Interviews With Equestrians

by Jmaster49

Subject 292: Recovery Period

The last thing I could remember before passing out was feeling the pain of my body and overworked muscles finally catch up to me. That was one advantage of my superior Earth Pony biology--the ability to stave off the sense of pain for a bit longer than the average pony. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of enduring a sort of ‘pain crash’ down the line when I wasn’t prepared for it.

But fortunately, I wasn’t dead. No, instead, I found myself awake in my bed at home--bandaged up as if I had been to the hospital.

“Huh...wha…?” As soon as I felt the sun’s rays hit my face, I felt my eyes pop open. “Lord above...how long have I been asleep?”

To my left, I could see Tree Hugger was the one behind my blinds opening up unexpectedly. “Ah, you’re finally awake, man. Good to see those yellow eyes of yours.”

“Tree?” I sat up, and looked at her more directly once I rubbed my eyes. “You’re here? Is everything okay?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, for sure, brah,” she replied with her usual sense of mellowness, “Cheerilee wanted me to take care of you while she worked on stuff with the Mayor and Mrs. Rich. Ponyville was super damaged in that conflict from a week ago.”

A week? Hot damn, was I out of it for that long?

I rubbed the sides of my head with my hooves as I gathered my thoughts. “Wait a minute--wait--a week?”

“Mmm-hmmm,” she replied with a nod, “Don’t worry, your friends are all here too. Redheart took them in at the hospital, and they’ve been resting there as well. You’ll be able to see them soon.”

Well that put me at ease a bit. With the knowledge that my crew was okay, I was able to properly think about what was going to happen next. “Okay then. Am I good to get up?”

“You tell me, dawg,” Tree replied as a way to invite me to stand up.

I turned to my right, and got out of bed. Once all four of my limbs were on the ground, I felt...better? The sensation of soreness was still there, but it wasn’t as severe as it was a week ago. So that was a plus.

“Alright, looks pretty good to me,” I said as I flexed each of my limbs.

Tree giggled as she saw me get up. “Hehe...awesome, man. You and your crew should be in perfect condition to attend the award ceremony later today.”

“Alright…” I did a double-take, and watched as Tree Hugger trotted into the kitchen. “Wait, award ceremony?”

The green mare started to make breakfast. “Well. Yeah, brah. You and your friends practically saved the whole world--and some others if I recall correctly.”

...We did, didn’t we? Guess that was the objective, but I hope everyone didn’t see it as an act of heroism. Rather, as an act of doing what needed to be done to protect what you believed in. Something that everyone should be willing to do.

Meh. Guess I couldn’t worry too much about that at the moment, huh? After all, I knew better than anyone that my actions wouldn’t always be interpreted in certain ways.

“Yeah, something like that,” I replied, and noted how she pretended to forget that she participated in that very event. Hugger was somewhat scary that way. “I’m just wondering about all the damage that was caused to the homes and various buildings across the various landscapes. The money to repair them is going to be staggering…”

Tree Hugger placed a steaming plate in front of me. Upon it was a plate of hay pancakes alongside hash browns and some fried carrot links. Next to that was a glass of freshly made gree, iced tea with honey. “Yeah it might. But don’t worry, man. Every little thing is gonna be alright....”

I stared at the plate for a moment, and looked up at her with a smile. “I’m sorry...I appreciate what you’ve done for me, Tree. Cheerilee must have been hella busy, so she trusted you to take care of me. I...hope I can pay you back for what you’ve done for me.”

The next time I looked up, I could see Tree Hugger doing some sort of odd yoga pose in the middle of my living room. Standing on her head with perfect balance and her hooves together. “Don’t fret over it, man,” she replied while she maintained her position, “Things are all gonna fall into place.”

“I hope you’re right…”

I savored the meal she prepared. And the tea somewhat helped stabilize my digestive system. Being in a sleep-filled state for so long was an odd sensation. All I could say was that it was good to be back in the real world.

Once I finished, I put my plate in the sink. However, just before I could begin to wash it…

Knock-knock-knock.

There was a knock at my front door. Odd, as I wasn’t expecting anyone. But who knows who it might be after all that happened in the past week...or month...or year…

Anyhow. I trotted up to the door, and opened it. “Hello?”

It was quite the unexpected surprise. Spoiled Rich of all ponies was there at my doorstep. What??

“Pale Vestige? You remember me, don’t you? From the few times we’ve spoken to each other?” she raised her eyebrow as if testing me on a basic math problem.

“Uh...yeah?” I tilted my head slightly, “And what brings you here today, ma’am?”

The older mare scoffed with a roll of her eyes. “Yeech. Enough with the ma’am. It makes me feel much older than I'd like to acknowledge that I am.”

“Okay,” I replied with a nod, “So what brings you by, Spoiled?”

She turned her head to her left, and retrieved something from one of her pearlescent saddlebags. In her hoof, she showed me a few documents that were recently signed by multiple parties. “I want to thank you. By suggesting that we focus on the direct damage that has hit our homes, we were able to come to an agreement and establish better trade relations between the Griffons and Batponies. All of our citizens were in support of this decision--especially the dragon. What’s her name...Amber…?”

“Ember?” I said.

“Ember, yes. Her. She apparently has been looking to trade the mining skills of dragons in exchange for the glass-blowing skills of the ponies. Not entirely sure how that equates, but nevertheless…” She folded those documents up, and put them away in her saddlebag. “Just wanted to come by and explain to you what has occurred. Along with that, lots of the funds are going towards the retirement homes and schools--so don’t fret about the elders and foals.”

Well that put me at ease. Children and the elderly were often the most vulnerable when it came to large-scale conflicts like this. So it was nice to know that everyone focused on taking care of each other at a time like this.

I let out a relieved sigh. “...Alright. That’s good. Thanks for the information.”

Spoiled Rich nodded, and turned to leave. “Oh, and make sure you dress up. The award ceremony is set for later today. Don’t be late, son.”

That was about five hours away, huh? Guess I woke up at the right time. How convenient.

I just needed to find one of my better suits...

Comments

[Neo4K]

Nice to see Pale alive and in one piece. An award ceremony? Honestly, I wouldn't think of a more worthy pony deserving of an award than Pale. 😁