//------------------------------// // Chapter 22 // Story: Fictional // by Meteorite Shower //------------------------------// Meteorite was nearing the day's end in relatively high spirits, largely in thanks to Applejack sticking around to work the trees nearby while Meteorite worked her own line of trees.  Always nearby, Meteorite had noticed; Applejack could've easily torn a path from one end of the orchard to the other, but she had remained within at least visual range of Meteorite. Meteorite had appreciated the company.  It kept her motivated to continue to try her best. She didn't exactly know how to feel about Applejack though, or rather, how to feel about how she felt about Applejack.  She was her boss, sure, but… she was also her friend. Unfamiliar power dynamic aside, they were friends.  Meteorite was friends with another of the Mane Six. Admittedly, all it was was a slight edit to her current relationships, going from 'employer' to 'employer (also friend)', but even that was still enough to make her pause. And Meteorite found in that pause that… she currently didn't care what people might think of that.  She would be ridiculed —that much was certain to her— but…  Applejack had helped her.  Whatever shame she felt at getting closer to the main characters was washed away by feelings of gratitude. Besides, she could always feel guilty later. No, she had reasoned, she was going to hold onto the good feeling Applejack had instilled into her.  She felt her sense of self grow, and remain steadfast with each kick she'd focused to each tree.  More than a few apples had even fallen directly into the basket sometimes, by sheer dumb luck.  Definitely wasn't going to complain about that. Occasionally, her eyes would wander skyward and, for the first time in her life, she saw the clouds not as scenery, but as destinations.  It left a giddy feeling in her chest, but a gnawing sensation at the back of her mind reminded her that ultimately it wasn't possible. Until she recalled Applejack's words from earlier. Find a way t' accept it, or do somethin' about it. Meteorite breathed in deeply as she moved onto the next tree, replaying the words in her head again and again.  She didn't want to just accept it.  She had accepted a lot of curveballs since arriving in Equestria, mainly because she didn't know how to bat them away. This was one curveball she was determined to learn how to hit. That was her modus operandi after all, wasn't it?  She didn't just accept whatever the author threw her way.  No, she was going to do something about it.  The author and her dumb story be damned, this was more important. Turning around before the tree, her hooves hit the ground firmly, and she set her jaw as her eyes gained a sparkle of determination.  She kicked out. The basket ended up being filled halfway which, distracted by her newfound eagerness, Meteorite forgot to notice was quite a bit out of range of her ideals of Sheer Dumb Luck. The issue was, Meteorite had realised, that she didn't really know what she could do. It wasn't like she could just waltz in to local experts and explain, 'hey so, I'm not actually from Equestria, but I've gotten one of your pegasus pony models to drive, and I can't figure out the gearshift'. She wasn't sure why she went with the car analogy, considering she'd never owned one, but it worked she supposed. Still, she was done for the day, and she didn't want to head home just yet.  She'd been feeling a rush for most of the afternoon to get out there and do something.  Where and what exactly, she didn't know yet, but she knew it wasn't the cottage. She supposed she could always feel out info on pegasus flight at the library.  Twilight was bound t- Meteorite froze mid-step. Twilight.  Twilight was a Thing currently. Meteorite glanced down, intently thinking.  Could she deal with seeing Twilight right now?  It wasn't like she hated Twilight or anything, it was just unfortunate that she happened to be the one to unearth and trigger some apparently deep-seated feelings Meteorite felt about herself.  Which… Applejack had subsequently helped her with!  So… she should be okay with seeing Twilight.  And her wings. Meteorite turned her head back, staring thoughtfully at her own wings.  Eventually her face hardened with determination, and squaring herself up she marched onward towards Ponyville.  She would not be bothered by Twilight.  Hell, it might even be some form of closure to all this wing business. Plus, admittedly she was curious to see what Twilight looked like now. She wasn't the only one, as it turned out. Arriving in Ponyville, she found it oddly deserted for the most part.  