Lingering Chaos

by nightelf37

It Takes Two To Tango

A unicorn stallion strode into the marketplace with his head held high, catching the rays of the rising sun in his flowing red mane, and having no doubt it looks as glorious as usual as he paced through Ponyville. Just to be sure, he caught his reflection as he passed the window of a nearby building, spying his own hazel eyes and rosebud cutie mark. Confirming the expectations of his own grandeur, the comely black stallion gave his reflection a knowing wink and continued on.

On his way to his delivery's destination, the stallion examined the flower stalls around the market and exchanged some brief chit-chat with the vendors about the local growing season and nutrient issues for the flowers.

"By the way, madam, can you tell me the way to the Aloe and Lotus Spa?" he added, addressing a pale yellow mare and a raspberry mane behind a flower stand, who was selling his favorite flower; roses.

"I'm afraid I haven't been back to Ponyville for a delivery in a long while," the florist, whose name was Roseluck, replied as she shook her head. “Business hasn’t been going too well for any of us lately.”With less wild flowers and herbs, we’ve had to raise our prices." She then directed the stallion to go to the town square and told him that the spa would be the fancy looking purple and yellow building near a shop somewhat resembling a jester’s hat.

After thanking the mare, the stallion methodically worked his way through the crowd on the market towards his target destination. After about a minute, he arrived and walked inside.

He did a once-over of the place, noting the muted shades of pink and blue on the walls. As he heard calming instrumental music playing, he noted a few mares visible from inside the reception area.

In a back room, there was a pale pony with a mud mask getting a massage from a pink mare with a blue mane while a mare nearly identical to the other but instead with a blue coat and a pink mane hurried behind the counter upon noticing Tango entering.

“Hello, my name is Lotus Blossom. How may I help you, sir?" she greeted him with a Eastern Euromanian accent.

There were also two more mares sitting on a bench behind Tango, chatting away the time as they waited for their appointments.

“Tango, venture gardening and delivery extraordinaire, at your service, Miss Blossom,” the stallion introduced himself. He then flipped open his satchel and presented the parcel he was sent to deliver with a whip of his mane and a stylish flourish. "As requested, I have a package of full cuts of assorted herbs for this fine establishment."

"Oh thank you, I'll just go put these at the back.” Lotus accepted the presented parcel and put it in a shelf under the desk before popping back up with a small pouch of bits. “Here is your payment, sir. Fifty bits in total. We normally don't need to order these, but there’s been some weird stuff going on in the local forest where they grow.” She leaned in a bit and continued in a hushed, concerned voice. “I heard some ponies who went investigating the other day ended up in the hospital."

Erstwhile…

The pale grayish-olive mare was enjoying a massage at the hooves of the other spa pony’s twin sister Aloe Blossom. She can tell that Aloe was very experienced in the trade for a good part of her lifetime. Ah, the first day of my “all expenses paid” vacation here and already I’m in heaven, she thought.

Whilst relaxing on the edge of bliss, she heard the voice of a stallion talking to the other Blossom sister about a delivery of herbs she’d overhead the sisters were expecting.

"Fräulein Blossom, now that the—" she began before being overwhelmed by pleasure, her legs jerking back as a soft moan escaped her lips, which shortly formed into a big, satisfied grin. This massage is amazing!

“—herbs are restocked, I want to order a herbal bath with aromatherapy. I'd like to have some herbal tea as well," she continued, her voice constantly switching between shaking and squealing.

"Of course, Miss Ruffle,” Aloe said as she finished up the massage, sporting a proud smile from the effects her skills have on the slightly smaller mare.

The other blue and pink mare peeked her head out into the room for a moment looking around. "Sister? Could you add seventy-seven bits to Miss Ruffle’s bill? Two for a herbal tea and seventy-five for a herbal bath with aromatherapy." She was given a nod as confirmation before she went back into the massage room with a smile.

"Miss Pinecone, we can begin your mud bath in a short while. Thank you for waiting so patiently," Lotus said to one of the talking mares on the bench.

"Thank you, dear," one of the mares on the bench replied.

