21. A Friend in Equestria (rw)
Cold like the deep freeze of the frigid arctic permeates throughout the deepest reaches of my body, as though every cell in my body has turned to ice. It’s dark, like the long nights of the polar winter, there’s not a single point of light with which to see. I can’t shake the feeling that something else is out there, watching with a predatory hunger that causes my hairs to stand on end.
Then, the darkness gives way, and through clouded vision, I become aware of a familiar rainbow-maned pegasus gazing down at me with eyes filled with worry, the dark leafy canopy of a forest hanging high above her. I try to speak, but my voice is cracked and muffled as if there’s something lodged in my throat. Her mouth moves, and then darkness overtakes me once again.
I wake with a start and reach an aching hand to my face, only to feel a breathing mask over my mouth and nose. I tear it off with a pained grunt, my windpipe aching with every breath.
“Wha?” Confusion strikes as I open my eyes to an unfamiliar white ceiling. Every part of me right down to my blood vessels feels weak and sore, and my head pounds with a migraine unlike any I’ve had before. Soon after I let out a pained cry, a pony with a soft white coat is by my side, her hoof pressing lightly on my chest.
“Hey hey...relax, you’re safe now. Please, lie still and rest,” the mare whispers in a calming voice. My weakened body relents and I fall back onto the bed. I hear another voice calling from somewhere behind her, but I can’t quite make out whose it is. “Welcome back, Mr. Seth Rogers. You’ve been out for quite some time. How do you feel?”
“Huh?” Lucidity returns to me all at once, and I look around the room, taking stock of my surroundings. I’m in a room filled with pony-sized beds, each kept private via adjustable curtains hanging from the ceiling. The walls are a calming shade of teal, and light filters in from windows on either side of the room. I’m resting in a bed with my legs propped up by pillows that rest atop a cart that’s been strapped to the foot of the bed. I suddenly recall the events in the forest and blanch. “I’m alive?”
“Yes, you are,” The mare answers with a relieved smile. “It was touch and go for a while, but with the help of some of the brightest minds in Equestria, we managed to help you pull through. I’m Nurse Redheart.”
I look at the mare and take in her features. She’s an earth pony like Applejack, and her mane is a light pink tied up into a bun behind her nursing cap. As she’s talking, Twilight Sparkle walks up from behind to join her, the unicorn watching us quietly and biting her lip with worry.
“Brightest minds in Equ…” I start to repeat, but then I shake my head, wincing. “Who cares about that right now? Where’s Rainbow?”
“It’s okay, Seth. She’s right here with you,” Twilight answers. Her horn lights up and the curtain obscuring me from the other patients peels back to reveal a heavily bandaged Rainbow Dash passed out and snoring peacefully. Twilight moves up to the bedside and rears up just enough to embrace me softly. “I’m so glad you’re both okay! I was so worried!”
“Yeah yeah, get off,” I try to push her off, but it isn’t until the nurse gives her a disapproving stare that Twilight backs off with a nervous laugh. I glance at the IV drip to my left. “How long was I out?”
“About a week, sir,” Redheart answers, shuffling her hooves on the floor.
“A full week!?” I echo, my eyes widening. “What all happened to me? I don’t remember anything past the Scorpio beating us within an inch of our lives.”
‘You don’t!?” Twilight exclaims with a gasp. She glances at Redheart.
“Don’t look at me. This must be magical in nature because he didn’t have any head trauma that would have affected his memory,” Redheart says. I look between the two of them, even more confused than before. “It would probably be best if I fetched the experts.”
“Right, the ‘brightest minds’ you mentioned. What’s that all about?” I ask.
Redheart shuffles her hooves. “We don’t know much about human biology, and you were in bad shape. Without experienced help, then...”
“...I’d be dead.”
“Right,” Redheart confirms uncomfortably. “So we reached out to Canterlot for help. They’re in the offices, and they could explain everything that happened better than I could. I’ll be right back.”
The nurse gives me one last smile before leaving the room, leaving me alone with Twilight and the still snoozing Rainbow. Twilight meets my gaze for only a moment before she starts to look guilty.
“So, I need to confess—”
“Who did you tell?” I instantly interrupt.
Twilight looks abashedly at the floor. “All of the doctors, nurses, and the experts. They had to know about the curse. You were very badly hurt. If knowing about the curse would increase the odds of your recovery even a little, I had to say something.”.
I sigh, rubbing my forehead, “at least it wasn’t the princesses,”
“But that’s just the thing!” Twilight’s guilt lasts for only a minute before it’s overtaken by sheer excitement, her face coming dangerously close to mine with a happy smile on her face. She puts her front hooves on the edge of the bed. “They said it was never a curse at all! Seth, you have magic!”
“...Pull the other one.”
“I’m being serious! They detected the presence of a magical core right there in the center of your rib cage!” Twilight explains, the mare bouncing in place. She indicates my sternum with the tip of her hoof at the exact place the curse always tried to break free.“I can’t believe this! I’m going to have to throw out that essay I was writing about humans and how they never had magic as was originally believed!”
I give her the most deadpan stare I can muster. “I wouldn’t go quite that far. I still think you’re full of it.” I raise a finger.. “What the heck is a magical core, and why do I have one?” I raise a second finger. “And if it were this easy for humans to gain magic, then we wouldn’t have needed all of our technology to compensate for our weakness. “Humans don’t have magic. End of story.” I then slap my hand down on my leg with finality, immediately regretting it as pain shoots up my leg.
Twilight closes her mouth, pondering my firm denial for a few moments. “If you’re so certain, then could you be the first of your kind to use magic?” She produces a notepad and a feather quill from her saddlebags and starts scribbling notes in it. “Perhaps it has something to do with whatever spell took you through time? If what you’re saying is true, then I hypothesize that when a non-magical entity comes into contact with a spell, then perhaps it—”
“As fascinating as this is, I really don’t care right now,” I cut across her before she can get into her stride. “I still have no idea what’s going on. How did I get here? What happened to the Scorpio?”
“I’m sorry, I got carried away. You said you didn’t remember what happened.” Twilight’s excitement fades, and she places the notepad on the floor beside her. “The Scorpio is gone; Commander Stalwart Iron took care of it. According to him, we won’t see it again as long as we live. Though, Rainbow says you did a real number on the Scorpio before we got there.”
“Yeah, if you call whacking it with a broken stick and running for my life ‘doing a real number’ on it,” I put my face in my hands. “I still can’t believe I did something so stupid.”
Twilight blinked. Her horn lights up and my rifle lifts up from beside my bed. “You mean this stick? It doesn’t look broken to me.”
I raise my head. “Of course it is. I broke it on the Scorpio’s...” I trail off mid-sentence when I see the rifle floating before me. It’s not broken. It’s not even rusted or degraded. The rifle looks as pristine as if it had just come off of the production line. I grasp it gingerly. “How the hell…?”
“That’s the part you’re missing, Seth,” Twilight places a hoof on the bedside, looking at me with sparkling eyes. “You used your magic to fight the Scorpio, saving everyone’s lives. Without you, I don’t even want to think about what could have happened to Rainbow and Diamond Tiara. Thank you, Seth. Thank you so much. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
Heat rushes to my cheeks. I look away uncomfortably. “Don’t thank me. I don’t even remember doing that.”
“It doesn’t matter. In the end, you—”
“YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!” A screech of pure excitement rips through the hospital halls. I hear the clopping of hooves galloping across the hard floor only seconds before a unicorn zips into the room in a blur of pale yellow, skidding to a halt beside my bed and bowling over Twilight. “Whoops, sorry!”
The new arrival is an energetic unicorn mare with a pale yellow coat of fur who can’t seem to stop bouncing on the tips of her hooves. Her mane is a soft lavender and is tied up in a bun to keep it out of her face. Resting on her nose is a pair of Eurostile glasses with thick lenses that cover her lavender eyes. For a cutie mark, she has the image of a double helix superimposed over a leaf. Upon meeting my eyes, the mare smiles so widely I think her cheeks might fall off. She reaches for my hand as if to shake it, but pauses when she notices the IV sticking out of that same arm.
“Hi, Seth! Finally, I get to see you awake! Ooh, I have sooo many questions!” the mare proclaims. I reach up with my right hand and rub my forehead, her energy hardly helping my already present headache. “Whoops, forgot to introduce myself. I’m Dr. Jenny Forsythia, of the Canterlot Bureau of Biology. I specialize in human anatomy, so I have to say, this is such an honor!”
“Uh, okay. I would introduce myself, but I guess somebody already beat me to it,” Next to Jenny, Twilight gets to her hooves, giving the former an annoyed stare. “You said human biology? You can’t know much; it’s not like you’ve ever had a living specimen.”
