//------------------------------// // A New Day // Story: Hugz the Human Hero // by Gregisademon //------------------------------// Ms. Harshwhinny awoke to the jarring ring of her doorbell. With a heavy groan, she lifted her head from its place on  stack of half-filled papers and took stock of her surroundings. Through her kitchen window she could see the barest hints of the early morning The left half of her face was warm and a little numb from falling asleep at the kitchen table. And while she couldn’t see herself, she was fairly certain she looked a mess. With aching hooves and a stiff neck, she made her way from the comfort of her table and towards the cold front door.  For a moment she looked longingly at her coffee pot and the liquid gold it would contain had she only a few minutes to prepare; alas the doorbell had already been rung and common decency dictated she answer it immediately.  Ms. Harshwhinny opened her front door, and with as chipper an attitude as she could muster, said, “This had better be worth my time, I’m a very busy mare.”  The door finished swinging open as Ms. Harshwhinny rubbed the sleep from her eyes, revealing a pale green pegasus with a light gray mailpony uniform, an ice cream swirl of pale mane atop his head, and the barest hint of a moustache. He looked fear-struck at the mare’s words and held a medium-sized, brown package in front of him like a shield. “P-package for Ms. Harshwhinny from Canterlot?” he squeaked out from behind his cardboard aegis. “I’m going to go ahead and guess the Princess sent this and you’re going to tell me why.” Ms. Harshwhinny nearly spat out the word ‘princess’.  The stallion’s eyes widened and he frantically shushed her, apparently forgetting his fears for the moment. “Shhhhhhh! I’m under direct orders not to let anypony know about this delivery. How did you even know?”  Ms. Harshwhinny stood up to her impressive full height and leaned towards the panicky pegasus while dropping her voice as low as it would go. “I can see into your worthless heart and judge its intentions.”  “R-Really?” “Yes, really,” she lied. In truth, the color of his uniform indicated he was a Cloudsdale mailpony. Cloudsdale currently being in the opposite direction of Canterlot from Rainbow Falls. This, along with the early hour, seeing as pegasi don’t normally fly at night, left her to conclude he’d been brought to Canterlot and sent directly to Rainbow Falls first thing in the morning and very few ponies had control over multiple mail systems. But there was no reason he needed to know all that, better he just thought that she was scary.  “Now do I need to sign for this?” she asked. The stallion seemed eager to be as far from this imposing mare as possible and merely shook his head, mumbling something about paper trails and hoofed her the box before launching off in the direction of Canterlot.  Ms. Harshwhinny chuckled at the stallion’s antics and made her way inside, shutting the door behind her and placing the package on the kitchen table. She would open it soon...after she finished filling out a few more applications, “priorities, filly, priorities”.        The Right Honourable Heir Apparent Marchioness to the Northern Equestrian Marches, It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that the medical practitioner, Dr. Lancet, assigned to the wellbeing of your charge, has ceased employment to the crown. As your charge cannot be without the medical care, I have assigned another professional to his case. I assure you that Dr. Scrutiny is more than qualified for the position and has thus been assigned to the case. She has been made aware of the delicate nature of your situation and has been sworn to secrecy.  She believes it vital that she perform her own baseline health, and psychological readings of your charge. Contained within the package this message was received with, you will find a number of questionnaires and surveys for both yourself and your charge , a pair of tickets for the Express Pegasus Chariot Service to take you to Canterlot, and the usual set of medications— both normal and “red”. I hope to see you both in my throne room within 24 hours, preferably during the day.       From the desk of Princess Celestia Monarch to all of Equestria, and transcribed by her trusted scribe, Raven Inkwell. P.S.  Tell Hugz “Auntie Celestia says hello” P.P.S. That is a royal order, Ms. Harshwhinny     Ms. Harshwhinny inhaled through her nose, held the breath, and rubbed her left temple with a hoof before releasing a sigh that threatened to wake everypony in a mile radius. She placed the letter on the kitchen table and decided to cope in the healthiest way she knew how: put off her responsibilities, find a hayburger in town, and cheat on her diet . She was getting her purse off the wall hook by the front door when a small yawn came from behind her.  Hugz stood behind her in the hallway, clutching his stuffed rabbit to his chest and rubbing sleep from his eyes. He hadn’t dressed yet and stood there in his midnight blue onesie. It was still far too early for him to be up and he showed it through his slouched shoulders and the little sway that kept him off balance.  “Can I go with you?” he mumbled. Ms. Harshwhinny thought it over but decided against it. “I’m sorry, Hugz, but Mommy is going out and you should really get some more sleep. It’s gonna be a long day for us.” “Please, can we go for a walk?” he pushed out his lower lip in a pout. Hugz turned on the puppy dog eyes and drooped his shoulders comically. “I just want to spend some time with you since you were so busy yesterday,” Hugz said with a little tremble to his voice. Ms. Harshwhinny knew he was playing it up, she knew he needed more sleep, she knew he was gonna cause some kind of trouble if he went outside this early. And she knew that she couldn’t resist him when he looked at her like that. His childishly small eyes and perhaps overzealous pout tugged at her heartstrings like nopony’s else ever could. “Okay, Hun,” she relented, “we can go for a nice walk around the town.” “Can we get something to eat at the bakery?” Ms. Harshwhinny narrowed her eyes at her son. “Oh is that your game, huh?” she said with a playful smirk and an accusing poke in his chest.  Hugz looked away and tried to suppress the mischievous smile tugging at his lips. “...maybe a little, but I do want to go on a walk”. Ms. Harshwhinny felt a warm glow in her chest as she shook her head. “You know that you’re going to cause trouble for a whole lotta mares with those puppy dog eyes one day.” Hugz knelt so they were eye-to-eye, and buried his face in her familiar chest tuft. He closed his eyes and let the warm honey scent of his mother surround him. The soft hairs framed his face and muffled his words slightly. “They already cause you trouble, Mommy”. Ms. Harshwhinny snorted a little at his mischievous attitude. She was definitely going to have to talk to him about putting his face in the tufts of mares soon. For a colt it was an entirely innocent gesture, and one that the neighboring ponies had warmly accepted, but she worried that he might try such a thing on an unknowing mare who didn’t appreciate the intimate gesture or worse; one who appreciated it a little too much. Besides that, it was entirely possible his species went into puberty at this age, late as it was. She would bring up having "the talk" with Dr. Scrutiny. She sat down on her haunches and pulled him closer running back of her hoof over his messy black mane. Hugz welcomed the change in position and allowed his chest to press up against his mother’s and let their hearts beat in time, the familiar pulse of one another’s heart becoming a natural and welcome rhythm. Ms. Harshwhinny blew an errant strand of her mane out of her eye and laughed a little. “We need to get up if we’re going to go on that walk”. Hugz barely moved his head to the side to be heard through his mother’s tuft. “It’s just a walk. It’s no big rush.” He turned his head back into the fluff and breathed deeply. “Did you already take your medicine?” she asked. “Yes, ma’am”. “Red medicine too? It IS Wednesday.” There was no response from Hugz. “You know you need to take it before you eat anything else.” It was posed as a suggestion but was really an order.  Ms. Harshwhinny gently removed the forlorn colt from her tuft and nudged him in the direction of his room. Hugz absentmindedly reached down and scratched behind her ear with his left hand. Forget the puppy dog eyes, his hands are gonna be his greatest selling point once mares find out what they feel like. He didn’t need to know that yet though.  “I can never eat after I take my red medicine.” he knew full well it would change nothing. “I’m sure you’ll find room once we get to turnover’s bakery,” Ms. Harshwhinny said, her nose wrinkling at the pungent smoky scent coming from the little red bag with “Health Hazard” emblazoned on the front in blocky, white lettering. While the red medicine made her understandably uncomfortable, she was well-traveled and had long ago dulled those prejudices around griffons and other carnivores. Besides, it was clear the Princess intended to continue his treatment by the new shipment in the package. There was no getting around it and no use getting squeamish. Dr. Scrutiny would know if he’d skipped out.  Hugz detached himself from his mother and, rising to his feet, trudged towards his room looking for all the world like a lost soul set to fight a personal demon. Ms. Harshwhinny suppressed a giggle at her theatrical son. Hugz closed his bedroom door behind him and the house grew silent as Ms. Harshwhinny set about organizing the contents of the package into her medicine cabinet and onto her table. Ms. Harshwhinny threw the questionnaires and tickets in her dusty, brown carry-on bag. I need a new bag, she noted to herself as she looked at the positively ancient suitcase. She pulled the bag with her through her home, gathering a final few items, such as a sturdy pouch containing a portion of her rapidly dwindling Bit supply and a bottle of sunscreen Hugz would need to apply if they spent any extended length of time outside. Eventually she came to the door of Hugz’ room, and knocked twice.  “Make sure you finish any red medicine you have left, Hugz.”  Through the door she heard something shuffle followed by a sniffle and a strained, “yes ma’am.” Ms. Harshwhinny could hear the tears in his voice and it broke her heart. She wanted to help him but couldn’t bring herself to open the door, to see him like “that” again. Her hooves had lost much of their pep as she trudged away from Hugz’ room and sat herself down by the front door. She could be furious with Princess Celestia later, she could be worried about bits later, and she could beat herself up over her own weakness later. Right now, her son needed her to act like a Celestia-damned parent and cheer him up. And so she decided that today would be about cheering him up, no matter what.