The shooting star
Names Scootaloo. I decided to write this for prosperity's sake. This is the story of Equestria's first superhero. Not me of course, no, I wish. Me I work at a repair shop. You see I fix motorized carriages. They didn't use to be very common when I was growing up but they're everywhere nowadays. Ponyville's a much bigger place now too. I've heard rumors they might be considering changing the name on account of the town growing so much in the last 30 years, but I guess that happens when you have a big shiny castle on main street.
So my day started like any other really. Covered in engine grease and shouting across the garage at SilverGears.
"Hey, Gears tell FilthyRich his carriage is gonna have to wait another couple days, turns out I need to replace the D valve and were' all out of parts," I yell as I roll out from under Filthy's gaudy golden carriage. Pretty sure the old fart is over compensating, trying to relive the glory days, but I don't say anything, nopony does.
"Why didn't you tell me we ran out of D valves," Gears calls back. I walk over to him wiping oil from my forehead. Gears is a gray stallion with white hair and a set of gears for a cutie mark. He wears this greasy wifebeater all the time. He says the grease stains are hard to get out of his coat. I thought I was supposed to be the girl here.
"Don't pin the blame on me, I told you we were almost out last week but did you listen nooo," I brush past him with a bit of a sassy strut I know gets him all hot and bothered, "You'd rather ditch work early to go run off with your colt friend again." I go grab my bag from a locker in the back and he follows like the whiny twit he is.
"Aw, common Scoots I ain't a colt cuddler."
"Keep telling yourself that bud" I reply dryly as a I clock out for the day. Truth be told I only got this job originally because SilverGears wanted to jump my bones and I still like to buck with him for it. I think he knows at this point that it's never going to happen but that doesn't mean he can't still be an annoying whiny little bugger. So I clock out, say goodnight to ToolHandy, Gears's dad and my boss, and head out on my scooter.
It's only noon but I work half days on Saturday. Saturday is CMC day. So I pull my blue denim vest out of my bag and slip it on right there on the street corner. I figure it's no big deal, but I've got my face pierced in like a dozen places and the denim catches on my nose.
So I spend a few minutes trying to free my face from the clingy fabric without ripping my piercing out and I get a lot of awkward stares I'm sure. Once I finally get my vest on I can tell the material is frayed on the inside and I can feel the fuzzy bit of damaged denim tickling my chest fur. I try to just ignore it and move on with my day. So I look up at the clock on the street corner and realize I wasted a whole 15 mins and I rush over to town square on my scooter. I remember back when Ponyville was a lot smaller. A lot of the building are bigger and newer now, but the buildings around town square are still familiar. As I pass by strangers and urban buildings I start to slow down as it transitions into the quaint old village homes I grew up around.
I get to the town square and CherryBomb is waiting with AppleShine, AppleSeed, and Crayons. Cherry's SweetieBelle's niece, so is AppleShine for that matter. Actually, they're AppleBloom's nieces too and Appleseed's her nephew. The old fountain was updated with a big decorative statue of Twilight and they look so small next to it.
So Cherry's a white unicorn with a drop dead gorgeous face like her mother. She's got these hot green eyes and her hair looks like it's on fire half the time. She's got it tied up today so I suspect she must be working on a project back home.
"There ya are sugar', we've been waitin' for ya," Cherry says with that southern bell voice of hers. She seemed to have picked up a bit of the apple family accent but somehow manages to make it sound classy.
"Scoots! Scoots! Scoots!" comes a happy cheer and I find myself overrun with a little, purple, rainbow haired filly. I hate to pick favorites out of the kids in my care but Crayons has to be it. See as a CMC troupe leader it's my job to help little fillies and colts find their cutie marks and expand their horizons. I'm actually pretty sure at this point I know what her special talent is but I think her mother is holding her back. I hate to say that about RD, she's like a big sister to me, but she can be a bit... pushy. See Crayons is the daughter of two Wonderbolts so her mom puts a lot of expectations on her but honestly, she doesn't really seem to be interested in any of it. Truthfully she's a painter at heart.