Tango held his payment for a while before regretfully depositing the fifty bits into a side bag as he overheard the spa treatment prices. It wouldn't do to net a loss for his own before the bits even hit his pockets.

"The hospital, you say? No doubt a dangerous bit of business going into the forests these days," Tango said, trying to ignore the delighted squeals in the background. "If you don't mind me asking, where is this hospital?"

With Aloe having finished the massage, the small mare slowly raised her head, still a bit shaky from the pleasure as she slid down from the bench. All she needed to do was go through the reception area to get to the bath area.

As her hooves touched the ground, she realized her mistake; the massage left her legs as feeble as winegum. Her face filled with panic as she gained more and more momentum, getting into an unbalanced trot towards the reception as she tried to keep standing on her hooves.. She closed her eyes as she crashed into a stallion with a black coat and a red mane.

Tango gave a "Hrmph!" of surprise as the small mass of pony collided with his backside and reflexively steadied himself with a heavy stamp. He turned about to discover his 'assailant'. "Goodness! I was thinking of making a visit to the hospital, but I'm in no rush, young filly," he said amiably as he flashed a pearly smile and extended a helping hoof, "Have your horn still attached there?"

The small mare accepted the helping hoof of the stallion, embarrassed at her display of weakness she blushes and turned her head away. "I am fine," she quietly said. She tried to get up but dropped instantly, whimpering with her head buried in her hooves. After a while she raised her head again and looked at the stallion with teary eyes. "I can't get up. I think I twisted my right hind leg. You have to…" She paused and looked at the floor. "Carry me to the hospital."

"Miss, are you all right? Should we cancel your aromatherapy, bath, and tea, then?" Aloe worryingly asked as she walked over to her client with her Victorian-esque ensemble consisting of a bonnet, dress, umbrella, crinolette, leg laces, and folding fan.

Meanwhile, Lotus called to the mares on the bench again. "Mrs. Pinecone, your mud bath is ready." One of the gossiping ponies got up and walked to the counter where Lotus led her into one of the spa’s rooms.

"Well, miss, before you go, that will be fifty bits for the massage. Some ponies have tried to sneak out of paying recently so...how will you be paying?" Aloe hesitantly asked with a forced smile.

Tango set a hoof at his chin with bemused concern. He'd never heard of anypony needing to go to the hospital for a twisted leg, but ponies kept telling him not to favor the judgment of others over his own. "Well, I guess there's no helping it. I don't normally deliver fillies, but I've had stranger requests." He then bodily lifted the smaller pony onto his back and used his magic to neatly set her belongings behind her. "Whenever you've got your affairs in order, little lady."

With her magic, the mare reached into the pocket of her dress, giving Aloe the bits she requested. Having dealt with this distraction, she wrapped her front legs around Tango’s neck and held on tightly before moving her head closer to his ears. "My name is Crinoline Ruffle, what’s yours?" she asked, resting her head on his neck shortly afterwards.

“Thank you miss, sorry for the inconvenience…” Aloe said apologetically as the two begin to leave. Just before they did, she called out to them. “Oh! Um. Sir! Ma’am!” Tango paused as he and Crinoline turned to face her. ”The hospital is on the outskirts of town near Whitetail Wood. Just go past the town hall and follow the main road. You should be able to see it when you get to the edge of Ponyville. Do come again!”

"Tango, pleased to meet you," the stallion chattered as he left the spa and trotted out into the streets in search of the Ponyville Hospital with his new parcel clinging to him. "I'm in the garden delivery and exotic landscaping service. My brother came up with that business. Said it makes what I do look better and that's what I'm best at, after all…"

"I have had a business myself, but not for very long.” Crinoline then went into a flurry of asking questions.

“What exactly do you do aside from herb deliveries? Is the pay good? How long can you hold your breath? Can you even swim? What where those stranger requests you where mentioning back at the spa? Where do you live? Do you need accommodation here in Ponyville? Do you have other relatives? Do you already have a special somepony? What is your special talent exactly?"

