Quill collapsed in the mud, the sticky brown muck clinging to all his fur on his side, including the side of his face. Overhead, pale moonlight managed to find its way through the thin slivers and gaps in the leafy canopy that dominated the forest, casting pale shafts of white through the air and across the ground. One such sliver of light ran across his side, illuminating the threesome of angry gashes all to clearly that had been left by the wolves. Thick clots of blood surrounded the wounds, slimy and black in the low light, but they had stopped the blood itself, mostly. It didn't matter-he’d lost a lot, he would probably drift off soon anyway..
He'd been a fool to leave. A city was safer than a forest any day-he shouldn't have tried to run. How..stupid he'd been. How wrong. He should have stayed with his friends, but he'd become overwhelmed with the guilt and ran. But even then he could've run along the train tracks-why had he tried to run through the Everfree? It was just about the dumbest choice he could have made, but it was also the only way he knew for a fact he wouldn't be immediately followed. Although, now, being found didn't seem like such a bad thing. How close was he to the edge of the forest? Maybe somepony would find him, after all..
And then there it was. Like maybe Luna was keeping an eye on the forest on this night in particular, and she said to herself “I'm not going to let a colt die, no matter how terrible the deeds he has done.”. There was soft talking, he could hear it from somewhere nearby. There was a tight, crisp voice, like that of a mare who liked things done a certain way and in a timely fashion. The other was more rustic, maybe country. They were deep in conversation, though, he didn't know if he had the strength to get their attention. He had to try, though. No matter what he may have had running through his Mind the last few days, he wasn't ready to die. Not like this. Wrenching together the strength he could, he reached over to a thick stick and pressed his hoof down, snapping it in two with a resounding crack that echoed around the trees. Then he let his hoof stay there, groaning so softly he could feel it more than hear it.
“Wha’ was that?” Came the country voice.
“I don't know. Maybe a timber wolf? They have breeding grounds near the edges of Everfree.” The more efficient voice.
“Ah dunno. Ahm gonna check it out. Be right back, Twi.” And then hoof steps were approaching, coming from the right and in front of him, though he couldn't see anypony just yet. His focus seemed to be fading slowly, but he knew he wouldn't black out before the pony reached him. He had to see who was coming-maybe they could help. And if not…well, at least he wouldn't die alone.
If you ever met someone who’s been in a near death experience, they'll tell you that the most mundane things can run through your mind at any given moment. Quill found himself thinking about his sister’s sixth birthday party, just then. Had their parents cared? Remembered? Absolutely and probably not. Had she had friends to celebrate with? Absolutely not. But she'd had her older brother, and that was enough to make her seem like the happiest filly on the face of the earth.
“Im sorry, sis, I couldn’t get my hands on a present..but I managed to get this..” He opened a little box and handed her a cupcake with a plastic ornament reading ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’. Her face lit up with a smile bright enough to light the entire city, and she took a bite gratefully.
“Thank you, Quill. You're the best!” And at that moment he felt like it, too, in spite of what he'd been told. Making the filly in front of him smile was entirely worth it. He was snapped back to reality by an orange-coated mare with a blonde mane and tail stepping through the trees, her emerald eyes shining in the light of the moon. Her eyes widened at the sight of him and she turned around.
“Twilight! There's an injured colt!! Get over here!!!” There was the sounds of foliage being crushed and then a lavender mare with hair that was a deep blue rushed through beside the orange mare, her eyes as violet as the stripe alongside a rose stripe in her hair. Her eyes, too, widened, but the orange mare’s eyes had already lost their intensity.
“Look at that…its to late for ‘Im…he's to far gone..”
“N-No..” Was all he could manage to say, rather than a whole sentence. The purple mare-Twilight-shook her head intensely.
“No way, Applejack! Long as he’a still breathing he isn't dead! We have to get him to Fluttershy-that's his best bet right now.”
“Twilight-“ but this Twilight was all business now, and her horn was glowing a rosy pink. Somehow a bit of strength returned to him, and the darkness around the edges of his vision was chased away. He still couldn't hardly move, but he didn't feel in immediate danger of permanently losing consciousness.