"There's my little hummingbird," I tease as I scoop up the bouncing filly in my foreleg and ruffle her pigtails with my hoof. She giggles at me in that disgustingly cute way she does and her best friend/personal shadow, AppleShine hops up in hopes of getting in on the action.
"What're we doing today Scootaloo?" She asks looking up at me wide-eyed. I look about the square for a moment.
"I'll tell you once everypony is here," I start to worry a bit. See DiamondTiara usually does a good job of getting her little ones to the CMC meetings on time, but they weren't there.
"Cherry have you seen..." But before I can finish a couple of foals jump on my back and nearly knock me over.
"Gotcha!"
I crane my neck around to see the two sitting on my back. Bugalloo, an orange unicorn colt with pink and turquoise hair and his sibling Beetle. I say, sibling, because I still don't actually know if Beetle is a boy or a girl. See he/she had round, adorable, and androgynous face. It doesn't help that Beetle never talks, I don't think I've ever heard him/her say a word. Beetle just seems to follow his/her big brother around all the time without saying a word.
"Alright, you two, everypony line up." Sure enough, the foals all line up in a row for me to count heads. I think I'm pretty good with kids personally. I've had a good deal of practice looking after little hoards of foals every weekend for the last 20 years. Of course, I don't have any foals of my own. I think it be kinda cool to have one someday, but for now, I have my troupe and they make me happy. I count the heads, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and... I'm missing one.
"Where's Eli?"
"Right here baby!" I hear a familiar voice behind me and turn around to see a dark gray colt with green hair. One of his moms is standing on the corner shaking her head as he runs up to me. He was adopted by the lesbian couple that used to live next door to my foster home. Lyra and BonBon it seems took a while to adopt a foal but when they did they got this little guy. ElectricViolin.
"You're late Eli," I scold.
"Aw, I'm sorry doll didja you miss me?" He flirts as he leans up against my foreleg with a sly grin. Let me tell you this colt is a real piece of work. Sometimes I think he wants to jump me more that Gears but somehow I doubt he even understands what that is yet. It does make me grin a little bit though, he's a little rebel who doesn't even know what he's rebelling against yet. Ironically he's probably the manliest stallion I know despite being a mere 8 years old. I pull my leg away from him and reject him yet again.
"It's cool babe," He replies as he sweeps a hoof through his hair casually. "One of these days you'll come around."
I can see Lyra giving me an exasperated shrug before waving goodbye and heading off.
"I gotta get back home now sugar, have fun," Cherry tells her little sister AppleShine before trotting off. So here I am with my troupe in the middle of town square. Crayons the artist and her BFF AppleShine, Bugaloo and Beetle the odd duo, AppleSeed the boy who's constantly hanging out with girls, and Eli the little ladies man and resident pain in my flank.
"Alright, now that everypony's here who's up for a trip to the Castle of the two sisters." I chime. AppleShine lets out and excited cheer while the others all groan.
"A museum! lame!" Bugaloo whines.
"Yeah babe why can't we do something fun," Eli complains.
"This'll be fun and educational." I try to assure them. I know I would have been just as bored at a museum when I was that age but Sweetie and AppleBloom are spending the next week in Ponyville and their train arrives this afternoon so I want to keep today's activities pretty chill to save my energy.
"Yeah com'on guys this'll be super fun. The castle of the two sisters is a relic of a bygone era, it's a beautiful piece of history." AppleShine chatters excitedly. Shinny's a bit of an egghead but I'm grateful for it.
"Come'on my little ponies lets get going." Eli and Bugaloo let out another groan and I notice AppleSeed's exasperated eye roll.
The castle of the two sisters in nestled smack in the middle of the everfree forest. When I was a filly all the adults would tell us to steer clear, these days though that's not necessarily the case. The everfree's still there but now they have park rangers and special hiking trails protected by magic barriers, and there's a tour carriage that takes ponies up to the castle. We vote on whether or not to take the carriage and end up deciding to hoof it along the scenic route. I walk with my scooter by my side. Halfway through the walk, I let Crayons use it.
