//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Wonderment // Story: Steady as She Flies // by Witching Hour //------------------------------// When Witch enters the trainer room, she wonders briefly who Siren Bliss is before shaking her head. She looks around, seeing all the beds arrayed in rows along each wall, along with the tubs obviously ready for water and various trainers darting from table to table where a few pegasi were being treated for minor work-out related injuries; strains and the like. Much lower key than her hospital work, and certainly nothing life-threatening, Witch notes, already feeling some of her stress sloughing off. Witch doesn’t have much time to savor the relief as a brown unicorn mare with a dark brown mane approaches her, looking decidedly concerned. “You lost, sweetie?” she asks. “The labs are downstairs,” she adds. “Stairwell’s at the end of the other hall, on the left.” “Pardon, ma’am, but I’m Witching Hour… I was told to come here,” Witch explains, making the unicorn do a double take. “Oh…” She smiles sheepishly at Witch. “I should have recognized you,” she adds with a slight chuckle. “I’m Siren Bliss, Head Trainer,” she continues, gesturing with her hoof to follow her towards the far end of the room. “There’s some paperwork we need to fill out, and then we’ll figure out where and when you’re scheduled.” Witch follows Siren Bliss into the small but comfortable office, taking the only other seat in the room aside from Bliss’, which she promptly sits in before pulling various forms from folders in a filing cabinet and stacking them neatly on the desk before her. The last one Bliss pulls she takes a moment to look over. “Well… It looks like R&D wants some of your time, despite your obvious medical knowledge… You okay with splitting your time between here and the labs, hon?” she asks, looking up at Witch. Witch nods, feeling a little unnerved at how relaxed Bliss is being around her. “I’m here to be at the Wonderbolts’ disposal… I will need to report to Princess Luna on occasion, but whatever I’m needed for, I’m more than up for the challenge,” Witch replies with a slight shrug. Bliss simply nods, and floats the paper over to Witch. Now able to read it, Witch saw her schedule in two-hour blocks in rows, and the days in columns. Most mornings, she’s slated in the trainer room, but for Fridays and Saturdays. Those are both half days, but Friday morning is in the labs, and Saturday afternoon is in the trainer room. Sunday is apparently her day off, but it was also advised in the schedule that she should make use of the gym that day after speaking to someone called Pec Bounce during any unscheduled time. Witch glances up from the timetable at Bliss with a raised eyebrow. Bliss shrugs a reply. “Princess Luna surely told you what we do outside the public appearances… All members of the Wonderbolts, pegasi or not, are expected to be able to hold their own,” she explains, causing Witch to swallow nervously. Bliss smiles in understanding. “I’ll write up a plan and schedule for that if you like?” she offers. “It’d certainly be more suited to our physiology than anything Pec Bounce would come up with…” she adds with a slight chuckle. Witch finds herself smiling in reply. “I’d appreciate that, thank you,” she responds, trying not to chortle as well. She didn’t know who this Pec Bounce guy was aside from someone who ran the gym, but given Bliss’ offer, Witch guesses that he must be a complete muscle head with a name like that. Horrible of her to think it, her smile turns a little sheepish. ‘Witchy, don’t go making such assumptions! These are your coworkers now!’ she chides herself mentally. “I’ll get that to you before the end of the week… But now, breakfast is about to get done, and we should get this paperwork out of the way and show you around before we get swamped,” Bliss says before starting floating papers over to Witch to fill out; a lot of liability waivers and confidentiality agreements and all quickly dealt with. “Most of the places you’ll need to know about are on this level or downstairs,” Bliss says, after filing all the forms away and standing. Witch follows her out, back into the Trainer room, nodding. “Offices are on the second floor, and squad dorms are on the third… Recruit dorms are down the central hall just past the staircase. Mess hall’s next door as you might’ve seen on your way in… Get used to bland food, or making a quick run to whatever food places are near here. The Battledome is further down the hall, as are the classrooms for squads to go over their maneuvers… The command squads have their private gyms over here as well. The West Wing is where the weight room and other practice rooms are…” Bliss continues, almost rambling, as she leads Witch to the entrance to her domain. “I’ll take you over to the labs after lunch. For now… Protocol…” With that, Bliss levitates a clipboard from next to the door and shows it to Witch. “This is where everyone must sign in, and then sign out, noting what treatment they got. If you see a supply of anything getting low, there’s another clipboard by the storage closet to note that.” Witch continues to nod as Bliss explains the general treatments the trainers provide. Privately, she again feels the keen relief of no longer being faced with life-or-death choices like she had in the hospital. Combined with how friendly Bliss seems, the atmosphere in the trainer room is like the tea Witch’s mother gave her to help her sleep. The door swings open, and a large group of pegasi came