Author's Note

So, this was planned for a few chapters later, but this is a romance story. About time we got to that, don't you think?

Chapter 04

The first thing to register was a soft beeping to your side, but it also caused a lancing pain in your head, and you scrunched your eyes up with a groan. You heard somepony give a gasp and forced your eyes open, seeing the end of a sapphire blue tail with pink and violet streaks disappearing out of the door. Hoofsteps came from the corridor a moment later, and you looked up to see a white earth pony mare enter, a small headdress with a red cross placed on top of her pink mane. “Well look who’s finally up. Lets give you a look over then, shall we?”

The nurse, for you were now certain you were in a hospital, ran through the standard check to ensure there were no after effects, except for your pounding headache. After that you were allowed out, the sun already well past its zenith and beginning to set. So much for any research today, you’d just have to refine your notes instead. With that idea cemented in your head, you began the trot towards the inn.

Berry was instantly to your side, fussing over the state of you, but you just waved her off. You retrieved your books from your room and then returned to the booth you had sequestered yourself in the previous night, ordering an evening meal. Seeing as most of the ponies currently enjoying themselves had also been in the tavern last night, they felt no need to come and speak to you, letting you eat in relative peace.

You gave a small chuckle as you noticed the young couple from the morning, sat opposite each other with a single candle between them on the table, forehooves meeting in the middle. You turned from the sweet scene and went back to your research… until a hoof fell upon your shoulder. “Well, well, if it isn’t Polter Dawn, the Ghost Hunter of Equestria!”

You glanced around the one group of ponies you didn’t want knowing you were there having discovered you. Whilst each one was older and larger, they still had the same features, and also the mark of immaturity. You just gave a nod and brushed his hoof off, turning back to your book. “What do you want, Blitz? I’m busy here.”

Zealous Blitz, or Zeal to his friends, shrank away a little at your slightly hostile tone, before sitting opposite you with a big grin. You knew what that face meant, what he was going to attempt you to join with, but you wanted no part of that… not any more. “What do I want? Well, a little birdie told me that a certain bookworm lives in this town. We were going to see if she’s livened up at all, and if not… help her.”

“If you’re talking about Princess Sparkle, then no. I’m not interested.”

“Princess? That egghead? Oh, that’s a good one! Anyway, she lives in the town library, go figure. If you want some fun, come join us. If not, enjoy your reading, Dawn.” The way he emphasised your last night made you cringe, it having been a nickname you never wanted to hear again. You just sighed as they moved back to the bar, ordering another round of drinks.

Even though it wasn’t your place, and you didn’t really have a reason to after how she had treated you, there was no way you were going to allow the mare to suffer in any way at their hooves. Gathering your things you headed up to your room, placing them down on the shelves. Once outside, you saw from above the tavern that the group had left, Berry turning to you with a concerned glance. That was enough to tell you they had gone to follow through on their plans, anger filling your body.

Recalling the spells taught to you at Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns, your horn flashed with a bright brown aura, and you soon felt a cool breeze drifting through the fur on your back. You opened your eyes to see the fountain in the middle of the town square, turning in the direction of the local library.

The sound of stallions laughing drifted towards you, followed by the slamming of a door. Rounding the corner, you found the library to be surrounded by a dome of magical energy, impressed by the caster’s skill. You couldn’t even use a shield spell to stop the rain falling on you, let alone cover an entire building. “Look at that, she doesn’t know which race to be any more!”

“Perhaps she should join the pegasi! She may have been good at magic, but she was as boneheaded as those feather brains anyway!” The stallions were outside the front door to Golden Oaks, flicking stones at the shield with their magic. One of them turned to look at you, a smile playing at his lips.

You smiled back, but it wasn’t a friendly one, centred on the stallion at the centre of the group. He hadn’t noticed you yet, but the others slowly backed away as you trotted calmy past them. At his feet was a scuffed book, one you recognised the cover of, even as the stallion bent down to look at the title.

