//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirty: Recovery // Story: The Equestrian Venture // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// The Equestrian Venture Chapter Thirty: Recovery Written by TheCrimsonDM The day was quiet and peaceful, a day the likes of which Fluttershy always enjoyed. In fact it was so nice out today that Fluttershy had decided to bring Pinkie Pie along with her for a relaxing picnic. So there she was lying on the blanket and staring longingly into the bright blue sky, with Pinkie Pie who was currently eating a plate full of cupcakes. Fluttershy looked over at Pinkie and gave the pony a gentle smile, Pinkie returned the smile. “Isn’t today just lovely?” Fluttershy asked. Pinkie Pie stretched out her forelegs and replied, “It is the best day for a picnic, thanks for inviting me, Fluttershy. When are the others arriving?” “Oh, well you see, um, I didn’t exactly invite anypony else,” Fluttershy admitted. “Why not?” Pinkie asked cheerfully. “Well, um… I don’t want to sound rude… but if you really want to know…” Fluttershy trailed off. After a moment of silence Pinkie Pie said, “Of course I want to know.” “Oh, okay. Well, Twilight likes to study while we picnic so it always feels like she’s not really here. Rainbow Dash either sleeps, or she can’t sit still. Applejack is working today. Rarity doesn’t like to roll in the grass like we do. And Rita is busy with Princess Celestia today,” Fluttershy explained. “So I decided that maybe, if you wanted, we could spend some quality time together.” Pinkie Pie just smiled brightly before saying, “Aww, that’s so sweet. Thank you so much for inviting me.” “You’re welcome,” Fluttershy said. The two of them continued to bask in the relaxing sun for a long while afterwards. Until Celestia and Applejack showed up that is. Applejack’s face was grim, and Celestia’s serious. Fluttershy noticed right off the bat that Rita wasn’t with Celestia, and that worried her instantly. With Fluttershy’s ears folding back she forced herself to ask the two new comers, “What’s wrong?” Applejack covered her face with her hat and left Celestia to answer. “Fluttershy, Rita’s been hurt.” Fluttershy jumped into the air, her blood pumping hot and furious. She stared angrily for a moment at Celestia and just as quickly as her anger came in, fear and panic followed. Pinkie Pie was up and on her hooves almost as suddenly. Fluttershy felt herself begin to shake but she ignored it and asked, “Where is she? Where is my Rita?” *** The night was cool and the stars shone brightly above and Rita lay there in their sleeping bag with Estella holding onto her tightly. Rita looked over and admired the sleeping form of Estella, seeing the princess always made her smile, especially at night. Rita returned to gazing up at the stars and wondering what they would be doing after this war was over, after they defeated The Chaos Lord. Nobody had really talked much about what they would do afterwards, and the topic always darkened the mood. Honestly speaking out of everyone there, Rita had already decided what she was going to do after it was all over. She was going to tell Estella how she really felt, she was going to kiss the princess for the very first time, and then she was going to live happily ever after. Of course this would take awhile to accomplish but everything was going to be perfect. The sound of footsteps grabbed hold of Rita’s attention and so she quickly pretended to sleep. Rita didn’t have to look in order to know what was going on. Crow had come back from his shift and he was going to trade places with Lamont for the rest of the night. Snow had already done her shift, and for tonight at least Reed, Estella, and Rita were allowed to sleep unabridged. Rita however woke up in the middle of the night and decided to just enjoy the night sky until she could fall asleep again. Crow sounded serious as he said, “Okay, Lamont. I did the reconnaissance that you asked for… and you’re not going to like the results.” Sounding very much as though he had been awake the whole night Lamont answered quietly, “What did you see?” “They have three dragons, a platoon of dragonkin warriors, and worst of all Chaos is there in the middle of it all. He’s already taken control of the Spire. If we can even manage to get past all of that, we still have to contend with Chaos… and from the looks of it, he’s reverted to his original form. Frankly put, I think that we’re screwed,” Crow explained. A dead silence filled the air for a couple of minutes and Rita could only imagine what Lamont looked like as he sat there thinking about what to do next. He was the tactical one, and he would have the best strategy but in a situation such as this, Rita believed that Lamont could still pull through. Finally at great length Lamont spoke again, “We are going to pick up what’s left of the knights, and if we’re lucky the Arcane Society will have some Sentinels left. If we can get them we will be able to push through and make our way to Chaos without much trouble. Speaking of Sentinel’s