The sign said this place was called "Ponyville," and I doubt they could have invented a more stereotypical name if they tried. I emerged from the shadows of an alleyway into the middle of some sort of marketplace. Ponies of all shapes and sizes walked around, talking, laughing, and buying various items. I think now is a good time to make some pony friends!
~Maybe even a marefriend!~
>Or you could avoid them all. Save yourself the hassle.<
First off, I like ponies platonically. I want to pet them and hug them, not bed them. And second, no. I'm going to live life to the--
"VAMPONY!"
I looked up and saw a pink pony with a curly pink mane pointing at me and screaming. Soon all the other ponies joined in and started panicking. As they ran I started dodging left and right, trying not to be trampled. Just when I thought I was clear, a pegasus who was frantically flying away accidentally caught me in the head with a flailing hoof. It knocked my sunglasses off and threw my head in line with the sun, causing blinding sunlight to flood my eyes.
Any of you wear contacts? You know how it feels to put in a ripped one? Well, for all you who don't, imagine getting stabbed in the eye with a needle. Now, for how painful what I experienced was, imagine having red-hot knives stabbed into your eyes and then someone pours boiling rubbing alcohol into them. That was almost how painful it was. I screamed in pain and toppled to the ground. My bags landing in a heap next to me. I pressed my forehooves into my eyes in the attempt to alleviate the pain, but to no avail. I felt warm blood oozing down my head from where I got kicked.
"Oh dear! Carrot honey! Help me get him inside!"
I felt hooves wrap around me and gently carry me inside somewhere. I was then laid on a couch and gentle hooves pressed against my cheeks, holding my head upright.
"Are you alright dear? Can you open your eyes for me?"
I barely managed to crack them open as the pain subsided to a dull throb. Eventually, I managed to open them part way and got a glimpse of my rescuers. There was a lanky yellow stallion with a darker, almost red, orange mane and tail. And a chubby blue mare with a pink mane and tail done up in some sort of poofy style.
"Honey? Are his eyes supposed to look like that?"
That was the stallion speaking, assumedly the mare's husband.
"I think so. He is a bat pony. Although I don't know much about them other than the one I saw when Princess Luna visited during Nightmare Night. Carrot, can you fetch a doctor while I tend to him? Just set his bags on the counter."
"Can do. I'll be back in a jiffy!"
And with that, he was gone. The mare gently set my head on a pillow before walking away. I shut my eyes a bit, giving them time to recover. I heard some clanging and bumping before the portly mare was back with a first aid kit. She set it down before climbing up onto the couch and carefully setting my head on her lap. She dug around in the bag before pulling out a patch of some material that was soaked in some liquid.
"Now hold still dear, this might sting a bit."
She held the wipe in her mouth and carefully smoothed my mane away from the cut with a hoof before gently dabbing at it with the wipe. I sharply inhaled as she wiped it, it stung despite how gentle she was being. As she worked, she started gently caressing my cheek in an oddly comforting way, making soft shushing noises as she cleaned my wound.
After she had finished wiping it, she pressed some gause to the cut and held it with a hoof. She kept on running a hoof through my mane in an attempt to comfort me as she said,
"Don't you worry. Carrot and the doctor will be here in a bit. Just stay calm. Stay calm."
I feel like she was doing that more to calm herself down than to calm me down. Although, it did feel pretty nice. I relaxed a bit and my cheek pressed against her squishy lap a bit. She wasn't "fat" as opposed to "adorably chubby" and that made her so dang soft and plush. Like, I wanted nothing more than to wrap her in a hug and snuggle her all up. The relaxatating (that's a word, right?) feeling spread until my eyes were starting to feel more than a little heavy. I sighed a bit as I rested again my impromptu pillow and my vision began to darken.
>don't<
~stay awake~
I was so sleepy. And I was tired before this too. I think I'll take a little nap.
"oh no................... stay......................"
-------------------------------
"he.......passed out.................................won't wake......."
"come on...........................stay with......."
I groggily came to and heard sighs of relief from the ponies around me. Carrot, I think, said,
"You had us worried!"
A white mare with a pink mane wearing a nurses hat stepped forward.
"Quite a scare, that! I was afraid you weren't going to wake up!"
"Sorry. I didn't mean to."
I felt a reassuring pat on the cheeks and realized I was still resting in... unnamed mare's lap. The nurse tapped me on the foreleg, returning my attention to her.
"Fortunately, you don't have a concussion. Regardless, I have a few questions I would like to ask you."
