Fluttershy left her cottage, rubbing her hooves off with an already green stained towel. “I’ve done all I can for him, but he should be fine now.” Passing the towel off to Angel, she continued. “He had seven broken ribs, a shattered femur, and several severe lacerations. He’s really lucky you could get him to me when you did. I’m going to have to ask that everypony leave him alone for the next few days.”
Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash each escorted their siblings away, giving them a very heated lecture about responsibility as they did so. Except Rainbow, she just asked for details. Pinkie gave us all a quick hug before trotting back to town.
“Alright, then.” Twilight started to gather us together. “Let’s go home, guys.”
“Wait!” Fluttershy shouted before trying to hide herself in her mane. “Um, I was just wondering if you could leave the Eevees here. I know that they will get incredibly worried about Villhiem, and I think that having his family near him will make him feel better, too.”
Spike shared a glance with Twilight before the lavender mare responded. “I guess they can stay. Do you have enough room for them?”
At Fluttershy’s nod, Twilight blinked out of existence with Spike. Fluttershy led us back into her cottage. Conner and Angel were both working hard to clean up the syrupy blood that had been spilt during the operation. Villhiem lay sleeping on the coffee table by the couch, the items formerly occupying the table scattered over the nearby floor.
Bandages wrapped around Villhiem’s barrel, already stained with his greenish blood. One leg was propped up in a cast. Abes lay on the couch, while the rest of us carefully piled around Villhiem. Conner only joined us when Fluttershy placed him there, saying that she and Angel could finish the cleaning. Strangely, Angel seem to be eyeing us with grudging respect. Although, I got the feeling that it was more genuine when he was looking at Conner and Villhiem. Settling in, we drifted off to sleep as the sun fell below the horizon, Abes acting as an unnecessary over watch.
Late into the night, we were awoken when Villhiem stirred. We bounced away from him in a manner that Abes would later describe as ‘popcorning’.
“Wha, where am I?” Villheim groaned out.
Abes hopped down from the couch. “You’re at Fluttershy’s. She was able to patch you up.”
“How’re you feeling?” Lulu asked.
“Like I got crushed in a vice.” He replied. “How long was I out?”
Abes looked out the nearest window. “I would guess at four, five hours.”
“In other news...” Vince began.
“You’re a damn hero to the ponies!” Cy finished.
I threw myself at the Leafeon’s feet. “I’m so sorry!” I bawled. “If I had only knew that this would have happened, I never would have learned Rain Dance!”
“Wha…?” Villhiem tried to ask.
Yomega cut him off. “No, it’s my fault. I’m the one that gave the Crusaders that book. If I hadn’t, they wouldn’t have tried to summon anything!”
Patting my back, Villhiem looked between the two of us. “I forgive you two?”
“Really?” I sniffed.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “If you hadn’t done what you did, I wouldn’t have evolved, and the Crusaders might’ve found something else to try that I couldn’t have saved them from.”
Abes walked over to the door. “Can you walk?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Come outside, I have an idea.”
We all slipped out into the night. Zann hobbling alongside Villhiem. We stopped by the chicken coop. There, Abes turned to face the rest of us.
“Now, you are still in pain, yes?”
Villhiem nodded. “Yes.”
“According to the tale Sweetie Bell told us, you know how to use Absorb, yes?”
Villhiem shook his head. “No, that was Giga Drain.”
Abes blinked owlishly at him. “Oh. Well. Crap.”
“What?” Yomega asked.
“I learned Moonlight when I evolved. I figured I’d let him hit me with Absorb a few times to help speed his healing along, but with the cloud cover…” He trailed off.
Hey Brain, do I know Sunny Day yet?
“Yeah, we got that when you were dancing earlier.”
“I got this.” I informed the group before closing my eyes. I could feel energy start to build up in my throat. Tilting my head back, I launched a small white spark into the air. It swiftly flew up into the clouds. We watched as it winked out of existence, before the clouds were pushed back towards the horizon.
“Much better.” Abes agreed. Roots burst from the ground, latching onto Abes. Blinking, Abes stared at Villhiem.
“You might want to start healing…” He warned.
With a final blink, Abes’s eyes began to glow. Motes of white light winked into and out of existence around him.
Meanwhile, in Canterlot, Luna snapped out of her Dreamwalking Trance. She turned to stare at her moon. She could feel that, somehow, somepony else has drawing healing energy from it. She followed the connection down to Ponyville, and to the Umbreon she had grown fond of. “What is going on down there?”
“Oh! Hello, Princess Luna. Not sure how we are talking right now…”
“I would assume through my moon. Now, please answer my question.”
“Ah, well, one of my packmates got hurt badly saving some foals, and I’m letting him leech energy from me while healing myself with Moonlight.”
“Our ponies were in danger?! What happened?!”
“You should be getting a report from Twilight sometime tomorrow detailing what happened. Everyone’s safe now, the danger’s passed.”
Luna calmed herself down. She offered quick reassurances to her guards before beginning the difficult process of slipping back into her meditations.
