I dragged myself out the door, my boots were heavy. I put the strap of my rifle onto my shoulder. I looked around the lobby. Blood and bodies were everywhere. Quite a horrific sight, I couldn’t care less. I headed for the exit. When I passed Jesse he tried to put his hand my shoulder, I shrugged it off. I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.
The fires were still raging outside. I stood and watched as my old house burnt to the ground. The heat from the fire made my eyes sting but I didn’t care. My right arm started to ache. I didn’t think much of it. But as my house was crumbling in front of me my arm was starting to hurt badly. I turned around and stumbled towards the others. Once I reached the group gathered outside town hall my arm hurt so bad I couldn’t see straight, my left thigh was killing me and there was something wrong with my eyes.
I cracked open my eyes, well eye, my left eye was covered by bandages. I was back in the clinic. The room was exactly the way I left it, except that the curtains were now dark blue.
“Home sweet, home.” I croaked. I tried to move, hopeless. I was covered in bandages, except for my right foreleg which had a cask, which was wrapped in bandages. It had some writing on it. I turned my leg a little bit to get a better look. Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.
“What the hell?” I turned it a little further and could hear the bones scraping against each other. My scream probably alerted half the town. After a few moments of agonizing pain the door flew open. I blinked away the tears that had formed in my eye. Standing in the door opening was Nurse Redheart. She was followed by a large white alicorn.
“Princess why is he awake?”
“He is fighting the sleep spell.” She spoke with the same warm motherly voice. Right now I hated it so much. And then it clicked.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
‘Twilight…’
“What? No not yet, I need to talk with the Princess first.”
‘The Princess…’
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I slowly turned my leg back the way it was when I woke up. The alicorn winced as she heard the bones scraping against each other. Unlike last time I was ready for the pain. I closed my eye and took a few deep breaths.
I opened my eye and the anger in me flared. I glared at the Princess, the same glare that used to send raiders running with their tails between their legs. To my satisfaction she hesitated before she took a step towards me. She opened her mouth to speak; I interrupted her before she could get a single word out.
“Why am I still alive?” I growled at her. She seemed taken aback by my words. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. She obviously didn’t come here expecting hostility from me. I closed my eye and sighed heavily. I tried to sit up but my body wouldn’t listen. I could barely move my legs and head but the rest felt like lead.
“You should not try to move. You have suffered severe injuries and should get rest.” I sunk into the softness of the bed. “How severe?” I opened my eye and stared at the Princess. Redheart, hesitantly, made her way past the Princess and over to me.
She pulled out a chart and started flipping through pages. “You had a large amount of deep lacerations all over your back, neck and face.” I put my left hoof on the side of my face that was covered in bandages. With my luck something important was sure to be damaged. “The upper thigh muscle in your left hind leg was almost torn in two.” She turned to a new page. “Your foreleg.” She pointed at my cast. “Had multiple fractures and in several places it had clean breaks.” She flipped to another page. “And you have some minor fractures in your ribcage along with some internal bleeding but that was fixed rather quickly.”
“How? When Rose was injured you barely knew what to do but when I was injured you can fix internal bleeding?”
“I wasn’t here to help then.” the Princess smiled at me.
“And you fixed me how?” I demanded.
“With magic of course.”
“Then why didn’t you just zap me back to health?”
“I tried to ‘zap’ you back to health but there were… complications. You reacted strangely to my magic. When I started healing you, you weren’t just being healed. You were absorbing the magic. I didn’t think much of it at first but then you started changing.” That last part worried me.
“What do you mean ‘changed’?”
“It was very subtle at first and as soon as I noticed it I had to stop, fortunately it was enough to heal your fatal injuries.”
“What do you mean with ‘changed?!” I yelled at her, she sighed loudly.
“Your body absorbed a tiny portion of my magic. I don’t know how it changed you, but your aura is different from when I found you in the forest. I can’t tell what you are anymore.” I stared at her. This is impossible; the agent is still in effect? “You are no longer an earth pony.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your magical aura is a hybrid of all three kinds; you’re like a unicorn without its horn or a Pegasus without its wings.”
