//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Through the soul of friendship // by ShieldStar //------------------------------// Through the soul of friendship Fanfication by ShieldStar 4 "Princess Celestia! Princess Celestia! It's waking up!" Reed slowly awoke wondering who Princess Celestia was and why he hurt so much. He remembered hurting worse than this last time he was awake... Reed's eyes shot open and all of his memory rushed back. Reed groaned, "I thought it was all a dream." As he covered his faced with his right hand. The ceiling was a soft yellow, a steady, but slowly increasing, beeping came from his left, a window on his right showed the morning rays of dawn. "Nurse could you please fetch the doctor." "Of course princess right away." The trotting of hooves left the room. Reed put his arm down and sat up a little. Pain ripped through him and he stopped moving. He looked to see who else was in the room.  The white horse with wings, a horn and a crown was standing by the window while a pony guard stood by the door. Dressed in full golden armor. Reed looked down at himself. He had what looked like a quickly made hospital gown witch looked to be made of bed sheets. Reed carefully looked under the gown to look at his left side.  Which he couldn't see because of all the bandages. Spots of red were visible, compared to his arm they looked about the same. Now that he looked at himself nothing looked remotely good. Bandages covered most of him, other places looked like they had been sewed up days ago.  How long had he been out? "Seven days. You were asleep for seven day." Reed looked up. The white horse was looking at him. "Can you truly understand what I am saying?" She asked. Just then the doctor trotted in clip broad hovering next to him in what looked like faintly glowing mist. He was a pail blue unicorn with yellow mane and tail. He also had glasses and a white lab coat on. "I'm glade your awake I need to run a few tests and see what we can do for you. Right now we have just given you a patch up with no magic. As we did not know what your reaction to magic would be. Judging from the reports we didn't want to use magic and have you explode. However-" "Wait, explode?" The doctor look a little surprised at having found out that Reed could understand him. "Well yes. You exploded when the Sargent Night Shield's stunning spell hit you." "Excuse me Doctor Quick Stitch," the doctor turned to princess Celestia, "if magic has a bad effect wouldn't an explosion have been the only thing to come out of the Teleportation spell?"  "True, true..." After the doctor had deemed it safe and ran his tests, he left.  Two minutes later Reed was taken to the M.O.R. (Magical Operation Room) to complete his surgery; with minor resistance. Reed once again woke to a steady beeping. Only this time the sun was setting and he didn't hurt.  He sighed contentedly and sat up slowly. He looked himself over checking from any injuries. There weren't any, his skin was whole and unmarked by any burns or cuts. Not even a scar from the stitches. This put him in a better mood than when he first awoke. With a small smile he looked around the room. There were four ponies in the room with him. Princess Celestia looking out the window, the golden armored guard guarded, the purple unicorn and yellow pegasus that he had saved were taking a nap in two chairs by the window. 'Does saving them count though? I most likely scared them to death when I picked them up.' Reed thought. The guard cleared his throat and the princess looked over. Noticing Reed was awake gently woke the two sleeping ponies. Reed looked around and stretched. A bundle of rags, a shoulder bag and a pile of clothes sat in a corner. Reed sat on the edge if the bed. When Reed was about to get up and change in to some clothes when one of the ponies spoke up. "How do you feel?" Reed stopped. "....Better.... How are you?" Reed said without turning. "Oh, um, I'm well. Thank you." The pony squeaked. Reed again prepared to get out of bed to change in to something more comfortable when again he was stopped. The guard moved slightly, Reed looked at him. The movement had been slight but enough the put the guard in to a battle stance. Reed meet his eyes and slowly got back in bed and sat back. Still looking at the guard Reed started to speak to the ponies he had saved. "I'm sorry." Reed looked over at the ponies." That I scared you that night, I mean. I just acted ...it’s hard to explain...  I had just come out of a dangerous situation... And heard you two talking and then we were being chased and I just acted." Reed said quickly. There was a pause. "It's okay." The pegasus said quietly. "Yes, thank you for saving my student and her friend. I am grateful that you were there to help them." The princess said. "What do you mean by dangerous situation?" Asked the unicorn. "Nearly drowning in a fast moving river." Reed replied nonchalantly. The unicorns eyes grew wide and the yellow pegasus gasped. "How did you get out?" Celestia asked. "The tool that I had on my belt. It's called a climbing axe, it's used to stop the climber's fall or slide down the side of a cliff or mountain." "How did you find us when you did?" Asked the unicorn. "When I got out of the cave river I followed a tunnel out into the sun light. I then followed a path down in to the forest, where I heard you two. I started after you to ask directions. When you screamed and started running. It wasn't until I caught up with you did I know that you were ponies." "But why come after us when you could have ran away and been safe?" "Because I made a promise to-" Reed's voice broke and he felt the tears slipping out the sides of his eyes. Reed took a moment to pull himself together. "I'm sorry. You'd think I get over something that happened so long ago. I promised a friend that I would be better." Reed raised his right hand with his pinkie folded down, and recited “To uphold what is right, and protect those targeted by evil." Reed chuckled sadly. "It's an old promise, but I'll keep it. No excuses."