“Until now! I cannot tell you how happy I am to work on a real live breathing human! I’ve been able to confirm so many of my theories! ” As Jenny gushes, Redheart returns with two more unicorns in tow, neither of whom I recognize. “Did you know that there’s a theory that humans were actually reptilian? Completely baseless if you ask me, but now I can rub it right in their smug little—”
“Dr. Forsythia, please give the patient some space, if you please,” one of the unfamiliar ponies, a stallion wearing a white lab coat, speaks up in a stern chastising tone. Jenny shuts her mouth instantly and backs away with a sheepish smile, knocking Twilight over again.
“Seriously!?” Twilight complains from the floor with such annoyance that I have to bite my tongue to keep from snickering. Jenny pauses and helps Twilight up, patting her head and brushing her shoulders off.
“Whoops, sorry!” Jenny apologizes in the exact same way and rejoins her fellow experts.
“Now then, I do believe some more explanations are in order,” the stallion begins. He appears to be in his later years, with a graying coat and a mane of scruffy white. His eyebrows are bushy and he has a neatly groomed mustache nestled just above his mouth. The image of a set of beakers surrounded by mystical flowing designs was emblazoned upon his flank. “My name is Dr. Flash Forward, of the Canterlot Bureau of Research and Development. I oversee all sub-bureaus relating to the advancement of ponykind. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Seth.”
“And I’m Violet Spice,” the third pony adds. Like her name, her coat is a pale shade of violet, and her mane is a soft orange color tied into a simplistic braid that hangs down her right side. Her cutie mark is a collection of runic designs written upon a scroll. “I run a therapy clinic in Canterlot for magically-stunted unicorns. I’m afraid I’m not quite as important as these two,” she chuckles as she indicates her two companions.
“Right. So you all are the experts that Redheart mentioned,” I say, nodding to their respective introductions. I can’t help but feel nervous. Flash Forward being here, if he’s as big of a fish as he sounds, is rather surreal to me. It’s as if I were to get in a car crash back in my era and then suddenly the CTO of the United States showed up to visit me.
“Wait, hold on just a damn minute. Nurse!” I snap at Redheart, mildly startling her. “Before we do anything else, I’m going to need an itemized receipt of all the services you’ve done for me. I want to work out a payment plan because there’s no way I can afford the full bill right now.”
Redheart looks utterly perplexed by my words. “The...the bill? What are you talking about?”
“The bill for treating me? I was out for a week, so I must be pretty messed up. Plus, you obviously had to call in specialist care of the highest degree.” I’m probably in debt for the next ten years of my life if pony healthcare is anywhere near as expensive as ours. “So how much do I owe you?”
Redheart bristles, her eyes narrowing. “Owe us? For treating you? Why would I ever charge you for something like this!? It’s not as though you chose to get hurt! “No, I’d never take money from a patient. What if they couldn’t pay? That would mean I’d have to let them suffer, and that’s not what I went to medical school for!”
“Are you trying to tell me that I don’t have to pay a single bit for all of this?” Despite my doubts, Redheart nods. “I don’t believe you. All of your medicine and equipment has to be paid for somehow.”
“Allow me to answer this. Afterward, we can segue into our main discussion,” Flash Forward interjects, stepping forward to the foot of my bed. “Equestrian healthcare is generously subsidized from the Princess’s personal treasury. This handles all expenditures, such as the costs of equipment, maintenance costs, and the wages of the employees. As such, no creature need pay for treatment.”
“That’s...not at all what I expected. So Princess Celestia and Princess Luna managed what humans have been battling with for longer than I’ve been alive,” I muse to myself.
As good as that sounds, I’m still filled with doubt. I still don’t even know how badly I was beaten up, and I get to be treated free of charge? There has to be some sort of catch, maybe taxes that need to be paid to help support the establishment. I make a mental note to ask Vinyl later.
“Alright. I’ll put that aside for now. So, what all was wrong with me?”
Flash Forward’s horn lights silver and a whiteboard rolls up behind him, accompanied by a set of colored markers and an eraser. “I’ve been instructed to give you as much information as I can regarding your situation.”
“One more thing real quick,” I interrupt. Glancing at Rainbow, I reach out to prod her, but she’s too far away. After a moment’s consideration, I grab an empty milk carton from my bedside table and hurl it at Rainbow. It bonks her right on the nose, and she jerks up, looking around frantically. “Waah! Where’s the fire!” It takes her a moment to notice me awake and looking at her. She breaks out into a relieved smile. “Took you long enough. You doing alright?”
“Well enough. Unless you count how every single inch of my body is in pain,” I retort.
“Looks like you’re well enough to complain,” Rainbow teases, sticking out her tongue at me. I roll my eyes. She then notices everyone standing around her. “Oh, the eggheads are here.”
“Rainbow!” Twilight hisses.
“What?”
“Be nice!”
“Ahem.” Rainbow and Twilight quiet down as Flash Forward clears his throat impatiently. He lifts a black marker from the whiteboard and draws a rough outline of a human body. “ First, I’m going to start with your injuries, Seth. Are you ready?”
I get the feeling I’m not going to like what I hear, but I nod regardless. Flash Forward nods in return and begins marking up the outline he’d drawn. “I’ll start with the most minor: your body was covered with a multitude of bruises, abrasions, and lacerations, ranging from minor to severe. Additionally, you suffered multiple broken ribs and internal contusions.” My eyes bug out as Flash continues. “The worst of it was internal; your body was torn inside out by out of control mana of significant strength.”
Flash indicates Twilight with a hoof. “I will be blunt, Seth. Had young Miss Sparkle not performed a stasis spell on you, you would not have made it to this hospital.”
“I...that’s...” I look down at my body, understanding fully how lucky I am to still be alive. “How did this happen?”
Violet moves up to join Flash. “Are you familiar with the fact that all ponies possess an inherent level of mana within them?”
“I don’t know a damn thing about magic," I reply bluntly.
“So that’s my starting point. Good to know.” Violet picks up a blue marker and starts sketching various types of ponies on the board.
I feel a soft impact on my lap. Looking down, I see a blank notepad and a quill there, courtesy of a grinning Twilight Sparkle. “What the heck are these for?”
“So you can take notes! This is a new subject for you, after all!” Twilight beams. Her smile drops when I promptly shove the notepad off my lap and she catches it with her magic.
“I’m not taking notes. What do you think this is, a school lecture?”
Twilight places the notepad back on my lap. “It might as well be. This is important, Seth. You need to be able to remember it!”
I immediately push the notepad back to the floor. “I don’t know about you, but I have this magical thing in my head that records stuff as I hear it. It’s called a brain.”
Twilight grabs the notepad and shoves it into my hands. “Unless you have a photographic memory, which I doubt, you need to take notes to encourage committing your new knowledge to long-term memory!”
This time I throw the notepad directly at her, causing her to yelp and dodge before catching it. “Try committing the word ‘no’ to your long-term memory!”
“Ahem.” Flash Forward clears his throat once again, staring sternly at us. Instantly, Twilight and I halt our game of impromptu hot potato. “Proceed, Mrs. Spice.”
Violet hides the faintest of smiles at our antics. “Of course. Now, when I say that we 'possess’ magic, I mean that we constantly channel it through our bodies and emit it to our surroundings. As a result, we’re graced with various benefits, such as increased endurance, spellcraft, or the ability to fly and interact with the weather.”
“I’m going to pretend that makes sense,” I say, pinching the bridge of my nose. “The idea of ponies messing with the weather will never make sense to me, no matter how you explain it.”
“Continuing on, imagine that for each pony, there is a source for this mana. We call this the magical core.” Violet draws a circle in the center of one of her sketches. “Usually it’s a metaphysical organ, but in the case of unicorns, it’s connected to their horns, which allows them to draw upon their mana at will to influence the world around them. That’s what we call magic.”
“And you’re saying that I have one of these cores,” I move my hand to my sternum. When Violet nods, I shake my head. “That’s impossible. I don’t know how much clearer I can be; humans don’t have magic.”
“Then you appear to be a special case,” Flash Forward interjects. “Our instruments detected what is unmistakably a magical core within you. Your lack of awareness of it is what caused your internal injuries.”
Violet draws a water faucet on the board, along with a set of pipes leading away from it. “Most ponies—with the exception of unicorns—are never consciously aware of their magical cores, nor of the mana flowing through them. However, sometimes young foals will sense their core and become scared of it to the point of actively suppressing it.”
