//------------------------------// // Monthly Checkup // Story: A Second Chance // by Tridon2951 //------------------------------// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.” -Mark Caine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this kind of a situation, time can go by at whatever speed it wants for some people. It can go faster at the times where you're having the time of your life, or slower when you're stuck in the middle of English class for an hour, but time has a way of making you realize you have no idea what the fuck is going on at that very moment. This is one of those moments Blurs, all I saw were transitions from light to dark through my fazed eyesight, a splotched array of colors around me that were constantly changing told me that I was moving, and fast at that. “Doctor, he’s not even a pony, we don't know it’s anatomy or if it’s safe to use healing magic on him, this seems almost a hopeless attempt...” One of the blurs of a white color said, the voice’s tone going into dismay. “Listen to me here and now.” Another voice came from my left, demanding in tone, making the other one stay quiet. I turned my head to the left to see a red and red colored blur rushing along with the others, keeping up with my moving body. “You know what? I would just love to give up here and now, this isn't the easiest patient we’ve come by and you’re right, we don't know his anatomy or if it’s safe to use healing spells on him...” The voice trailed off for a moment before continuing in a more stern tone. “The odds are very much well against us here, but we’ve made a commitment by taking up the profession as doctors to at least try, it matters a whole lot more if we try and he doesn't make it than to not do anything at all to even attempt to save him.” It suddenly grew very quiet, the only sound that could be heard was the squeaking of un-oiled wheels. The little motivational speech by the being who gave it had done its job in making the other stop for a moment and think while taking the outcomes into consideration. Something within me brought up a terrible coughing fit, making my body jerk with every expelling of whatever the stimuli was. I felt warmth splatter onto my exposed arms and upper chest, from the condition I was in, I thought it probably was not spit, but blood from my terribly racked up body. “Oh dear Celestia he’s coughing blood! We need to get him into the ER now!” A frantic sounding voice stated, only provoking panic among the rest of the doctors from what I’ve heard. “Keep calm now, we’ll get him there in time, let's not panic alright? Just focus on what we need to do now.” I heard the optimistic voice sound again. I gave off a long and painful sounding moan amongst all of this, giving them the impression that I wouldn't last too much longer here. I felt a hoof on my shoulder, “Just hang on a little bit longer here, you're going to be alright, I promise you.” The red doctor said again. “You sure you’re not setting up a promise you can't keep?” The pessimistic voice said trying to make the negative feel more powerful I thought. There was a slight pause, then the doctor leaned in towards me, “Don't listen to him at all, he’s just so negative all the time, you’re going to be just fine.” He tried to disregard the other doctor’s rude statement, but I didn’t feel that confident in my survival either. The immense loss of blood, the broken arm, and the bruises accompanied by cuts all over my body were not giving me the upside of the possible outcomes here. I felt myself sharply turn to the right, the squeaking sound of the wheels sounded like they had a spazz attack for a moment before quieting down, I felt the fast moving stretcher I was on come into contact with a pair of double doors, the stretcher jerked for a moment before regaining speed. Just then, I felt my breathing get heavier, I could really not hold on for much longer, the stretcher made a left turn before coming to a stop, the doctors began quickly but efficiently, start to operate on my body, I really couldn't hang on anymore, I was just too weak to hang on any longer, I felt my body begin to drift off, the edges of my eyesight hazed with blackness, slowly pulling me into my unconscious state, I felt a hoof on my shoulder try and shake me a little just trying to keep me awake, but it was no use, I was already gone. I was probably not going to make it out of this alive, after slipping into my unconscious state, I would probably not have the energy available to get myself up and working again after the operation, besides, what did I have to live for here? I pondered that thought for a few seconds more, in my last few moments of the real world before letting my body slip into the darkness. “What do I have to live for?” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “My name is Travis.” From my opening just right there, I only got a variety of expressions from the group of equines, ranging from curiosity to complete distrust. I felt happy that my eternal wish of living in Equestria and meeting the mane six, after discovering the pony phenomenon on the internet and eventually falling in love with the show and the characters, had been fulfilled, yet, I felt awkward by not knowing how to begin my introduction of myself, but I could be sure that Twilight would fill that gap by asking the all important questions here, making it less awkward. The awkward silence continued as they stared at me, my only response was to stare back at them, I was really getting uncomfortable with the situation at hand here, the silence continued through fidgeting and quick glances from one another, Twilight was first to step forward. "Are you expecting us to ask the questions