//------------------------------// // Layover in Neighagra Falls // Story: Kiwe's Journey // by Mocha Star //------------------------------// “Finally we're out of that dumb town.” “Mist…” Violet sighed and shook her head; out of expectation or preparation of what was to come, she didn’t know. “What, Violet? We were there for four days so Kiwe could play with bread.” That earned a frown from Jade. “Don't you start! We should be held way to VanHoover by now, but instead,” she gestured to Kiwe and then the town behind them. Jade sighed wistfully. “Flitter found love, Kiwe mastered a new skill, and you got dunked in the fountain before we left, I think it as a good break.” Before Mist could retaliate, Kiwe interjected. “I have learned only the basics, mastery may never come to me, but I do agree that this was a much needed break. “We are clean, stocked, all visited the ferrier, and well rested. The journey continues with us all in good spirits, yes?” Jade draped a foreleg over Kiwe's withers. “Oh yeah! That's right, cool colt. We so have this in the bag!” … “Oh, sweet Celestia, is that the next city already?! It’s only been three days!” Mist hopped between her hooves as she took the lead. “Wow, I can see the waterfall from here!” “Yeah, it’s so pretty…” “I hope to see it up close, I heard there’s a barrel ride we can go on, too.” They all spoke over one another and shared a laugh as they approached the city. Mist seemed to be the most excited now. “First thing is I’m getting a hotel room, who’s coming?” she looked at Violet, who looked at Jade, who in turn looked at Kiwe. “I shall go with you as we do need a bed or two.” Mist smiled softly and made a motion with her head for Kiwe to follow her. “While you two go, Jade and me’ll find places to eat and maybe get some bits for the next leg of our trek. How long are we staying?” “I’unno,” Mist and Kiwe shrugged. “How many bits do we have?” Violet reached her head back to her saddlebags and took out a notebook, then read several pages in. “fouty one.” Jade pouted. “What happened to the rest? We had so many.” Violet looked back a page. “Three nights in the hotel, repairs to the door Mist kicked when she got mad at Jade,” the pink mare huffed, “food, spa, hooves. All standard stuff, but it added up. We’re not really being responsible, are we?” “Hey, I apologized for kicking the door. I just,” Mist looked away, “have issues I need to work out still.” Jade bit his lips to stay his tongue at her. “We must find work if we hope to stay in a real bed not made of hay. I will get a room with Mist and be fast so we can get the bits we need at last.” Three sets of eyes looked at Kiwe as they all loved when he rhymed. “Well, let’s go before something happens.” They broke into teams and made a meet-up spot. Within two hours Mist and Kiwe had rented a room and made their way to the meeting location. “So, Kiwe?” He looked up at her from the ground he was drawing in with a stick. “Well, what do you think of me?” He blinked at her then went back to scratching patterns in the soil. “I don’t understand.” “Um, do you think I’m fun, or still just a meanie?” “I like you, and you are getting better. But, you and Jade argue too much and none of us knows why.” “Oh, yeah. I’m really sorry about that, but something about him just makes me so upset I could just scream, and I don’t know why.” “You do scream at him,” he finished a pattern, then wiped it away with his magic and began anew. “I think you both like each other, but don’t know how to manage your feelings. Jade is a strong willed colt that likes to be supportive, while you are strong willed and defensive…” he looked aside at her while holding the stick in his magical grip. “Do you wish to talk to me about anything bothering you?” She gulped and broke eye contact with him. “D-do you have to look at me that way?” “In what way am I looking at you? You’re not uncomfortable around me, are you?” “Kinda, but not bad like i was. Kiwe, I know I have a lot to work on to be better, and I wanted to thank you for the patience you have.” He smiled at her. “Hey, it’s no problem for me to help. What are friends for?” he gasped in surprise when she turned and wrapped him into a hug. She pulled back after a few seconds. “Thanks, Kiwe, you’re the