Not In Kansas Anymore

Chapter Three

I know that I had let Applejack know I was feeling fine, but now I wasn’t so sure. We were relatively close to Ponyville by now, but my ankle would have no more of this walking nonsense. One step and I winced at the pain that shot up my leg. I tried to catch myself, but my other foot slipped from under me and I ungracefully fell to the ground...on my face. I guess I gave Applejack quite a scare, because she quickly turned around.

“Ya’ll alright?” She asked, holding a hoof on my back. I struggled to get off my chest and get into a more comfortable sitting position. I rubbed my face when it hit the ground. Hopefully a broken nose wouldn't be added to my growing list of injuries. Merely moving was giving me troubles with the afflicted area of my ankle. I tried to sooth the pain a bit by massaging where it was swollen. Bad idea. Just touching it made me hiss through my teeth.

“I’m fine…sort of. My ankle wasn’t bothering me that bad when we first started our little trek here. But I guess it’s in worse shape than I thought. The walking didn’t help make it better, I can tell you that much.”

“Well shoot, can you still make it at least to the library in town? It’s about ten minutes with the pace we’ve been going at.”

“Let me see,” I tried to get up, but the second I put pressure on my ankle, a fell down again. I let out a grunt of pain. Nope, this wasn't happening. “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure it’s not gonna let me put pressure on it anymore. It might actually be broken, I think.”

She inspected closer. “Let me see the ankle without the shoe or bandages.” I nodded to her request and removed my right shoe, sock, and then the wrapping that Applejack and Big Mac had put on me when I was unconscious last night when we first met. She looked on at the bare foot and grimaced. “Dang, that looks a mite worse than when I first saw it yesterday. I expected it to not look pretty, but I didn't think it would be quite this bad.” She looked up in thought, then her eyes lit up and she smiled. She must have just came up with an idea. She looked at me and asked, “Hey, do ya mind if I go get my friend Fluttershy? She takes care of a lot of creatures. Pretty good with general first aid and all that. Maybe she get you good enough to get ya to Ponyville? We can get a doctor then,” She smirked, “or a vet.”

I stuck my tongue out at her at her little joke, “Haha, very funny…” She chuckled at my sarcasm. “I don’t see why not. Go get your friend.” I scooted over to get myself propped up against a tree. “It’s not like I can do anything else, anyway.”

“Sure thing. I’ll go get her and bring her over as quick as I can. Seeya in a little bit.”

“Bye.” And she took off back in the direction we came from. I guess this Fluttershy lives near Applejack’s farm. Or at least, in the same direction. Whatever the case, I felt like I was going to be sitting here for a little while. Might as well make myself comfortable.

One of the benefits of being here alone now was now I has some actual time to think. I couldn’t really remember how I came to be here when I had first woken up the day before, but then again, I didn’t really have time anyway. Those cursed Timber-wolves made sure of that. Then I was unconscious for a time, and then there’s the whole shock of waking up in someone else’s bed, only to find out that those people really aren’t people, and you aren’t even in the same world you thought you were. Now, there was time to think back, to remember what happened before this all started.

I distinctly remember what happened two nights ago, considering the day I left my world and the day I showed up here were in fact the same day. I was at college, just getting out of a late night class. I hung out with my friends for an hour or so, before we parted ways and I decided to go home.

I had grabbed a snack from one of the cafeterias nearby, and quickly started my walk to my car. I had about ten blocks to walk, and the sky was looking overcast, so I wanted to get to my vehicle and get home before it started to rain. I really hate getting caught in the rain.

About halfway to my destination, the wind started to pick up. I started walking faster so I could get out of the beginning of this storm faster. And…there was a flash of light and a loud thunderous noise. I tried to remember what exactly happened. I think it was a bunch of lightning hitting the ground at once. The force knocked me onto my back, and I lost my backpack in the process. As I tried to get up, the area where the bolts hit started to crack like glass, light shining through the ground. The cracks webbed out and reached where I was getting up. I started to run from the cracks in the ground, but it was too late. The ground gave out, and I tumbled down an endless void of white. And the next thing I remember was waking up in the Everfree.

