13 December 1008
After consuming some rather nice and fulfilling food, Sweetie decided to make her way out of the bed and towards wherever Applebloom and Scootaloo were.
This had to be Ponyville Hospital; at least, Sweetie hoped so.
And there was a guard next to the door. Brilliant.
‘’Excuse me?’’ Sweetie asked. ‘’Do you know where my friends are located?’’
‘’Certainly, Miss,’’ the guard answered. ‘’Follow me, please.’’
Sweetie did just that, as the guard led her down the hallway, turning a corner and then another before coming to a halt in front of another door; which had two more guards standing next to it.
‘’Here we are, Miss.’’
‘’Thanks,’’ Sweetie said, before opening the door and stepping into the room.
‘’Sweetie!’’
Oh Cae-
Applebloom all-but-slammed into her in one of the most powerful hugs Sweetie had ever experienced from someone that wasn’t her sister. ‘’Thank Sun yer alright!’’ Applebloom cried out.
Before Sweetie could gather her breath to respond to that, it was violently ejected from her again by Scootaloo slamming into her other side. ‘’Don’t ever scare us like that again!’’
‘’Guys, you’re squishing me!’’ Sweetie managed to breathe out. ‘’I’m happy to see you too, but-’’
Spontaneously, both Applebloom and Scootaloo released their grip on her, and Sweetie promptly took a deep breath. ‘’Thanks.’’
‘’You’re welcome,’’ Scootaloo quipped. ‘’How’re you feeling?’’
‘’I’m doing okay. Which is pretty good when you consider Nightmare Moon had to throw Twilight out of my head.’’
Scootaloo grimaced. ‘’Yeah.’’
They all moved to sit down; looking around for the first time revealed to Sweetie that they were in a dining room of some sort, maybe a mess hall or other spot for communal eating the patients could use if they were capable? There were white-ish wooden benches and tables set out in rows, and a few other tables against the wall on which stood various types of food and drinks.
‘’Didya eat yet?’’ Applebloom asked once they were seated.
‘’I did,’’ Sweetie replied. ‘’So, how long have you two been awake? And do you know what happened inside the castle?’’
‘’Well, I woke up an hour ago,’’ Scootaloo said. ‘’Like with you, Nightmare Moon had to come and get that bitch out of my head. After that, she told me to get some food and wait while she went to you and Bloom.’’
‘’Same ‘ere,’’ Applebloom spoke up. ‘’Woke up and went to see Scoots, then we had some food together.’’
Sweetie nodded. ‘’You alright otherwise?’’
‘’I want to punch Twilight Sparkle really badly,’’ Scootaloo quipped, ‘’but otherwise I’m great!’’
Sweetie couldn’t help but snort at that, and neither could Applebloom. ‘’Mah siblings already came by,’’ she said a moment later. ‘’I think they’d ground me if Nightmare Moon hadn’t told them that they shouldn’t.’’
‘’She did that?’’ Sweetie raised an eyebrow.
‘’Yup. Sis didn’t look too happy, but they didn’t complain.’’
‘’Interesting…’’
‘’Anyway Sweetie, to answer your second question: after Twilight tried to cast her mind control on us, Twinkle shot her several times. We don’t know if any of the shots hit, but Twilight teleported away and Twinkle managed to get outside before collapsing. The Guards came in and got us to the hospital, and now all of Ponyville’s been swarming with soldiers for hours,’’ Scootaloo explained.
Sweetie took a moment to process all of that. ‘’We’re going to have to apologise to the people here, aren’t we?’’ she finally sighed.
‘’I doubt it,’’ a familiar male voice said from the doorway.
‘’Good day to you,’’ Twinkle said as he approached them. ‘’I caught the end of your conversation as I was entering the room. Looks like you’re all doing fine.’’
‘’Good to see ya again, Twinkle.’’ Applebloom was the first one to jump into the conversation. ‘’And thanks for getting us out of there.’’
‘’Think nothing of it,’’ Twinkle dismissed as he sat down. ‘’I was just doing my job. And even then I’ll probably get chewed out by my boss for this.’’ He smirked mirthlessly. ‘’Didn’t do a great job protecting you, did I?’’
‘’I’ve had worse protectors.’’
Twinkle looked as if he didn’t believe that for a second. ‘’Regardless,’’ he said, ‘’it’s done now. We can do little but live with the consequences of our actions, no?’’
Sweetie frowned. ‘’You got us out of there safely, didn’t you?’’
‘’I got myself out to get help,’’ Twinkle corrected, ‘’and I shouldn’t have let you go in there in the first place.’’ He sighed. ‘’It’s a failure on my part.’’
‘’But if we hadn’t gone in there, we wouldn’t know what Twilight was doing,’’ Sweetie argued.