best friend a crazy mare like me could have.” “You’re not crazy, just different. Different in this world can change, or the world can change to be different. There’s no normal,” he chuckled, “look at me? I’m a zony traveling across Equestria to find my father, who disappeared one day not to be seen since. What’s not weird about that?” Mist playfully punched his foreleg. “I get it, but I don’t have to like it.” “Don’t, or you’d be boring,” he winked at her for the first time and returned his attention to the earth blow him. “Like my drawing?” “It’s,” she moved her head side to side, “a bird?” “It’s nothing but what we make of it. I see a giraffe in water, here is the water and here is its neck and head.” “Oh, I didn’t think about that,” she leaned in and squinted, “I think I see a swan on the water,” she lifted her muzzle and brushed against his as their eyes met. In less than a quarter second they had pulled their attention from the rest of the world to one another as shown by their sudden aversion of their eyes and the start of the swift motion of their bodies turning slightly away. “Uhm.” “Uh…” They both looked over when Jade started laughing loudly, getting their attention and being a better distraction then each other. “I’ll hide next!” Kiwe and Mist shouted as they both ran to opposite sides of the road to join in their friends’ game. Mist ran from the grassland’s edge to the public area where visitors could view the falls. “Wow, it’s like two rivers falling over a cliff into a lake and making rainbows and stuff! Violet, do you see this?!” Jade leaned over to Violet. “She just literally described the falls, didn’t she?” Violet bumped him gently with her side. “She’s not very creative, I guess.” They shared a snicker while Kiwe ran past them. “Wow, rarely have my eyes beheld such beauty,” he said looking past Mist as he reached the guard rails. Mist offered a quiet ‘eep’ when he commented but kept her gaze on the falls. “The water is so beautiful when it falls in such a way, is it not?” Mist turned and moved a couple paces farther from him. “Yeah, that.” Violet and Jade filled in the space between the two and took in the majesty of the largest natural waterfall in the world. “Anypony else hungry?” A quiet chorus of agreements replied and they all turned tail to the falls to return to the road well traveled. It took another four hours of walking, but they enjoyed the fact that they were surrounded by other creatures. Diamond Dogs pulled covered carts, earth and unicorn ponies worked in caravans. Pegasi were overhead doing any of a hundred things that the group could imagine. All the while the foliage shrank as the suburbs of the city grew. They crossed an invisible line, where gravel and dirt met paved, and sighed collectively and walked a little ways to stand in some cool grass. “Back in civilization,” Mist said flatly, then smiled and giggled. “I wanna get the biggest hay burger they have and wash it down with the city’s largest ice cream soda.” Jade chuckled. “Oh yeah, that sounds awesome. With two, no, four large fries to go with it.” Kiwe and Violet looked at each other then back to their friends. “You two, agreeing on something? What the hay is in the air here?” Violet scrunched her face and waved her forelegs in the air. “Stay away from me, crazy air!” She fell over laughing and soon the other three were laughing, too. “Okay, okay. Look, I know I’m not always the easiest to get along with,” Mist shot a look to Jade that screamed for him to remain silent, “but I really like this trip and all of you, even Jade,” they stuck their tongues out at each other. Kiwe finally piped up, “Well, I am hungry and wish to resolve that problem. Shall the mares take the lead?” Violet and Mist looked between themselves and rushed to whisper, giggling like they were being tickled as they did. “Yes, friend Jade. I, Violet of Manehattan, shall guide you through the perilous roads ahead to find food befitting royalty,” she stood tall and lit her horn to call over a stick. Without missing a cue, Jade bowed and let her touch the stick to his withers. “Thank you, I shall guard you with my appetite.” The two shared a snickering laugh and hoof bump. “Hey, wanna walk with me, or whatever?” Kiwe looked at Mist and shrugged. “I