When Noble regained his consciousness, the first thing he noticed was how much pain he was in. It was a dull ache that seemed to come from all over his body. He probably would have an easier time making a list of the body parts that weren't hurt. The worst of it was the parched feeling he had in the back of his throat.
"Oh good," an unfamiliar voice piped up, "you're awake! How do you feel?"
"Thirsty," he croaked, placing a hoof to his throat.
"I can help with that," the voice replied, accompanied by the sound of pouring liquid. "Here ya go."
Noble pried his eyes open and saw a glass of water in front of him. He successfully resisted the urge to dive muzzle first into the cup and grabbed it carefully in both hooves. He lifted the cup to his lips and began to slowly drink. After finishing the cup, he sighed contentedly.
"So," the voice piped in, "how do you feel now?"
"I'm not sure yet," Noble replied. He turned his head to the voice and discovered who he was speaking to.
It belonged to a young purple dragon with green eyes and spines. He wore a big enthusiastic smile on his face as he looked at the colt. "Hello," he replied in a jovial tone.
"Hello," Noble replied, with a more subdued tone than his companion. "Thank you for the water. It helped a great deal."
"Happy to help!" the young dragon replied, enthusiastically and proudly.
A thought had occurred to Noble. "Weren't you the dragon getting chased by timberwolves in the Everfree Forest."
"Yeah," Spike replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, "that was me." Noble couldn't help but smile. He liked the little guy already.
"Name's Spike by the way."
"Noble Valor," he replied with a slight bow of his head. He tried to sit up, getting a jolt of pain for his trouble. He lifted the blanket to look at the source of his current discomfort and noticed that his middle had been wrapped with a bandage, several times.
"Spike?" he asked cautiously.
"Yeah?"
"What happened after I lost consciousness?"
"Well..."
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Spike's eyes bulged out at seeing the blood on his claw. He had never seen that much blood before ever, let alone coming out of anypony.
And the blood spot on this pony's cloak was growing.
Spike heard the collective gasp from the Crusaders and snapped out of his daze. This pony saved their lives and was losing his in the process. The reality of that hit Spike harder than anything else could have. He knew what he had to do and he didn't have the time to be shocked about it.
"Listen up!" he shouted, silencing the Crusaders, "I need you three to head back to Ponyville and find Twilight and the others. They'll be in the park. Tell them what happened and bring them back here as fast as you can."
"What about you, Spike?" Apple Bloom asked concernedly.
"I'm staying with him to stop the bleeding as much as I can. And besides that, someone has to protect him if the timberwolves come back."
He saw them open their mouths to say something, but cut them off before they got the chance. "Don't argue! GO!"
They practically tripped over themselves to follow his orders. That just left Spike with the immediate task of finding some way to stop the bleeding.
He took off the pony's cloak, made it into a makeshift bandage, and tied it as tightly as he could around the wound. He also pressed against it to try and stop the bleeding. Now all he could do wait and hope the timberwolves didn't come back for round two.
He couldn't say how long he waited for his friends, but it felt an eternity, made all the worse with the constant danger of the Everfree Forest. When his friends did arrive, the little dragon couldn't have been happier. Together, they all carried the wounded pony to the Golden Oak Library in Ponyville, had his wounds tended to, and put him to bed.
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"That's about all of it," Spike finished.
"When did all of this happen?" Noble asked.
"Yesterday," Spike answered, "I've been waiting for you wake up since then. I don't mind telling you, you had us all kinda worried there."
"That was very considerate of you, Spike," Noble replied.
"Well," the little dragon replied proudly, dragging a foot across the ground.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you that you worried for nothing."
"What d'ya mean?" Spike asked, his eyes growing with confusion.
"I mean I was never in any real danger, Spike. Sorry."
"But the bleeding..."
"I received a gash from a timberwolf, but it wasn't near anything vital. I would've bled for a while, but it would have stopped on its own eventually. Aside from a slight woozy feeling from the loss of blood, I would have been fine."
"Well, what about the timberwolves?"
"A bit more of a risk than the last, but still hardly a threat. Any predator after getting seriously hurt will look for an easier meal elsewhere. Besides, wolves, as a general rule, prefer to hunt in packs, so they would have regrouped before doing anything else."
Spike had a confused and disappointed look on his face. "But... you collapsed."
