A Sign of Things to Come

by TheMindsEyeOfMitchinator

Act 1:4 - A Home Remedy

Rookie

Streets of Canterlot

“I can’t let her get away. I can’t let Darren down!” I repeated to myself as I galloped down the streets of Canterlot after my target. I dodged ponies left, right and centre, hearing gasps of shock and exclamations of anger as I passed. I kept profusely apologising to everypony I passed, but my true concern was on the escaping unicorn.

My golden guard armour clattered loudly as I ran, but did little to hinder me thanks to the years of adorning it. I needed to catch this criminal as soon as possible so I could get back and help Darren before his condition got worse. This pony had landed a massive hit on Darren, and I wasn't going to let her get away with that, not after Darren had trusted me with this.

I was closing in on her. It didn’t take her long to notice that she was being chased and pick up her pace, using the dirtiest tricks in the book to get me off her tail; tipping stands full of fruits and vegetables, throwing tables and chairs with her magic, and firing various magical beams at me, all of which I luckily evaded, but it still slowed me down.

After taking several corners, most so fast that I skidded past them and had to turn around, we ended up on the outskirts of a less populated part of the city, one that most ponies, including myself, wouldn’t normally pass through. It was a small portion of the city that hadn’t completely been restored after The Storm King and his army tried to take over, a small blemish on an otherwise gorgeous and secure city.

Fortunately for me, that meant that there were fewer objects for her to toss about to distract me. As she fired off one more blue beam of magic to slow me down, I fired my own magic, hitting her squarely in one of her forelegs and causing her to stumble. However, this didn’t stop her, as she promptly limped into an alleyway next to what looked like an abandoned warehouse. Yes! She’s trapped! I didn’t screw something up for once! I swiftly slipped into the alleyway after her, only to be hit square in the face with a full trash can, sending me sprawling back into the street covered in filth. Right on cue.

I pushed myself back up in a daze from the pile of garbage, shaking my head to clear the stars from my vision. I was determined to catch this pony and began stumbling unsteadily towards the alleyway, until I heard voices.

“Is that Rookie?” I turned to see another party of guardsponies that were hopefully looking for the same pony as I was. At the head of the party was the captain of the royal guard herself, Double-Edge.

Ever since Shining Armour left Canterlot for The Crystal Empire, Double-Edge had been put in charge, keeping an iron hoof over us regular guards. Her brown fur, short red mane with pink highlighted tips, custom made grey armour with gold trimmings, and sword in the stone cutie mark on the crest on her chest made her stand out in any battalion. Not to mention her signature icy glare which always seemed to be aimed at me.

She always thought that Shining Armour was way too relaxed with us, and that Canterlot wouldn’t have fallen under enemy control so many times if we’d have been trained more strictly, and, to her credit, her methods, while… unorthodox, did work, for the most part. The performance of the guard stations and patrols were higher than ever. and no one goofed-off as much, but only because they didn’t want to get on her bad side. Her temper was legendary and will lash out at you at a moments notice.

You could hear her exasperated cry from a mile away. Her steely scowl homed in on me as she marched towards me like a mare on a mission. I looked on sheepishly as she carefully examined the situation I had ended up in and tried to keep her composure at how bad my luck was. Nothing new there. “Rookie?”

“Yes, ma’am?” I hastily responded, trying to stand up straight and dust off as much dirt and trash as possible as her gravelly voice rang bells in my ears. I couldn’t get rid of the smell though.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” she asked in a dangerously calm voice.

“Look, I know this doesn’t look great, but I don’t have time to explain. We found the mare that attacked Princess Celestia, and she ran into this alleyway.”

“Rookie, this is a very serious situation. This is no time for jokes,” she responded dismissively. One of the male unicorns behind her, Duty Calls I believe, snickered at my ‘joke,’ before another stallion that I didn’t quite recognise slapped him on the foreleg to shut him up. “Now, would you PLEASE explain why you’re really down here.”

“I’m not kidding! I’ve really trapped her in this alleyway. Trust me, if you go in there, you’ll find her backed into a corner with an injured foreleg! I’m telling the truth. You have to believe me, for once!” I refuted desperately.

She sighed heavily, rubbing her hoof against her chin vigorously. “Ugh, fine! If you’re going to be so insistent, I guess I have no choice. Duty!” She pointed a hoof at the guard who had been laughing at me. “Go check the alleyway for this ‘attacker.’”