She soon stopped herself upon realizing that Tango might need some time to think on his answers. "Heheh, my bad. I like to ask questions." She gave a slight blush, then tightened her embrace. "Hope you don't mind."

"No, no. Not at all. But, I don't know if I can handle all that in one go," Tango mused, his mind struggling valiantly to keep up with the stream of words and decidedly failing. "I guess I could just tell you the short version of my life…" For a moment, he considered breaking out into song as some ponies sometimes do, but decided against it.

"Sonata, Tango, Waltz, and Crochet. The four of us siblings work the Spring Concerto florist shop out on the edge of Baltimare. The others handle the shop and I've done the deliveries since I was a little colt. Always had a knack for finding wild flowers. Family eventually decided I might as well be put to use if that's the sort of thing I'd be good at so we expanded the business and I've been galloping about the wild parts of Equestria near four years now. Harvest some plants, take replanting requests, battle monsters, do commercial and home deliveries. Don't really keep track of how much we make. Sonata takes care of that." As he chatted and trotted, Tango stopped to ask directions to the Hospital from the locals and—once he had them—made his way there.

“I wonder how it is to have siblings,” Crinoline pondered. “I would be happy, if I had you as a big brother… Oh, I know! You should add a Rent-A-Big-Brother service to your catalog!”

Tango paused to contemplate this recommendation seriously for a few moments before continuing his search. "I've never heard of that business," he replied with honest obliviousness, cantering onward. "Don't know how much that has to do with gardening, but you seem like a smart pony. I'll ask Waltz when I get back."

Along their way to the hospital, the duo got many weird looks and awkward glances. A stallion carrying a mare across town was not a common sight, even in the oddity-prone Ponyville.

Though the trek took its time, Tango and his passenger reached the hospital without much problem, other than the mare’s weight beginning to tire the stallion out a bit.

The doors opened as if by magic, or probably technology, when they approached them and led them straight into the hospital’s waiting room. At the reception desk was a light-blue pegasus nurse in a white vest, who greeted the two.

"Hello, nurse. I had an accident at the spa," Crinoline said. "I twisted my leg and I am not sure how bad it is. Luckily this very special somepony here helped me in an instant." She rubbed Tango’s chin with one hoof. "So tell me, nurse, how long will it take for the doctor to check my injury?"

"Once you've taken a look at the little miss here, I'd like to visit a couple of patients, probably those who have been recently injured out in the forest," Tango added.

The nurse, looking a bit tired with her blond mane ruffled, answered calmly, "I'm sorry, but we are pretty full right now. There is another nurse coming soon to help out, but it’s a full house today."

She walked up to the counter and retrieved a small band with the number 0124 and, after saying something to a passing nurse, gave it to Crinoline upon getting back to her and Tango, allowing both a look at her name tag (Graceful ‘Grace’ Breeze) and her cutie mark (a caduceus).

"We will call your number when a doctor is available to check up on you, but we’ve got some ponies that require our full attention." She turned to face Tango, her expression and tone of voice rather questioning. “I must ask, why do you want to see them? Are you a relative or acquaintance? If you are not, then I’m afraid you can’t visit them unless you’d like to assist us. You see…we’re a bit understaffed at the moment, so we can use all the help we can get.”

She let out a short giggle as if she remembered something funny, but her expression remained serious. “I even asked my daughter if she could help out.”

Tango ran a hoof reflexively through his long mane. He seemed to be getting sidetracked into a number of odd jobs today, but there seemed to be no helping it. “Forests of all sorts are where I have to travel,” he answered. “I just wanted to ask some questions about the trouble they ran into, if they wouldn't mind answering. I suppose I can help out in the meantime.”

Turning to Crinoline, he said, "Well, little Miss, I guess I'll have to leave you to the doctor. It looks like I'll be running around this place for a while if you need me again. I'll check to see you have everything sorted out once I'm done with business."

Just then, somepony entered the hospital, breathless and panicked as he reached the reception desk, stopping beside Tango and Crinoline. "My name's Mystic Shield, and I've come to visit my students Greatstone, Bullseye, Chrono Cards, and Tricky Books. How bad are their injuries?"