here?” she asked quizzically making a levitating scroll, quill, and inkwell appear out of nowhere. “No, just not exactly sure where to begin here, I think it’d be better for all of us for you all to ask the questions here.” I responded in my defence of her accusation. “Okay then...” She began, “You seem to know Taylor pretty well, how do you know him?” “Well, I met him during sophomore year in high school, I’ve known him for only a few months, and we’ve been best friends since.” Twilight’s levitating quill scribbled furiously on the parchment, her eyes following the writing across the paper. “Taylor said that true friendship was hard to come by where you’re from, you and him have although acquired this sort of friendship, how is this possible?” She looked up from her paper awaiting an answer. “Well Taylor is right about the friendship being hard to come by thing.” I saw their eyes grow wide with disbelief, I think I even saw a few jaws drop too. “Taylor and I met because of common interests, that’s really how most friendships begin where we are from.” “Like what?” Pinkie piped up, smile ever present as she spoke. “Well you know, music... videogames... (incoherent muttering about MLP)...” I responded, trying not to be too conspicuous about the whole ‘I’ve been watching your whole friendship play out’ thing, hopefully, and god forbid that Taylor had already told them, ruining all that mattered in my life right now. “Videogames? What are those? Are they kinda like party games? You know I know a lot of party games.” She then proceeded to take in a dramatically large gasp before continuing. “You should come and play pin the tail on the pony and all the other games I know o-” she stopped in the middle of her sentence to take in yet another large gasp of air before continuing. “I should throw you and Taylor a party! It’ll be the, ‘Welcome to Ponyville, glad you didn't get eaten by a dragon’ party! I was gonna throw a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party for Taylor, but then he got colt-napped by some stallions in the Everfree and th-” She was stopped mid sentence by a cyan hoof being stuck in the hole that let all the words out of her mouth. “Pinkie, we can tell stories later, right now we’re getting info from Travis, okay?” Rainbow seemed not in the mood for this sort of thing. The pink mare gave a muffled ‘yes’ before the cyan hoof came out of her mouth, he smile returned to her face, it seemed as if she couldn't sit still, he body was radiating with energy, shown by her excessive bouncing around the room. Looking back at Twilight, I saw she was still scribbling down notes on the scroll, apparently ‘lost’ in the, ‘ever-so-intriguing’ information I was giving her. “I’m sorry what was that last thing you said was a common interest between you and Taylor?” Twilight stopped scribbling down notes to look up from the paper. “What? Oh the last thing? I said it was videogames.” I lied, not wanting to go into the subject of the portion of their lives I've been watching. “No, you muttered something after that, what was it?” Twilight persisted. “It was nothing, just talking to myself.” I told her, and that honestly was the truth. I turned away from them and looked out the window nearby, only to give myself an excuse of why to not look at them for fear of the information getting out of their lives. I turned back to see that Applejack had gotten up and was walking towards me, probably to confront my apparent lies. “Now I don’ have ta’ be the element of honesty to see that what you just told Twilight was a lie there, what ave’ you got to gain by lyin to all of us? Whatcha tryin ta’ hide here?” Her tone was stern and demanding of an answer, but I held firm on what I said before. “I said I was talking to myself, why do you have to hear what I said? Why are you trying to be so nosy in my own thoughts?” I shot back at her with a scowl, she recoiled a little bit at my blunt tone, I cracked a small grin in my response. “I understand what you’re sayin’ bout’ ‘personal thoughts’ but why ya keepin them secret from us? Besides we are the ones trying to get info by askin tha questions here.” She tried to make a comeback, but I needed her to shut up now before she provoked anymore curiosity into that matter. “How about we just move on with this alright? There are more important things to talk about here.” I said closing the discussion. “He’s right Applejack.” Twilight told the cowpony, “Lets leave his own thoughts to himself, I wouldn't want you doing that to me, or anypony here.” Applejack huffed a sigh, and with a scowl on her face, proceeded to go and lay back on one of the chairs, tilting her stenton hat over her face, making it look like she was taking a nap. “Well for introductory purposes...” Twilight began, changing the topic, “You’ve already met Applejack...” She turned her head back to the lounging cowpony, who gave no response. “And you’ve met Pinkie at that.” I looked over at the pink mare, who was simply smiling and waving from a sitting position. “My name, is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Rainbow Dash and Rarity.” She turned around to direct my attention to the cyan pegasus and pearl white unicorn behind her. Rainbow gave a nod at me in acknowledgement, Rarity however, gave no salutations, she starred in complete horror at my figure, I looked at myself and saw what she saw, she saw a grubby looking outfit, including the dirt, grime, and god knows what that stain is on my clothes. “Do you expect me to look the very best after over three months of fighting wild animals for my own survival?” I watched her eyes slightly roll in the back of her head and nearly slumped on the floor in a heap, had it not been for