>Carefull how you answer. We don't know if we can trust them.<
~She's a nurse! She wants to help you. Answer truthfully.~
"Alright, ask away."
She smiled before pulling a clipboard put of her saddlebags.
"Alright, first off, what's your name."
"Jack."
~Ponies don't have names like that! Their names are longer and more... pony-esc?~
>Say it's short for... something.<
The nurse frowned as she wrote my name on the paper.
"Is that a Nocturne name? I've never heard one like it before."
"It's ahh...."
Come on, think! Jack... Jack...Hammer? Jack...Knife? Jackknife!
"It's short for Jackknife."
She nodded before adding the end onto my new name. She looked back at me and smiled.
"That's a very nice name. Anyway, next question. What have you been eating the past few weeks?"
"The usual, bread and some vegetables and... stuff."
"Any fruit or meat?"
"Not much fruit and no meat."
She nodded and smiled as she wrote that down.
"Have you been feeling lethargic and weak recently?"
I gulped, unsure if this was going well.
"Y-yeah. I feel tired all the time and get, like, exhausted really fast."
"Just as I feared, you're suffering from malnutrition."
I blinked and shot her a confused look. Apparently the two ponies who had helped me were just as confused. Carrot said,
"How can he be malnourished? Wait, you're not saying he needs to eat...."
"Meat and lots of fruit. Nocturnes need more protein and vitamins than other ponies do. I'll fill out this prescription for a multivitamin. Cupcake, would you be so kind as to keep an eye on him while I go get the vitamins? It shouldn't take long."
The mare, apparently named Cupcake, nodded.
"Of course dear. Being a mom I have more than enough experience taking care of hurt ponies than most. Carrot dear, could you man the counter until Miss Redheart comes back?"
"Can do honey."
He looked at me and gave me a smile and said, with a wink,
"Don't you try anything with my wife mister. I'd hate to have to sick Pinkie on you."
I stared at him, unsure what a "Pinkie" was.
"O...okay?"
He laughed before walking through a door, revealing some sort of bakery in the room beyond. The nurse, Redheart if I heard right, gave me a little wave and trotted out the door, leaving me with Cupcake.
"How about I get you something to eat? Do you like chocolate?"
"Yeah, I think."
She gave me a sweet smile before entering the back of the bakery. I sat up and experienced a wave of lightheadedness. As I recovered I looked around the room I was in. I was on a light blue couch with a small wooden table in front of it. The walls were brightly colored and had pictures of the two ponies as well as some with them holding two smaller ponies. Maybe they were their kids? I looked back at the door as Cupcake walked towards me, a tray held in her mouth. On it were several varieties of baked good, none of which I'd had before. (What, civilian rations didn't have dessert. Just crappy "food.")
She set the tray down and picked up a large, brown blanket that she then draped over me. She adjusted it to lie comfortably over my wings before sitting down beside me.
"Well, here you go. Just have whatever you want."
"Thank you."
I looked over the tray of delicious looking sweets before picking up some sort of pastry with frosting on top. I took a bite and... holy crap. It tastes amazing. I mean, occasionally I'd saved up enough credit to buy a milkshake or a cookie when I was in school, but this was the best thing I had ever tasted! I quickly ate the rest and moved on to delicacy after delicacy. Cupcake gave me a smile.
"I guess they're pretty good?"
"They're amazing! These are the best things I've eaten in my life!"
She blushed before looking me over and saying,
"I don't know if you're too old for this, but I know when I'm feeling hurt, sometimes a hug helps me feel better."
Is she... oh heck yeah. Hug time!
I scooted a bit closer and nodded at her. She broke into a grin and carefully pulled me closer, holding me against her soft chest.
"I just saw how worn down you looked and thought you might want somepony to comfort you."
I nodded, savoring how soft and warm she was. Honestly, I could hug ponies for days and never get over just how amazing it feels.
We sat there for a while before the nurse returned with a bottle of pills and some instructions on how often to take them. After that was done I waved goodbye to the two bakers with promises of returning before I left. As I walked through town, carefull to avoid other ponies in case the "vampony" scare was still happening. As I neared the edge of town, the cold feeling returned. I looked around frantically for a place to hide and spotted some sort of shed built into a tree on a hill. I ran towards it and closed the door just before turning back.
"Whew, that was close."
I turned around to see... a yellow pegasus with a pink mane staring wide eyed at me. We both stood, frozen in place, for a while before she toppled over and lay still on the floor.
"...Oh crap! I killed her!"