//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Nurse and The Medic // by ponylover //------------------------------// I woke up to find a small lavender pony with a purple mane and tail that had a single hot pink streak through each of them, and with a small purple lizard, with a green underbelly and green spikes, on her back, watching me intently, and she had a horn, A HORN! I made my consciousness known with a small cough, causing her to jump, knocking the poor lizard off onto the floor. "Hhhh, hi. Glad you're awake." She said, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this," she gestured to the lizard, "Is my number one assistant, Spike. He's a dragon, in case you were wondering. Anyway, I'm sorry if I disturbed you, I was just very curious to find out more about you, so I kinda snuck in while you were asleep so I could take notes. A-heh." She let out a forced chuckle. "Oh...well nice to meet the two of you. By the way twilight your the one that brought me here aren't you?" I asked with a small smile. I was learning to like this kind of world. She smiled. "So you met Nurse Redheart then?" Her smile dropped and was replaced by a small frown. "I'm sorry about bringing you here. I was just trying to help Redheart because she was lonely." Spike spoke up "Yeah, and cause you owed her after she didn't say anything when y-" A closed zipper appeared on Spike's face, giving a whole new meaning to 'Keeping your lips zipped.' I noticed that both the zipper and Twilight's horn were glowing the exact same colour, and I decided to ask about it. "Um....ok how in the world is that even possible?" I asked, confused. "And why are you upset about bringing me here?" "To answer your first question, magic. I'm assuming it doesn't exist in your world." She said with a raised eyebrow, "And to answer your second question, it's because I took you from your home. And I don't have any way to send you back." She finished with a sad face. "Hey....you don't need to be all sad and upset twilight. In fact if it wasn't for you I would've died in my apartment from blood loss and the injuries I had." I said in a comforting smile. I was hoping this would help her. "Wait, what? You mean it wasn't my spell that caused your injuries?" She asked in surprise. "No....it was from being attacked by a group of kids. They came into my home and ended up beating me to an inch of my life. So like I said before I thank you for saving my life." She looked more horrified than relieved by my explanation "But why? Who would children do such a thing?" She asked in a shaky voice. I put my hand on her shoulder knowing she was closed to tears. "In my world it is completely different from yours I bet. In my world in the apartment I lived in it was on a pretty bad street. In fact there would be all sorts of things happen. But now I'm here and in this world I see nothing but peace and harmony. So no need to get sad Twilight." She looked up at me with a few tears leaking out of her eyes. She wiped them away with a hoof and smiled weakly. "Ok Jerry. Thank you. And by the way, Princess Celestia will be coming to make sure you're not a threat. She's the co-ruler of Equestria, along with her younger sister, Princess Luna. Just don't do anything crazy and you should be cleared to live with Redheart." She said. Unfortunately, it was that exact moment that her spell on Spike stopped working, and the zipper on his mouth disappeared. He celebrated by singing, "Jerry and Redheart, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Twilight in a baby car-AGH!" His finale was interrupted by Twilight stomping on his tail, her cheeks flushing. ".......huh he's just like my little brother. Oh and spike.....just be glad i'm in this bed right now or I would show you what I do with my brother when he acts like that." I said. "Ugh, no thanks, I get enough soap in my mouth as is." He huffed, recieving a cuff on the head from Twilight. "Sorry about him Jerry. Anyway, I'd better get going, the Princess will be here soon. But when she's done, I'd love to hear more about your world." She called as she left the room. I chuckled. "Yeah...yeah I'm sure you will and how did he know I was gonna do that?" I asked aloud to myself and who was this celestia character? "You know, you shouldn't think so loud. You never know who could be listening." A voice called from the window. I turned around to see who was there.It was another pony, but this one was different. For starters, she was as big as a full-grown horse, she had a horn, and wings, and her mane and tail were pastel-coloured and flowed in a non-existent wind, sparkling the whole time. "And you are..." "I am Princess Celestia. I am sure Twilight told you I would be coming, Mr...." "Jerry. Just call me Jerry and it's an honor to meet you." I said with a smile. "Thank you. And just call me Celestia," she leaned in close to whisper, "I hate formalities to be honest, but I have to go through them, unfortunately. Anyway, on to the matter at hand." "Ok celestia. So what kind of questions do you have for me?" I asked. "First, what did you do for a living?" She asked me. "Well......I was a medic which is basicly a doctor but....on a battlefield of war." I said. I