Star Trek: You Won't Go Home Again...

by Aceman67


Chapter 6 - To Get Somewhere, First, You Have To Take a Step Forward

"Come on, you're doing great!" Fluttershy enthused in that excited, yet quiet tone of hers.

She stood a scant few inches from me as I took step after wobbly step on my new set of four legs between a set of parallel bars, using my wings to steady myself when I needed it. Doctor Horses thought it would be best if I spent some time in the physical therapy room until I was confident enough to walk in my own, especially after the disastrous first attempt I made getting out of bed the first time. My nose still hurt from the face...snout...muzzle? plant I did. Oh, boy, this is going to take some getting used too.

It had been two days since I had woken up the way I am now. I still didn't recognize the visage I see when I look into a mirror. Dr. Hartmare said that my mind would eventually adjust, to just give it time. I figured that was what she would say, shrinks tend to use the age old 'time heals all things' in their prescriptions.

"How much longer are you going to be? I want to show you just how awesome those wings can be!" Rainbow asked, hovering around the ceiling. I just rolled my eyes.

"Learning to walk with four legs isn't as easy as you think, especially when I only had two of them a few days ago." I shot up at her. Fluttershy briefly gave her friend an annoyed glance before turning back to me and smiling as I took another step.

"Try and imagine it from his perspective, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, glancing up from the book she was reading. "When I went through the mirror, it took me a while to get my balance on two legs. I'm sure it won't be that much longer before you have him flying into the dirt like when you were teaching me..."

"So, my flight instructor is going be a sadist? Great." I said with all the sarcasm I could muster.

Every... pony? Seriously, did I just think that?, turned and faced Rainbow to see her response, only to get a blank stare. Twilight facehoofed, and I just shook my head and laughed.

"What?" Rainbow asked, clearly not understanding what was happening. What I didn't expect was to hear a small giggle out of Fluttershy. Normally she likes to stay out of the lighthearted teasing her friends and I like to toss around at each other, but to hear her laugh, especially at the expense of her friends cluelessness, it was just something new.

"Rainbow, Sugah-cube, a sadist is somepony who gets a kick off somepony else having a rough go a'things."

"What? I... Never!" Rainbow huffed, her face turning as crimson as a pony could with a blue coat.

"You did laugh at me." Twilight pointed out.

While the rest of my friends enjoyed their own brand of 'sadism' teasing Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy got in close and touched her nose to mine and began to whisper.

"Come on, give it another go. I know you can do it." She told me, giving a warm smile.

Donning a smile of my own, I stood up as straight as my wobbly legs would allow me and took tentative step after tentative step, with the last several with-out the aid of the parallel bars. The effort to stay upright was enough to generate enough sweat to soak my coat, its colour visibly darkening. Exhausted, I lowered myself to the floor as Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs and wings around me.

"See, I told you," she whispered into my ear. "I'm so proud of you."

"Did he do it?!" Sweetie Belle asked as she trotted into the room with her sister and Pinkie Pie following close behind.

"You bet your flank he did!" Rainbow exclaimed circling the ceiling. "Nothing can keep Jimbo down!"

"That's wonderful, darling." Rarity enthused with a genuine smile, and beside her in a very uncharacteristic fashion, Pinkie Pie let out a sound that could only be described as air escaping some rubber toy being squeezed.

Walking over to me, Sweetie Belle helped Fluttershy with getting me up to my feet, and I turned to her. "So, did you tell her?" I asked Sweetie.

She stopped in her tracks and I immediately winced, realizing that I just forced something on her that she didn't want to deal with yet.

"Tell who what?" Rarity inquired.

"Thanks, James," Sweetie said to me quietly before taking in a deep breath. "Well, where to start..."


Seven Months Ago...

"Ugh... I can't do this!" I yelled, throwing the book out the window of the old HQ of the Cutiemark Crusaders.

"Ow!" Somepony called out. "Sweetie Belle, that you?"

"James?" I asked in shock, then quietly waited as he climbed up into the rather small clubhouse. It had been years since Applebloom, Scootaloo and I had all been together in this place, and it had seen better days with obvious signs of neglect starting to show, it just seemed... smaller.

The tall human, ducking to avoid hitting his head on the celing, found a spot in the corner and sat down, then offered the book I had thrown out the window. Taking it with my magic, I put it down next to the others.

"What's up?" He asked.

"I'm studying," I answered far more sharply than I had intended. "At least I'm trying too."

