Goddammit... And I thought things couldn't get any worse... I cringed when I spotted a pink mare bouncing towards us from the front gates. Quick, brain! Change the subject before she gets here!
"So, Johnny... what happened last night then?" Rainbow Dash asked, not noticing the bouncing pony that was approaching us. "There had to be a reason for Twilight let you sleep with her just like that..." Dammit Dash, the way you said it just makes it sound worse!
"OK. If you really want to know, I'll tell you. She has grown some fondness of me, or in other words - she likes me." I paused. "As for her letting me... sleep with her... was because we fell asleep there on the spot, and that’s it!" I looked back to her.
"Oooooooooooh!" The two mares perked up their ears. "Juicy!" They giggled like little schoolgirls.
"Hey, I'm talking sleep in its most literal meaning! Stop that!" I said in frustration and tried ignoring the two giggling mares and kept running with Big Mac, but even he had a smirk on his face and … was that a wink? Still didn't change subject, fuck fuck fuck! I could hear Pinkie Pie singing to herself as she got closer and closer. Oh god brain PLEASE do something!
And my brain finally found my ticket out of that situation as I glanced at Applejack. "Putting that aside... Applejack, I need to ask you a few things about the human girl I mentioned."
"Alrighty then..." she stopped laughing and geared down to a snicker. "Ah' guess we teased you enough for now... What do ya wanna ask?" YES! SAFE!
"Well, she's coming to Ponyville to live with us and I was wondering if you'd have space for her to stay in the farm."
"Sure thing, sugercube! Ah'd be glad to have yer friend stay with us in the farm." She smiled.
"I appreciate it, AJ. Tha-"
"OOOH! Watcha talking about JB?" Pinkie Pie cheered right next to me, making me almost lose my pacing a second time.
"Johnny 'ere has friend coming to Ponyville in a couple of days, Pinkie." Applejack spoke.
"OOOH! Somepony new in Ponyville!? Does that mean we get to throw a second party? Yay!" She cheered even louder, jumping a couple feet high in the air. Holy Christ on a Pogo stick she's energetic... "I knew that twitchy tail and itchy tooth meant something..."
"Uh... Pinkie... itchy tooth?" I raised a brow at her. "That's impossible..."
"Yeah… don't try to understand the Pinkie Sense..." Rainbow Dash spoke up, who was oddly silent the entire time.
"You've been awfully quiet lately." I mused.
"Just thinking of jokes, ignore me." She replied in a neutral tone. "And the occasional snooze. If Pinkie could settle down, at least..." She eyed the pink ball of energy in slight annoyance.
"This is a new combo, though..." The cotton candy mare frowned pensively. "It's not the same combo I have when new ponies are going to arrive here... That would be a twitchy tail, an itchy lung and an itchy third left rib." Wait. What?
I blinked and stared at Pinkie for a second, trying to process what she said before speaking again. "Okay... before I lose my head over this 'Pinkie Sense', I'll go ahead and ask if you would be OK with my friend to stay at your place if you wan-" I never finished my sentence since Pinkie Pie surprisingly managed to tackle me out of the wheel without taking Big Mac along with us. I got all my wind taken out and Pinkie Pie was standing on top of me with a smile so big her face looked like it was going to split open.
"YES! OF COURSE I'LL WANT TO SHARE MY ROOM WITH A NEW ROOMMATE!!" She screamed happily into my face, forcing my ears to involuntarily flatten against my head from Pinkie's sudden tantrum. Rainbow Dash sighed in frustration in the background. "I'll teach her to bake cupcakes and muffins and cakes and muffin cakes an- *GASP* Cheesecakes and cheese muffins and cheesecake-flavoured cupcakes and-" she paused. "TWITCHY TWITCH!" She burst out from atop of me.
"Yup, I get it Pinkie." I got up, "It's not up to us where she'll be staying. Amy will choose the place on her own. I just want to make sure you gals have space or not. So what are you up to, Pinkie? The heck was that 'twitchy twitch' you said?" I asked as I hopped back into the wheel with Big Mac. Or at least I tried to...
"NO, JOHNNY WA-" Applejack screamed, but it was already too late. My little stunt at trying to jump from a standstill onto a wheel that was spinning at god knows how fast was a reeeally bad idea. My front legs went past under me and I kissed the wheel with all its spinning glory. Friction got hold of me and sent me spinning along with the walls of the wheel. After a few laps I got flung out of the machine and up in the air in an arc and away from everypony. Next thing I knew I found myself falling towards the ground face first and seeing a light blue figure rushing towards me from the corner of my eye. I was too dozed out from spinning and couldn't align myself with my wings properly, so I did the only thing I could and curled myself into a ball to (or at least try) to minimize the pain.
Good job, Johnny "Crash"...
I woke up on a bed, hearing an annoying beep echoing through my head and some muffled voices. I had a major headache going on and something was strapped to my head and my face hurt like hell. I shifted my head slightly and the voices stopped talking. Slowly opening my eyes I recognized the blurred shape and colours of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and a white pony that wasn't Rarity, considering its mane wasn't purple as hers. I barely had time to begin thinking of the "five W's" when Twilight started bombarding me with them ahead of me. I was too dizzy and my hearing too fuzzy. All I heard was a barrage of muffled words that reverberated inside my head, causing my headache to get even worse.
