Refined Starlight in a Broken Vessel

by the-pieman

Chapter 41

Author's Note:

Sorry about the lack of updates. My muse has, seemingly, completely left me as of late.

I’m still in the hospital bed, immobilized by my casts. I’m still not one-hundred percent sure I didn’t break anything. Explosion that size? Definitely something at least bruised inside.

And that ringing. Azathoth damnit, it just won’t go away! It’s worse than the ‘low health’ beeping I’ve dealt with in video games. At least with those you can finish the game or drink a potion or something and be done with it.

...

Y’know, why don’t they ju- BAM

The door slams open, jarring me out of my thoughts, and Pinkie backs into the room, dragging a trolley overflowing with wrapped presents, piles of flowers, and cake balanced on top of it all without falling, somehow.

“Heh, happy birthday to me, I guess.” I chuckle as I strain against the casts to no effect. Still pretty much tied down.

Pinkie turns and gasps dramatically. “It’s your birthday‽ I need to make another cake!” she shouts, and I sigh.

“It’s just a phrase, it’s not actually my birthday.” I think. The calendars here are way different than Earth’s.

Pinkie’s facial expression doesn’t change. “But I still don’t know when your birthday is, and you’ve been here over a year which means we must have skipped it, ohmygosh I missed your birthday! I’m so sorry!” She covers her mouth with her hooves, a comical look of horror on her face.

I laugh. “Don’t worry, it’s no big deal.”

“No... no big deal‽ Oooh, I’m gonna get you with a birthday party one day, mister, just you wait and see!” she says, shaking a hoof at me. I don’t feel afraid, it’s not like she’ll throw me all my missed parties at once.

“So, what did I get this time? More money?” Yeah, I’m a greedy bastard... oh well, if they wanna pay me for a job well done I’m not gonna say no, that’s for sure.

“Idunno any of them except mine, and I’m not telling you what I got you until you open it! Well... until I open it for you ‘cuz you can’t move your arms. But I’ll open ‘em on your lap!” she says, pulling the trolley next to the bed, the towering pile of gifts shaking slightly. The cake is pulled down and set on the table to the other side of the bed, and the gift-opening is set to begin as Pinkie plonks down on my lap, exactly as she said.

“Alright, might as well start from the top, then” I figure even Pinkie can’t completely avoid the effects of gravity on top-heavy objects. That would be a bit too much for ‘just Pinkie Pie’.

“Alright! Let’s see... the red one or the blue one?” she asks, pointing at a large red box and an angular blue thing wrapped directly in paper. It’s rectangular, but not perfectly so.

“Blue. Never take the red pill. Shit just gets confusing.” I joke but Pinkie doesn’t get it.

“Uhm... Okay!” she says, pulling down the present and sitting facing me. “It’s from Granny Smith!” she proclaims, showing me the little tag, before pulling it open. The reason for the shape becomes apparent as a me-sized and human-shaped sweater falls out, thick and wooly and probably warm enough to cook pot roasts in mid-winter.

“Heh, I think Myrna would appreciate one too.” I mean, I barely know her but I figure she might be cold-blooded since eighty percent of her is reptile. I check the sweater over for any special possibly-embarrassing pictures or something. On the chest is a simple but elegantly-made tree design, and the small red points are, I’m assuming, apples. Nothing else design-wise, so this is one I’d wear around when it gets cold.

“I’ll bet so, too, Granny Smith’s Apple Family Sweaters are always super-appreciated when somepony gets one. She only knits them for non-family members if they’re sick or... well, injured.” Pinkie explains. “Ooh, and there’s a green present I can get to now! Or should I grab the red one?” she asks me. The green is another standard box shape, though smaller and longer than the red.

“Eh, I’ll go red this time, why not?” I answer, and Pinkie sets aside the sweater, which I will probably enjoy once I can actually get something on. It would actually be nice. It’s a bit breezy in this rather small hospital gown and lone bedsheet.

