There was no dream, not from this sleep. One moment I closed my eyes, having fed Stick, the next I was missing time and then awake. I was in a hospital bed.
"Interesting medical history, you see." The voice was familiar and I tried opening my eyes more to get a better look but the light of the room was too intense. "It took contacting two princesses and a queen to understand all this. I can tell you are awake."
"Doctor Horse?" My own voice was too loud for me and it was then I realized he had been whispering.
"The very one. So, it looks like your… other physician was right, a little alicorn magic and you were cured of quite a string of problems. Of course if you weren't so keen on getting new ones you wouldn't be here. Lets see if I follow." He set his cane on the bed and sat down on the comfortable looking couch. "Captured by changelings, your magic got twisted in defense to their pods leading to an overall weakening but the energy shunts to other places. Then you get beaten about the head, force a medic to give you… wow, not my first choice, okay then you nearly burn out your magic pouring it all into another changeling to save their life?"
My head swam a little, but it sounded right. I gave the slightest nod before some of the words tickled another part of me. "Stick…" I winced at my own voice, quieting down, "Stick is okay?"
"She is fine, carapace has some interesting scars, but her queen assures me that her own people have checked her over. As for you, you overreached your power level, not by much, but you are learning." The cane was levitating up and bopped me on the nose. "Don't do that again. You are on the road to recovery from that, the changes to your magic are, as others have likely told you, irreparable."
The news about my marefriend was all I really cared about, the rest got stored away for 'later-me' to deal with. "Can I see Stick?"
There was silence for a few moments. "You can come in now."
A nose, wiggling against my neck. A gentle brush of fangs there made me shudder a little. "You tremble, you felt me… you felt me do the worst a changeling could." With her nose up closer to my ear now I turned, eyes closed, kissing a cheek.
"You felt me when you did that. You drank and I kept feeding." She nodded against my ear and I felt a droplet of liquid touch the side of my head, then another. "I have seen you, Stick, seen how you are at your best, worst and now I want to see all the bits in between." The liquid fell more and I reached a hoof up, fighting dizziness to pull her close. "You weren't the worst. You bit, you drank. You didn't savage me."
"I should go…" The doctor had no trace of apology in his voice and it broke the moment, I couldn't not giggle as his cane made a few sounds bumping out.
"Silly Stick, I fell in love with you, not what is between your legs, nor what is in your mouth." My hoof reached up and mussed up the girl's green mane. "Now, do I get something to eat?"
She giggled, sniffed, chittered and it seemed her lips were on the menu as we kissed. We kissed and kissed. I relaxed, let my emotions flow. How proud I was, how safe I felt with her, how much I loved her. I really hoped it was all rooted in love, so she could taste it all. I had to break the kiss in the end, Stick having climbed up, precariously, beside me at some point. "I wasn't joking, love." My belly rumbled and she snorted. Her magic triggered the nurse call.
We didn't have to wait long before a nurse arrived, eyebrow raised at our both being on the bed. "None of that now." She fussed, the earth pony coming in and adjusting the bed but, I noticed, she adjusted it so Stick was comfortable as well.
"She's hungry." Stick's voice was steady but a hoof curled under me and I sank into her grip.
The nurse smiled. "Good sign. Lets get you something tasty." She checked the chart at the foot of the bed and nodded, leaving.
"I got somepony sorted to visit Ponyville. Queen Fast already got Rarity's message, I vouched and when she heard Rarity is one of the Elements… A clever drone is heading out, he is amazing, can mimic anypony with just a glance." I watched her talk, watched how her mouth moved, how her teeth helped form the words. I smiled a lot because she stopped talking about something I hadn't been following. "What are you looking at?"
In answer I leaned up and kissed her, my tongue seeking out and curling around one fang. As I drew back I grinned. "Learning all the parts of you."
"Ahem!" The exclamation from the stealthy nurse had me blush as I turned. "Now, this is just basic fare, but I want her eating it all." Was she addressing Stick instead of me.
"Don't worry, if she knows what's good for her, she will eat every bite." Her emphasis on the last word had me blush more. The nurse hadn't noticed and left the plate of vegetables boiled to within an inch of their lives with us. "I mean it… why do you get so spicy when I talk like that?"
I shrugged, trying to reach with my mouth to the plate, only to have it tugged away by green magic. "Oh no, I got this. Open up." A soft wooden fork brandished some food from the plate toward my mouth and I obediently opened it. It was as bland as it looked but having Stick feed it to me made it so much better.
I wasn't even aware, this time, of falling asleep. Waking up I felt a warm and hard body beside me. Stick. I channeled, it was not easy but I got a little magic flowing and directed it all, carefully, to her. I almost froze when, still asleep, Stick flung a leg over me. It almost startled me to stop but I didn't, holding the thread of channel going, even weakly. She was just so cute.
