Stupidity and a Damage Report
The next day...
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo slowly trotted out of Ponyville Hospital. The normally happy-go-lucky CMC were each sad for the ponies that were being treated inside after the explosion three days ago, and silent as they brooded whatever was on their respective minds.
Which was abruptly broken when Scootaloo stomped on the dirt road, a child's anger coursing through her as she said, "I say we find whatever the hay did this and make it apologise."
This, naturally, drew looks of exasperation from Apple Bloom and confusion from Sweetie Belle as the former replied, "Ya mean find the critter that wen' an' beat Princess Luna up and make it 'pologise? How ya'll gonna do that?"
This stumped Scootaloo momentarily, before she smartly (to herself, anyway) stated, "The Everfree, duh. That has monsters, so whatever hurt Rainbow Dash and the others is obviously there." Apple Bloom gave a facehoof at this, sliding it down her face to retort when she noticed Scootaloo already buzzing off on her scooter with a determined glare.
"C'mon, Sweetie, better make sure she don't git herse'f eat'n," Apple Bloom sighed, trotting lightly before looking back to see Sweetie Belle looking nervously between the distancing figure of their friend and the Hospital. "Sweetie Belle?"
"Well," Sweetie started, fidgeting slightly, "Rarity and Mum and Dad are in the Hospital, along with everypony else, so shouldn't we, you know, try and stay out of trouble?" Apple Bloom gave thought for a moment, before agreeing with a nod.
"Well, then let's git Scoot so we can tell 'er that." Sweetie Belle nodded to that plan before the two raced off after the orange speck that'd just crested the last hill before the Everfree boundaries.
=========================
"So," Applejack hesitatingly started, "Yer sayin' these brace doohickeys'll help me buck apples?"
The doctor sighed before repeating himself, "No, Miss Applejack, these braces will help you walk by taking..." he took a quick glance at the report in front of him to reaffirm his guess before continuing, "roughly 80% of your weight off your hooves so that they don't hurt as much, and heal as fast as possible. Which won't happen if you strain your legs."
The braces in question were surprisingly simple despite the intricate look about them, not to mention fairly sturdy. They enclosed Applejacks hooves at four points, extending down slightly to touch the ground instead of her hooves, and ran up her legs to her shoulders. A series of straps and rings ran up entirety of it. With the bandages that wrapped around them, along with most of her body from lacerations due to debris as well as slamming through a wall, it almost gave her the appearance of having a Zebra's legs if not for the alternating black cloth and silver metal of the braces.
The doctor cut in before Applejack managed to open her mouth, "And yes, Miss Applejack, bucking apples counts as straining them. Too much strain and your legs healing will be set back even longer than it is now." Granny Smith, who'd blatantly refused to leave, to Applejack's mixed feelings of gratitude, annoyance and nervousness, spoke up.
"Whatcha mean, 'longer than it is'? Jist how long?"
He took a deep breath, before speaking Applejack's sentence calmly, "At least... six months." At these words, the room went quiet. Taking this as a cue, the doctor levitated a file beside him and withdrawing several sheets of black plastic. "Now, these," he began as he cast an illumination spell behind the sheets that showed a pair of bones with some mild cracking, with plenty of healed 'scars', "Are your hind legs about five weeks after attempting to buck a rock set in the ground some months ago." Applejack blushed in embarrassment to that, thinking, 'Stupid RD an' her drunk'n dares...'
Levitating more sheets out of a separate folder, the doctor performed the illumination spell again.
"And these... are your legs now." Granny Smith's inhale was audible to the doctor as she took in the shattered mess that was her granddaughters forelegs. How they were even in one piece...
"Any unnecessary stress will cause the fractures to completely shatter your legs and delay the healing process to as far as two years," here, the doctor's eyes looked at Applejack with a sympathetic plea in them; he had heard, of course, about the time Big Mac hurt himself and Applejack took over his share. "Please. For the sake of your legs, take it easy. Before you know it, six months are gone and your back to bucking apples."
Applejack's mane hid her eyes as she nodded, a tell-tale glimmer on her cheeks informing the doctor to say, "I'll give you time to get used to this," before leaving the room.
