Marjoram

by Nekiyha

Dragonshy and an Interlude

“We need to make you healthier,” Twilight stated bluntly, one morning while making breakfast.

“How do you propose we manage that?” Marjoram retorted, turning the page of his book.

“We'll put you on some sort of regime,” Twilight replied, levitating a written-on scroll in front of her so she could read it, “Like supplementing your diet with vitamins, nutrients, and calories. Maybe get you to do some light exercise-”

“Like what?” Marjoram snarled, “I can't run, I couldn't lift weights even when I was relatively healthy, and I can barely walk across the room and still have breath enough to talk. What do you suppose we do?”

Twilight leveled Marjoram a steely glare, “Well, we'll work on the nutrition first. Then get to building any type of muscle or endurance later.”

Marjoram shook his head, “Twilight, I've never been physically strong-”

“We can still try. Last winter almost killed you,” Twilight's voice broke, “and I don't want you to go through that again, or to see you die. Not for a long time, anyway.”

Marjoram set the book down, his gold eyes meeting Twilight's purple ones, “Alright, then. I can't deny you that.”

Twilight blinked, “Seriously?”

“I watched as my sister died. I-I can't ask you to do the same with me.”

Twilight offered a hesitant smile, “Thank you.”

“Don't thank me yet,” Marjoram retorted, turning back to the book.

“Why?”

“My body hates me,” Marjoram replied evenly. Marjoram shut the book, and stood, “I think I have some work to do in the morgue. If you need me, I'll be there.”

Twilight stared as Marjoram all but galloped from the room, barely pausing to grab his cloak on the way out. Twilight sighed, not surprised at his sudden departure. Waiting a moment to ensure Marjoram was really gone, she made her way to her lab, and began to plan.

(LINE BREAK)

Using his magic, Marjoram set about scrubbing down the whole place, even though he kept it immaculate anyway. Mid-clean, a sharp knocking on his front door made Marjoram stop what he was doing.

Marjoram was panting for breath, as he'd opted to do most of the cleaning physically, and since he was doing it all fueled by emotions, he was doing it quickly. Marjoram sighed, and took a calming breath, trying to regulate his rapid, wheezing breath.

The knock sounded again, prompting Marjoram to answer the door, “What?”

It was Mayor Mare, looking rather nervous. Marjoram forced himself to relax a little, seeing her startled face at his harsh exclamation.

“I apologize. You're Marjoram, correct? You work, and own, this...place?”

“Yes,” Marjoram replied dryly, “I'm the mortician, and Celestia sent me here because I'm Twilight's teacher, as well as the fact that Ponyville is another prime spot for my type of business.”

The mayor shuffled her weight from hoof to hoof for a moment, before nodding reluctantly, “It's just, I realized I haven't properly met you, or Twilight, yet, and I decided I should better do so-”

“The next election season isn't soon, is it? I haven't seen any campaign posters.”

Mayor Mare sputtered, “No! That's not-”

Marjoram chuckled, “No. I didn't think so. You really are here to talk to me aren't you? Don't give me that look; I'm from Canterlot, and I worked in the palace. I can recognize a politician who's in it for themselves in a heartbeat.”

Mayor Mare stared at him for a moment, dumbstruck, before finally nodding slowly, “I want to at least have a name to a face for everypony in Ponyville. That's all.”

Marjoram nodded, “Twilight should be in the library.”

Before Mayor Mare could reply, Marjoram had shut the door. Marjoram got back to work, leaving a bewildered Mayor outside his office.

Marjoram returned to cleaning, and was undisturbed for the rest of the afternoon. When he returned to the library, he found Twilight sitting at the little-used kitchen table, an assortment of potion bottles in front of her.

Marjoram hung his head, “How many of these will I have to take a day?”

“All of them,” Twilight replied, “If you continue to not eat, or sleep, or take care of yourself. The goals of most of these are to help you with appetite, sleeping, and other basic things you need. Like sufficient calorie intake. Hopefully, your body will relearn how to do some of this stuff relatively quickly, so we can cut the list down.

Marjoram sighed, “Alright. Let's get this started.”

Twilight offered an encouraging smile, and began to explain what each potion did, when it should be taken, and how often.