“‘The History Of The Friendship Of Magic, by T. Sparkle’. Here that guys? Little miss egghead finally got some friends. Although if they were real friends, they would be here, wouldn’t they? Let’s take a little… extract.” You heard sobbing, glancing up to one of the library’s open windows. Turning back towards Zealous Blitz, you noticed a torn bit of paper in his magic. “What is this crapph”

His speech was cut off as you dashed forward, ramming a forehoof into his muzzle. He reeled back in shock as the others stared on, then began to form a ring around the pair of you. Having asserted your dominance in the ‘circle of bullies’ before, you knew what was going to happen, and also knew that, this time, Zeal wasn’t going to hold back.

You barely deflected his first attack, which burst into light at your feet. It was meant as a distraction, but you knew the tactic and jumped to your left as a strong lightning spell was harmlessly absorbed by the shield. Lighting your own horn, you caught his flank with a blast of ice, causing him to let out a hiss of pain.

Charging your magic for the next parry, Zeal instead summoned a bank of fog, letting it surround you. You quickly changed to a spell to get rid of it, but not quick enough as two hooves connected with your side, sending you sliding into the dirt. Giving a small groan as you stood back up, you ducked your head in time to avoid his rear hooves connecting with your face.

With a growl of anger, you instead went for a simple telekinesis spell, grabbing his hooves as they lowered. It brought you a grim sense of satisfaction as he began to scream like a filly as you spun him around in the air, then let go once he had enough stored energy. His momentum carried him across the square, where he hit the gravel with a solid thud, rolling to a stop.

You could see blood on his lime green coat, his chest heaving as he breathed heavily. Turning away from the biggest threat, you strode through the others and stood with your back to the shield, looking around at them defiantly.

They glanced at each other and nodded, slowly closing the circle. You weren’t the best of fighters, but then again… these four were even worse. They struck before you could even get one spell ready, two of them pushing you to stand on your rear legs with magic whilst the other two turned around.

You fought for control as best as you could, but had no chance against two magic users. Meanwhile the other two were looking over their shoulders, and you knew they were taking aim. Together, they reared up and you let out a pained cough as their rear hooves connected with your chest, a spray of blood coming from your mouth.

You were pushed back a little, and you could feel the shield’s energy crackling behind you, a sign of how dangerously high powered it really was. Your eyes returned forward to see the pair ready to strike again, trying one last time to fight back with magic, but to no avail. “NOOO!!” Whoever shouted didn’t stop them, and at first you tried to ignore the pain.

You couldn’t hold it in, letting out an almost feral scream as the shield brushed your skin, and your fur began to catch fire. You looked through the smoke to see your opponents smiling gleefully at you. And then there was a blue blur followed by a rainbow contrail, barrelling into one of the stallions.

As you fell to the floor you noticed it was a mare, and she quickly and powerfully struck the stallion on the muzzle, making him a pile of limbs on the floor. Another stallion was thrown back as an orange earth pony mare appeared. Then the two mares squared off to the two that remained standing. You could hear their voices, but it sounded like your ears were underwater. “An’ jus’ who in t’ hay are ya’ll?”

“Heh… an earth pony and a pegasus, thinking they can take on two unicorns. And we have an audience. Good.” Through the edges of your fading vision, you saw the townsponies looking on in shock. There was a sudden loud boom from behind you, followed by a bright light.

The shadow of a pony covered your vision as she flew over you, landing with a regal pose, her wings out and horn standing proudly. “ENOUGH! I AM HEREBY PLACING YOU ALL UNDER ARREST! ANY ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE WILL BE MET WITH FORCE! GUARDS!” Almost as if from nowhere several stallions in golden armour appeared, surrounding those you had fought with.

The intense white light faded, the mare turning around to reveal the face of Princess Sparkle, tear streaks down her cheeks. You saw her mouth move, but the words were even more muffled, and she took a step closer as your vision faded more. You saw her turn and shout for… something, a white blur coming closer, and you winced as the last thing you felt was a wet blanket laid across your back.

You winced slightly as you came awake, tingles all over your body and your fur really itchy. You couldn’t do a thing about it, as your hooves were strapped down to the bed you were lying on. Something you had never experienced, but had heard of, then happened, your gaze focusing on Princess Sparkle, her eyes red and puffy. “Please, send some of your pain to me. I… want to help you through this.” You glanced up and saw her horn gently touching yours.