was really hoping she wouldn't get all freaked out and think I was hostile. "I see. So your world still has war. I was hoping that would not be the case." She replied with a small frown. "Wait...you know about my world?!" I asked surprised. "Our worlds have been connected for a long time, Jerry. My sister and I saw some of the events of your world. I know about the World Wars, as well as other events. I have not glimpsed into your world for the past 20 years, so my information probably isn't up to date." "Oh....well at least I don't have to go into a lot of detail then about my world huh?" "No, you don't. Though I would like to know about your past, unless you feel uncomfortable talking about it, in which case I can use a memory spell to allow me to see your past without forcing you to relive it. It took me a long time, at least 3 centuries, to perfect this particular spell." She said with a smile. "Well....I don't know if you would want to know what I did and had to do...but since you probably have seen war....you have an idea what I had to do." I said lowering my head. "I have seen war before, Jerry. Though this world is peaceful now, it was not always so. Before the three pony races lived together in harmony, there was much fighting between them, and even before that, ponies were fighting with other creatures, Dragons, Griffons, even Minotaurs. When my sister and I came to power, Discord came not long after, and he threw our world into chaos. Though he never hurt anypony, he made their lives miserable, and the worst part was that he used to be our friend. We were forced to seal him in stone, using mystical objects known as the Elements of Harmony." I noticed the look on her face when she started talking about Discord. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. Again like I did with all the other ponies I have seen I placed my hand on her shoulder. "Hey celestia.... what happened in the past happened in the past. You can't look back at it and think what you could've done. I mean I had to do things.....that involved hurting a close friend of mine. So I know what you felt then and now." I said hoping these words would help her. "It's more than that. I...I loved him. I still love him." She said, burying her face into my shoulder. Seriously, what is it with ponies and crying into my shoulders? "Celestia," I said, wrapping an arm around her while rubbing her back with the other as soothingly as I could, "Do you believe he could change, that he could go back to being your friend? To being the same person you loved?" "I, I don't know. I want to believe it, but the last time he escaped, he went right back to doing what he did before. I want to believe he can change and be who I used to see him as, but I'm afraid that if I let him go, that he may try to cause chaos again." She said, still crying, though not as heavily as she had been. I just let out a sigh as I continued to try and comfort her. "But I think you know in your heart that he can't and won't change from what he was and still is celestia." I said hoping it would help. "Maybe he can, maybe he can't, but if he's never given a chance, what kind of friend would I be to him. What would you do, if you were told that someone you cared about more than anything was a horrible person and that you couldn't change them. Would you just accept it and abandon them? Or would you be willing to fight to prove them wrong?" She asked me. "Well.....remember that friend I told you about? Well he was like discord...only worst. One day he just lost it and while in a village and I was helping out some kids....he used his gun and fired. I don't know how many of the poor kids were hurt but I managed to save a few. Anyways I yelled for him to stop but he just kept firing. I had to make a choice. Either him or the kids......I had no choice but to fire at him. He fell without a sound, his gun hitting the dirt beside him. So, by stopping him I managed to save hundreds. Celestia...... I know what you’re going through. I asked myself the same questions." I said feeling a little bit of pain. That guy had been my best friend since I was in first grade. "So, you think I should leave him to his fate?" She asked me, a few stray tears still on her face. "As much as I believe it's all I can do, I still want to save him. I want to bring back my friend." “I know, but sometimes doing the right thing for your people means you have to turn your back on those you once thought were your friends. Sometimes, they just can’t be saved.” Seeing the tears flowing harder from her face, I quickly added, “But, that doesn’t mean they can never be saved. For all we know, I could be wrong, and he may be able to change for the better.” She looked up and wiped a tear from her eye, before burying her head in my shoulder. Again. “Thank you Jerry. And if he does come back, as the friend I once knew, maybe you could meet him someday.” I smiled at her. "I would really like that...and you are completely welcome Celestia." She removed herself from the embrace and headed for the door, but she turned back to me before she left. "Jerry, I do hope you can make her happy." She said with a wink, and then she was gone. I chuckled to myself...