//------------------------------// // Found [Final Mix] // Story: A Cog in the Machine // by Zoom zoom //------------------------------// The sun beamed on your cloak. The castle in front of you had a few guard dogs around it, not a problem in the slightest. Your magical powers was unmatched by all others outside the eldest and most well trained practitioners. Putting such creatures into a long slumber was as easy as taking your first step. The bard following you takes this as a cue for some reason. Her two-tone mane bouncing as she made sure she looked good while practicing her scales. Sir Scootaloo was clad in armor made of the toughest steel you had ever seen, far better than yours the lucky filly. The final member of your party, a small yellow earth pony with a red mane, wore a cooking pot on her head and a spear in her teeth with an edge sharpened finer than your own horn. Both had made smarter choices in preparation than you. But what did you care? You were so good at magic you didn’t need armor anyway. With that stupid bard still singing loudly about you as your party passes the sleeping dogs. Most of them wake up due to the song and start chasing the bard. Your magic however will not allow them, and with a loud crack sound from your horn you call out, “You shall not pass!” The dogs hit the wall and remain flat against it as they are bounced off. The three girls giggling at your well executed spell that honestly didn’t go as you wanted, but they didn’t need to know that. The Castle isn’t exactly big. In fact it was way more like a cave that just wasn’t built into a mountain. There were only two or three rooms, all of which were huge in order to house their keeper. The final room at the end held your enemy. The dragon that had been kidnapping ponies all over town, and you had been hired to save his most recent capture. The beast had been waiting for you. Its long claws drumming the floor boards, the scaly tail swishing through the air in front of you so hard you had to use magic to keep yourself on the floor. Your friends were fine in armor. Okay they were right about the armor being needed but too late for that. Only then do you notice the oddest thing about this dragon. The eyes of this thing were not normal for a dragon. In fact the eyes looked just like a ponies. Yet somehow that sent even more fear into your heart has this was shown, like you had seen those eyes before. You dodge its claw and tail with ease as you run up its back. Your three friends are distracting the dragon’s minions so that you can focus on the creature, Scootaloo showing the most impressive work as she was able to handle working in synch with Applebloom perfectly. The Bard however was just smashing these creatures over the head with her beauty products. You turn your attention back to the creature who does nothing but destroy, with eyes you now see are much the same as yours. Flames leap from its great maw, nothing a simple bubble spell will not dispel. In fact while you’re at it, why not change the flame into your own armor. Crying out a transformation magic spell your magic sucked in the flames. Henshin a gogo baby! Unfortunately this causes the Dragon to panic and it holds out something pink in front of you as a shield. In its claws it holds the princess. The one you must protect more than any pony. The princess calls for you to save her, but you hesitate as you try to consider why this dragon had a princess. Was she just an illusion? Or perhaps a ally of the dragon. Whatever the true reason, it matter not as the dragon is too fast. Its fangs sink into your skin past your flame suit made of its own fire. Princess Pinkie’s eyes water as you struggle through this pain of your nearly torn out arm. Celestia’s sun forces one of your eyes to open, your rub them miserably only to make them worse. As you get up you feel a jolt of pain through your front leg, and it hurts like hell. It takes you a moment of rolling out of the brush and rubbing the sleep from your eyes to get your bearings and notice the pain is mostly gone, the wonders of modern magic. You’re still weak since you didn’t eat or drink yet, but the sleep has finally refreshed your mind enough to notice things. Unfortunately there is a downside, sleeping out in the cold wasn’t exactly good for anypony’s health. Your nose was runny and your head still hurts from all the mucus which makes you regret sleeping out in the cold. How did you get this sick so fast? Also there was the problem that along with less pain your limb had gone stiff with far less movement. You could only twitch your ankle a bit and your shoulder joint wasn’t reacting to your commands outside feeling muscles when you tapped it. Both of these will make moving through the forest quickly impossible. Looks like your only option was to move slowly and carefully through this forest, at least you were used to using two or three limbs to get around now. Walking carefully your goal was first to make it to Celestia knows where, maybe Zecora’s