Clyde traversed overhead through Ponyville itself flying quickly, yet carefully, in order to keep Vice comfortable and safe. He made steady progress as he neared Ponyville’s hospital, occasionally checking to see whether or not Vice had regained consciousness. With the brown stallion still knocked out, Clyde resumed his flight. Celestia’s sun determined that the day was almost over. Light still prevailed, but Clyde sensed it was dimming.
‘Mister Vice does have very peculiar wings,’ Clyde thought glancing back at the pony. ‘Where would such a pony get them, I’ll never know.’ Ponville hospital came into view with its heavenly splendor. The iconic symbol of a white cross with diagonally adjacent hearts presented itself lovingly to Clyde along with its chocolate brown roof and light beige exterior. The grass around the place danced gently in the breeze as Clyde landed softly in front of the mint green door.
The guard pony advanced gingerly towards the door, opened it slowly and peered in. A nearby nurse was waiting at a desk reading a magazine. She looked up and shrieked a bit, dropping the magazine. Her horn glowed bright pink as she called for a doctor through a microphone. A few seconds later, a light brown unicorn walked in accompanied by two more nurses. His white medical coat stood out as unnaturally clean and his stethoscope bounced evenly as he trotted to Clyde.
“Oh my, what happened here?” the doctor said with calm suspicion.
“This pegasus here has sustained multiple cuts and bruises to both his sides and his head. He’s been unconscious for about an hour or so and hasn’t awoken yet,” Clyde said grimly.
“Right.” The doctor traveled around Clyde, inspecting Vice. His horn glowed multiple times, but Clyde couldn’t figure out what he could be doing.
“Well now, he doesn’t look too bad.” The doctor’s horn glowed brighter as he closely examined Vice. “Nothing seems to be severely broken or damaged, just a bunch of cuts and bruises like you said. We can probably patch him up real quick and send him on his way in a day or two,” the doctor concluded.
“You figured all that out just now?”
“I am a doctor, right? The nurses should be able to take care of the poor fellow from here on.” The doctor motioned for the nurses to collect Vice. They held out a stretcher which Clyde hadn’t noticed before. He gently slipped the stallion onto the stretcher and watched as the medical crew hauled him away.
‘Now that he’s settled I should probably find out where this Iron Will individual has gone off to. I have faith that mister Enzo will be able to take care of miss Fluttershy, but I want her to be safe. I’ll have to stop by Canterlot and consult the royal guards for a search party later tonight. Maybe then I’ll have that monster under control. It is my duty, after all, to ensure that the Elements of Harmony are protected.’ Clyde firmly agreed with himself and went ahead out the hospital door. He spread his wings wide and looked up at the dawning sky. Brushing the ground slightly, the white pegasus flew upward towards his destination.
~~~~~~~~~~
Enzo stared endlessly at the tree cottage before him. He had been standing at the same spot, unmoving, for almost half an hour. Trembling, he had no will to enter the house. All he could do was simply wait and ponder. ‘I can’t do this, I just can’t,’ Enzo thought hopelessly. ‘How can I pop out of nowhere and talk to her. What am I supposed to say?’ Enzo gulped hard and shuddered as horrible images of him confronting Fluttershy appeared in his mind.
‘What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to talk to her? How am I even going to introduce myself?’ Enzo shot questions back and forth through his own head. ‘What would Vice do? He used to get all the girls back then…wait, no I’m not going to ask her out. No, no no no! I’m just here to make sure she’s okay.’ Enzo literally had sweat pouring from his forehead. Cleaning himself up a bit, he collected his final thoughts.
‘Alright, just go in there and…and say something. Oh this is hopeless, why am I feeling this way. It’s just a random girl that I’m talking to. What if-oh!’ Enzo closed his eyes, turned his head away and faintly knocked on the door. No response came. He did another quick knock which resulted in silence once more. Taking a deep breath, Enzo raised his hoof again and shakily knocked the door. The created sound of hoof meeting wood sifted through the muted air.
“Please, go away!” a voice peeped from within the cottage. Enzo jumped at the sound, but kept his ground. He opened his mouth, yet not a word fell out. Again, he stood motionless and speechless not knowing what to do. “I know your still there. Just leave me alone, I’m a monster,” the voice said breaking Enzo’s state of confliction.
“You’re not a monster!” Enzo blurted out. “The real monster is that minotaur!” This time Enzo spoke with confidence in his voice.
“Iron Will? Did-did he come by?” Fluttershy sounded somewhat scared.
“Yes, but he’s gone now. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Enzo said in a reassuring tone. “Just…let me talk to you.” Silence was all the stallion received. He thought for a moment and facehoofed himself. ‘Oh no, I didn’t even say who I was. She probably thinks I’m with Iron Will or something.’ Enzo thought with fright. “Um, I was sent by Clyde to make sure you were alright,” Enzo called out in an awkward way.
“Clyde? Oh no. I hurt him, didn’t I,” Fluttershy said choking up. “Everypony gets hurt around me, that’s why I’m never coming out!”
