Things had definitely taken a turn for the worse. Though, given how things had been going for us lately, I really shouldn’t have been so surprised.
Fiddlesticks told Vinyl and I where the next nearest town was, about 20 miles to the north. The trees in the forest kept the stars mostly hidden, though a few kept on shining through the canopy. Vinyl did her best to navigate us north by using the moon as a reference point.
After a few minutes of walking Fiddlesticks’ limp was becoming more and more obvious, and her pace became much slower. Every few minutes she stopped us to rub her injured leg.
At one such stop, after a short discussion with Vinyl, we got irritated and tried to pick her up.
“Ain’t no buckin’ way I’m lettin’ you carry me!” she Shouted and flailed, falling back on the ground.
“Fiddlesticks, be reasonable!” I insisted.
“I am being reasonable.” She replied “You just picked me up out of nowhere. I’m walking, period!”
“Fiddlesticks, we need to make it to town quickly. We don’t even know how bad your wound is, for all we know you could be bleeding to death” Vinyl said.
“I don’t care” said Fiddlesticks
“Fiddlesticks, which is it better to lose, your life or your pride?” I asked.
She looked at her leg, let out a sigh, then glared at me a few moments before finally muttering “Fine”
And she climbed onto our backs
“I hope you know I ain’t happy ‘bout this.” She added, wobbling ever so slightly on our backs, trying to get comfortable.
“If it’ll make you happy, we’ll mention that every time we tell this story.” smirked Vinyl.
We started jogging; we couldn’t all out run without accidentally knocking Fiddlesticks off of our backs. Maneuvering through the trunks became much more difficult, but it still was much faster than letting her walk.
Every now and then we would hear noises that came from beyond our field of vision such as a twig snapping or leaves rustling. I dearly hoped it wasn’t that sheriff...or wolves, I would take the sheriff over wolves any day.
A light was beginning to break over the horizon; we were running out of time. We won't make it in time! I thought to myself.
I saw a few lights in the distance, and what looked like buildings. My first thought was to look for shelter, but I didn’t want to risk it, we needed to find someone who could treat Fiddlestick’s leg.
Vinyl and I slowed our pace to a walk as we entered the town, we didn’t want to make any more humans aware of us than we needed to. The town definitely was bigger than Cold Grove, but it wasn’t large enough to be called a city. We examined signs as we passed. Eventually finding what we were looking for. The sign read “Pet Emergency Clinic”. Lights were coming from the window so it was safe to assume it was open.
Vinyl opened the door using her magic. It wasn’t wide enough to fit us if all if we went in at the same time, so I was relegated to carrying Fiddlesticks myself while Vinyl followed.
A bell rang as we entered; the bespectacled woman behind the reception desk looked like she had been struck dumb.
“M-May, I...help you?” she stammered.
“Yes, can you treat ponies?” asked Vinyl
“...Yes, because of the local farms, all our vets are licensed to treat equines.” She answered after a moment, her expression still stuck on surprise.
“Then treat my sister!” I commanded.
The receptionist looked at me and then at Fiddlesticks on my back. Then at her injured leg.
“Oh my god! What happened to her?” she asked.
“She got shot running from a crazed sheriff! Treat her, treat her now!” I shouted.
By that point, exhaustion, adrenaline and worry had nearly driven me into hysterics.
Vinyl put a hoof in my mouth.
“Tavi, I think I should do the talking right now, okay?” she asked.
“Mm-hmm.” I nodded; tears were starting to form in my eyes. I looked hopefully to my back where sticks now lie.
“Excuse my friend please. She’s been going through some things, and some stuff…” said Vinyl
“Now, can you fix up my friend and give us a place to stay for the day?” asked Vinyl.
“I’ll see what we can do.” said the receptionist. “In the mean time I’ll take your friend to a room.”
She took Fiddlesticks off my back. Due to our diminutive stature, she was able to take her to the room single handedly.
“Wow, you ponies are light.” She said as she walked through the double doors.
Vinyl and I sat down on the seats in the waiting room.
“Octavia, Fiddlesticks is going to be fine. You need to calm down.” She insisted. “You’re acting like you’re three seconds from having an episode.”
“I’m not sure how I can’t Vinyl. Everything’s been going wrong, our supplies are gone, one of us got shot and worst of all I lost my Bass.” I sobbed.
Vinyl smiled and put a hoof on my shoulder “I guess you could say that we…dropped… the bass! Hahaha-no . We survived, Fiddlesticks is going to be fine and we can get our supplies back while we’re here in town. We can still make this work, I promise.”
I sniffed. Roughly an hour passed before the receptionist came back and said “Good news, your friend is going to be fine. We have some spare rooms you two can stay in, at least for today, I’m sorry though, but those rooms are actually stables. We’re not exactly used to having Intellegent animals around."
All at once my worries were gone, albeit hesitance remained. My sister was alright. I Reared up on my hind legs and wrapped my front hooves around the receptionist, knocking her glasses askew.
“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.” I cheered.
“umm… anytime?” she replied casting a questioning look to Vinyl.
“Just let her have this one, she needs it.” Said Vinyl, grinning.
I let go, eventually.
“Now then, let me lead you to your ‘room’.” Said the very nice lady after readjusting her glasses.
She led us down the hallway, were we ended up in a barn-esque room, complete with two rows of stables, one on either side. There were animals in them too, from horses to ponies. None like us though. I’ve always had an issue with hospitals, but the atmosphere around me made me feel so comfortable. She opened one of the gates and let vinyl and myself in, then shut it behind us. Fiddle lay on the ground, still passed out from the drugs she was given to be able to have the slug removed. Her leg was bandaged, and she looked oddly…peaceful. I lied down beside her and Vinyl just slouched against the wall. The last thing I heard before falling asleep was the sound of her trying to get the horse on the other side to let go of her tail.