“Oh she has to be alright, she just has to.” Fluttershy was fretting over the fact that it had been two hours and they hadn’t seen Jade. Someone that risked herself for them.
“Nope, she still isn’t coming.” Reported Pinkie looking left and right down the tracks they had walked from.
The two fillies had made it to Ponyville unscathed, they were waiting at the train station for their friend to show up and the mayor was with them. She had already alerted a Pegasus to go find Fluttershy’s parents and as for Pinkie she was being quite stubborn about wanting to stay in Ponyville.
“Maybe you just have to face facts girls, your friend doesn’t seem to be… coming.” The pony with them was only known as Mayor Mare, she had seen a lot of heartache in her life and these poor fillies didn’t need to hear that their friend wasn’t going to be around any longer. It was like what happened to Bright Mac and Pear Butter all over again, they were just gone one day.
“I know she’s still alive, my Pinkie sense says so.” It was getting close to noon and even Pinkie was a little worried that her sensing abilities were off.
It was another three minutes before they spotted the first signs of a horrible, but equally wonderful sight.
-
My legs weren’t injured at least, I was feeling pretty awful after that fight. At least the outcome wasn’t terrible on both sides, I had no permanent injuries and I successfully fended off a chimera. I wouldn’t have survived two and the one I fought wasn’t even fully grown one yet. A person who fights monsters I was not.
The right side of my face must look like a mess, my left shoulder was definitely a mess, my back hurt and my ears were still stinging from the high powered water jets I forced through them. That and my body was badly bruised from several tumbles. I’m surprised I wasn’t crying, I was just going to suck it up and keep going. My previous life taught me that life wasn’t fair sometimes, the teenage filly and pre-teen filly didn’t need to learn that lesson so soon and I couldn’t keep them waiting.
What was the bright side to all of this? I unloaded all my fish jerky on someone who would appreciate a good meal. Thinking of food, I pulled out a dried piece of apricot and chucked it in my mouth and started chewing. Oh look, the train station... I was miserable and I was going to make people miserable just by looking at me. I hiked up my pack and continued forward.
As soon as I approached the station I noticed that there were only four ponies here, the ticket selling stallion being one I didn’t recognize all too well. It was hard to recognize anything when your right eye was covered in drying blood. The other was Mayor Mare who was giving me a very disturbed look, I am after all the cat that just dragged itself in.
My appearance must have been frightening to Fluttershy and Pinkie, because they were both giving me sad looks. They tried to come toward me, but I held up my right hand to stall them.
“Hey girls, I’m okay, just a bit roughed up. Please don’t tackle me with a hug just yet, heh, at least wait until I’m feeling better.” I was mauled and the injuries I dealt to the chimera were negligible compared to mine, I would still like to think that I came out of that fight in the positive side of things. I still had the advantage at the end there, given I knocked out two of my three deadly opponents. I also damaged their front left paw badly enough that they’d be limping for weeks. “Oh and I managed to make friends with the chimera, odd thing that.”
I might have even been coloring my experiences to make myself look better in my own mind, I didn’t do much more than minimal damage in that short fight and the chimera could have killed me if the saber toothed head got it’s jaws around my neck at any point.
“Really?” Asked a happy Pinkie in a naïve manner, obviously she thought befriending a chimera was possible.
It admittedly was possible, I did it after all. It required that you prove yourself to be stronger than them if not in body or physical prowess, then at least stronger in spirit. My spirit was currently shot right now my pony friends, can you hear mine screaming? Come back later when I’ve cleaned up my poor injury riddled body. I just wanted to flop into a seat on a train and sleep on the way to Canterlot.
“Yes, but I can’t recommend my particular method of befriending one Pinkie.” I turned to Mayor Mare, she was older than the main six and at least old enough to be mayor of the town at this moment. “You wouldn’t happen to have a medical kit anywhere nearby would you?”
“You’re the friend they were talking about?” She seemed confused, as if she thought the friend they were talking about was another pony.