She taps the board with her marker. “Picture a water fixture, with water pumping through the pipes to be used when needed. That’s how a typical pony functions with mana on a day-to-day basis.” Then, she blocks some of the pipes. “This is what happens when a pony tries to suppress their mana. The water doesn’t stop pumping just because you put a blockage in it. It’s going to keep piling up and up…”
I gulp as I realize what she’s trying to say. “Until the fixture breaks.”
“Exactly!” Violet looks pleased with my answer. “That’s why clinics like mine exist. We help young ponies come to terms with their mana, and nurse those damaged by mana backlash back to health.”
I raise an eyebrow. “So this happens often to other ponies?”
“No, you are a special case. Your case of mana backlash was more severe than any case I’ve ever seen,” Violet answers. “Most ponies suffering from backlash require little more than basic magical countermeasures, or perhaps magical therapy to help their atrophied leylines.”
“If we take your assertion that humans don’t have magic to be true, then it makes sense why the backlash was so severe,” Flash Forward adds. “To borrow Mrs. Spice’s metaphor, you suffered such a terrible case because unlike ponies, you have no built-in pipes, or leylines as we call them.”
“And what happens if I don’t have these leylines?”
Flash Forward puts a hoof below his muzzle as he muses over my question. “If your magical core just suddenly appeared, that mana is going to keep coming, pipelines or not. But without a set path through which to flow, it will force its way out anyway it can. Most likely, you would briefly experience overwhelming magical strength before suffering immense internal damage.”
“That’s exactly what happened! Seth went like whack, pow, zam!” Rainbow punches the air several times to emphasize her retelling. She turns to me. “The Scorpio couldn’t do anything against you! I thought you were going to kick its sorry flank all by yourself, but then you...you just collapsed.”
“Okay, I think I get it now,” I gaze down at my chest, experiencing a newfound feeling of fear at the ticking time bomb within me. “But then I should be dead. How did you save me? And why don’t I remember any of this?”
“I can’t answer your second question,” Flash Forward admits, looking embarrassed. “Never before has a case of mana backlash caused acute short-term memory loss. With you being human, we’re treading into entirely new territory here. As for how we saved you...”
“Me! Me! I saved you!” Jenny zips right towards Seth, heedless of the fact that Twilight is directly in her path.
Twilight promptly catches Jenny in a telekinetic field. “No.”
“Whoop. Sorry!” Her momentum halted, Jenny adjusts her mane and beams at Seth. “While they did all the thinking, I worked with Twilight Sparkle, Nurse Redheart, and the other doctors to save your life!”
“Again, how?” I insist.
Jenny gains a joyous glimmer in her eyes as if she was a young kid handed twenty bucks in front of a candy store. “First, Twilight had you in stasis so you didn’t bleed out instantly. From there, I performed a scan of your body with my magic so I could see what was going on inside you. Can I say, you were a real mess! I had to cross-reference what I was seeing with our accumulated research on human biology and stitch you back together with incredibly-invasive magical surgery!” I wince at how excited Jenny sounds while describing messing around with my innards. “It was a lot of work! Sometimes I had to use trial and error to find out how your blood was supposed to flow and which organ did what— ”
“Enough, enough! You’re stressing me out!” I wring my hands together and touch myself all over to make sure everything is in place. “Now I understand even less how I’m in one piece! Is that why I’m aching all over?!”
Flash Forward puts his hoofs forward in a placating manner. “You’re aching all over because you need to recover from the surgery.” He gestures his head towards Nurse Redheart. “Which leads us to our conclusion. Nurse, if you will?”
Redheart steps forward to address me. “You’re not quite ready to be discharged. However, we’ve done all we can for you here. We’re transferring you to a local therapy clinic, where you’ll be under Mrs. Spice’s care for a few days. Once she’s finished with you, you’ll be free to go.”
I’m not surprised that I can’t leave yet. I’d fall like a limp noodle reaching the room door. “What’s going to happen there?”
“We need to help your mana escape your body in a healthy manner, or this will just happen again after enough time passes,” Violet explains. “Normally I could right a case of mana backlash quickly, but you don’t have any leylines. I’ll explain in more detail once you’ve been transferred.” I sigh. It feels as though every time I feel like I have an idea of where to go next in life, another wrench is thrown into the works.
“We’ll be working with you until such time that your case is resolved,” Flash Forward says, indicating himself and Jenny, who looks as if she’s about to burst from excitement. “This is entirely unexplored territory. We’ll need all three of us to get you through this.”
“Okay, stop. This is starting to get ridiculous,” I demand to the confusion of the ponies in the room. “I’ve been putting up with it so I could understand what’s going on, but none of this makes sense.”
“What are you referring to? Were we lax in our explanation somewhere?” Flash Forward questions. He glances at Jenny, who shrugs.
“No, I mean the fact that you’re here,” I make a sweeping hand gesture to encompass all of the town. “As far as I understand, Ponyville is a small farming town with a low population, and within days of being called by the hospital, the heads of two different governmental science bureaus show up to treat me? And I don’t have to pay a single bit for it? This is way too good to be true.”
“Seth, please,” Twilight whines in disappointment.
“Don’t you ‘Seth, please’ me,” I retort. “You could just as easily have sent some lower—”
“No, we couldn’t have,” Flash Forward cuts me off firmly. He steps closer to me. “I suppose I understand your suspicion, but I assure you we are not out to exploit you.”
“Then why are you here?” He better not say it’s out of the goodness of his heart. I swear I’ll get up and leave, injuries be damned.
“Two reasons, actually,” Violet interjects. “First, this is quite literally my job. I went to school to learn how to help anycreature that suffers from mana complications. It’s similar for Jenny. She’s here because—”
“I couldn’t miss this, are you kidding me!?” Jenny squeals, earning an annoyed glance from Violet. “To work on a real live human. This is the chance of a lifetime! The highlight of my professional career! Send someone lower in the ranks, my hoof!”
“We would have had to restrain her to keep her from coming,” Flash Forward deadpans. “While not as strongly, I feel the same. My professional curiosity is simply too great for me to delegate this to another scientist.”
I grumble. “Right, my species. Not sure how I feel that I’m getting special treatment just for existing. What’s the second reason?”
“The Royal Court requested expedience in the matter once word of the request made its way to their ears,” Flash Forward answers. “When that happens, it means I suspend all other projects.”
My blood runs cold at that. I should have known that if I did anything even remotely out of the ordinary, the princesses would find out about it. I suppose I should count my blessings that I’m still in Ponyville and not rotting in a dungeon somewhere.
“You see? Princess Celestia is looking out for you!” Twilight says as though that’s supposed to comfort me. She suddenly blinks, as though a thought had just come to her. She leans in and whispers. “By the way, I didn’t tell her about you as I promised…”
“But the scientists here definitely did,” I whisper back. “I still don’t like any of this, but if I want to live, I guess I don’t have much choice.”
“And you do want to live,” Rainbow says instantly before withering under my pointed stare. “I mean that’s obvious, right? Yeah. I mean who doesn’t? Heh…”
Flash Forward looks at us for a few moments before dipping his head. “Very well. Then I shall take my leave for the time being. I have much to prepare for.”
“It’s the same for me. I need to transfer my equipment to the new facility. I’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Violet says. She gives me a sympathetic smile. “All things aside, it really is nice to meet you. I wish it could have been under better circumstances.”
Violet and Flash walk out of the room as well, leaving only Jenny, who makes no indication of leaving the room. Violet pokes her head back in and bites down on Jenny’s collar. “You’re coming too, Jenny.”
“Nooooo!” Jenny wails piteously as she’s dragged out of the room. We all watch her go with various degrees of perplexion.
“...That mare is a little weird,” Rainbow observes aloud.
Twilight giggles. “She certainly is a character. At least now I don’t have to worry about being run over.”
“Yeah, it’s like she couldn’t see anyone in the room except for me,” I add with a groan “I’m really not going to enjoy this whole process. Though speaking of which, what happens now, nurse?”
Redheart moves about the room, swiftly replacing the whiteboard and markers back where they belonged and wiping the former clear. “Rainbow can leave at any time, but I insist you stay out of the air for at least another day.”
“Aw…” Rainbow complains. She leaps out of her bed and lands on the tiled floor with a click of her hooves, stretching out like a cat. “Finally. I can’t wait to get back out there.”
“As for you, Mr. Seth, you will be staying here and getting some rest until they’re ready to move you. And, with your permission, I’ll be allowing your friends to come visit you both. They’ve been anxious for any news ever since we brought you in.”
I raise an eyebrow at that. “Friends?” I ask, looking at Twilight and Rainbow. “So your friends, basically.”
“Yours too!” Twilight says with a pointed look.
