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// Chapter 1: Dropping in 
// Story: Tired 
// by Pvt Caboose 
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	Twilight let out a content sigh as she leaned against Luna. The calm and quiet day had put her so at ease, at the very moment she nearly forgot to keep the gentle pace with her mate. Her purple ears twitched in the warm summers breeze, that flowed throughout the valley Ponyville resided in. 

Besides the sound of combined hoofsteps, along with gentle loving murmurs from her lover, the only other sounds to reach her ears were rustling leaves and the sounds of nature. Occasionally a green appendage would detach from it’s wooden home nestled up high, and slowly began to drift down. 

Twilight sighed at the sight of falling leaves, it seemed to be so early in the summer, but it looked like the trees had other ideas in mind. One specific leaf managed to find a temporary residence on Luna’s nose, causing a string of giggles coming from Twilight, as Luna quietly cursed and swiped away the leaf.

Behind the couple, were the trailing sounds of hoofsteps, which came from their beloved guard, Moonlight. While in a tight situation, both princesses would be more than able to hold their own hundreds of times over, yet their protective guard insisted on accompanying them. Periodically, Twilight would gaze back at the guard, who was literally stopping to smell the roses. 

Twilight’s warm smile slowly grew as she leaned into Luna more as the large oak trees surrounding the path began to dissipate back out into open farm fields. The sun’s rays began poking through the trees more and more as the canopy thinned out, now shining it’s warmth down upon Ponyville’s residing princesses. 

“This is most wondrous.” Luna spoke quietly, nuzzling Twilight. 

“Indeed it is, my love.” Twilight replied in a tone barely above a whisper, as she too returned the affectionate gesture. 

Luna took a brief moment to peer back at their guard, before calling out in a calm tone, “Come Moonlight, there are plenty of roses to smell.”

Moonlight immediately responded, with a slight blush from lazing about, “Yes, your majesty.” 

Now trailing mere feet behind the two princesses, Moonlight began rubbernecking. Attempting to take in the entirety of the beautiful scenery. In her long sweeps of her neck, and under her sharp gaze, she spotted something of concern a ways ahead of them. 

“Excuse me, your majesty.” Moonlight said sheepishly. 

“We have told you many of times, dear Moonlight. Just because we are in public, doesn’t mean you need to keep up the formalities.” Luna responded with a warm smile. 

“Noted, but what is that pegasus doing?” She asked, pointing ahead to the form of a pegasus falling straight out of the sky. 

It took mere seconds for their hearts to drop and to connect the dots. 

“They may be in distress!” Twilight spoke, while the three of them wordlessly kicked it into high gear as they took off galloping. 

The black dot that was the plummeting pegasus, was beginning to move faster than the ground the three mares could make up. As they continued on, they finally understood how far away the possible pony in peril was. With another wordless nod, the three of them took to the air. 

Now flying at speeds which could rival Rainbow Dash, the rescue party of royalty began to make up the ground between them and the falling pony. With a great deal of effort, the three mares began pushing themselves to their limits to intercept the possibly injured pony. 

Their efforts were of no use, the descending pony reached the impact zone before any of the three could near. The sickening thump of the plunging pegasus meeting ground echoed throughout the valley, sounding like several tons of bricks hitting concrete. In the near distance, a dust cloud slowly began to rise.

As the trio neared the impact zone, a crater was noticeable from a good distance away. The force at which the body of the pegasus impacted the ground, and managed to dislodge a great amount of dirt in almost a perfect circle, and a couple feet down. Their breaths became hitched in their throats as they slowly peaked over the edge, fearing the worst. 

A dark blue coated colt laid motionless in the hole, that could have possibly been smoking from his entrance from the atmosphere. Twilight observed that if the colts coat wasn’t a few shades lighter, it could’ve been a perfect match to Luna. While still in shock of the violent impact, they gazed upon the slow breathing pegasus. 

Quickly realizing they had been pausing, the trio sprung into action as they moved into the hole. His black mane obscured his face, as his sides slowly expanded and contracted with his shallow breaths, which moved his wings which did not seem to survive the impact, being tucked up to his sides.

With great ease they made contact with the injured pony, keeping him stable and rolling him over as gently as possible. He was out cold, the impact alone would’ve been enough to knock him out. The colt began mumbling and moving around, slightly fighting against the invading limbs. 

“Be still child, you are hurt.” Luna spoke, but her command fell on deaf ears. Just as she was ready to repeat herself, and restrain the colts moving limbs, she was interrupted. 

“He can’t hear you, your highness.” Moonlight stated, “No matter what you do, he won’t stop and won’t respond.”

Luna released a stressful sigh. It pained her deeply to see a youth such as this colt injured in such a manner. Adding in the fact that she was completely powerless to try and help the pegasus through medical means, sent a series of spiraling emotions throughout her mind. 

“We need to get him help.” Twilight quickly added, still checking over the colt for any further injuries or responses. 

Another wordless nod was exchanged, before the pegasus colt was restrained and enveloped in magenta magic, before being levitated through the air. Once secure, a large blue ball of magic surrounded the trio, and in a clap of thunder sent them just outside of Ponyville’s hospital. 

Ponies in the nearby street ducked for cover after the loud bang of teleportation, but they went unnoticed. Not pausing for a moment, they quickly charged into the main lobby of the hospital. The velocity at which the door was flung open, and then ricocheting off the wall, scared the day lights out of the receptionist and various ponies inside. 

Once the majority of the papers settled on the floor, the receptionist pulled herself up out of her heap of a chair to peer over the edge of her desk. Immediately her eyes widened at the sight, and quickly hit a panic button to alert nearby doctors and nurses. As soon as the button was depressed, she took off towards the princesses and began rattling off questions. 

In seconds a journey along with several doctors and several more nurses came rushing down the main hallway, before collecting the injured colt and whisking him away. The three mares let out great sighs, as the ill feelings that resided inside them refused to go away. They weren’t given a chance to relax, before they were swarmed once again with various parental forms, accident reports, and questions of consent to administer treatment. 

Twilight, who was not faring much better than Luna, seized the opportunity to bury her head in her lover's neck. There was no time for weeping and consultation amongst themselves, before they were retrieved by several doctors and filled in on the state of the colt. All three of their hearts began to sink more with every step they took closer to the room which held the injured pony. 

Today wasn’t going to be easy, and it was far from over.

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