'I don't get paid enough for this,' Doctor Calm Report lamented internally as he sighed, before making his way to the next mare on his rounds; one Fluttershy. Crossing the distance between doors was too quick for his liking, as he knocked softly on the door to the patient's room. After a brief second to allow him to take a calming breath, he strode in to see Fluttershy sitting up; a broken wing set in a splint and a bandage wrapping around her head covering her eyes, with a few more around her barrel to protect the stitches beneath from being infected.
'Turns out her shyness is her saving grace,' Calm Report noted to himself as he browsed her medical chart, 'although the animals are a bit unexpected,' he added as he threw a quick glance around to spot a rabbit, a few mice, some birds of varying species and Princess Celestia's phoenix. Whom, he just noticed with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile, were currently rehearsing by the sound of it. He stood there and allowed the birdsong to relax him as it filled the room. As it ended, he made a note to find her after she was healed in the hospital and see if she was open to a date.
"Miss Fluttershy?" This announcement of his presence sent her flinching and trying to make herself as small as possible under the covers. Though this sight warmed his heart by the sheer cuteness of it, he was more preoccupied by the rabbit beside her rolling its eyes before hopping forward and dragging the covers off her head. The now red-cheeked mare turned her head left and right as though vainly attempting to find something to hide behind.
"Please, take it easy, Miss," Calm said, closing the distance between the himself and the bed, "I'm here to see how you're doing. Is that okay?" At the pegasus' hesitant nod, he cast a few spells to check that her wing was mending properly and the wounds on her sides were healing right. Once all was done, he looked at her bandaged face.
"I'd like to see if your eye...s," he said, catching himself at the end - she didn't need to know that she was permanently half-blind yet, "are able to see, if that's alright?" At her mumbled assent, he began slowly unwinding the bandage, a hazel aura wrapped around it, while keeping the pads in place while saying, "Please keep your eyes closed, they won't be used to the light just yet. When I say to, cover your eyes with your hoof."
As he neared the end of the bandage's length, he told her to hold her hoof up which was done. Removing the pads gently, he turned his attention to the curtains and light switch at the door, throwing the room into darkness that was illuminated by his horn. Taking a simple candle out of a cabinet, he lit it and placed it to the far side of the room which chased the darkness into shadows. Taking another calming breath, he turned back to Fluttershy.
"Now, open your eyes and lower your hoof, slowly."
~
Fluttershy gingerly lowered her hood, her eyelids flickering open. When they did, she felt panic when all she saw was black.
And then, she noticed a dim orange glow to her left. Blinking seemed to bring more and more focus to the world around her, until she could clearly see the light-hazel coat and ponytail styled mane of sea-green of the unicorn doctor at her bed, wheat coloured eyes apprehensive until he sighed.
~
Calm Report couldn't help but give a sigh of relief when he saw the teal eye that gazed at his own, iris and pupil reacting to the light the candle emitted. He quickly sobered when he remembered her other eye, a horrific flame-shaped scar continuing the pattern that crossed half her face. Her mane had been reduced to almost coltish, and her coat had suffered some extremely light burns.
Steeling himself, he gave a slight smile before beginning his job anew, "Well, it is certainly a blessing that you're able to see, miss," he allowed his smile to drop into a mild frown, "but unfortunately... your left eye was too damaged to be saved. I'm sorry we couldn't do more, but..."
"T-to be honest..." The mumbled stutter got his attention as she continued, a little louder than she started with, "I'm glad that I can see. Th-thank you so much..."
The gentle smile he got from her at the end would've required him to restart his heart if it'd been sudden. Coughing into his hoof and grateful for the darkness that hid his blush, he excused himself in order to get more candles to bring her sight up to normal and to continue his rounds before exiting the room calmly.
Only to lean against the wall to prevent collapsing outright onto the floor. 'Being that cute should be made illegal,' he dazedly thought, 'provided that only she be that cute.' Straightening himself, he flagged down a nurse and asked that Fluttershy's room be gradually brightened every half an hour. Shaking his head to clear it of daydreams of seeing that smile again, preferably with a garden background and a chequered cloth beneath them, he made his way to Shining Armour's room. On the way, he asked a nurse to bring up the equipment needed.
