Nobody

by Blazer

Chapter 8: UNFINISHED CHAPTER

"...which tipped me off to the fact that something was wrong! You NEVER miss the Pet Parties!"

"Except when I'm busy...? Which was what I told you."

"Right! I KNEW something was up! So I decided to leave Gummi with the others for a hot minute while I investigated your home..."

"...What? I thought I told you I had an important delivery to make!"

"THAT'S what was so interesting! Especially when I stopped outside your door, I suffered the worst doozie I've ever doozied!"

"What? You already told me about this--!"

"No! That was the day before! This was then! The day after!"

"Thats--!" Twilight paused for a moment, her face becoming sullen.

"That... That sounds about... right." She finished. Her face twisted back into a confused expression.

"W-wait, then how'd that lead you here?"

"Oh, silly! I asked Spike where he was off to."

"I see..." Twilight hummed, irked that Spike would leak such important information without telling her.

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm pretty thirsty. Cardio really gets the ol' suderiferous glands going," she remarked, trotting into the hallway. "Feel free to inform me of the situation along the waaaaayyyy~!"

"Whuh? Uh... Okay. I'll go out with you; let the guards know you're with me."

"Oh. Good idea. Bye, Jay-Jay!" Pinkie chirped. Jay smiled weakly before the pink pony followed Twilight out of the door, which thunked gently behind them.

Passing the pair of intimidating guards in the hallway, as well as a nurse headed in the opposite direction, Twilight trotted quietly next to the eerily-quiet Pinkie. She was at least humming to herself, which was normal. But she would normally...?

As they stepped through the cafeteria entrance, the stillness erupted into chaos.

"Twi!"
"Twilight, darling!"
"_{Twilight... Oh...}"
"Egghead!"
"PRINCESS OF FRIENDSHIP!" Pinkie cried randomly.

"G-girls?!"

"We came as quickly as we could!" Applejack breathed, flashing a half-smile before letting her face fall back into its worried origins.

"You and Spike leaving in such a hurry... We feared something dreadful had happened!" Rarity chimed in.

"You usually tell us when something goes down. My wings were shaking the whole way here!" Rainbow explained nervously.

"Sorry we showed up without notice... And we couldn't get past the guards in the hall, so we couldn't come see you," Fluttershy apologized, her head dipping low.

"How did you all... Uh... Hear about it?" Twilight stammered; not sure whether to feel happy or upset that her secret foul-up was no longer a secret.

"Ponyville's a small town; news spreads fast," Rainbow replied, shrugging her wings.

"We heard from Pinkie," Applejack corrected, shooting a glance at the sky-blue pegasus. "Rather, we demanded she tell us, since I saw her sneakin' off to yer library after leavin' us with Gummi."

"So if you want to blame anypony for letting the proverbial 'cat' out of the bag, it lies with every one of us!" Rarity added.

Twilight couldn't help a smile. "Everyone... I..." Her gaze dropped. "Well, I owe you all an explanation. The only problem is that I'm not sure how much I'm at liberty to say, other than that this has the attention of Princess Celestia herself."

The bouquet of colorful equine faces darkened as their expressions dropped into frowns.

"Oh... Well, at least you're okay," Applejack began.

"Come on! We wouldn't tell anypony!" Rainbow pleaded.

"I'm sure you wouldn't!" Twilight replied, forcing a smile. "However, I don't want to upset the Princess more than I already have. I'm sure you all understand," she finished, the smile quickly fading.

Silence reigned, save for the quiet bustle of the kitchen and other occupants shuffling through the buffet line. A single sound stood out from the others, however--the rhythmic clicking of claws on tile, rapidly approaching the mares.

"Rarity! You're here!" Spike cried, running up to the fashionista.

"Oh, hello, Spike!" The unicorn cooed, giving him a big smile.

"Hey, all! What's with the frowns?" the dragonling remarked. "I never see you all together and depressed unless the world is ending. And it ain't that bad, if I recall!"

"Actually Spike, we--!"
"Spikey-Wikey~" Rarity began, drawing the adolescent into a tight hug. "Do you mind telling a mare what could be going on in the hospital room past all the guards? I'm just worried sick about whomever could be within, but Twilight is being ever-so-stingy!"

"I, uh... Rarity..." Spike croaked, purple blooming into a deep maroon as he fell limp in her embrace.

"Don't tell her anything!" Twilight barked, snapping the purple dragon out of his stupor.

"O-oh! Right!" The hatchling hesitantly pulled himself away from Rarity, backing up sheepishly towards Twilight. "S-sorry. I made a promise."

Rarity pouted. "Not even a widdle bit of info? For old-times' sake?"

"Well..." Spike withered under Twilight's glare. "No! I... Uh... I shouldn't. Not unless the Princess--BWAAAAARRP!"

Everypony jumped in alarm as a green burst of dragon's breath flashed from Spike's maw, the dragon snatching a rolled-up parchment from the depths of the flames.