“Yeah, okay,” is my less than convinced response. Twilight sighs in exasperation. “Can I at least have five minutes to myself before everyone comes streaming in?”
“Of course. It will take some time for them to arrive. I still need to tell them you’re awake,” Redheart replies. She motions her head towards my right. “There’s a bell on the stand next to you. Please ring it if you need anything at all.”
With that, the nurse leaves the room, leaving me alone with Twilight and Rainbow. Twilight looks at me expectantly for several seconds, but then she notices both Rainbow and I staring at her expectedly.
“W-What are you looking at me like that for?”
“I said ‘to myself’ Twilight. That means you too,” I tell her. Twilight flattens her ears. “Out you go. Shoo.”
“Don’t look like that, Twilight. I’ll make it up to you later,” Rainbow assures her.
“Fine. I’ll be out in the waiting room,” Twilight relents with a pout, leaving me and Rainbow alone in the room.
Rainbow walks awkwardly to my bedside. “So…Thanks, I guess. For trying to save me.”
“Right.” The awkwardness in the air is so palpable I could reach out and grab a handful of it.
“Why did you, anyway? Go out in the forest?” Rainbow questions, her voice getting a little stronger. “You really sounded like you didn’t care if we lived or died, you know. I know you were lying about the rifle, but you were totally fine with letting Diamond Tiara get hurt. So why?”
I growl in response, “I still don’t give a damn about Diamond Tiara. She’s a monster in the making.”Rainbow recoils at the venom in my voice. “Look, I didn’t go out into that forest to save that brat. I went out there for you, to make sure you didn’t get yourself killed.”
“Yeah, but she’s still a pony! Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean that you can—” Rainbow trails off mid-sentence, staring at me in shock. “You uh...wanna run that by me again?”
I look away from her and scratch the back of my head, realizing what I just said. “I’d really rather not,” I groan, overly conscious of Rainbow’s eyes on me. A short, emotion-filled silence falls between the two of us.
“So...does that mean I wasn’t hearing things when you said the thing?” Rainbow stammers out. “You know, that I was the only force that could make you go back into the forest?”
“...You weren’t hearing things.” I internally curse at how dumb I sound. “I guess some of your friendship nonsense rubbed off on me.”
“My…” Rainbow recognizes the meaning behind my words, and a giant grin spreads across her face. She lets out an exultant whoop and leaps into the air. “Owowow, bad idea, bad idea,” she says with a pained cry as she roughly hits the floor.
“You moron. The nurse literally just said to stay out of the air,” I remark derisively. She shuffles upright and sticks her tongue out at me defiantly. “I see you’re still as immature as ever.”
“Eh, you know I’m awesome,” Rainbow boasts in response, leaning on the bed. “I’ve got so many new things to show you now! Once you’re all better, you should totally come hang with the girls and me on one of our camping trips! Oh yeah, you’ve gotta come see the Wonderbolts with me! I want you to see the totally awesome things that they can do! There’s also this epic book series I want to tell you about and…”
The list of things that Rainbow wants to share with me continues to grow as she babbles on and on. “Can you give it a rest!? Too much at once!”
Rainbow chuckles sheepishly. “Right, sorry. Seriously though, we gotta hang out some more. I’m psyched that you finally trust me!”
“I wouldn’t go quite that far.” The wind visibly drains out of Rainbow’s sails at that, her ears drooping. “You’re...different, I’ll give you that. But don’t expect me to suddenly change my entire way of thinking. I’m just... giving you a chance. At the friendship thing. God, that sounds stupid.”
Rainbow’s excitement returns in full force. “I’ll take it! It’s progress!”
Redheart pokes her head back into the room. “Excuse me. Your friends are here. Shall I let them in?”
I try to shrug, but the pain that runs through me at any slight motion reminds me why that would be a bad idea. “Now’s as good a time as any, I guess.” A sudden thought fills me with dread. “Wait, how many are we talking about?”
“I brought snacks, everycreature!” With a flash of vibrant pink, Pinkie Pie zooms into the room carrying a tray of cupcakes, each decorated with rainbow frosting. She halts between the two of us and sets it on the stand on my left side. “It’s a new recipe! Come on, try it!”
“Pinkie, what is—” Rainbow cuts off when Pinkie forces open her mouth with a single hoof and shoves an entire cupcake inside. Pinkie slowly turns her innocent gaze to me.
“Mmf!?” Before I can understand what’s happening, she shoves a cupcake in my mouth. An oddly sweet, yet spicy flavor floods my mouth. Combined with the vanilla base, it’s yet another masterpiece by the spastic baker before me.
“Pinkie, I think you should slow down and—” Fluttershy walks into the room next, cutting off when sees that she’s already too late to stop her. She quails. “Oh...oh dear.”
I try to swallow my mouthful. As I do so, Vinyl joins us in the room, accompanied by Twilight and Lyra A chorus of greetings from the various ponies fills the room. Fluttershy moves to the foot of Rainbow’s bed, Vinyl and Lyra move to the foot of mine, and Twilight stands between the two of us, shaking her head at Pinkie’s antics.
“Dear lord, why are there so many of you here?” I glance at Rainbow. “This is your fault. Why do you have so many friends?”
“Duh, obviously because I’m awesome!” Rainbow points out, causing me to roll my eyes. “Where are Rarity and Applejack?”
Vinyl gives a shrug. “Busy with work I guess? They’ll probably visit later. And Seth, don’t make me throw something at you. We came to see you too, doofus,” she says, floating a plastic spoon in her telekinetic aura menacingly.
“Right. Well, I’m alright, so you were worried for nothing,” I tell her. “Besides, if you wanted to talk to me about the rent, I don’t have anything for you except for the one week’s amount.”
“On second thought,” Vinyl glances at the spoon, and after a moment’s consideration throws it at me. I yelp as the tiny utensil bounces off of my head. “The rent is the last thing I’m thinking about! That can all come later, once you’re all better.” I don’t even get a chance to voice my disbelief before she throws a second utensil at me; a fork. “And that’s for ignoring what I said. Didn’t I say no heroics? I said, get in and get out! Not fight the Scorpio yourself!”
“What the hell was I supposed to do? Ask the big scary scorpion monster to please not eat Rainbow?” I counter defensively while rubbing my head. “Of course I had to do something.”
“Oh come on, I would have been fine,” Rainbow boasts. “I had the Scorpio right where I wanted it...mostly.”
Vinyl stifles a snicker as I glare at Rainbow. “You lying sack of feathers, don’t you even. We both would have been screwed if it weren’t for that Commander Iron guy.”
“I hear he was actually here in the first place to get rid of the Scorpio for us,” Lyra chimes in. “I still can’t believe you took on the Scorpio. I honestly thought Vinyl was pulling my leg when she told me!”
Lyra’s words cause a sinking feeling to form within my chest. “Uh...does the entire town know about this?”
Redheart chimes in for this one. “The mayor put out a statement the day after Commander Stalwart Iron and Twilight Sparkle brought you to us.”
I sigh in annoyance. “That’s a yes, then. That’s lovely.”
“Why’s that a bad thing? Now the entire town is going to think you’re awesome!” Rainbow points out.
“I think I preferred flying beneath the radar, so to speak.” All I went out there to do was make sure Rainbow came back. I don’t need hero-worship added on top of that because I’m hardly hero material. I certainly don’t want ponies feeling comfortable enough to try chatting me up, either. This lot is bad enough.
Suddenly, my vision is filled with pink. “Hey, Sethie!”.
“Never call me Sethie again or I swear to—”
“Fluttershy has something she wants to say to you!” Pinkie steps aside to reveal a beyond mortified Fluttershy. “She’s been thinking about it, but everyone keeps talking over her!”
“Really?” I look at Fluttershy as the room goes into a polite silence. Faced with my attention, Fluttershy stammers incoherently and takes great interest in the far corner of the room. “Come on, spit it out.”
“I…” With a loud gulp, Fluttershy manages to elevate her voice past a whisper. “I just wanted to thank you. Rainbow Dash—we’ve been friends since we were fillies. If something happened to her, I…” Tears well up in the corners of her eyes. She squeezes her eyes shut and sniffs before wiping the tears with a hoof. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“I still don’t even remember doing anything all that helpful,” I protest weakly.
“I’m with Fluttershy on this one. Without Rainbow around it would be...I don’t even want to think about it,” Vinyl shudders. She notes my expression filling with further discomfort and smirks. “By the way, you should have heard him before he went out there. I’d have had to knock him out or something to keep him from going after Rainbow,” Vinyl reveals, much to my chagrin.