Giving a solid knock before entering, he saw Princess Cadence of the Crystal Empire sitting next to her husband, with, surprisingly, Twilight in the room. All three seemed in a serious discussion as they hadn't noticed. Grumbling a little to himself, he opened the door again before directing a pair of nurses inside.
Clearing his throat loudly, all three of the rooms occupants looked up to see Calm giving them a stern look before asking the nurses to return Twilight to her room. As they left, the nurse he'd tasked with grabbing the equipment came back before disappearing to do another duty. Taking a moment to wonder where they'd be without such hard-working staff, and not liking the scenario his mind conjured, Calm turned back to the couple with visible irritation.
"While I'm sure what you were talking about was urgent," he sarcastically started, "I'm afraid that, though you're royalty, while you are patients in a hospital, what I, a doctor, says is what you, the patient, does. And I expressly remember telling Miss Sparkle that she is not to leave her bed. And, by law, no one, not even the Princesses themselves, can counteract that," he raised an eyebrow at the now sheepish, and slightly offended, couple, "understood?"
With a nod from the two, he visibly brightened as he said, "Very good. Now then, Prince Shining, shall we get the measurements for your replacement leg?"
=========================
"Well, this is great," Sweetie muttered as she brought up the rear of the three as they clambered around the Everfree. Naturally, they'd gotten lost.
"Get out here, you weird monster!"
And worries of Manticores, Timberwolves or Cockatrices where growing larger with every yell Scootaloo gave in order to find the creature. Sweetie's eyes dejectedly rose from the back and looked around nervously before spotting something to the left, directing the other, now bickering, two to what she found. "Hey girls, what's that?"
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo put their argument on hold in favour of seeing what it was that Sweetie had found, which was a clearing through the trees. Trotting over somewhat excitedly, they emerged from the trees into what could only be described as a battle zone. Craters pocked the ground, splinters lay around trees both fallen and cracked, a weird substance was stuck to the grass and a weirder smell was in the air. While the Crusaders stared around in wonderment, they slowly began wandering around.
Applebloom found what appeared to be a fire pit, judging from the charcoal inside. Sweetie stared at a tree, seeing a vague outline of a large pony, which set her mind into overdrive. Scootaloo trotted over to a particularly large patch of the weird substance, which was where the smell was strongest. She tilted her head at the sight of it; it was dried, that much she could tell, but it had a slightly jelly-like look too it. As focused as she was on the stuff, she didn't fail to notice the shifting behind the trees. Looking up and squinting, she took a step forward only to feel something like mud.
Whatever she was looking at left her mind as she looked to see a reddish smear on her orange hoof.
"That is on what carnivores have long fed,
And what Princess Luna bled."
The sudden voice, no matter how familiar, sent all three jumping with a yelp before recognising Zecora. Who had a stern expression on her face, though offset by a weary smile. As what she said registered in Scootaloo's mind, she began furiously trying to get the blood off her hoof.
"Now, let's get you fillies three,
Out of the Everfree.
Your sisters are already very sore,
They need not your mischief weighing them more."
Looking at each other, the Crusaders began to speak. Only for Zecora's eyebrow to raise in a clear message that told them she wasn't accepting anything but a yes. So, the four began the route back to Ponyville.
As such, none noticed the shadowed figure that moved through the trees. It continued on its path until it found what it had searched for. Upon spotting its sought desire, it laughed to itself.
Before making its way into the Castle of the Pony Sisters.
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
618 users online
735,596 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Nice. Interesting to see how this will develop. Also I did not see any mistakes so thats a plus
3321507 Yeah, despite the fact that I hate MLP, I couldn't actually bring myself to do too much harm to her. For starters, she's basically the shadow of the group so she'd get minimal damage.
Good so far, but I hope you don't have Celestia and Luna not inform other ponies on the situation and instead lets them carry on with stupid misconceptions. What I mean is, Shining Armor, the guards, and the girls not being told what led to the fight between Luna and Ichigo and why he attacked just so there can be more stupid acts on behalf of pony kind. I hate when people create drama and conflict in their stories by having characters acted ignorantly, to an extent anyways.
Keep up the good work, this chapter was a little bit of a let down just because it was short and came after a long wait.
When i heard of Flutters' injury I thought:
Time to pull a Naruto!
