I woke up once again. confused as to where I was, I remembered the previous events, such as meeting Spike and Fluttershy. she seemed nice enough, although I do wish I could see. I at least want to know what my saviors look like. I sighed and muttered to myself.
“As if that's going to happen...” I guess I was a bit too loud, Fluttershy was twisting around. I guess I woke her up.
“G’day, sleepy.” I chuckled to the pegasus who had her wing draped over me like a blanket. I examined my surroundings through my limited senses. the air was still warm, so it wasn't night, but this is going to be a problem. I need to be with someone at all times, or I won't survive in this world. let alone tell time.
Moving Fluttershy's wing off me and just placing it on the ground and moving aside. I sat up against a tree, after crawling around and bumping into one. I could hear a cart in the distance, and quite a few feet or hooves to go along with it.
“Fluttershy, is Spike back?” I asked my friend. or at least I hoped she thought of me as a friend and not some helpless animal. soon I got a quiet “Mhmm” and a few steps later, Fluttershy was back next to me, lying on the ground to my left her wing outstretched on my lap, and I again began to play with it, feeling the muscle, the bones, and running my hands through her feathers. she must like that feeling. I hope it isn't a stimulating spot for her... I shuddered at the thought. I didn't want to explain some things. As the cart arrived, I could hear a few voices in the distance, one of them being Spike.
“Remember, he’s blind. He’ll look in your direction, but he might freak out at either of you. He freaked out TWICE at Fluttershy. Once for being a pony, another for being a pegasus.” Spike seemed to narrate my last fully conscious memories to a few strangers. Hope they're friendly enough.
The cart stopped nearby, and something was either attached or detached. Spike walked up near me and I looked in his direction, eyes closed and smiling, I gave a small wave directly in front of me to show that I was indeed conscious and not sleeping.
“Well, that's a pleasant change” he stated “I didn't have to wake you up.” he chuckled and I grinned even more.
“Howdy stranger,” A female voice that was different than Fluttershy’s. The voice spoke up, somewhere in front of me. “Ah’m Applejack. Spike here told me that y’all needed sompony’s help getting outta here. Now how’re we going t’ do this thing?” the one called Applejack stated bluntly.
“Why hello miss Applejack, how are you this fine day?” I countered I held out my hand in an attempt to start off a positive relationship with her. She took my hand and awkwardly shook it up and down a few times. Just through shaking her hoof I could tell that Applejack was indeed a pony. What type, -as Fluttershy and Spike had implied earlier, by saying PEGASUS pony, instead of just pony- I still did not know.
“Well, ah’m just fine and dandy, mister.” Applejack responded with a cheery demeanor. “Now my question is that, well, how’re you gonna get into my cart here with that banged up leg o’ yours?” She raised a valid point. An idea came to my head.
“Miss Applejack I don't know how far away you are, but I’d give myself a few lengths of distance, I don't want to hurt anyone by mistake.” I calmly replied to my new companion.
I poked Fluttershy to full consciousness, she stilled ,and retracted her wing. I asked her to move away for a moment, and after waiting a second for her to move away I turned to my left, putting both hands on the ground. Twisting my back, I braced my good foot against the ground and supported my upper body against the tree. After a few moments and awkward shuffles gradually working my way upright, still using this tree as a support. A whistle came from the direction of Applejack before she started speaking again.
“That's a mighty neat trick you got yerself pardner. I don’t think I’d be able t’ do something like that while blind.” Applejack complimented. I just nodded my head. "Spike here told me how y'all struggled to git t' this here tree from a small bit away. I gots a better idea.” The new pony simply stated before moving behind me. ducking under my legs, something moderately stiff, like a piece of tough fabric, gave to the pressure on my person, but my knees gave into Applejack's wish and I sat heavily upon the little pony.
