By the time the ambulance came, Night had been dressed as a human nurse. She rose to meet the men that were rushing towards the scene. She stood firmly with a smile. "Gentleponies, over here!" She waved them closer.
Starlight nudged her new friend. "Nix the 'pony' part."
Fortunately, the emergency responders seemed far more interested in the unconscious form on the ground rather than any odd verbal ticks. They had me up on a gurney in a flash. One of them ran off with me while the other spoke to the others, "We'll have her in proper care in a flash." He gave the address of the hospital. "You can meet us there. Everyone else alright?"
Tod looked after my retreating form. "We're alright, just make sure she's taken care of."
"You got it." And off he went, hopping into the ambulance moments before it sped off with me aboard.
"Jesus fricken Christ!" I was in stone, shouting through it.
"Darling?"
I shook free of the stone to see that I was in Rarity's boutique. Her magic reached to start plucking stone away from me and tossing it aside. "Dear, welcome back." She smiled radiantly. "I thought... well, no matter. I've never been happier to be wrong before. That was a very short nap, do you know what happened?"
"I'm alive!" I pounced her. I hugged her so very tightly. "I'm alive!" Little else mattered more than that for a moment before it clicked. "And Tod is so much in trouble."
"Tod?" Rarity pat my back lightly. "Darling, a little room please. I'm quite happy to hear that, don't get me wrong. Just to make sure, do you mean you've learned something new, or are we happy that you're here, right now?"
I released the poor mare and stood up. "Both? Both is good... I think things will be just fine, back there, and I'm here. I'll be able to go home soon, relatively."
Rarity rolled a hoof. "This is good, but you have some questions to answer now."
My ears lifted almost on their own. "Mm?"
"Personal ones." She had a mother's smile. "This could happen again. Why, it could happen either way, come to think of it. You have two very nice lives. With luck, the end of one just means you're down to one nice life." Her eyes roamed over my form. "But will you be ready to move forward, should you have to?"
"You're not wrong." I lifted a hoof at her. "That doesn't make that something I want to deal with right this moment. On this side, I've started making friends, but I have no outright obligations just yet. If I just up and vanished, Equestria would keep right on going with barely a notice."
Rarity shook her head. "By that metric, few of us really have much to worry about. Unless it's a princess we're talking about, the world is going to keep going, with or without us. It managed before us, it'll manage after us, I suppose." She flipped her mane as she turned away. "That feels like a cheap answer, in the end. It's not about the world. It's about those friends you've already admitted to having. It's about the small things. Why... you've already started making those kinds of little changes in people's lives that don't feel little, to them."
I followed after Rarity, my eyes lingering on her offered rump. Why did ponies have to be so naked all the time? "Are you? One of those friends, that is."
She spun around to face me. "Darling, I do not do afternoon crying sessions with random strangers. That would be a curious habit indeed. There's much about you I don't know, but that's just another facet of life." She suddenly burst into musical laughter. "Why, I didn't even know Twilight had a brother for months after meeting her. Poof, just like that, invited to the mystery stallion's wedding. Friendship does that. I wouldn't mind learning more about you, and it will come in time."
"That's obvious on reflection." I sat down in front of her, keeping her eyes easily. One advantage of being a pony, sitting didn't really change where your head was until you laid down. "I'm a little frazzled, but... compared to before, so much better... I should see about those friends, starting with Celestia. She must be worried."
Rarity's face erupted into a radiant smile. "I was hoping you'd say that." Her hooves shooed me away. "Go to Twilight and she'll get you on your way, lovercolt. Give her a big hug for me, and maybe a kiss, but don't tell her I said to."
I put Rarity squarely in the 'good pony' column mentally as I stood up. "I'm on the way. Thank you, again. You've been great." I fled from her shop, hooves thundering on the dirt in my wild gallop. I had a place I wanted to be.
"I've decided." All eyes turned towards Night. "I'm Night Heart."
Tod gave a single clap. "That's good... Uh, so, those clothes?"
"Magic," confirmed Trixie. "We should get her some real clothes."
Starlight flipped out my card, the little minx. "Fortunately, we have this. Before that, Tod?"
"Yeah?"
"Call home, tell them Linda's alright, on the way to the hospital, the full report."
"On it." He fished out his phone and got to calling. "Dad? I'm fine. Oh, sorry, I was away from my ph--Dad... Dad... Linda's alright, dad! Yeah, we found her. She's on the way to the hospital right now. No I'm not joking around. Seriously, about that? Yeah, they're here." He held out the phone. "He wants to talk to Starlight."
Trixie huffed with building indignance. "Why would he not request Trixie?"
Starlight rolled her eyes as she took the phone from Tod. "Thank you. Hello?"
"Starlight? What's going on? Is Linda really alright?" His voice was tense with worry with a hint of hope. "Are you all safe?"
