“Well, your assessment was correct, Mister Shiro,” the doctor said. “The wound is mostly superficial. Though, if not for your and Miss Applebloom’s first aid there may have been further issues. Between her disinfecting it and your spell work, it was enough to ensure Midnight here will be able to go home in the morning.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear, doc. Thanks.”
“I’m just happy he’s alright. Some ponies didn’t make it, and many more have injuries they’ll have to live with for a long time,” The doctor said, heading toward the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I have other patients to see. Nurse Gentle Touch will be caring for him for the time being. If you have any further questions, please direct them to her.”
“Will do,” I replied.
As he left, a light green earth pony with a white mane came in. “Hello, I’m Gentle Touch. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure’s all mine,” I replied.
“If you’d like, you can go see your other friends,” she said. “Midnight will be asleep for another hour, and many of them were asking about you.”
I thought about it. I did want to see them, especially Cedric, but I didn’t really want to leave Midnight. Then again, he was in good hooves.
“Alright, but let me know when he wakes up if Ah’m not already back,” I requested.
“Will do.”
I hesitated, not really wanting to leave, but also wanting to check on everyone else.
“Ah’ll be back soon,” I said and went out into the hallway.
The hospital was packed with injured ponies. Yet, by miracle or design, few were dead. As much as I hated it, I had to give Blue Moon a little respect. He said he didn’t come here to kill, and he apparently meant it.
He just wanted to take my son.
Yeah, what little respect I had for his honesty was completely overshadowed by that fact.
I managed to wipe my anger from my expression as I made my way into Cedric’s room.
He was in bed with an oxygen mask over his nose. Pinkie was sitting beside him, telling him about Pumpkin. Apparently, she only suffered some minor burns and mild smoke inhalation.
“Hey,” I said as I walked in. “You ain’t gonna spontaneously combust, are you?”
Cedric looked up at me and chuckled. “Nah. Twilight got me this collar that keeps me from using magic.” He lifted his head a bit to show a copper ring around his neck. “She said I should keep it on until we can figure out what I actually did.”
“What you did was rise up from the ashes like a damn phoenix and lay waste to the enemy,” I said. “At least that explains why you never seem to get burned.”
“Yeah, Twilight already figured out I was immune to fire,” he said.
“But not carbon dioxide poisoning or smoke inhalation,” Pinkie added with a chuckle, still as upbeat as always but lacking her usual energy. “You’d think those would go together.”
Cedric laughed, weakly. I could hear his breathing struggling to get enough oxygen. “Yeah. Based on what I did, we were thinking it’s some kind of pyrokinesis. Like, I took the heat from the fires and threw it at the other guys.”
“So, fire bending, but the shitty movie version?” I asked.
“Oh, god, don’t compare me to that,” Cedric said with a groan.
“How’s Midnight?” Pinkie asked.
“He’s still unconscious,” I said. “He should be up in an hour. I just have too much nervous energy to stay in one place.”
“And Applebloom?” Pinkie followed up.
I was surprised at first, before I realized it was Pinkie. Of course she would know about that. “Not good.” Cedric looked up in shock,obviously assuming the worst. “She’s not hurt... at least not physically. She... killed one of them. Last Ah saw, she was still in denial, but Ah could tell it was tearin’ her up inside. Hopefully the shrink can help her.”
Cedric looked down, a sudden sullen look in his eyes. “Damn... yeah. I killed a few people, too, didn’t I?”
“You did what you had to,” I said. “Ah know that isn’t much, but try to think about the lives you saved.”
“What about you?” he asked. “Did you... kill anyone?”
I started to say ‘no’, but paused. I had certainty shot a few werewolves as I ran through town. I used a less lethal setting, but... “Ah don’t know. Maybe.”
“Well... apparently I killed more of them than all of them together killed us,” Cedric said.
“They would have killed more if it weren’t for you,” I said. “Anyway, Ah have a few other folks Ah have to talk to. Don’t go doin’ your phoenix impression in the hospital.”
As I left, I heard him say to himself, “Phoenix, huh?”
I wandered down the hall, slowly heading toward where Fluttershy was watching several of the town’s foals.
“Hey, Shy,” I greeted the beautiful pegasus. “Ah hope Razor isn’t givin’ you too much trouble.
“Not at all,” Fluttershy assured me. “Scootaloo has been helping me. Razor really likes her.”
I looked over and saw Scootaloo bouncing around with my cub on her back, her wings keeping him in place, while he squealed with laughter.
“Ah never woulda pegged her as the one to be good with kids,” I said.
Fluttershy giggled. “I think Razor knows she’s going to be in his life a lot more in time.”