“Don’t say that,” Enzo said while trying to come up with something clever to say. “Uh, well you never...hurt me. That’s right, you never hurt me.”
“Who are you?” Enzo facehoofed again and mentally sighed. “My name is…Enzo.”
“Oh, well, nice to meet you I think,” Fluttershy said. Just then, a spark of cleverness entered Enzo’s brain as he compiled a plan.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t get your, uh, name. What was it again?” he said as innocently as possible.
“You didn’t know? I’m Fluttershy.” The pony drowned out her name, but Enzo already knew what it was.
“That doesn’t sound like a name that would harm anypony,” said Enzo.
“Oh, but I will, I will hurt somepony. Please, just leave before I say something nasty to you!” Fluttershy cried desperately.
“I can’t leave, Fluttershy. The more you make me wait, the more you’re hurting me. I don’t know how much more I can take,” Enzo said with a forced, grieving voice. Quietness filled the air as Enzo awaited a response. He noticed that it was becoming dark, the breezes feeling much colder. The seemingly run-down cottage was starting to give off a creepy effect with the oncoming night. Finally, a creak was heard as Enzo pulled his attention on the opening door.
At first, Enzo tried to withhold a cheerful smile, but that smile was shot down at the sight of what came before him. Fluttershy stood in front of him; her eyes were lightly puffed and tinted with a red hue. Her face was dried in the right places for Enzo to tell she had been crying a lot. He, again, tried to lift a smile which turned into a half smile, half frown.
“Um, I-ahhhh” A vociferous clang cut Enzo off as he dropped back and held his knee. Standing before him was a stone faced bunny holding a frying pan bigger than he was. Fluttershy gasped, swiped the tool of destruction away and scolded the bunny for doing what he did.
"Bad Angel! You don't hit strangers!" she said with a motherly tone. The bunny known as Angel simply shrugged and hopped away without any sign of apology for Enzo. Still caressing his knee, the black pony slowly got up and limped towards Fluttershy's cot. The interior was just as expected in which it was similar to the outside. Almost all the furniture was obstructed or missing and all the lights seemed to be dimmed. Pictures of a minatour were attached to a nearby mirror, some shredded, and a chair with a rope wrapped around it was centered within the room.
Enzo simply stood and watched in pain as Fluttershy went to go get a chair for him. Pain was felt both physically and mentally, that Fluttershy had become what she is now. With chair in hand, Fluttershy had quickly seated Enzo and took a look at his leg. She was disregarding the fact that she had been crying a few minutes ago and looked like she knew what she was doing.
"I'm so sorry, I don't know what's gotten into him." Fluttershy spoke with reassurance. "Please, don't be mad." Enzo stood again and watched, not knowing what to do or say, as Fluttershy deftly tried to heal his leg. "Um," Enzo diverted his eyes away from the mare and tried desperately to think of something to say; anything. "Thanks..."
Fluttershy gave a subtle nod and moved away to see her work. There was a bandage wrapped around Enzo's leg which surprisingly enough helped with the pain. Both ponies stood watching, not saying a word. Fluttershy looked around nervously, losing her confident self she had a minute ago while Enzo shifted uncomfortably.
"So...uh, are you feeling better?"
~~~~~~~~~~
"What in the hay is he doing in my room!?" Blitz wobbled up and out from under his bed sheets. He already knew how disgusting he felt. However, he could not remember what had happened in recent times. Disregarding that idea, he was instantly focused on the pony that was being brought into the room.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to quiet down. We have other patients here you know," a unicorn doctor said.
"But, why him? Why not anypony else? Why him?" Blitz was appalled.
"Because all our other rooms are occupied. Please, sir, it’s just for a day or two." The doctor ignored Blitz's other protests and proceeded to aid the nurses in placing the pony in a bed next to Blitz. As the nurses left, the doctor spoke, "he won't be waking up for a while, so be thankful." Blitz sighed with extreme heaviness as the room became just him and the other pony.
"What's up, sport? Didja miss me?" The other pony got up swiftly and looked straight into Blitz's eyes. The unicorn jumped slightly.
"Vice-“
"That's right, Iceboy." Vice laughed and sat back with his hooves behind his head.
"How did you-"
"Did you honestly, really, honestly think I'd be out n' cold that fast and easy? Pfft, no such thing!" Blitz noted the obvious head bandage protruding from Vice's forehead. Along with wrappings around Vice's waist, he noticed something strange now that he had a good look at his previous adversary. He observed that the brown stallion indeed had some sort of metal covering his wings. He also noticed that the pony had no cutie mark.
"Where's you trench coat?" Blitz asked uneasily.
"Huh? My-MY TRENCH-" Vice gave out a hysterical cry as he tried to get up, but fell back down. He looked side to side up and down before succumbing to his wounds and lying still.
"Damn, so you're seeing everything now, eh? Like what you see?" Vice's panic was taken over by his cockiness.
"You have metal wings. Where in the name of Celestia did those come from?" Blitz was flabbergasted. "And why don't you have a cutie mark. You look old enough to have one. Where is it?"