"Yeah, about that. I had a bit of a long night before the timberwolves and was hungry on top of everything else. As a matter of fact, I was getting breakfast when I heard the timberwolves roar. I saw you and the fillies get cornered and..., well you know the rest. I hated to tell you, but I thought you deserved to know the truth. I'm sorry you worried for nothing."
Spike heaved a sad sigh and replied, "It's all right, Noble. I just thought I finally did something brave and heroic."
"You did, Spike," Noble replied calmly, favoring the dragon with a small smile.
"But..., you just said there wasn't any danger at all," Spike replied suspiciously.
Noble gave Spike a bigger smile, "I did and there wasn't, but you didn't know that. As far as you knew you were saving my life, both from bleeding to death and from the timberwolves. There aren't a lot of ponies I know who would do that, let alone for a complete stranger. You have earned both my admiration and my respect today, Spike of Ponyville." He gave his deepest bow to the dragon. "You have my sincerest thanks."
Spike was frozen where he stood. After a moment of staring, he started to blush a bright red and giggled quietly at the compliment, rubbing the back of his head again.
At that moment, the door opened revealing a lavender alicorn trotting into the room. She had purple eyes and a purple mane and tail both streaked with pink.
"Twilight!" Spike replied with a start, "Guess who's up!"
She favored the young dragon with a smile. "I can guess, Spike. How do you do? My name is Twilight Sparkle. And you are?"
"She's an alicorn," Noble replied to no one in particular.
"This is Noble Valor," Spike answered, "He's really nice and smart too."
"Well, that's nice to hear," Twilight replied, "So, how are you feeling?"
"You're an alicorn," Noble replied.
"Does he have a concussion, Spike?" she asked in an audible whisper
"Not that I know of."
"I'm sorry," Noble replied, snapping out of thought, "but, I am still confused at the fact that you are an alicorn."
"Why is that confusing?" Twilight inquired.
"I was of the opinion that only princesses were alicorns."
"That's correct," Twilight replied, "Only princesses are alicorns."
"If that's the case, then why, if you don't mind my asking, is an alicorn princess in a town called Ponyville."
"Learning and teaching the values of friendship," Twilight replied, matter-of-factly, "among other things."
The answer took a moment to sink in before Noble remembered he was speaking to royalty. He bowed his head as far as the bed would allow. "I beg your pardon, Your Majesty, I meant no offense."
"It's quite all right," Twilight giggled, "and please, just call me Twilight. After what you did for Spike and the girls, I consider us more friends than anything else."
Noble felt himself relax a bit, before answering, "As you wish. As long as you brought them up, what happened to the young fillies?"
"As far as I know, they went home," answered Spike with a shrug.
"Oh," he replied, "that's good."
A knock echoed in the room. Spike got up and opened the door, revealing the three fillies from the forest. "Is he up yet, Spike?" the earth filly asked with a country drawl to her voice.
"Yeah," Noble answered, "I'm up."
"Is it alright if we come in?" the pegasus asked.
"Alright," Twilight said after a moment of thought, "but, only for a little while."
The three fillies shuffled into the room, their little faces drawn in frowns. Even the earth pony's bow drooped in sadness.
"Hi girls," Noble replied with his friendliest smile. "We didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves properly earlier. My name is Noble Valor."
"I'm Apple Bloom," the earth filly replied, "and this here is Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle." The others murmured their greetings.
"A pleasure to meet you all," Noble replied, his tone friendly.
The girls stared silently at the floor, looks of guilt plastered to their sweet little faces.
"None of you got hurt, did you?" Noble asked, concernedly. He thought he had been so careful with the timberwolves.
"It's not that," Sweetie Belle sniffled.
"We have something we need to tell you," Scootaloo replied.
"Well," Noble said, after a moment of silence, "what is it?"
The three girls looked at each other melancholically. At once, three of replied, "We're sorry."
"What crime could you three have committed to need my forgiveness?"
The three of looked to each other, silently debating who should go first.
"Well," Apple Bloom started, "when we had to face the timberwolves, all we did was shake like scared little fillies."
"Useless, scared little fillies," Scootaloo added.
"And because of that," Sweetie Belle picked up, "you got hurt."
"We're as sorry as can be about that," Apple Bloom continued, "but we understand if you don't forgive us."
Noble closed his eyes and absorbed what they said in silence. He had to choose his next words very carefully. After a minute's deliberation, he spoke in a whisper.
"Girls, climb up here."