‘Dang, she must be strong! I mean, I just landed on a little pony with all my weight.’ was all I could think before she started walking away, with me on her back. Fluttershy stayed in step with us to our left. After a few seconds, Applejack slowed down to a halt, and as I moved to get off her back, I felt that there were no bones on her back that gave the placement of wings. After dismounting, hopping slightly to regain my balance, I asked Applejack a question.
“Hey, Applejack? what type of pony are you? I know you’re not a pegasus, you’ve got no wings." I questioned her.
“Ahm an Earth pony. We’ve got no wings, but we sure do have some incredible stamina and strength! Not to mention, most of us have a 'green hoof'.” The mare next to me retorted, seemingly offended (or annoyed) for some reason. "Now lets git y'all onto this cart." she pounded on something made of wood. Fluttershy nudged me forward, and led me to to my right. I searched around for a bit and found the wood almost right beside me. I asked them if it was the cart. another voice popped up, and gave a deep, baritone of a voice in reply a small distance away. if this was the back of the cart, the voice came from the front. meaning I was directly behind it. I froze in fear.
"What was that?" Was all I could muster out before getting a nudge from Applejack. Even without speaking, I could tell the difference between the two mares. Fluttershy just barely grazed me while Applejack almost knocked me over.
"That's mah older brother, Big Macintosh. Nicest stallion you'll ever meet. Don't expect too many words from him though. He's wha' some call a stallion of few words."
"Thanks Applejack." I must have visibly relaxed, because I received a few softer pats from Applejack. After asking how far up the platform was, the answer I received was encouraging. the cart's hatch was somewhere around 4 feet off the ground. turning so my back was facing the cart, I boosted myself onto the cart so I was sitting on the ledge and my feet were dangling freely below me.
Scooting backward, toward the front of the cart, I soon hit the wood bracer. A thump directed in front of me caught my attention, and Fluttershy, along with Spike were in the cart. Or at least, that's what I was told. Fluttershy's body soon was next to me and Spike was contently lying on my lap, after asking permission. Once he lied down, I had to ask him. This was starting to bug me.
"Spike? what're you? You never told me earlier." The not-kid contemplated my question, probably trying to put into words I could understand.
"Are you afraid of lizards?" He asked. I shook my head. "Good. I'm a dragon." The dragon said coolly. I thought about it. I wanted a small amount of proof. He told me to run my hand along his back. I almost did as I was told, but right as I was about to do that, I decided against it. I had to learn to trust these creatures. Dragon OR pony. Applejack's voice came from the right, and below me. She must be outside the cart.
"Sorry 'bout this y'all, but I got to get ready for cider season." my head perked up when hearing 'cider'. Applejack gave a chuckle. "You n' Dash are going to get along juuuuust fine, mister." Applejack chuckled a bit more before trotting away, probably to an apple orchard. What other ciders are there?
"Where to?" Mac queried from behind me. Fluttershy spoke.
"Um. to Ponyville infirmary- if you don't mind." Was all that was said, before a small lurch and an "Eeyup" from Mac.
The cart ride was slightly bumpy, but it sure beat walking. Or in my case, limping. Soon the background noise of hooves and voices increased, and then a scream. The pegasus next to me sighed, and Fluttershy asked to be let down, and when Mac stopped, Fluttershy and Spike hopped off the cart and started his trek through what I thought was this 'Ponyville'.
"We're here." Was all Mac said before a jingling of chains was all I could hear. Soon a set oh heavy hooves walked around the cart and I started to dismount. When I was sitting on the edge, mac stepped forward and stopped me with his head, and spoke.
"You can't walk. Let me carry y'." I was happy to oblige. As I got off the cart, my foot hit Mac's back and I soon adjusted myself onto his back. he was quite a bit taller than Applejack, though by how much, I didn't know. being slightly disoriented, I leaned forward and grabbed Mac around the base of his neck. Similarly to how a person would hold onto a horse riding bareback.
Not at all phased at my actions, Mac walked away. A few moments later I heard a bell jingle, then a soft voice.