“Alright!” she pulls it down, and opens it. Inside the box is a set of action figures, along with a card. The action figures appear to be... oh, wait, pegasus in a pith helmet? Gotta be Daring Do. And the card is... “Oh, it’s from Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie exclaims. She pulls the toys out, Daring Do, some big blue monster, and a griffon with a monocle.

I stare at the toys. Specifically Daring Do. Other than the clothes, it doesn’t look anything like I imagined her from the books. I figured the hair would look... less like Rainbow Dash’s in black. As for the big blue thing, I check the name... what? Ahuizotl? That doesn’t look anything like an actual Ahuizotl, for one they’re supposed to be amphibious! The last one is... well I’ve never actually met a griffon before so I can’t say if it’s accurate or not. All this has done is make me realize one thing: even in this world, the toys never resemble the actual characters unless fan made. “Anyways...” I say, rolling my eyes. “What’s the card say?”

“They’re pretty neat-o! Oh, and the card says... ‘get better soon dude you can’t be awesome in a hospital I’d visit but they said I had to leave the clouds alone but it was gloomy.’ She really needs to master the comma.” Pinkie comments at the end of the short letter.

“Aright, red and blue down, time for green.” I state. I figure if this one is good, then it and the sweater will make up for the lame toys.

“Alrighty-roo! Let’s see...” she pulls it down, and the tag has a simple, blocky typeface name, proclaiming it to be from ‘Twilight’. Pinkie opens it, and reveals a trio of books. “Oooh, I think these are from Twilight!” she comments, turning them towards me. The first I’d expect, it says something about ‘the memoires of Starswirl the Bearded’. The second one, though, does catch my eye.

“Oh, she sent you a first-edition of Blueish Carol’s Big Book of Shanties! It’s all the little poems he composed on the way to Wunderland!” she says, looking over the small, leather-bound book. The title is emblazoned in faded gold leaf on the front. “And the other’s an atlas of Terra! So cool!” Pinkie says, grinning.

“That would actually help, I plan to go adventuring. Equestria’s nice but, you know, exploration.”

“Oooh, this is one of the ones updated with help from the Diamond Dogs! It’s got underground maps!” she says, looking through the atlas a brisk pace.

“Cool, I can do some spelunking then!” I say, honestly excited.

“Yeah! And I can invite my sisters along and they’ll be super-helpful!” Pinkie says ecstatically. “Even I know a lot about rocks, and I’m not nearly as good with them as my sisters are!”

“Alright... you know other than Granny Pie, I’ve never met your family. You said they disowned you, right?”

“Well... for a little while. Sorta.” Pinkie says, looking uncomfortable.

“Enough about that, let’s keep going. I’ve got books from Twilight -shocker- and toys from Dash, sweater from Granny... who else wants to feel bad for me? I mean congratulate me?”

“Well... Ooh, Mine’s int he next three!” she says, pointing at the pile, an orange round box, a purple rectangular box of small size, and a medium rectangular box in regular brown sitting on top. Underneath those, I can see a box big enough to hide a couple bodies in, wrapped in a dozen different wrapping papers, and all taped up in a horrifying mish-mash of colors and patterns. Looks like that ones’ going to have to be next after these three. That monster practically screams ‘CMC’.

“I’ll go with... purple.” I say, making my pick.

Pinkie grabs it, pulling it over, and begins to open it, and inside is a glass bottle full of amber fluid, and a note. Pinkie pulls out the notecard, and turns it so I can read it.

“From the Punch family. May the burn help your burns.” I read, noting the awkward signature from the little fillies of the house, and the much neater script of the parents. At the bottom of the back is a label declaring the drink ‘128 proof, Taproot-infused Whiskey’ “Shit dude... This thing’ll get me fucked up even if I was at full power.” I guess out loud. It must be really hard to get hands on. I have Pinkie set it aside and decide to have her open “The brown one.”