“Urr… Yes, ma’am,” he hesitantly replied, moving slowly towards the alleyway.

“Um, I don’t think it’s such a good idea to go alone. She could easily-” I muttered anxiously, only to be cut off by Duty.

“I can handle myself.” He gave me a sharp glare as he passed by and headed into the alleyway.

I couldn’t help but nervously watch him enter the alley, remembering what the attacker had done to Darren. “Be careful! She’ll probably launch a sneak attack!” He gave me a grunt in response, almost like he wasn’t listening.

I watched with bated breath as he rounded the corner out of sight, waiting for the inevitable magic dual to break out and for us to rush over to help him fend her off. However, nothing happened… at first anyway.

“AHHHH!” A sudden yell echoed from the alley, along with a flash of bright blue light.

“Oh Celestia, no!” I exclaimed, racing in at top speed with the rest of the patrol following quickly behind me. When I turned the corner, I saw something I was not expecting…

Duty rolling around on the ground, laughing his flank off. We should have known. Despite Duty Calls not really standing out within the battalion, having grey fur and a brown mane, he was one of the many ‘jokesters’ of the Royal Guards. Or maybe I should say bully, because most of his ‘jokes’ were insults made about the other guards. Most of them being aimed at me.

“Ha ha ha ha ha! You should’ve seen your face. Absolutely priceless!” he cackled gleefully, a little too happy that he had scared the Tartarus out of all of us.

“Duty, that was uncalled for. Leave Rookie alone.” The same stallion who had smacked Duty earlier, a pegasus with light purple fur, exclaimed, catching me off guard. Did he just defend me? That’s a first.

“Asshole,” I mumbled under my breath, quickly noticing that only Duty was here. The criminal was nowhere to be seen. That makes no sense. It looks like there’s only one way in or out, and we’ve been guarding it the whole time. How in Equestria did she get away again!? So much for me finally doing everything right for once…

Duty stopped laughing immediately, pushing himself back to his hooves and squaring up to me with an angry scowl. “What did you just say about me?!”

“O-oh, n-nothing. N-nothing at all. I-I was just wondering where the a-attacker went. T-that’s all.” I stuttered, not wanting to get a face full of hoof.

Obviously, he wasn’t convinced. “Yeah right! You said something about me, didn’t ya? So help me, Celestia, if you said something about me-”

“Duty!” The shrill of our commanding officer’s voice echoed through the alley, causing us all to stand at attention, even though she wasn’t addressing all of us. “I think that’s quite enough out of you for one day. We will discuss this little… ‘incident’... after this has all blown over.” Duty’s ears drooped as he realised he was going to get in trouble. Is she actually siding with me for once? Today is just full of firsts, isn’t it?

“Rookie?” Oh, nevermind. Here it comes. “What did I tell you about lying to me? Lying to try and make yourself look better isn’t going to work on me.” Her glare grew more intense by the second. If that was even possible for her.

“Ma’am, I have never lied to you! You know how unlucky I am. If something is bound to go wrong around me, it will. But I swear on my life that the attacker was here. Honest!” I pleaded.

“Well, you better be prepared to lose your job over those words, because, after all the trouble you’ve caused, I am so close to kicking your sorry flank, OUT OF THIS BATTALION!” she shrieked, flecks of spit hitting my face.

She never believes me! Why do I have to be the unluckiest stallion in Equestria?! There has to be some way I can prove she was here… Wait, I know. “Wait, she was constantly firing her magic at me, and I actually managed to hit her with my own magic. I can go back out to the street and use my magic to detect any energy signals in the area.” I didn’t give her a chance to reply before I started to head back out to the street.

“Ugh, Rookie-”

“I’m sure I can get you to believe me. The evidence is right here. You just can’t see it.”

“Rookie!”

“I just need to concentrate and all will be-”

“ROOKIE!” I jumped from that shout and landed on my flank with a thump, flinching away from her as she approached. I could hear Duty quietly snickering to himself again, causing Double-Edge to glare back at him, which quickly shut him up. “Just stop. You are only digging yourself into a bigger grave. I suggest you stop this charade before you get yourself in any more trouble. Capiche?”

“But she was right here! I swear!”