"Is there something," her voice startled me from a half-doze, "that makes you taste better every day? Is there a spice you are bathing in?" I laughed and held her close.
"There is something that I keep with me, rub all over me, each and every day." I tilted my eyes a little and glanced at her with my nose pointed down. "Mmm, you." I did just that, I rubbed my cheek against her neck and mane, I nibbled her ears and traced back down for a kiss. "Can we get out of here soon?"
"Oh, don't mind me." Doctor Horse's voice was the picture of innocence, even as he strolled over to the window and flung it open. He turned back with an accusing look but grumbled when he saw the bright light had stopped affecting me. "Alright. And here I thought I would get the whole show." He stomped from the room and neither of us could hold back giggles.
Stick rolled off the bed, landing with four little clops of her hooves and I felt her magic curl around me, lifting and bringing me off the bed too. She lowered me down slowly, easing my weight onto my hooves. Moving each leg, I was stiff but not overly so. It took a little convincing to get them to let me out, the doctor eventually came up and just signed the form they were not wanting to let me have. "We don't keep healthy ponies."
Stick giggled at this as we turned, making our way outside. "Where were we?" I turned to Stick and she held up a hoof.
"As soon as you were out I am to deliver you to Celestia." I sighed. "I know we just came from there but that is beside the point." I sighed louder and tried to make puppy eyes but she bopped me on the nose with the raised hoof. "No, lets go." She was giggling as she used her magic to push me.
"Meanie." I nipped her shoulder but followed.
"You like my teeth?" Her question, out of context, had me blink.
"I like to feel them-" She shook her head and I stopped.
"I mean these teeth." Her feeding-self was at me, I could feel as she touched my emotional centers, stroking them with her fangs but not biting. I trembled a little but it wasn't in fear. I nodded to her. "Tell me why."
Shaking off that feeling, I leaned against her. "I was honest, I don't like, well…" She nodded. "But I do like, well… that."
"Finally!" I blinked and moved apart from her loud exclamation. "Finally I have found it, something that does more than make your ears twitch!" I blushed so hard I was worried I wouldn't stop before our visit. "Come here you." Stick moved, though, stepping close again and just rubbing flank and shoulder. "If nothing else, your changeling stalker can catch her pretty little filly and eat her all up." Nope, that blush wouldn't be stopping, particularly since the castle guard were almost right in front of us. "Hi! Princess Celestia is expecting us."
"This way." One of the guards stepped, turned and led us not to the court but to a private room.
We entered to find the princess eating cake, carefully, from some ornate china. I couldn't help a smile. Despite everything, every turn and reveal that this was a real world, something would come up and show me how close things were to the show sometimes.
She sat patiently, finishing her mouthful. "I wondered if you were as much of a magnet to these things as Silver and you have proved, partially, to be. You lack only scale. You ran into a small group of changelings and brought them back to Canterlot. Silver brought the better part of a hive." I blinked at the new information, was he really responsible for Stick being here?
"They were both good things!" Stick exclaimed, clopping a cute hoof down.
"I never said they were not good things, I was referring to the fact that where humans go, things happen. Why didn't you settle down, find a nice stallion, run your business?" Celestia hooked another fork of cake and took it, sighing as she chewed.
"You are right. But also, because I am not wired like that." I stepped up and challenged her to stop me from laying down on a comfy-looking cushion. "You and Luna saved my life, you gave me back what I had lost and… you can trust me when I tell you I am really grateful. I would do anything you asked, princess, but I can't go against who I am." Stick got the hint and walked up, laying down beside me and nibbling on one ear as a distraction I welcomed then. "Take me or leave me, I am your pony now."
She slowly chewed her cake, then another mouthful. "You are terrible at this, Penny Farthing, absolutely terrible. My sister makes you promise her a boon to be made one of her newest breed of pony. She asks that boon of you and you not only accept something you would never otherwise do, but you offer her another boon." She scooped more cake and took her time. I could see she was on a roll and the cake looked really good, so I didn't interrupt. "And now, you come to me, offering your service with no compensation?" Her hoof struck down to the floor.
"I won't have it." Princess Celestia nodded.
It was about then I realized what exactly I had offered and, more, I saw that it was probably why she turned me down. "Come back in a year, if you feel that way, I will find a task for you. For now you will get better, you will learn to use that horn and you will go to the Crystal Empire." She scooped more cake and pointed to the now open door with a hoof.
"Did you follow that?" Stick waved a hoof to the guards as we walked out.
I waved too. "Not really, I… I guess I should tell you about my boon to Luna.
"Save it for the train, lets get tickets for the front this time." I nodded to her suggestion. I really didn't want to have to think about getting in another situation for a while.