“Ma, ma~a, manana.” A song echoed through the moon. “Ma, mana, na~”
Back in Ponyville, an Umbreon winced. “I don’t think Luna likes that song…”
After a few hours, we Eevees had to carry the two exhausted evolved forms back into the cottage. Abes barely had enough energy to drag himself up onto the couch. It took the rest of us working together to get Villhiem back onto the coffee table. Once that was complete, we all just fell asleep wherever we happened to be.
The next morning, Fluttershy had to change her daily routine to accommodate the injured Leafeon. First, she removed the dirtied bandages, then carefully wrapped him in new ones. Then she woke him up to feed him, as well as inquire as to any new pain. She was surprised to discover that the cuts on his body had significantly shrunk down, and the broken femur could now support his weight.
She had to leave shortly after to restock her medicinal supplies. Once she had left, we woke Abes up.
“Look,” Yomega began, “I’m going to come right out and say this. We shouldn’t keep our move list a secret from the rest of us. That way, we all know what the others are capable of at any given time. To be fair, I'll go first. Aside from the basic Tackle, Tail Whip, and Growl, I’ve got Quick Attack, Refresh, Glare, and Synchronoise.”
I listed mine off with a raised paw. “Basic three, plus Glare, Quick Attack, Flail, Sunny Day, Bite, and Rain Dance.”
“Double Team, Echoed Voice, Helping Hand, and Quick Attack.” Vince and Cy chorused.
“Charm, Baby-Doll Eyes, Attract, and Mimic.” Lulu stated.
Conner spoke up next. “I have all her moves, but I have Swift instead of Mimic, as well as Dig.”
Zann pointed at Yomega. “My list is similar to his, except I have Swift instead of Quick Attack.”
“Let’s see.” Abes placed a paw to his chin. “Confuse Ray, Moonlight, Pursuit, and Shadow Ball. I don’t seem to recall how to use Growl, Tackle and Tail-whip…”
We all looked at Villhiem. “Baby-Doll Eyes, Razor Leaf, Giga Drain, and Protect.”
Yomega nodded. “Okay, now that we all know that, I think it should be one’s responsibility to inform the rest of us when one learns a new move.”
“Or he’ll learn Torment just to use it on you.”
“And that’s another thing!” Yomega spun to me. “I’ve noticed you’ve been snarkier than usual lately. Stop it. We’re all in this together, after all.”
I rolled my yes. “Yes, Mom.” Villhiem reached down and smacked me upside the head.
Yomega turned his gaze to the bigger canines. “Alright, you two get some proper rest, you’ll need it for tonight.” He focused on Villhiem. “You still need to completely-”
He was interrupted by Abes’s snore. Poor guy just couldn’t stay awake any longer.
We spent the rest of that day just relaxing, staying near each other to feel comfortable. Fluttershy returned later that day, carrying a towering stack of parcels. With Angel’s and Conner’s directions, we helped her put her supplies away. It appears as though she needed to restock even before Villhiem’s evolution.
That night, we waited until Fluttershy and her critter’s had fallen asleep before sneaking out to continue our own brand of healing. We didn’t get very far into it before we learned how light a sleeper Fluttershy was. Either that, or she wanted to find out why we healed so fast. Our only warning was Lulu and I suddenly shuddering.
“And what are you two doing?” She gave us all a stern look. “Villhiem needs his rest if he wants to get better.”
<<But Fluttershy->>
“Don’t you ‘but Fluttershy’ me, mister!” She cut Villheim off. “You should be sleeping! Moving around like this won’t help your bones set right, no matter how quick you may heal!” I could feel her Stare starting up in full force. That feeling is hard to describe. It’s like staring at oncoming train as a portal to hell opens up behind you.
Conner grabbed a mouthful of Fluttershy’s tail to get her attention. <<He ish healing!>>
The pegasus mare turned her Stare upon Conner, causing him to flinch. “And how does fighting each other count as healing?”
<<He’s draining Abes of health as Abes is healing himself with Moonlight.>> He spat out Fluttershy’s tail. <<Just watch. They will be tired when it’s all done, but they’ll be fine.>>
Again, the process took a few hours, but Fluttershy did wait until they had finished. She helped us carry the two “combatants” back into the cottage, before giving them both a thorough examination. Finally satisfied, she gave us an apologetic look. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I really should have asked you what you might do to help yourselves heal.”
We each gave her our forgiveness, though it was implied with Abes and Villhiem. Both of them were already asleep. Her look hardened slightly as she focused on Yomega. “Now, I know that they will listen to you, so please tell them that they need to be careful when doing this. Abes is starting to become dehydrated. He shouldn’t let Villhiem do… whatever it is that he’s doing to him for so long.”
<<I’ll pass it on.>>
She nodded, before returning to her room. Once again alone, Lulu placed a paw on Conner’s back. “Congrats on standing up to Fluttershy like that.”
“What do you mean?”
Lulu turned to the rest of us. “Show of paws, who else pissed themselves out there?” Five little paws were raised.