“Capiche?” She had that dangerously calm tone again, intense eyes that immediately told me that I should choose my next words carefully, or risk losing my job.

Knowing I had no choice but to comply, I hung my head low and muttered, “Capiche.”

“Good choice,” she smiled coldly, lapping up my submissiveness as she used her magic to forcefully lift me back onto my hooves. “Now, shall we get back to the search?”

“But Captain, we’ve been looking for the last 45 minutes and found nothing.” One of the female guards rebutted.

Double-Edge wasn’t too impressed with that. “And we’ll keep looking for another hour until somepony finds them.”

“But what if somepony already found them and we just didn’t know about it?” Another male guard suggested.

“I’m sure I would’ve been told and we would be back at the castle right now, celebrating our victory.” I really wanted to keep saying that I did find her, but I knew how that would end if I did.

“I’m sure they would’ve already fled the city by now if nopony’s found them yet.” The female guard said.

“What about that… ‘hooman…?’ Wasn’t he searching too?”

“He’s all bark and no bite.” Duty finally spoke up. “He let them get away.”

I couldn’t help but defend him. “He didn’t let her get away. Nopony expected her to teleport. Anypony could’ve caught her.”

“Also, ‘no bite?’ He survived falling a few hundred feet down a mountain.” The pony who defended me added, surprising me once again. “And am I the only one who seemed to notice that he was running faster than any of us back there, for a bipedal creature, anyway?”

“Barely survived. He still had to basically be revived by Princess Luna. AND he was in a coma for three days straight. And he couldn’t even beat this ‘Rookie.’ Like I said, all bark, no bite.”

I really wanted to counter his ‘argument,’ however, I realised that I forgot something really important. “OH NO! DARREN!” Without explaining myself, I sprinted back the way I came, trying my best to retrace my steps to get back to Darren as soon as possible.

“ROOKIE! GET BACK HERE…! MOTHERBUCKER…!” I could hear Double-Edge screech and her and her troop following me, but, at this point, I didn’t care. All that mattered was getting back to Darren and getting him the help he needed ASAP.

You idiot! How could you be so stupid?! You should’ve never left him behind. You knew you could never catch her to begin with, and yet you went after her anyway. All because he insisted. You really are your namesake, aren’t you?!

Once again back to dodging ponies, I raced back into the commercial district, past all of the shops and restaurants, until I made it back to the street where I had left a barely conscious Darren. Turning the final corner, I noticed lots of ponies still going about their daily business, almost like nothing happened here not even ten minutes ago. I immediately realised why as there was no sign of Darren anywhere. He wasn’t leaning against the wall where I had left him, he wasn’t on the floor unconscious, there wasn’t even a blood trail indicating that he’d wandered off somewhere.

“What? Where is he?!” I started to search every nook and cranny of this street. Every corner, every alleyway, even every restaurant and cafe to see whether anypony had dragged him inside to give him some first aid. “This makes even less sense. He can’t have gotten far in the condition he was in.”

At this point, Double-Edge and her patrol had caught up to me and were looking on in bewilderment as I searched around like a detective looking for their next clue to solve the case. “For the love of Celestia, Rookie!” Double-Edge fumed as I passed, instantly causing me to stop. “What did I JUST say?! Is this some sort of game to you?!”

“Absolutely not, ma’am! I couldn’t be any more serious if I tried.” I responded, standing to attention.

“So then, what is the big idea of you running around like a HEADLESS CHICKEN?!”

I flinched once again at her harsh tone and cringed at the crude analogy. “D-Darren was i-injured while we were s-searching. I-I wanted to stay with him a-and take him back to the castle to get healed, b-but he insisted that I go after the attacker. I-I didn’t know what else to do but follow his orders.”

I could see her physically cringe when I said I took orders from him. The guard who had stood up for me spoke up again. “Oh yeah, didn’t you and Mr Walker go out and patrol together.”

I was going to happily reply until the Captain butted in. “Well, he had no authority to order any of my battalion around! You all should’ve waited until I had given you your next orders! Nothing happens around here without my say so! That is my job, and you will all respect and obey that!”

I couldn’t help but whisper in a low voice, “You were nowhere to be seen when you were most needed. How is that doing your job?”

“What was that?!”

“Nothing.” I started kicking a stone nervously with my hoof.