(LINE BREAK)

The next morning, Marjoram woke up feeling sluggish, and tired. Looking at the clock through blurred vision, Marjoram could see that it was almost nine-thirty in the morning. Laying back down, Marjoram wondered briefly what could have woken him from such a rare, and sound, sleep. Inhaling as deeply as he dared, Marjoram began to cough. And he knew what had woken him.

Smoke. It wasn't visible, but he could smell it, and could feel the ashes settle into the back of his throat, making it hard to breathe. Marjoram stumbled to his hooves, and managed to get upstairs before another fit of coughing basically rendered him useless.

Twilight came running, “Oh, thank Celestia! I was just going to get you. There's a dragon on the nearby mountain. He blows smoke when he snores, and if-”

Marjoram silenced her with a glare, fighting for breath, still coughing.

Using her magic, Twilight practically dragged Marjoram outside, where the coughing immediately got worse. Stopping, Twilight thought for a moment, then shot a spell at Marjoram.

Marjoram stopped coughing, breathing steadily, “Thank you so much for dragging me out where the smoke it,” Marjoram stated dryly.

Twilight looked sheepish, “Sorry.”

“What's that spell?”

“Air purification. It filters out the air in front of your mouth and nose, effectively upping the oxygen that is being breathed in. I wouldn't stand near any open flames until this is dealt with.”

Marjoram nodded, “Fair enough. Keep that spell in mind this winter, would you? Could have used that coupled with the oxygen tank when I got pneumonia last fall.”

“I didn't know it then!” Twilight defended.

“I'm not blaming you,” Marjoram amended, “It's just-” he looked up at the ever darkening sky, “You should probably go deal with that. If it's a dragon, it's probably good if I stay here. Away from the flames that could possibly set me on fire from the inside out.”

Twilight nodded in agreement, “The girls and I are going to check it out. Can you stay here, help Spike take care of Fluttershy's animals, and write to the Princess if something goes wrong?”

“Of course,” Marjoram replied.

Twilight nodded, “I've got to get ready. If you can go to Fluttershy's house, Spike will probably be there already-”

“Go, Twilight!” Marjoram nudged her toward the library, “Go deal with this before I suffocate on the ash and smoke. You've got this.”

“You think so? It is a dragon we're dealing with,” Twilight protested weakly.

Marjoram's mind was screaming no, let me help, but Marjoram also knew he would be beyond useless in the venture, “Yes, I'm sure. You can handle this.”

“Okay...thanks,” Twilight smiled, “I've got-”

“Just go,” Marjoram urged, “I'll go to Fluttershy's-”

“Okay, okay! I've got so much to do,” Twilight muttered to herself, trotting into the library.

Marjoram sighed, looked up at the thick black smoke hovering over Ponyville like a cloud, and shuddered. I hope you can fix this, Twilight. If you don't. I'll be dead. Feeling resigned to the situation, and still trying to wake up, Marjoram began to trudge over to Fluttershy's cottage.

(LINE BREAK)

That evening, when Twilight returned from the exhausting day of climbing the mountain, trying to calm Fluttershy down, and figuring out how to negotiate with a dragon, she entered the library unsure of what to expect.

Twilight wasn't certain on if Marjoram and Spike would still be at Fluttershy's, or if they would be in the library. If the pair was at Fluttershy's, the pegasus was going to send one of her bird friends with a letter. If they were at Twilight's, Twilight would magic a note over to Fluttershy.

The lights were off in the library, but that wasn't surprising. Unless somepony was in there, they kept the lights off. Twilight set her saddle-bags down near the door, and entered the living space. The kitchen lights were off, but Twilight could see that the basement lights were on, and Marjoram's door was open.

Creeping down the stairs, Twilight found Marjoram curled up on his bed, his upper torso being propped up by cushions to help him breathe. A book was open on the bed beside him, though he seemed asleep. Spike was curled up in his basket, which had been moved from upstairs to beside Marjoram's bed. Spike had one of his school books spread across his lap. He was passed out as well, snoring heavily.

Twilight smiled, and used her magic to turn the light off. Yes, it could potentially mess up Spike's carefully constructed sleep schedule, but the occasional night of more than required sleep wouldn't hurt a growing dragon, and Marjoram needed all the sleep he could get.