"Well, throwing books out windows at the unsuspecting masses isn't how you go about doing that." He joked. "What are you hung up on?"

"I'm good with everything else, but these math questions are just too bucking hard." I told him, levitating over a small stack of paper. He laughed at my cursing but didn't say anything while he looked over what I gave him.

While I knew he had been learning how to read our language in the years he had been living here, he still needed his... Tricorder?, to translate some things, and this was no exception.

"Wait, 'University of Manehatten School of Medicine'?" He asked rhetorically. "This is a practice exam."

"I want to get into Med School, that's a practice test for the entrance exam."

"Math, huh?"

"Yeah..."

"You know, I'm pretty good at math."

"Really?"

"I'm a pilot, Sweetie, it's a pretty important skill for me to have. So," He began. "You want some help?"

My eyes widened considerably at the offer as I rushed to give him a hug.

* * *

Later that week...

"A patient weighing fifty-two kilograms is prescribed to receive twenty-five micrograms of medication per kilogram per minute over an hour. How many milligrams of medication total is needed?" James asked.

"Well, 1mcg is 0.001mg, so 25mcg is 0.025mg, multiply that by 52 and you get 1.3mg per minute. To get the total amount needed, multiply that by 60... 78mg!" I answered.

"Give the mare a gold star!" He said enthusiastically, then his face got serious. "Now it's great that you can do that in your head, now show me on paper." He said, tapping his finger on the sheet in front of me.

He watched over me as I wrote out the equation to figure out the ratio to answer the question, then nodded in approval.

"Told you ratio's aren't that hard." James said, ruffling my curly mane. "You know what, you got this. You're ready."

"You think so?"

"You aced the non-math portions of the test, and you were able to answer the math portions fairly accurately." He told me. "You'll do fine."

"There's a test next week in Manehatten..." I asked in a leading fashion.

"I'm sure your sister would gladly take you."

"I... Kinda haven't told her I'm applying."

"Why not?"

"Med School is a lot of money! Mom and Dad don't make that much and Sis only makes enough to maintain her business and support us both." I told him. "I can't ask her to pay that much.

"Have you looked at any scholarships? Grants? Bursaries?"

"I..." I started. "I hadn't thought of that." I realized.

"This entrance exam, combined with your school performance are all used as a basis for qualifying for scholarships right?"

I nodded.

"And you still don't want to ask your sister till you know you got in and maybe got some scholarships?"

I gave a weak smile.

"Tell you what, I'll talk to Rarity and contrive some reason to take the train out to Manehatten with you, say you were talking about it and want to take me to see the sights or something, I'll take you."

"You think she'll say yes?"

"I'm pretty persuasive."


"I got into Med School at ManeU..." Sweetie Belle said sheepishly and was met with silence from the room. Everypony, save me who wore a knowing smile, was stunned.

Rarity simply let out a shrill 'eeee' before embracing her sister in a tight hug, then pushed her away.

"When did you apply? Don't they have an entrance exam... The trip to Manehatten!" She quickly figured then turned to me. "James?"

I just smiled. Her eyes narrowed at me in a scornful glare.

"Med School is several years at least... Mother and Father could help a lot and I can pay some... oh my..." Rarity continued with a shocked look on her face as she ran the costs of her sisters tuition in her head.

"Rarity..."

"I guess I could cut back on the fall and winter lines productions to save money, might even increase demand and get more bits than normal..."

"Sis!" Sweetie said loudly, getting her sister to snap her head around to face her. "I was one of the recipients of the Lunar Continuing Education Scholarship. It's not a full ride, but tuition, textbooks, and supplies are paid for." She explained. "Just have to worry about living expenses."

"Well then. That's much easier." Rarity said calmly, but still had the same shocked look on her face, but it slowly softened to a smile as tears of joy welled up in her eyes. "My little sister is going to be a Doctor."

As everypony else started to congratulate Sweetie Belle, Fluttershy nuzzled my neck and leaned up against me just enough as to not throw me off balance.

"That was very sweet of you to help her out." She told me. I could hear the smile in her voice. "Just another thing to love about you."

"Doctor said I could go home today." I told her.

"Want to sneak out of here?" She suggested with a small mischievous grin.

"Sure."

Avoiding the attention of the others, and with Fluttershy to lean on when needed, we carefully left the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pinkie's head rise above the rest. She raised her eyebrows twice at me and winked with a rather unsavory and knowing grin.