“Twelve!” The call from down the hall made me giggle as I got up off a newly changed mare.

“Nine, but one I got found three others!” I stood up, giving the surprised pony under me a little nuzzle. “You find someone nice,” I told them, “I gotta go back to my beau.”

Trotting out into the hall, I saw a silver tail flick from another open doorway. “Hey, you find any food?” I called, heading to find out what was in the room that, I was sure, had been opened already.

“Yeah,” the unicorn and focus of my affections replied, “these people left their cereal out. Tastes great!” The second part, obscured by the sounds of chewing, enticed me in. After pulling a few cupboards open with my mouth I found what I was after. Crunchy nut!

“So,” I began, talking between mouthfuls, “can you remember your name? Can't for the life of me even remember what I looked like.”

She raised her head from her mastication. “Mmmf, nope. But I think you are my love… Love Pillow? Love Shadow? Love-”

“Don't you dare...” I cut in, glaring at her in mock anger. “Delicate… Miracle.” It seemed right to have two words, just like that. “Yup, you are Delicate Miracle. Del would be a nickname I guess.”

Tilting her head slightly she gives a little nod. “I like that, Grace.”

It was my turn for pondering and I found that seemed like a good name, although it felt a little incomplete. Conversation turned a little more toward planning next, “so, where to from here, Del, I think we got everyone still in here, should we find another building?”

My mare's eyes flashed in excitement, Delicate pulling her snout out of the pack of cereal. With a nod she saluted and then took off at a run. “First to get to ten gets to snuggle the other!”

A game of changing humans to ponies, it seemed like the perfect thing so I rose up and gave chase. Navigating the stairs was quick work and as I got to the bottom floor I saw her silver tail flick as she was out into the street.

Laughing, chasing that tail, I could hear something that vaguely made sense to be cautious of. It took until I got to the door before my change-addled brain figured out what it was. Car tires screeching at speed.

The vehicle was big, built more for being off roads than on, it left it with poor handling and as I watched the human driver seemed both ill-equipped to stop in time and unwilling. I saw Del's horn light as she tried to move either herself, the car or something.

But it didn't help.

Time slowed, I saw the big mesh of bars at the front hit her head, knocking her to the side as it clipped her. There wasn't a lot of blood, but Del wasn't moving. At all.

Then I saw her chest fill out and sighed. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit...” other words were lost, the effort to think them beyond me as I looked around for help.

Crying, laying my head on her shoulder, I just couldn't think what to do. I could hear her heart, her breathing, but what could a simple pony do?

~'Bring her, bring her here'~

My head shot up so fast I almost gave myself whiplash. I had a sense of direction, of where that voice came from but it felt far away… They said to bring her, though, and that seemed the best idea. My brain seemed to start working again. I found some boards that had been clumsily gathered to board up a window and abandoned. Working carefully, I got the lumber under Delicate, even grabbing some discarded police tape to lash her to it. Winding the tape up to the top of the board I bit down as hard as I could and I dragged her.

~'Keep coming, you are doing well'~

The encouragement blinded me to how far and how fast I was moving. Every step sent a jolt of pain through my mouth. “She told us to wait here… there they are!” A male voice, ahead of me, sliced past the fog of pain and I fell down.

Blacking out, I managed to beg them, “save my Delicate...”

Darkness flowed over me.

Waking, slowly, head full of confusion as to where I was I looked around and discovered I was in what looked like a hospital room, curled up on the floor. Only one thing fit in my head right then. “Delicate?” My voice shook, I got up to wobbling legs and managed to get to the door. “DELICATE?”

“Miss!” A pony in a modified version of a nurse uniform replied, trotting over and curling a wing over my shoulder. She gripped remarkably tight considering the limb used but it was welcome. “Your friend is recovering from surgery, she had a hard knock on her head.”

“She is okay?” words tumbled from my mouth, “please, can I see her?”

The mare gave a nod and started moving. I guess I realised then how bad my own balance was as she seemed to guide me effortlessly around a few corners and into a room with a group of beds. I saw her and instantly my legs were strong enough again. The beds were of course set much lower than they used to be but I still reared up and looked down on her. My sweet Delicate Miracle, head wrapped in bandages, a hoof too, lay still but breathing.

“Del… please be okay...” my eyes closed and I felt the nurse push my back end up onto the bed too. Once more with my marefriend, sleep took me.

A hoof rubbed my mane back, a yellow-furred hoof. “I can't remember your name, but I know you are my mare.” Her words shocked me, she couldn't remember my name but….

My worry must have shown because the hoof's friend reached around me and I was pulled into a tight hug. My own limbs returned the gesture, my tears flowed down to mark her fur with little clear rivulets. “You are Delicate. Delicate Miracle. I am… you named me Grace.” I told her, “do you remember anything?”

I could feel her head shake. “They told me you dragged me here, your mouth looks sore...” Her cure for that, was perfect.

Her lips met mine, I was blind from the tears but sight wasn't needed, only love. Pressing back, I felt her hooves get a little more interested, her touches lighting a fire in me that I feared I might not have again.

“No, I don't care how relieved you two are no horsing around!” A nurse's bellow as she clopped into the room cut off our exploration and my tears cleared, a giggle coming from each of us. “Now, your friend has had a serious head trauma, she may not have any side eff-”

I cut her off, “she cannot remember what happened, couldn't remember her name… her pony name.”

The nurse seemed deflated, a slight nod from Del reinforcing my words. “Not the best of signs but, she is awake. That IS a good sign. Pony heads seem a bit harder than human ones, thankfully. I will tell the doctor you are awake, he is busy as you could guess. And then She will want to talk to you.”

Her emphasis on the pronoun had me tilting my head. “Was she the one who called me?” I asked.