Fortunately, Applejack and the white pony hushed Twilight, and I noticed they were all staring at me. My vision slowly came back to normal after blinking a couple of times and I saw AJ and Twilight with a worried look on their faces. Rainbow Dash was near the door and she looked like she was scowling herself. The pony next to them turned out to be a nurse, as I had recognized the hat commonly used by them. Some things never change, apparently, like most things around the room. Damn, a hospital. Did I land that hard?
I already knew what had happened, but by impulse I just had to ask. "What happened?" I mumbled. Whatever was strapped to my face was going around my muzzle and made my speech slightly impaired.
"You suffered a concussion and a minor injury on the side of your muzzle." The nurse answered. My hearing was still buzzy, but I was already able to understand them. That explains the thing strapped to my head.
"From what Applejack and Rainbow Dash told me, I can safely compare what you did to jumping off a moving train." Twilight continued. "What the hay were you thinking??" She spoke up even louder, almost lunging at me, and ended up getting shushed by the nurse a second time.
"Do we have to put ya in a bubble or something? A hamster ball?" Applejack said, which made me smile a bit. Even after an accident she managed to cheer me up, although that's something Pinkie would try to do. Speaking of Pinkie...
"Where's Pinkie?" I asked after noticing she wasn't around. The trio fidgeted the ground, their ears pointing down. "What? What happened to her?" I asked worryingly.
"After y’landed on your head..." Applejack spoke up. "When everypony came to rush to help you..."
"I was SO close to getting to you before you crashed!" Rainbow Dash interrupted, "But I wasn't fast enough." She scowled, blaming herself.
"You were out cold, Johnny. Ye weren't budging a single bit." Applejack continued. "Pinkie Pie was tryin' to wake you up with all kinds of her antics and ye didn't answer."
"She looked horrified when she realized you weren't waking up, Johnny..." Dash replied. "She ran home and refused to talk to anypony. I just got back from SugarCube Corner for the fifth time."
"We were expectin' the worst, Johnny. I trust you understand what we mean by this." Applejack said, worried.
"She thinks I'm...." I spoke, but I felt a lump in my throat and stopped mid-sentence. The point was taken across, however, as Applejack had nodded softly. I noticed Twilight wasn't among us anymore. She was staring out the window, her back towards all of us.
"If you didn't flinch and curl into a ball when you landed... it would've happened." Dash said quietly.
"You can't cheat death like that, Johnny..." Twilight spoke up, and everypony turned around to look at her. She was at the brink of tears at that point. "You did it once, twice. I hope you can't expect to have it happen a third time!" She turned around to face me.
"What? You think I did that on purpose?" I said to her, slightly angered by the fact she was implying that. "You think I WANTED this to happen? Just to try to 'cheat' death for the heck of it?" I raised my voice. "Do you honestly think that I'm a freaking suicidal maniac!?"
"Do you remember what I said that night after Pinkie's party!?" She said, trying not to get shushed by the nurse a third time. "That I don't want to see you go through that kind of thing again?" She broke into tears, looking at me straight into my eye. "If you're not thinking about yourself when pulling stunts like that, then please think about the rest of us... about me… I-I’m sorry, need some time alone…" She walked out of the room, leaving us in tense silence.
"...Am I ok to leave now, nurse?" I broke the silence. I felt a pang of guilt for lashing out at Twilight like that, and I wanted to get up and have a peaceful talk with her before things got worse.
"Sorry, Mr. Crown, but because of your concussion it's a hospital regulation that you to stay under surveillance for one night - in case something happens." Well, shit. I ain't going anywhere...
"I'll go and try to calm her down... don't worry about it, Johnny." Rainbow Dash spoke up and left the room.
"Thanks, Dash..." I replied quietly.
"I'd stay to give ya some company for a bit, Johnny." Applejack said. "But I gotta get back to the farm an' help Granny with dinner."
"Wait... how long have I been out? What time is it?" I asked after looking at the window and seeing the night sky.
"It's a quarter to nine." The nurse replied.
"Holy shiii-znit." I paused. The nurse glanced at me for a split-second. "There goes my sleep pattern..."
"Do ya want me to stick around for a bit longer when ah’ get back?" She asked me, and looked at the nurse. "If that's ok, Nurse Redheart."
"Of course, Miss Applejack." She smiled. "I'll tell the rest of the staff to let you stay past visiting hours."
"Uh..." I interrupted, slightly confused, "She's just free to get back here any time she wants? No red tapes or anything?"
"I'm not exactly sure what you mean by red tape... but yes. She is allowed to stay past visiting hours if given permission." Nurse Redheart replied. "You staying here for the night is just for your own safety. We strict visiting hours to prevent unwanted noise during the night from causing more sickly patients to wake up. I allowed Miss Applejack because I know she won't be causing any trouble at night."
"Aw shucks, Nurse..." Applejack smiled humbly, "It's nuthin', really."
"Also because I can tell you're going to feel really bored without any company tonight." The nurse looked at me warmly. I shivered under the sheets, surprised.
"How did you know that?" I asked.
"I saw the look in your eyes when Miss Sparkle left the room, Johnny." She smiled.
"Yer not really good at hidin' feelings, JB." Applejack chuckled.
"And you're not exactly subtle either, AJ..." I remarked, rubbing my neck with a hoof.
"Touche..." She replied in a very bad french accent. Goddamn, first there's English-talking ponies, then there's Eastern-European accents, and now a hint of french somewhere around this world... What the hell happened to Earth? “Anyways… see ya soon, Johnny. Try not to fall off your bed or sumthin’.” Applejack waved at me and disappeared behind the door. I quietly rested my head back onto my pillow and started processing what had happened that morning.