“The real question is has she realized it?” I said.
“Oh, so you’re going to accept her,then?” Fluttershy asked, hopefully.
“Not yet,” I said. “Just wonderin’ if she realizes that if Ah do accept it, she’s goin’ to be a mother figure to the little guy.”
“I think she already is,” Fluttershy said. “Her, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom are all in his life quite a bit already, and I can tell he’s going to look up to them as he grows up.”
I smiled at that. “Well, he couldn’t ask for better role models. Those girls are quite remarkable.”
Fluttershy smiled. “It sounds like you have decided what to do about Scootaloo.”
I sighed. “Maybe, but it still isn’t going to happen for a while. She’s still a bit too young.”
“I disagree, but if that’s how you truly feel, I won’t argue with you,” Fluttershy said.
“Just, don’t go tellin’ her,” I said. “Ah don’t want her gettin’ ahead of herself and tryin’ to pressure me. Ah know she wouldn’t mean to, but she gets excited and doesn’t always realize she’s pushin’.”
Fluttershy gave me a quick kiss. “I won’t. That’s your job, when you’re ready. Why don’t you go back to Midnight. Scootaloo and I can watch Razor.”
“Ah was hopin’ Jynx would make it back by now,” I said. “Ah guess she wasn’t able to get a chariot.”
“The next train should be arriving in about twenty minutes,” Fluttershy said. “She’ll-”
Before she could finish, the doors burst open and the very mare we were talking about ran inside.
“Where is he?!” she demanded, more angry than worried.
“He’s fine,” I said. “He’s asleep, right now.”
Jynx glared at me, though I could tell I wasn’t the target of her anger. “I know that, I mean the bastard that hurt him!”
“H-he’s already dead,” I said, a bit worried she’ll have to find another target for her wrath.
Instead, she seemed to relax a little. “Did he at least suffer?.”
“Applebloom crushed his skull tryin’ to protect Midnight,” I said.
That seemed to deflate her anger. “Oh... oh, wow. Is she okay?”
“Last Ah checked she was still in denial, but once it sets in...” I trailed off.
“Yeah...” Jynx was silent for a few seconds before she continued. “Well, show me where Midnight is. I want to check on him.”
“This way,” I said, gesturing for her to follow.
As we walked through the hallway, we came across Nurse Gentle Touch, heading in the opposite direction levitating a couple vials of blood.
“Nurse, is he awake?” I asked.
She started, suddenly. “O-oh! Mister Tora! Hello! Uh, n-not yet, but he should be soon. I just have to... run some tests. You know make sure there isn’t anything in his blood.”
“Uh... yeah, sure,” I said. “Thank you. Come on, Jynx. He’s this way.”
As we got out of earshot, Jynx asked, “What was she so nervous about?”
“Maybe she’s just intimidated by me?” I guessed.
“Well, who cares,” Jynx said. “I want to be there when my son wakes up, so let’s go.”
“Agreed.”
Blue Moon hissed as the physician ran a healing spell over his cracked ribs.
“So, you were defeated?” asked a voice from behind him.
“Was I?” Blue Moon asked back. “I was fighting to distract, my opponent was fighting to kill. I am alive, and he was thoroughly distracted.”
“Yet you are here being treated while he walks around hale and hearty.” The speaker trotted around, her pale fur seeming to glow in the otherwise dim room.
Blue Moon gave the unicorn a distasteful look. “Perhaps if someone had gathered information on him like she was supposed to, I would have known about his unnaturally powerful kicks. I am not the only one who made mistakes today.”
“Or the tiger’s better than you thought,” the mare countered.
“No,” Blue Moon said. “He has very little real talent in combat. However, he makes up for his lack of skill with power and versatility. He has access to a wide variety of magic and tools and fights in a rather unpredictable manner. Still, if I were to fight to kill, he would be dead right now.”
“So why didn’t you?” the mare asked.
“Because I had no reason to,” Blue Moon said. “Unlike you, I do not kill without reason and still get the job done.”
The Mare sneered. “Oh? You ‘get the job done’ do you? That’s strange, I don’t remember seeing a colt in the cells. Just how is that getting the job done?!”
Blue Moon chuckled, shaking his head. “Sometimes I wonder why he favors you. We don’t need the colt.”
“Master?” a meek voice called from the doorway.
The mare turned to see a pony in a nurse hat walking inside
“I have what you asked for,” the nurse said, holding a small plastic case with a medical red cross on the side.
Blue Moon took the box and opened it, pulling out two glass vials of a vibrant red liquid.
“We only need his blood.”