“Okie dokie!” she quickly get it open, revealing a simple metal gauntlet, evidently made of steel. There’s no card or address with it, and looks like it’d fit on my right hand. “Huh... I can’t find a card or anything in here.” she says, sounding as puzzled as I feel. There’s some nice detail work on it in silver and brass, and it looks really flexible, but I have no idea who it’s from.

“Rarity is the only one I know who has my measurements, and she doesn’t do metalwork....” I turn to Pinkie. “Whoever made this must know me pretty well if it fits as well as it looks it will... and be good with armor crafting. Creepy.”

“It’s really neat-o, though. I wish we knew who sent it...” she says, reaching for the orange package as she speaks. It’s getting a bit crowded on the bed, I may need to ask her to move them off before we open whatever horrifying monstrosity the Crusaders caged up for me. I can imagine it now, ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders, Elder Thing Summoners, yay...’

Either way, I urge Pinkie to go ahead with the orange thing.

“Ooh, it’s from Rarity!” she says, pulling it over and pulling off the top, revealing it to be a hat-box containing a rather nice-looking top hat made from, if I’m not missing my guess, silk.

“Simple, and fancy as fuck.” I surmise. “Does she know me, or what?”

“Wow, I wanna see you wearing it!” Pinkie says, carefully lifting it out and plopping it on my head, though it’s a little crooked. “Oooh, you look like a real gentlec- er, gentleman.” she says, giggling.

I smirk. “All I need is a cane, now.”

“Oh, and there’s something else in here... Oooh!” she pulls out a length of silk, and a small card with the details of tying a ‘Minotaur Bowtie’ on it. Hah, and here I thought Rarity might still be bitter about my first encounter with Sweetie Belle.

“Alright, let’s clear a spot and open that big one.” I say, bracing for the worst. Honestly, it’s a good thing the box doesn’t have airholes... unless it’s supposed to but they forgot. Uh oh...

Pinkie quickly moves all my presents except the hat off my bed and onto the small cabinet nearby. Then, she hauls the box over, and I hear the sound of the bed creaking under the weight, something it hadn’t done with Pinkie and I both on the bed.

“Oof...” I exclaim, doing my best to spread my weight across the bed more. “Okay... might as well get it over with, what’s in it?”

Pinkie looks on top, having to fully stand up on her hind legs to do so, and calls back, “It’s from the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Why am I not surprised? “And it looks like it’s also closed with string. Gimme a second, I’m sure there’s a pair of scissors in here somewhere...” she says, reaching up to rummage in her hair, before pulling out a pair of wickedly-sharp-looking shears, and she uses them to cut open the top. The shears go back in her hair, and the begins pulling open the flaps of the giant box.

You know, I’m mostly surprised that she didn’t pull out construction paper scissors, made for cutting interesting shapes into cut edges... and the fact that the shears don’t surprise me initially tells me I need some time to remind myself how abnormal Pinkie is supposed to be...

The box suddenly falls open, revealing what appears to be a potato-powered cloud generator, and it’s been running all week, non-stop, waiting for me to open it. Well, we’re not going to be able to find the rest of the presents until they can get a pegasus in here to fix the clouds... Man, it’s getting a bit chilly.

---

A few hours of snuggling with Pinkie desperately for warmth later, and the cloud has been removed, and the frighteningly-efficient cloud generator has been squirreled away by a couple of Royal Guard stallions for ‘weather specialist review’.

Okay, I have to admit to even myself, something like that is probably Cutie Mark worthy... just wonder which one got it...

Either way, there’s a few more presents on the trolley, along with all the flowers and the cake, though Pinkie said she’ll make me a new one, as the old one got soggy in the sudden cloud expansion.

“Alright, let’s finish these off.” I say, feeling a bit tired from all the excitement. “Just open them all and read the cards.”