Rainbow standing there to catch her. “You see? This is why we don't wear clothes that often, it’s her.” Rainbow stated, trying to get the unicorn back on her feet, or at least supporting herself. “And I don't blame you one bit for that, but I should wear clothes for one, that's one of the setbacks for me.” I chuckled a little at her remark, she flashed a smirk back, before getting her attention towards her half-unconscious friend. “Why are you required to wear clothes though? We don't that often.” Twilight raised the quill towards her paper in preparation for more notes. “Well for starters, I’m not a pony, I am a human being, and second here, humans are more... ‘exposed’ for their... parts, if you know what I mean.” I said, trying not to make it too awkward of a conversation for the both of us. “Note taken.” Twilight giggled as she scribbled down a few quick notes on the scroll. “Now who was that other pegasus I saw with the dragon? Didn't catch her name.” I lied, but just to make it sound believable to the rest of them, Applejack however, grunted in response to my lie. “Oh, that was Fluttershy, she was with the dragon because she takes care of all of the animals, in and out of the Everfree forest, that was what she was doing there.” Twilight explained the non-new information to me. “Well I’ll have to meet her later on after all of this.” I responded, just trying to keep the conversation going. “Who’s the stallion over there?” Twilight looked over behind her, I followed her gaze to see Mist staring at the ground with the most empty looking expression on his face. “That’s Mist, we met not long ago, he was being held where I was for veterinary purposes against his own free will, Taylor and I don't know much about him or his past life.” I told Twilight. I stared at Mist as he did nothing more to show any signs of life than blinking every now and then and the steady outward and inward motion of his chest, at least he was breathing. The double doors swung open then, I turned my head to see the white with pink mane nursepony that stopped me earlier from going to see Taylor, Twilight walked over to her to get the prognosis. “How is he nurse Redheart? Will he make it alright?” Twilight’s voice was urgent and the slightest bit demanding as she spoke. “Twilight, please just calm down, he’s going to be just fine.” nurse Redheart said, trying to calm the semi-frantic Twilight down, “However...” The nursepony’s voice trailed off. “Uh-oh, however?...” Twilight’s expression turned into one of dismay at the nursepony’s last comment. “However, he is incredibly weak, I have no idea how he survived a tussle with a dragon, it’s a miracle that he survived, Celestia knows how though, his broken foreleg will heal with the use of healing magic in a day or two, he will need to stay overnight for the next couple days in order for him to fully recover.” Redheart gave the full prognosis loud enough for all of us to hear. “Can we see him though?” I butted into the conversation, just wanting to know if I can see my friend in the condition he was in. “I don't see exactly why you can't, you are all his friends, and I believe it’s only right for friends to see how other friends are doing, I don't know if he is awake yet, he went unconscious during the operation, if you’re coming please follow me then.” Redheart replied to my question, leading us through the double doors. I stopped mid-stride to look back at the lounging cowpony on the chair, she was now up with her hat properly on her head, “You coming to see how he’s doing Applejack?” I called out to her, to make sure she wasn't going to ditch out. “Wish ah’ could, but I can't, that is, if ah’ wanna have tha’ sleep tha’ get work done in the mornin and still ave’ time before sundown.” she glared at me as she spoke. I was sure she was telling the truth, but something tells me that she was glad that she didn't have to come and see how Taylor was doing, probably because she didn't like me, but that gave her no reason to not come and see someone that she knew that survived a fight with a dragon. I watched her walk out the front door, her figure disappearing in the darkness of the night, not looking back, not once, not ever. I let Rainbow, Pinkie and the rest of the gang go on past as I held the double doors open, staring off in the last spot that I saw Applejack before she disappeared into the darkness. “Travis, are you coming?” Twilight’s voice called me back to Equestria, I looked over to see her stopped halfway down the hall looking back at me. “Yeah, I’m coming Twilight.” I let the door close on its own as I walked down the hall to go and see my half alive friend, It still bugged me that Applejack wasn't even sad sounding that she couldn't see Taylor, she didn't even sound sad that she couldn't even come and see him, she was a lot more than what I saw, this reminded me too much of her judgement with Zecora in season one of the show, this was simply prejudice for what I lied about, and I disapproved every last bit of it. “What a bitch...” I silently thought to myself, her and I would not get along anytime in the near future, from what happened in the span of an hour or so, I knew she would be a real problem in my life, but I wasn't about to let that ruin my life was I? I’m in Equestria for god’s sake. What can go wrong? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- beep...............................beep...............................beep...............................beep............................... I awoke to the sound of the heart beat monitor beside the bed I was laying on, the smell of antiseptics was strong in the air, the attempt at getting up I made allowed a small surge of pain to travel through my body, I looked at my broken arm to find that it was in an awkward looking cast, the doctorponies had tried their best at fitting a cast not meant for human beings around my arm, making way for small movement of my thumb and fingers, using my left hand although was alright, along with the turning of my neck. Travis, Twilight and whoever else would be here, would be here soon, there wasn't a doubt that they were worrying their little flanks off, heh... I made a pun concerning horses... this could become habitual later on, I chuckled at the horse pun that I made to myself. “So you’re up.” A voice came from my left, out of my peripheral vision. “Holy shi!- Ow......” I recoiled in pain after turning my head so quickly to the sound of the voice out of being spooked by it, I thought I would be alone after the operation to have some time to myself. “Whoa there, are you alright? Didn't mean to spook you so badly.” I heard the clop of hooves approach the side of the bed. “Was the intention to spook me then, if it wasn't supposed to be that bad?” I retorted, being in a grouchy mood from a long day and night. I looked over to see that the owner of the voice was a white stallion with a similar colored snow white mane and sapphire blue eyes. “Well no need to get snippy, I was just trying to see if you were alright.” he huffed in response, he then walked back to the chair he was on, and opened a book to read. “How long am I in for do you think?” I asked him, and as he put a bookmark on the page he was on before responding. “Well you’ve lost quite a bit of blood from what the doctors have told me, your ribs are cracked a little, that’s why it hurt when you tried to get up, the broken foreleg though will take about a day or so with the help of healing magic every four hours, other than that you’ve got a few cuts and bruises.” he paused for a moment before continuing, “You should be here for a week or so before they you get the OK for leaving.” “More time of my life wasted, all because of a fucking dragon...” I sunk into the bed and closed my eyes, the doctorpony went back to his book from what I could tell, he didn't bother to respond after that. “This just gets better and better doesn't it?” I thought to myself as I laid back in the bed, eyes closed. My thoughts were answered as I heard voices from within the hall, I painfully mustered the energy to get up and lean in to try and hear the conversation better, I was expecting ponies and a human as my visitors, this might be them, and I've got nothing better to do until then. The semi-soundproof door made it no easier for me to hear what they were saying, but my attention was to transfixed on the voices outside that nothing else made a dent in my attention. “SURPRISE!!!” The loud voice of Pinkie Pie in my right ear still rang after I pulled away, and hell if that wasn't the stupidest thing I've done with prior knowledge of NOT to do that today. I screamed in pain and yelled at the top of my lungs from the sheer amount of pain I was in, I shook the bed as I rocked back in forth, the doctor pony had failed in seeing my immediate pain, he kept reading his book. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry! Are you alright? I was just trying to... I mean, I was going to...” Pinkie was having a emotional breakdown right there,her hair had lost its natural poof and was straight, tears filled her eyes as she tried to hide them away from, my view. By looking over at her, after the pain had ceased, I saw that she had a small cart, adorned with many different colored party balloons along its edges, there was a cake in the center of the cart with the words, ‘Get well soon Taylor!’ printed in pink frosting on top, behind the cake appeared to be a small alligator with a party hat on and the most straightforward looking reptilian eyes, Pinkie had done all of this... Just for me. “Pinkie! What did you do to Taylor? We heard the screams and yelling, did you hur-” “Twilight stop.” I cut her off raising a hand and provoking her confusion with a cocked eyebrow. Pinkie’s crying had now gotten worse because of Twilight’s wrong accusations of what she had done, the pink mare was now sobbing quietly behind her hooves, trying to hide how she felt, but still failed in doing so. “Pinkie...” I said, she looked up with tear filled eyes at me, “Come here please...” She wiped the rest of the tears that were on her face, and slowly approached the bed. She stopped a good foot or so away from the bed, I gestured with my good arm for her to come closer, she got up to the side of the bed and stopped again, I gestured once more for her to come a bit closer, she tentatively leaned in, trying not to hurt me in any way shape or form after what had happened. I suddenly wrapped my good arm around her in as good of a hug I could manage in the condition I was in, she then began to sob once more, a lot louder and forceful than before. “I-I don't under-stand, I-I just h-hurt you and you're hug-g-ging me, what d-did I d-deserve for th-this?” She stuttered between sobs. I looked over at the quiet group at the door to see a variety of expressions on faces, mostly those of disbelief with jaws ajar, I mouthed a ‘what?’ to them and rolled my eyes before going back to Pinkie. “Listen, you shouldn't feel bad right now, in fact, you should feel pretty special right now.” I rubbed her back as I spoke, the smell of sugar present in the air as her head was next to mine. She continued to sob as she spoke, “Th-that doesn't m-make any sense.” She said as she cried in my arm, “How c-can I feel s-special after hurting y-you? I d-dont want to b-be a b-b-big m-meanie-weenie p-pony, why sh-should I feel s-special?” “Listen, you don't realize what this