I have to keep a close eye on Beetle and Bugaloo to make sure they don't wander off while Eli continues to try and hit on me. Crayons and AppleShine are up ahead and Shinny is chattering excitedly about the castle and its history. AppleSeed is walking along side me, almost as if he's trying to protect me from Eli's unwanted advances. I think it's sweet of him to care, he's such a little gentlecolt. At some point along the way, he speaks up in an attempt to trample over Eli's small talk.
"Hey Scootaloo, did you hear about that guy in the papers."
"What guy," I ask.
"You know, the superhero."
I shake my head, "He's not a superhero AppleSeed, super hero's don't exist."
"But he flies around and does magic and he's super strong." AppleSeed insists.
"Yeah but that..." I start to rebuttal.
"He wears a cape and a mask," AppleSeed replies before I could finish.
I think about my response for a bit while he looks at me expectantly. "Look he's not a superhero, he's a... a vigilante."
"What's a vigilante?" Eli asks.
"A vigilante is somepony who takes the law into their own hooves," AppleShine chimes in. I wasn't aware she was paying attention to the conversation but apparently she can't resist an opportunity to show off her big brain.
"So he is a superhero!" AppleSeed insists.
"He's a vigilante," AppleShine corrects.
"That's the same thing!" AppleSeed protests and I start to see where this is headed as it begins to devolve into a tiresome game of "ya-hu", "nu-uh"
"Alright, you two that's enough, besides we're here." I can see the castle up ahead. It's been refurbished over the years and restored to its former beauty. A tour guide offers to show us around when we get up to the front entrance and I tell them it's cool. I lock my scooter up on the bike rack before we head in.
So we spend the afternoon in the castle, and AppleShine goes on and on about every piece of art, architecture, and tapestry. She talks about their historical value and the techniques they used to make them. The boys on the other hoof have a blast playing with all the secret passages and trap doors which the museum staff have marked clearly and safety checked for that very purpose. I join in on the fun and let AppleShine drag Crayons around giving a better tour than the tour guides. One of the tour guides tells me the museum will be closing up for the night soon and we all head back to the town square. The museum closes at 5pm for safety reasons since the everfree is safer during the day.
On the way to the square, the kids all bounce around chattering excitedly, except for AppleSeed who walks calmly beside me and Beetle who just sort of wanders around with his/her usual vacant expression. I wonder what goes on in that kid's head but I stop thinking about it when I see a crowd of parents waiting at the square. BonBon is there with Snails, Rarity and BigMac, RD, and who else? Why SweetieBelle and AppleBloom of course.
"Hey, dad guess what we did today!" Bugaloo shouts excitedly as he runs up to Snails who's standing by the fountain. Beetle waddles energetically after his/her big brother and I watch as Snails listens patiently while Bugaloo talks his ear off. Snails never did seem like the brightest bulb but he's sweet and he always seems so patient.
"So I take it you two had fun?" he asks, and Bugaloo shakes his head enthusiastically.
BonBon nabs Eli and pulls him in, to tidy his hair. "Alright fun times over kido," she teases. Eli grumbles and protests as she fusses over him.
"Scootalooo!" Sweetie and AppleBloom call out as they rush up to hug me.
"Girls!" I call back. We all share a big group hug and chatter excitedly, the usual stuff. Then a little voice interrupts us.
"See ya later toots, maybe we can get a private tour next time. Ditch the kiddies." Eli calls out to me as his mother walks off with him. He blows me a kiss and I roll my eyes. AppleBloom and Sweetie just stare at him for a minute before bursting out laughing.
"Oh sweet Celestia, Scoots you didn't tell me you had a coltfriend!" AppleBloom teases.
"Oh yeah, a literal COLT friend." Sweetie laughs, I think she was trying to contribute to the joke, but jokes don't really work when you explain them like that. I laugh along anyway, though.
"Eli's a good kid," I tell them, "He's just a bit too big for his britches."
"Well, it looks like you three have some catching up to do so we'll take the kids home." Rarity chimes in as Bigmac hoists Appleshine onto his back. "Come along darlings HonyCrisp and SweetScent are waiting back at the house."
"Do have to share my room with uncle SweetScent again?" I hear AppleSeed complain as they walk off.