hut possibly. Yeah... Once past there you’d be far enough for no pony to come after you. As a plus, you could get some herbs that could help with your cold and maybe even your leg. Considering it was the only option outside crawling back where you got to live you had to push forward. Each limping step took forever, and it seemed like hours by the time you did reach the hut. You were thirsty and your stomach growled with hunger. With all signs of the rhyming Zebra gone, it was the perfect time to “get” some nourishment. “Rare is the time thievery is born out of abundance.” You’re not sure where that quote came from or if you got it right but it was something that came to mind to help ease you about having to do what you were going to do. Which might be something you’ll wish you haven’t done later? Nah. You found everything you needed inside. All except for food, which explained why Zecora wasn’t there and you didn’t see her on the way. If it wasn’t for the fact she was friends with Applebloom you could have asked her for tips on how to hoof it on your own. Still, with water and the ability to clean your limb with herbs was more than enough to keep you going for the rest of the day. Food wouldn’t be a real problem for you until tonight so you had better get going while you still had energy. You try but you can’t roll the bandages back on your limb so you just put it in your sling, and turn to leave. The door opens with a bang and you hear a loud yell. “Zecora, ah need your help! Cog went and missing at the hospital this morning and….” The yellow filly’s voice trails off as she spots you. Your face has likely lost all color after being spotted, but the other half of your mind is trying to work out what to do next. Sure you were bigger than Applebloom and normally you could just run and push a filly her size out of the way. But you were injured. And being a farm pony, Applebloom was likely stronger than you even at full health. Your eyes dart to the window. You may be able to make it there if you bolted for it now. Which you attempt to until Applebloom cuts in front of you. “Just what are you doing here of all places? Don’t you know everypony in town is looking for ya?” You don’t answer, the doorway is open now but Applebloom catches your hind leg and you fall on your bad shoulder. “Oh mah gosh, I’m so sorry.” She helps you up as you twitch in pain, did you somehow forget it hurts? Well if you did the burn is blaring now. By the time the pain is gone and your shoulders are sore, Applebloom had somehow positioned herself so she could wash your bandage and stop you should you try to bolt again. You gave up. There was nothing you could do about this now. Part of you even questioned how you didn’t think Zecora would walk in on you and stop you from leaving. You guess whatever rational part of your mind that was left this morning had tricked the rest of you into thinking it was a good idea. Applebloom helped wrap you back up tight. You glance at her work and say, “You know, you’re pretty good at this. I kinda wish you weren’t.” She gives a weak smile and brushes some of her mane out of her eyes. It was only then that you noticed she didn’t even have her big red bow on. Had she found out about you leaving and rushed that fast from home to get Zecora’s help? Or did she think of that later and was out looking for you all morning and like it seemed everypony didn’t think you would come into the forest? Whatever the case she was tired from running and still taking some fast breaths that brushed your fur as she finished up. She mumbles something. “What?” “Ah said thank you.” “Thank you?” It took a second for you to get it. “Oh sorry, thank you for wrapping me back up. Thing would have been much worse if you didn’t help with…it.” “No no,” she said shaking her head. You can see a hint of tears in one of her eyes as she looks away. “Ah meant I was thanking you for saving me yesterday. Ah only got a bump that went away by the time I got home and you….” That got you to chuckle a bit, which is weird to the filly you expected since you didn’t smile while doing it. But Applebloom wasn’t looking at you anyway. “No thanks needed. You just paid me back with the bandage job. We’re even. A simple favor repaid is all.” She wasn’t lifting her head. You’re pulling random straws at this point now that she’s starting to cry, for what you had no idea. “Look we’re friends right? So friends help each other out now and then. Besides it’s not like I planned this. Heck even if it was Diamond Tiara I’d still help….probably.” “That’s my point,” she said wiping her tears. “You would have helped anypony, but if I wasn’t so…” she trails off again. Okay, seriously, you had NO idea what was wrong with this filly. You had expected her to be angry for making her run all around the town looking for you. She just kept going against what you expected, just like Pinkie Pie. That was a sour thought, a really bad one. You got up and put your leg back in the sling again. “Listen. I’m