It was only when approaching the library that she realised where everypony had gotten to. Even from down the street, Meteorite could hear the excitable rabble of the technicoloured crowd half-surrounding the library.  The crowd had reached as far back as a couple houses down the street, ponies at the back eagerly craning their necks above the ponies in front craning their necks, all to catch whatever glimpse they could see through the library's closed door.  The skies themselves were heavily dotted with the local pegasi population.  Meteorite gazed bitterly upon them for a moment, before turning her attention to the crowd before her.  She glanced behind her to see more ponies approaching to join the crowd, which she readily sidestepped to allow them past. Seeing Twilight, or even making it inside the library, did not look like an option today. Meteorite couldn't help but feel a tad overwhelmed and lost, her afternoon plans shattered.  She was in the middle of looking around town for inspiration of where to head to now, when she heard a brash, and familiar, voice come from the direction of the library. "Alright everypony, what gives, huh?" Meteorite turned and through the assorted legs of the pegasi blocking her vision, she saw Rainbow Dash hovering before the crowd, looking down sternly as her forelegs were crossed in front of her.  It wasn't long before a voice was shouted from the crowd. "We wanna see the new princess!" The statement was accompanied by a very loud and affirmative chorus.  Rainbow winced at the noise. "Look, I totally get that guys, but Twilight's busy!  She's gotta prepare for her coronation in a few days!" "We wanna see what she looks like!" shouted somepony else.  Rainbow huffed dramatically. "Oh come on!  You all know what Twilight looks like!  She's purple, got a dorky manecut-" "We've heard she's an alicorn now!" "I was getting to that!" Rainbow shot back, twisting her body around mid-air, pointing over her shoulder at her steadily flapping wings.  "And she's got a pair of these babies!  Not as cool as mine, mind you, but ya know, still pretty sweet." A restless murmur arose from the crowd. "We don't wanna see you," somepony rudely yelled, leaving Rainbow shocked at the notion. "Yeah!  Show us the new princess!" As the crowd began to angrily agree with itself, Rainbow Dash briefly shrank into herself as she tried to hastily keep up with the ever-increasing demands to see Twilight.  Mere seconds later, it all became too much for her and she sprung higher into the air, shouting at the top of her voice. "Okay, that is it!" she boomed, stunning the mob into silence.  She glared at everypony as she spoke firmly.  "Like I said, Twilight's busy.  The last thing she needs right now is a bunch of ponies distracting her by trying to poke their noses in where they don't belong.  If you wanna see Twilight that badly, then go to her coronation in Canterlot!"  She gestured off in the distance, causing Meteorite to turn around, and spying the cliffside city of Canterlot behind her.  It continued to hold her interest as Rainbow continued with her rant. "Now, unless you have an actual reason to see Twilight, besides gawking like a little foal, then scram, you hear me?!" The crowd heavily grumbled and protested, but ponies began to unhappily break away, reluctantly returning to their lives.  Still staring at Canterlot, Meteorite saw out of the corners of her eyes ponies walking back past her.  She was dimly aware of the noise levels levelling out, until she heard Rainbow speak again, considerably closer this time. "That means you too, buddy." Blinking out of her thoughts, Meteorite turned around to see Rainbow glaring at her from above, her forehooves crossed in front of her.  Already feeling the intimidation, Meteorite shrank back slightly, even as her focus found its way towards Rainbow's wings, tracing their path as they flapped up and down.  Unable to find her voice, Meteorite braved eye contact for an instant as she nodded meekly and hurriedly trotted away.  Rainbow watched her go for a moment before looking around. Satisfied in clearing out the crowd, Rainbow let out a relieved sigh and, in a display of skill and airborne grace, flew up in a half loop to speedily head back inside the library. Meteorite had wandered back home to the cottage, but even as she busied herself wiping her hooves on the welcome mat, she told herself that she was not giving up.  It… simply hadn't been the right time. The cottage felt empty.  Obviously, there was a glaring reason why, but more so than just Steel's absence.  