Quietly going back upstairs, Twilight went to her own bedroom, her whole body aching from the large amount of exercise she'd done in such a short time. Scrawling a note to Celestia, and sending it with her magic, Twilight then wrote Fluttershy. Checking her checklist, Twilight crawled into bed and shut off the light.

Twilight was asleep seconds after her head touched the pillow.

(LINE BREAK)

Marjoram winced at the taste of his last morning potion, mentally congratulating himself on not throwing the mix of foul mixtures up afterward. Twilight was looking at him expectantly, her eyes wide with hope.

“Well?”

“Well what?” Marjoram replied evenly, furiously rubbing his tongue on the roof of his mouth, trying to get the awful tastes from his tongue, “is there an instantaneous effect?”

Twilight drooped a little, “Well, no, but-”

“Then we give it some time,” Marjoram stated flatly, “Anything I should know about? Side-effects, that sort of thing?”

Twilight shrugged, “Not your morning ones. One of your nighttime ones is supposed to make you drowsy, so we'll see how that goes tonight.”

Marjoram nodded slowly, sitting down on the hard kitchen chair, “You never told me how you guys defeated that dragon.”

Twilight laughed sheepishly, refusing to make eye contact, “Well, we didn't really defeat him… Fluttershy just convinced him to go have his nap elsewhere.”

“Uh huh. I'm sure that's all that happened,” Marjoram returned blandly, “Just tell me sometime soon, alright? I want to know how Fluttershy stood up to a fully grown dragon.”

Twilight nodded, “Will do. Eventually.”

“Right,” Marjoram said sarcastically, “Anyway. I should go do something productive.”

“Why?” Twilight returned, “I know you don't have anything in the morgue. Don't you have a hobby?”

Marjoram shrugged, “Not really. I was usually too sick, too busy, or both to really pick one up.”

“C'mon. You've got to be joking. Not even from before you got sick?”

Marjoram opened his mouth, then shut it, “I uh, I used to draw,” he admitted slowly.

Twilight smiled, “Well then, let's go get you a sketchbook and some pencils.”

“But-”

Twilight guided the protesting unicorn toward the door, “C'mon. I read a lot of books, all kinds. That's my hobby.”

“But, I read too!”

“Then this can be a second hobby,” Twilight was stubborn, levitating Marjoram's cloak onto his back, “Goodness knows you can use something else to do.”

Marjoram let out an exasperated noise, “But-”

Twilight opened the door, and trotted out, climbing into the set of saddle-bags she had brought from the kitchen, “It'll be fun. When was the last time you did something because it was fun?”

Marjoram sighed, his head close to the ground, “Fine,” he mumbled, begrudgingly following Twilight out the door.

Mere minutes later, Twilight was gushing over different kinds, shapes, and sizes of sketchbooks, while Marjoram was looking at the pencils specifically designed for art. Part of him winced at the prices, but another part of him figured it would be worth it. Pay a little more now, and I don't have to worry about it later.

After some debating, the pair paid for the art supplies and returned to the library. Twilight watched with a smug smile as Marjoram sat down, and began to doodle.

(LINE BREAK)

Later that night, Marjoram lay in bed, swallowing convulsively whenever his stomach lurched. Drowsy my ass. Dizzy...I'm going to kill that mare.

Marjoram squeezed his eyes shut, trying to lessen the effects of the evening potions. His head felt like it was floating, and if he moved his head it felt like it was spinning. Shutting his eyes didn't help, only increasing the feeling that he was going to puke.

Marjoram rubbed at his stomach with a hoof, trying to ease it, even just a little. I'm never going to get to sleep at this rate. Moving slowly, Marjoram turned his head to look out the small window, noting that the sky was beginning to lighten already. Joy. I even went to bed relatively early. Marjoram bit his tongue to stop himself from throwing up, slowly moving his head again into a more comfortable position.

Marjoram sighed, and stared up at the ceiling until he eventually fell asleep.

Author's Note:

I don't know what to think of this chapter. Part of me likes it, part of me doesn't. It's basically filler, trying to set stuff up while still moving through season 1.

I'll be doing Look Before You Sleep or Boast Busters (maybe?) next chapter. If not one of those two, it will likely be Bridle Gossip.

Anyway, don't be shy! Let me know what you think, how you think I can improve, etc. I like hearing what everyone is thinking.