My Little Medic

Chapter 12

Match Preparations

Heavy eyelids, burning muscles and a silent voice in one’s head saying; ‘just five more minutes’ is a norm for a Wonderbolt, especially for a captain after a day with more training drills than paper work. Spitfire wriggled in her attempt to sit as she supported herself with her left foreleg against the bed while rubbing her eyes with her right forehoof.

She blinked a few times in attempt to sharpen her blurry vision, and next straightened both her forelegs and wings as her mouth released a long yawn. Her bones creaked and popped as she stretched. A stab of pain in her right wing caused her to flinch. She reached up to massage the feathery appendage as she murmured to herself, “My wings are aching. Whatever happened yesterday sure pushed my limits.”

“Tell me about it,” a familiar but unexpected and muffled voice reached captain’s ears as her eyes widened. With a slow turn of her head as if she was part of some sort of horror movie, she looked to the side, and something in her brain snapped. She instantly rubbed her eyes to make sure that they weren’t fooling her, and in desperation slapped herself in the face.

Spitfire gritted her teeth as she slapped herself again. The pain she felt with each hit made her realize more and more that this wasn’t indeed a dream. After taking a deep breath and gathering her determination, she slowly straightened her foreleg towards a ball covered by an eiderdown blanket. She poked it a few times before pushing lightly, and it moved in response, causing Spitfire’s heart to beat at even faster pace. With a gulp and firm stare, she grabbed the edge of the eiderdown blanket and pulled, revealing a blue pegasus curled into a ball with wings covering his face.

Spitfire blushed and flinched, landing unceremoniously on the floor with a weak thump. With a roll, she got back up to her hooves and pointed at Soarin’, her mouth agape but failing to produce any words. After seconds of standing motionless and staring at her lieutenant, she stomped against the floor and gathered the courage to speak. “Soarin’,” she whispered. Upon not receiving any reaction, she repeated, louder, “Soarin!”

“Five more minutes, mom,” the pegasus responded as he rolled to the side while his rear hooves pushed the eiderdown blanket over him.

Spitfire’s blush was replaced by even stronger color. Smoke shot from her muzzle and mane as temperature in the room raised drastically. The enraged captain shook her head and took a few deep breaths, restraining herself from yelling at her fragile lieutenant. With a small smirk on her face, she said slowly, forcing herself to restrain strength of her voice, “Soarin’… you are late for dinner. Today’s your favourite. Apple Pie covered in cream with a red cherry on top.”

In an instant, the blanket was thrown away as the sleeping pegasus darted from the bed, landing on the floor with widely opened eyes, saliva dripping from his opened mouth and wings spread. “Apple Pie with cream and a cherry, where, where?” he asked while looking around. Suddenly his ears fell, pupils shrunk and wings dropped to the floor. His swiftly awoken brain was busy struggling to analyze his situation.

Before Soarin could say a word, Spitfire spoke first, “Yes Soarin', you are in my room, sleeping in my bed.” Spitfire's legs started to tremble, and so her lips as she struggled to speak as calmly as possible. “N-n-now w-would you p-please explain… what the bu… what are you doing in my bed?”

A strong blush appeared on Soarin’s cheeks as his mouth closed and refused to take a single breath. His body now motionless as if he was a royal guard or a statue while his eyes refused to blink.

Spitfire waited for answer silently at least half a minute, tapping her forehoof against the floor impatiently, but her lieutenant just stood there with opened eyes while red blush turned into violet. Slowly realizing that her lieutenant was suffocating, she said, “Take a breath, Soarin'.” After not receiving any reaction, she ordered, “Take a breath, this is an order!”

The captain’s rage was replaced with worry as her officer entered some sort of stasis while his cheeks were more violent with each second. She quickly approached and opened Soarin’s mouth with her forehooves while saying, “Breathe already for Celestia’s sake!”

After taking a quick breath, Soarin’s stone-like body turned into a jelly, and he fell over to his back while flattening himself against the floor. His bloodshot eyes finally closed. Spitfire lowered herself to the lieutenant to check his heart beat and quickly drew a conclusion. Soarin' had fainted.