Two days ago this mare threw you out of her library, and a day ago knocked you out. Now she wanted to help, and was using what was one of the most intimate things a pair of unicorns could share. You tried to speak, but what came out was a pained cough, and you felt the tightness in your chest. “No, stay still. You need to rest.”

“P-prin…”

“And don’t speak either. Now, this is going to hurt a bit, but it must be done.” You gave the smallest nod of assent, wincing as a wet, but warm, blanket was laid over you once more. After taking some of the pain away, she took it off you, then you saw a pot of cream floated over in a purple aura.

Before you could ask, she scooped some of it out with a hoof and then placed it on your back, gently rubbing it into your skin. Whilst the numbing effect took place, you looked at your surroundings, surprised to see you were in fact not in the hospital once more, but inside the library. Your gaze lingered on a glass of water, and you tried to bring it over, but your magic faltered as the mare pressed over a sensitive spot, causing the beverage to fall to the floor.

To your surprise, and delight, Princess Sparkle let out a little giggle as she picked it up, refilling the liquid. Instead of letting you take hold of it, she brought it over and gently raised your head, lifting the glass to your mouth. You slowly sipped at the water, staring into her eyes as a hoof began to trace through your mane.

She suddenly caught herself, blushing brightly as she pulled away, setting the glass on the side and returning to the treatment of your burns. Once she was done, another wet blanket was draped over you, the cream mixing with the water to provide a soothing sensation. Your gaze moved around the room once more, noticing your saddlebags in the corner and Twilight looking over her shoulder. “Oh, we brought them here when we found out you were staying at the tavern. You’re… going to stay with me whilst you heal. It… was my fault. I… was watching, and yet I didn’t lower the shield. I could have…”

Whilst she was talking, you had managed to free a forehoof, and lifted it to her cheek as the tears began to fall once more. She closed her eyes and pressed back, nuzzling against your hoof. “Aunt Twilight, where’s the… oh, am I interrupting?” The mare jumped back in shock, her cheeks bright red as you both turned to the alicorn filly that had just entered from the kitchen. “If you want some mommy and daddy time, I can go play upstairs.”

“What? Skyla, no… it isn’t like that!” The filly just gave a sweet smile as she skipped up the stairs, and you let out a small chuckle, which soon turned to a pained cough once more. Princess Sparkle was instantly to your side, bringing the glass to your lips again.

You gulped it down this time, letting out a small sigh as you finished the drink. After setting the empty glass on the side, Princess Sparkle turned to look at you, a small smile coming to her lips as your stomach decided it wanted some attention. “Hmm, somepony’s hungry. Wait right here, I’ll be back in a moment.”

“It’s okay.” Your voice was harsh and raspy, surprising you a little, but you continued as you pushed yourself into a sitting position, the blanket falling down around you. “Thank you for everything, but I shall take my leave now, Princess Sparkle.” You went to hop down from the bed, but a small purple aura stopped you, pushing you back down under a withering glare.

“You will do no such thing! By royal decree, you are staying in that bed until you are healed.” She stepped closer, and you turned your head away, giving a small gasp of surprise as the mare lay hers across you withers. “Truly, thank you. Now, lunch. You’ve been out for two days, so I’ll make lots.”

She pulled away and moved to the kitchen, your gaze following her. You couldn’t help it, being a stallion, as your eyes roamed over her form, the soft, almost sensual bounce of her hips as her legs moved, and her flanks… Truly, Twilight Sparkle had grown into a wonderful mare, and was now taking care of you.

You just grinned up as you heard giggling, seeing the alicorn filly, this ‘Skyla’, poking her head through the railings at you. “You’ve got a crush on Aunt Twiliy!” You just shook your head with a small smile as you lay your head back on the pillow. “Don’t deny it, my mom’s the princess of love!”

You weren’t going to. Granted, you weren’t even friends yet, but the foundation was there. And upon the foundation something amazing could be built. But how long would it last until the memories of your foalhood, and your actions back then, surfaced within the mare once more?