means to me do you? You don't realize that this is my first ever ‘get well’ party thrown for me, and at that my first party EVER.” I watched as the expression changed from her saddened face to one of complete disbelief as she gawked at me. “Are you for sure serious of serious?” She got in real close to my face, almost touching nose to snout, I could smell the aroma of everything sugary in the world as she got close. “Not shitting you, not even one bit right now.” I stated to her, trying to keep firm in the conversation. I watched her after that statement, I saw the tears in her eyes, god knows how, but they receded back into her head, her hair reinflated in no time flat, and her overall expression had regained its happy demeanor, accompanied by its ever-so-large smile. “Seeing her smile made me smile a bit, I haven't felt this good to tell news to someone since I told my parents I had been on the ‘A’ honor roll for the past year, but they didn't give a shit, this however, gave a hell of alot more positive results than with my parents. “You know what this calls for?” Pinkie asked as she bounced to the hospital closet. “Pinkie, I hope that isn't what I think it is...” Twilight was tentative in her tone of voice, peering into the closet that Pinkie was getting whatever it was, from what Twilight just said, if it was what she had feared, this probably wouldn't turn out well for all of us. “Well why would you NOT hope it is what you think it is Twilight?” I asked her, the look on her face was grim, as if a major catastrophe to happen. “Because last time it was the thing that I thought it was, there was extensive damage done to the library.” I recalled what she was talking about, the last time I was in the library I could discern the older wood from the newer looking wood from the repair from the thing it was that she dreaded. “Well then Twilight if it’s that bad, then what is it?” I looked to her for an answer, but she only looked over to the closet where Pinkie’s rump could be seen, her rear hooves shuffling as she dragged it out. “It’s my party cannon!” I watched Pinkie drag a large pink cannon adorned with all sorts of other party colors out from the closet, ”I only use it on occasion, but this IS a very special occasion, I’m the first pony to throw a party for a human and it’s also your first party too! I only thought it seemed right for a celebration-y firing!” “How did you know then that it would be a celebration-y event? You had the cannon here in advance, how would you know then, and also, why would you act so surprised about this being my first party? It doesn't make sense to me.” I crossed my arms awkwardly with the cast on in confusion. “Seriously Taylor.” Travis spoke in a condescending tone, “She’s Pinkie Pie for god’s sake, nothing she does makes sense.” Travis seemed to know a lot more about them than I did, I’d ask him more about that later. From Twilight’s grim expression on her face, the firing of the cannon in the enclosed and very small space we were in would probably ensure some kind of critical injury at the very least to all of us, humans and ponies alike. I had to reason with her so we all didn't die, also that she wouldn't be scarred for life as the fact she killed eight beings with one pull of the string. “Hey Pinkie hold on a sec.” I asked her, she looked up from her focusing on preparing the canon. “What’s up?” She looked back down to keep readying the cannon. I shifted uncomfortably in the bed, “Can we wait until I get out of the hospital to fire it?” She looked up at me in puzzlement, “Well I’m sure it’d be better if we waited to celebrate when I can actually Celebrate? Out of the bed that is.” She looked down at the canon, pondering the idea and then back up at me, she smiled as she spoke, “Yep, you’re right, I’m sure it will be a whole lot more fun then.” she looked back at the canon that was now standing by for fire, “I’m sure it can wait.” Pinkie then began wheeling the canon back into the closet. I’ve just saved us from annihilation by party canon. Twilight walked up to the bed as Pinkie rolled the canon back into the closet to whisper a small ‘thank you.’ before gesturing for the others to come over, I chuckled to myself as they all gathered around my temporarily disabled body to see how I was doing. I eyed Travis as he came to the bed with the rest of them, I gave a scowl at him before singling him out from the rest of the group. “Well, look who’s here, the dumbass who got me in a fight with a dragon and nearly got me killed.” I smiled and gave a thumbs up, “Good job!” I said sarcastically. Travis scowled back and heaved a sigh, “Hey, did I mean for you to get like this? No, but I will admit I’m the one who pissed of the dragon.” The ponies turned their little equine heads to look at Travis for some sort of an explanation. “What did you do?” Twilight asked, “Did you somehow find its sleeping quarters with its hoard and try and take whatever it was it was holding in the center?” Twilight asked, as if that would be the probable reason as to why I’m in a hospital bed now. Travis looked over at Twilight, “Hey! It was my favorite gem, it was a deep, blood-red ruby about the size of a football!” Travis exclaimed, failing in his attempt to defend himself. “I knew it.” Twilight smiled triumphantly, it was such a specific, but dead on reason, I was curious as to how she knew about that. “Well you can't blame me for that, humans, a majority of the time, let their own ambitions get the better of themselves.” Travis scratched the back of his head while trying to think of what to say next, “Yeah that was stupid of me to do, but some of us can't fight temptation... not even you Taylor.” Travis shot a look at me, and