After several minutes of talking among ourselves and relaxing, my nurse returned and started wheeling me away, though my friends were following for a few steps before Stephanie Chase stepped in front of Tim, confident as a princess.
“She’s coming with us,” she said smoothly, and if Tim hadn’t been such a guardian angel, he probably would have immediately let her take me.
But Tim seemed to take his job so seriously that he would go toe to toe with the CIA for me, and I almost teared up again as an admirable amount of loyalty almost caused more fighting.
“She’s injured, and probably in shock,” Tim said with a raised eyebrow and incredulous tone.
“I know,” Stephanie acknowledged before I could protest that I wasn’t in shock, because someone in shock would be breathing rapidly, dizzy, and acting erratically.
It was a good thing I didn’t speak up, since all those symptoms had been present only a few minutes ago, and I wanted to maintain a bit of medical credibility.
“That’s why she’s coming with us,” Stephanie continued.
Tim turned the stretcher to roll me around her, but Stephanie side stepped to remain in front of us.
“You do know she’s CIA, right? One of the good guys?” RJ asked Tim from just behind me.
“I do,” Tim replied with a bit of anger. “I also know that this is an injured pony who needs further medical attention.”
“And if she were anypony else, I would so be out of your way like you wouldn’t believe,” Stephanie insisted as she put a hand on the stretcher next to my hoof.
They were going to fight over me, I realized, swallowing nervously. I was going to cause two very nice people to be angry at eachother. But I felt Rarity reach up and put a hoof over mine, calming me a bit.
“But this is a VIP,” Stephanie continued. “See that necklace she’s wearing? That’s magic. Serious magic. And we need it, and her, to stop that Discord guy in New York. Because if he isn’t stopped, he’ll be more than New York’s problem, soon.”
“Right now, the only problem I see is a bureaucratic busybody inhibiting my ability to care for a patient,” Tim said, voice sharp. “The threat can wait, she needs-”
“I’m fine,” I decreed, trying with all my might to sound like Princess Celestia, firm and unquestionable in my decision.
They both looked at me, taken aback, but I pressed on, sitting up a little.
“I only hurt a little,” I insisted, smiling just a little. “And other ponies and people need me. I won’t do much. Just walk a little. Mostly, I’ll sit still. I promise. Is that okay?”
And… I decided that more than anything, I needed them to believe me. So I perked up my ears just a little and I put the image of myself as a filly in my head. That little filly who was looking up at her mom and realized exactly how to get everything she ever wanted.
By looking cute.
I mean, it’s more complex than that. As a prey animal, a pony’s eyes typically aren’t easily focused fully forward, and when they are it’s easier to focus on a single point, but if I try, I can focus each eye on one of the eyes of the person I’m looking at, meeting their gaze fully. I also open my eyes so wide that the person looking at me is a bit overwhelmed for a bit.
It’s cheating, at social interaction. Honestly, as Erica I’m not even surprised that Fluttershy found a way to cheat at social interaction itself.
Tim turned to protest, but met my gaze. Time seemed to stop, as he blinked a few times, just staring at me, befuddled.
“Fine!” he finally said, throwing up his hands and sighing. “Fine, I think she could use a quiet bed and lots of fluids, but what do I know?”
Chalk up one more win for the needy eyes.
“I understand,” Stephanie nods as she relaxes. “We’ll take good care of her. Is she okay to travel?”
“Yeah, yeah, she can travel, but you better make damn sure she takes it easy,” he said with an accusing finger pointing at Stephanie. “No more…” He just gestured at the insanity around us, clearly having given up.
“I’ll do my best,” Stephanie said, with a nod.
Tim turned back to me and lifted a lever under the stretcher, lowering it down to only a foot above the ground so I could get off.
Stephanie checked her phone when it went off and answered a call, stepping away as she said “Tell me good news.”
Rarity and RJ both came over to help keep me steady as I stepped off the stretcher and onto the soft grass.
“Thank you, Tim,” Raritony said. “We really appreciate it.”
“Don’t thank me,” he sighed. “What she really needs is to not be in action right now.”
“And we’ll keep an eye on her,” RJ said firmly. “Promise.”
Tim shook his head, resigned, and took the stretcher away to help others. As he left, Stephanie returned looking cool and very professional.
“We have transport,” she told us. “So let’s get going.”
“We all gonna fit?” RJ asked as she performed a silent headcount of our group.
“Yeah. Alphonse got a federal SUV,” Stephanie said, lips pursing as she sighed. “Which means I’m now a CIA soccer mom.”
A rolling chuckle went through our group, the mental image just too amusing.