“Yes, I am… apparently. It’s not like ponies can have friends in different species, goodness knows where the three pony tribes would be if they couldn’t live with differing species. Yes, ponies certainly can’t get along with anyone else that isn’t a pony.” I was feeling like I needed to be snarky about this with the mayor and she looked rather sheepish. ”If you haven’t noticed I got injured fending off the chimera for these two, they did what I told them too and I did what I promised them I’d do. I hope you get back to Cloudsdale alright Fluttershy and I suggest you go to a place called Sugar Cube Corner Pinkie. You’ll be cheered right round up if you do. If all of you will excuse me… I have something I really need to do.”
I slowly made my way over to the stallion in the ticket station, I ignored the two worried fillies and the upset mare.
“One ticket for a train to Canterlot please.” The stallion blinked owlishly at me as if I were some kind of mauling victim asking for a train ticket in a normal tone despite my current state of appearance. All as if it were the most common thing in the world.
“That’ll be five bits, the ticket is good for any train you get on heading for Canterlot.” Oh good, it wasn’t too expensive. I reached into my backpack and got a pouch out, I had at least fifty on me. Mom had the rest with her. I needed to admit that I hadn’t entirely come out of that fight in anything resembling an okay condition as my current mental state would suggest. “Just thought you’d like to know if you missed the next train due to… certain conditions.”
That was his commentary of my current state, my poor shirt was caked with my own blood and I was feeling a bit lightheaded.
“Thank you good sir.” Being polite as I paid and took the ticket from him, I slowly turned away from the stallion. “I will now go lay down on a nearby bench and pass out. Have someone wake me gently when the train arrives, I’ll worry about how I look after facing a chimera later.”
I took off my pack and flopped onto the bench while using it as a pillow, both the fillies sent Mayor Mare a slightly worried look and I gave them a small smile as what remained of my vision faded to black.
-
I slowly came to as something rubbed against my face, I opened my eyes and my right eye was no longer bothered by drying blood clotting on it. The thing rubbing my face was a slightly damp purple sponge that smelled of chemicals.
“Oh you wake up easily. Sorry to disturb your rest miss, hold still while I fix you up. Your train isn’t here yet, but it will be soon and you can’t go to Canterlot in this state. The nobles would eat you alive, well not literally and I think you get the idea.” The unicorn stallion was wearing a lab coat and had a stethoscope, he had short dark brown hair, pink eyes and blue coat. His cutie mark was a bandage, scalpel and syringe crossing one another. “You were roughed up quite a fair bit. Bruising to the spine. I don’t know exactly what you did to your ears, but it obviously stung quite a bit. No ear wax or any lasting damage in there though, which is good for you. Your face won’t scar as soon as the healing magic is done. Your shoulder will need stitches, but it’ll feel a lot better afterwards and you’ll have to find the nearest doctor to remove them for you wherever you are in a few days.”
“So… I’m still at the train station?” It certainly looks like it, I didn’t move from my position and let the doctor do his work. “What’s this visit going to cost?”
“Nothing, never worked on an Abyssinian before. This is quite a unique experience for me and I’m doing this free of charge. Pro bono if you will.” He got a bit of numbing agent, a needle and a thread out of the bag. “Just don’t bite my head off when I start stitching you up. Anyone that can go a round with a chimera and walk away like you did has to be tough, I’m just not seeing it here as your body is kind of scrawny. Quick Patch at your service miss. I’m a trauma and quick medical assistance specialist, the mayor wanted me to mend a hero and I didn’t expect that hero to be an Abyssinian.”
“To be fair, it wasn’t a full grown chimera. Got a bit of wood or rubber I can bite into for the stitches?” He held out a rubber dog bone and I gave him an unamused look.
“It’s sanitized I assure you.” His friendly smile did not make me feel any better.
“A dog toy… do I look like a Diamond Dog to you?” Call me grumpy from the blood loss, but I really didn’t like this if it was a joke.