“Alright!” Pinkie says, peeling herself off of me. The chill in the air is not entirely pleasant after the comfortable warmth of pony, but she opens the first present, wrapped in light blue. Inside is a smaller version of a Tres Leche cake, much to my delight and surprise. “I kept having to swap it out every couple of days to keep it from going stale.” Pinkie says, beaming.

“The fact that you made one, let alone several...?” I say, looking at Pinkie. It’s supposed to be a super complicated recipe. “You’re too nice to me...” I smile.

“Yeah, I had to ask around, ‘cuz you mentioned them to Twilight once, and I found out there’s some, but they’re Prench, and I had to look them up, and then I went to a couple of places in Canterlot to ask for the recipe, and I had to get it from this nice mare named Fleur, and she said it was her mother’s recipe and was glad somepony who knew a kitchen inside and out would get to use it!” she says, all in one breath.

“You’re too nice...” I repeat, feeling very appreciated. “You better have eaten the others though, letting this go to waste is criminal.”

“Well, duh! Once I got the recipe down, I had to keep myself from eating them before putting ‘em back in the box.” she says, grinning. “They’re really good. Here, lemme give you a bite.” she says, using a fork to pull up a corner of it to feed me. Embarrassing as it would be otherwise, she’s just enthusiastic about seeing if I like it.

I enjoy the creamy, partially-solid treat as it literally melts on my tongue. I remind myself that this cake is the only reason I’m letting anyone spoon-feed me. And that it’s Pinkie and I know she’d never tell.

“Thanks... I’d uh... hug you but...” She wordlessly leans in and hugs me, and I smile... until I hear the sound of fork on plate behind me and feel her chewing motions on my shoulder.

I laugh and shake my head. She’s as addicted to the stuff as me. “Alright, one more small bite and the rest is mine.” I say rubbing my forehead against hers.

“B-but it’s soooo goood....” she mumbles, evidently around a piece of cake. “I can make more...”

I think for a second. “Fine, we can share.”

Pinkie nods and blushes a bit. Why? Did I say somethin- Hey! She shoves the rest of the cake into her mouth. I’m about to protest when she then ‘shares’ it with me.

Her tongue is wider than it is when she’s a human. It may sound odd, but that’s the first thing I noticed, followed by the taste of the cake, with a faint hint of raspberry flavor in the undertones.

I roll my eyes and accept, returning the kiss and the cake. It’s only a one-time thing, for her.

Before we can get further than Pinkie virtually melting across my chest and lap, the door opens again, startling Pinkie into jerking away from me, and I see a nurse step into the room, pausing when she sees Pinkie on my lap and cake on both our lips, Pinkie blushing furiously.

“We’re getting kicked out...” I lament aloud. “Aren’t we?”

The nurse shakes her head and, blushing, backs out of the room. Either way, the moment’s gone, though the cake is still tasty, either way.

“So... was it good?” Pinkie asks, twiddling her hooves.

“The kiss, or the cake?”

“Y- yes?”

I chuckle. “Good cake, great job, but I’m still not sold on the ‘muzzle’ thing.”

“O-oh... well, uhm, I can make the cake at Sugarcube Corner, now!” she says, looking a bit crestfallen. Ah well, it was an alright kiss, but the muzzle still feels pretty weird, though a bit better than when Chrysalis disguised herself as Twilight and tried sucking my face off.

“Ah well, still got a few more presents to go, let’s finish that first, okay?”

“Oh, yeah!” she says, perking back up, and reaches for the next present, pulling it up onto the bed. This is another brown package, with a ‘From: Applejack’ on the flaps, and inside is a set of... of... uh... I think they’re for apples, given the sender, but I have no idea what they’re supposed to be. Curved wooden planks with some sort of straps on the... top, I think? And there’s a tree and apple motif on the other side. Oof, I’m gonna have to ask Applejack what the hell these are.

Unless Pinkie knows. I give her a questioning look and she shrugs, looking just as baffled as I. “They look nice, I guess. Maybe they’re for... uh... apples?” she asks, sounding utterly lost.

