There they were, the greatest and bravest friends I've ever had: Piper, Pal, Quicken, and Wallen. Wait, but how were they here? This can't be real, can it? Well, if it isn't real, as long as I get to be with my friends, I don't care. "How are you guys? I haven't seen you in forever!"
"Not much has happened, just been hangin out with these three." Wall said in his usual happy go lucky style. "Although Quicken has been whining about how he misses his tea."
"Not my fault I'm a true griff!" my griffin friend cries from his table in the house that we had just appeared in. So this is a dream then.
"It is your fault that you drank it all in the first week!" says my cousin, Pallet Kicker.
"Well, considering that we are in a house now, you might find some in the cupboards" says Pied Piper, from her worktable.
"What are you building Piper? Musical, magical, or practical?" I say, eying the tiny parts she is fiddling with.
"Musical and magical. I'm making a little music box that I will enchant, so it will cast a calming spell when playing. Celestia knows you need it. Stop being introverted. You didn't cause the problem. We all knew the risks, and we took them. Don't be so hard on yourself. None of us would have known that would happen." Even in my head, she always wants the best for all of us. The troop mother I guess.
"Well, it was nice catching up, but we gotta go. Just don't forget us, ok?" Pal tells me.
"Here..." Piper says as she gives me a small metal cube that is playing a light tinkling melody. "Use this when you feel alone, and only then."
"Wait, what?" I say, vision starting to fade.
"You are being woken up. Don't freak out, just deal with it. Things are going to happen soon that will change you for the better." Piper says, stepping away from me.
"Well, I'll see you soon, I think?" I say
"Exactly." Pal says
"Wha.." but that's all I get out before I find myself awake in a hospital room.
There is a white hided pink maned nurse looking over a clipboard in front of me. There is also a tired but proud looking colt with an orange hide and a red short cut mane to the left of me.
"He will need to stay in bed a while so the rib can reconnect itself completely. Other than nulling the pain, I've done all I can. He's gonna be fine." the colt says. He looks to me and says "Hey there. Sorry to wake you, but your rib is fixed."
"Thanks. What are your names?" I say, feeling something metal in my pillow bump against my head.
"Well, I am Nurse Redheart, and he..." the white mare says , now pointing to the orang colt "is Patch the Healer. I know him as Patch Up though. We were friends at medical school. I studied medication and he studied magic healing."
"Why are you telling me this?" I say, reaching in my pillow for what feels like a container.
"Oh, sorry! Was I talking out loud?" she says, acting a bit worried.
"It's fine." Says Patch. "We should go. We did our jobs. Now he just needs some time to rest. He just went through a life threatening ordeal after all."
"Right. I could use a break anyway." Says Nurse Redheart as she heads towards the door. "The button on the table next to you is for if you need anything. You have been hooked up to an I.V unit while unconscious, so you shouldn't be getting hungry, but if you do, just press that button."
"Youre friends will be coming later, so just stay in bed and rest. You're gonna need it according to Twilight. That is her name, right?" Patch asks.
"Yes, it is. I guess I'll stay in bed until they get here." I say finally getting a hold of the metal thing in my pillow. So Twi and the others are coming. I guess I do ow them an apology for them having to see me so weak. Wait, did patch say "friends"? No. No no nonono, NO! This wasn't supposed to happen. I don't want them to be my freinds. Too much has happened already. Now I'm the Princess's apprentice's friend? This wasn't supposed to happen. The Princess will probably want to thank me, and then everyone will know my name! Then I won't be able to keep people safe. People might follow me around, then they will get caught up in my problems and get killed! NO!
I need to get out of here. I can't let anypony see me. If anything happens to anypony, I will never forgive myself. Wait calm down. Think, if the Princess wants to thank me, then she will just find me. No matter how many layers of secrecy I have guarding me, she can just remove them with a flick of her horn, or by just showing herself. The only way I can escape this is by asking Twi to not thank me. Ugh! How did I get myself into this mess? What is wrong with me? Throwing my hooves down in frustration, I forgot the metal box in my hoof. When they hit the bed, I lose my grip, and the box flies and hits my head. Coming to a rest on my chest, the box springs open, and I almost fall off the bed in shock. The tune is the exact same as the music box in my dream. I quickly shut it, remembering Piper's advice. If I needed it, I would use it. I decided to make the best of my time and try to figure out how to get Twilight to not make a big deal about me helping her. This day was gonna be a long one.
I was about to lose my mind of boredom when Twilight and co. came in. Pinkie immediately put a party hat on my head and stepped away, with the biggest grin on her face and the widest eyes I've ever seen. She backed towards the door and tried to seem like she wasn't about to explode. Twilight stepped forward and said with a smile on her face "Thanks for saving us. We will have to take you on a train to Canterlot. The Princess wants to see you. I have been placed under watch by royal guards on her orders. She thinks somepony might be conspiracizing against her and her sister. I am so sorry for getting you stuck in all this. I just..." She then started breaking down into tears and sat down on the floor. "I just don't feel safe anymore."
I start to feel bad, but remember what I was trying to do. "Don't worry. I'm about as good of a fighter that a guard is, and you will have plenty of them watching over you. It will be like having lots of me around to defend you." I swallow hard and continue. "Twi, I don't want to have to go to Canterlot."
"Why not? " she said, looking up. She looked a bit cheerier.
"Princess Celestia wouldn't know what she'd do with herself if something happened to you, right? Something almost did happen, but I stopped it. Imagine how much she would do to thank me." I say, tucking the music box into my saddlebag next to the bed.
"She might make you a national hero. But why would that be bad?" she says getting up.
"I would be the center of attention. Foals would follow me around. They might follow me into a dangerous place, get caught up in the danger and die. How could I forgive myself for letting innocent ponies and foals die? I wouldn't. Don't have some big celebration for me. A cake or something small would do. No public events or announcments." I say, getting of the bed and walking to the door.
"Alright. We won't have a big celebration, but the Princess will still want to see you. Not sure Pinkie can say the same." Twilight says, flicking a hoof. At this, Pinkie squeals and trows a handful of confetti at me and yells "WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!"
Pinkie throws me in a cart and starts pulling it faster than possible for an earth pony. She pulls me all the way to Sugarcube Corner, stops the cart, and comes back out with a cake the size of a wagon wheel and ten times thicker. She puts it in the cart and runs me to the library, where a proper party is set up. Not sure how, but the others got there before us, and have already started partying. Pinkie then throws me into a decorated chair and sings some kind of welcome song so fast, it ends before I even hit the seat. The way she set it up, you'd think she thought it was my birthday. Well, if I was supposed to party, I might as well enjoy it. The first thing I do is take a huge slice of cake and eat it in two bites. Pinkie comes over and one-ups me by taking a quarter of the cake, and downing it in one piece. I turn to see a unicorn who I can only guess is Rarity drinking tea in the opposite side of the room, shaking her head disapprovingly at our messy faces. Applejack gives us both some cider to down the cake with. Fluttershy walks over and holds a rabbit to me. She says his name is Angel. When I try to pet him, he jumps out of the way and taps his foot grumpily, but Fluttershy smiles at this and takes Angel to get some cake. Rainbow Dash grabs me in a headlock while flying. I grab her hooves and lean forward, forcing her lower. At a certain point she moves and holds my front hooves behind my back. I then push forward, throwing her in belly up front of me, and hold her to the ground with one hoof. She taps the ground twice, and I let her go. She nods her approval and flies off. I guess I forgot how good having friends really felt. I actually miss this feeling. I guess I'm done being alone. Who knows what adventures these ponies will take me on.