“Ok, I think that’s quite enough out of you as well. Rookie, I will reiterate. You did not find the attacker. You did not injure that attacker. You did not trap the attacker. Mr Walker was not injured by the attacker, and even if he was, I’m sure he would be completely fine, seeing as he survived jumping out of that window. You can’t tell me otherwise.”

“But-”

“But nothing! You do not talk back to your commanding officer! I make the rules around here, and you will follow them to the letter, whether you like them or not! The only reason you are still here is because you were recommended by Princess Celestia after Nurse Freeheart and her daughter persuaded her. You will OBEY ME or get KICKED TO THE CURB! Do I make myself perfectly clear?” I was very hesitant to say anything. I knew I was right. I saw her with my own two eyes and I know Darren is out there somewhere, badly hurt. “DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!”

“YES, MA’AM! Yes, you do!” I cowered under her overpowering presence.

Having effectively scared me, she maliciously smirked again. “Good, glad we’ve come to an understanding. Now, can we finally get back to the search?” I hesitantly nodded, head low in shame at my weakness. As we started to trot away from this cursed street, she held me back. “Not you. You need to go back to the castle immediately and clean yourself up. You smell like a pig.”

I nodded again, not having the willpower to say anything against her anymore, quickly turning back the way I‘d originally come, ignoring all of the disgusted stares and glares. As I trotted back shamefully, tail between my legs, there was only one thing on my mind.

Where in Equestria could Darren have gone?

---

Darren

Location: ???

Weightless. That’s exactly what I felt like. Stuck in this endless void of nothingness. Suspended in midair like I was in space. In this place, there was nothing to feel. Nothing to see. Nothing to hear. Nothing to smell. Nothing to taste. Nothing existed here, except for me and my thoughts. It was almost peaceful... Almost.

I felt at ease here, but, unlike last time, I had enough clarity to form some coherent thoughts. I slowly and calmly shifted my head around, looking for anything inconsistent in my environment. A fruitless venture, but one I did nonetheless. “What is this place?” I had intended that to be in my head, but my thoughts spilt out anyway.

Well, I guess my search wasn’t completely fruitless. I noticed a small light in the distance, the same light as before in fact. However, instead of me moving closer, it slowly approached me… until I could almost touch it. Strangely, it then began soaring around me in circles, creating a thick barrier of blue fog around me, until the abyss was no more. I swam over to the cloud-like wall and pushed my hand against it, discovering that it was solid. Impenetrable.

I felt like I should be panicking that I was being trapped, but I wasn’t. Yes, I was slightly anxious, but I was more curious than anything. While it was somewhat spacious, it was nonetheless claustrophobic. “What’s happening? What’s it doing?” Again, those statements were only meant to be thoughts, but came out of my mouth before I could stop myself. Luckily, my question wasn’t going to be unanswered for long.

The fog suddenly started pulsating. Twisting. Warping. Almost like something was trying to break through them. They were slowly morphing and changing colour, becoming even more solid than before. Eventually, the fog began to form a sort of cube as the ‘walls’ developed a pattern of large white and red stripes. Not only that, but objects were forming and rising out of the ground, slowly turning into furniture; sofas, a TV and stand, a vase, and various other furnishings. Two holes opened up on opposite walls before becoming windows. A lightbulb and shade protruded from the ceiling, which slowly developed a bumpy surface. The floor grew fuzzy and became crimson. Another hole developed and shifted into a closed door.

Suddenly, my anti-gravity stopped and I fell onto my stomach with a yelp. I groaned as I pushed myself to my feet and examined my new surroundings. The room built of fog had now transformed into a living room. But not just any living room. A very familiar living room.

MY living room, back home.

“What…? This can’t be right,” I said to myself, gazing around the makeshift room in bewilderment, hoping to find something that differentiated it from the real thing. I examined every object, testing them to see if they were still made of fog or something like that. I even picked up the remote to turn the TV on, surprised to find that it worked perfectly, lighting up and beginning to show the BBC. It was a perfect copy, even down to the pictures of my family on the walls and mantelpiece and the children's toys on the floor. “How is this possible?” I don't know why, but it was like the dam keeping my thoughts in my head had burst.