"Mr. Macintosh! What are you doing! The flower sisters say there's a monster ou-" The voice cut off. Seeing as the only strange thing these ponies knew next to nothing about was me, the 'monster' was probable also me. Mac cleared his throat.
"Nnope. Miss Redheart, he couldn't hurt a fly, let alone hit it even if he wanted t'." He chuckled at his own joke
"Why would that be Mr. Macintosh?" she warily replied. I could hear the uncertanty in her voice, as opposed to the fear from a moment ago
"He's blind. This one also hurt himself." I gave him my thanks. A few slow hoofsteps closer to me, and someone, I assumed Nurse Redheart, walked up to our left. I looked in her general direction with the sightless orbs in my head. for a few moments, nothing was said.
"Well then," Nurse Redheart finally broke the silence. "take him into room 3. I'll be with him shortly." Mac took a turn to the left, and then another left. Stopping and allowing me to dismount, Mac guided me to bed and helped me into it, which thankfully, was not too small for me to lie in. It also had a few pillows, and a nice sheet.The room itself was eerily quiet, and it smelled like disinfectant. I felt trapped, but I knew this was for my own good, and that I could put up with a day of it.
"Nurse Redheart is the kindest pony in Ponyville, aside from Fluttershy. She'll take good care o' you. I’ll see ya around then." Mac had just spoken the longest phrases i think anypony's heard him speak, on my behalf, before he left the room. A few minutes passed in agonizing silence before someone else entered my room as i turned to face them.
"Now, can you understand me?" the entrant asked. It was Redheart or, at least i thought it was.. I decided to not be a smartass.
"Yes. Are you Nurse Redheart?" was all that I said. Scratching, like that of a pencil on a piece of paper, ensued. Redheart confirmed her identity, then a torrent of questions followed. Thankfully they were all medically related. The last question she asked was if she had permission to touch my person, and injured ankle. I gave it to her. A few minutes of prodding and poking, along with lots of scribbling commenced.
After round 1 of 'poke n' prod' she started asking more questions about my general health. Eventually my stomach growled. All I could do was weakly chuckle.
"Sorry ' bout that." Nurse Redheart asked me to open my mouth and I complied. After a few moments, she explained that if I was a carnivore she couldn't feed me. After seeing my molars though, she explained, she thought that I was an omnivore. I nodded in agreement.
"So, what does your species eat in plant matter?" I answered that I didn't know what ponies ate, but her answer to my question to what ponies ate was highly encouraging.
"Do you have any apples?" I asked hopefully. Redheart thankfully said that she had a few apples left. Somewhere.
Redheart excused herself to grab a couple apples. Once again, the silence regained it's grip on the room. I got bored, and started to quietly sing a tune. One that came to mind, of a girl who was far away from home, and she didn't know anyone nearby.
Through the years and far away
Far beyond the milky way
See the shine that never blinks
The shine that never fades
Thousand years and far away
Far beyond the silky way
You're the shine that never blinks
The shine that never dies.
A strange noise filled my ears. if I had to compare it, it would be to two coconut halves being roughly slapped together. The rhythm of them was akin to clapping though. a moment later, a few ponies walked into the room.
"Well, mister, y'all din' tell us you had a set of pipes on you." Applejack's familiar voice spread throughout the room.
"That was lovely." Fluttershy's soft voice continued the compliment.
"Who're you?" A new voice permeated the room. The voice scoffed. "You don't look dangerous. Even if you DID have your eyesight." I laughed at this new voice and it's judgement of me.
"How are you miss? What are you called?" I asked the newcomer, interested in her reaction to my lack of aggression.
"I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria, and only pony to have pulled off a sonic rainboom!" The pony boasted.
"Rainbow Dash. huh. are you a pegasus, perchance?" I asked her
"Yeah, how'd you know that? are you REALLY blind? Or are you a spy?" I couldn't tell exactly where she was, but I could tell she didn't exactly trust me.
"YOU told me you were 'the fastest FLYER in... where, again?" I thought I was hearing things. Dash repeated herself.