"I thought you liked your uncle?" Rarity guilts him.
"He's cool but he's always burning incense and it smells funny, last time the smell wouldn't go away for a week."
"Oh boo hoo," AppleShine chides her cousin from the top of her dad's head. "I gotta share a room with my big sister and AppleBloom and HoneyCrisp"
"But that's different girls love sleepovers." Their voices trail off as they leave the square and I feel a tight grip on my foreleg. I look down to see Crayons clinging to me.
"Goodbye Scootaloo, I can't wait till next weekend." She buries her face in my foreleg then smiles up at me after rubbing her muzzle in my fur.
"I'll be looking forward to it." I smile back and RD calls her over.
"Come'on kido lets get home."
"Coming mommy." Crayons squeaks as she darts over and she and her mom take off.
So now it's just the three of us. The original CMC. I tell them about this little pub that just opened up next to InkBlue's tattoo parlor. We walk along talking casually and taking in the town. I tell them about the new construction, what shops have changed. Ponyville didn't use to be this urban. It's not like it's Manehatten or anything but it has gotten busier certainly. We pass by InkBlue's tattoo parlor as he's taking a smoke break out on the front step. He waves at me and I wave back, he's PumpkinCake's husband so I see him around a lot. I start to wonder if I should have taken the girls to Sugarcube corner like we usually do but then I think What's wrong with mixing things up every once and a while?
So we get to the pub and sit down with mugs of cider and some hay fries and start bringing each other up to speed. AppleBloom is a life coach and she travels a lot. Her husbands a miracle worker though I swear, I'm sure she'd be a wreck if she didn't have him. She starts ranting on about this guy in Whinneapolis she's been working with. The dude just got outa prison and has been a delinquent for as long as the local cops can remember.
"He's not a bad pony I know he's not but he needs some kind of outlet for his anger ya know." AppleBloom rambles and takes a drink. "So like his cutie mark is like a skull with this blue smoke around it *Hic* and he tells me he doesn't have any idea what it means but I think he does, I think he knows but just doesn't wanna admit it..."
"And what do you think it means?" Sweetie asks as she sips her cider softly.
"Aw buck if I know, I'm working on it, slowly chipping away at this emotional wall he's put up over the years. He had a troubled foalhood ya know an I just wanna help..."
"AppleBloom you're a saint," I tell her. "I don't think I could handle all that."
"Oh yeah, you got it lucky Scoots, Ah miss working with foals they're so much easier."
"Oh Yeah, speakings of breakthroughs I think Crayons is nearly there, but I think she's afraid to embrace it because it's not what her mom wants," I tell her.
"I'm sure she'll get it she just needs, to be honest with herself and her mom." Sweetie adds.
"So Scoots," AppleBloom slurs a bit. "About yer little coltfriend..."
"He's a card AppleBloom, but he's got a good heart I promise." I chuckle at her drunken expression as she gives me the stink eye like she's sizing me up.
"Yeah, yeah that's nice but it does remind me yer still single."
"So?" I ask shuffling my little wings uncomfortably.
"It's just that, Sweetie and I are married, and, yer like 38 and you've yet to have a single relationship that lasted more than a month, like the bucks up with that?"
I shuffle about uncomfortably. "I- I dunno I just haven't found the right guy yet ya know."
"Unless yer inta chicks or something, which is fine if ya are it's just I always figured you wanted kids ya know." AppleBloom rambles on. Rather than pointing out the dozen or so flaws with her current logic and simply shift her focus onto somepony else.
"So Sweetie, you and Buttons planning on having any kids?" See I'm already pretty sure I know the answer but I'm desperate to get away from ApplebBloom's prying. See Sweetie's husband is a video game developer and a bit of an overgrown man-child. Sweetie is a lounge singer at a 5-star hotel in Canterlot and she's always telling me how it's only a matter of time before she gets her big break. From what I hear she's pretty famous in Canterlot though at this point I'm not sure she'll ever get much bigger than that. But if she really is still holding her breath a baby would probably just get in the way.
"Are you kidding me I can't trust Buttons with a baby!" She nearly chokes on a mouthful of cider. "I mean, I love him dearly but he's a bit of a foal himself."