"Hey, what did I say about twenty questions? Sorry, but I ain't answering them just like when we first met. It'd be better that way the less you know about me." Vice turned in his bed and faced the other way, hiding his agitated face.
"The less I know about you, the more I become worried. I'm tired of you being so mysterious," Blitz commented back with severe annoyance.
"Just when I'm starting to enjoy myself, you're all over my ass," Vice fired back now facing Blitz. "Listen, when me and Enzo first came here I personally thought we would be outta here the next day. But, as fate would have it, this has been one of the best places we've been to. Not everyone, er, not everypony is giving us dirty looks. The cops are actually on our side for once and I got my ass handed to me by some random asswipe instead of the cops this time around." Vice took a breath as he stated the whole paragraph as fast as possible. "Not to mention Enzo seems happy for once. If he's happy, I'm happy. Really he's the only guy I got left in my life, no homo. He's the only family, friend and buddy I have left and he deserves the best. As long as he's doing good, I'll take the hits for him. Hey, I got nothin' to lose."
Blitz couldn't respond back. He was amazed at how somepony as low as Vice could be such a different pony to somepony else. "Just my little spiel as all. Friends are very important to me." Vice eyed Blitz comically.
"Am I you're friend?" Blitz said expecting a negative answer.
"Maybe. Just let me rest in peace. I need to know what happened to Enzo first thing tomorrow," Vice said eagerly. Blitz had a dying urge to know about Vice's wings and cutie mark and even more so about Enzo. But, he knew he would not be able to make the stubborn pony talk. Instead, he waited until he could hear faint snoring and decided to do something risky.
Reaching into the nearby desk and pulling out a pill, he slowly concealed it in his mouth and got up out of bed. Wincing in pain, he swallowed the pill and felt it no more. Tiptoeing out, he silently crept towards the entrance to the hospital. He could finally smell fresh air rivaling the hospital smell he was so used to. Thanking Celestia that the nurse was asleep he simply waltzed outside and took a deep breath. "Ugh, I can’t stand that guy. Now, to find this, Twilight Sparkle."
~~~~~~~~~~
"Yeah, she lives over there. In that giant tree." A mare pointed to a vastly, sizable tree filled with various building-like structures hanging out. Lights were still shining and brightening up the now shadowy night.
"I see it. Okay, thanks." Blitz waved and trotted towards his destination. The pill he had taken was now in full effect and he decided to take full advantage of it. As he neared the compound, he noticed something odd. There was a pony, a mare to be exact, standing outside. Her light purple hat littered with yellow and blue stars complimented her light blue coat. Blitz thought that she reminded him of himself, color-wise, until he saw her very pale, bright blue mane. He cautiously and nervously approached the mare with a burning question.
"Are you Twilight Sparkle?" The mare whipped around and almost fell over. She looked at Blitz with some sort of disgust.
"What's it to you?" she said sharply.
"I just want to know, I need her help," Blitz said slightly confused at the mare's reaction to this.
"Oh everypony needs Twilight's help, it’s all about her!" The mare gritted her teeth in frustration. Blitz sighed.
I guess I'll have to stoop this low, he thought with embarrassment. "Please, I need her help desperately. I'll do anything!"
"Anything?" The mare thought for a second. She smiled devilishly, unbeknown to Blitz. "Well then, if you must know, I'm Twi-Twili-Twi" The mare choked on her words as if she couldn't pronounce or say them. "I am Twiligh-" She gnawed on the words trying to spit it out. "...I'm the Great and Powerful Twilight Sparkle!" She said as fast as possible.
Blitz raised a brow. "But...that's just my, uh, alias. So many ponies want my help, but I really I go by the Great and Powerful Trixie to fake them out." Trixie gave a fake smile which looked genuine.
"Okay, uh, well why are you outside your house? Did you lock yourself out?" Blitz was uncomfortable accepting that this was who Clyde was talking about. What if she's lying, he thought anxiously. No, she can't be. This town literally can't be bad.
"What can the Great and Powerful Trixie do for you," Trixie said ignoring Blitz's question.
"Uh, well I sort of-" Blitz stopped and felt pain in his leg again. "Need help with my leg. Can you do something about it, maybe?" Blitz showed Trixie his bandaged leg.
"Of course the Great and Powerful Trixie can fix your leg," the mare said with an air of confidence. Her horn glowed a bright cyan and Blitz felt some tingling enter his broken bone. At first, the feeling was soothing but soon turned into a fit of extreme tightness. It was as if his bones were imploding on themselves.
After being sprawled on the ground, Blitz got up without even thinking and tested his new, improved leg. "Wow, I can't believe it, my leg is actually fixed!" Blitz shouted with growing joy.
"All thanks to the Great and Powerful Trixie," the blue mare restated. "Now then, follow me, we've got work to do," she maliciously said.
"Wait, what? Work?"
"You did say you'd do anything for somepony to fix your leg. The Great and Powerful Trixie needs some help of her own."
"Right..." At least my leg is fixed now. Maybe after I help Trixie, I can get back to getting that darn job. Both ponies walked together out of Ponyville and into the forest.