in - several with obviously tender joints. Bliss sighs, watching each one sign in, before turning back to Witch. “Well… It’s time to work… I’ll watch you for a bit and then you’ll be on your own reconnaissance,” she says with a dry smile. Witch smiles back, knowing that Bliss probably wanted to make sure she didn’t go straight to the worst case scenario as would be the typical case in a hospital. She approaches the first table where a large, green female pegasus patiently waits. She puts on her professional mask and smiles brightly to the visitor. “Hi there… What can I do for you?” Witch sighs heavily, leaning against a now vacant table. The morning had been just as busy as Bliss had implied, but thankfully, she’d performed to the Head Trainer’s standards, and Bliss had left her alone after the second patient. “Hey newbie! C’mon! It’s chow time!” a pale green unicorn mare calls from near the doors. Witch nods and pushes away from the bed, moving quickly to join her and her colleagues. “I’m Green Flash, who’re you?” she asks as the group makes their way down the hall to the cafeteria. “Witching Hour… I was assigned here by Princess Luna,” Witch explains, garnering a squeal of girl-ish joy from one of their companions as they got in the sandwich line. Witch looked back, sighting the unicorn mare with brown eyes, braided pink mane and reddish brown coat who is presently squishing her cheeks together with her hooves while making excited noises and practically dancing in place while her tray hovered nearby. “Oh my stars! You know Princess Luna!?” she exclaims, grabbing Witch by the shoulders and shaking her. “Cinna! Keep it down!” Green Flash snaps before sighing. “That’s Cinnabelle,” she adds, shaking her head as she loads her tray. “She’s Bliss’ secretary.” “Administrative assistant!” Cinnabelle retorts with a playful glower. “And you can’t really blame me, can you? I mean… Getting your assignments from a Princess…  Personally,” she continues, sighing wistfully. “Well… I am her student…” Witch replies uncertainly and bumps into Green Flash when she takes a step back as Cinnabelle squees again. “You’re Princess Luna’s student!!!” she cries excitedly as she accidentally puts her salad into her soup bowl, her voice carrying through the now crowded lunch hall. Witch blushes, looking around at the various ponies now staring in their direction. “Please… Keep it down?” Witch pleads, ducking her head and moving quickly to put Green Flash between her and the rest of the staring diners. “Cinna… You’re scaring the newbie,” Green Flash says with no small amount of irritation as she put a hoof around Witch’s shoulders and guides her further along the line. “I’m sorry but… Wow…” Cinnabelle apologizes as she catches up with them, looking contrite. “If I were even her assistant, I’d be telling everyone! It must be so exciting!” “Not really…” Witch replies warily. “She mostly just arranges for my teachers… She had me working at Canterlot General before this…” she explains as the small group get drinks from the dispensers. “I do study some magic theory for her, but mostly it’s self-directed study.” “That… Is… So… Amazing!” Cinnabelle exclaims, belatedly realizing that her glass was now overflowing with carrot juice. She makes a small squeaking noise as she hastily pulls her glass back and casts a quick spell to clean up the mess she’d inadvertently made. “You’ll have to excuse Cinna here… She’s a bit obsessed when it comes to the elite of Canterlot… If you have a conversation with her and she doesn’t mention somepony like Fancy Pants, Upper Crust, Jet Set, Fleur Dis Lee, any famous pony or royalty, something is horribly wrong or she has obviously been replaced by pod-pony,” Green Flash explains with a sigh. “I’d be up among them now if my grandparents hadn’t thrown a conniption over my father marrying ‘below’ them!” Cinna persists as they move to the tables, making quote gestures with her hooves. “They even named me after my grandmother in the hopes that at least she’d come around… No horseshoes there, but…” Witch can’t help but laugh now at the dynamics between Green Flash and Cinnabelle. “I know that the upper class tends to frown on unicorns marrying other kinds of ponies… They don’t like patronizing my mother’s tea room and bar because she married an earth pony, never mind that he’s been bringing her all the odd ingredients she needed since… Well, pretty much ever… But that doesn’t change-” “OH MY GOSH YOUR MOM IS FINE BREW?!” Cinna exclaims as she drops her tray on an empty table, drawing all the eyes in the hall back to their group and making Witch wish either she or Cinnabelle were not here. “CINNA!” Green Flash shouts, practically pouncing on the offending unicorn and shoving her face into her soup/salad. Sighing as her friend blows bubbles in the leafy soup/soupy salad, Green Flash looks over at Witch. “As I said… Please excuse her…” “Cinna turning into a fanpony again?” asks the familiar voice of Bliss as she joins them at the table, chuckling. “Let her up, Flash… She’s the one that keeps us in bandages…” Bliss adds with smile. Green Flash sighs and removes her hoof from the back of Cinna’s head. Cinna sits up, taking a deep breath before snorting to get soup and leaves of lettuce from her nose. Bliss takes a quick look around at the gawkers. “Move along. Nothing to see here…” she says as she makes shooing motions with her hooves. The staring crowd quickly and loudly go back to their meals. She sighs, returning her attention to her trainers and