“Don’t laugh,” Stephanie said. “You’re the one with the backpack.”
“Can I have a juice box on the way to practice, mom?” RJ asked, and I almost cracked up right then.
“Oh god, my life,” Stephanie breathed, as she walked on.
She led us to a shiny black SUV with tinted windows and the little lights by the side mirrors. Alphonse, the man who Sweetie had been with when we escaped, was leaning against it like a royal guard.
“Ah, a fine carriage for a fine group of ladies,” Raritony said.
Alphonse barked a laugh. Then a thin looking dog sprung up from near the man’s feet and ran over to RJ, tail wagging happily.
“Hey girl,” RJ said, her whole bearing changing as she pet the dog almost as big as she was. “Holding down the fort for me?”
“Guard!” the dog said eagerly, sitting down in front of AJ and grinning.
“Oh, who’s this cutie?” I asked eagerly as I came up next to AJ, seeing the dog’s eager body language, like she was radiating joy.
RJ grinned. “Sam, Erishy. Erishy, Sam.”
“My Friend now!” Sam barked as she looked to me, and let me put a hoof to her head, rubbing her cheek a little.
I could see her ribs, and her nose looked like it had been dry for a long time and was finally wet enough to be healthy, but still had cracks and peeled skin.
“It’s a pleasure,” I said as I leaned in closer, examining her a little better. “Oh my, are you okay? You look so thin,” I added as I noticed that her fur was thin and patchy, and she had some cuts.
“She feeds whenever I’m hungry! Safe warm places! Best friend!” Sam said quickly, looking to RJ with admiration before looking back to me.
Of course RJ was taking care of her. That’s just who she was, AJ would make sure her animals were well taken care of, healthy, and loved. I felt like my cheeks might split I was smiling so much.
“I’m so glad to hear,” I told her. “Apple- Rae Jay is great like that.”
I scratched behind her ears, and enjoyed a calm moment with her happily leaning into my attention.
“You still got a knack with animals,” RJ said, approvingly.
I ducked my head a little, smiling as my cheeks felt warm. “I couldn’t lose my special talent, could I? My animal friends need me.”
I didn’t mention that I’d been so afraid I would lose all my skills, all my sense of self when I became one person. Erica had thought she would somehow corrupt me, take away the parts of me that made me good. Now, I was so happy to be able to prove to myself that was not true.
“We gotta book it. C’mon, my little ponies,” Stephanie said, with a smirk.
Raritony and RJ shared a look before laughing and following Sweetie into the car.
“What’s the rush?” The filly asked as she hopped up from the floor of the SUV onto the seats. Several backpacks were already on the floor in front of the seats, convenient storage since we wouldn’t be dangling our legs off of the seats.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” RJ agreed.
“On the road,” Stephanie said. “I promise I’ll tell you on the road. Where it’s quieter.”
We settled in, Sam and I at one window, RJ next to me, then Sweetie, and finally Raritony at the other window. Sam seemed quite happy to be in between RJ and me, and as Stephanie got into the car and put on a pair of shades, I leaned against Sam, relaxing my shoulders.
We drove away from that warehouse and the memories attached to it, and the Doctor’s words echoed in my mind.
“Save the world, Doctor’s orders.”
I shook my head slightly, feeling a little dizzy. I had to figure out how to fix everything that was wrong. We were meant to be a team, us girls. We had to find the others. We had to help Twilight somehow. We had to put it right.
“Okay. What… do you guys know about Twilight Sparkle?” Stephanie asked quietly.
As everyone else in the SUV curled in on themselves like leaves in fall, RJ rolled her eyes. “All kinds of stuff. You might wanna get out a pen, because it could take a while.”
We all looked at her, stunned, nervous. She was about to learn what we’d learned on our own.
“Rae Jay, you… you don’t know?” Raritony said softly.
“Woods,” RJ said, worry and a bit of fear creasing her normally calm and friendly face. “I’ve been hiding in the freaking woods, after smashing my cell phone! Does nobody believe me? I’m wearing the gol-darn Element of gol-darn Honesty and everything!”
As the silence was drawn out longer and longer, RJ sank into her seat, looking down at her hooves.
“Alright, fine. What’d I miss this time? Did Pinkie get on Youtube again? She and Twilight doing a conga line at a Waffle House in Idaho?”
I realized in that moment that I needed to deliver the news. I was kindness, and this news needed to be given kindly.
“She…” I took a breath, steadying myself. “She was shot,” I said softly, turning to face RJ a little more.
Everything was quiet except the hum of the wheels on the road. In a way it was our own period of mourning, a quiet painful time as we all took in the cold truth.
