New Beginnings, Montana
The door to the playground of the elementary school in New Beginnings, Montana opens to disgorge over a hundred foals and a few humans. Happy cries sound out, showing that some free time is now available. Some earth ponies grab a hoofball and set up an impromptu hoofball game like they’ve done nearly every day during the school year. Behind the rest of the crowd, Dizzy Twister trots out with her friends, not really all that worried about cutie marks today; math and science are the subjects stressing them out at the moment.
But forget all that, it’s time to blow off some steam. Zap Apple and Berry Breeze both spread their wings and streak off; at the same time, Dizzy’s horn glows softly, her aura expands around her body, and she streaks off with her friends. She’s not very good at flying with her magic—if she gets too fast or too high, her ears start to hurt—but she can play with her friends with that.
One of the few humans catches the ball that was just thrown to him. His hands glow a bright purple, and the ball accelerates towards the pegasus that had tossed the ball to him. He looks up and drops to the ground with a yelp as Dizzy nearly crashes into him. Jumping up, he snarls at her and shouts, “Watch it!”
Dizzy lets her magic fade, dropping lightly to the ground and turning towards the human. “I’m sorry, Alex. I’m still working on controlling this.”
Berry comes up and nuzzles her friend. “You are getting a lot better at controlling your magic flight, Dizzy.”
Alex crouches down in front of Dizzy. “You can actually fly with your magic? No wings?”
Dizzy nods happily. “Oh, yeah! It’s fun!” She looks off to the side. “It’s kinda hard to do, but it’s fun!” She giggles and surrounds herself with her aura, zooming around a little bit. She skids a bit as she lands but she smiles at Alex. “See?”
“How do you do that?”
She giggles. “It’s not easy.” She starts to describe the spell to him, and after a few minutes of her explaining, he finally is able to envelope his body with his aura.
“Now comes the hard part,” Dizzy says once he is entirely glowing with a purple aura, “You don’t just lift yourself. That’s impossible. You have to push on what’s around you.”
He looks confused. “On the ground under me?”
She shakes her head. “Not really. It is a component, but if you are a couple of thousand feet up in the air, like if you were on a cloud and it got busted underneath you? Knowing the cloud walking spell won’t do anything there. You have to push against everything around you. Against space, against the air around you, against everything.”
He looks thoughtful. “So, you are essentially pushing against everything? Even empty space?”
She nods excitedly. “Exactly!”
He frowns. “But how do you do that?”
She giggles and starts to explain. At first, his face is clouded in confusion. Then, after a short time, he finds himself nodding. Again, his aura slowly envelopes his body and he lifts off the ground, slowly… shakily… but he manages it. Dizzy giggles as she glows herself and streaks off, her pegasi friends flying behind her. Alex frowns and concentrates, and after a moment, he jerkily moves forward. A little more, and he’s actually starting to get some speed. He smiles and looks ahead, noticing he’s heading towards the brick wall of the school. He panics and puts out his hands, trying to cushion his landing, but he’s built up too much speed. Dizzy stops in shock as she sees the human crash into the wall. She streaks down to the ground to see Alex holding his arm, writhing in pain. Tears are leaking from his eyes. “I think it’s broke.” He gasps.
Dizzy jerks her hoof back from trying to touch him. “I’m so sorry.” She moans.
Two teachers are galloping over, promptly picking up Alex with their magic. To Dizzy’s surprise, he looks over at her and, despite the pain, smiles at her. “Thanks. I’ll have to work on my landings, though.” He chuckles.
Berry puts a wing over the unicorn foal. “He’ll be okay. They’ll have him at the hospital and they’ll fix him right up.”
Dizzy looks at her friend, unable to speak. Zap comes up and nuzzles her friend, as well. “You taught him so easily, you should be able to get a teaching cutie mark.”
Dizzy looks at her flank—it’s still blank—then sighs. “I guess not.”
***
Ahh, I’ve always loved Saturdays. I’m driving the car this time, thanks to some work by Ms. Harshwhinny in making a reservation for a pony-friendly car. I turn onto the street that Maria is living on and find a parking spot. Looking around, there seem to be quite a few cars parked up and down the street in front of Maria’s home.
“There are a lot of cars here, Loopy,” Kendra says worriedly, “I wonder if something is going on.”