"Whew, 'scuse me," Spike panted, tapping his chest before he undid the neat red bow keeping the paper rolled up. Taking a quick glance over the contents, he handed it to Twilight, who picked it from his claws with magic. "From the Princess!" he added.

Everypony watched as Twilight's eyes went from worried to relaxed, her expression softening as she read the royal correspondence. With a final nod, the letter rolled itself up, drifting back to Spike, who caught it deftly out of the air.

"Well? What'd it say?" Rainbow asked.

"You would ask that question..." Applejack snorted.

"The Princess," Twilight began, the two rivals immediately captivated by the potential for actual news. "She said it's only fair that I inform you all of my... predicament, for lack of a better term. After all, what is a Princess of Friendship without her friends?" She smiled again, this time for real.

Feeling the warmth of her grin, her friends reciprocated, and they all stood there for a moment, recognizing all they've been through together.

"Anyway, as you might have guessed, it has to do with that 'special delivery' I made the other day," Twilight explained.

---

"That time already?"
"Yes."
I took a deep breath, hoping to delay the inevitable by just a moment more.
"Okay."

The nurse approached my bed, yanking the blankets off of my legs with a deft turn of her head before moving towards me, putting a foreleg on my thigh to start pulling me off of the bed.

"Can I try to get up on my own?" I ventured.

The nurse hesitated for a moment before slowly stepping back. "Okay. Go ahead," she replied.

I grit my teeth at her expectant tone, but decided to say nothing. I always regretted saying something anyways. I missed Nurse Redheart; she was only there for the first day, but was probably rotated out, since I never saw her after that. Now it was a different nurse each day, with each one seeming less patient than the last.

Swinging my legs over the bedside, I took another deep breath before using my forelegs to ease myself towards the edge. Another second, another inch. An awkward minute later, I was leaning back, trying to slow my descent towards the tiles as my flank slowly began to slide off of the mattress. There was a deft THUNK as my hooves touched the ground.

There was a series of hoofsteps approaching me. This lady... No patience. I held up a foreleg, hoping to stop her.

"Wait! Uh... Let me keep going."
"You sure?"
"Y-yeah. Yeah. Just... one second."

There was a short pause before I started to move again, taking her silence as consent. Slowly resuming my progress, I lowered myself, resisting the urge to stand upright as I rested there on all fours.

"Good. Now, turn towards me."

Leading with my right foreleg, I managed a slow about-face towards the nurse. This one was white with a deep red mane and yellow irises; she would be intimidating if her face didn't look so sickeningly cute--just like everything else in this damn place.

"Can you turn the other way for me?"

I complied, managing a wobbly turn in the other direction. My head naturally wanted to move in the direction of the turn, almost like a real horse. I managed to push my discomfort down and complete the frustratingly simple maneuver.

"Try walking backwards."
"That's impossible," I began. She sighed.
"Can you try for me?"
"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I was just joking..."

My reply trailed off in her silence as I slowly started backing up.

"Okay, stop."

I stopped.

"Walk forward."

I took a few steps forward before stopping myself at the wall.

"Can you do a lap around the room for me?"

My hooves clacked against the tiles as I took a slow, wobbling walk around the small space, my head lowered towards my forelegs as I struggled to correctly sync up my legs. It felt like a humiliating mix of Red-Light-Green-Light mixed with Simon Says. Even though it was a "game" I was getting used to, my face still got hot from time to time, and it wasn't from exertion.

"Good. You can stop for a moment. Take a break."

I stayed standing, my hocked knees shaking ever-so-slightly in an attempt to stay apart.

"Just take a seat."

Just take a seat. It's so easy, I mentally mocked myself as I slowly lowered my flank to the ground, almost disgusted at myself at using the correct terminology. Soon, I passed the point of no return and felt gravity taking over--but not before looking like a frightened doe on ice upon briefly losing my footing and nearly falling the rest of the way.

"Whoops!"

Despite the sudden stop, I noticed my flank hadn't touched the cold tiles. Glancing back, I noticed the nurse's horn was glowing orange--the same color my magically-suspended posterior was also glowing.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why was this cancelled?

[Blazer]

11406743
The introduction of the protagonist is pretty awful and needs to be reworked. Might do a rewrite bc the concept is decent but I also feel like self-inserts are only fun for the author. Its weird to see this fic did so well but I feel like it wouldnt fly with audiences today.

[Cobalt Stout]

11407013

Might do a rewrite bc the concept is decent but I also feel like self-inserts are only fun for the author.

Consider me part of the minority then. A few of my favourite stories are actually loosely based off of self inserts. (Think 'My Life as a Bipedal Quadruped' and 'Trust Once Lost')

I recently discovered your story and read it all in one sitting. I can say that I enjoyed the level of detail your story displayed and do express interest on where this would have gone, had you continued development.

As for concerns of whether or not a self-insert story would be accepted in the current year. I'd say, "go for it". There may be some criticism, but the stories that stuck with it to the end seemed to have done well. I have a feeling that yours would do well due to the intrigue and level of detail (but that may be my personal bias).

If you do not persue, I still thank you for the pleasant read (and some insight into a time I missed out on).