“This'll only buy us a little time, Applejack. Now stop yammering-we aren't leaving him to die! Run ahead and warn Fluttershy I'm coming!” Applejack frowned and stamped her forehooves, but she ran off anyway in another direction as the rosy pink aura that belonged to twilight wrapped around him, gingerly lifting him up into the air. The small scrapes on his right flank dropped a few drops of scarlet to the forest floor through the thick smattering of mud. Most of it was stopped, though.
“Hey, there, I cast a stabilizing spell on you. You'll be okay for a while but you need serious medical help, and Fluttershy is a good friend of mine-knows how to Doctor even though she isn't a licensed one.” Quill moaned, trying to close his eyes.
“Hey! I mean..hey, come on, don't close your eyes. Talk to me.” He opened them again-eyelids burning with the effort-and fixed her with a stare. “Come on, what's your name?” He was tempted to just close his eyes and catch some sleep but he knew it wasn't a good idea. He needed more blood, he'd lost so much. He'd recover better asleep, wouldn't he? Or..was that the blood loss talking into his ear like a little shoulder satan…he swallowed, mustering the strength to form words.
“My name’s…” Goddesses his mouth was dry..his throat cracked a bit at the motions and he could taste the tiniest hint of coppery blood on his tongue. “Q-Qui…Quill..” She nodded, her eyes wandering to the flank that wasn't scraped.
“That's a wonderful name. I bet your special talent is writing with a cutie mark like that. Am I right?” He groaned again, the effort of focusing was bringing the pain into a focus much to clear for his tastes. This was worse than the aching bruises he was used to, by far. It burned and itched, he wished he was a gryphon for one absurd moment so that he had claws to scratch at it. He didn't care that that would make it bleed worse, it itches so terribly…
“Y-Ya..” He nodded to her, just a tiny, weak jerk of the head. It was enough. The trees were behind her behind him, now. They were on an open swath of grass and he could faintly hear many soft noises, chattering and chirruping and scratching and clucking. Animals? Not the kind he'd braved in that forest? Though how brave was it? It seemed more foolish, now, to think he would escape unscathed. As somepony had once told him;there is a very, very fine line between bravery and stupidity. He had to believe that now as a consequence of what he had gone and done.
“Oh? So..what do you write?” Twilight asked him quietly-the animal noises were growing louder and the grass was swathed in a pale yellow light, like lamplight.
“L-Lots..” Was all he could manage.
“Alright, now, I need you to stay awake. Wide, wide awake, okay?” She stepped up and leaned close to him. “I need you to be brave and not go to sleep yet, no matter how difficult it becomes. We're doing everything we can for you, and I pray it's enough. No way do I want a foal to die from blood loss in a peaceful place like Ponyville. And you're a tough guy, you can pull through this.” He was almost an adult!! He opened his mouth for some kind of indignant response and she smiled, the anger flushed through him giving him another jolt of energy. Frowning, he nodded his affirmation. He heard a door fly open and smack into something when it could open no further.
“Oh my!!!” There was a soft spoken voice, shy and scared yet bold and determined at the same time. “Bring him in, Twilight!! Hurry if you don't mind to much..” Twilight didn't say anything and he could no longer see her, but he was levitated into a small home of sorts-maybe a cottage, and the noises of animals increased exponentially. Growls and chirrups and scuffling and squeaking-the whole nine yards. The noise made his head throb-or was that something else..he was starting to feel sleepy again but he held his promise and stayed awake. He was held up as a buttery yellow mare with a pale pink mane quickly but gently bound his torso with bandages, using her teeth. When she was done she set him on a couch, his muddy but less injured side down in spite of the obvious danger to the cleanliness of her couch.
“Poor thing…just laying out in the forest..we need to stop the bleeding, s-so I used bandages, but when the bleeding stops we'll get all the blood and mud off, okay tough guy?” Goddesses damnit he was fourteen-he didn't need them to talk to him like he was a tiny foal. Fluttershy smiled then and any anger he felt melted away-she was so innocent and seemed to want so genuinely to get him on his hooves again that he just couldn't be mad, not in the least.