“Could you not?” I hiss at her, but the damage is already done. I flush somewhat as Rainbow looks at me with surprise.
“Seriously, I’m glad you pulled it off and made it out. You did good, Seth,” Vinyl finishes with a sincere smile.
“You’re a real hero!”
“Sethie is a real goodie!”
“Absolutely.”
I look down at my lap, lost for words in the face of their combined sentiment. I didn’t go out there for them, but telling them that wouldn’t make much of a difference. It doesn’t help that I can see Rainbow beaming out of the corner of my eye, her smile the slightest bit smug.
“Alright, we’ve done enough, girls. Seth doesn’t know how to handle positive attention,” Vinyl interjects with a smirk.
“Excuse you,” I retort instantly.
Vinyl raises her brow, “What, are you going to tell me I’m wrong?” Her smirk widens into a daring grin. “Come on, just one ‘you’re welcome’ then.”
I instantly grab the spoon from where it fell and hurl it back at her amidst a smattering of laughter. “Shut it, you!” The spoon plinking against her shades does nothing to discourage her shameless snickering.
As the laughter dies down, Lyra rubs her two front hooves together, her lips curving into a malicious smile. “So….Pinkie calls you Sethie, does she?”
“Don’t you dare.”
“But it sounds so cute, though!” Not even the most blistering of death glares stops her from batting her eyes at me. “Aw, did I make wittle Sethie angwy?
I plant my face in my hands and groan despairingly. “Are you all in some kind of giant conspiracy to piss me off!?”
“No, we came to see if you were all right, remember?” Lyra reminds me.
“Whatever. So what, are you all just going to stand around staring at me all day?”
“Tempted to, just to see how you’d react,” Lyra remarks with a snicker. “But I actually do need to be going. It is the middle of the workday.”
“Yeah, same. Most of my life I’ve worked without an assistant, so a few days is nothing,” Vinyl is the next to go. “Again, don’t worry about the rent. I’ll collect for last week when you get free, and this week is on the house. Can’t exactly charge you if you’re not living here.”
“I have so much to plan for! I’ll be back later with more snacks! Let’s go, Fluttershy!” Pinkie says, bouncing out of the room with a happy trill, with Fluttershy in tow..
“I need to get back to the library myself, but I’ll drop by when I can during the therapy process. I’m really curious to know how this goes,” Suddenly, she smiles so widely I half expect her cheeks to fall off. “Afterwards, we can practice magic together!”
“Oh joy. That’s assuming I ever want to use magic again,” I mutter to myself as Twilight leaves. “I’m guessing you’re also leaving, Rainbow?”
“Yeah, I’m going to go for a run! I’ve been cooped up in this room for like, an entire week! I gotta work out all these kinks!” Rainbow jogs in place for a few seconds, wincing at her built-up cramps. “You take it easy in here. I’ll catch you later,” she says, zipping out of the room without wasting another moment, her joyous whoops soon fading into silence.
Several hours later, after the workday ends, Applejack and Rarity come to visit me as well. Their visit is thankfully less energetic than my last. They first apologize for waiting so long to visit; the former was in the midst of business negotiation, while the latter was rushing to keep up with her piling up orders. Not that it matters much to me—I hadn’t been expecting any visitors in the first place, but none of the other ponies have understood that yet.
After they thank me for saving Rainbow, ignoring my protests that I don't even remember the incident, our conversation turns to my recovery. Applejack is understanding about my condition, giving me as many days off as I need. Rarity, on the other hand, recognizes Violet Spice’s name as that of a mare she’d met in Canterlot before on a previous trip. According to her, Violet Spice was down-to-earth and easy to get along with. Supposedly, that means I’m in good hooves.
Once they’ve taken their leave, Nurse Redheart brings me a meal of sandwiches and flowers that I politely put to the side. After eating what I can, I attempt to sleep through the night with limited success. Each time I close my eyes, my dreams are filled with flashes of the Scorpio, the princesses, Sombra, and the crawling dead shuffling through the desolate school hallways.
The following morning, Violet Spice returns in a dark purple winter cloak, accompanied by Nurse Redheart who rolls a wheelchair into the room.
“Is it that time already?” I say as they approach, my voice laden with sleep. I shift in my bed as much as I can to look at them, the sheets clinging to my skin by a thin layer of sweat. Once I finish rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I spot the wheelchair. “Right. I was wondering how exactly you were going to move me.”
“Of course. Your bones might be healing nicely, but I’d rather you not place any undue stress on your body just yet,” Redheart explains.
“How are my bones healing nicely? It’s only been a week,” I question with a healthy dose of skepticism.
“That’s plenty of time. All we had to do was set them manually with the doctor’s magic and lock them in place with an immobility spell. A makeshift splint, if you will,” Redheart explains while she approaches my bed. She notices my dumbfounded expression. “Are you unused to magical treatment?”
I glance down at my ribs. Apart from the colorful bruises painted across my skin, I look fine. “I’m unused to magic in general. Can you really use magic to set bones?”
“Of course! I suppose we could let them heal naturally, but then it would take a lot longer.” I hiss as Redheart removes the IV needle in my arm. “Mrs. Spice, can I get your help here? I need to quickly move him.”
Violet nods. She wheels the chair up to the bedside first, then I feel the familiar telekinetic grip lift me up just enough for Redheart to get her hooves beneath me.
“One two three.” With the two of them working together, they lift me off of the bed and over to the chair. Redheart shoulders most of the weight, leaving Violet Spice to keep me immobilized. It’s an odd experience, but once Violet releases me into the wheelchair and my body settles, I find that it was necessary.
“Son of a—” I hiss in agony. Just that slight motion causes sparks of pain to shoot up my from toe to head. I bite my tongue hard, but I can’t keep a muffled cry of agony from escaping. “You weren’t kidding. It feels like I was torn up from the inside out.”
“And I shall ensure it never happens again, or I’ll quit my job and become a farmer,” Violet Spice vows fervently.
“If that was supposed to reassure me, I don’t think it’s working,” I remark nervously. “Yesterday, you all basically admitted that you have no idea what you’re doing.”
“It is the first time we’ve ever worked with a human, but I wouldn’t say we have no idea,” Violet returns, gently turning the wheelchair around. “With the three of us, I’m certain we’ll have you in tip-top shape in no time!”
That’s even less reassuring than before. “If you say so.”
“Just try and hold still. It’s only a short walk to the other facility.”
Violet Spice begins the trip to the Ponyville therapy clinic, pushing me along with her magic. Nurse Redheart escorts us as far as the front door of the hospital before taking her leave, wishing us luck.
The trip from the hospital to the clinic takes us only five minutes, leading me into a smaller square where, based on the signs, several other health-related businesses are located. It’s not very busy at the moment, due to it being late in the afternoon. I hardly see more than a pair of elderly ponies here and there.
The clinic itself stands slightly apart from the rest, both in location and in appearance. It’s covered with windows that provide excellent visibility into its interior and it’s surrounded by a carefully-crafted flower garden that fills the air with a soothing aroma. It’s an almost therapeutic experience, though I suppose that’s the point. When we reach the door, Violet opens it and takes us inside, shutting it behind her. Without much further ado, I’m taken to a secluded room and my treatment begins.
“It’s been three days?” I ask, sitting up on the operation table to look at the three unicorns who are in various states of disarray. Flash’s lab coat is wrinkled and dotted with stains, and his fur is matted down and sticking out in odd places, while Violet’s mane is a total disaster zone. Neither of them looks like they’ve slept for days. In stark contrast, Jenny looks no different than when I first met her, complete with her overly wide smile.
I’m dressed in a soft white hospital gown jury-rigged to fit my body. Lying around me on either my bed or the surrounding countertops are a variety of cables, tubes, needles, two cups of steaming coffee, and other measuring devices whose purpose I can’t deduce.
‘That’s right, three whole days! You were really good for the whole thing too, minus the screaming and threats,” Jenny responds with a bright smile, looking pleased with herself.
Violet plants her face firmly into her hoof. “Jenny, we really need to work on your bedside manners.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Threats? Screaming?”
“You didn’t take the pain very well,” Violet explains while trying to fix her rat’s nest of a mane.
“No kidding. I barely even remember what you did to me.” I rub my neck gingerly, wincing. “That explains why it feels like there are shards of glass lodged in my throat.”
Flash grabs a cup of coffee with a rueful frown. “There’s only so much we could do. This was an entirely new procedure for us. Manipulating internal leylines is a dangerous and unexplored field. We couldn’t have predicted how rough it would be for you.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Glad I could be your guinea pig. So, was it worth it?”