She entered the dining room to find nopony there, but her ears pricked up at the sound of water boiling in the kitchen just beyond.  Stepping into the kitchen, Flo was at a counter, preparing assorted vegetables on a cutting board.  She caught sight of Meteorite and her face brightened. "Meteorite, hi!  I was wondering where you'd gotten to!" Meteorite smiled sheepishly.  "Yeah, sorry, I… went into town for a bit after work." "Oh?" Flo asked, her curiosity piqued. "Any reason why?" Meteorite considered the question.  She wasn't ready to flat-out mention her emotional breakdown that morning. "I suppose…" she began, allowing herself a light-hearted smirk, "you could say I was trying to do a bit of soul searching." "Oh," Flo remarked, taking the time to take in her friend's current state.  "Well, you definitely seem more on top of things than this morning!" "Haah," Meteorite scoffed lightly.  "I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, I-" she averted her gaze briefly, feeling embarrassed.  "Applejack kinda helped talk things out with me earlier." "Aww, that's good," Flo smiled, turning back to preparing dinner.  "That was nice of her." "Yeah…" Meteorite murmured, feeling a desire to continue talking, but not really knowing how.  She let her gaze linger into the dining room for a bit, before deciding to change conversation.  "Where's Silverfire?" She could feel Flo's mood drop at the question.  "He's in his room," Flo said with a heavy heart.  "He's still depressed about Steel leaving." "Not surprised," Meteorite muttered, still feeling lost about the situation herself.  "Working together didn't help, I take it?" Flo paused for a moment, thinking.  "I think it did, for a while.  We talked while we worked, about different things.  I asked about his interests, he asked about mine… and things were going pretty well!"  Flo exclaimed with a big smile, before her face fell as she stared down at the floor.  "But then we got back here, and the cottage was just… so quiet, y'know?" Meteorite nodded, sadly understanding.  Flo focused on chopping up some carrots, though her spirit wasn't in it. "He just mumbled to himself and said he was gonna be in his room for a while." "Hm," Meteorite murmured, not really thinking about anything in particular, but more of an acknowledgment that she had heard Flo's words.  An uncomfortable half-minute passed by. "So… not doing great, huh?" Flo slowly looked at Meteorite, unsure of whether she was being serious or not.  She went back to her vegetable chopping. "I wish I knew how to help him." Meteorite found herself frowning slightly at the statement.  "I… think, you're doing what you can.  There's not going to be some kind of magical way to make Silverfire suddenly not care about Steel."  A brief moment of hesitation as she remembered the world she was residing in.  "I mean… there probably is, now that I think about it, but we don't wanna go down that route." Flo stared aghast with wide eyes at Meteorite.  "Oh, goodness, no!" "Right, right," Meteorite muttered, feeling ashamed, "Sorry, I shouldn't even have brought it up; I just… I'm still not quite used to… magic, and what it can do." Calming down, Flo regarded Meteorite with a sympathetic look.  "Is that because of what happened with Trixie?" Meteorite blinked.  Oh lord, she hadn't even been thinking about the whole Trixie fiasco. "...yeah," she responded, deciding that was a worthy scapegoat to use.  Setting aside her chopping knife, Flo trotted over and lightly hugged Meteorite, which she contently leaned into.  In spite of certain earlier events, this had been a very huggy day.  Meteorite wasn't about to complain though; she'd always been one for hugs, but she never really had anyone to hug after her mother had di- Meteorite opened her eyes and frowned.  Okay, no.  One unsettling life crisis slash experience at a time, alright me?  For once she was talking to herself, rather than… 'herself'. Pulling away from the hug, she hid her frown with a smile.  "Thanks Flo, I'll be okay." Satisfied that she helped somepony today, Flo beamed back a smile before returning to her chopping.  Meteorite glanced back into the hallway, towards the direction of the boys' Silverfire's bedroom. "Back to what I was saying…" she began slowly, "I really think you're doing everything you currently can do for Silverfire.  It's not gonna be an easy fix, it's gonna take time." Flo stilled her movements as she took her friend's words in, staring vacantly at the cutting board before her.  Eventually she gave a nod of acceptance, silently resuming chopping up the final bits of carrots before lifting up the board to scrape them into the boiling pot on the stove. "You're right," she finally said, turning around to face Meteorite with a feeble smile. "I just have to continue being there for him.  