‘Congratulations we are no longer a pony, we’re an abomination.’
“What does that mean for me then?” She looked hesitant.
“I’m not sure; As much as you are a ‘hybrid’ of all three kinds I don’t think you will ever be able to use magic.” ‘Damn’ “You might be able to walk on clouds but I would advise against testing.”
“Noted, nurse? Those kinds of injuries would put me down for months, is there anything you can do to speed up the process?” I looked at her with what I hoped was a pleading eye. Apparently it wasn’t as she started fidgeting and looked away. Then her eyes lit up. “Ooh! There is one thing! I’ll be right back your highness.” After a quick bow she rushed out of the room, leaving me and the princess alone.
That’s the first time I really took in the sight of the Princess.
She had a pristine white coat that was expertly groomed. Her mane was flowing through the air, somehow, and had with a very soothing color scheme. Her horn was long and looked very sharp, it sent a chill down my spine, and her wings were, well large and feathery. She also had a golden tiara, sort of neck brace also made in gold and golden pony shoes.
“It’s impolite to stare.”
I then realized I might have let my eyes linger for a moment too long. I looked her in the eyes; she had a mischievous grin on her face. She was beautiful and she knew it.
“What is your name Ranger?” the question caught me off guard, for a few moments my mind was blank. I said the first thing that popped into my head, after two decades of being called it, it only felt natural.
“Reaper.”
“Reaper, you have my thanks for saving the lives of the fillies. You risked your life for foals you had never even met, is there anything I could do to repay you for such an act?”
A favor from the Princess of Equestria… Well there is one thing.
“Could you send me back to my world?” She looked at me for a few seconds, she looked saddened. I guess I had my answer.
“I am afraid not Reaper, sending you back home would require opening a new rift. Which is not only extremely difficult and dangerous to do, plus the Doctor would not appreciate it very much.”
I was disappointed, I didn’t know why I wanted to go back, but I did, I really wanted to go back.
“Oh.” Was all I could get out.
Redheart came charging back into the room. “We got this!” She held up a bottle of some sort of liquid. “What is it?” the Princess wondered. “It’s the Valiant Mend Potion. It should reduce the time it’d take for you to heal down to a few weeks.”
I nodded, it was a bad move. I felt my neck flare up in agony at the slight movement. I didn’t even blink. The Princess’s horn started glowing and the bottle uncorked itself and flew over to me. I gulped down the whole bottle. As it hovered away I could bask in the glorious taste of the potion, it probably taste horrible but the last thing I drank was radioactive, muddy, water. And that had been hours before I ended up here…
“How long was I out?” I asked turned my head to look at the nurse.
“Almost a full day.” I didn’t realize it until now; it felt like my throat was filled with rusty barbed wire. I would probably drink the blood of a Cazador if had to.
“Could I have a glass of water?” I looked at the Princess with the biggest puppy eye I could make. “Please?” She raised an eyebrow and smiled at me. A glass appeared in midair already filled with crystal clear water.
After downing half a gallon of water I turned my attention to Redheart. “Where are the fillies? Are they safe?” She gave me a small smile.
“Yes they are fine; they are at their houses resting for time being. Except for Sweetie Belle, I thought it wise to keep her here for observation in case her wound would take a turn for the worse. But it’s healed up nicely, didn’t even leave a scar. Whatever you gave her is even more potent than the Valiant Mend Potion I gave you.” I chuckled.
“Yeah, Stimpaks will do that. They kept me alive for over thirty years… whether I wanted to or not.” I added under my breath.
The Princess spoke up.
“I think it’s time for me to head back to Canterlot, I didn’t leave a note. My guards are probably issuing marshal law as we speak.” She snorted.
“I’ll walk you out Princess.” The nurse headed out the door with the white Alicorn, she turned to me when she reached the door.
“Oh and ‘Reaper’?”
“Hmm?”
“Happy Heart’s warming eve.” She winked and closed the door.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!