going to go now. Can you tell everypony they don’t need to look for me? Not like I’d be a tough find with this you know.” Gesturing towards your injured leg, you turn to leave. As you expected that snapped Applebloom out of, wherever the hell it was she was upset about, and she blocks the door with resolve. “Oh no ya don’t, Pinkie’s been looking everywhere for ya and Ah an’t ‘bout to let ya go without talking to her first.” You groan as you look at her, “Look, either way me and Pinkie can’t really live together. She’s better off without me and I’m better off on my own thank you very much. Pinkie made her choice quite clear last night, so if you’ll excuse me…” “NO!” And with that Applebloom pulls your good foreleg with her and leads you out. “I’ll tell Zecora what happened later. YOU are going home right this minute.” With that you were off and you hoped never to learn why she was crying. The answer might haunt you anyways… “Say…” You had been following Applebloom without protest and without words outside your growling stomach until you both got to the mouth of the forest. You chewed on some herbs Applebloom had picked up on the way to keep it quiet and help with your cold. “I was wondering, why do ya not like Pinkie? She’s friends with every pony in town.” You blink, that has to be a lie. Sure she has an open personality but no pony could make friends with every single pony in town, even one as small as this place was. “Never was much for others in general. Pinkie’s just so….” “…Pinkie?” Applebloom suggested. “Pinkie,” you agree. There really wasn’t a word to describe it. “You’re lucky Applebloom. You’ve spent your entire life in one place with the ones you love. I’ve bounced around from home to home with hardly anyone even wanting to tolerate me being around.” “Grass is always greener on the other side ah guess,” replied the filly. “At least your dad is still around when you want to see him right? Applejack was saying how you might have gone with him to Pinkie when I started running out. Ah don’t even have any memories of my folks. They died before I could even trot on my own.” You didn’t want to tell her why your dad wasn’t taking care of you after hearing that, not like it would help her out much. Whatever Applebloom would guess would be decent enough to run with. “Listen,” you start to say. Sweet Celestia this was going to be hard to do. You’ve never actually said something like this. “If for some reason I’m still around this weekend, Pinkie said she would have this party….I was told to invite friends so could you….” She looks at you with something glinting in her eyes if only just a little. You quickly say something else to defuse that, unsure why you would even think to say it. “Tell Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to come? I mean all three of you should come, and I guess Featherweight too now that I think about it.” She seems mostly unaffected by that glint is gone, thank goodness. “Sure,” she agrees, along with a nod. The journey back to the hospital didn’t take long after that. The lecture you got from the nurse did, and boy wasn’t it annoying. Applebloom stays with you as you get back into your bed, now with a guard staying in the room watching you. It doesn’t take long for word to spread that you returned since you felt a shift in the winds as a Pink flash rushes into the hospital. There she was. Strangely it looked like she had not slept a wink all night and was looking for you so long she was about to keel over. In fact based on your own judgments Pinkie should have passes out some time ago yet was still moving. There was too much energy in this pony. Though the fact her normally puffy hair had lost all bounce and lay straight made her look off. Pinkie being Pinkie the tears in her eyes were not the normal ones you saw in other mares. They raced out of her eyes in heavy streams like they were a river. Dear Luna how does she even exist? She wobbles toward you. You flinch as she comes closer. It’s completely reactive from your days with Dilly Dally. She’s lifting a hoof to you. Closing your eyes is going to help. It makes it so you can try to ignore the pain that is going to come. Instead you feel warmth on your chest, around your neck as well. She’s hugging you. Why? It’s the only thought going through your mind. You had basically shown nothing be indifference at best to her and yet she was hugging you. Before you knew it you found your good foreleg wrapping around the pony as well. At first that was pleasant, and then it slowly started to choke the life out of you. “Pinkie,” you start to say before your windpipe is completely cut off for your barely saying it, “please stop. You’re choking me.” “You are so punished when you get home,” she said through her tears before passing out on top of you. With air now returning to your lungs you cough and Applebloom tries to hoof you some water. You decline not wanting to mess with the sleep of our guardian after all she went through. Proofread by UltimateRuin009