Be the shoulder he needs to lean on." A frown quickly found its way to Meteorite's brow.  She didn't like the way Flo had put that.  It sounded far too self-destructive for her liking.  And I know all about being self-destru- She bit her lip. "Don't do that, Flo," Meteorite said slowly, carefully thinking about each word as she said them.  "Be there for him, yeah, but also like, be there for yourself as well.  You're not helping anybody if you become a mess yourself." Her words seemed to reach Flo as her eyes seemed to gain more life as she considered what her friend had just said.  "Thank you," she said, her smile becoming more genuine, "I think that's what I needed to hear, actually." "You're welcome," Meteorite smiled back, with a carefree half-shrug.  "Not everyday I'm the one cheering you up, after all." Flo fought back a snicker.  "It's very much appreciated." A warm fuzzy feeling engulfed Meteorite and she glanced aside at the countertop, the high she was currently feeling pushing her to speak her mind, her words tumbling out before she was even thinking about them.  "Need any help cooking?" Flo's face lit up.  "O-oh!  Yes, actually!  Do you think you could… take the tomatoes out of the icebox and wash them?  Would help a lot." Meteorite had no idea if she could.  "Sure!  I mean, I'll give it a shot." Dinner was a quiet affair. The two mares sat in their usual spot, as did the lone stallion.  The seat to his right was conspicuously empty.  Everypony avoided looking at it.  Silverfire gloomily picked at his vegetables with a fork.  Flo tried to sneak worried glances his way in-between bites.  Meteorite was… Meteorite was studying her plate before eating any of it.  She often did; calculating which bits and pieces she could isolate and nibble away at to lessen the meal, before she had the unfortunate task of chomping away like a dog greedily scrounging around its bowl, pushing and scraping it across the floor with every movement. It was something she had done for months now.  Tonight, she was considering something new. A lone carrot slice had fallen to the wayside of the plate.  A prime subject for her. Lightly gripping the plate between her hooves, Meteorite turned the plate so that the carrot was off to her left side, where her hoof was.  With a look that radiated nervous curiosity, she gently laid her hoof upon the carrot slice.  She left it there for a while, before pulling away and upturning her hoof in a fluid motion.  Upon her hoof the carrot stayed stuck, and Meteorite's heart sang as her face brightened at her success. She moved her hoof to her face and ate her prize, saviouring it. She glanced over at her two remaining friends, both lost in their own ways.  Neither had noticed her victory, but maybe that was okay.  It wasn't something she could easily share, and she still needed further confirmation that it wasn't just dumb luck. Silverfire continued to idly stab at an empty spot on his plate, the clinks of metal against porcelain repeating like a metronome.  Meteorite decided she needed to break the silence. "I want to fly," she announced, continuing to search for and isolate more slices, carrot or otherwise.  The other two stopped and turned her way, both not really knowing how to respond to the statement.  Meteorite faintly smiled as a cucumber slice found its way to her mouth. "U-uh, w-well…" Flo got out before Meteorite looked their way once more, her eyes stern. "I'm not looking for pity, just so you know," she clarified, making sure they both understood.  She took in a deep breath before continuing.  "It's something I need to admit to myself.  I've been ignoring it all this time, because I didn't think it mattered that much to me, but… I was wrong.  It matters a lot to me, and honestly?  It kinda feels good admitting that."  She gave them both an amused smile.  "So… this is me admitting it.  I want to fly." "But uh… what about… what about your…" Silverfire began unsurely, not knowing how to approach his question.  Meteorite smiled knowingly. "Oh, the fact that I can't move my wings?" she remarked casually, looking down at her side.  "Yeah… that's an issue.  Don't really know what I can do about it, but… I'm gonna… try doing something about it.  If I can."  A troubled yet thoughtful look crossed her face.  "If I can't… well.  I suppose then at least I've tried." Silverfire fell silent again, owing more to his own thoughts now raising new questions than anything else.  