//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: A Blind Eye // by Doctah WAAwee //------------------------------// "Sweet creation..." Said Celestia and Luna simultaneously. the game When the two royal sisters made it to ponyvillie via flight. They mentally and physically prepared for the fight of the century. The only fight that would have topped this one would be the fight against Discord... And the one they had with each other. "Who...?" Imagine the surprise in store for them when they reached the town. Instead of a raging swarm of black buzzing fury, they only saw a raging mess of black and green. From their bird's eye view, they saw the massive amounts of changelings riddling the town. Caved in roof tops, broken fences, craters marking where the changelings crashed. They descended to the ground, mindful not to step in any green goo that tainted it. When they landed, they got a close up view of the carnage that occurred... "Tia." Celestia turned her attention from the downed changelings to her sister, "Yes Luna?" "You're coming to the same conclusion as I am about these changelings, correct?" Celestia sighed, "I'm afraid so. These changelings are nothing but civilians...possibly rogues." "So, it couldn't of been Chrysalis's forces. Even if this was an act of desperation, she would've been much more organized. "Which begs the question...who is responsible for the anti teleportation ward cast on the town?" Luna questioned. "It must have been a high ranking officer of her army that she either ordered here...or defected from her army." Celestia looked over to the broken and bruised changelings that littered the street. They all looked cold and lifeless to the untrained eye. But with a quick scan of surrounding area showed that the changelings proved to be tough enough to survive whatever hell they went through. "That aside...who could have done this? Your faithful student is...indisposed at the moment, and none of the other elements are this powerful..." Celestia looked over to her sister. Nothing needed to be said, they both knew what the other's thoughts were. "It could have been the human that Twilight summoned..." Luna suggested. "It could be...but one of us must assure the safety of our ponies while the other addresses this human.." "You tend to your student Tia...I must see this human for myself." "No sister...I am more versed in the art of restoration then you are. If my gut correct, then this carnage is the work of the human that Twilight...found." Luna thought it over for a second before nodding in understanding. She spread her wings and took to the skies. The sun monarch's horn glowed a bright golden hue as she closed her eyes and focused. 'I don't know how powerful you are human...but I hope I don't come too late.' "Ummm...thanks mister, for saving us and...all." Sweetie Belle said from the back row of the class. The children had copious amounts of gratitude for the human because he saved them, but that feeling balanced out the fear that they had for something so different. "I know! Isn't he awesome!?" Button Mash yelled in that high pitched nasal voice, "he was all like "Buck Norris Stare!" and that ugly black thing was all like-" he put his hoof on his forehead dramatically "he's too awesome! THUD!" His...accepting attitude helped to bring some of the children into looking at him in a more "childlike admiration" sort of light. It helped that the human smiled in hearing the colt's possibly ego stroking ranting. "That's nice and all Button...but could you do me a favor." He asked in a weak voice. "Yeah!" He flinched "could you...lower the volume a little? My hearing is kinda sensitive." His voice barely made it to Button's ears. "Oh...ok. Are you alright?" Button asked in concern as he put his ear to his chest... "Oh gal! You're burning up! Your heart is..." "Don...don't worry I-" The cane he used to hold himself up trembled in his shaking hands. He fell to one knee, holding Button close to him as he fell to the ground. "Mister!? What's wrong with you!?" Button yelled, his voice laced with fear and confusion, "please, tell me what's wrong!" Button tried to keep his body from crashing down by pushing up. But his honorable act would be for naught, as the human's mass far surpassed Button's. Some of the colts and fillies in the class stepped up and ran over to Button's side. Using their combined strength to gently bring the human down, and roll him over on his back. "Umm...what's wrong with him?" Sweetie asked as the kids circled the human, concern and confusion etched on their faces. They noticed that he shook occasionally. Beads of sweat trickled down his face as his breathing quickened. "Is...is he sick?" ask a random pony in the group. Button distinctly remembered asking the same question the first time he saw the human face-to-face. "He's umm....different dear. I have to warn you...he's fragile." He also remembered his mother warning him of the aliens fragile state. When he first saw the alien he babbled something about strawberries and fell unconscious right there. "Yeah, mommy said he was sick when I asked." The kids looked at him in surprise. "Your mommy had an alien in her house?" asked many of the school kids at once. "It surprised me too." Button turned his attention to the alien's robes... Darker than usual spots littered the beautiful robe that Button's mother made for him. "Maybe we should take off this robe thingy he has on." Button suggested, "I remember he had bandages on the last time I saw him." The class hesitated a little with the idea of actually touching the alien being, but they agreed with Button on that subject. He could be hurt, and that robe hid the true severity of his wounds... "Where's the first aid kit? Maybe we could help him a little?" Button asked. "We know where it is!" Said three very familiar voices. They belonged to none