Feeling very confused and nervous, desperate to figure out what was going on, I quickly made my way to the door, threw it open and stumbled through, thinking I would see the rest of my house, or maybe even get some answers, only to be met with the dark abyss. Grabbing the doorframe and pulling myself back inside with a grunt, almost falling on my ass again, I tried to compose myself. I should’ve figured that was the case seeing as that was all you could see though the windows.

Wanting to test something, I snatched one of the sofa cushions and held it out over the precipice, before letting go. Just as I expected, it didn’t drop like it should. Instead, it floated in place outside of the door. Having proven my theory, I quickly grabbed it before it could fly away, slaming the door, and chucking it back on the sofa where it belonged before sitting down myself.

“What the hell is going on? I was just in the world of ponies, and now I’m stuck in a dark void in a replica of my living room. This doesn’t make any sense.” I groaned, putting my head in my hands and rubbing my face rigorously. The room was almost indistinguishable from the real thing. I could even smell the faint hint of Dani’s perfume and Play-Doh from the kid's previous night’s play session in the air.

Before I could process any of this and explore my surroundings more, the door I’d just closed burst open, causing me to jump out of my seat, and the same light soared into the room, filling the whole room with smoke. My sight obscured once again, I was about to start panicking until the fog parted and a scene started playing, showing me a vision, like last time.

The vision started in what appeared to be the middle of a fight between two ponies, a unicorn wearing armour and a pegasus. Looking closer, I could tell I had seen these two before. I immediately recognised the unicorn as Rookie, the blue fur and armour giving him away easily, while I hadn’t seen the pegasus before in person, but I vaguely recalled him from one of my previous visions, the one I had in this very abyss, his blue and red ponytail making him stand out.

Speaking of which, it appeared that this vision was a continuation of the last one. From the look of things, Rookie had decided to take on the pony we were chasing on his own, and Rookie was losing badly based on how unsteady he was on his hooves. The pegasus zigzagged left and right to avoid Rookie’s beams of magic before crouching down and landing an uppercut on Rookie’s stomach, sending him flying upwards. For someone who had an injured wing, he was still very agile on his hooves.

The pegasus spun around on the tips of his hooves and bucked Rookie hard in the chest just before he landed. I could swear I heard Rookie’s ribs crack as he was sent soaring… right towards me. He collided before I could react, causing us to land in a heap on the other side of the maze. The pegasus quickly landed, smiling smugly as he proudly dusted himself off before rushing back the way we came.

With a silent groan, I pushed Rookie off of me, being careful not to injure him further. I checked to make sure he was okay, finding that he only had some broken ribs and was unconscious. Knowing that I couldn’t let that pony get away with this, I ran after him, leaving Rookie to rest where he was so I wouldn’t be slowed down...

But of course, I ended up getting lost. Unfamiliar sections of the maze rapidly flashed through my vision, even a scene of me ending up back where I left Rookie. Eventually, I could see the exit up ahead, and the pegasus was waiting there for me, even giving me an innocent wave, almost like he was mocking me. This caused anger to course throughout my body as I pushed myself to run faster and catch him while he was acting cocky.

Unfortunately, there was a reason why he was waiting for me. As I exited the maze, out of nowhere, something exploded to the right of me, flinging me off to the side and causing me to land face-first on the grass. My ears began ringing from the explosion, silencing all other sounds. It was a trap. The scene slowly faded away and my 'living room' came back into view again.

The fog quickly filtered out of the room through the open door, leaving me in the room with the ominous light floating in the centre, ethereally. I cocked my head, studying the light and as much of its intricate detail as possible, which wasn’t saying much, unfortunately. As I had observed before, there was definitely some sort of figure, appearing animalistic in nature, but the brightness of the light still obscured most of it. It looked around the same size as the ponies of this world, with what looked to be glowing yellow eyes staring right through me and thick fog flowing freely from its muzzle.

With trepidation filling my body, I reached out to touch it, but once again, it flew towards the ceiling with a growl before fazing through it and out of sight. I quickly rushed towards one of the windows, opened it, and stuck my head out, knuckles turning white as I gripped the window frame to keep myself from floating out into the abyss.

The creature of light rose higher and higher into the air, seeming to get brighter as it ascended. It stopped at a certain height, almost a pinprick in my vision, but I was able to see it elevate its head and give an almighty roar, causing a shock wave of light to spread across the ‘sky’ and vibrate the walls of the ‘living room.’