Feeling a weak headache, Spitfire stood and massaged her forehead before looking around her bedroom. Her eyes focused on two empty glasses and a half-emptied bottle of hard cider on a small table in the middle of the room, and next switched to visible traces of hoofsteps on the carpet. Some of pictures and arts of Wonderbolts performing all kind of stunts were slightly tilted, and few medals and awards were lying on the floor. Finally the worst of all, a small tower of documents she was supposed to sign were scattered on the floor.

Spitfire lowered her head and stomped against the floor a few times, causing it to crack as she shouted, “What in Celestia’s name happened yesterday!?”

***

“Ready the checklist, Spike!” Twilight said with enthusiasm, pen levitating above her head.

“On it!” Spike nodded slightly, causing the little mare to lose her balance for a moment before she grabbed scales in the middle of Spike’s head to avoid falling off. The young drake quickly raised the checklist up to his head while the pen was levitated into his hand.

Spike looked at the two bruise-covered and sweating ponies shackled by their forelegs to their guards. The unicorn was clearly in worse shape than the earth pony. Twilight, who not long ago assisted Cadence during their healing process, noticed that only exhaustion was preventing those two from yelling at each other. “Check.”

Two guards by the prisoners’ side did their best to hide their emotions, but Spike already suspected that they felt a mix between anger and pity.

Spike shot a look at the stretching pegasi. Luckily the repair spell of Velvet and Night Light was strong enough to save 60% of their damaged uniforms from their exercise yesterday. It was clear though that the training expenses were higher than normal. “Check.”

Spike looked to the other side of the stadium where guards were standing in line while Twilight’s brother was delivering some sort of speech. The young dragon scratched side of his head, careful not to hurt his adoptive mother, as he wondered why there was a mix of pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies. “Twilight, may I ask you a question?”

The little mare took few small steps towards Spike’s muzzle and carefully supported her forelegs against it as she looked into Spike’s eye from her upside down position. “Sure, what would you like to know?”

Spike pointed at the guards and then to the Wonderbolts and asked, “Why there are pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies on the guard’s side? Shouldn’t it be a match between pegasi? And also, why do the guards wear their armor instead of regular clothes for a hoofball game?”

Twilight looked at the pointed directions while still supporting herself against Spike’s muzzle. She quickly examined the playing field as on left and right side she could see four goals, one on the ground, and one specially made on clouds thirty meters above the ground.

She turned back to Spike and raised one of her forelegs as she explained, “Well, normally it would be either an air match between two teams of pegasi, or a ground match between two unicorn teams, or earth pony teams. In this case however all races are allowed to participate.”

“Simple. Wonderbolts have two goals, one in air and one on the ground, and two pegasi goalkeepers.” She took a quick breath and continued, “The guards have one pegasus goalkeeper in the air and one unicorn goalkeeper on the ground. There will be two hoofballs instead of one; one white that, according to rules, can only be used for goals on the clouds, and one green that can only be used on goals on the ground.” She pointed at the Wonderbolts while still maintaining her balance. “On the field there will be ten pegasi versus four pegasi, three earth ponies and three unicorns.”

Spike rubbed back of his next as he asked in confusion, “Wouldn't it be easier to place a no flying and no magic rule while keeping one goal on the ground only?” Much to the young drake’s surprise, Twilight stomped firmly against his muzzle and shot him an angered glare. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Yes you did,” Twilight said with clear disappointment. “Rules that don’t allow the use of magic take away the unicorn’s natural talent while their bodies are not made for physical sports. Pegasi would do better since they are more athletic, but without their wings, they wouldn’t stand a chance to compete against earth ponies. In the past, all competitions that restricted the use of magic and wings ended up with earth ponies scoring nearly all the goals, and every single first place ribbons. It was anything but fair.”

Spike blinked a few times before raising an eyebrow. “Let me guess. You read all the books you could find about hoofball you could before today’s event?”

In an instant, the anger vanished from Twilight’s face and was replaced with a cheerful smile. “Pretty much… well… not all, just a mere six since I was limited on time. I even sacrificed my exercising time for extra reading. I wouldn’t come unprepared, would I?”