"Equestria. And I guess that makes sense.” Dash stated, as if I was dumb or something
‘of course, in a land where the most numerous species is the pony, their land’s name is 'Equestria' I thought to myself
“I’m warning you, I've got my eye on you." Dash paused. "well that's what I would normally say, but seeing as you can't even see yourself, I won't need to do that. My friends probably have you covered there." I just chuckled at her joke.
"Ummm, sir? what was that song? I've never heard of it before. what's it called?" Redheart asked moving inside the room after Dash's little interrogation.
Eventually my room was filled with ponies. Rainbow Dash was to my left, Redheart was at my right, scratching away about something, and Applejack was at the foot of my bed, and upon entering the room, I could tell she had brought something in a bag. she passed it to redheart, who passed it to me.
Feeling a paper bag, I reached inside and found some sort of non perfect orbs. I took one out and sniffed it. nothing. I held the orb and pointed to it. I was told that I was holding an apple. My jaw dropped. My next question was about the different breeds and varieties of apples in the bag. I was told that there were Braeburn, Golden Delicious, Obelisk, Akane, and a few Hauer Pippin. The Pippins were the best. I saved a few apples for tomorrow morning, I knew I was going to need them.
After devouring the apples and placing the cores back into the bag, I addressed Redheart’s pervious question. “well, Nurse Redheart, that was a song from where i’m from. its called ‘Through the Years and Far Away’. Unfortunately, I cannot remember who wrote it.”
Before I could get another word out, Fluttershy, who’d been hiding somewhere, landed on my couch and snuggled up next to me, and extended her wings. this time, curiously, it was her right wing, not her left.
“Fluttershy?” I got a muffled response, “Why do you insist on having me goof around with your wings?” Suddenly she folded her wing and nudged me with what I think was her head.
“Do you not want to play with my wings?- Sorry, but I thought-” I didn't want her getting all sad and such (my previous job tried to prevent that), so I stopped her.
“No, Fluttershy, thats not it. Just, is there another reason, other than helping me not get freaked out?” For a moment there was no sound, but soon, I felt her face, still against my body, heat up. She was blushing. I think.
“Well, you’re a lot better than I am at preening, and when you play with my wings, I can tell which have feeling in them and which don’t a lot better when you play with them for some reason.” I thought that there was more to it, but I let the topic drop. I told Fluttershy to lie back down, she complied, and I once again took her wing, and this time went through each feather and player with each. A clock rang somewhere and Nurse Redheart, who’d been scratching all the while,cane back to her senses and got our attentions with a few claps of her hooves.
“Alright everypony, this stallion-" Redheart started “man” I interrupted.”I am a man. Mare is to woman, Stallion is to man.” Redhart caught on, and adjusted her phrase.
“This MAN need his sleep. Everypony can see him tomorrow morning.” She corrected, putting emphasis on man, for my sake.
As Dash, and Applejack said their goodbyes and left, Fluttershy made no move to get up and leave, so I continued to play around with the same section of wing. Redheart cleared her throat, and probably motioned for Fluttershy to leave.
“Nurse, is it alright if Fluttershy stays for the night? And can I get some aspirin or something?” Nurse Redheart was silent, then spoke.
“If I hear anything from down the hall in my office, you’re leaving, got it, missy?” Fluttershy cringed slightly and spoke again to me.
“Sorry, I don't know what aspirin is, but if your hoof looks better tomorrow, I’ll let you go into her custody.” I nodded and thanked the nurse. she then proceeded to walk out of my room down the hall.
Soon, a bit later after some more preening, Fluttershy folded her wing and told me to get some sleep, she said I had a busy day tomorrow. I agreed to go to sleep on one condition, which was I sing a song. I felt a nudge to proceed and I began to hum, for this song had no lyrics. I Hummed Zelda’s Lullaby. Soon my fine feathered friend dozed off. I decided to follow suit, my hands still on her wing.