"We're fine, promise." Starlight waved a hand through the air despite it not being seen. "Actually, while I have you on the line, we've picked up... a bit of a new friend. Is it alright if she stays in our room until we get things straightened out?"
"A new, what? That's not really my call. This isn't my house. Look, you're sure Linda is alright?"
"Absolutely. She was just carried off in an ambulance. She's in rough shape, but she'll be fine."
"God... What happened?"
Starlight's eyes half-lidded. "I'll be glad to give everyone an update, at once, so I'm not repeating the story a thousand times. For now, we have to take care of a few things, but do tell everyone that it worked out. Tragedy averted."
"Linda's safe!" came an excited cry through the phone, forcing Starlight to wrench it away from her ear a moment. "Thanks, really, all of you. Can you put Tod back on?"
Tod accepted the phone when offered. "Yeah? Uh huh." He gave the address of the hospital. "I'll stay with Linda's friends. Uh huh... See you later, Dad." He pressed the hang up and slipped the phone away. "Alright, that's taken care of."
Starlight fussed with my phone, pulling up the ride summoning app. "Let's get to a clothing store and get Night Heart properly outfitted for surviving the human world."
Tod slid over beside her. "So, what's it like?"
"Being human?" She tilted her head at him. "It feels very strange. I keep thinking I'm about to fall over." She looked down towards her feet. "How do you balance on these, and only two of them? The wind feels really cold against my skin. Humans have that naked thing down better than a pony ever would." She smiled at Tod, her hands clasping together. "But you know that. You're a human too. Was it like that too, your first time?"
Tod looked at her blankly a moment before it struck. "Oh! I'm not a pony. I mean, that was pretty cool, but nah, this is the real me." He waved a hand over himself. "Nice to meet you, Night Heart, right?"
Night took a little step back. "You're... a human?"
Starlight waved at Tod. "He's on our side, don't worry. He was human along with the rest of us when you first found us."
"Well, yes, but then you all became ponies and I just thought..." She let out a little sigh. "I was making assumptions. I'm sorry. Tod, nice to meet you." She offered a half-curled hand towards him as if unsure what to do.
Tod balled a hand into a fist and bumped it gently against hers. "As cool as wearing a magic outfit is, we should fix that."
Trixie rolled her eyes, arms crossed. "Yes, we should. Trixie is being forced to hold several spells up at once and that is tiring, even for one as Great and Powerful as she is. One less would be appreciated."
Starlight pointed as she began to walk. "The car will meet us here, then we'll start getting this handled. Onwards!"
Tod shook his head as he followed. "Going clothes shopping with a bunch of girls, and I'm entirely alright with this."
Twilight perked up on my arrival. "True, good to see you. Are you... feeling any better?"
"Yes. How do I get back to Canterlot?" I looked off in the direction I thought it was. "Celestia knows things are wrong, right?"
"She does." Twilight's wings fidgeted a moment before she spread them wide. "Sit down, close your eyes, and let me handle this." She trotted over to my side. "You're a large passenger, but I should be able to handle this just fine."
I closed my eyes. "I trust you, but what are we doing?"
"As complex as transportation between worlds can be, within the same world, especially to places you're familiar with, it isn't nearly as difficult." I felt one of her wings wrap around me. "So we'll be in Canterlot in just--" I felt a static jolt and the scent of ozone filled my nose a moment. "--a moment. You can open your eyes now."
I did so and found we were in one of Celestia's waiting rooms. There was no food on the table as there usually was. They must not have been expecting us to just pop into existence, how thoughtless of them. "You are a miracle worker, Twilight."
Twilight colored faintly. "I've practiced that one. You go talk to Celestia, I have other things to do." She raised a hoof in a salute of sorts before she vanished in a shower of sparkles back to where she had come from.
"If they can do that, why bother with the trains?" I pushed open the door out into the hallway and encountered a guard.
He looked surprised to see me there. "Oh! Sir Shot, a pleasure to see you."
I nodded at him. "Nice to see you too. Do you know where C--Princess Celestia is at the moment? I have an update for her."
"She's in the western garden." He pointed the way. "She should be available for the next forty minutes."
That was delightfully specific. "Thank you for keeping such good track. She must appreciate it."
He gave a firm nod. "Always a pleasure to serve her. If only we could do more to ease her burdens. Enjoy your meeting, Sir Shot."
I trotted purposefully through the winding halls of the castle. I didn't know my way, specifically, and just tried to keep oriented with the direction I had been pointed in.
It worked, sort of. I started hitting dead ends and began testing doors. I discovered a bathroom, a training area, and several libraries. Annoyed, I willed the next door open perhaps a bit roughly. It banged against the opposing wall, startling the poor pony inside what seemed to be another library.
"True?" The large mare turned. I had found a princess, but it was the wrong one. "True Shot, good to see you." She rose up to her hooves. "We have things to discuss."