Chapter 4
Inkwell awoke slowly and became aware of a faint beeping sound to his left. He also noticed the white walls and bed that wasn't his own (well Rarity's at least). He blinked his bleary eyes a few times in confusion. Why am I in a hospital? Then, the events of the past day came rushing back to him, the apple farm, the gash on his head, fainting in the middle of Ponyville Marketplace. He reached up a hoof and touched the now healing wound. The shift caused a violet mare sitting down on a couch in the room to finally take notice of him being awake.
"Inkwell! You're awake, how do you feel?"
"Fine, what happened?"
"When you showed up at Applejack's cart a couple days ago, you had a large cut on your head. You fainted after mumbling something about Rarity, and me and AJ had to carry you over here. You lost a lot of blood and had to be put in the ER as soon as you got here."
"Wow, it was that bad huh? How am I doin' now?"
"You should be just fine Mr. Inkwell." The doctor walked in as he said this, and hung up his clipboard.
"Well that's good... hey, why didn't I feel this when I first got it?"
"Because you severed the nerve endings in that area. It isn't uncommon for a wound like that. But rest assured, you will heal in full."
"I severed the nerve... are you SURE I'm going to be fine?"
"Yes, I've seen many injuries where this has happened so I know exactly how it turns out. Now get a few more hours rest, you should be ready to check out of the hospital by this afternoon."
Inkwell was still a little skeptical, but decided to trust the doctor's medical expertise. He looked over to Twilight to see that she also looked very relieved. When she noticed that he was looking at her however, she gave a slight blush and hurriedly looked away. This caused Inkwell to become a little confused. She doesn't... LIKE me does she? He decided to dismiss the thought for now and ask her a question that had been bugging him since yester- wait, did she say A FEW DAYS AGO?
"Hey um Twilight, how long have I been in the hospital exactly?"
"Two days, like I said, you lost a lot of blood."
"Oh, well then, I guess that means I missed Pinkie Pie's party."
"DID SOMEPONY SAY PARTY?!" Just then, the pink mare in question jumped through the door. Inkwell was mildly scared, and Twilight just facehoofed.
"Um, me?"
"OH! You're that new pony in town... Inkwell. You bumped your head and couldn't come to your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, so I had to cancel it, but now you're awake so the party is back on!"
"Um, okay, I guess I'll be there..."
"Okie dokie lokie, the party will be tomorrow, I need to go get it ready and send out the invitations!" As quickly as she had appeared, Pinkie Pie was gone and doing Celestia knows what.
"Is she always like this?"
"Yep, but you get used to it."
"If you say so. Oh and Twilight, did you ever get an answer back from the princess?"
"An answer to wha- OH! Yes, she said I could hire you and..." She trailed off, not exactly quite sure how to put this next part.
"And what? I'm not in trouble or something am I?"
"Oh no, she just wants to... well, she wants to meet you. In person."
"SHE WHAT!?!?!? The immortal goddess of the SUN wants to meet ME!?"
"Hehe, yes. She said to come when it was most convenient for you."
"When it's convenient for me, well that just takes away ALL the pressure. Ugh... fine I'll meet her, give me about a week to prepare myself. More mentally than anything else, but I still don't want to look like I just crawled out of the sewer."
"Okay, I'll send a letter to the princess telling her to expect you in roughly a week's time. Now, rest up like the doctor said. The library opens at eight-o-clock A.M. and you start tomorrow. See you then." She left without giving him a chance to respond. He sighed and went back to sleep. At least he had a job and was earning money now, he could start paying Rarity some rent on the room he was staying in. He fell asleep and entered a dream about a pink mare forcing him to eat cupcakes while he was strapped to a table in somepony's basement.
______
Inkwell was woken up by the doctor, the light outside told him that it was probably somewhere around five in the afternoon.
"Mr. Inkwell, it's time for you to leave. You have made a full recovery and are no longer in need of our care." As the doctor was saying this, he began to pull out all the monitors and needles that covered Inkwell's body. Inkwell slowly climbed out the bed and took off his hospital gown. He handed the gown to the doctor and walked to the front desk.
"How much is my bill?" The receptionist who he was speaking to looked at him and smiled.
"Twilight already took care of the bill deary, now you just run on home."
Inkwell was stunned, Twilight piked up the bill? He could hardly fathom how nice these mares were being. He immediately went to the library as fast as he could to thank Twilight properly for everything she had done so far. He slowed his pace a little when the library came into view. He reached the door after a few moments a knocked. He heard the lavender mare he had come to speak to call to her assistant.
"SPIKE! GET THE DOOR I'M BUSY!"
"OKAY!" A few moments later the purple and green dragon opened the door. "Hey Inkwell, waddya' need?"
"To talk to Twilight actually. Could you go get her please?"
"Sure thing! TWI! IT'S INKWELL!" After he said that a purple blur shot down the stairs and came right up in front of Inkwell's face.
"Hi Inkwell!"
"Hey Twilight, I just wanted to stop by and say thanks for paying for my hospital bill."
"Oh your welcome, you din't have any money so I just took care of it. Besides, consider it a work-perk."
"Oh, well then thanks again. It's always nice to have medical covered in your employee benefits."
"Yea it is, hey you wanna' stick around and help me with my research? Spike will have his hands full down here and Owlouicious doesn't like me practicing on him."
"Sure I'll help you with your reaser- did you say practice ON him?"
"Yes, um you see I'm in the middle of studying alteration spells and I need a live practice target. Nothing too dangerous, but it is why medical is covered in your employee benefits." She gave him a sheepish smile as if none of this was of any concern.
"Fine I'll help, but nothing that can get me killed or seriously maimed okay?" He followed her upstairs to her study which had been cleared away for magical practice. She motioned for him to stand in the middle of the room and she took the outer edge. She held up a book to her face with her magic and read over whatever spell she was about to preform on him. She gave a small nod as she put the book aside and her horn began to glow.
"Okay, here goes nothin'!"
Author's Note: For starters, thank you to everyone who has tracked and/or liked my petty excuse for a story. I really didn't think I would do this well. Also I openly welcome constructive criticism and would like you to point out my stupid mistakes and what not. I don't have an editor or proofreader but I have somebody who is willing to help so hopefully I can straighten that out soon. And lastly, are my cliffhangers cruel or what?
P.S. As for the dream part, I saw an opportunity to put in something random and goofy just for the hack of it and decided to reference that fic. Don't hate me too much.