“We believe so. Take a look at this.” Flash Forward magically taps a few buttons on the large machine beside him and then plants his hoof on a crystal orb on its base. Two light-green, three-dimensional featureless holograms appear in the air before us, each gently rotating and hovering a few inches above the floor.
The left hologram depicts a standard unicorn, with the pulsing blue glow of the magical core just beneath its horn. A lattice of razor-thin blue wires stretch from the core in all directions, all terminating on contact with the skin. On the right is an empty silhouette of my body.
“On the left, you’ll see a normal unicorn. We’ve managed to construct something similar within your own body, as such,” Flash rotates his hoof slightly, and a black pulsing core appears right in the center of the hologram’s chest with a similar lattice of leylines spidering outward. “Your mana is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, but the general principles on which it operates are thankfully the same.
“So you’re now releasing your mana in a safe and natural way! If you learn and practice, you could even learn to cast spells! Isn’t that exciting!?” Jenny’s excitement brings her really close to me. She’s just lifting her hooves as if to rear up when Violet lightly bonks her on the head with a clipboard. “Eep! Hey!”
Violet transfixes Jenny with a brief severe stare. “More importantly, Seth, how do you feel?”
“Like I have a headache, except it’s all over,” I retort, still trying to process what Jenny had just told me. My injuries appear to have cleared up, apart from the odd scab and minor bruise here and there. I’ve got to hand it to pony healthcare; after the beating I took, I should have been in the hospital for well over a month.
I exhale sharply, expecting the usual pressure on my sternum, only to feel...nothing. No pressure, no seeping cold, nothing. It’s almost enough to make me smile. Almost. “Am I allowed to get up?”
Violet looks over to Flash, who nods after a brief pause. “In theory, yes. Give it a try if you’re ready, but be careful. You’ve been off your feet for over a week.”
That’s all I needed to hear. I grasp the edge of the operation bed and swing my feet to the floor. I immediately hiss in pain as the shock travels up through my weakened body, but I manage to keep my feet. Once the pain subsides, I gingerly allow my weight to rest upon my wobbling legs. I take my first step and immediately stumble.
“Do not.” I shoot out a hand to halt Violet, whose horn was already lighting up to catch me. With a few more steps around the room, my gait stabilizes, despite the lingering pain. As I do so, I cast my gaze around the room, getting a good feel for my surroundings. I spot my rifle laying on the counter at the far end of the room, and immediately move to fetch it. The moment I feel its cold metal weight in my hands, a sense of comfort washes over me. I glance back at the three unicorns. “There. It seems I’m able to move comfortably. Does that mean we are about done here?”
“Just about. First, I’d like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with you,” Flash Forward expresses with a polite dip of his head.“We in Canterlot will learn much from this experience.”
My mouth sets into a hard line at his choice of words. “Ultimately, I didn’t have much of a choice,” I point out to him uncomfortably. “Either way, I guess I should thank you for putting me back together.”
“All in a day’s work. Or three in this case,” Flash Forward responds modestly, walking towards the door. “If you’ll come with me, I’ll take you to your personal effects. Then after you sign a few papers for formality’s sake, you’ll be free to go.”
I nod and slowly shuffle after him. Getting out of here sounds really good; it’s hard to believe I’ve been out of action for over a week.
When I next step into the streets of Ponyville, it’s on my own two feet. The moon, the harbinger of the encroaching night, pokes its head over the horizon. A frigid breeze sweeps through the area, shifting the layers of snow coating the streets With every breath, the frosty air fills my lungs, but it doesn’t sting or burn as much as before. Not even the snow crunching beneath my boots serves to chill me. A strange feeling of contentment falls over me as I look upon the snow-covered town streets before me.
The few ponies that I pass in the street perk up upon seeing me and flash me a smile. Some give me a wave, and some even greet me by name. At most I respond with a quiet nod. I think I preferred their curious stares and their hesitant approach to whatever this is.
Despite everything, I’m rather enjoying the walk. I near the house far sooner than I’d like. Just as I’m debating passing it and continuing my walk a little longer, I spot Vinyl coming out of it, shutting the door behind her. “Oh hey! I heard you were getting out today. Great to see you out and about, dude. Put er there!” Vinyl offers her hoof jovially.
I stare at the hoof. “No thanks. Body still hurts if I move too much.”
Vinyl withdraws her hoof in concern.“Really? How bad are we talking?”
“I feel like I’ve been run through a meat grinder and reassembled on the other side, but it’s better than before,” I remark. “Besides, you have one hell of a strong grip.”
Vinyl snorts. “Fair. I don't know what a meat grinder is, but it sounds pretty bad.”
“I’ll deal. I did bring it on myself,” I say with a nonchalant shrug. “So where are you off to this late at night?”
Vinyl shrugs. “I was gonna go and treat myself to some cake and ice-cream and regret it the next morning. Why don’t you come along? You haven’t eaten yet, and you could use the extra calories after a diet on hospital food.”
I’m about to protest, but my stomach loudly grumbles its agreement. “Fine. Let me go and get my bits from inside. I still need to pay you for a week’s rent, anyway.”
“Sounds good, I’ll wait here.”
A few minutes later, I emerge from the house with my bag of bits and less stuffy winter clothing. I fish out the forty for my rent and pass it to Vinyl. With that taken care of, the two of us make our way back into the streets.
“I should have known,” I emit wryly as the two of us approach the glorified gingerbread house that is Sugarcube Corner. I shoot the sheepishly smiling Vinyl with a pointed stare. “I just got out of the hospital and you’re going to make me deal with that pink devil?”
“Hey,she’s not that bad. She’s probably got other customers too,” Vinyl points out. “Isn’t getting the best sweets in Ponyville worth a liiittle extra socializing?”
“That’s debatable. And my luck isn’t that good. Besides, the lights are off,” I say, pointing at the unlit establishment. “Let’s go somewhere where we can actually enjoy the food.”
“Closed? Nah, she’s not closed,” Vinyl hastily assures me. I raise a brow at that, causing her to bite her lip nervously. “No, really, hear me out. Pinkie’s got this odd baking technique she calls the...uh...the Train Tunnel! It’s where she turns all the lights out except for the kitchen, so the oven is the only light. Like an approaching train, right?”
“That makes literally no sense.”
“When does Pinkie Pie ever make sense?” Vinyl shoots back with a grin. “I’m telling you the place is open. If it isn’t, I’ll buy you dinner.”
“Fine. In for a penny, in for a pound.” I wrap my hand around the doorknob and find it to be unlocked. I open the door and step inside, Vinyl following closely behind.
“See? Nothing. They’re probably already—”
“SURPRISE!” I take a step back, my hand jerking towards my rifle, as light floods the bakery to reveal countless ponies waiting for my reaction, with Pinkie leading the charge. It’s almost as though the entire town came; I recognize Twilight Sparkle standing beside Pinkie Pie; Rainbow Dash and the weather team hovering in the air above them near the ceiling; Applejack and her family gathered near the raised portion of the room with a bunch of other earth ponies, including some of the police force; Fluttershy and Rarity standing near the front counter with Lyra, Derpy, Cheerilee, and the Mayor; and even some of the Canterlot Royal Guard, albeit without their armor. There are plenty of ponies here that I don’t recognize as well.
The whole bakery is decorated with balloons, streamers, and banners, each labeled with Equestrian text that I can’t read. Behind Pinkie is a long dining table covered in cake, cookies, cupcakes, and fruit punch. On the raised portion of the floor over by Applejack’s family, I recognize a familiar set of turntables and speakers.
“Welcome to your very own ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ surprise party, Sethie!” Pinkie proclaims with a bright happy smile that stretches from ear to ear. She giggles and snorts. “I got you really good! You looked like you thought you were under attack or something silly! Though I guess you could say you are under attack with friendliness and cake!”
I relax the grip on my rifle and slowly turn to stare at Vinyl, who is trying and failing to stifle her laughter behind a hoof. “Train Tunnel!? Really!? That was the best you had!?” I demand, causing her to dissolve into laughter.
“Get off my back! I had to make it up on the spot because you’re so suspicious!” Vinyl chortles as she makes her way to the stage.
“I walked right into this,” I mutter to myself. “How did I not see this coming? I’ve literally participated in one of these before, in this exact same spot, in this exact same manner. I even told Twilight she could let Pinkie do this. How did I just walk right on in here!?”
“Nocreature sees a Pinkie Surprise Party coming, silly!” Pinkie leaps atop the banister of the stairway, where the largest banner hangs, framed by yet more multicolored balloons. “See the big sign here? That says ‘Welcome to Ponyville, Sethie!’”
“Wait, does it really say Sethie?”