all eyes followed his gaze at me. “Now what’s that supposed to mean?” Rarity eyed me with a look of curiosity, “What didn't you resist temptation of?” she smiled a little, from here I could tell she had a thing for gossip, and this ‘dirty little secret’ wasn't about to get out between Travis and I. “No.” was all I said to her, she frowned a little and backed up a little, returning to the rest of the group. I knew what Travis was talking about, and if it were to get out, among gossiping ponies, my life would probably be ridiculed and picked at the entire time I stayed here. “Well you can't blame me for having an interest in gossip.” she regained a little of her smile before speaking again, “Even I can't resist my own ambitions.” she finished, trying to entice me through reason in order to get me to talk. I gave a dramatically long sigh and laid my head against the back of the pillow on my bed, I didn't want to give it out, not all of it, but just a little overview as to what happened that thursday night to get them off my back. I opened my eyes to see them all standing there, waiting for my next response. Travis sat there with the most smug look on his face, as if to say, “This is so damn funneh!” I raised my good arm and gave him the finger. The ponies looked at Travis and I in confusion, looking for an explanation as to what the gesture meant. “Well fuck you too man.” he didn't seem the most bit pleased from my gesture, but seemed resilient in response. “I’m sorry, but what did that mean? I still need more to document and gestures among the human race would be nice to jot down.” Twilight smiled sheepishly as she cut into the ‘friendly talk’ of ours, levitating again a scroll, quill and inkwell in front of her “More or less it means to go and jump off a cliff.” Travis smiled at his smart remark, Twilight scribbled down the notes she needed to take before they disappeared in a flash of light. “Do you have those everywhere you go Twilight?” I asked getting annoyed at the fact she always seemed to have those with her to document every single teeny tiny little thing I did and said, and now to make it better, she had Travis too. “She’s gonna get all the wrong information from him...” I shook my head from Twilight’s immediate interest in the definition in the gesture, Travis would not only make life here not so lonely as to being the only human in Equestria, but he would also be there almost every second... Of every day... Of every year... “Shit...” “Back to what we were talking about...” I tried getting everyone back on track, Rarity was a bit perceptive of what I was trying to do and cut me off before I could continue. She then cleared her throat to get the attention of me, I looked up to see her with an impatient look on her face, “Did you need something? Glass of water for that cough of yours?” I said trying to disregard what she was doing. “Well I am waiting for that summary of that little secret of yours.” she sounded smug as she spoke to me. “Rarity, I can talk about that later with you, and anypony else who wants to hear about it alright?” I ended that topic right there, “You fail to realize that in the span of seventy two hours I’ve been captured by a bunch of stallions, who gamble on the lives of animals, fought for my life with a bunch of animals, fought with a dragon and am still living here, and now I’m in a hospital because of my dumbass friend here.” I was getting annoyed by her pestilence, I realized that I was yelling, making them look a bit unnerved now, I lowered my tone of voice to a more suitable tone to make them less nervous around me, we haven't even had a proper introduction yet. “Excuse me, but I was trapped with those assholes too, you know. Three fucking months. A lot worse.” Travis tried to play the ‘feel-sorry-for-me-too’ card but I had a counter-remark for that. “Well did you have to fight that Ursa minor?” I questioned him, “If you didn't that doesn't even compare with a dragon for god’s sake.” He opened his mouth to speak and then shut it while looking at the ground, for lack of a better thing to say. He looked back up with a scowl on his face at me, “Well that doesn't compare with my three months of loneliness and fighting for my life and sanity you know, asshole.” It was my turn to look at the ground, more or less the end of my bed for lack of a better answer, he had me beat there, I doubt even I could live that long with nobody to talk to or socialize with for that kind time duration. There was a bit of an awkward silence for a moment, then the door to the hall opened, the pink-maned nursepony stuck her head through the opening in the door. All heads, pony and human alike, turned to see what it was. “I’m sorry, but visiting time is almost over.” she gave a sheepish smile, trying not to ruin the moment between all of us, “I can give you five more minutes before he needs his rest for the night.” “I have a name you know, its Taylor, if you wanted to know.” I piped up, trying to be referred as Taylor, not ‘him’. “Alright then, thank you nurse Redheart, we’ll be out in a bit here.” Twilight responded to nurse Redheart as she was called. “Alright then, I will be back in five to put Taylor, to bed then.” she smiled as she emphasized on my name, before leaving the room, shutting the door behind her. “Alright we better wrap this up here...” I was beginning the conclusion to their visit to get some sleep, losing a lot of blood is a real tiring if it ever happens and you’re stuck in a hospital for a good week. “Sooooooooo......” Travis clapped his hands together while rubbing them together, getting the ready attention of all to hear, “Where am I staying tonight?” There were a few looks between all of them, they