*Cut out eye*
3321752 Yeah, sorry about that - the little author in my brain wasn't co-operating like he's meant to >.> Good news is that he's back up and running so hopefully next chapter'll be a lot sooner.
3322062 You mean Tobi :P
I'm sort of the same mind as QWERTY, I'm looking forward to Princess Tia setting the story straight with the others. As well as their reactions when they realize they haven't learned a thing since the whole Zecora incident.
Don't.
Seriously, don't. I mean, would Applejack, Apple Bloom, or Granny Smith write like that? No, they wouldn't. And the reader can add in the accent when they notice it's Applejack speaking. The most you should do is change word choice.
If you change everything to match what a country accent sounds like, it just makes the text ugly and hard to read.
3322287
If they do. Let's face it, when you're hurt this badly, even the best of people have a distinct tendency to want to blame someone else.
And they do have kind of a point. Apart from Twilight and RD, none of them actually did anything to contribute to things going pear-shaped. And I guess using Getsuga Tenshou was a bit much.
Not that that excuses attacking him without provocation, backstabbing him when he has the kindness to bring you to the hospital, or Shining's douchebaggery when he thought he was safely chained up. Not to mention the idiocy of keeping a Princess-plus level threat locked up inside a fucking hospital! But they might not see it that way, at least not at first.
good chap!
3321518
Just wondering.... why are you here on fimfiction if you hate MLP? It's just that it seems a little hypocritical to write a story revolving around something you don't enjoy.
3324821 Yeah, I get that from some friends as well -_-' The guy who got me into MLP in the first place is trying to tell me that I'm a brony by being here... Needless to say, not going well.
I hate MLP, save for the technical aspects like the animation, voice/mouth sync, etc, but what I've read of the Brony community has led me to respect them despite not being a brony. I'm more a sarcastic realist, so the fact that everything's sorted by the end of the day just doesn't sit in my mind all that well.
And I'm something of an author, so I'm here as an author/proofreader/fanfiction reader. Basically, I'm here for the literature, not the subject.
3326503 Ah... OK then, carry on.
But yeah, you're right about Fimfiction account ≠ ''brony status''.
And isn't the use of ''hate'' a little strong use here? I mean you listed yourself some aspects of the show to make it somewhat enjoyable for you, and ''ect.'' could only mean that there is more about the show you like or enjoy. So isn't the term ''hate'' a little excessive to use here?
I could understand ''a dislike in general surrounding the show'' but ''hate''?
But it's not my business to label you with a metaphorical stamp so... The story seems good for now and above the general cut of crossovers, so keep up the good work.!applause!
3327253 Yeah, I get where you're coming from. Dislike, detest, disinterest... bloody myriad of words.
But no, hate is the word I go for because that's, surprisingly, about the middle level for me; Your hate to me would be loath or abhor. Yeah, they mean the same but it's my mind so... what can ya do?
So, from your view, I dislike the show. From my view, I hate it. Seems unequal, I understand, but that's the way my head ticks.
And thanks for not judging me too badly on my views! I also plan to keep the work up!
3327306 well too many in the fandom thinks ''love and tolerate'' means ''join us'' and all that. While it's actually more universal than that and it's more akin to ''hey! you got your views, I got mine and agree on that.''
Imagine an argument between two with the same POV. Would be like listening to comic villain monologging in stereo. hmmm, wait!.... would it then be called stereologing?!badumtss!
Anyway, I just wanted to fill out the blanks I couldn't fill out myself. And what better way to fill them out is there than to ask the one in question about them?
3328154 Good on ya for doing that.
When is the next chapter coming?
3360763 With any luck, soon.
However, (and this is for all readers) due to I'net connection issues, it may be delayed a while.
Just do what any good author would do, and steal your neighbor's wifi. Aircrack-ng or Fern are great for that
But seriously, can't wait until the next chapter
3380837 Yeah, no sorry. In any case, don't have to cos the net's fixed and better!
Also, I don't support the theft of the neighbours wifi. Kinda guy I am.
If you're wondering why it says 'On Hiatus', check my recent blog - I keep stories for chapters not updates.
thank god for the fact that Zecora just save the cmc from instant death from the vasto lord although i am not sure he would have attacked them or just ignored them or just continued walking