“I don't know why you were laying out there, but I'll make sure you're walking again by the end of the week, okay?” Was that true? She sounded nervous-but so confident at the same time that he believed her-he was going to walk again. No matter how close this hadn't been his end.
“Look, Fluttershy, ya can’ save everypony. Look’t how far gone he is..just let this one go, Flutters..” It was Applejack. Quill frowned deeply, but he couldn't bring himself to look around the room and find her. Fluttershy straightened up and glared behind he couch with a ferocity that shocked him, frankly. She'd been soft and gentle just seconds ago.
“Applejack!!! Please, please tell me you're joking!!” Her voice was high and shrill when angry. “There's a badly wounded colt, and you expect me to just leave him and not even tuh-RY to save him??? You're upsetting him, by the way, look at the guy frowning…listen, Applejack, I'll have him back up and walking. There will probably be scarring, but he is not! Not to far gone.” Her voice was rapidly returning to its soft spoken notion of before, anger seeming unable to last long with her. Applejack, wherever she was, stayed quiet, but he could picture her frowning severely.
“Fluttershy, can I stay here tonight? I want to ask him some questions once he has a bit of strength back.” Fluttershy nodded and returned her attention to Quill.
“Hanging in there?” Oh, yeah, that was Twilight who'd asked to stay the night, he realized. He shook his head-his whole body ached and his side still itched like it was crawling with a thousand and four insects trying to eat him alive from the inside out. Fluttershy nodded as though she'd expected nothing less.
“You've been strong, but the bandages aren't soaking through and I think that you're safe to get some sleep, big guy. You think you'll wake back up?” He wasn't sure, in all honesty. He felt like it could go either way but he nodded, knowing it would mean he could get some sleep. Fluttershy nodded-worried but satisfied-and looked down at something he couldn't see at the floor in front of the couch.
“Angel bunny, this poor pony is hurt. Our friends Twilight and Applejack found him out in the forest. He's going to stay here for a little bit until he's better, okay?” There were a few squeaks and then receding thumps-he imagined a little white bunny nodding and bounding off to another part of the cottage. Then, he closed his eyes.
“Please Celestia, wake back up..” Fluttershy’s voice was the last thing he heard before he feel deeply asleep. It was a deep, dreamless sleep, and it was one that he felt like he could just stay enveloped in for the rest of his life, never to wake up or worry about anything ever, ever again. Peace as he hadn't known in a long time-but as one of life’s many rules stated-this too shall pass, no matter hot good..no matter how bad.
“I think he's waking up, Twilight..” Fluttershy seemed calmer and much less urgent than when he last remembered. The animal noises were still there but he felt desensitized to them, no longer noticing them quite as strongly. He didn't open his eyes yet, however, he clung to the darkness as long as he could. It wasn't truly dark though-he could feel the warmth of sunlight falling upon his eyelids-he must be near a window. How long had he been asleep?
“Quill, wasn't it?” That was Twilight. “Come on, can you hear me?” What if he just played dead? Would she leave him alone? “Come on, you gotta get up. You don't like how Applejack wanted to leave you for dead, do you? You have to get back on your feet and prove her wrong, so come on…open your eyes and look at me.” Her words weren't particularly sensitive but she was right-he disliked how Applejack had just assumed him as good as dead. It worked, and he forced his eyes open, feeling like they were small weights over his eyes. Twilight and Fluttershy were looking at him, Fluttershy sitting on the edge of a coffee table-he assumed-that was beside the couch. Twilight was leaning over the back of the couch, though not to close to him.
“Do you need anything?” Fluttershy interjected. “How do you feel.” He still ached, but the itching had lessened considerably. His coat was being tugged in places by the dried mud and blood, but the bandages had done their job and, upon inspection, looked like they had been changed since he had fallen asleep. Some of the top layers of mud were off of his coat, but a lot of it was still caked in. All in all? Not dying.
