo even had a chance to thank the farmer Big Mac had moved on to the next customer. So he just tossed the bits onto the table, leaving a substantial tip for the kind stallion. He wandered town, eating his apples, searching for the library to return the book. He found it and knocked on the door only to get the response, "Come in, it is a public library." shrugging he walked in, and was again greeted by the bell over the doorway ringing. Inside he saw the little lizard-thing cleaning books up off the floor. "Hey buddy, I wanted to return this book." he said after putting the book on the nearest table. "Also where is that Twilight Sparkle mare at?" The lizard-guy wasn't paying attention to who the stallion in the library was. "oh she is helping Pinkie organize a surprise party for that new guy, Geroni-" but he was cut off before he could finish. "WHAT!!!?!? I told her no surprises, thank you for warning me." he was fuming as he walked out the door, slamming it behind him. Spike was now standing in a pile of books, eyes huge in fear because of the outbreak from the stranger. "No problem." ---------------------------------------------------------- "Pinkie, are you sure it's ok for us to be doing this? He doesn't seem to be the kind of pony to surprise well." Twilight said to the over-enthusiastic mare who was currently in her element. "hmmm... Twilight, I think I know what I am doing, I know everything there is to know about making the best party ever." she said while inflating and tying off balloons, and letting them float up to the roof of the barn. "How do you do that?" Twilight said staring at the balloon as it rose to the ceiling and bounced off the top. "Do what?" Pinkie asked while icing the cake with the precise hoof of a trained professional. "Make those balloons float up there, without helium." Twilight pointed out. "Silly Twilight, they're balloons, of coarse they float!" "Wha? Ugh, it's not worth it." she said while Pinkie Pie bounced off towards the entrance to hang the sign. Just as she got on a ladder, Applejack burst in, knocking Pinkie off her perch. "What in tarnation? What is going on here?" She demanded, having not known about the party beforehoof, she was confused. "We are throwing a surprise party for the Sergeant!" Pinkie yelled as she came bursting out of a barrel wearing a party hat. "How did ya know he was gonna be here tonight?" Applejack asked the hyperactive pony. "My Pinkie senses told me." said the pink party pony, as though it were the most normal thing in the world. Then she began to hang streamers from the rafters. "And why didn't ya ask me first?" Applejack asked, annoyance staining her voice. She then heard just a buzzing as Pinkie Pie began to explain her thought process, starting at when she first met Geronimo, and continuing through every thought up through the point where Applejack asked why she didn't ask her before setting up a party in the barn. "Alright! Ya can stop now. Ya can throw yer party in 'ere just clean up when yer done. Now ah've got a headache." She mumbled while leaving the barn. As she opened the door, an angry red blur came storming through the open door and right up to Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie Pie. What. Did. I. Say. About. Surprises?" Geronimo said raising one eyebrow and tapping one front hoof on the floor of the barn. Pinkie bounced down from the rafter she was currently on, to get to eye-level with the irate veteran. "Ooh Ooh Ooh! I know this one! They are bad ideas for ponies like Pete Esdee." she said, bouncing with excitement, "So what do I win?" "You 'win' the ability to NOT throw me a surprise party." he deadpanned. "N-n-no p-p-party?" Pinkie Pie's hair deflated. "That is not what I said, I said no 'surprise' party." he explained, "I appreciate all this work, but I would appreciate it more if you told me about it beforehoof." "Okie-Dokie-Loki!" she said, her hair reinflating, "Ooohh! We are throwing you a party tonight!" "Thanks. I got that." he deadpanned once again. Twilight, who had been watching in confusion, spoke up, "Did she just try to say that you have PTSD?" "Yep," he pushed his wing stumps out of his jacket, "I lost my wings, and my best friend in battle. That experience haunts me in my dreams on a pretty regular basis." Then he walked out of the barn shouting back, "I will see you girls tonight." He left the two mares in shock and Pinkie's party planner mode on full-throttle. "We have to make this the greatest party ever, for his sake." ------------------------------------------------- The party went off, pretty much, without a hitch. Geronimo met almost all of the ponies in Ponyville and, in doing so, discovered a distinct lack of stallions. He didn't care all that much, he just noticed. The party continued late into the night. And by the time everypony had left, and the party had been cleaned up, Geronimo was exhausted. There was one thing he needed to ask Applejack before going to bed, though. "Hey Applejack," he called to her as she was leaving, "is the hay for me to sleep on, or for me to eat?" The question struck her as being extremely funny, "Heh, it's whatever ya want it for. Now g'night." After she left he snuffed out the light and slipped into a dreamless sleep. ------------------------------------------------- Geronimo awoke to the sun pouring in through some cracks in the walls, and immediately he realized that it was later than he usually woke up. He jumped out of the little nest he had made for himself in the hay, and began heading out of the barn. As he left he saw Applejack heading out to the fields, next to her brother, so he headed out towards them. "Ah feel bad, makin' 'im stay in the barn, but there's somethin' about 'im. Ah don't know, Ah just don't feel like he's tellin' the full story." Applejack explained to her brother. "Eeeyup." the big, quiet pony responded. Before Applejack could continue, her name was called, from back towards the barn. The Sergeant was trotting towards them, not in his uniform, and covered in hay. "Would you two mind if I used one of your showers?" the stallion asked politely. "Go on ahead." Big Mac nodded his agreement. "Thank you so much." he said as he turned to leave. Applejack sighed, "Ah just don't know 'bout 'im." ----------------------------------------------- Geronimo just had to laugh at all of the apple-based grooming products in the Apple's shower. It made sense, it was just funny. He scrubbed himself thoroughly, getting all of the dirt, from when he was knocked to the ground, out of his coat, as well as all of the hay he had slept in. It wasn't until he saw the brown tint in the water that he realized that he forgot something. "Horse apples." he looked back and saw that his cutie mark and tail were exposed. He checked the other side of the shower curtains and saw what he had feared. He definitely had forgotten his dye. He finished up his shower and dried off quickly, as he tried to figure out what to do. The youngest Apple had gone off to school already, her siblings were working the fields, and the old one was sleeping somewhere. He could get through the house unnoticed, but getting to the barn would be more difficult, with the two siblings out in the fields, he would have to keep a sharp eye out for them. Carefully, he crept out of the bathroom. He quietly snuck down the hall and towards the kitchen, and consequently, the door. As he entered the kitchen he could smell the faint aroma of breakfast, still lingering in the air. The delicious mixture of apples, cinnamon, and syrup caused him to pause for a moment. In that moment, however, the doorknob turned, and in walked Applejack. She saw the stallion standing in the kitchen. He gave a sheepish smile and offered, "This isn't what it looks like?"