I push the door open, immediately taking to the air. On the ground, Kendra walks next to me as we head towards the house. Worry is written all over her face as she leans over to me, quietly saying, “I think something is going on here.”
I nod. Both of us can easily hear the sound of music, and lots of voices are quite audible as well. Kendra knocks on the door, and after a moment, Rosa opens it. Her initial smile falters as she sees us, “Oh, you’re back?”
I nod. “I’m sorry to be so insistent, but she really needs to understand what is at stake here. A lot of people are depending on her—on what she can do.”
Rosa looks back into the house, then at us. “This really isn’t a good time; we’ve been planning this family party for months.” She looks back again. “I don’t know how many here would be happy having a pony and a witch come here.”
Kendra huffs, and Rosa puts up her hands. “Sorry. A weaver, right?”
I nod. “Please? It’s really important.” I pat my saddle bag. “I have some stuff here that will go bad soon. I grew up with the deer of the Everfree, so I know what’s possible for them, what she can do. I really need to show her.”
She sighs. “And you’re certain you can’t come another day?”
I sit down and curl my tail around me, let my ears flatten, and put on a full on pout. She looks at me for a long time, then smiles. “Okay, that cuteness could be considered a lethal weapon.” She giggles. “I know how conflicted she is. She didn’t sleep very well at all last night.” She sighs. “Maybe this would be good for her.”
That gets the beginnings of a smile from me, but then she crouches down and looks me straight in the eye. “I want Maria to be happy. If you upset her too much, you are gone. Do you understand me?”
I nod as she stands up and moves away. Gesturing for us to come inside, she points towards the back of the house and we walk through to the sliding glass back door. It’s shut at the moment, but I can see about a hundred people in the expansive back yard. I look at Kendra.
“Ready?” I ask softly.
Kendra nods and pulls the glass door to the side, allowing us to step out. At first, no one really notices us and I’m able to look around. Lots of humans are standing around, many with the ubiquitous cheap plastic cups. I can smell the various drinks all around, everything from soda and beer to some much stronger fare. The voices all seem pretty happy, especially the group of young children, who seem to be mostly running around and laughing. The older children are standing and talking as well, though quite a few seem to be paying attention to their mobile devices more than anything else. I find my ears perking forward—there’s Maria.
“What the hell is a pony doing here?” Comes a voice. I turn and look, seeing a man standing several feet away and staring at me with a very sour expression on his face. “This is a family gathering. Go away.”
I shy away from him, though his initial outburst has caused almost all the conversations to stop. I find my tail clamping to my rear as almost every eye focuses on Kendra and I. In a group of mostly darker skinned humans, Kendra’s pale skin sticks out like a sore hoof, and me being a pony is definitely more so. Kendra puts a hand on my withers and speaks up. “Rosa said we could visit Maria. It’s very important.”
Another voice calls out, female this time, “We don’t need ponies here. Go back where you came from.”
I steel myself and walk slowly towards Maria, who is watching us warily. I plaster a smile onto my face. “You remember what I was telling you?”
“Listen, I told you, I can’t help you.”
I look back at the humans. So far, they seem to be content to stand and look at me, then back at Maria. “Kendra told me about your dream. I can prove the truth of it.”
She flinches… yes, she remembers the dream vividly. That turns my smile much more real. I pull out my purchases out of my saddle bags and hold them up to her. “Do you know what all of this is, Maria?”
Something must have switched in her head, she actually steps forward, running a hand over the zap apple seeds. “These are equestrian, and they can be hard to get.”
I nod. “All of this is Equestrian, and you just have to know where to get it. All the pony settlements have stores that have this stuff. But this stuff specifically is special.” She frowns as I continue, “You said you are interested in chemistry…”
“Not Chemistry, Chemurgy. I’m replacing traditional chemistry with a more nature based substitute.”
That causes my smile to widen. “How very Equestrian of you, Maria.”
“I’m not Equestrian,” she says flatly.
I actually giggle. “Not in the way I am, but you have the blood running in you… and the power.” I pull out the flask. “I’ve already done the work for this. While Kendra was talking to you in the dream, I was doing some potion making last night.” I look at the flask. “Getting the heat right was crucial, but you would know that, now wouldn’t you…” I finish with a smile.