“I feel g-good..” His mouth was a good ten times more dry than before and the words felt like they ripped his throat. “W-Water?” Fluttershy nodded and held a glass towards him in her wing, resting the rim on his lower lip. He opened his mouth and drank gratefully, frustrated that she would only let him down the glass in tiny sips.
“You haven't had anything to drink in a while big guy..you drink to fast right off the bat and you'll throw it up..please don't be mad at me I j-just want you to keep it down..” He nodded and sipped the last of it;the water was a welcome wave of relief over his tongue and down his throat. It was then that he realized his stomach was grumbling painfully-but that he could ignore for a while longer.
“Quill? Do you feel like you could answer a few questions?” Twilight raised her eyebrows.
“Twilight, he just woke up..”
“I know Fluttershy, but I need to know who he is. I'll take it easy on him, for now.” Fluttershy relented, nodding and sitting back on the assumed table. Quill looked up at Twilight, blinking slowly.
“Poor thing needs a manecut..” Fluttershy stated out of the blue.
“Alright, Quill. You said your name was Quill, can you tell me your surname?”
“It's..” Yeesh, was talking always this hard? “Fletch.”
“Fletch? Like the fletching on the back end of an arrow?”
“M-More or…less, yeah.” Twilight nodded and checked some kind of paper she had wrapped in her telekinetic sheath.
“It's weird..there's no Quill Fletch on this list. Are you lying to me? I just want to help, Quill..” He swallowed nervously but kept his face a perfect mask of calm confidence.
“Course I'm sure..parents didn't have me at the hospital..wasn't registered...” Twilight frowned-this wasn't the way things were supposed to go. Her list was supposed to tell her exactly who he was and he'd just undermined that with what he'd said. That's how she saw it, anyway. She cleared her throat.
“Alright, well, this..complicates things. I'll have to write to Princess Celestia. Where are you from, Quill?” He shook his head.
“Quill? What city or town are you from?” He shook his head again.
“Don't need to…worry ab-bout that, Twilight…past…the past..” Her frown deepened and her tone turned clipped, businesslike.
“Quill. I need to know where you're from.”
“Nah, you…you don't, Twilight...”
“And why is that, Quill?”
“Can't…can't make me go back, if…if you don't know where back, is…” Twilight tilted her head, her features softening a bit.
“And…why don't you want to go back?”
“Bad ponies.”
“Bad how, Quill?”
“Lots of ways Twi…light…” He tried to hold onto his calm mask but he could feel his features twisting around with anger. Twilight blinked, seeming to think twice about what she ought to say next.
“Okay. Why were you in the forest, though?” He rolled his eyes and did his best to make her feel stupid.
“Ran from home.” This was good. He was managing short sentences, at least. Fluttershy smiled down at him encouragingly and rubbed her hoof soothingly against a spot on his foreleg that bore no injuries whatsoever, only dried blood that had spilt. She ignored the blood like it wasn't even there. That simple touch-that small sign of care-made him feel a lot better in and of itself. Twilight was silent momentarily, thinking.
“How old are you, Quill? You look fifteen, sixteen?”
“I'm fourteen, Twilight..”
“You're big for your age.” Fluttershy commented indifferently.
“Is there..anything else you're willing to tell me now?” Twilight seemed to have given up but stayed hopeful that she could squeeze some more information out of him.
“Hmm…y-yeah. I wanna get clean.”
“I'll help.” Fluttershy said immediately.
“Alright, well…I suppose that's it for now, Quill. I'll come back to check in on you in a week or so.” Quill and Fluttershy both nodded, the former more slowly than the latter. “See you later, Fluttershy.” And with that Twilight headed for the door and opened it, somewhere out of Quill’s sight. He heard it close behind her.
“I'm…sorry about her, Quill. She can be a little pesky, especially when she feels like she doesn't know enough. B-But please don't tell her I said that..”
“Don't worry, I won't.”
“Thank you, Quill! Now..I said I'd help you get clean, didn't I…do you think you can stand?” He nodded and slowly made himself sit up, his joints aching with protest. The scabs under the bandages cracked but didn't break-pain still lanced through his side.