The three fillies shared a confused look before Noble slid back on the bed and patted the empty spot that was left. Scootaloo climbed up first, followed by Apple Bloom, with Sweetie Belle bringing up the rear. They stared at the covers on the bed, tracing the pattern of the weave with their hooves.
"I want you three to look at me."
The exchanged a worried glance, but lifted their eyes expecting the worse.
Noble remained calm, wearing a mask of neutrality on his face. "What happened in the Everfree Forest was not your fault."
The three of them widened their eyes in surprise at the same moment.
"Please don't say anything until I have finished," Noble continued, using the same tone as before. The three of them gulped and settled themselves in on the bed. Noble took a breath before beginning again.
"I say that because it is true. Perhaps you shouldn't have been there in the first place, but that doesn't matter. You three did the only thing you could in that situation. Nopony could've asked for more than that.
"As far as my injuries, if it's anypony's fault it's mine. The timberwolves were after you, you didn't go after them. I did though, and knew the risks involved. My injury is a result of underestimating them. You three just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Noble saw tears form in the fillies eyes. "We still wish there was something we could do to make it up to you," Sweetie Belle squeaked, her tears spilling onto her cheeks.
"Then make me a promise," Noble replied solemnly. The three fillies looked up.
"I want you three to promise to do your absolute best to avoid situations where you need to be saved. Do you three think you can do that?"
They nodded their consent. Noble favored them with a small smile, "Then there is no need for us to speak on this again."
Their faces lit up in a collective smile as their spirits lifted. They rushed in for a hug, which he returned with equal vigor.
At that moment, his stomach rumbled loudly. He then remembered how long it had been since he had eaten anything. "Sorry about that," he replied, smiling sheepishly.
"It's fine," Twilight replied, "It's close to lunchtime anyway. Spike, care to assist me in the kitchen?"
"Oooh," Scootaloo interjected, "Is it alright if we stay?" At that moment, the three of them gave the biggest widest pleading eyes ever.
Twilight only smiled, "Alright girls, but only if you promise not to bother Noble too much. He still needs his rest."
"We promise!" they shouted together, each of them excited.
"Oh," Apple Bloom cried in surprise, "we nearly forgot!"
"Forgot what?" Scootaloo asked, eliciting a glare that could turn milk sour from Apple Bloom. Her face lit up in remembrance, "Oh, yeah! Sweetie Belle."
Sweetie Belle wore a confused look for a moment before she grinned and began rummaging in her saddlebag. She emerged with an envelope in her teeth, which she presented to Noble.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Open it and see!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, barely able to contain her excitement.
He opened the envelope and pulled out the contents. It was home-made card, decorated with construction paper, glitter, and ribbon. On the front, in clumsy child-like writing, was written the words 'Get Well Soon.'
"Thank you, girls," Noble replied smiling, "that was very thoughtful."
"Open up the inside," Sweetie Belle squeaked, barely able to contain her excitement.
He decided to humor them and opened the card. His face dropped when he read the words in them. He read them three times to make certain he wasn't misreading them, but each time they came out the same. 'From: The Cutie Mark Crusaders Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. To: Our Hero.'
"Is something wrong, Noble?" Sweetie Belle asked, concernedly.
"No," Noble replied, a smile dawning on his face, "everything is fine."
With that, he ruffled each of their manes with a hoof, eliciting giggles of delight from the trio.
"One thing, I'm curious about," Noble remarked when he had finished, "What's this 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' business?"
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"All right, girls," Twilight replied, gathering the dishes with Spike, "time to go."
"Do we hafta?" Apple Bloom replied, her eyes growing wider.
"Noble needs his rest," Spike replied, picking up where Twilight left off.
"AWWWW!" the Crusaders pouted.
"Go on, girls," Noble replied, giving them an encouraging smile, "you can visit again tomorrow."
"Really?" they asked in unison.
"Sure."
"Yay!" they cried, zipping out of the room.
"Looks like you have a fan club," Twilight replied, carrying the dishes in her magical aura.
Noble merely shrugged his shoulders, stifling a yawn with his hoof. With that, Twilight and Spike left him to his slumber.
Noble, once he was certain they were gone, tried to stand, testing the strength in his limbs. A wave of dizziness passed through him, taking away his focus. His legs quivered under his weight and he collapsed back onto the bed.
'Huh,' he thought after the dizziness had passed, 'those timberwolves took more out of me than I thought.' He settled himself back in bed, letting his mind wander before succumbing to sleep.