So AppleBloom and I start teasing Sweetie and the whole conversation devolves into drunken snickering and name calling. Eventually, we all hug and say our goodnights. Sweetie opts to walk ApplebBloom back to the farm before heading to the local inn where she'll be staying for the week. I tell her it's probably a good idea and start heading off in the opposite direction. I hop on my scooter and leisurely ride home. The stars are out and shining and the night air feels wonderful. I live in a little cottage just out of town and as I get further from the busy part of town I'm reminded why. The stars all seem to shine brighter away from the lights. I thank Luna for their glow and all the help she's given me and hundreds of other foals over the years. I look back to the road and see my house up ahead. Admittedly it's actually a bit bigger than I probably need but it's old and cheap. I've been fixing it up for a while. So I tuck my scooter in the ratty old shed where I keep my tools and workbench and head up to the front door taking my keys out of my work bag. I fumble with the door a bit as it tends to stick and toss my bag down as soon as I get in. A wave of exhaustion starts to wash over me mixed with the relief that comes with coming home after a long day. My house may be old and creaky. I'm not the neatest pony and I don't have a ton of furniture but it's my house. My house, there's something really relieving about that.
I stretch my wings out and shuffle upstairs to my bedroom and plop on my bed with a sigh. It's soft and comfy and I look out the window at the stars. Celestia may be retired these days but Luna will always be there, watching over us. When I was a filly I was convinced she could see everypony through the eyes of all the twinkling little stars. I don't know if it's true but it's a comforting thought. As I look out the window and let my mind go blank something suddenly surprises me. A shooting star!
I heard Luna can grant wishes with those, maybe this one's mine. I think. I try to come up with something to wish for but then suddenly I notice it getting closer, and closer....
Aw, Buck, it's headed straight for me!
I panic and stumble out of bed, rush downstairs, and out of the house. The star rushes over my roof and crashes a mile or so off. I rush after it. I just have to see it. I thought maybe I'd find like a big fancy space rock or something. Ya know like the kinda thing you'd expect to see fall from the sky. But what I found was so much more than I was expecting.
Oh, Luna what am I supposed to do with this?!
Ok so I get to the spot where the "star" fell and there's a long trail of dirt that's been kicked up. I run over to the end of it and there nestled in the dirt is the last thing I expected to see. A full grown stallion. It takes a second for me to register but he looks just like the guy everypony's been talking about in the papers. The Alicorn Prince. It's dark out so I can't make out much but he does appear to have wings and a horn. He's wearing this blue body suit and has a cape that's been shredded all to Tararus.
So I crawl a little closer to get a better look at him. He has a blond mane and is obviously ripped. I'm still a little drunk right now and really confused so I just reach out a hoof and give him a poke. He doesn't react. The dude's out cold. So the next thing I know I'm dragging this guys heavy butt a mile uphill to my house. It takes forever and he doesn't wake up even a little. Of course I start getting tangled up on his cape so eventually I set him down and rip it off so it can't trip me up anymore. I put the cape around my shoulder and go back to dragging him along by his torso. Of course I can't lift the guy so his butt is probably all rug burned by now. As I finally get up to my house after what felt like an eternity of huffing and puffing, I think to myself, What do I do with this guy? Do I bring him into my house? He's supposed to be a superhero or something, but I heard he's caused a lot of property damage and nopony really knows what his deal is. I don't know a thing about him, what if he turns out to be some kind of crazed lunatic and assaults me as soon as he wakes up?
Eventually I get the idea to put him in the shed and I lock it up tight with a chain and combination lock. After I've locked it up I just stand there for a minute staring at the wooden doors. I silently pray that, if he is some kind of dangerous criminal, that old chain will keep him in. Eventually I give up the ghost and go to bed. I've done all I can think to do for the moment and I'm tired.
So I sleep like a baby all night. No weird dreams or anything, at least nothing weirder than usual. My alarm goes off and I shut it off and think to myself It's Sunday, no work today. Then, I suddenly remember the shooting star from last night. I think maybe it might have just been a dream, but I can't wait to check and I rush out to the shed.