Twilight walked back onto her spot on Spike’s head and continued, “Good. Hundreds of ponies in the audience ready to witness this showdown of epic proportions?”

Spike rolled his eyes. “We are standing next to a seat for a team’s bench while surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of seats. Clearly it is so hard to miss that we will need to start an investigation to make sure that we have audience sitting on them.“

Twilight ignored the sarcastic response and proceeded, “Princess Celestia sitting on a throne in VIP section.”

Spike looked towards the seats for important ponies, somewhat recognizing Blueblood and Fancy Pants, but the throne among them was empty. “She hasn’t arrived yet, but we still have time.”

Twilight lowered her head and rubbed her forehoof against Spike’s head with worry. The last time she saw the princess was when the exhausted alicorn slammed her head against a table after relocating several humongous monsters away from the city. It has been only a few days since then. “But what if she’s too tired and won’t come!” Twilight shouted with sudden realization as she placed forehooves on her checks. “Without her, this hoofball match cannot start, and thousand of ponies will get angry and–”

Spike shook his head, forcing Twilight to grab the scales. “Deep breaths, Twilight, deep breaths.”

Following her assistant’s advice, she pressed a forehoof against her own chest and next straightened up while taking one calming breath at a time. A trick Cadence had shown her not too long ago.

“Very good Twiny, I am proud of you,” said a feminine voice, which caused Twilight to flinch and turn 180º in mid air.

“Oh, it’s you Cadence? Shouldn’t you go to the VIP stand or Shining's team seat and cheer for him?” Twilight responded with a growing smile as she waved her hoof at the disguised alicorn. “And hello to you too Overwatch. If you’re looking for Steel Blade, I sent him to get us some bottles of water. He should get back in a few minutes.”

Cadence and Overwatch looked at the Wonderbolts and next at each other. As smirk grew across their lips, Cadence turned towards Twilight and said, “While I would love to cheer for my very special somepony, there is something… that I would like to take care of.”

Twilight titled her head to the side while Spike half closed his eyes and stared at the both ponies suspiciously. “You guys are planning something, aren’t you?”

Both Cadence and Overwatch giggled before nodding. The guard said first, “Yes we are, but we want it to be a surprise.” She shot Spitfire and Soarin' a satisfied stare before adding, “A very tasty one.”

With graceful flap of her majestic wings, the sun princess was making her way towards the stadium as she felt the warm breeze striking against her face. Two pegasus guards never left her side as she flew among the tall and decorative buildings of Canterlot during a cloudless, sunny day. It proved to be an impressive view indeed.

Despite the calm and pleasant atmosphere, the princess was anything but relaxed as many thoughts weighed on her mind.

Now directly over the throne prepared specifically for her. She gracefully descended. Her sad smile now hidden behind a mask of authority. In less than a year, my student will need to unlock the Elements and face my sister in order to save her… but what if something goes wrong… and I lose Twilight forever?

The moment tips of her golden horseshoes touched the cushion of the customized throne, she pushed those thoughts aside to focus on the here and now. She perched herself on it and closed her wings. She waved to the crowd while ignoring the welcoming speech. Not that she didn’t respect her subjects' efforts to praise and welcome her for such events, but there are only a few thousands of times one can listen to ‘the kind, the wise’, or ‘bringer of peace, prosperity and harmony’ before it starts to sink into the background noise.

Was my choice to send Shining Armor and allow his family to oversee the Wonderbolts a mistake? Now that I think about it, my decisions lately haven’t been very… wise. Maybe my stress and fears have been getting the best of me.

“Greetings my dear subjects,” Celestia spoke with magically enhanced voice as her horn was surrounded by a golden aura. “I must say that today’s event is quite… unlike anything we normally see. Not everyday can we witness such a competition between the proud Royal Guards and incredibly talented Wonderbolts.” She silenced herself for a moment to let the crowd cheer as she examined it with her sharp eye.

As a nearly two millennia old politician, she quickly noticed that the nobility and many non-noble unicorns weren’t too enthusiastic while some didn’t even look at her at all, which was no doubt caused by the change in her daily routine. Celestia spread her left wing slightly and looked at it for a moment.

