//------------------------------// // Two Dozen Lousy Hours // Story: Friendship is Escape Velocity // by Cardboard Box //------------------------------// Doc Mitchell washed up and looked over his two patients. There was the courier, who'd dropped off some supplies on his way. However, he hadn't expected to see Haversack Joe brought in by Victor, covered in dirt and shot in the head. Disinfecting the wound had probably taken longer than actually getting the damn bullet out. And certainly longer than his other patient. Mitchell could say without fear of contradiction that he'd never doctored on a horse – well, a pony, really – like this before. The size of the head in relation to the body was much greater, and there was certainly a bigger brain in there than your average equine. The other five that had come in behind Victor then had proven that. To his surprise, he'd found himself with a most unexpected nurse. “Ah never'd guess you knew anythin' 'bout medicine, Rarity,” he heard the orange one in the hat saying to the white horned one. All five had pretty much filled up his sitting room. “Let's just say...” Rarity, that was her name, “...I've had to stitch up more than just couture, dear.” Sounded uncomfortable. “How's Twilight?” Mitchell glanced through the doorway. Rarity and her hat-wearing friend were on one side of the room, while the winged pair were sitting on the other, either side of the lavender one who, to judge from her frazzled expression, unseeing eyes and decidedly mussed mane, was in shock. Both had a wing draped over their friend. Quite a touching scene. “Not good,” that was the bluish one with the crazy rainbow mane and tail. “She's still got the shakes and she's mumbling something but we can't make it out.” “Twilight?” Rarity walked over and got right into her face. “Listen to me. Pinky's going to be fine. The doctor and I made sure of that. When she's awake, we can figure out how to go home. Okay?” The hysterical garble that burst out of Twilight's mouth was mostly incomprehensible, but the phrase How in the buck we got here stood out loud and clear. The torrent ebbed into a trickle of tears that finally ran silently down her face. The one in the hat went over and just was there as Twilight cried herself to sleep. Doc thought to himself that even though they were horses, the sight of them all gathering around their comrade was both the most poignant and the most gosh-darn cute thing he'd ever seen. One Day Later So three ponies walked into the Goodsprings saloon – No, that isn't right. One earth pony and two pegasi trudged into the Goodsprings Saloon, all wearing identical grumpy expressions. The earth pony was also wearing a hat. “You kids must be friends of Doc's funny patient,” Trudy the... what was she? Oh yeah, human... tending bar asked. “Need anything?” “What've ya got?” The orange one in the hat asked. Oh yeah, Applejack. “Got some Sunset Sarsaparilla if y'all need a drink.” She looked thoughtfully at them. “On the house.” Applejack's ears perked noticeably. “Well that's mighty kind of ya, sugarcube. Three please?” “Sure thing.” As the human mare extracted three bottles and removed the tops, she frowned at them. “Something wrong? You weren't this miserable at breakfast.” “Is everywhere as dry as this?” Applejack finally said, “I mean, I don't see any trees, just dried up grass 'n' rocks... how the hay do y'all eat?” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had squeezed themselves into one of the booths. Applejack remembered her manners enough to take their bottles to them before starting her own. “There's a few farms between here and The Divide out west,” the barkeep explained, “and there's some I'm told out past Nipton down southeast. And we grow some of our own, but also we hunt. Plenty of gecko steaks and if you know where to look there's barrel cactus and the odd honey mesquite tree.” She shrugged. “And bighorners are good eatin'.” Fluttershy squirted most of her mouthful of sarsaparilla back into the bottle at that. “Uh, thanks, I think,” Applejack muttered, then turned to her friends. “What'd y'all find?” Rainbow Dash swallowed and removed the bottle from her mouth. “OK, here's what I've seen, okay? The road that way,” she gestured north, “sorta goes through a gorge and it's crawling with huge bugs. I think they sting, 'cause there was this guy there, an' he was tryin' to beat them off, right? But there were too many and...” All three shifted uneasily. “Anyway, from there, there's this big city, with these huge fancy towers, but I didn't get that far, since that road's no good, so I went south. There's a town yonder,” and her hoof gestured southward, “there's two big buildings, one of 'em in the middle of a roller coaster–” “That's Primm,” Trudy filled in. “Okay, Primm, and the road sorta goes way down south, and then sorta forks. If you wanted to get to the city, you'd probably be wantin' to go thataway.” “I'll run that by Twilight when she's feelin' better, sugarcube,” Applejack replied, then looked at Fluttershy. “So who-all else is out there?” The yellow pegasus spat her empty bottle onto the floor eloquently. “Humans,” was all she said. Applejack and Rainbow Dash waited patiently. “These bighorners aren't like the bison of Appleloosa,” she added at last. “There's dogs, but they're just animals, not like diamond dogs. And those giant bugs that can barely fly. And...” About three hours earlier Fluttershy was flying over a quarry. The regular cuts in the earth were unmistakable. As were the movements of creatures below. Whatever they were, they had sturdy legs, horns, and long arms with equally long claws. One was noticeably larger than the others which swarmed around it. A mother and children! They'd surely be friendly. Fluttershy was wrong. Back in the Goodsprings Saloon “You tried to make friends with a deathclaw?” Trudy was gaping at Fluttershy, who squirmed more out of irritation than embarassment, and absently tried to hide under her mane. “Little lady, you sure ain't from here at all. And that sounds like the quarry near Sloan as well. If there's deathclaws 'round there... I'd say the only road to New Vegas is down through Nipton 'n up through Novac.” “Should've known better,” the pegasus mumbled, “mother and her cubs...” In the Goodsprings Surgery Twilight Sparkle hovered the pencil over a somewhat aged and scorched exercise book Rarity had extracted – “at the cost of my pony-pedi!” – from the local schoolhouse. Without Spike around, there was no way she knew to contact Princess Celestia for help. Dear Princess Celestia, The three words were almost calming in their familiarity. I write bearing bad news. The spell She took a breath. She hadn't gone out since Fluttershy, of all ponies, had pretty much Stared her into going outside to attend to the necessary. She needed to think. Work out what went wrong. The spell had wrapped about the six like a bubble, as expected, before rising into the sky, seeking anypony out there, to make contact and friends... That was it. The spell worked, but it caught on something and burst, taking us with it. The unicorn sighed with relief. It wasn't an elegant description, but now she thought of it, maybe not like a bubble, but more like one of Pinky's balloons... Lurching to hooves that were asleep from laying down on the wood floor, she poked her head into the surgery proper. The earth pony's barrel rose and fell with her breathing. Like the... oh yes, human... on the other bed. Twilight almost turned but Pinky mumbled something and giggled. “Pinkie?” Being asleep, her friend didn't respond. She went back to her letter. I fear that we will need to find out what this magic 'pin' was, in order to find our way home safely. Otherwise a rescue mission, or trying to escape, will founder and be trapped here. We were fortunate to find a friendly town, after No need to mention Pinkie getting 'shot'. That could wait until they all returned to Equestria. Our unexpected journey. They should be able to tell us who the great magic users here are. “Trixie not included,” she chuckled to herself, then sobered. The idea of meeting a local Trixie, no doubt using forms of magic never seen before, was actually worrying. I am sure we will learn much while we find a way home. As long as my friends and I are together, we will pull through. A small voice asked Twilight if that last sentence was based in fact. She ignored it. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle The unicorn laid the pencil down. She'd made the first breakthrough she needed. Something here, or nearby, had snagged the spell of communion, and most importantly, they had found intelligent life out... here... in the stars. Now all they had to do was get home and report about it.