“She will undoubtedly tell you why she called you.” The nurse turned, heading back out to the ward.

My interest in this was broken by another nuzzle. “Grace, I… I hope I don't forget that next time but if I do,” Del nuzzled me again to make sure she had my attention, “remind me, like you are about to. I want to know everything, everything you did, everything I did.”

I held back my urges to do more than nuzzle back. “Well, the first time we met, you were human. A cute guy,” I paused while she took that in, “you tried to run away from me, but I was faster than you.”

Recounting our time together didn't take long, but the time was extended by repeated nuzzles and the occasional nuzzle.

“So… I can use this thing?” she asked, eyes crossing as she looked up to her horn.

“No,” a male voice says from the doorway, “not until you have had a day to rest at the least. Magic stresses the mind and your mind is stressed enough.”

I half-rolled so that I was spooned against Del's belly. The unicorn stallion, wearing a coat over his back, looked very competent and I felt a slight twinge of possibility, but my mate's hooves around me reminded my traitorous body of what it really wanted.

“No sex either, for either of you in fact. Your mouth is still recovering, although it seems to have bounced back quickly I don't wish you to… stress it.” Despite being a doctor, having that air of 'everything is clinical', I saw a blush.

“Yes doctor!” I said, like a school kid to their teacher. It got a giggle from Del and a chuckle from the doctor.

“Your friend loves you a lot miss.” He tells Del, stepping in, his horn lighting up. Del eeped a little but didn't squirm, clearly being inspected by the doctor. “Well, it seems to be healing, the nurse said you have some memory issues?”

As always with doctors, it was half question half accusation. “Yeah, Grace was filling me in. I used to be a guy, how does that work?”

I managed to witness the marvel of a unicorn shrugging. “Hell if I know, this is all arse about, I thought it was a virus at first, but while it seems to carry on body fluid contact, I haven't managed to narrow down how. At least I can keep practising. As for you, bed rest for a few days, I will check on you then to see how it is going. Hopefully that memory will come better.”

His horn lit then, a pad floating from the pocket of his shirt, a pen too.

I grinned, knowing the plan. “You can write things down, Del.” I got a squeeze for this, a nuzzle and a soft whisper in my ear.

“I don't need to write things down, not with you beside me.” The softest of words, they filled me with strength and courage. If she trusted me this much, how could I possibly fail?

“The nurse call button is up there. Just nose it if you need help with something. We are a little short-staffed right now, but as more recover we are getting better help. She is making sure we can keep our heads a bit more clear too.” The doctor gestured to the button to show it and gave us one more nod and left.

“Well,” Del began, “they sure seem to have a queen somewhere. Can't say she sounds bad, but I worry when one person has power.” The observation matched mine. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Hopefully it was only a little corruption.

We lay still, I let her keep me tucked against her belly like a big teddy bear, getting the occasional nibble on an ear. Her belly rumbled first, then mine just after. We both giggled at this and I was just moving to nose at the nurse button when a trolley rolled in, two bowls of porridge on it that smelled divine. The mare that followed them in, classically speaking, was the opposite.

Black, from her nose to her rump, her mane was like a stormy night, boiling masses of grey and dark hair that trailed from her neck and head as well as her tail. Folded at her sides were a pair of bat-like wings and, as if she needed it to be imposing, a horn.

“How are you feeling… Grace was it?” Her voice was strong, rather than deep. Still very feminine, but giving a sense that the owner was an order of magnitude larger than she seemed.

But I recognised it. The one that had saved my Del. That had guided me, given me the direction I needed.

The tears came easily, again. “Thank you!” I said, breaking down as a sense of weight lifted away, as if her presence gave command. Looking up at her through my tears I saw consternation and… love?

“I felt your friend's pain, when she was hurt. I could feel her love for you, and your's for her. I had to do something. I am deeply sorry if I… made you do something.” She seemed worried.

“You told Grace how to help me, I don't think she will be mad.” Delicate's words echoed my thoughts and it came to me. She isn't a goddess, a queen, or anything like that. She is just a pony.

Giving Del a nuzzle I got up and on still-shaky legs passed the cart. The mare was big, physically big. I leaned up and gave her a nuzzle against that neck. She tensed a moment and relaxed, nuzzling back. “Thank you, I could never, ever take hurt at what you did. I couldn't think, you told me how to save the love of my life.”

The mare relaxed more. The two bowls floated from the tray over to the bed and she, with me at her side, followed them.

“I can command ponies, I can make them… do things.” Her head rested on the bed as I climbed back up. “I didn't want this, I can… I can even remember what I was like before. I worked in an office, I wrote programs, I lived on my own… I had a boyfriend who, I can't even feel him.”

Looking to Delicate for a brief moment, we moved together. She was too big to hug on our own, but the two of us could get a hoof around each other and her. Too big to pull up onto the bed, we had to be content with just holding her, letting her know how much we appreciated her.

Tears flowed from all three of us. For friends, for family, for people we barely knew who didn't deserve what happened to them, lost, alone.

I am not sure how it really ended up happening, but with all the craziness, sleep reached out and grabbed us.

My dream was odd. I saw a dark mare who I thought was Her, but even as I blinked in my dream I realised I was still snuggled with a big black wing over me. It was someone else. Someone who seemed to smile for a brief moment before she was gone.

–

Luna kept flicking through as many dreams as she could, pushing herself to try and help those people… ponies now mostly. Some she could help. Offering comforting dreams to pacify the odd presences that encourage their more aggressive behaviour and, where she could connect to a stronger influence, a few words of support.

Author's Note

David had a poke at me for typos, but I found a typo in his poke and so, find myself likely infected with them too. Maybe I will grow hoovez?

New ponies (some very new) introduced, some action, but nothing affection and a good editor cannot help.