“Oh well, it’s carved well at least, not gonna get splinters from it, so... next one?”

“Uh, sure. Let’s see... oh, it’s a card from Fluttershy!” she opens it up, and reads it, then show it to me. It says, in short, that she hopes I’m doing well when I read this, and to enjoy the flowers, if I’m not going to eat them like a pony would when given them.

Nah, I’m not big on flower eating. I wonder how they smell. I try sniffing and find they smell sweet and pleasant, but are slightly wilted, and the odor is faint now. If it hadn’t been a full dozen, I probably wouldn’t have smelled it at all.

I wonder what kind of flowers they are though, I don’t know much about the language of flowers. Maybe she picked them randomly. I’ll have to look and see if Twilight has a book on that.

“Alright, and the next is... Uh, I can’t read this writing, it’s really scrawly.” she says, turning it towards me. In spidery, thin, cramped writing, I read ‘get well soon, town is quiet w/o you. Myrna.’

I grin, honestly interested in seeing what she thinks I’d like considering she hardly knows me. She could probably ask the ponies, but still, I’d like her to get to know the real me. I nod to Pinkie, gesturing for her to open the box.

She does, and inside is three things. A small, black statuette of a menacing figure with little pointy ‘ears’, and a red figure in an action pose, thin black lines forming a ‘spider web’ pattern over it. In addition to the Batman and Spider-Man figurines is another box, this one labeled ‘Bon Bon’s Sweet Shop!’ in elegant script. Pinkie gives a sharp inhale at the sight of the box. “She bought yous some of Bon Bon’s bonbons? Oooh, those’re so expensive...” Pinkie says, practically deflating.

“I’ll try it when I can open it myself.” I say, admiring my little action figures. “Wow, these are really good.”

“They feel like stone... hmm... rose quartz and onyx by the feel of ‘em.” Pinkie says, and as she lifts the figurines, I see that the Batman figure has little red eyes.

Odd, I feel like I should remember that... but I just can’t. Guess I’ve been out of the loop for too long. Still, I remember something about it, it’s not Bruce Wayne when Batman had red eyes it was... Damn, what was the name of that arc? Flash something. Oh well. “Okay, last one, let’s see what I got.”

Pinkie nods, putting the two figures on the side table, where they pose dramatically. “Alright, let’s see, oh, this one is from Ditzy, and from Dinky!” she opens the box, and a brick of letters is revealed, along with a single banana-nut muffin... that steams slightly as it comes out of the box. Even Pinkie looks perplexed as she sniffs it. “Huh, it’s... still good. In fact, it smells fresh...” she checks the date on the carefully-applied mail stamp. “Oh... it was delivered a half-hour before I brought the presents over. How did she know you were awake?” Pinkie asks, curiously.

“No idea, but I’m guessing these are all the fan letters I’ve gotten that didn’t come with gifts. I’ll-” Suddenly my entire body is wracked by a huge, shuddering yawn. “Ugh, I’ll read ‘em later. Feeling a... bit tired.”

“Oh, okay. You mind if I stay a little longer? You’re really warm.” Pinkie says, laying on my chest already, muzzle nuzzling my collarbone.

“Sure...” I snuggle her with my chin and close my eyes. Star Core must be running on fumes at this point... Still, she’s warm and comfy, and soft, too.

---

Waking up is slow, but colder than falling asleep was. It seems Pinkie left or had been moved since. Likely the latter, I doubt she’d just walk off without coming right back. Of all the gifts I got, I hate to say it but the ones that stand out the most are the little Spider-man and Batman figures. Mainly because they remind me just how far away from Earth I am. I wonder what Myrna knows about Earth now...

Still, what little I heard from her already is pretty bleak. I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t have much more to add. She did mention she was trying to fall asleep under a car, implying extreme homelessness on top of the other problems. I kinda feel like I should... Idunno, comfort her or something. But what can I do, depowered and bed-ridden?