Sure enough there it is, the door is still locked up tight like I left it. A lump starts to form in my belly as I think about what's inside. Slowly and carefully, I open the door and peer inside. There he is. He's still asleep. At least I think. I look for the usual rise and fall of a pony’s chest but I can't see any sign of movement. Oh dear I start to think, Is he dead? Should have brought him to a hospital? What if he died because I didn't think to get him help!? I tiptoe over to him and reach out a hoof to feel for a pulse.
Oh thank Celestia! I let out the breath I was holding as I feel the slight beat of his pulse under my hoof. I'm sitting next to him now, I can see him clearly with the light pouring in through the door. He's huge, like a real big dude. Only now do I realize that his wings and horn are fake. His horn looks like a spiral of metal coils and his wings are made out of these golden blades that appear to have been pretty mangled in the crash. All this connects to a system of gears and metal braces that wrap around every muscle it seems. It's all held together with a metal brace along his spine and a huge clunky gold harness on his chest. The harness had a blue gem in it that's glowing faintly. He's got long blond hair that's all tangled and sweaty at the moment and his face is pretty banged up, or what I can see of it at least. He's got a mask that covers most of his face save for the end of his muzzle.
I start to get curious. Nopony knows who this guy is. Nopony's seen him without the mask. He's still asleep so I figure Just one little peek won't hurt. I start to feel around the edge of the mask looking for a way to get it off. My hoof finds a zipper under his chin but before I can give it a tug another hoof grabs mine and pushes it away. I swear I must have had a partial stroke or something because I just freeze and stare at him.
He opens his stormy grey eyes and gives me this really intense look. I can't really tell what it means and the longer he looks at me, the more I wanna look away, but I just can't. I can't hardly move. I start to wonder if super heroes always look this intense. Like it's the only way anypony's gonna take a grown stallion in a spandex suit with a bed sheet wrapped around his neck seriously. He looks me up and down for a moment before trying to get up on his hooves. I watch his hulking frame as he lifts himself up only for him to let out a loud groan and drop back down to the floor. I snap out of my trance and start to worry again.
"Are you ok!"
"I'm fine!" He growls through grit teeth. For a split second I'm a little taken aback but it dies pretty quickly as I start to realize how ungrateful this guy is.
"What the hay man!" I snap. "I dragged your heavy but a mile uphill last night and gave you a safe place to sleep and that's how you thank me! I could have called the cops you know! I'm friends with a princess, I could have turned you in right then and there."
He stands up again, this time favoring his right leg. He doesn't seem to react much to what I'm saying as he adjusts himself. He ruffles his fake wings for a second and tries to tuck them in as best he can. They don't fit quite right on account of being bent all to tartarus so they just kind of hang there halfway. He turns to face me and towers over me at his full height. I'll admit he's kind of impressive up close. Very close. My chest is hardly an inch away from his and I have to crane my neck up to look at his face. He's staring down at me with that intense look again.
"Move!"
"Uhm excuse me!" I tell him. "You really think you're gonna intimidate me with a busted lip and a bum leg, I don't think so son!" I hold my ground and look him dead in the eye. I'm not going to back down until I get some answers and maybe a thank you. "You're the one who decided to make out with the ground last night and I thought I'd bring you here instead of turning you in cause I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt."
He backs off a little and sits back down. He's still looking at me but it's starting to look less intimidating and more like the kind of pouty look Eli would give me after a harsh scolding. Not sure if his expression actually changed or just my perception of it. Now that I have him where I want him I realize I hadn't really thought of what I'd say to him.
"Who are, I mean what's your, why, how..." I start to pace a bit. I've got at least a thousand questions for him but for the life of me I can't figure out which one takes precedence.
"Yes I'm the guy in the papers." He says. I stop and look at him. He looked a little bit tired like he was getting frustrated watching me pace and babble. "I'm not going to tell you my name but I can tell you this. There are some really bad ponies who want me dead and anypony near me is it at risk of becoming collateral. I won't hurt you but I can't stay here."
"Bad ponies," I repeat softly. "How do I know they're bad ponies. I've never met them. I don't even know you, how do I know I can trust you?"