I’ve gone from home for officially a day now. I wondered how long it would take for my family to realize I was gone. A week? Maybe a week and a half? I know there’s been times where I would forget answered my phone in a couple of days, because they call at weird times like while I'm in class and calling back would slip my mind, but I wondered how long it would be until my unreturned calls would make them worried. I bet they’d call the place that owns the house I’m renting from after a while. And then they would know I’m missing. And then what? They’d probably search for weeks without finding me. They’d think I was dead. That’s something that I didn’t want to put my family through. I’d have to find a way home. Sooner if possible than later. The thought made me shed a tear.

I guess you really don't appreciate something like being able to see your family until you actually can't.

My thoughts were interrupted by calling out my name. I looked out to my left back where we came from and saw Applejack waving at me with one of her front legs. I waved back and called out to her yelling hello, trying to clear my throat and wiping any tears from my eyes before she notices. Applejack started her walk towards me, and that’s when I noticed the pony trying to hide behind her. That must be Fluttershy. She has a yellow coat and a long pink mane. And she has wings…pegasus? There’s pegasi too?

Better yet, why does this new information surprise me? I mean yesterday I was introduced to talking horses. Well, ponies. This shouldn’t really be much of a stretch.

“We’re back!” Applejack announced. She looked at me with a smile. I must've hid my sadness from a bit ago well. She never asked if I was okay. “We didn’t know what to bring for ya, so Fluttershy decided to bring a bunch of the essentials for first aid.” She motioned over to a wooden staff tied to her back, “I also threw together a crutch for ya. I figured it’d be easier for ya to walk if you can keep the pressure off the foot as much as possible. That was her idea.” She points over to Fluttershy, who so far has been keeping her distance, looking at me, then the ground, then me again, all while hiding most of her face behind her hair. I wave my hand slowly towards her, but then she looks back at the ground again.

I hear a sigh from Applejack, which draws my attention back to her. She looks at me and speaks in a hushed tone. “Sorry about this. Fluttershy can be a bit…well, shy, in front of new ponies, or humans in your case. She’s really nice though. I’ll go talk to her for ya.” I nod and she turns around to Fluttershy, pulling her into a huddle and starts talking to her. I really can’t hear what either of them are saying, but I’m guessing Applejack is trying to speak on my behalf to get her to help me. Applejack finished talking, Fluttershy nodded, and they both came back to me. Fluttershy took off the bags she had strapped to her sides and started pulling out all the stuff she had packed. She pulled out a small pillow and placed it on the ground near where I was sitting.

“C-could you put your leg on this, please?” I told her "no problem" and laid my lower leg on the pillow, which propped my foot off of the ground. She looked at the injury with a concerned look in her eyes. “Oh dear, the swelling is pretty bad. Does it hurt?”

“Only when I touch it or try to walk on it, really. It’s just sorta sore right now.”

She nodded at my information and turned to Applejack. “I think it’s a really bad sprain, but it could be broken, like you thought. Just a second…” She pulled out a jar filled with a light blue paste. “This should help for now.”

Applejack asked what I was thinking, “What does that stuff do?”

“It’s a ointment from this plant Zecora showed me once in the forest. It should help reduce the swelling. And the pain, hopefully.” She picked up a rag and plopped right in front of me. She had a look of concentration on her face now, like she was thinking only on taking care of me, an injured creature. I noticed that ever since she saw my injury, she started coming out of her shell. Maybe taking care of things is what really gets her motivated? At least she doesn’t seem afraid of me right now.

She pulled a wet rag and started to wipe down my lower leg, ankle, and foot, being extra careful not to press down too much on the swollen area. Next, she wiped down her front hooves until all the dirt from walking around was gone. Satisfied, she opened up the jar of ointment and took a dab of it on her hoof.

Fluttershy started speaking slowly and quietly towards me. “Now this may hurt for a little bit. I’m going to have to put pressure on the swollen area of your foot to rub this in. Just try not to move.”

I nodded and said, “Sure thing.” She took that as my permission to continue, so she started working the ointment in. The stuff felt cool and tingly to the skin. Her hooves pressing against the bruising areas, however, did not. “Ow,” I said.