see no reason to decline. After you, fair lady.” Mist blinked at him and then smiled anxiously. “You’re such a joker,” she walked by and gave him a teasing punch on the shoulder that he overplayed. “Agh, my legs. Broken in my prime, now I shall never take over the world. Curses upon your powerful strike of leg breaking power.” “You’re such a dork,” Mist laughed and reached a hoof to help him up. Once he was on his hooves he limped and stumbled. “Woah, eeeyah, so hard to walk after such a powerful blow to my spirit,” he pouted with an expert bottom lip and large eyes that even Mist felt maternal for, “carry me?” Mist was silent, quietly holding back a whimper in her throat. She shook her head to clear it. “I shall carry you, as a mare of honor I cannot leave one who I hurt behind,” she moved faster than he expected and ducked her head under him and lifted, sliding him onto her back sideways. “H-hey! I was joking. Put me down, Mist.” “My name is Sir Mist, knighted by Princess Celestia herself a… like, dozen fortnights ago, or something. So, shut up and don’t try to turn and mount me like some commoner.” The group fell silent, but Mist kept walking with her head held high. They couldn’t see her expression, but if they could they’d have seen her turn a dozen shades pinker. “Oh-kay, well, Mistress Violet,” Jade intoned pointedly, “I won’t need you to carry me because I can walk just fi-” he yelped and lifted his left foreleg as tears prickled his eyes. Kiwe scrambled to get off Mist without even seeming to mount her while Violet was on her haunches, looking at his hoof. “Darn, Jade. Why didn’t you say your hoof was this bad?” “I was just gonna get it filed soon, finally,” he whimpered and sniffled. “Well, what’s wrong?” Mist was the first to ask, not hiding her concern. “Sweet Luna’s teets,” she said breathily when she saw. Violet lifted and looked at his hoof again. “Jade, you’ve cracked your hoof to the canon, I think.” Kiwe gasped and looked at the injury. “That’s a quarter crack, we need to get you to a hospital, since we’re in town.” Mist moved as swift as ever and picked Jade up onto her back and cantered to the nearest street. “Sir, hospital, broken hoof, needs help,” she said panicking and bouncing between her forehooves. Kiwe and Violet caught up as the stallion was taking in the scene. “Ah, yeah! Oh, go three blocks down that way and eight more to the right.” Mist suddenly felt the weight of Jade on her back as the distance sank in. “Tell you what, follow me and I’ll get you a cab, huh?” He turned around and trotted at the others’ canter pace three blocks back the way he came to hail them a cab. “Here’s ten bits, get them to the hospital, pronto.” The three climbed in and Mist let Kiwe and Violet help Jade onto the seat just before the driver nodded and took to a gallop. It was a mere seven minutes to get there, but Jade had started crying for the stinging pain throbbing through his leg, He lay across Kiwe’s lap and his head rested in Mist’s forelegs as the pink mare shouted for the driver to hurry. “We’re here already, get out quick. Best of luck to ya,” he said with a nod as they climbed out of his rickshaw and got Jade across Mist’s back again. They cantered as a group with Kiwe and Violet close to Jade’s front, incase his forehoof bumped too hard. They said encouraging nothing’s as Mist got to the reception nurse. “My friend’s hurt and needs help!” The nurse stood from her cushion on the floor and looked down at the voice and inhaled sharply. “Follow me, I need to take some vitals and I’ll let the doctor know, but you can’t all come with us.” “Kiwe’ll go, they’re best friends,” Violet said quickly and used her magic to push the colt gently. The nurse moved beside Mist and with an authoritative look took Jade onto her back. The colts left the young mares alone in the waiting room to do just that while Jade was checked in. It took five quick minutes for Jade to get a bed and only two more for a unicorn doctor to trot in with haste. “So, Mister Jadeite, I’m Doctor Socket. I heard somepony hurt his hoof and was wondering just how’d this happen,” he casually spoke while lighting his horn and taking a scan of the injury, preparing his stethoscope, and writing on paper with a cheap pen. “Well, my