Flo however was looking upon Meteorite with quiet awe. "Wow…" she murmured, "that talk with Applejack really must've been something, huh?" 'It… helped, definitely," Meteorite said sheepishly, looking down at her plate.  Feeling ambitious, she tried picking up a hoofful of boiled cabbage.  She frowned mildly when her attempt only left the pile a goopy little plateau.  "I'll admit, I was in a pretty bad way after we parted ways this morning.  I guess you were right… I wasn't okay." Meteorite let that hang in the air for a moment as she turned to look at the other two ponies at the table, taking in their postures.  "I… don't think any of us are okay at the moment, to be honest.  Maybe we need to face that." Silverfire bit his lip as he turned his head away but as he did so, his gaze swept across the table and at the brown mare opposite.  Her head had hung down in front, clearly also trying to avoid eye contact.  Forgetting himself, Silverfire sat up straighter in his seat as he faced her. "Flo?" Only lifting her head slightly, Flo glanced her way back at Silverfire, a faint blush on her cheeks at being caught out by him.  "It's… not been easy since yesterday, I have to admit.  I want to stay strong for you two, but…" "We're dragging her down, Silverfire," Meteorite finished for her.  Silverfire felt a lump in his throat at the realization that he was affecting somepony he cared about. "S-Sorry," he mumbled into his chest, "I… didn't realize." "It's fine…" Flo quietly responded.  Silverfire figured that it was in fact, not fine.  He thought to himself before looking over at Meteorite. "Does that really help?  The whole… admitting thing?" Meteorite offered an apologetic shrug.  "We won't know for sure unless you give it a shot." With a slow nod, Silverfire looked down at his plate, still practically untouched.  A part of him realized that Flo had worked to make this meal for them.  He… had to try.  For her.  He breathed in deeply, and waited until he had his thoughts in order. "I…  I just don't understand why he left, y'know?  He wasn't supposed to leave." "Maybe… he felt the time was right?" Meteorite offered.  Silverfire shook his head. "No, no that can't be it.  He said this was to help me understand the value of hard work and prepare me for life, but…  I don't feel prepared at all.  I don't understand nothin'." "Well I-  I think you've come a… decent way since we've first met," Meteorite said, already feeling lost on how to help.  "You always do good at stuff, like meals and stuff, right Flo?" "O-Oh, yes!" Flo hastily replied, surprised at suddenly being asked.  "You've always been so helpful, Silverfire.  You've always helped me carry things back to the barn and other places." "Those are just things you're supposed to do…" Silverfire said dismissively, waving off the notions.  "I mean, thanks you two, but I don't feel any different now than before.  Besides, that's not the point…" "Then, what?" Meteorite asked.  Silverfire silently sighed. "He just wasn't… supposed to leave.  We both came here, yeah to help me learn stuff, but it was supposed to be us two together, y'know?  Brothers from the city going on an adventure to the countryside.  I…  I thought we were gonna actually be br…" Silverfire trailed off into a mumble. Flo and Meteorite shared between them a worried glance, before Meteorite leaned in slightly.  "Gonna be… what?" Silverfire fidgeted with his fork in his hooves, staring at it as he put it down next to his knife.  "...brothers for once," he finally admitted.  "Like, okay yeah, he's been hurtful in the past, I'm not stupid, I know he was kinda mean when we were colts.  I just thought… maybe this time we could actually be like, proper family and stuff.  An' I though' we were…" he mumbled into his chest, "'til yesterday." Silence filled the room again as the two mares felt awkward at the revelation.  Meteorite spoke first, trying to clear the tension. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." "Yeah…" Flo agreed.  Silverfire shook his head. "It's okay, you two didn't do anything.  It's just Steel that let me down…"  He paused as those words left him, and he lifted his head up a bit.  "Huh.  He let me down…" "Revelation?" Meteorite asked timorously, having noted the change in Silverfire. "I'm… not sure," Silverfire said, still thinking.  "It… doesn't feel right." "Sometimes it doesn't," Meteorite nodded.  "Sometimes… you have to accept that people you care about can hurt you." "That doesn't sound like a good lesson," Flo mumbled. "It's fact," Meteorite pushed.  "Look, I'm all for sunshine and rainbows, but sometimes you get hurt.  And this is clearly one of those times.  Steel's hurt Silverfire.  