“You better believe it does, Sethie!” Lyra chimes in, resulting in a chorus of laughter from the surrounding ponies.
A sudden urge for retaliatory action strikes me. “Twilight, pass me a cupcake.” She blinks, but floats a cupcake heaped with frosting over to me. “Actually, make that two.”
The moment the cupcakes float into my hands, I immediately hurl one smack into Lyra’s face with a perfect baseball pitch, the mare snuffling and recoiling from the sudden impact of sugary goodness. Without missing a beat, I hurl the next one directly at Pinkie Pie, who opens her mouth comically wide and eats the cupcake whole.
“That’s for calling me Sethie, you brats!” I yell at them, the room erupting in laughter. Lyra glares at me through the mess of frosting on her face, but smiles despite herself, licking some of the frosting off of her muzzle.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about! Let’s get this party started, everypony!” Pinkie Pie declares. An excited cheer rises from the ponies in the room with cries for music and dance.
Vinyl slams her hoof to her tables, upbeat electronic music blaring from her speakers. “Rock on, Ponyville!” And like that, the party begins, with ponies making their way to the dance floor or to the food table.
I make for the table as well, carefully picking my way through the crowd of ponies. Rainbow swoops down from above, munching on a cookie clutched in her hoof. “You should have seen your face! It’s like you’ve never had a surprise party before!”
“That’s because I haven’t,” I say matter-of-factly with a hint of bitterness.
“That means we get to be your first! Right on!” Rainbow pumps her hoof in the air excitedly. I finally reach the table, eager to get my hands on some baked confections. “This was long overdue, anyway. Pinkie throws a party the day somepony new comes to live here. You should have seen Twilight trying to hold her back.”
I chomp down on one of the cupcakes, finding it to be as delicious as always. “I just hope they don’t expect me to do much other than standing around. The last thing I want to do is move around too much.”
“Still feeling a bit banged up?” Rainbow touches down beside me. She glances around shiftily, then munches down on a cupcake on the table without bothering to pick it up first. “What did they do to you in there?”
“I have no idea. All I know is that it hurt like hell,” I say with a shrug.
“So can you like, cast spells now? You did some really crazy stuff out there in the forest,” Rainbow says. I notice a flicker of discomfort cross her face.
“They told me it’s possible in theory. I have no earthly idea how, though. As I said, I don’t remember anything that happened in the forest after the two of us went down.”
“You really don’t remember anything?” Rainbow presses in an odd halting manner.
“Not a thing. That’s why this is so hard to wrap my head around,” I reply. I look at her, noticing the change in her demeanor. “What? You’re acting weird.”
“Am not!” Rainbow hotly protests. “It’s just weird is all.”
“Do you know what else is weird?” Pinkie Pie appears next to the two of us as though she’d always been there. “There are so many ponies that have never met you! Let’s fix that, shall we? I bet they all want to be friends!”
“Oh, I’m sure they do. I can think of a few reasons why,” I say less than amused. I fetch a cup of punch and sip from it.
“Is it because you know how to make a killer souffle?” Pinkie guesses.
I stare at her blankly.
“No? Then is it because you’re really good with musical instruments?” Pinkie produces a tuba from seemingly nowhere; I widen my eyes and thrust out a hand in confusion.
“How in the...whatever. No, Pinkie, it’s-”
“Oh, I know! It’s because you’re secretly a really cool guy underneath all the grump!” Pinkie proclaims, the tuba disappearing as inexplicably as it appeared. Rainbow can’t help herself and snickers into her own cup of punch.
“Well, excuse you,” I retort. Pinkie just giggles and opens her mouth again. “Pinkie! Stop guessing! It’s obviously for their own benefit.”
“Now hang on,” Rainbow starts.
I hold out a hand in front of Dash. “You hush. That doesn't apply to you...I think.”
“You think?”
“Of course it’s for their own benefit. Who doesn’t want to have more friends?” Pinkie responds as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “More friends equals more happiness and more reasons to party!”
“Right. Forget I brought it up,” I remark wryly. I should have known Pinkie Pie of all ponies wouldn’t understand. “So I get the feeling you’re going to make me talk to some of these ponies.”
“You bet! You’re the stallion of the hour, after all. You wait right here!” Pinkie zips away in a flash. Before I have a moment to mentally prepare, she arrives a few seconds later, carrying a very confused Derpy Hooves with her. “I brought the first pony!”
“How did I get here?” Derpy asks cluelessly.
“I wish I knew,” I remark, thankful that Pinkie brought me a pony I don’t have a problem with.
What follows is a slew of interactions with ponies I’m familiar with and introductions to those I’m not. Flitter and Cloud Chaser are the next to visit me after Derpy, the two of them expressing their appreciation for saving their boss. After them are a trio of three ponies—Daisy, Lily, and Rose—each one with flower-related cutie marks, who spend a few minutes gushing over my “bravery and chivalry” before returning to the dance floor.
Cheerilee comes to me as well to express her relief at my wellbeing as well as to discuss scheduling. As it turns out, while I’d been in the hospital, she’d finished her curriculum for me and was ready to give lessons whenever I was ready. To start me off, she pointed out the banner hanging from the staircase and explained how to read it, slowly sounding out each of the symbols and telling me what they meant.
Next, Applejack approaches me with Big MacIntosh and introduces me to a fellow farmer named Golden Harvest, a sunflower-yellow pony with an orange mane looking for able bodies during the harvest season if I’m interested.. The mayor approaches not long afterward, expressing her appreciation and her happiness for my service, and that I’d chosen Ponyville to settle in. I tactfully choose not to voice the fact that I’d never had a choice in the first place. Once she leaves, my worst nightmare approaches.
“Hiya, Seth!” Lyra trots up to me with a bright smile. Sometime between now and the beginning of the party, she’d managed to clean her face and mane of cupcake frosting. She eyes me appreciatively before angling her head towards the dance floor. “I requested a song from Vinyl! It’s my favorite, so come and dance with me! Rainbow’s out there too.”
“I told you before that I don’t dance,” I remind her.
Lyra nods. “I remember! And I just think that’s just a terrible shame. I bet you’d have so much fun if you’d just relax.”
“Uh-huh. Sure.” I’d hoped my sarcastic response would get her to back off, but instead, it causes her to look mischievous. Nothing good ever happens when she gets a look like that.
“Or...maybe you’re just really shy.” Lyra leans in with lidded eyes and a smug smile. “Am I right? Is wittle Sethie just a shy little colt who doesn’t want his awful dancing seen by everypony? Hmmm?”
I grab another cupcake from the table and promptly shove it into Lyra’s face, except this time she’s ready for it. She opens her mouth wide and engulfs both the cupcake and my fingers inside. I immediately withdraw my hand in disgust, a mixture of crumbs, frosting, and pony slobber left behind on my fingers. “Agh, are you kidding me? That’s so gross.”
“Not this time,” Lyra licks her lips and snickers at the look on my face. “Now, come on, let’s go dance.”
“Lyra, even if I was inclined to dance with you—which I’m not, just in case you care—I was in the hospital a few hours ago,” I explain to her while wiping my hand with the nearest napkin.
Lyra’s smugness fades into concern. “Is everything alright? Didn’t they fix you up?”
“More or less, I’ll be fine. But moving around too much is probably a bad idea. So go find Bon Bon or something and go dance,” I say, waving dismissively at the dance floor. “Where is she anyway? I thought it seemed too friendly in here.”
“Bonnie...didn’t want to come. Said she didn’t feel like welcoming you,” Lyra admitted uncomfortably.
“That makes sense. Somehow she’s the only one among you that does,” I say with a shrug. It’s far easier for me to deal with someone who wears their dislike for me on their sleeve.
Lyra gives me an odd look at that but thankfully doesn’t press the issue. “Either way, I’ll let you off the hook this time. But next time no mercy, you hear?”
“Alright, note to self: stay away from any parties.”
“Mleh!” Lyra sticks her tongue at me and then retreats to the dance floor. “Rainbow! Get down here and dance with me! Seth wouldn’t do it.”
“I told you he wouldn’t! You owe me a cider!” Rainbow gloats from above before swooping down to join Lyra to accept her offer.
I sigh heavily, sipping on my punch. “This party is way too high energy for me.” Despite that, it’s nice to lean back and enjoy some music while eating all the junk food I want.
“On that, we can agree,” a strong and level baritone voice sounds from beside me. I turn my head to see an unfamiliar steel blue unicorn stallion with a gleaming silver mane styled similarly to mine. His eyes are also a shade of silver, and a thin scar runs vertically through his right eye. He turns his head to look at me, his gaze possessing a surprising level of weight to it. “Mr. Seth Rogers, is it?”