He just stares at me for a moment. "You can't really."
I stand there for a minute with the gears turning in my head. His leg is obviously hurt, though to what extent I'm not sure. I don't think it's broken but probably sprained. His lower lip is busted and his muzzle is bruised in a few places, there may be more injuries I don't know about. He's not in any shape to go anywhere right now. I could turn him in but if he's telling the truth then it might make things worse, if he's lying...
"Look you're in no shape to go fighting baddies so how about I go into town and get some stuff to patch you up and you just wait here and rest."
He fidgets slightly and looks at the ground. Eventually he looks back up at me and begrudgingly agrees. "Sounds fair."
"Don't think this means I won't still have questions for you when I get back." I tell him as I back up towards the door.
He nods at me as I grab my scooter. I refuse to take my eyes off of him as I leave. I close the door to the shed and decide to lock it back up again, just in case. Can't have him running off until I figure out what's going on.
So I take my scooter down to the drug store. Usually I'd be a bit more personable but I'm in a hurry today and pay little attention to my neighbors. I make my way to the drugstore and park the scooter outside. I pick up some ace bandages and antiseptic. Look for something to reduce swelling, that sort of stuff. As I head up to the counter a familiar voice pops up behind me.
"Scoots what're you doing here?"
I turn around to see Sweetie Belle getting in line behind me at the register. She's holding a small pink box with her magic but I can't see what is says since she has it turned away from me. Here I am carrying a small hospital.
"Oh just ran out of first aid supplies, I like to keep a good stock in case one of the kids gets hurt you know. Foals can be pretty reckless sometimes..."
"Oh believe me I know," Sweetie replies. Something about her tone is a little off and she's not really making direct eye contact anymore. A minute passes of awkward silence before the pony in front of me leaves and I go up to check out. As I grab my back and step aside for her to check out, I speak up again.
"Well I gotta go but I'll see you and AppleBloom later tonight then."
"Yeah of course, looking forward to it." Sweetie replies. She seems a bit nervous still and as I turn to leave I get a quick glimpse of the box she was carrying. Pregnancy tests? I wanted to say something then and there but remembered the strange man in my shed and decided Sweetie would have to wait. Besides if she is pregnant she'll tell me.
So I scooter off back home as quick as I can. I toss my scooter in the grass as realize the shed door is now open. I curse internally as I find the chain lying broken on the ground in front of the door. I then realize that I own a pair of bolt cutters which I had left in the shed. The doors are old and don't quite touch in the middle, he must have squeezed the bolt cutters through the crack to break the chain.
So where is he? I figure he can't have gotten far in his state so I start looking around. I walk around to the back and eventually I spot him. See, my house is on the side of a rather tall hill that drops off abruptly for a good 10 feet or so on the other side. Mr. Prince is up at the top of the hill facing the drop. I watch as he spreads out those busted metal wings and gears up for a takeoff. He gets a running start but his bad leg causes him to clamber about rather clumsily and while I might not know how those wings of his work I do know a bit about aerodynamics. There's no way he's going to get airborne like that. Without much thought, I react on instinct. I run around to the drop-off and get ready to catch him. I could have tried to go up and stop him but I knew rather instinctively that, that wouldn't work. I'm just lucky I timed it right. I jump forward in front of the ledge right as he starts falling like a rock. I flap my little wings as hard as I can and get just enough lift to catch him mid-fall.
I push him off towards the side where we meet with the hill again and both go tumbling down it. His body hits me like a boulder, and as we tumble down the hill’s side I keep getting jabbed by all his metal extremities. Eventually we come to a stop and land a few feet away from each other. Everything hurts. I lay there for a minute regaining my senses before I try to hobble back up to my feet.
"What, was that!" I yell at him. "Bucking donkey brain! You could have killed yourself!"
"I was fine! I'm not gonna die from a ten-foot drop." He argues as he climbs up to his hooves. My face is burning at this point as I try to think of a retort. Of course he's probably right, a 10-foot drop wouldn't necessarily kill him. But he's already hurt and he didn't need to go adding more to his growing list of injuries.