She looks confused as I take a small acorn and push it gently into the ground. “I learned potion making, but to use the potion? That’s where the magic truly comes in.” I balance on my rear hooves as I use my front hooves to open the flask and pour it onto the acorn that I just planted. I look at Maria. “This is the tricky part. When I was in the Everfree Forest, and around the deer, I was able to use their abilities because their magic suffused the entire area. I don’t have that here, but the important part is that I know how to do it. Come, join me and I’ll guide your abilities to do this.”
She steps forward hesitantly, my welcoming smile apparently working. Finally, I reach out a wing and touch her hand, gasping as the magnitude of her potential ability slams through me. Loud gasps erupt, not just from Maria and the other teens, but from the adults behind me as what I envision happens. I draw on her power and a couple of leaves sprout in seconds, then more. In moments, a tree is rapidly growing before us.
“You can feel it, can’t you?” I say softly. Maria jerkily nods. “I am the conduit for you, Maria. Make the tree grow.”
Suddenly, rough hands grab me and pull me away. I end up tumbling away from a human, hitting the ground hard. I shake my head and look up to see that a human male is restrained in Kendra’s magic. He’s jerking a bit as he tries to fight against the magic holding him, though Kendra’s magic isn’t holding his mouth shut.
“Get away from here! Your filthy magic has made this world worse. You aren’t wanted here!” he screams, only to have Kendra notice her oversight as her magic gags him.
I look at Maria, who is holding her elbow with her other hand and looking at the tree that continues to grow. I’m out of the magic now, and it should have stopped growing, but it isn’t—Maria is continuing the growth on her own. Her untrained abilities cause the tree to rapidly grow as another man pushes forward, yelling, “You fucking ponies, making the weather work! But it doesn’t work perfectly, does it? You missed the hurricane! You let it hit us while you were stopping the one that was going to hit Florida!” He spits, “I had a cousin die in that storm!”
I look at the tree growing, snaps and crackles announce its continued growth, I look at him, “I’m sorry about all of that, but I hadn’t even turned to a pony then.”
He snarls back, “You’re sorry! It doesn’t bring back those that shouldn’t have died because of you ponies’ negligence!” He shakes in Kendra’s tenuous grip.
I look at him and the other humans, but something else catches my attention. I step forward, raising my wings in alarm. “Maria, you’re doing too much! You need to stop!”
She doesn’t seem to hear me as the bark of the tree splits, showing living wood that rapidly turns gray. Leaves start to fall as I move forward, and the other humans close ranks, keeping me away from Maria.
“No… you don’t understand!” I find myself whining as the tree slumps over and splits, then a new shoot of fresh, live wood bursts upward out of the hump. I take to the air in alarm, only to watch Rosa charge over and tackle her niece. Finally, the tree settles to some sort of quiescence.
I zoom over the humans and land next to Maria. “Are you okay?”
She grips her head with a hand. “Yeah, I guess.”
“We’ll be having no more of that, Maria.” Rosa picks herself up slowly and turns to me. “She can’t go with you. Not after this. She’s my responsibility. Look at the tree! She’s not ready for the world or those abilities.”
I sigh and let my wings lift me off the ground. “Rosa, I’m serious here. She’s unlocked a part of herself. If you don’t let her be taught, by me and some of the Everfree deer that are here on Earth, her abilities will run out of control. She won’t be able to help it.”
“She won’t use her abilities if she’s told not to.” Rosa retorts, looking at the young lady who is watching the exploded tree slump under its weight as the magic fully fades from it.
“I want to go with them.” Maria says softly, then she turns to me. “This is what magic is?”
I nod. “Just one aspect of a whole world of magic, Maria.”
She looks at the humans all around. Many are looking at the tree in shock, though some are looking upset at the one man that is still held by Kendra. The rest are looking at Maria. She looks at me. “Yes, I will come with you.”
“No, she isn’t. Not without me.”
I look at Rosa. I really don’t have a problem with her coming along, but Maria shakes her head emphatically. “You’re needed here. You told me that patients will die. There is already enough of a nursing shortage.”
Rosa growls, “I need to take care of you, Maria.”
“I’m two weeks from turning seventeen, Auntie. I can do this. I’ve got a phone. I can talk to you whenever I want.”
I chime in, “I can cover for her to travel back here any time she wants. Gallup to Galveston isn’t all that bad.”