“That’s right, but just Seth is fine. I can’t say I know who you are though.” I reply, finding it hard to meet his gaze, instead focusing on his cutie mark of a shield emblazoned with a golden eagle.
“This would mark our first official meeting. I am Stalwart Iron. You may know me as the Commander of the Canterlot Royal Unicorn First Regiment.” As the stallion introduces himself, my eyes widen. Should I be saluting, or showing some other sort of respect? I have no idea how one is supposed to interact with Equestrian military officials.
“Oh, I d-didn’t recognize you without your armor,” I stammer. I don’t know anything about the commander, but I do know that he’s the reason the Scorpio isn’t a problem anymore. “I’m surprised you’re here. Is a Pinkie Party really your type of scene?”
“Not particularly,” Stalwart Iron admits with a minor grimace. “I mean no disrespect to Miss Pie’s efforts, but it’s far too...bright and colorful in here for my liking.”
“Hah, I’ll drink to that,” I say, tipping my cup in a toast.
“Regardless, she insisted, and I didn’t feel the need to quarrel with her over it”, Iron says. “First, I’d like to thank you for holding off the Scorpio until I arrived. Without your intervention, I’m afraid there would have been civilian casualties.”
“Really, I had no idea what I was doing. Besides, none of us should have tangled with that thing in the first place.” I’m still uncomfortable with all of these ponies talking about my supposed intervention when I don’t remember doing anything useful at all. “It was your mission, wasn’t it?”
“Indeed it was. Yet I don’t see the need to admonish any of you for attempting to fight it. I have no doubt you have all learned from this experience,” Stalwart Iron agrees. “In truth, I have something else of a more personal nature to ask you..”
“Uh...okay? I’m hardly the best person to talk to if you’re looking to vent.”
“Nothing so trite. I merely wish to tap into your knowledge of the human race, if you are willing.”
Iron’s words gain my full attention. “Why do you think I’d know much about the human race?”
“I’ve been briefed on your circumstances. I know you are displaced from your original era via powerful magic,” Stalwart Iron reveals. I’m shocked at first, but I reason that I don't have any right to be given his position.
“Okay, but I’m not sure how much help, I’d be. I was just a student, not a scientist, engineer, or anything remotely helpful. I disappeared long before I could really be anything,” I reply, bitterness seeping into my tone.
“Is that so?” To his credit, Stalwart Iron did an excellent job of hiding his disappointment. “In that case, pay it no mind. You likely wouldn’t know. Forgive me for troubling you.”
Now I’m just curious, but I have no right to demand any information from him. “It’s fine, I guess.”
Stalwart Iron dips his head politely. “ I am sure we will meet again soon, but now I must take my leave, lest Miss Pie once again attempt to coax me onto the dance floor.”
I snort with amusement at the thought. I give him a polite nod and watch him slink away towards the bakery’s back door and out of sight. For a few minutes, I’m able to enjoy my spot by the treats and gently bob my head to the music.
“Hello again, sweet tooth! I brought some new guests to see you!” Pinkie Pie appears just as I’m biting into my third slice of cake. I inwardly groan and prepare to greet them, only to be met with the sight of Filthy Rich, Diamond Tiara, and her friend Silver Spoon.
I force down that bit of cake, my eyes hardening. “Pinkie...what are they doing here? Last I checked, this is a welcome party for me, and as long as they’re here, I don’t feel very welcome.”
“Aw, don’t be like that! They just wanted to-” Pinkie starts to say.
“It’s alright, Pinkie Pie. I can handle it from here,” Filthy Rich assures her. He gives her a warm reassuring smile. “We have our differences, but that’s why I’m here—to resolve them. Do you mind giving us some space?”
“Sounds good to me! Have a good ol’ talk and then we’ll get right back to partying!” Satisfied by the businesspony’s words, she beams at all of us and disappears into the throng of happily partying ponies.
An uncomfortable silence stretches over the next few minutes that I’m in no rush to break, staring balefully at the trio of ponies I had wished to never talk to again while leisurely chewing on forkfuls of cake.
Finally, Filthy Rich breaks the ice. “Mr. Rogers, I just need a moment of your time. After that, you needn’t associate with us ever again.”
“...You have five minutes,” I tell him flatly.
“That’s more than enough.” Filthy Rich takes a breath. “A lot of things were said between the two of us. I still don’t agree with the way you meddled in my family’s affairs, but...I rescind my earlier demands to you. You saved my daughter’s life, and for that I will be forever grateful.”
“You really should be thanking Rainbow. I didn’t go in that forest for you, I went in there for her. That your daughter is safe and sound is more her doing than mine,” I tell him bluntly. “I’m not interested in your debt. Unlike your daughter, I don’t use debts to control ponies as though I own them.”
“Hey! I—” Diamond Tiara protests, only to falter when I transfix her with a blistering glare. Filthy Rich glances at her expectantly, nudging her gently with a hoof. She groans in bad grace. “Fine, I’m sorry, okay!? I shouldn’t have tried to use Apple Bloom, and I shouldn’t have gone into the forest. I was just trying to do something for myself!”
“Too little, too late,” I growl. “Think about all the ponies you’ve no doubt used in the past, and then think about who you should be apologizing to.”
“Rest assured, my daughter will have plenty of time to think and reflect upon your words,” Filthy Rich promises me. “Regardless, whether you meant to save my daughter or not, in the end, that’s precisely what you did. Thus, if I am able to assist you in any way going forward, you have but to ask.”
I stare back at him, an earnest expression on his face to accompany his heartfelt words. It’s rather strange to see such a drastic change in attitude in someone that previously threatened to run me out of town. “That’s unnecessary, but I’ll keep it in mind. Now is there anything else? I’d rather get back to enjoying my cake,” I reply impatiently.
“Just one...uh...sir,” Silver Spoon speaks up next. “Thank you for saving my friend. I...expensive pearls and gems can be replaced, but...Diamond Tiara can’t be.” Diamond Tiara’s mouth opens slightly in surprise, and then she glances at the floor, blushing.
“Whatever, I guess,” I reply uncomfortably. “If that’s all—” ”
“Of course. We’ll take our leave of you. Enjoy the party.” Filthy Rich dips his head respectfully and retreats, taking his daughter and her friend with him.
I let out a sigh of relief and return to my cake, which looks noticeably less appetizing than minutes ago. I take a small nibble, trying to lose myself in the warm sugary taste. I wonder how Amaryllis would handle being thrown in Equestria, and what she’d think of everything. I check to see what Pinkie is doing only to find her absolutely crushing on the dance floor next to the jumbled uncoordinated mess of an electrocuted grasshopper that is Twilight dancing. Amaryllis probably wouldn’t wait for Pinkie to throw her a party, because she’d beat her to it, I think to myself with a wistful smile. I raise a toast in Amaryllis’s name, hoping it will find her wherever she is.
I can do this, Amaryllis. I’ll keep putting one foot in front of the other. I won’t give in, because I know you wouldn’t.
Stats
Page generated in 0.058 seconds
Total duration
885 users online
1,308,215 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
My only complaint with this chapter is that the medical side of things was glossed over, but I guess that's my own fault for having my hyperfixation on worldbuilding.
In all honesty though, I'm really enjoying this rewrite of one of my all-time favorite stories. With this rewrite, this story actually lives up to the nostalgia vision I have for so many of the early fanfics. A story that truly lives up to the impact it made on me.
Keep up the good work; every chapter you put out just makes me want to read more.
Interesting that we're putting more detail into magic biology (or something) sooner, and I wonder if these new doctor characters are going to be used more often. Although I can't exactly remember whether Forsythia is Vinyl's mom or not. Speaking of which, I'm surprised Seth didn't take note of the name 'Jenny'; I'm pretty sure that's got to be the first human-like name he's heard since arriving in Equestria.
It's impressive how much some of these events changed. I still remember how the old book went. How Seth physically lashed out at Pinkie, and had to apologize and accept a welcome party to make her feel better. How the party included the guests singing a song to Seth, and Seth imagining one of those 'sweat drops from anime' as his reaction. I'm actually glad for these changes, and how polished the chapters as a whole feel. Seth is now at a more acceptable level of angry/pissy, instead of having near-psychotic episodes of rage; and thus the ponies are having an easier time with him, which makes me feel happier at Seth's progress.
Here's hoping it won't be too long before it's onward to Canterlot, and now with the promise of more new things!
I'm a new reader, so I can't say I've read before the rewrite, but I'm enjoying the story and how it's developing, even though Seth is the biggest asshole I've ever read about. I'm looking forward to his, and the stories, continued development