“She was… Wait, you were shot too, Shy. Was it,” RJ stammered.
I shook my head as Stephanie spoke.
“She was hit in the head. She’s in a coma.”
I put a hoof to RJ’s back as Raritony put one on her leg. Comforting, a bit of physical presence.
“God fucking damnit,” RJ finally whispered.
“Yeah...” Stephanie said, her voice tight. “So, the hospital has her stabilized, and I made sure they kept her tiara near her, but… Well, we’re on our way there. You’ll see for yourself.”
The silence stretched out again, and I could feel that pain settling in deep. It had been so easy to run away from it, to ignore it all.
“When did it happen?” RJ asked.
“A while back,” Stephanie said. “Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. We were… kind of preoccupied.”
RJ nodded. “What about the others?”
The others, that meant Rainbow, and Pinkie. I had a lot of complex feelings around Pinkie Pie. Some romantic, some friendly, and I didn’t know how to deal with any of them.
“Do you know where Pinkie is?” I asked, softly, hopefully.
“Not... exactly,” Stephanie admitted. “She took off to do something with Shining Armor, and we haven’t heard from either of them for a while. If they don’t check in soon, we may have to take more action.”
“And Rainbow?” RJ asked.
“She was en route to Pinkie, last I heard,” Stephanie said. “She busted out of the same sort of situation we were just in, actually.”
RJ laid her head back against the seat, and we all were quiet.
I wondered, in that moment, if I was going to die.
I suppose that sounds a lot more dramatic, or not very dramatic, depending on your point of view, but explaining that moment of feeling might reveal just how much I had changed in the last few days.
In the past, as Fluttershy, the possibility of death was ever present. Not in a horrible way but in a simple fact. I cared for animals, after all. Some day, by injury or weariness, we pass on. It did foster a minor panic in me when I grew close to that risk, when I was being dragged up a mountain to face a dragon, when I was falling from the clouds, or when I was flying up in front of a loaded gun and my best friend’s rage.
As Erica, I was more afraid of the death of self, losing my personality. Losing my creativity, or being changed by my experience so dramatically that I would betray the things I held as important.
But now, as Twilight Sparkle was laying in a coma and we were riding in an SUV on the freeway towards her with no plan and no clear path ahead of us, I was coming to the realization that I may, in fact, lose it all. All my hopes and dreams, all of my sense of self, and maybe even my life, because we weren’t promised a happy ending this time.
I wondered, if Hasbro didn’t have to sell toys that looked like me, and they had a fan base that was as out-for-blood as DBZ or GI Joe, how many times would I have died? Been murdered or blown up, and brought back to life? I’d been protected by the audience, and now… Now I didn’t have an audience anymore. No fans, watching over me, ready to write angry letters if I was badly hurt or even killed. Maybe the Fluttershy fans would mourn me, but it wouldn’t be enough to bring me back.
I wasn’t protected by the bounds of fiction anymore, and I had to act like it.
“Okay,” RJ said softly and firmly.
“Okay?” Raritony asked.
“Any way we can reach out to Pinkie or Dash?” RJ asked, her voice firm.
“We’re working on it now,” Stephanie said.
“I hope they’re okay…” I sighed.
“They’ll be fine, hon,” RJ said. “It’s Pinkie and Dash, for Celestia’s sake.”
“I know,” I sighed, but it was hard to believe it.
Twilight had been hurt so badly, I couldn’t believe that any of us were beyond harm. But RJ put an arm across my shoulders, and I leaned into the bit of comfort.
“Given how dire everything is, and what we just survived, I’ve secured authority for a straight shot into New York, and the hospital where Twilight is,” Stephanie said. “No traffic this time. If anyone gets in our way… well, they better not get in our way. I’ve had one hell of a day, and Alphonse hates traffic.”
Despite the dire mood, we all chuckled. The mundanity of it, but still the care. The idea that all the troubles in the world were nothing in the path of a stern man in a suit, and his SUV full of ponies.
“Everyone settled in?” he asked.
In unison, truly like a car full of schoolchildren, we all said “Yes,” and another round of chuckles rolled through the SUV.
“Nonstop to New York, no more interruptions,” he continued as we finally rolled onto the highway, entering the flow of traffic, as Raritony started to squirm and held up one hoof nervously.
“Um… Is it possible we could have… One more interruption?” she asked sheepishly.
“Of course, what do you need?” Stephanie asked, turning back to see Rarity a little better.
“Well, I may need to… Use the restroom,” Rarity said awkwardly.