Ever since I started to fly instead of using my chariot and stopped worrying too much about my public appearance, I somewhat offended many of the nobles and my advisors. Hopefully they will get used to it after few decades. Celestia’s forced smile grew slightly as she captured another small detail. On the other hoof, the pegasi took the appearance of a flying and more energetic princess quite well.

The moment silence overtook the stadium, she continued. “I will oversee this event personally and reward the winner. But before we start the ceremony, I would like to ask you all for a moment of silence for all who suffered from the disaster in Fillydelphia.”

The princess lowered her head in silence, and so did the crowd. In moments, the chattering of the stadium full of ponies was entirely replaced by the solemn wind which seemed to mourn the loss of pony lives along with everypony else.

After a minute of dead silence, the princess raised her head and continued, “The bits from today’s event will be used to support the restoration of Fillydelphia alongside the royal treasury.” After a short break to let the ponies cheer once again, she finished, “I wish you all to enjoy yourself on this memorable event my dear subjects, and may the best team win!”

The alicorn once again waved to the crowd before relaxing her muscles as she focused on finding her dear little student, which proved very difficult as even her sharp eyes couldn’t find the tiny mare in such large area, especially from such a distance due to the fact that her throne was positioned on the highest platform in the stadium.

Since she was no longer the center of attention, Celestia let her authoritative mask slip a little and her ears drooped. A sudden dull feeling of loneliness overtook her as she started to miss feeling the weight of her little student perched softly on her head behind her crown. She missed the little ball of energy nuzzling side of her cheek. She missed countless questions asked by a little pony sitting on her shoulder.

It hadn’t been long since the last time she saw Twilight, and only a month and a few days since the little unicorn started to study pegasus magic under Spitfire’s eye, but she already missed her. Celestia sighed. It seems that even such unique event like today’s match won’t be as enjoyable as I hoped for without… a little company.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Overwatch asked as she levitated over a banner, hammer and few nails. Too focused on her task to look at her alicorn friend… If being a guard on duty while her charge was being foalsat could count as a friendship with the foalsitter.

“Whose special talent is spreading love, hmn?” Cadence teased as she levitated a table and two seats made of an elegant wood, masterfully crafted to fit the most romantic restaurants. Thanks to help of a conservation spell and several years of working in carpentry over two centuries ago, she was more than equipped and prepared to pull off her plan.

Overwatch rolled her eyes before wiping sweat from her head. “Done,” she said with satisfied tone before turning to Cadence, quickly focusing on cups filled with purple liquid on the table. “Are those…”

“Yes, it is,” Cadence responded as she turned to the side and hid her smirk.

As her eyes widened, Overwatch trotted closer and examined the liquid before slapping her hoof against the table. “This is exactly the same potion that Twilight gave Blueblood during April Foals Day. Do you have any idea how unclean I felt after he chased me over entire Castle while shouting how much he loves me?”

“Come on Overwatch, aren’t you always the one who teases and pranks others for the fun and giggles? Chill out a little.”

Overwatch frowned. “How can I chill out when you want to force Soarin' and Spitfire to love each other with love potions?”

Cadence levitated over a tablecloth and a disco ball as she carefully placed them in their rightful location. “And what’s wrong with that? It is obvious that Soarin’ and Spitfire are made for each other. They just need a little push.” When Cadance noticed that Overwatch’s face growing red with anger, she poked her own horn and added, “And if that fails, I always have my trump card.”

“You… you…” Overwatch said hesitantly as she took a step back and raised her forehoof accusingly, suddenly, she closed her eyes and added with annoyed tone, “...you’re messing with me.”

“Awww…” Cadence responded with a pout. “And I was so close.” The disguised alicorn focused on the drinks as her horn lit in blue aura once again, and the pink color of the drink changed back to orange.

The guard raised her eyebrow. “Illusion spell… neat.” She chuckled before adding, “I must admit, you nearly got me on this one.”

“Thank you. Just because my special talent is spreading love, it doesn’t mean I force it on anypony. Love is something to cherish and nurse, only then it can bloom, ” Cadence responded as Overwatch nodded in agreement. As the disguised alicorn levitated over two large speakers and placed on a small platform, she asked, “The equipment was delivered, but where’s the musician?”