I promptly extracted myself from the window and covered my ears, trying to make sure my head didn’t implode. The light was encircling me, creating a dome that was quickly contracting. I could hardly react before I was consumed by the light once again, the creature’s cry ringing in my ears as I returned to the land of the living.

---

An involuntary groan escaped my lips as my senses returned, and with them, the all encompassing pain that criminal’s spell had enveloped me in. My chest felt like it was on fire, and my head felt like it was being run over by a lorry. That was starting to become a regular occurrence now. “... Ugh! Why do I always do this to myself?! Ponies have magic, you dumb-ass… I need to stop taking them head-on…”

I noticed that I was once again laying on something soft, although it felt like my legs were hanging off the edge. I also noticed that an odd smell was lingering in the air, almost like… perfume and… antiseptic? I slowly opened my eyes, getting blinded once again. Keeping my frustration in check, I waited for my sight to return, which eventually revealed that I was somewhere new. I was in an intricately furnished bedroom with flowery pink wallpaper covering the walls. I was laying on a comfortable bed that was clearly too small from me.

“Where am I? How did I get here...? Wouldn’t Rookie take me back to the castle...?” I wondered out loud. “Actually, where is Rookie? Did he catch that pony?” I started examining the room to see if I could figure out what type of pony lived here. A dressing table sat against one wall with a small number of makeup items atop it. They didn’t look like they saw much use though. On the bedside table was a first aid kit with various medical supplies strewn around. Now that I was looking, there were a lot of medical supplies around the room, including some pictures of x-rays, models of various organs, bones and body systems, and other miscellaneous items. A possible medical background?

Quickly realising that the gauze roll in the first aid kit, which looked like it was almost depleted, was most likely used on me, I lifted my head and glanced down to assess the damage that crook had inflicted on me. I was shirtless once again, and slightly blood-stained bandages hugged my chest, covering up what I could only assume were some serious cuts and burns.

I took another glance around the room and discovered that what must have been my shirt was on the chest of drawers, though it didn’t resemble much of a shirt anymore. The front looked to have been completely cut open so whoever had helped me could get it off of me as easily as possible. I could tell that before my shirt had been cut open there had been a hole where the printed logo should’ve been, with black burn marks skirting the edge. “Fuck sake! I really liked that logo too… I’m going to have to get this repaired… Again! Ugh!” I groaned, flopping my head back on the pillow, my brain arguing with the action.

Luckily I did notice the pony’s cloak sitting next to it, completely intact, so I guess that’s a definite plus.

Suddenly, I heard a creaking sound interrupt the silence. I looked up to see the door slowly open to reveal a unicorn mare entering the room with a new roll of bandages, and what looked like aloe vera in her magical grasp. She gasped and almost dropped her items as she realised that I was awake. For some reason, she seemed very familiar to me, her canary yellow fur and orange mane that transitioned from yellow at the taper tipped bang on her forehead to red at the tips down her neck, contrasting with the pink walls. I could also make out the heart with angel wings symbol on her flank.

“O-oh! Y-you’re awake...! Y-you had me worried there for a second,” she said in a soft and timid voice, trying her best to recompose herself, but I could tell that she was very nervous of me.

“...Who are you? Where am I...?” I questioned, getting straight to the point. “How long was I out for?”

Taking a second to collect her thoughts, she shakily replied, “Um… S-sorry. My name is R-Remedy... a-and I’m a nurse in training... Y-you are in my bedroom in my house right now, a-and I would say you were out for about… Twenty minutes?”

“Twenty minutes? Not too bad… but that’s still so much time wasted. There’s no way I can catch her now.” I slowly swung my legs off the side of the bed, causing my chest to flare up in pain. I noticed that I had zero energy, so after what felt like an eternity, I pushed myself onto my feet and took my first step across the room, only for my legs to buckle and collapse under me. I grabbed the bedside unit for support and caused the medical items to fall off and the lamp to wobble.

The mare, Remedy, gasped and rushed to my side, supporting me as I was lifted back onto the safety of the bed, trying my best to catch my breath. “W-what are you doing? W-where are you planning on going...?”

“I need to… get back to the castle… and report back to the princesses…” I hissed out in pain.