all seemed to look for a willing volunteer for housing my human friend, I would think Twilight would be first to offer, but I was wrong there, she seemed quiet, if not reluctant to have him over. “My place is out of the question.” Rainbow started, “I can't lug him all the way to Cloudsdale, I don't even think he can WALK on clouds.” she had a point there with the fact he can't walk on them, I don't even see that being plausible. “Fluttershy has the dragon at her place, and Applejack has work in the morning...” Twilight added, cutting out the option of the yellow pegasus and the orange cowpony for that was she was referred to as. That left Pinkie, Rarity and Twilight left in the run for housing a human that hasn’t showered in three months, was totally erratic for being here with all the ponies and not being able to shut his damn mouth for one second. “I’m sorry darling, but I have orders to fill for tomorrow.” Rarity said, “And I think that if Sweetie Belle caught sight of you, she would invite Applebloom and Scootaloo to try and get their cutie marks out of something with you.” Rarity looked as if she was thinking about the event that it actually happened, she then shuddered a little, “I can't get all of my orders done with that obstreperous noise and I’ve never been late on an order and I’m not going to be.” Her eyes narrowed as she concluded her little reasonable explanation. “You just had to say no.” Travis said smirking a little at her own defence. “Ooooh oh! Pick me! Cmon pick me! You know you want to!” Pinkie waved her hoof in the air as she sat on her hindquarters, trying to entice the thought of having a sleepover with a human being with her apparently, ‘pet’ alligator too. “Sounds good to me!” Travis smiled as he spoke, he tried to contain his happiness, it was no mystery to any of us, but he still tried... and failed miserably at it. “ooooh Twilight can he? Can he? canhecanhecanhecanhecanhecanhecanheeeeeeeeeee? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssseeeeeeeee???” She seemed almost desperate laying at Twilight’s hooves for her permission. “Well I guess he can-” “YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA YYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Pinkie began bouncing around the room doing flips and cartwheels as she went. She then popped up in Travis’ face to make contact with the overjoyed human, “We’re gonna have SO MUCH FUN TOGETHER!!! We’re gonna stay up late and PAR-TAY!!! ALL NIGHT LONG!!! This will be my personal ‘Welcome to Ponyville Travis’ party. You’re big one will be later on after Taylor’s ‘Welcome to Ponyville, glad you didn't get eaten by a dragon’ party! There’ll be party games, lotsa cake, and I’ll even get that DJ for the occasion!” Travis stopped dead, his expression showed pure disbelief, “Did I hear you say DJ?” Travis asked in a shaky tone. “Yeah the white unicorn with the cool looking blue hair and glasses, I know her very well, she’s been to a lot of my parties! Her name is Vinyl Scra-... Hey are you okay?” I Looked over at him to see that his body had begun to sway and his face looked like he was off in another dimension, his smile on his face told me he was in his own little dreamland of a fantasy. “Travis? You there?” I asked trying to get him back to reality, but even I fail miserably sometimes. Pinkie walked up to his swaying body, looked him up and down and put her hoof on his chest, closing her eyes and going into some sort of trance. “Pinkie what’re you do-” I started before getting cut off. “Shhhhhh.” was all Pinkie gave in response before being silent with her hoof on my friend. “What’s she doing?” I looked to Twilight for an answer, she only shrugged in response, if she didn't know, I didn't know who would. “OW FUCK!!!” Travis yelled as he fell on his ass. “What? What happened? Pinkie what’d you do to him?” I asked having no clue as to what the fuck just happened. “You just... hit me with a fish... In my head...” Travis held his head in one hand trying to reconcile after the mental ‘fish slap’ in his head. “Pinkie, why did you hit him with a fish in his head? And how is that even possible?” It made absolutely no sense to me or anyone else. “Why wouldn't I hit him with a fish? Its the only way to break somepony out of their euphoric trance!” she smiled as she spoke, as if it was supposed to make sense to us, “And besides I’m Pinkie Pie! Isn't that enough reason for you?” “That doesn't even-” “Just let it go.” Rainbow stopped me mid sentence, “That’s more than enough reason as to why its possible.” I looked back at Pinkie Pie who was now bouncing around the room with a rather large smile on her face, I simply sighed and accepted that Pinkie could never be proven to the logical world. Travis was still rubbing his face as he got back up of the floor, looking at Pinkie and being so confused as to what happened and I honestly couldn't blame him. This little monstrosity of breaking logic could and probably would contradict everything I said and did here, all that I have learned would become invalid because of her. I then gave a loud and obnoxious yawn looked over to see Mist, who was a lot quieter than usual in his normal state. He had been very quiet since we got out of the arena and wouldn't tell us what it was that was bugging him. “Hey Mist.” the lighter cyan head looked at me, “What are your plans now? Since we’re out of the arena now? Do you have any family or friends that are gonna be thrilled to see you?” All heads turned again to face the unicorn who was now paying no attention to me at all, but was now staring at the floor in deep thought, as if remembering something that jogged his memory. He looked back up to see everyone staring at him, he