“No, she stays with you. I’m going to hold you, miss pony, personally responsible for her safety. Not some natives in New Mexico.”
“I’m not ready for that yet,” Maria says. She looks at the tree, then at me. “But I do need to learn. Can you teach me, Loop de Loop?”
I suppress the panic trying to rise, though I do land on my hooves as my wings snap to my sides. “I don’t know how much I can teach you, Lilac. The deer will want to teach you, and so will the elders in Gallup.”
“Maria. I think I want to stay Maria. That is my name, after all. And I’m going because of you, Loop de Loop—not anyone else.”
I smile. “Maria, I will do anything I can to help you.”
Kendra growls a little and walks over to the man. “Now, can I let you go?”
He nods frantically, still captured in her aura. She smiles and releases him. “Loopy, Maria, I think we should go.”
***
I smile at Maria in the rear view mirror as I tap the signal button, turning on the right turn indicator. In this area, the automated traffic systems are not really reliable as they are in some of the larger cities, so I am controlling the car directly. I glance at Kendra and wait for traffic to pass. In moments, I’ve made my turn and accelerate to the speed for Seawall Boulevard. Kendra turns back in her chair to chat with Maria, while I focus on the driving. One nice thing about being a pegasus is that my reflexes are a lot faster than they were as a human.
This drive to the airport feels like it’s taking way longer than it should as I pull up to a traffic light and wait. The traffic making the turn onto Seawall is quite busy, though it is interesting to look around and see the mix of older and newer styles of vehicles. As I look, I find my ears flattening and I gasp. A car in the northbound lane isn’t slowing down to stop. Kendra turns, hearing my gasp, then she shouts, “Watch out!”
The driver of the car doesn’t heed her warning as it’s slammed into by a large dump truck. The smaller car is flipped on its side and thrown onto the beach. Chaos ensues as the truck panic stops and snarls up all the traffic around. I push the transmission control to park and flip open the door. “Call 911!” I shout.
“Loopy, what are you doing?” Kendra screams as I spread my wings. I don’t bother answering as I take to the air and streak towards the stricken car. I land on the car, looking at the damage. The door is crushed into the frame, but I can look through the shattered window to see someone moving inside.
“Hold on, I’m gonna help you!” I call out as I hop off the car. It’s on its side, so I check the roof quickly—no access. I move around to the back window and quickly shatter the glass with a strong hoof strike, then use my hoof to clear enough glass away. I worm my way inside the car, immediately noticing the wailing of a baby next to me in the back passenger-side seat. I nuzzle the baby a bit, and he thankfully seems unharmed. I reach down, and get the buckle to his car seat into my mouth. Using my tongue and teeth, I manipulate it around a few seconds and it pops open. I wrap my wing around the baby and draw him away from the car seat.
“Loopy, are you okay?” I hear Kendra’s voice behind me.
I turn and pass the baby to her. “There’s someone else in here! Take the baby!” I shout as I worm back into the car. I check the driver and sigh—his side took the brunt of the impact. I put my back against him and look at the passenger seat. A young woman is there with her eyes closed and blood pouring down her face.
“Ah, damn,” I mutter as I press my fetlock against her throat. In a few breathy seconds, I relax a bit. She’s still alive… for now. I reach down and push the release for her seat belt, thanking Celestia that she was wearing it. It doesn’t release.
“Is she okay?” Comes a new voice. I look up—a young man has wormed his way inside the car with me, but his larger size is making it hard for him to move. He reaches forward.
“She’s alive, but the seat belt is jammed.”
He blindly reaches for the buckle, telling me, “The battery pack might have shorted out. The other side is smoking and might catch fire. We need to get out of the car.”
I shake my head. “She’s alive, and she’s going to stay that way if I have anything to do with it!” I grab the seat belt next to the buckle with my teeth and give an experimental tug. It doesn’t move, so I brace a hoof against the chair and pull a lot harder. The material stretches a little, but doesn’t break.
I spit it out and turn my head to the human. “Do you have a knife?”
He shakes his head. “I’ll see if I can get one.”
“Loopy!” I can hear Kendra’s voice, “The battery is on fire! I’m trying to stop it, but you need to get out!”
“I need a knife!” I shout, “The seat belt is jammed!”