She seemed shocked by this, but shook it off surprisingly quickly, getting back to more important matters, at least for her anyway. “I-I’m sorry, but you are g-going to have to stay in m-my care, a-at least until I’ve given you another dressing.”

I wanted to argue and say I was fine, but that was obviously wrong, given the circumstances. I swallowed my pride with a sigh of defeat and laid back down on the bed. Her demeanour quickly changed from reserved to confident as she started undressing my cuts and burns. I glanced down to finally look at the extent of the damage, only to be shocked to find that I only had first degree burns and minor cuts that were already scabbing over at worse.

“W-wait, what…? H-how is that possible…?” I stuttered, wincing as I gently stroked my injuries. Remedy swatted my hand away before gently rubbing the aloe vera on the inflicted areas with a hoof, slightly soothing the skin.

“I healed you with my magic… Fortunately for you, it’s my speciality… Unfortunately, it can only do so much, but it’s better than how you were when I found you… This should help deal with the pain...” she explained. Jesus. How powerful is magic? “You are very lucky that I was walking by after going to the store… You had already collapsed by the time I got to you…”

That comment got my mind turning and whirring, taking me back to the moment I was shot, or should I say the vision that came before it. The vision replayed in my mind’s eye, almost like a movie, until I recalled a part that seemed out of place at the time, but now made a lot more sense. The mare I had bumped into and this mare currently tending to my wounds were the same pony!

My revelation was quickly interrupted by my mind being assaulted by unbelievable agony as the nurse wrapped some more bandages tightly around my chest. I guess just because I was healed with magic doesn’t mean all of the pain vanished. “You were in pretty bad shape… You were hit by a very powerful spell that not only sapped all of your energy, but was also intended to seriously injure you… Luckily, based on the burn marks, they didn’t have enough time to power up the spell fully, so you were able to get off lightly... a-all things considered…”

Lightly?! That’s an understatement if ever I heard one. Try feeling how I feel right now and then try saying I got off lightly. “I guess now it makes sense why my body feels like a wooden board right now,” I replied, keeping my thoughts to myself.

“H-how did this happen...? D-did somepony a-attack you…?” she questioned, mumbling various apologies and trying her best to loosen the bandage’s iron grip so as to not further hurt me.

“Yes, I was. I was chasing a pony that’d attacked Princess Celestia, and when I thought I had the upper hand, she fired the pointy magic wand attached to her head at me. Obviously, it didn’t end too well for me.”

The pressure suddenly disappeared as Remedy stopped. “W-wait… Somepony a-attacked P-Princess Celestia!” Her confident, professional expression was gone, replaced with one of pure horror and distress.

“Shit. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”

“W-we have to let e-everypony know that there’s a c-criminal on the loose!” She looked about ready to bolt out of the house and start screaming that out at the top of her lungs. Me and my big mouth, as usual.

“No! We can’t do that!” She shied away from my harsh tone with a whimper. Quickly composing myself, I cleared my throat and continued. “...That wouldn’t be a good idea. We don’t want to cause mass hysteria, do we? And I’m sure someone has already caught her by now if the guardspony I was with has anything to say about it.”

“...Y-you’re sure?”

“Positive. You have nothing to worry about.” She relaxed at that, although she did seem like she could jump at the slightest sudden movement. She slowly went back to attending to my wounds.

We stayed in relative silence as she continued wrapping me up like a mummy, with the odd wince of pain on my end. The aloe vera was definitely helping to soothe the pain, but it wasn’t a cure-all. Once she had effectively covered the inflicted areas, she stepped back to give me some space, giving me a warming smile and allowing me to very sluggishly sit back up on the edge of the bed. “How do you feel?”

“Like shit,” I groggily replied. She cringed at my harsh language. Realising that I was being incredibly rude, I quickly changed my tone. “But I feel a lot better than I did before. I would definitely be in worse shape if you didn’t help me, so thank you.”

She dug her left hoof in the carpet with a blush. “O-oh, it was nothing r-really. It’s my job, after all… I-I became a nurse to h-help everycreature, t-that includes you...”

“Well, not many people would’ve even taken notice of me, let alone actually helped, back where I come from, so I really appreciate the support.” I gave her a small smile, looking over the dressing to see that it was expertly done. How is she just a nurse in training? She’s better than any of the nurses and doctors I’ve had back home. I guess the magic helps, but still...