‘’True enough,’’ Twinkle admitted after a moment. ‘’But still. It should have been the Lunar Guard who went in there, not us four.’’
‘’As you said, what’s done is done.’’ Sweetie pointed out.
Twinkle sighed. ‘’You’re right, I suppose. Still…’’ he trailed off.
‘’I’m supposed to be meeting with Nightmare Moon in a few hours,’’ Sweetie said. ‘’I’ll put in a good word for you.’’
‘’You don’t need to-’’
‘’I insist.’’
Twinkle watched her for a moment, then nodded. ‘’As you wish.’’
13 December 1008
‘’So, where are we headed?’’
‘’For the life of me I cannot remember what was on our list for today,’’ Rarity admitted after a moment of awkward silence hung in the air.
‘’Well, how about we simply venture into the city and see what awaits us there?’’ Lilac suggested. ‘’Rainbow Falls surely has much more in stock for us.’’
‘’I’d hope so!’’ Rainbow cried out. ‘’This is a city full of Pegasi!’’
‘’And many other types of Ponies, darling, don’t forget that,’’ Rarity chided.
‘’Yes yes Rares, but we all know Pegasi are the best!’’
‘’I’m not starting this argument with you in the morning.’’
‘’So you admit I’m right?’’
‘’I-’’ Rarity cut herself off with a great sigh. ‘’I admit to nothing, Rainbow.’’
‘’Aunties,’’ Flurry suddenly spoke up, ‘’since Alicorns are made up of all the Ponies, doesn’t that make me the best?’’
This kid is brilliant.
Rarity and Rainbow both stared at the little foal while Ocellus made a half-choking noise that was so very obviously a cover for laughter; the guards weren’t much better off, though their amusement was in their eyes. Lilac, for her part, just smiled a little.
‘’I suppose so?’’ Rarity finally said, clearly unsure of her own answer.
‘’Yay!’’
The urge to chuckle - or worse, laugh - was oh so strong. But it was resisted all the same, with great effort. ‘’So, shall we?’’
‘’Let’s.’’
Cars were already waiting on them once they got outside; courtesy of a guard, perhaps? Or perhaps they had been waiting here all morning. Who knew?
‘’Where to, my ladies?’’ one of the chauffeurs asked.
‘’Somewhere interesting, darling, if you please,’’ Rarity requested. ‘’Perhaps somewhere in the lower levels, if you know of anywhere suitable?’’
‘’I can think of a few places, ma’am. But may I ask, what is your opinion on ice hockey?’’
‘’Ice hockey?’’
‘’Yes, the Rainbow Falls Soarers are playing the Rubrum Shippers in the afternoon. Match isn’t quite sold out yet last I heard, and I’m sure that you could get yourself tickets in any case.’’
‘’Forgive me, I am not overly familiar with this game,’’ Rarity said, voicing the thoughts of Lilac - and most of the party, if the looks she caught on their faces were any indication - for them. ‘’Could you explain some more about it, please?’’
‘’Sure thing!’’ the chauffeur said, clearly excited to talk about this subject. ‘’So, the game is played with six ponies a team, one of which is the goaltender. The other five have to use the bats - held in their mouths, even for Pegasi and Unicorns - and try to score as many goals as possible. Physical contact is not encouraged per se, but it is permitted.’’
‘’Sounds violent. I like it,’’ Rainbow spoke up. ‘’Gonna be an interesting game, you think?’’
‘’Eh, the Shippers got nothing on our guys,’’ the chauffeur said with typical local pride. ‘’We’re gonna crush them right and proper.’’
‘’I want to go!’’ Flurry declared.
‘’Are you sure, darling? I don’t know how long these games are-’’
‘’Three periods of twenty minutes, with overtime and breaks as well, so about one and a half hours to two hours.’’
‘’Very well.’’
‘’I want to go, auntie! It sounds fun!’’
‘’Rares, I kinda wanna go too…’’
‘’Alright then,’’ Rarity said after a moment, before turning back to the chauffeur. ‘’At what time is this game?’’
‘’Two in the afternoon.’’
‘’Then until then, we shall have to find ourselves something else to occupy the time with.’’
One of the other chauffeurs spoke then. ‘’Ma’am, there’s a couple of musicians down at the Summer Snows Hall who are playing at noon. Shouldn’t be more than an hour.’’
‘’Excellent, then that is where we will go!’’ Rarity declared. ‘’Go on then, darlings!’’
Lilac got into the car, thoroughly dazed. That conversation went far too fast.
‘’No patience, eh?’’ Ocellus whisper-quipped as she got in next to Lilac.
‘’Indeed,’’ Lilac softly confirmed.