A welcome sound greets my ears: a police car must have been nearby when the call went out. I look around. I don’t think I can drag the woman backwards, and I’m going to need help to get her out of the seatbelt anyway. I hit the glass of her window with a hoof without success. Glancing at the driver’s side I can see that the glass is only damaged where the frame is deformed. In front of me, the glass is pristine.
“What did they make this glass out of?” I murmur as I hit the glass several more times, not getting any result. Finally, I squirm enough to bring my hind legs to bear. A hard buck makes some progress, though the noise is deafening. I rear back and slam the glass again. A quick glance over my shoulder shows that it’s coming off its mounting.
“One… more… time!” I grunt as I balance on my front hooves and give one more hard buck to push the windshield out most of the way. I put a wing against each seat, push hard, and finally the windshield clatters to the ground. Move over, I feel the woman start to stir.
“Wha’ happen?” comes her muffled voice. Her eyes slowly open and she tries to focus on me. The car is starting to heat up.
“It’s okay. I’m Loopy,” I say, “I’m going to help you get out.”
She looks at me, then her eyes go wide. “Johnathan!” she screams.
“Your baby?” I say forcefully, keeping her attention on me. She nods, getting a smile from me as my ears perk forward. “He was the first gotten out. He’s safe, away from the car.”
She looks at her lap, then feels her body a bit, which I notice. “Are you in pain?”
She nods, so I put a wing out, pushing her head against the head rest. “Try not to move. We have to get this seat belt off, and the catch is stuck.”
I feel someone beside me. “This car is going to be fully on fire. We need to get her out,” comes a new voice. He’s wearing a blue shirt, and I can see a badge on his chest. He reaches out a hand to touch the neck of the driver, though the way the man’s head is hanging, it’s a lost cause.
“Do you have a knife?”
He nods and flicks open a pocket knife, then reaches in.
The woman looks toward the driver’s seat. “Oh God, Andrew!” She starts to sob.
I move forward as the police officer starts cutting the tough material of the seatbelt, putting my forehooves on each cheek and forcing her to look at me. “I know, but we need to focus on you getting out of this car. I’m not leaving you.”
“Almost... got… it!” the officer says triumphantly as the seat belt goes slack. I wrap my hooves around the woman and spread my wings behind me. I don’t have a good angle here, but more of my flight comes from my magic than from my wings directly, anyway. I start with short flaps and start to bring her back, then bring her closer as I get fully out of the car. I get high enough to keep her from being dragged until I get her a safe distance.
“Loopy!” comes Kendra’s voice.
I focus on the woman. “It’s going to be okay. You’re out and your baby is okay.” The woman is sobbing uncontrollably. “Look at me,” I say forcefully, getting her attention. She blinks slowly, looking at me with tears continuing to stream. “I know, this is very bad, but we don’t know how injured you are. We need to get you to a hospital.”
“Chopper is on its way,” the police officer pants. He looks at Kendra. “What were you doing?”
Kendra sits down heavily. “I’m not good with shields. I tried to snuff the fire by removing its oxygen, but I couldn’t keep the shield big enough.” She falls back into the sand, panting.
Maria comes up with the baby cradled in her arms. He’s just under two years old, I think. He’s squirming—he saw his mommy, and wants her. His howls are adding to the din.
“Maria, sit down and hold the baby. Until his mom is checked out, you take care of him, okay?” Maria nods and sits on the sand, putting the baby to her chest and patting his back at he continues to howl.
Another emergency vehicle screams to a stop and three paramedics hop out. I sigh as they start working on the woman, so I move over and help Maria trying to distract the baby as they do their work. One of them runs back and quickly retrieves a back board.
“Where’s the pony? She’s got my baby!” the woman screams out.
I get to my hooves and walk slowly over with Maria trailing behind me. “I’m right here. Your baby is safe.”
My ears perk as I watch the woman. Her eyes are plaintively moving side to side, but she focuses on Maria with the baby. “Is he okay?” she asks, getting a nod from Maria, which relaxes her a bit. My ears flick to the side; the rhythmic thump of a helicopter is getting close. I glance around and watch the chopper flare as it prepares to land.
“Damn! Not on the beach!” I shout as I get in front of the humans and spread my wings. My third eyelid slides over my eyes as the first grains of sand pepper me. More and more sand blows at me from the blades of the helicopter as it settles onto the beach. The sandstorm rapidly subsides and I turn, calling, “They are going to…”
“Please don’t leave me!” The woman screams, getting me to look at Kendra and Maria. I smile and say, “I’ll stay with you as long as you need me.”