If realising that helps Silverfire get back on his hooves, well, I'm sorry, but that's just life sometimes." Flo looked back at Silverfire, studying him as he stared downwards in thought.  "...do you feel better?" 'I don't know," Silverfire admitted.  "I… like, I don't feel as down as I was earlier, but I also don't feel good, y'know?" "I'll be surprised if you did, to be honest," Meteorite said. "This kind of thing sucks.  But you'll pull through, Silverfire.  I believe in you.  We believe in you." Silverfire glanced at the two of them, Meteorite trying to look positive, and Flo looking back at him unsurely, but offering a curt nod as their eyes locked.  He drew in a breath. "Thanks, you two.  At least I'm not entirely alone here, right I guess?" "Right," Meteorite nodded, offering a smile.  Flo tried to smile too, but her heart wasn't in it.  Silverfire thought for a while as he began properly digging into his meal. "So… what do I do now?" "Try to move on, I guess," Meteorite responded.  "What do you wanna do, now that Steel's gone?" "I'm… not sure," Silverfire said, glancing out the window at the dusk sky.  "The whole reason we were here was for me to learn what Steel wanted me to learn, but without him…  I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be learning." "Sounds to me like he wasn't really teaching you much while he was here to begin with," Meteorite remarked, looking unimpressed. "Hah," Silverfire laughed hollowly, before letting out a quiet sigh.  "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere.  I actually really like being here with the two of ya, and I don't really wanna go back and see Steel again.  Not this soon, anyway." A faint blush crossed Flo's face as she glanced away, as Meteorite stared thoughtfully at her plate, going back to dissecting it one piece at a time. "Where has Steel gone, anyway?" "Probably back home, and helping out with Mom's store," Silverfire shrugged. "Your Mum runs a store?" Meteorite asked, curious.  Silverfire nodded with a faint smile. "Yeah, in Canterlot.  It's not that big though, but Mom likes running it." "What does she sell?" Flo jumped in, curiosity taking hold as well. "Ah pff," Silverfire scoffed, thinking to himself, "little things, I guess?  Mostly jewelry that she makes.  Sometimes Dad'll make little metal figures and stuff, just random stuff that ponies like to buy.  Oh, and candles I guess.  I mostly just helped sweep the floor and tidy things about.  Was alright, really." "Sound nice," Meteorite commented, for lack of any other response.  Silverfire nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah… it was.  Kinda boring at times though.  We weren't in the busy area of Canterlot, but we saw enough customers.  I do miss Mom and Dad though…" "Well…" Meteorite began, thinking.  "Twilight's having her coronation in Canterlot in a few days.  Maybe you could go and see your parents at the same time?" Silverfire considered the idea, but shook his head with a frown.  "No…" he sighed, "I mean, normally I would, but…" "You don't wanna see Steel," Meteorite finished.  Silverfire nodded, and the table fell quiet for a moment as the three ponies all considered the situation. "What coronation?" Flo asked suddenly. "Twilight's becoming a princess, I guess," Meteorite responded, tossing a carrot slice into her mouth and chewing on it for a bit.  "Heard about it while I was in Ponyville.  Ya gonna go?" Flo put a hoof to her chin, staring thoughtfully across the table at Silverfire.  Eventually she shook her head.  "No… I think with everything that's happened, I should at least stay for a while to help smooth things out.  As nice as it'd be, it's not as important as staying here."  She finished with a smile directed at Silverfire, who returned an appreciative smile of his own. "Yeah…" Meteorite murmured, not really paying attention to her companions, "I'm not gonna go either.  Sounds like a huge event, so I'd rather not get mixed up in that whole ordeal." With a few nods in agreement and nothing further to add, the three ponies quietly resumed their meals. The following day, Meteorite braved Ponyville once more.  Her confidence had been slightly shaken since encountering the crowd and being run off by Rainbow Dash, but she wasn't visiting the library today.  Twilight would no doubt still be busy, so Meteorite decided to temporarily delay her research and just find a nice quiet place to sit and hopefully spy a few fellow pegasi flying through the air.  