“It’s cheap and effective, plus I’ve had to a do a lot with less before.” He soon stopped smiling and gave me a stern look. “So be glad I even have this, as your shoulder needs to be stitched before I can use magic to help it heal. You’ll be glad to know your face won’t scar, but your fur might be a little off for a while.”
“I’m not really that worried about my appearance.” It was kind of sad that I wouldn’t be sporting some cool scars left by Mara, Maria and Marie. That’s at least what Marie the snake head told me to call them anyway.
“All the same, you shouldn’t be walking around with scars if you don’t have to miss.” Mr. Patch squeezed my left bicep and I bit down on the rubber bone, it didn't take him long to sew my shoulder shut. “You’re good for travel now, remember to eat healthy and don’t do anything too strenuous for a while. Also don’t upset those stitches, I can’t tell my patients that enough!”
“Jade La Perm, thanks for patching me up Mr. Patch.” He nodded and backed away with a quirky smile, what was he… I suddenly had Pinkie and Fluttershy on top of my chest and belly hugging me.
“You’re welcome.” The cheeky stallion said before leaving me with two fillies that were trying to get my attention, I chose to give more attention to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy was almost like a pet, sweet, innocent and willing to cuddle for some friendly affection.
-
The train roared into the station and both Fluttershy and Pinkie looked at me sadly.
“Well, I got to go girls. Try to stay happy for me okay?” I felt something bump against me and then I saw Pinkie looking up at me with a cupcake sitting in front of her. “What’s this?”
“It’s a cupcake, I made it just for you!” I kind of figured referencing Pinkie to the Cakes would make her happy and I took a bite of it. it didn't taste very good, but I kept eating it. “Thanks for telling me about Sugar Cube Corner!”
“I know we haven’t known each other for long, but… will we see each other again Jade?” Her question had me smiling and I played with her mane a bit.
“Grow your mane out a bit and I’ll certainly recognize you cutie, you’ll likely be a beautiful butterfly the next time I see you.” I just made her blush again and made my way onto the train. “I’m sure we’ll still be friends in the future, but I have things to do and a goddess to get back to before she does something to mom.”
“I’m glad you’re okay, goodbye Jade.” Fluttershy was going to be fine and she had one last thing to say before the doors closed. “Oh and all the animals said thank you for making sure I was alright!”
It was going to be a bit of a trip, so I secluded myself in a train car and sat down to look out the window as the train started up. First two days in Equestria and things were already complicated, no more lazy days for me I guess.
I still can’t believe I managed to escape the chimera by bluffing it and now I was going to see Celestia, I wondered if Sekhet’s warning would actually amount to anything.
-
In Canterlot a purple unicorn filly and a great white alicorn with colorful hair were in the middle of a teaching session.
“Now Twilight…” Celestia paused and looked off into the distance, slowly her eyes dilated and an unbelievably happy smile appeared on her face. “Oh my goodness, I have to go prepare for them!”
“What’s going on princess, prepare for who?” As curious as Twilight was, she had been a little bit frightened by the sudden change in Celestia’s demeanor.
“Don’t worry about it Twilight, it’s just that something important came up. Give me a few seconds to tell the guards to be on the lookout for anything.... unusual.” Using her wings to scoop up the little filly into a gentle hug, Celestia nuzzled her newest protégé. Hopefully Twilight wouldn’t turn out like the others, Celestia was still crying herself to sleep at night over her many numerous mistakes. Ten seconds to tell the guards what she wanted and she was back with Twilight, she had to focus on teaching this filly correctly. “Okay, now where was I?”
“I believe we were talking about levitation and the many different magical applications of it.” Ever eager to please the princess, Twilight wouldn’t stop putting her full effort into every little thing Celestia wanted her to do. “Also the theories involving every unicorn’s aptitude for lifting things and the formula behind how much weight a unicorn can technically handle.”
“Right… and I was about to tell you that a unicorn can do more than they logically can if they only believed that they can.” It was fun for Celestia to see the look on Twilight’s face. “A little concentration can go a long way Twilight.”