Kendra nods and moves up next to me. “I’ll get the car to the hospital. Meet you there,” she says as a paramedic takes Johnathan, with renewed screams from him as he’s loaded into the ambulance. I look at Maria, and tell her, “Stay with the baby, okay?” She nods and sprints off towards the white county ambulance. I smile at Kendra as I trot with the air ambulance paramedics. It takes a few minutes, but soon, they have her loaded on board the ambulance.
The pilot turns to me. “Sorry, no passengers.”
That gets me to grin as I spread my wings. “I’m not a passenger.”
He looks at me for a long moment as his co-pilot closes the door and runs around the machine to hop in. The blades start to turn once again as he continues to look at me, and I smirk as he finally opens his door and climbs in. I crouch and brace myself against the wind as the helicopter takes off, then it rotates and the nose drops as it starts to accelerate. I leap into the air and follow it. Only about ten minutes of flight has us coming up on a large building. I streak ahead and land near the doors facing the helipad, then watch as the pilots extract the woman and run towards the entrance. I move aside as they run by me, calling out all sorts of information to those inside. I don’t know enough medical terminology to be able to understand it all, but I trot behind them as she’s brought through the hospital and finally am stopped by a strangled scream.
“No animals allowed!”
I look at the woman running towards me. “I’m not an animal,” I say acidly, getting her to skid to a stop.
She looks at me. “You can talk?”
I nod. “I’m a pony. I noticed most don’t visit here very often.”
She kneels down, pulling out a handkerchief. “Oh, sweetie. I know about ponies, but you should see yourself in the mirror. You wouldn’t blame me for thinking you were some cur off the street.” The cloth comes away quite red, raising my alarm.
The look on my face must be enough. She gets to her feet and guides me to another door, then down a hallway for a bit, and then to another door. “This is a locker room. I think you’ll be in here for a while.”
I rear up and look at myself in the mirror, then gasp. My gray mane is matted with blood, there’s salt and sand all over my body, and my face looks like I’ve been through the wringer. I grimace and look at myself closer, spreading a wing. Apparently the husband was still bleeding, and since his side was on the high side, his blood ran all over me. I find myself suppressing a gag as I frantically look around, suddenly feeling very glad that she brought me to a locker room. I dash into a shower and use a wing to turn on the water full blast. After a few moments, I adjust the temperature and look around for shampoo. A dispenser seems to have something useful, so I place a hoof underneath and it dispenses a thick gel, which a quick sniff tells me should help. I get quite a few more squirts of the stuff and start working it into my fur. It foams up properly and I slowly work it through my mane.
I spend about twenty minutes in the shower, a few tender places showing I did not escape unscathed. I’ve got a few cuts myself, which are oozing blood on their own—one on a hind leg feels rather bad. I nose it a bit as I get my tail clean. Well, nothing to be done about it in the locker room. I shake my body hard, spraying water everywhere, and slide the curtain back.
“Oh, thank Celestia,” I moan upon seeing a stack of thick towels sitting on a bench. I wrap one around my mane and then look at my wings. After all that activity, a good preening is in order. I extend a wing and start to work on my primaries as the door opens and the same nurse enters.
“Oh! You’re injured!” she says, looking at the bright red running slowly down my leg.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” I say as I continue with my wing…
Only to find myself bodily lifted up by the nurse. “Oh no, miss pony. I can’t have you bleeding to death in this hospital. It wouldn’t be right. Let me get you seen.”
In a matter of minutes, I’m in the ER, myself. She disappears, telling me she’ll get a doctor, while I try to get my wings back in some semblance of order.
Soon, my ears flick as I hear the door to the exam room open. I glance over and see a human there, but his vision of me is obscured by the clip board in front of his face.
“So, well, you have an interesting name… Loop de Loop.”
“Uh huh.” I respond. He still hasn’t even looked at me, apparently absorbed with his clipboard.
“Any pain, numbness?”
That gets a smile from me. “I dunno, doc. I can’t feel my fingers or my toes, and they won’t move at all!” This earns me a chortle from the nurse who had picked me up.
He looks up, finally seeing me. Everything stops for a long moment as stares, then he glances at the nurse, then back at me. “I’m guessing I don’t need to ask you to disrobe and get a gown?”