The guard approached her partner in crime and placed forehoof on her shoulder, “You mean Vinyl? She said something about hanging out with her friend and that she will be here before the match is over.” With her attention now focused on trays with various snacks, she licked her lips and said with a sneaky smile, “Say… shouldn’t you be cheering up for your very special somepony?” The moment Cadence looked her in the eyes, Overwatch added, “Just go and give him some moral support. I will hold the fort.”

Cadence raised an eyebrow and asked, “You mean, act like a shouting and jumping cheerleader while I watch how Shiny is getting his flank kicked left and right?”

Overwatch nodded before her eyes opened widely. She took away her foreleg from Cadence’s shoulder and took a step back. She said with confused tone, “You mean… watch how he kicks flanks left and right?”

Cadence shook her head as she raised her forehoof up to her face level and said with relaxed tone, “The saying that love is blind is totally overrated. I may be in love with Shiny, but even I can see that this is a lost match. I would bet his team can score at least one or two points to ten of the opposite team.”

Overwatch’s ears dropped as she looked to the side, forgetting for a moment about the food. “Oh… I must say. Your faith in your stallion is sure an inspiration for all us single ladies.”

Cadence rolled her eyes. “Do not get me wrong. I know that Shining Armor is very athletic for an unicorn, and his raw power is outstanding while his shields and barriers are incredibly powerful, but with a team made of clumsy royal guards, even he cannot pull a miracle to beat the Wonderbolts.”

Cadence nodded. “I never told him that, but Royal Guards from Canterlot would fail to stop a few thieves from escaping, more or less an entire invasion force. I spent enough time working in Canterlot for these past few centuries to notice that all their experience and skills they earned from their training in the barracks slowly diminish over the years.” She sighed and continued in depressed tone, “The fresh recruits would no doubt fight with all their strength and will, dedicated to protect the city, but the veterans are more for show. They either get bored after guarding parties organized by nobles while standing like statues, or they just look intimidating, but when it comes to it, they are more for show.”

Overwatch lifted her foreleg defensively and frowned. She turned her head to the side while raising her muzzle. “Excuse me, but if you haven’t notice, Steelie and I are Canterlot guards. We were once assigned to guard the princess herself for few years, and next our duties switched to protect her student. Are you trying to say that we are clumsy and incompetent?”

Cadence took a step back as she was out of words. She couldn’t blame Twilight’s guards for their difficulties in keeping her out of trouble, as the little mare would no doubt make a hundred of guards run for their bits. She also saw what Overwatch is capable of, especially when targeting the Wonderbolts. “Well…” she started with weak voice. “Considering your sniping skills, you must find a lot of time to practice your aim. Not to mention that being Twilight’s guards give you many opening to stay in shape, like that snowball war we once had. I bet it was the most exciting activity the castle guards had in years.”

Overwatch kept her muzzle raised as she rubbed her armored forehoof against her chest, careful not to pull her favourite scarf. “I have a reputation to maintain.”

“Though when it comes to Steel Blade… he is a bit of a pushover, no offense,” the alicorn added.

Overwatch lowered her head and frowned. “Don’t call Steelie a pushover. He is my pushover, and only I can call him that! Got it?”

The alicorn giggled as she slowly approached the exit and sat in front of the door. “I better check on Shiny. He may need my help after the Wonderbolts crush his ego.” She turned to Overwatch and added, “Oh, and no snack eating. If I find any missing, I will hold you responsible.”

Cadence stopped her raised foreleg in mid air and responded, “Well… from a pony's standards, I am very old, though not ancient, thank Celestia.”

Overwatch nodded as she drew a conclusion. “So by alicorn’s standards, you and Shining Armor are like a mare and a colt.”

“Pretty much, now if you'll excuse me. I have a colt to cheer up, and don’t let me catch you eating anything, or else I will have to ground you,” Cadence finished as she walked outside and closed the door, leaving the guard alone in the room.

Overwatch blinked a few times before shrugging as she said to herself, "Alicorns, who can understand them?"

My Little Medic

by CommanderX5

Ch12 - Match Preparations