“What?! How can somepony not help somepony in need?! What sort of place do you live in?!" she exclaimed, looking like I had just said the worst thing in the world.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” I mumbled, more to myself than her. I still felt quite lethargic, but I felt like I could at least stand up, so I gradually pushed myself to my feet, legs shaking like jelly, but managing to stay on my feet for more than ten seconds.

“T-take it easy, ok…” She leaned on me to give me some extra support. “That spell had the added side effect of depleting your energy. The only ways to combat it would either be to wait until your energy came back naturally, which might take a while, or by taking a herbal remedy.” I couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at the wordplay, but she gave me a confused look.

“Wait, you didn’t notice the… You know what, nevermind… I can’t wait. Could you please make the remedy, Remedy?” I said, shaking my head lightly, shit-eating smirk on my face.

It took her a second before she finally realised what I said, chuckling along with me. “Oh… I-I see what happened… A-anyway, I don’t completely remember how to p-properly make it… My mother knows how to create it, but she’s currently working at the castle with some patients and is probably very busy-”

“Well, why didn’t you say so? Let’s go already.” I interrupted her impatiently.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself away from Remedy and slowly started inching my way across the room. It was like I was learning to walk again, even though I knew it wasn’t like that, but it felt like it. “P-please be c-careful...” She said worriedly, allowing me some space to move on my own, but staying close nevertheless… Not like I needed her.

But obviously, I was about to eat those words. I had agonisingly shuffled halfway across the room on trembling feet, and everything was going well. It wasn’t until my legs suddenly gave out from under me, and I fell forwards again, that everything went wrong. Luckily, Remedy was there as a crutch to grab a hold of, but I could hear her grunt as most of my weight landed on her back. “Ugh... Fuck it...! Are you ok?”

“Y-yes. I’m ok… D-don’t you think it m-might be a better idea to wait until she g-gets back, Mr…” She suggested, struggling with my name as I tried to catch my breath while kneeling on one knee.

“Darren. Darren Walker.” I replied, unsteadily lifting myself back onto my feet, having no choice but to use Remedy for support until I was mostly stable again. “I don’t have time to wait... and why would I wait when she’s exactly where I need to go… I’m sure I can make it.”

She obviously wasn’t convinced, looking at how unsteady I was, but she could see I was a stubborn mule, and I did have a point. I could see she was very hesitant, but she sighed. “O-ok, if you are sure. L-let’s go.” I went to try and walk again, only to find a weird tingling and warmth suddenly appear under my left armpit and down my side. Looking down, I saw a distinctive red magical aura supporting me coming from Remedy’s horn.

“What are you doing?” I questioned.

“I-if you’re not going to wait, t-then I’m going to help you g-get to the castle safely. Y-you can also use my back for support too, i-if you want.” She motioned to her back with her head.

“I d-don’t need your help,” I responded stubbornly, making a move forward towards the door, only to almost fall on the first step, the magical aura luckily keeping me upright.

“Obviously,” she said sarcastically, the first emotion I’d seen out of her that wasn’t fear or worry. I gave her a small glare which put a stop to that. “I-I’m not going to just l-let a patient walk out of my care without being cared for properly. I would be a b-bad nurse if I did. So, I will accompany you to the castle and give you help when you need it.”

I wanted to rebut, but I didn’t know where I was, and how far the castle was away from here. I could easily get lost in this bustling city and, in the state I was in, probably wouldn’t even get a yard from here before I started eating dirt again, and I had already done that enough this week. “...Fine. You can assist me. But I don’t have to be happy about it.”

“Don’t worry. I’m here to help. Anytime,” she said, giving me the warmest smile as I firmly grasped her back, making sure not to put too much pressure on her so as to not hurt her. With her aid, I was slowly able to exit her house, grabbing my ruined shirt and the attacker’s cloak on the way out and putting them on my shoulder, and start the gradual ascent back to the castle.

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[EAT_MY_TNT]

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[TheMindsEyeOfMitchinator]

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Yeah, it's been a while, I know. Thank you for your patience and dedication. At least I know some people are enjoying what I'm writing right now. I find it hard to get motivated sometimes and there is a lot of planning to do to help this project become the giant of a story I know it will and can be. I do want to try and get these out faster, especially because of... current events.