"UHG! just get back in the shed and I'll do what I can to fix you up."
He snorts at me but doesn't protest as I walk him back to the shed. Once inside I grab the bag of supplies I had dropped in the front lawn and close the doors behind me. The shed has enough cracks in it that I can see well enough with what sunlight I have. He plops down on the floor looking rather exhausted. I almost feel bad for him for a second, then I remember my lovely new aches and pains and feel a little less sympathetic. I look him over for a second then realize there's no way I'm going to be able to do much with him all covered up like this.
I start pulling supplies out of my bag. "Ok look bud you're gonna have to take all that stuff off if you want my help."
"I can't do that," He says.
"Well at least show me where it hurts." I insist. I head over to him and sit next to his hooves. "I'll start with your face, how about that?"
"I'm not taking the mask off." He insists.
"Yeah, yeah, Not before I buy you a drink first." I reply as I take out some antiseptic for the cuts on his muzzle. I catch a hint of smile for a moment before I press the cotton swab to his busted lip.
"Ow!"
"Oh quit being such a foal." I tease as I continue cleaning him up. For a while we just sit there together. He stays pretty still as I clean up his face. There's a lot of mud and gunk clogging up the wounds and it makes me glad he's letting me do this or it would be a recipe for infection. "So Mr. Alicorn Prince, what do I call you?" I ask.
"I didn't pick that title other ponies did." He insists. "But you can call me Prince I guess."
"So humble" I tease. He grunts at me but seems to smile a little. He seems to have calmed down and is a bit more comfortable with me. I can only just barely see his eyes through the holes cut out in his mask but it looks like his left eye is swollen and I hand him a cold pack.
"Hold that to your eye." I tell him. He takes the pack and does as instructed, holding it up to his face with his left hoof. It's then that I remember his right leg is hurt, though I still don't know to what extent.
"I'm going to need to get a decent look at your leg" I tell him.
"You can just unbuckle the brace and roll up the sleeve." He tells me.
"Unbuckle how?" I ask as I look at the strange gold brace on his leg. It wraps around his ankle and knee and I feel around for some kind of clasp.
"Right there, there's a little button, you feel it?"
"Yeah I think so." I press down and the first brace clicks open, I do the same with the one around his knee and try to move the mess of metal cords out of the way.
"Ah, be careful, all this stuff connected and you can't just pull on it." He insists. I shoot him a look and he shuts up.
"I know what I'm doing." I insist, even though I'm not a doctor nor do I understand the first thing about his weird mechanical parts.
I roll up his sleeve and find his leg has turned a lovely rainbow of blues, purples, and greens.
"Yikes!" I feel around and poke and prod to try and determine if it's broken. It doesn't seem to be, though it's definitely sprained and very badly. I pull out another couple of magic cold packs and press them to the bruised tissue. He winces a bit but tries to save face. I ask him to hold the packs in place for a second while I unravel the bandages. His horn lights up a bright blue color and he uses what looks like normal unicorn magic to hold the pack in place. The fact that he has working horn is especially weird to me. I've heard of ponies trying to develop prosthetic wings before but the fact that his fake horns works is doubly impressive. I wrap the bandages as tight as I can around his leg to hold the cold packs in place. I would have tied a brace to it but I figure the brace he was wearing before should be plenty so I roll his sleeve back down and click the brace back into place. It's a bit tricky this time as the sleeve and brace are now both very tight as they try to fit around the bandages and cold packs.
"Well that should hold you together for now." I tell him, "How do you feel?"
"Better." He replies. he sets the cold pack he'd been holding against his eye back down and looks up at me as I get up to my hooves. "Thank you." He says.
I stop for a moment and look back at him a little surprised. "You're welcome." I tell him, "You can stay here for tonight if you want," I realize I haven't actually learned much at all about him yet but, somehow, it doesn't seem to bother me right now.
"Look I gotta go, I have some friends visiting from out of town and I'm probably running late as is, so I'm just gonna go." I say awkwardly as I head over to the door. "I'll uh, I'll just leave the door unlocked this time." I tell him. He looks rather comfortable where he is and I get the sneaking suspicion he's not going to run off again this time.