“Sorry! I’ll try to be more caref-”

“Don’t worry about it,” I interrupted her, “just do your thing. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay…” She went back to what she was doing. From then on I tried to suppress any vocal indication of my pain. I could wince, I could grit my teeth, because she couldn’t see those while she worked, but I didn’t make any noise. I didn’t want her worrying and apologizing for just doing what she was doing. Especially since she’s just being helpful. I mean, really, she doesn’t have to help me at all. She doesn’t even know me. Heck, Applejack has known me for only a day, and yet they’ve both helped me.

It’s kinda nice to see that these ponies are so kind to strangers.

The pain slowly decreased as she continued her work, until it was just a mildly uncomfortable pain. I looked down at my injury, and was amazed to see the swelling had gone down significantly. I could even move it a bit. I started to roll my ankle a bit, trying to work the kinks out.

“Wait, don’t do that,” Fluttershy pressed down on my foot to get me to stop moving it. “It may be better, but you shouldn’t be moving it. It’s got to heal, and moving it a lot will make it go back to how it was before. We have to bandage it back up.” She walked back to her bags and removed some gauze. She came back, and as quick as a pro, wrapped my ankle back up. Applejack brought over my crutch and with a little struggle, got back onto my feet. I slipped the shoe back on pocketed the sock for now.

“Thank you for coming to help. Fluttershy, right?” I knew it already, but I wanted to break the ice. She nodded. “I’m Vince. Nice to meet you.” I held my hand open in front of her. She looked at it strangely for a second, not knowing what to do right away, but then she raised a hoof and slowly placed it in my palm. I lightly grasped the hoof and smiled. She looked back at me and slowly a small smile crept on her face too.

“Nice to meet you too.”

Applejack stepped up. “We should get a move on if we want to get to Ponyville soon. Fluttershy, you’re welcome to come with us if ya want.”

“Oh, that’d be nice,” Fluttershy said as a she looked at me. “I’ve never seen anything quite like you before. I’d like to talk and ask some questions…if that’s not too much trouble, that is.”

I released her hoof and nodded, “I don’t mind at all! Besides now I have two to talk with now.” I leaned in towards Fluttershy and faux-whispered, “Applejack can get kinda boring to talk to, ya know?” Applejack hit my left leg with one of her front hooves. Fluttershy giggled at the display.

“Hey, careful with the leg. She’s the only one I got left,” I teased.

Applejack just shot back a cocky grin and replied, “Just be glad I hit that one.” I stuck my tongue out at her. She just laughed at me. “Like I said, we should be headin’ on over. Wanna’ get ya’ll acquainted with the others before it’s time to hit the hay and all.” She helped Fluttershy pack up her things and we started walking towards Ponyville…again.

As I could now walk faster with my newly made crutch, I picked up the pace. At least we can get to Ponyville faster now.
“Soooo, Fluttershy. What kind of things did you want to talk about?”

“Well, I wanted to know wh-”

“Fluttershy!” I heard a loud voice call out. I started to look around for the source of the shout. I noticed something colorful flying through the air far away.

“Down here, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy yelled. Well, as much of a yell as her quiet voice seemed to be able to make. She walked quickly off and started to flutter her wings, slowly lifting her in the air towards what I only assumed was another pegasus, this “Rainbow Dash”. I think I remember Applejack mentioning about Rainbow Dash too. Must be one of their friends.

The speck in the sky got bigger as the pegasus sped towards Fluttershy. I was kinda surprised just how quickly she got over here. This pegasus must be fast. The pegasus stopped just short of crashing into Fluttershy, and started talking to her, obviously not having noticed me yet.

“Oh hey, Fluttershy! I was just looking for you. I saw that your cottage had a ‘will be back soon’ sign in front of it, so I started looking for you. I was wondering if-” She stopped short of finishing her sentence as her eyes meandered toward me. Yep, she definitely knows I’m here now. Rainbow Dash’s eyebrows furrowed a bit as her mouth opened.

“Who’s that?”