other than the CMC. The three fillies barreled to the supply closet, where Chreeliee began to regain her consciousness. "Don't worry Chreeliee, we'll help you in a second!" "Mergerbur...merfurburdur..." was Cheerilee's response. The fillies all knew by heart where the first aid kit was...they've had many encounters with it before due to their "crusading." Applebloom was put in charge of carrying the kit (it was her turn). They double-timed it to where the alien rested, giddy at the prospect of getting cutie marks in nursing. "We got the first aid kit!" The three fillies said at once. Well Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo said, Applebloom had her mouth full. "Great! Now we can take this off and-" Button's sentence was interrupted by an "excuse me" from a filly from the back of the room. She had an orange coat, pasta white mane, and her cutie mark was a bowl of Spaghetti. "Yes, Spaghetti?" "Are we going to probe him?" she asked. The whole class cringed in disgust. "NO! We're not going to probe him!" the whole class shouted. "Kay den." Spaghetti put a dull pencil that she had next to her back in her saddlebags. Button, and some of the less squeamish classmates, began to slowly open the robes that hid his body from the group... Tears and screaming filled the class as they saw the true extent of the alien's wounds. Some ran away to vomit in the bathroom, some fainted right on the spot, spot cried out for their parents. The bandages that wrapped around his chest, shoulders, and left arm had solid black stains under them. Some injuries didn't even have the luxury of being wrapped with any form of protective wrapping... They drained a sickly greenish fluid, the pus clearly indicating an infection has occurred. multiple of these wounds surrounded his body. Red streaking surrounded the wounds, the skin around the wound looked dry and drained of fluid, his elbows and armpits looked somewhat inflated. None of the ponies could look at the disgusting injuries that plagued the human. They knew that they had to help the...being that saved their lives. "I...we still need to help him! does anypony know how to...help!?" "I...I think we need to clean the wounds first, and take off the bandages, right?" suggested Sweetie Belle. "Theirs an instruction booklet in the kit, maybe that will help?" Button asked as he looked at the kit's contents. They were all labeled. "Okay, I found the instruction booklet....got it!" Apply direct pressure on the area to stop bleeding, using a clean cloth. "They're too many areas! I need like...10 hooves to get them all!" Button said. "Only like five of them are bleeding! Let's clean the one's that aren't!" Sweetie Belle observed. The little ponies hurried towards the windows to retrieve the drapes that hung from there. "Are you sure these are clean?" Scootaloo asked. "Don't worry. If my sister has taught me anything, it's how to keep things clean." Sweetie Belle said the group. They took the drapes and carefully ripped them into five sections. 'Sorry Cheerilee.' They all thought. Button and the CMC added up to only four, so one wound was left unattended. "We need one more!" Button yelled to his classmates. One tiny pegasus, Featherweight, slowly came up to the human. "I-I can help..." "Good!" They gave him a piece of cloth and pointed him to a wound. "What's next?" Scootaloo asked. Clean the area with warm running water. "We have to move him to the bathroom!!" Button instructed. "But that's too far away! You saw how many of us it took to keep him from falling. He's too big!" Sweetie said. "There's a water fountain right outside the classroom..." said one of their classmates. "Can anypony levitate stuff?" Button asked to the class. A blue hoof shot up from the group, the same one that said there was a water fountain nearby. "I..I can try..." "Please do!" The filly ran to the exit and started up the fountain, trying to get as much water as she could into her magic grasp. She struggled, but she managed to get a decent blob of water going on. She carefully walked back into the room... Only to stumble and fall as she tripped over a pink hoof. "Watch where you're going, blank flank." "Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, what are you doing!? We need all the hooves we can get here!" Button said to the two resident bullies in the corner. "She tripped over me! I'm not touching that thing! He's probably the reason why that changeling attacked us in the first place! I don't need some blank flank telling me what to do!" The pretentious pink pony said to the brown colt. Silver Spoon nodded in agreement. "But...but that's just stupid! How do you know that it's his fault? You haven't even seen him till right now!" Button knew that this wouldn't end well. No single pony stood up to diamond tiara and Silver Spoon, it always had to be a group effort. The CMC had it down pat because they had experience with the tyrants of the classroom...but even they had a few emotional scars from them. "We don't want to sully our perfectly hooficured hooves on some bloody, pus-ridden, troll. What if we get sick, blank flank? What if all of you get sick from that alien? What if you get some weird, incurable, alien disease? "Don't you think, you fatherless idiot?" Silence. All of the class's eyes opened wide, their mouths opened like fish out of water. Button lost his ability to speak as he sat there. He knew what they were going to say would hurt, but... "Are yah kidding me!?" an angry southern voice screamed out. Hard hoof steps accompanied the equally loud voice. The source of the anger was none other than Applebloom. She stormed towards both of the fillies in a rage. Silver Spoon exhibited some fear, but Diamond Tiara's face remained fearless. "Well, if it isn't 1/3 of the blank flank trio. You know what they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the- oh