RJ’s sharp laugh made me flinch at first, but I was still grinning with amusement as RJ cackled and Raritony’s cheeks gradually became more and more red.
“Yes, we can stop, of course,” Stephanie reassured Raritony over the sound of RJ losing her mind.
RJ’s guffaws faded to giggles and chuckles until we pulled into a gas station parking lot and Raritony hurried out into the bathroom.
“Are you ok, RJ?” I asked her, trying not to smile too much as I got out of the SUV.
“Fine, fine, just… Ah, it’s just too much on occasion, y’know?” she said as she followed Raritony to the bathrooms.
I nodded in agreement, before leaning against the SUV’s running boards and catching my breath. Lowering myself from the SUV to the ground had felt like I was climbing a mountain in reverse, and the small aches covering every inch of my body were blooming like roses under my skin, every effort wearing me down.
“Tired or hurting,” Stephanie’s soft voice asked as she approached from around the SUV, looking down to me with sympathy.
“Hurt,” I sighed. “I’ll be ok, though.”
“But if we head it off at the pass, you’ll be able to go further, do more,” she said as she kneeled in front of me. “I can carry you into the store if you’d like, but we should look at something to help. I heard you know a bit about animal medicine?”
I chuckled a little and stood. “I do. Enough to know what I need. And… I can make it. The walk is easier than climbing.”
Stephanie nodded and we made our way into the gas station convenience store. My first thought was that it was definitely a place for truckers. Little statues, radios, inverters, comfort items were up front and center, including picture frames designed to hang from rearview mirrors, which made me smile. It was a sort of sentimental object that I had an appreciation for. In my human job I’d driven many many miles and seen places like this. They tended to feel a little lonely by proxy of so many lonely people walking through them. But a few fresh flowers in vases on the counters and the picture frames made this place feel a bit better.
“So, what sort of pills would work for you?” Stephanie asked, keeping me on track.
“Ibuprofen,” I sighed. “Ibuprofen would be best, least side effects and it’ll help with muscle pain the most. I should also get some bandaids and… They won’t have Comfrey, but if we can get a cream or something that has vitamin C, I can put that under the bandages to help the bruises go down faster.”
“Ok. What’s Comfrey, is it something I should have someone bring us?” Stephanie asked curiously, gathering a bottle of Aspirin and a box of bandaids.
I chuckled, smiling a little as I imagined an emergency helicopter dispatch for a jar of Comfrey salve. “It’s just an herb that helps bruises, and I know it works well for ponies, I’ll be ok.”
Stephanie nodded, and we searched for a while before finding an aloe cream for treating sunburns that had enough vitamin C to help. As we shopped, I watched the others buy their own snacks and treats.
“You can get something to, you know, we’ve got a decent budget for taking care of you all,” Stephanie chimed in.
“Oh, no, you’re already buying all this medicine, I couldn’t,” I said quickly as Stephanie crouched in front of me with a fond smile.
“In today’s episode, Erishy learns to accept the kindness of others and treat herself, hmm?”
I blushed, and scuffed the floor with one hoof, but I couldn’t help from smiling. “That’s a dirty trick to play, agent.”
“Oh, wounded, Erishy called me agent,” Stephanie chuckled as I fetched a bag of plain potato chips and a bottle of mountain dew.
“Sorry,” I said as I hoofed the items up to her. “I didn’t mean it.”
“I know you didn’t. Come on, let’s get you back to your friends.”
She paid, then we put some dots of ointment on my most painful spots before covering them with bandaids. Finally, we went back to the car, Stephanie lifting me a bit so I could stand on the running board and climb up from there in time to hear Alphonse speaking to the others.
“And we need to make sure she’s okay.”
“I’m actually doing pretty well,” I said as I got up onto the floor of the SUV and then up onto the seat itself.
Silently, I added “considering that I thought I was going to die.”
I buckled in as Stephanie put the bag of things she’d bought for me on the floor in front of me, easy to reach.
“You sure on that, sugarcube?” RJ asked, as Alphonse turned the engine over. “Tim back there was pretty intent on you taking it easy.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said honestly as I looked to RJ and Raritony gratefully. “I have my friends with me, so I’m already doing loads better.”
RJ’s worry vanished from her face and she gave me that warm happy smile that always set the world right.
“Bring it in, Shy. That’s hug worthy material.”
“Is the show always like this?” Alphonse asked Stephanie as RJ wrapped me up in a gently hug.
“Quiet, Al. Ponies are being heartwarming,” Stephanie said, smiling back at us.
We all laughed as we pulled back into traffic, the lightheartedness of the moment feeling like one more weight pushing against our anxiety and fears.