Well, I was told the casts are just there to hold the salve stuff in place, so supposedly my arms and legs are fine but... even now I don’t feel a hundred percent.

That thing must have hit my Core hard, because... didn’t the nurse say ‘soul tearing’ magic? Shit, that’s serious stuff. I turn to the little bite button above me and think about what I could do while stuck here.

Eventually I come up empty and grab the thing in my mouth, which is very awkward, clearly meant for snout-based mouths rather than flat faces... but it makes a little beep noise so it worked.

A moment later, a nurse comes into the room. “There was a help request from this room?”

“Kinda. I was just wondering if there was any chance I could get out of here a bit sooner. Like, have some other way to help my limbs heal. Maybe a lotion or something I rub on them every two hours or so?”

“Er, not so much. The salve we have is basically already doing that. The biggest problem is that too much movement could re-open the cuts, and then you’d just have to come back here, and for longer. Most medical spells need to be calibrated by species, and well... there’s not exactly a lot of stars here on Terra to calibrate the spells for.”

“So I’m stuck here, great. Man this sucks.” I look out the window and the near-perfect scenery seems to be taunting me. “I just wanna be able to... Idunno, climb a tree or something, you know?”

“Er... not so much. That’s more of a pegasus sort of thing, sir.” the nurse replies, and I see she’s an earth pony.

“Sorry, it’s a thing that human kids do. I guess it’s easier for bipeds. Either way, bottom line is I hate not being able to do anything physical, I wanna be able to move.” I say, sighing.

“I can understand that sir, but if you went out now, you’d be worse off than before, and take longer to get out of casts you’d actually need. You’ll be fine though... if you’d like, I can bring in a book and help you turn the pages. We have a lot of copies of Daring Do-”

“I’ll pass.” I say, very nicely, strained smile on my face. “Though I did get a few books from Twilight, so I guess we could use those.”

“Oh, alright - do you know where they are?”

“Yeah, in that pile over there. It’s one of Blueish Carol’s books.” I say, gesturing to the assorted gifts I’d received.

The nurse heads over to the pile and begins poking around in it. “Hmm... I’m not sure where the books are... wait, I think they’re under this big box... no, nevermind, that’s a sweater. Hmm...” The nurse takes a step back to look over the pile of gifts with a critical eye.

“Is there a problem? I mean, other than the fact that I can make a room cluttered without moving, literally.”

“I’m just not sure how to get some of these things down to check under them, without probably scattering everything all over the place. Also, there’s a cake on top of everything else.”

“Yeah, I’d eat it but I can’t exactly get to it. Or hold a fork. Or position myself to eat it face-first.” I admit.

“... would you like some help with that? I can call for one of the unicorns on staff.”

“That would be a big help.” I say. I’m not a fan of being fed or similar babying but it’s better than having cake but not eating it. “Yeah, alright. Sorry about the book.”

“It’s no problem, I just don’t want to make a mess of your stuff. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll be back, okay?” she asks as she heads for the door.

“Go ahead. I’m sure not going anywhere.” I sigh.

She leaves, and a few minutes later a large, brown unicorn guy comes in, smiling gently. “Hello there, Mr. Anthony! How’re you feeling today? Nurse Fever Pitch said you needed some help with your arms in casts?”

“I got a cake as a ‘get well’ gift, but I can’t eat it.” I say. “I’ll be honest, I’m not too big on being fed by others but I don’t want to waste a cake.”

“Perfectly reasonable. I’ll just give you one bite at a time, and you can tell me when you’re full, okay?” His smile is bright and infectious, and he is offering me cake I could not otherwise eat.

“Thanks...” I say halfheartedly but honestly. “I’m ready when you are.”

“In that case, open wide!” His demeanor I recognize as one that is most often used when feeding children, but given his ‘doctor’s coat’ has a rubber duck embroidered into it, along with the tag ‘pediatrician’, I’m reasonably certain it’s purely out of reflex, not meant for me in particular.