“Careful..” Fluttershy stepped forward off what was indeed a mahogany coffee table and wrapped a wing around him to take some of the weight. He tried to stand alone but he really did need the bit of support.
“This way..” She moves her wing down to his flank and tail and used it to gently guide him through a large living room towards a hallway. Now that he got a good look around, there were signs of animals everywhere. Food and water dishes lined the walls, and there were paw prints, litter and bedding all over the place. Bed cages both empty and full hung from the ceiling-and through some he could see a variety of brightly colored birds. In one corner was a cat’s massive scratching post. The hallway they went into ended in a lightly painted and heavily scratched green door that they went through into a luxury bathroom. The whole room spoke of a mare who enjoyed the spa greatly.
“Alright, let's get the bandages off, for starters…” Fluttershy took the end of the long trail in her teeth and pulled, walking around him again and again until the whole thing had come off. A few flecks of blackened and dried blood fell to the floor but the fresh blood stayed in and he managed to stay on his hooves-if he tried to take even a step he knew he'd fall very un gracefully.
“How's it look, Fluttershy…?” He looked over at her and raised an eyebrow-he probably looked pretty tired. Maybe high.
“Bad..but better than when you arrived last night. It's infected, though.” He frowned. “Don't worry,” she threw on, “I have ointment that will help.” He nodded gratefully and realized he had no idea what he ought to do now.
“Step into the tub, here, I'll help…” She stepped up to his shoulder and gently helped guide him towards the tub, letting him put some of his weight on her as he slowly lifted each hoof over into the tub.
“There you go~go ahead and settle down..” He nodded to her and heavily sank down, folding his legs under him. Fluttershy cast down a worried frown and started up the water, running a hoof under it to check the temperature. Which was a bit pointless seeing as he was already under the shower’s downpour. It was fine though and he could feel the topmost layers of mud coming off and sliding down the drain. It would be a while before he was clean unfortunately.
“Now, this might hurt just a little..” She had taken a washcloth and gotten it wet, a light foam of soap covered it. Now she used her teeth to gently work it against the congealed blood that coated the gashes along his side. There was a distinct tugging sensation and he immediately started to feel faint-he gritted his teeth and made himself focus. No way was he going to pass out here in a shower with a mare he had just met yesterday washing him. He probably wouldn't let her if he felt at all like he could do it himself.
“Ya Okeh?” She muttered around the rag as a glob of gooey dried blood fell off and broke into pieces, running down the drain. He groaned as the wound opened again and a tiny bit of blood started to flow out again. Not nearly so much as what had gushed out after the claws had gouged into it, but enough to worry him.
After that first section it became easier, and although some blood did spill forth onto the glossy white ceramic of the tub, the dried muck was eventually gone and he felt much, much better. Fluttershy spit the tag out into the trash-it was stained red and stank of blood-and grabbed another from a closet, walking around to his other side and working on the mud with soapy water.
“You're doin’ good…don’ lookit ‘a blood.” He nodded, keeping his eyes trained firmly away from the mild blood flow. He relaxed there as Fluttershy scrubbed him clean, removing layer after layer of dirt, mud, blood and other worrisome substances. She uncovered many small cuts, scrapes and bruises, but he bore no other bad injuries. Eventually she spit the rag out.
“I'll step out and let you get your belly and…under your body yourself. You did very well..now you call me when you're done and I'll bring you a towel, some fresh bandages. I'll…go get some food ready as well. I have to feed the animals, and that includes the ponies! Hehe!” She made a most adorable face that was a cross between a grin and a playful expression and, surprising himself, he laughed.
“Thanks, F-Fluttershy. I'll call you soon.” He wanted to say more. There was so much more to say…but she was gone, and the door was shut. Grabbing a cloth she’d left on the edge of the tub, he grunted and got to finishing up cleaning himself, pleased to see his unmarked fur back to its trademark blue, his mane back to chocolate brown-even if it was still in bad, bad need of a cut. And then it hit him that he didn't even really know where he was. He'd been aiming for Ponyville-but had he made it or had he been off? He'd have to ask Fluttershy a few questions…right after he'd gotten something to eat.