friends and me’ve been walking across the country to Vanhoover to find Kiwe’s dad and, well, my hoof’s been hurting for a while but it wasn’t that bad so I just ignored it and figured I’d visit the ferrier here since the last one just filed my hooves a bit.” “And why aren’t you wearing shoes, young stallion?” The doctor afforded a glance into Jade’s eyes. “Well, I didn’t wanna wear’m if I didn’t have to, and all the walking on the ground’s supposed to be good for hooves.” Doctor Socket sighed while moving the scope to his ears and placing it to Jade’s inner thigh. “That’s circumstantial reasoning, like saying all tofu tastes like kale. You might think that when you eat it the same way for years, but when you try it a different way you’d be surprised. I’ll have the nurse take some X-rays and deep tissue scans for your charts, but it doesn’t look like this’ your fault.” Kiwe and Jade shared a look. “What’d’ya mean, Doc?” “What I mean, Jadeite, is that you have a problem that exceeds my skillset. I’ll still be your primary doctor but I need to get a surgical consult as soon as possible. The nurse will be right in,” he finished writing with a loud scratch across the paper. As he was leaving the paper was placed in a folder at the foot of the bed and then two confused colts were left alone. “What’s he talking about, Kiwe?” Kiwe swallowed hard and looked at his friend’s hoof. “Uhm, that there’s something bad. I don’t know what it is or what it means, but it can’t be that bad, right?” Knowledge dawned on Jade as his mind began to make sense of what the doctor said. His breathing hastened and he felt his heart rate rise. “A surgical concept? He said surgery, on my hoof?” his breathing became erratic as he lifted and looked at the crack in his hoof, “what if they cut it off?! I can’t live without part of my leg, Kiwe! It’d be like taking away a minotaurs’ paws or a griffin’s hand-things.” For what he could do, Kiwe stayed calm. “They won’t do anything so drastic. They’re doctors and as such have-” “A potion! Kiwe, get your magic book out and slather some goop on it to make it better,” he pushed his foreleg out and gave Kiwe a very close look at the wound. “I cannot,” he leaned back, “I haven’t the skill to heal your wound, I would be remiss if I did it too soon. There must be patience to wait and see, the doctor will come with news most fortunate for you and me.” Jade fell to his side and sighed. “You and your rhyming. If I don’t make it, Kiwe, I want you to know that I’ve always liked how you do that. I wish I could, but I don’t have the practice.” “You speak as if this is the end, you do know that your wound will mend. If you doubt the medical doctors here then you doubt the trek we make, do you think you will go to sleep and not wake?” Kiwe chuckled. “I have no doubts that you will be fine as you are the coolest colt, friend of mine.” A tear left Jade’s eye and was absorbed into his fur. “I don’t wanna die, Kiwe.” “Who said anythin’ ‘bout that?” A grey mare called as she walked in on silent hooves and wearing medical scrubs. “Now, ya stop talkin’ like the world’s gonna end right now, sonny. I happen to know we’ve got some of the best surgeons here at Tenderheart General Hospital, and if ya just stay calm,” she’d reached his bedside by this point, “you’ll be out and headin’ back home in no time.” Kiwe moved back to give her space while she worked, Jade just flinched. “I, I dunwannagohomeyet!” The nurse sighed in resignation as Jade let his walls fall by a maternal mare he felt was motherly enough to comfort him. She moved his injured leg aside and wrapped him in a strong hug, letting him hide his face in her chest fluff while Kiwe stood by, anxiously waiting for anything to do to help his friend. He finally turned and took his saddlebags off, opened the side pocket, and took out his alchemy book to read while he had time. A couple minutes later the nurse was still hushing him gently, stroking his mane, and letting him vent his worries through tears and shaking sobs. He finally sniffled one last time and moved back to look at her with sad puffy eyes. “Thanks, I didn’t mean to make your clothes all wet, nurse.” She bopped his nose gently. “You shouldn’t just call me nurse. My name is Mending Whisp, you can call