wait! You don't have a tree! Your little hillbilly hoedown had two less mud-pits this year?" "I have had it up to here with your horse manure!" The class gasped at Applebloom's choice of words. "Your mouth is just as clean as your gene-poo-" Diamonds witty comeback was given the hoof, compliments of the back of Applebloom's. Again, the children gasped. Though, in their minds, they were cheering Applebloom on. "That thing ya'll are referring to saved our hides! Are ya'll really insulting ponies families when somepony is dying right in front of us!? Not only that, ya'll refuse to even help him! Are you that low!?" A trickle of blood ran down Diamonds muzzle as she stared at Applebloom in shock. "You..you just-" She stopped and flinched when she raised her hoof again. "Ah don't want tah hear none of it! Get yer pompous, fancy speaking, yellow bellied, frou frou, ungrateful, little flanks tah helping. Or I'll buck you two so hard that all your daddy's money won't be able to fix yah face!" She turned around and bucked a desk so hard that it went flying across the room, when it finally hit the wall, it burst into pieces. "Now git!" "Now now young pony. Commendable as your actions may be, violence and name calling won't help in this situation." The class all looked over to the opening the changeling made to see... "Princess Celestia!?" the whole class yelled out in confusion. "Yes, my young little ponies." she walked into the room and looked over to the five young ones putting pressure on the humans wounds, "your bravery and quick action are commendable. I will make sure that your friend and teacher get proper medical attention." She turned her attention to the unconscious changeling, and eyed the insect with disgust, "as for the leader of this little invasion...I will make sure swift justice will be dealt." She turned back to the human, "stand back please." her horn glowed a bright golden yellow. The humans body was engulfed in a golden glow identical to the glow on Celestia's horn. The grubby and blackened bindings that covered his body quickly unwrapped as the sickly green pus dispersed from his form. The red streaking around his body slow started to vanish, and his skin began to regain its color. Celestia was sweating profusely as the extreme amounts of magic that she expelled to its toll on her. When she stopped, the only thing that could be seen on the humans body were tiny cuts and abrasions. Celestia's glow engulfed the first aid kit next to Button. Antibiotic ointment and gauze started to be administered and wrap around the humans leftover wounds. When she was done, she promptly collapsed on all fours, panting and sweating as the class circled around her in worry. "Are...are you alright princess?" Asked the majority of the classroom. "Yes...I'm quite alright my ponies. Just a little winded." The same filly that tried to get some water offered a little cup of water to the tired Princess. She took the cup in her magical grasp and slowly drank it. "Thank you." "Your welcome princess..." the blue filly said. Button wanted to comment on the fact that they had cups all along, but he held his tongue. "So...whats going to happen to the alien?" Button asked in concern. "He will be brought to Canterlot for immediate medical treatment." Celestia said as she took a piece of scroll paper out of her armor and started writing on the piece of paper with her magic. After about one minute of writing, she rolled the scroll up and sent it to the castle, "Guards will be here to assisted us soon, but in the meantime..." With flash of her horn, the big changeling had chains around his person. "Is your teacher alright?" the princess asked. "Mer-ger-bur...mer-fur-ber-durr-ber-dur..." "She's just a little rattled...the changling threw her into the supply closet when she tried to protect us..." "And look what it did to mah apple..." Applebloon said as she showed Celestia what was left of the apple the changeling sucked dry. Her eyes widened as she looked at the apple's gray, shriveled, form. "How did this happen?" "The changelin' was going tah do somethin' nasty tah Button. But ah stopped the thing before it could by chucking mah lunch at it. Ah got the varmint- ummm...changeling in the horn, but the it...sucked the apple dry." Celestia couldn't believe what she was hearing, the changeling was about to... "Thank you for this information dear Applebloom, this will help immensely in the investigation I will personally lead to find out why these changelings attacked. "Now...I want the two little ponies in the corner to come here, right this instant." Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon shakily made there way to the princess. "Y-Yes?" "Don't think that your antagonizing behavior has gone unnoticed by me, I have gotten several letters from my student telling me about these "cutie mark crusaders" and their strife with you two. I, personally, will talk to both your parents about your behavior. Is that clear?" "Yes..." "And Applebloom, I know that everypony has a breaking point. But that does not excuse the fact that you hit her. I will talk to your sister and guardians about this, is that clear?" "Yes Princess Celestia..." "Good. Now, that aside, I want you all to know that your actions in trying to help this human, which is what they are called, saved his life." 'And not a second to spare...' She smiled to the group. "It fills me with great pride that you little one's could cast aside the difference of species and work together to save this human. You will all...except some." She looked at Diamond Tiara and Silver spoon who were on the verge of crying " be given the Equestrian Excellence Award." The children gasped in surprise. "You've all earned it." The sound of chariots and armored hooves landing caught the attention of the class and Princess Celestia. "Looks like the guards are here."