Well, after a while the cake has a good fourth taken out of it and I’m finished. I’m just glad that the guy didn’t try making ‘train noises’ while feeding me. This is totally immature in all the uncool ways.

Once I’ve announced I’m done, he asks if I want a glass of milk.

I kind of do, but at the same time... “Nah, I’m good. I’ll just get back to... ceiling-watching.”

“Well, if you insist. I’d offer crayons, but that seems like it’d be in poor taste. I can draw a picture on your cast if you’d like though.”

I try to think of something that would cheer me up... “Can you draw a velociraptor eviscerating an evil clown?”

“... Not my usual request, and I’m not sure what a velociraptor is. If you can give me descriptions, I can give it a try though!”

“Okay, so a velociraptor is like this big, reptilian thing. Like a dragon, but no spines and giant dewclaws, teeth that are like triangular razorblades, general predatory dinosaur thing.”

“... Huh. Alright, let’s get a-drawin’!” He pulls out a large box of crayons and begins doodling and coloring on my cast, the magic aura far more steady on the curved surface than even hands would be, since the aura didn’t care about the direction the arm was in or having to worry about elbowing yourself in an attempt to continue a line around the arm.

Several minutes later, he shows me the picture... it’s not what I’d imagined. For one, the ‘raptor’ had spiky claws on every toe, and seemed to have literally no backbone and a mouth full of silver-colored triangles I assume resulting from a literal misinterpretation of ‘teeth like triangular razors’.

Still, it is successfully eviscerating a clown with creepy as fuck paint on.

“Not bad. I guess since your history doesn’t involve dinosaurs you don’t get them requested... at all, really, but not bad. Guess dinosaurs are native to Earth only.” I say, judging the painting. I noticed he ran out of red for the clown’s blood and switched to an off-purple, making it seem like an alien-clown. That’s even better. “Thanks. I’ll... wait, hold on.” I look over the pile and there’s the human backpack I was given by Shining Armor, still with coal inside it. I make a little velociraptor figure, and it honestly looks a ton better than what it would have if I’d sculpted it by hand. I set the figure down in front of the doctor. “See what the kids think of this.”

“Hmm, it looks like some kind of protodragon...” He mentions, picking it up and looking it over. “Still, that’s an impressive ability. You should try doing shows with it sometime; the foals at any hospital would certainly love it.”

“Yeah... already did that for a classroom. Went pretty well I think.” I say, recalling the events prior to the star-swallower episode.

“Oh, good! It never hurts to help, right?”

“Yeah... So anyway, that is a velociraptor,” I say, gesturing to the figurine. “But yours is... okay. Not bad without a frame of reference.”

“Sorry. Still, the casts’ll be off in a few days, right? You’re not in a long-term or ‘depressing’ ward, so I can’t think you’ll be here more than a month.”

“A month might as well be long term.” I say, a hint of complaint obvious in my voice. “I’m used to doing things. I get bored easily.”

“Sorry, buddy. I can stop by some time, play my banjo if that’ll help?” He asks, grinning hopefully.

“If you’re good with it, then heck yeah.” I say. “Just have more than one song to play.”

“Oh, I make up my songs on the spot. More spontaneous, y’know? Anyways, just ask for Nurse Wander if you need to see me or want to chat.”

“Fine...” I say, sighing as I just sort of decide to get used to utter boredom.

“Sorry again, buddy.”

Comments

[Booster Spice]

I wonder where Wander wanders when Wander wanders off.

Its a good thing the CMC used a potato. Then again, I wonder if thats bcause they already tried a lemon, and were talked out of using a Zap Apple after the damage caused by the lemon.

Does Pinkie have any extra Duty at the hospital at all?

[the-pieman]

8152127 In Canterlot? Not really. There's not a lot for her to really do that won't be waved off as "Just Pinkie Pie" like it would be in Ponyville.