She didn't really know what she could learn from pegasi watching, but if nothing else it reaffirmed her determination to Do Something about it, eventually. Her search led her towards the local park by the river that flowed through town, and she found a suitable bench that didn't have a nearby tree blocking her view of the sky to perch herself upon, and clambered up onto it. Taking a moment to make herself comfortable, she scanned the skies for anypony that she could study.  Sadly, the skies were fairly clear that day, not just of clouds but ponies as well.  Off in the distance, she could see somepony flying above the main road, but even squinting she couldn't really make out who it was, let alone see how their wings were working.  It was maybe… Cloud Kicker?  Or was it Cloud Chaser?  It was Cloud Something, that much she knew. Either way, she was too far away to properly see. Sighing to herself, Meteorite continued to follow the distant dot along the horizon, if just for something to do, when she saw the pegasus fly by the Ponyville Hospital, off to her right. A new idea entered her head as she mulled it over, and seeing that her current activity wasn't getting anywhere, she decided it was at least worth checking out, and hopped down off the bench. Walking up the winding path to the hospital, Meteorite couldn't help but feel intimidated by its presence.  It had an entirely different feel to the hospitals she grew up with, especially with the imposing ornate green double doors that served as its entrance.  She hadn't expected automatic doors, obviously, but it still left an impression on her. As she stood in front of the doors, they suddenly flew open as two ponies exited, one in a wheelchair being pushed by the other.  Quickly sidestepping out of their way, Meteorite gave them a quick glance as she slipped inside before the doors swung shut. Inside the lobby area was sparsely populated, a few ponies that were either injured, ill or a combination of the two, sitting on the sidelines as they waited to be admitted.  Meteorite carefully eyed everypony as she awkwardly stepped up to the nurse currently behind the open counter. "Hello," the yellow-coated nurse greeted with a warm smile as she looked up from her paperwork.  "How can we help?" Meteorite shuffled awkwardly as she rubbed her head, suddenly unsure of her plan.  "Um…  I… wanna see a… doctor?" The nurse furrowed her brow slightly.  "Is this an emergency?" Meteorite shook her head, embarrassment quickly shooting through her.  "...no, more like… a… checkup, I guess?" Meteorite didn't hear a sigh, but she could feel one radiating off the nurse.  "Have you been here before?" Again, a shake of her head, and Meteorite found a clipboard being pushed towards her across the counter.  "Fill this out please, and we'll get to you as soon as we can." Obediently nodding, Meteorite took the clipboard in her mouth and turned around, looking for a spot to sit.  Fortunately there was a fairly empty corner on the other side of the room and she quickly trotted over and climbed up to sit down on one of the lobby cushions.  She dropped the clipboard into her waiting hooves and studied the form attached to it. Lodged in the clip was a small pencil for her to use, so she carefully nudged it out and tried picking it up with her hoof.  It came away freely, but as soon as she wondered how to properly hold it for writing purposes, it dropped back onto the clipboard with a small clatter. Both annoyed at still somehow not getting the whole picking things up deal and glancing aside sheepishly to make sure nopony saw, she picked it up again but decided to just deal with it, and quickly stuck it in her mouth to write with for now.  Whatever she wasn't getting, she'll figure out later. As for the form itself, it looked to be the standard fare for forms: name, date of birth- Oh, wait.  She… didn't exactly know the calendar system Equestria used.  Or, for that matter, exactly how old her pony body was meant to be.  She guessed it was the same age as she had assumed herself to be, but… she didn't actually know.  Hm, that's an issue. Well, she'll come back to that, she reasoned.  Moving on, parents. …huh.  That's… also difficult to explain.  She supposed… Not Applicable for both?  Okay, that's annoying. Scanning the rest of the form, she saw several more things she couldn't explain: family medical history, allergies, next of kin… Meteorite's heart grew heavy as she realised trying to submit anything on this form would invite further questions about why she had next to no information on herself. Glancing up, she noted the nurse had resumed her focus on her paperwork, and Meteorite made a decision. It wouldn't be several more hours until the night shift, when the nurse on duty would then stumble across the discarded clipboard sitting in the corner of the lobby.  