scanned the faces around him and then smiled, before walking to the door, opening it halfway, and turning back to see everyone still looking at him. He gave a silent nod with his smile and walked out the door. I saw as his expression turned grim right as the last of his face almost left my view when the door shut behind him. “Dammit Mist...” I mumbled to myself, everyone looked back with worried expressions, Travis and I had known him longest, why did they look just as sad as we do? I mean, they barely even know the gu- er... stallion. The door opened again and our heads turned again as if we were watching a tennis match, our eyes following the ball, which in this case, it was anything that moved or made noise. Nurse Redheart poked her head in once more, I knew it was time for them to go, and good timing too, I am tired as all hell. “It’s time to say goodbye now.” she said in a happy tone, everyone then began walking to the door, saying their goodbyes to me as they disappeared from sight. When they were all gone I looked out the window, I saw the crescent moon peek out from behind the rain clouds from earlier, Luna would be waiting for me in my dreams, getting tired now would be key in making up for lost time because of a dragon. I gave one final yawn before closing my eyes, listening to the sound of pages being turned by the non-attentive doctorpony on the chair nearby, and having one last thing go through my head before falling into my well deserved deep sleep. “She said ‘fuck you’ to logic...” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight walked down the hall with her friends, Rarity was making small-talk with Rainbow about a new fashion line that she had heard about, Rainbow was reluctant to listen by the look on her face, but to be polite, she nodded as Rarity was jabbering on. Pinkie and Travis in the back were incredibly loud, they seemed to get along very well, they walked and talked about what their plans were going to be for their party tonight. At least Pinkie found someone she could talk to and not get annoyed... Celestia knows how that’s possible. They all went their separate ways, Rainbow flew off to Cloudsdale first, then Pinkie and Travis ran into Sugarcube Corner, (She felt bad for the Cakes by the way) and Rarity was greeted with a hug from Sweetie Belle and a barrage of questions about the ‘alien’ that she went and saw. Twilight continued her walk alone until she made it to the library she called home. Opening the door, she was greeted by the sound of a dragon snoring in the other room and complete darkness. She then levitated a candle from a table nearby, and with her magic, illuminated the room with a spark of fire. It would be a lonely few days besides the company of Spike, before the library would become an exciting place to be again, she had already read pretty much all the books, and the next shipment wasn't supposed to come for another month. She could only wait for the human to get out of the hospital before she had someone around all the time. Spike was always out doing some errand for her, but ceased to show any malevolent feelings to what she made him do. She walked up the staircase, each step squeaked under her weight as she ascended to the floor above until she reached the top. Walking down the hall, she stopped in front of the now empty room that the human she had been housing was no longer occupying. She walked in to find it as she thought it would be; quiet. She surveyed the room but found no trace of his presence, besides his saddlebag that sat in the corner. Taylor had been careful with that, perhaps it contained something valuable that could help her with her studies on the ‘human’ race. She began walking towards it but then stopped, he wouldn't like it if she were to go through his things while he was gone, he would notice that they were moved when he got back. She wouldn't probably know how to use whatever was in there anyways, Taylor had pulled out some device now and then to tell the time that lit up when he touched it, that was beyond even the highest technology of princess Celestia. She turned around and left the room, closing the door silently with a small ‘click’ and opening the door to her room from the hallway. She was greeted by the loud snoring of the purple dragon at the foot of her bed. Smiling, she levitated the half-on blanket onto him, he moved around in his sleep to get himself comfortable and then went back to snoring. Twilight got into bed quietly and looked out the window to her right, she watched the moon loom in the sky, clouds passing it by as it lay suspended in mid-air, the next few days would be slow but at least this gave her the perfect opportunity to ask him all the questions she needed for her studies. But those would have to wait. The feeling of sleep was too much for her at the moment, being exhausted from a good three mile gallop to save the life of a human was enough for one day for her. She slowly closed her eyes, and smiling, thought about future questions for tomorrow. That's how her little pony mind worked anyways. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, a large amount of music and hollering could be heard from the bakery in town, there were the occasional yells and breaking of glass, but then there was a boom, silence overtook the building. Lights in the houses of others turned on as the ponies housed in them stuck their heads out to see what it was, only to find the establishment in a state of party, but it was as if it was on mute. The ponies who had looked out to see what had made the noise, went back inside to get some sleep, assured that the royal guard that was posted in town would take care of whatever it was in the morning.