Band of Five Attributes

by Dragonborne Fox

Chapter 2: A New Place with What Now?! (edited)

Applejack was bucking trees to make some apple pie and, of course, the delicious cider her brother was running low on. It was a calm, crystal-clear day as she kept one eye on the tree and the other on the Cutie Mark Crusaders who were running around doing whatever it was they did. Some more apples, and--

"APPLEJACK! I SEE SOMETHING OVER THERE!" Sweetie Belle shouted as a giant mushroom cloud of dust emerged from behind the farm pony, who immediately stopped what she was doing in the uncharacteristic fashion of falling over on her backside as an apple went splat on her face.

"What’n the hay is goin' on?!" Applejack shouted as she stood up and wiped the rotten apple off of her face.

"I don't know!" Replied Applebloom, who ran to the source of the cloud with her friends and big sister. They stopped dead in their tracks in a clearing of sorts.

"What the hay happened here?!" Shouted the farm mare and Crusaders.

There in the open dirt road leading to the farm was a tan stallion with an earthen mane. He had this thing on his foreleg that looked like a strap-on rectangle. His glasses lay next to his head, the lens damaged beyond repair. There were some bloodied scratches on his body, and it looked like he was not going anywhere anytime soon.

Not far from him lay two more stallions who also had these rectangles on their left forelegs. One was lime with an emerald green mane which covered his right eye, and the other was orange with a fiery red mane, the lower part of which was tied back with a white ribbon. The bangs were more pronounced on the right side of his face than his left, and they didn't cover his eyes. A blue cap with a grey underside rest upside-down just beyond the reach of his orange hooves. Neither fared any better than the tan pony. There was a light purple mare with a darker purple mane resting on a nearby tree with her rump in the air. Grooves were made in the dirt as though she slid on the ground before the unceremonious impact had occurred.

"What the--"

Applejack stopped mid-sentence as the sound of a breaking branch was heard very close by. This was followed by the body of another out-cold pony landing on top of her with a branch sandwiched between her and the farm mare. She was sky-blue with an oceanic mane and she also had a rectangle on her left foreleg, which was bent in such a way it appeared to be now useless.

"Sweetie Belle, go get some help," Said the farm mare as she gently moved the blue mare off of her, as well as the tree branch she crashed with. "These ponies are hurt somethin' fierce." With that, Sweetie ran off to Ponyville.

----

"So, I heard these ponies suddenly crashed into Sweet Apple Acres." Twilight said.

"Yes, and they carried these rectangles with them being... I can only assume they're devices of some sort," replied Nurse Redheart, who had been tasked with looking after the newest patients.

"Nurse Redheart, they had these devices on their forelegs?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, and I am afraid none of them are awake. They are hurt very badly," The nurse stated sadly.

"Nurse! Come quick! One of the mysterious earth ponies are awake!" The doctor said, running down the hallway.

The nurse and unicorn followed the doctor, and what a sight greeted them! There was a light tan stallion with a nicely cut earthen mane and tail walking around like nothing had happened! His brown eyes were scrunched shut, and he tapped his hooves everywhere on the floor.

"What's wrong?" Nurse Redheart asked.

"I need my glasses. I cannot see without them," The stallion stated. The nurse ran to the pile of these rectangle things and found the glasses, broken and useless. The stallion needed these very badly, because judging from observation alone he bumped into everything. The unicorn stood next to Redheart.

"I take it these are his?" Twilight asked, to which Redheart nodded. Twilight's horn flared around the glasses, and with quick movements of telekinesis, the glasses were repaired, good as new!

"Mister, stand still for a minute! I fixed your glasses!" the unicorn said, running over to the stallion. The stallion did as he was told to, standing still right behind the doctor's flank. Twilight gently put the glasses on the pony before her.

He looked at his surroundings, and it looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown. The stallion ran to the beds of the other seemingly-comatose ponies. After looking at all of them, he walked to the nurse and pointed at them. "A-Are they okay?" He asked.

"They are hurt very badly, and I am not sure when they'll wake up. You all looked like you crashed head first into something at a terrific speed," The nurse replied, shaking her head sadly. "You need to rest, mister. Shout for me when you need something or if one of your companions has awakened," She continued. "My name is Nurse Redheart." The stallion nodded, walked to his bed, and lied down. The ponies left the patients to recover.

"He certainly is strange. I never saw those types of cutie marks on a pony before," Twilight said.
"I agree. I wonder where they came from," Redheart replied.

----

The room was still lit. "Was I talking to a horse? No.... a horse is not that small unless it's a newborn. Ponies, I guess?" Tenmei thought. He did not know where he was. Was he dreaming? Probably, since that castle-based Q-hybrid knocked them all out. Sent them flying to their deaths. But if they died, then why could he still feel the touch of the floor? It just did not add up. He had to somehow thank the.....unicorn? She had a protrusion from her forehead, so she had to have been a unicorn. He still felt the pain of colliding with the apartment complex. And why was she purple of all colors?

A moan of pain, followed by rustling, came from the bed next to the one Tenmei was laying in. A sky-blue mare with an oceanic blue mane slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes with her hoof. She suffered some serious bruises to her sides. "Koto? You're awake?" Tenmei asked, to which Koto groggily nodded. "I'll get the nurse. She said to call her if I needed something or if one of you guys woke up." Before Koto could respond, Tenmei ran out the door on all.....four hooves? Koto was bewildered. Was she seeing things? Dreaming? What the hay was going on here?! Tenmei returned, but he looked so....different. Alongside him were two....creatures? One was white with a pink bun and a nurse's hat and the other....purple with a thing on its forehead?

The white creature approached Koto, and put her.....hoof out to shake her hand? Koto took her own hand to shake the hoof. But it wasn't a hand. It too was a hoof! "I see you're awake. You need to be bandaged." The white creature said, searching through the drawers. She pulled gauze out of the drawer and returned to Koto. "Your left foreleg is broken. Don't move too much," she said, focusing most of her attention on the broken appendage. Koto suddenly recalled colliding with the complex left arm first. She winced at the pain.

"Try walking." The white thing said. Koto tried walking on her two legs and immediately fell over. The white thing helped her up. "Try walking on all threes," The white thing repeated. Koto tried once again, this time on her....right foreleg as well. It was strange, to say the least. How could she use her boomerang to defend herself if one arm was broken? But she could manage. She had to, wherever she ended up at. She felt like nature laughed at her in a very contorted manner. This was embarrassing. "Survival at it's finest," Koto murmured.