how many did you spy at the Spire?” “I didn’t see more than five of the generation two Sentinel units. That’s good news in and of itself. I guess if we can get those knights on bored we will be able to walk right through the enemy lines. Perhaps we should also invest in some bards for our victory march after we win,” Crow said. “Ha, that would be a terrible idea. Though you and me both know that before we even begin our assault we will need to discuss just how difficult this battle will be. It’s a suicide mission, chances are that none of us are coming back in one piece, if at all,” Lamont said darkly. Silence again filled the air, and only after a moment did Rita hear Crow say, “Wait a minute, Rita’s breathing changed. She’s awake!” *** Pain filled Rita’s world as she opened her eyes and tried to scream. For a moment she couldn’t figure out why nothing came out and then suddenly she inhaled deeply. She quickly fought the urge to scream a second time as the white hot pain flashed through her back. She looked around quickly and saw Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and even Princess Celestia staring back at her. Fluttershy walked over with quiet slow steps before sitting down in front of the bed that Rita found herself on. Fluttershy gave a timid smile to Rita but said nothing. The pain in her back began to subside allowing Rita to think clearly, and the first thing she did was try to figure out where she was. The room she was in was a plain wooden room, with a few paintings on the wall, and some furnishing but for the most part it was empty. Rita stupidly tried to sit up and as the pain came flying back at great speeds she gave up on the idea. Rita instead stared pitifully at Fluttershy, praying for some information as to what was going on. Nopony spoke to her but they all looked nervous, except for Fluttershy who smiled worriedly at Rita. Finally having enough of the silent treatment Rita managed to ask, “What happened?” Fluttershy used a wing tip to gently brush back Rita’s hair as she explained, “You were hurt while you were saving Acorn.” Rita thought back to the farm, the rats, and the pony trapped on the roof. The memories suddenly all flooded back and she remembered how that one rat had gotten her in a sneak attack. Rita closed her eyes and said lamely, “I failed…” “No you didn’t, sugarcube. If it wasn’t for you Acorn would be gone… you saved mah family, Rita,” Applejack said in what Rita could almost believe to be a kind tone of voice. “I got attacked because I was careless, I could’ve gotten Acorn killed, I could’ve gotten Heart Drizzle killed. I failed Applejack… I’m sorry,” Rita apologized quietly. “Now Ah don’t want to hear that kind of attitude from you. You just saved mah family at risk of yer own. So you better straighten up that act and realize that you did good, much better than most ponies could,” Applejack said. Rita couldn’t believe that Applejack was actually acting like she cared about her. Rita gave up on arguing the point with Applejack and just said, “Whatever.” Rita looked down at her body which was covered up by a blanket and the sudden realization of the fact that she was topless underneath the bed made her give out a tiny yelp. Fluttershy quickly asked, “Are you okay?” “I-I-I’m naked! Fluttershy, they took my clothes off, they saw me…” Rita closed her eyes tightly and began wishing that the world would just end. “We’re all naked, Rita. What’s the big deal?” Applejack asked. “First of all, it’s not appropriate for humans to be naked. Secondly, that means that you saw my… you saw my scars,” Rita explained quietly. Nopony made a sound after that but Fluttershy did continue to brushing Rita’s hair. After a long moment Pinkie Pie walked up to the bed a little quickly for Rita’s taste, and suddenly she grabbed the blanket and everypony gasped as Pinkie swiftly removed the blanket. Rita was left speechless at Pinkie’s actions but her attention was quickly drawn to the bandages they had wrapped around her chest. Pinkie Pie just stared in silence. “What the hay, Pinkie!” Applejack cried out. Pinkie smiled a sly little smile and said, “You see, Rita. You were hurt pretty badly by the rat and so they had to bandage you up. You shouldn’t feel bad that they got to see you naked either, because you’re beautiful.” Despite the pain and embarrassment, Rita sat up and reached out for the blanket, quickly the pain became too much and the world darkened. Her body became weightless and she fell forward. She stopped and felt her exposed skin brushing against soft pink fur. A warm furry leg wrapped itself around her lower back and Pinkie Pie said, “Shh, I know you’re mad at me right now. But I just wanted to see… you truly are beautiful.” Rita could’ve hit Pinkie if the effort to move wouldn’t have threatened to knock her unconscious. Rita instead just growled and sunk into Pinkie’s warmth. After a moment she began to really enjoy how warm Pinkie’s fur was, it was like being hugged by a giant kitty. Rita let out a sigh of frustration and said, “Whatever, just… you aren’t allowed to stop holding me now. I don’t care if you had plans for anything else, I decided that you have to hold me now. The end.” Pinkie Pie smiled softly and said, “Anything you want.” The bedroom door opened and three more ponies filled the already almost full room. Rita looked at the seven ponies and groaned, it was only expected that all six of them would be converging in on an event like this. Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash all stared with big worried eyes at Rita. Rarity looked over at Applejack and asked, “Do you know how hard it was to find Acorn’s house? It is all the way in the very back of your farm, darling. We had to get directions from Golden Harvest.” “Carrot Top is nice like that, though Ah’m surprised she was able to talk with her daughter being hurt an all,” Applejack said. Rita looked around and although the room didn’t stand out immediately she did feel like it would’ve belonged inside of Acorn’s little home. Of course with her father gone, it felt more like she was invading the poor mare’s space. “What is Acorn doing?” Rita asked. Everypony looked a little surprised to hear Rita ask that but Applejack answered, “She’s being taken care of by Heart Drizzle. He’s going to take care of her for awhile until she’s healed from this. It’s hard losing a parent.” When Applejack finished saying that, Rita spotted a sad look coming from the orange mare that only lasted a second. Pinkie Pie helped Rita to sit up straight on the bed and then she turned around to look at everypony. Rita got a sudden feeling that Pinkie Pie was about to do something that she wouldn’t like. Pinkie Pie grinned brightly. “Everypony we have wonderful news for you,” Pinkie Pie started. “If it’s okay with, Rita, that is.” “Might as well tell them now, considering I’m too injured to do anything else.” “YES!” Pinkie shouted with joy. “Me and Rita are dating!” Everyponies mouths hit the floor, all except for Celestia who just smiled in quiet approval. It was like everypony had just been shell-shocked and had no idea what to do, nor how to process the sudden information. After a bit everypony began looking very awkward. Fluttershy was the first one to calm down from the shock and she smiled. “That’s so cute. You two are adorable together.” Rarity smiled nervously and said, “Well… I suppose that I can’t be one to judge who you should be with. If you need anything I’ll support you.” Rainbow Dash starched her head and asked, “Uh… how does that work. You know how do you two have-” Rarity kindly put a hoof up to Rainbow’s mouth and said, “Darling, it is rude to ask those kinds of questions.” Applejack raised an eyebrow and said, “You know Ah had my suspicions but Ah didn’t actually think that you would go this far. Pinkie, you do realize that Rita isn’t a pony… right?” “I don’t care what she is, she’s my special somepony and that’s all that matters,” Pinkie Pie stated proudly. “Alright, so long as you know it’s gonna get awkward,” Applejack said. Twilight shook her head and said bitterly, “Crap. This isn’t fair, I thought that you were… ugh. The one human that comes to our world and you get to her first.” Everypony looked at Twilight suddenly forcing her to explain, “What I like humans. You all knew that already when I told you about Flash.” “This explains why you haven’t tried spending much time with the pony version of him,” Rarity said. Rita leaned against Pinkie’s back and wrapped her arms around Pinkie’s neck before saying, “You know, I haven’t told anyone but I think my birthday might be coming up.” “Yep, in exactly four days,” Pinkie Pie said excitedly. “H-h-how do you know that? I haven’t even told Fluttershy?” Rita asked. “I’m the party pony, Pinkie Pie, duh…” Pinkie replied. Rita gave up on trying to understand Pinkie’s nonsense and instead chose to snuggle into the pink curly mane that was in front of her. Rita smiled as she took in the scent of frosting. Now that everypony knew about this, Rita didn’t have to hide it anymore, although they weren’t really hiding it in the first place. Rita yawned and a sudden wave of exhaustion hit her. Rita carefully and painfully laid down after that. It took a moment but Pinkie Pie managed to get in and snuggle her without actually hurting Rita. Pinkie Pie stretched her neck back to look at everypony and said quietly, “its nap time everypony. If you don’t mind, we would like to sleep alone please. We can gossip about this later, okay?” Nopony argued although Rita heard a few confused comments from the group as they fled out of the bedroom door. As soon as the door closed behind them Pinkie laid her head just above Rita’s and said, “You’ve been working really hard to help us, and you totally deserve a break. I’ll be here when you wake up, promise.” After that Rita slipped away into her dreams. Even though she was being held by a lovable pink pony, she still had strange dreams that shifted from being a virtual paradise, into a complete nightmare. Oftentimes hanging on somewhere in between the two. Her sleep wasn’t going to be very restful.