I shake my head, a smile on my face.
He comes forward and inspects my wounds. “Looks like you’ve had a rough day,” he looks at me severely, “Miss Loop.”
I can tell the dry sarcasm in his voice, and something inside me snaps a bit. “I dunno. Wiggling through a broken window to help someone inside, I guess I didn’t notice the glass cutting me.”
“You came in with the car accident victim?”
I nod, and he looks back at the nurse, who is gathering bandages and a small electric shaver. I speak up, “How is she?”
“As you are obviously not related to her, I cannot tell you. Rules are rules,” he growls and takes the shaver, clicking it on, “Would you extend your right hind leg, miss pony?”
I balance on three legs and extend the leg, my wings extending fully for balance. He looks at my posture for a long time, then he shakes his head and gets to work shaving a portion of my leg. Once it’s clean of hair, he takes cotton patches drenched in iodine to clean the wound, forcing me to suppress gasps at the pain of what he’s doing. After a moment he looks at me and says, “These are pretty severe, but I don’t think stitches are necessary… nurse.”
A small tube is opened and placed in his hand. “This is a distant cousin to super glue, and it will seal up your wounds quite easily.”
Twenty minutes later, I’ve got both wings preened properly and spread my wings to exit the bay. In addition to the glue holding my wounds closed, I’ve also got bandages around my right leg and a large bare patch covered by another bandage just up from my cutie mark.
I push into the waiting room and hear Kendra shout, “Loopy!” I turn and am tackled by my friend.
“Oh, I was so worried about you! When I got here, the nurse said that the pony was being treated! I didn’t know you were hurt!” She moans as she sees the bandages. “Oh Loopy, are you okay?”
I smile and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Kendra, I’m okay. I just got a few scratches. The doctor fixed me right up.” I glance back at the doors to the ER proper. “Though he was a bit of an asshole.”
She giggles as she leads me to where her and Maria were sitting. We pass the time talking, and after a couple hours, my name is called by woman in a white coat. I trot up to her and she stands there for a moment, looking dumbfounded.
“I was told there was a pony here, and I really didn’t believe it. I thought she was hallucinating.”
I spread my wings. “A pony, in the flesh!” I say with a smile.
She looks unsure. “Well, one Jaclyn Prescott is asking for you.” I smile and she continues, “She was in surgery, but the first thing she said after she woke up was she needed to talk to Loopy the pony.”
She points and I gesture for Kendra and Maria to follow me. I trot through the halls, using my wings to control my speed on the slippery floors. Finally, I push my way into the room.
The woman is laying on the bed, holding her sleeping baby on her chest. She brightens as she sees me. “Loopy!” she says softly, but I can hear the enthusiasm.
“Hi, Jaclyn,” I say.
She pats her baby’s back softly. “I owe you one. You saved my little boy here.” She looks at me. “And you saved me, all of you. Thank you so much.”
I cock my head to the side. “What happened? Why did he run the light?”
She shakes her head. “I really don’t remember. I think we were fighting about something, but I really don’t know what.”
My ears flatten to the side and I find myself wilting. “I’m so sorry about your husband.”
She sighs, tears starting to form. “I know, thank you, but you kept it from being an entire family wiped out today. Thank God for you.”
She sighs and holds her emotions as she continues holding her son. “The doctor said I had three broken ribs and a lacerated liver and kidney. It took some serious surgery to get me all fixed up.” She lifts an arm, now clad in a cast. “And my arm was broken, too.” She lowers her arm as though it weighs a ton as she starts to sniffle.
“Excuse me,” comes a voice. I turn and two officers are standing there. “We need a few minutes for a statement.”
I turn to Jaclyn and find a piece of paper. A bit of scrounging for a pen and I write down my phone number, then pass it to her. “If you need anything, give me a call,” I say and turn. To my surprise, one of the police officers follows me from the room.
“Miss pony,” He says, getting me to stop in my tracks, “Were you a witness to the crash?”
I nod, and the next ten minutes are spent describing what I saw and what I did. Eventually, he bids farewell and heads into the room with the other officer.
My stomach growls and I find myself blurting out, “I’m hungry.”
Maria giggles and pulls out her phone. “Directions to the nearest IHOP,” she says into the device.