Mildly confused, she would inquire if anypony had forgotten their form, but nopony would answer. Meteorite sighed to herself as she left the hospital behind her, along with any sense of self-accomplishment.  She hated herself for losing her nerve and walking away, shamefully hanging her head low with her tail between her legs, quite literally.  Feelings of frustration started to bubble up within her. "It's not fair," she growled to herself.  "For the first goddamn time since I've been here, I was actually working towards something!  And now it's all shot to shit, because technically I don't exist!" Slowing her pace, Meteorite reflected on her words as she came to a standstill in the midst of Ponyville.  "Legally," she amended softly.  "Legally I don't exist." Her accidental slip lingering in her mind, Meteorite forcibly shook her head to clear her thoughts, or at the very least, shove those thoughts off to the side.  Taking a breather, she turned in a half-circle, only vaguely taking in her surroundings. "So what do I do now…" she murmured under her breath, pondering any possible course of action.  She supposed she could've just lied on the forms; it wasn't like they would instantaneously know it wasn't true before they could perform a quick checkup. …except, that would be a very obvious hanging plot point to be twisted against her later on, and no doubt used to make things even more complicated for her to explain.  Like hell she was going to leave herself open like that. No… she had to abandon the idea of getting medical help.  At least, for now.  Before that, she would have to somehow do something about essentially being a non-entity in Equestria, with no form of identification to her name.  Well, except for the library card Twilight had given her. Oh lord, that was all she had.  A library card. Her eyes instinctively scanned the rooftops, and spotted the leafy top of the library a few blocks away.  Meteorite frowned to herself, and her focus shifted to beyond the library. "I want to be mad at you," she muttered to herself, and to herself.  "But I'm guessing you just didn't think this far into the game.  I mean, it's not like your first instinct upon dumping yourself into this kinda thing is to pack a birth certificate alongside yourself." Her remark caught the ear of a passing earth pony, who briefly paused to try and spot whatever Meteorite was glaring at before turning her head back to give her an odd look of mild confusion.  Meteorite blushed heavily and quickly trotted onwards, away from the scene of the crime of being caught out talking to herself.  Thankfully she didn't recognise the pony, or her pink and blonde colouring, so she mitigated her embarrassment that way. "Shit," she continued talking to herself, much quieter this time though.  "That was embarrassing; gotta be more careful about that."  Finally taking heed of her own advice, she switched to an internal monologue. Getting too complacent here.  Although… you probably did that on purpose, didn't you? She lifted her head, her line of sight falling upon the distant city of Canterlot, which only left her with a feeling of exasperation. Just like you probably also purposefully put Steel on a bus outta here. Her pace came to a halt once more and —ignoring all the life lessons she grew up with— she sat down in the middle of the street, and stared at the cliffside city with a sigh. Why did he have to go?  We were actually starting to get on for once!  It's not fair that he just upped and left, and nobody even knows why. She hung onto that thought for a while longer than her other ones, mulling over it.  Well, nobody but Steel, I suppose, really. Still thinking it over, her eyes periodically darted across the architecture of Canterlot as an idea slowly formed within her.  Her head turned back to look down thoughtfully at one of her wings. "'It's not fair'," she carefully remarked, the idea now taking hold of her.  A self-satisfied smile slowly curled upon her lips. It… was an awful idea; it vehemently went against her entire protest of avoiding the story since she became aware of her status as a character. …which is exactly why she ought to go through with it.  It'd throw her author completely off-guard and wholly unprepared for what she was considering doing.  Far too long she'd been content with hiding in the background, letting the world wash over her with whatever awfulness it brought with its wake. She stood up and started heading her way back home.  Not this time though.  This time, it was her turn to make some waves. And… maybe get the bus to turn around.