me Mending.” Kiwe looked up from his book and noticed her sides bulging. “You’re a pegasus?” “Heh, yeah, had to borrow somepony else’s clothes ‘cuz laundry sent mine to another department that has a stallion with a similar name. An earth pony at that, so here I am with my wings locked down for the shift. Anyway, listen ta me ramblin’ about my silly problems. Lemme wrap yer hoof up and put some’a this gel on it. You’ll be right as rain once I start a little medicine, too.” “Uggggh, I hate medicines,” Jade groaned and fell back to his side on the bed. “Well, this’ one we put right into your body, no need to taste a thing. Just a little poke with the needle and,” she waited, expecting him to freak out. He didn’t. “Huh, well, a little poke and a couple tubes; then you’re gonna feel better than you have in a long time.” “Okay, that’s fine, I guess. As long as Kiwe gets to stay with me.” She looked at the zony reading against the wall. “So, what kinda name’s that, anyway?” “It is mine,” Kiwe responded without looking away from his book. He looked up at her with a smirk. “For a long time. My name is Azikiwe and I am a zony. Part zebra and part pony. My mother hails from the deserts of the far east, while my father,” he chuckled, “was quite the unruly beast. Or so my mother said so many times it was in both our heads.” “So, yer one’a them shaman ponies, huh?” “No, I rhyme when I do as my mother did so often. I do it when I am stressed and worried my friend will see a coffin.” She laughed to herself. “Sonny, if he’s goin’ into the coffin, how can he see it?” Kiwe fell silent as he contemplated this knowledge, so Jade piped up. “I don’t wanna lose my hoof, Doc. Can’t you magic it better?” “I’m the nurse, not the doctor,” she said distractedly. “So, do ya know what your problem is?” Kiwe blinked, “Yeah, he’s got a carrot in his toe.” Mending barked into laughter and had to sit down while the colts looked at each other and shrugged, Jade still had watery eyes but enough of a stable state of mind to understand that he didn’t understand. “Oh, from the mouth of babes! Oh, I haven’t laughed that much in a couple days, thanks,” she stood and cleared her throat and held up a hoof to keep them quiet and to keep their attention as she became serious. “I’m sorry about that, this isn’t a funny matter. A keratoma is serious business that can’t be fixed with magic.” Jade whimpered and moved his injured hoof closer to himself. “What it means is that there’s are tumors, caused by genetics, under your hoof. It’s not your fault and could’a happened at anytime,” she said placing a hoof on his hind leg in a placating matter as he started to snuffle the snot back into his nose. “Don’t worry about your hoof, medicine has come to the point where a surgery is enough to let you keep it, but you’ll be off of it fer a while.” “Like, I can’t continue the trip?” He pouted and whimpered as tears wet the fur on his face. “I can’t say. That’s up to the doctors, I’m just here to make sure you’re well enough to be worked on. In a few minutes my assistant will be in to help you with anything you need physically, like going to the bathroom and getting washed up if you need it. His name is Driver, okay?” Kiwe held Jade tightly as he sobbed quietly. “We understand and shall help as we must, in you we place all our trust.” Mending’s eyebrow rose, then she nodded. “Do you need anything before I go?” Kiwe thought for a few seconds. “Perhaps a couple boxes of tissues?” Mending smiled kindly. “I’ll see what I can do. It’s about lunch time so we’re going to move you to a room for inpatients.” “We aren’t impatient,” Kiwe retorted getting another laugh from her. “Oh, inpatients. That means we’re gonna be here for a while, yes?” She nodded. May you let our friends in?” “Once you’re in your room, I can pass them a message if you’d like.” “Tell them where we are and that we’re fine,” Kiwe said as Jade quieted his sobbing to a whimpering whine. You may tell than what is happening as well.” Mending nodded. “I’ll get right on it. I’ll see you when it’s time to move you to your room,” she put a hoof on the bed. “You’re gonna be fine, Jadeite. Don’t let sadness fill your heart, okay?” She turned and left the room to the sound of quiet crying to find their friends.”