assistant. “Cinna, sweetie… Tone it down a notch or eight. Yes, Witching Hour may have some significant ties, but calm yourself a bit… It’s clear the topic makes her uncomfortable.” Cinna pouts a bit, but nods. “Sorry, Witching Hour… It’s just really exciting…” she says with a sheepish smile. Witch, still highly uncomfortable, smiles shakily back. “Just… Try not to do it again? I’d rather be known for what I do than for who I know…” she says timidly, garnering an approving nod from Green Flash and a bemused look from Bliss. “Shame you weren’t around five months ago… Could’ve used something like that spell you created…” Bliss replies dryly, making Witch cringe slightly. “I was on the hospital team when Mr. Soarin came in and I actually started work on the spell afterwards…” Witch murmurs softly, her eyes cast down at her plate. She looks up sharply though when she hears Bliss snort. “That doesn’t surprise me one bit… Quite the miracle those doctors pulled off… and apparently you too! And without that spell no less,” Bliss responds. Witch quickly bit her tongue. While she’d been off duty when the royal sisters had arrived, it was hard to remain ignorant of it while being Princess Luna’s personal student. Still, she had promised her teacher that she’d perpetuate the ruse that it was simply a miracle pulled off by a team of dedicated doctors. “Yeah… Thanks…” she says, averting her eyes. “Wait, what spell?” Green Flash queries, leaning forward and oblivious to the fact that a daisy petal is now hanging from her lower lip. Witch groans, using her magic to shove her tray aside, and puts her head down on the table before covering it with her forelegs. She feels someone poking her with a hoof. She peeks from between her limbs, and sees that her harasser was Cinna. “What? You said you wanted to be better known for what you did instead of who you know… So… Tell us!” Cinna says defensively, having sighted Witch’s blue eye peering out at her. “Fine…” Witch sighs, pushing herself back upright. “I made a spell that completely healed a pegasus’ wings…” She created a brief illusion of a miniature Monkey as she’d appeared just after her accident on the table so all her companions could see, but not anyone else trying to eat lunch. Blis and Flash cringe and Cinna sharply inhales, aghast. “As you can see, without my new spell, she would’ve been permanently grounded… Now, however,” she explains with clinical coolness before changing the image to show Monkey with her wings fully extended up and out. Cinna, Flash and Bliss could all clearly see the crystal edges glittering. Their eyes widen in surprise, and Flash’s jaw drops. “Her name is Monkey Wrench, and she’s now my friend and roommate. The spell had an unexpected benefit in that she needed less wingpower to complete normal maneuvers… She spent most of her time in physical therapy relearning how to fly. She can still go full-tilt, which is now even faster than she ever had gone before…” Witch couldn’t help the sigh that escapes her as she finishes explaining, the spell vanishing in a twinkling of glacial blue motes. “I sense a ‘but’ in that statement…” Cinna prods, Bliss and Flash nodding in agreement. Witch sighs debates internally whether or not to tell these ponies about Monkey’s certainty that the crystal wings were somehow cheating now. On the one hand, those things were told in confidence not only to her as a doctor, but as a friend… But Bliss and Flash are colleagues, and collaborating on cases wasn’t an uncommon thing. “She gave up competitive flying after being called a cheater at a small fly meet about six weeks ago… She took first in the obstacle course, and the ass was obviously a sore loser, but she took it to heart, apparently… I know she wants to keep doing it, but she’s believes it’s cheating now…” Witch explains, sighing heavily as she magically pulls her tray back and takes a bite of her own sandwich. Cinna looks about ready to hunt the asshole pegasus down, or start ranting heavily about what she’d do to him, but schools her expression into a calmer one at a sharp look from Flash. “That is quite the issue…” Bliss says with an air of sage wisdom. “I’m guessing you tried to convince her that it wasn’t but she said that you’re a unicorn and couldn’t possibly understand?” Witch nods, smiling ruefully. “Something to that effect, yes…” Cinna looks between Bliss and Flash with a desperate look in her eyes. “Well we have to do something to help! Isn’t that our job?!” she demands crossly. Despite their rocky start, Witch finds herself now warming to the aide. Part of her wonders if Cinna’s reaction to Monkey’s injury is indicative of someone close to her being in a similar situation, but she shakes that thought aside when Flash snorts in aggravation. “Our job says nothing about helping the general public; we work for the Wonderbolts, Cinna,” Flash replies with an irritated roll of her violet eyes. Cinna opens her mouth to take umbrage but Bliss speaks, effectively cutting her off. “Leave it to me, Cinna… And Flash? We’re doctors, first and foremost, and that does mean that we help anyone that needs healing. Just because this Monkey Wrench isn’t a Wonderbolt doesn’t mean we should ignore the obvious burden of our coworker,” Bliss states calmly, making all of them look at her in confusion. “I have an idea. I’ll tell you if it pans out,” she adds, firmly ending the discussion before turning to Witch. “Better hurry up. I need to get you downstairs soon or ol’ Velly’s going to throw a tantrum about me keeping a researcher from him…”