Friendships are Magic: Season 1

Walking down the street, I could hear the music echoing in my head. It was the truth about us. More than once, we try to do more than we can, and then we fail. Others do the same. And they blame those around them when they fail, forgetting that those humans around them are just as flawed as them. But then again, that's humanity in most scenarios. We blame what we can't achieve on something else.

Then again, some are so different and bring about the best out of us. Friends, family, or good people you can meet on the street. Sometimes, we forget that there are both good and bad, because we see so much negativity all the time, that we forget about the positives. No matter how much of an optimist you are, there will be a moment when you have a bad day. And those are the moments we can lose ourselves in negativity.

But I learned a trick about this. It relies on learning one tiny detail, we are only human. There is only so much we can do by ourselves. And with that in mind, every bit of good we can afford to do helps things get better. Even if it is by a minuscule amount, the fact you tried to make a good thing, the world is now a better place than it was before. Therefore, a good message to carry around whenever you're feeling down is that you're only human. You also need help.

And to look for help, you need to speak. So, you need to be open to the idea of asking for help when push comes to shove. And it just so happens that my specialty happens to be hearing others so that I can treat them, or point them to someone who can. The hardest part of this is remembering that there is only so much I can do. since I'm only human after all. Guess what? That's fine.

Not really. Far from it.

I don't want everything to be just fine. I want to bring about the best possible outcome. But I can't do that alone. And I can't do that with all we have available as of now. Whether I like it or not, not every treatment is accessible to everyone. Not every disease and infliction has an explained pattern or known pathological mechanism. So, there is only so much we can do about it. I don't want to create perfection. But I want to make sure my patients won't have to suffer. I know not everything can be cured, but suffering is something that can be eased.

So, I kept walking down the lane with the music in my ears. My shoulder bag with a handful of basic tools every physician uses or should use, to evaluate their patients. However, little did I know that there was something about to happen. Something that was about to throw everything I knew out the window.

It started with the sound of someone crying. I had noise-canceling phones on, therefore, there shouldn't be any sounds reaching me. So, if there was a cry reaching me, they had to be screeching. However, no one seemed to notice it. I knew the townspeople around Equestria High weren't the brightest, but that was ridiculous. I mean, there are some questionable decisions here and there around town. But that didn't matter at the time, a child was crying somewhere nearby.

Grabbing my phone, I dialed in the nine-one-one while following the sound of the cries. They led me to an alleyway where I hit the call button while hesitantly entering it. The phone made the dialing sound before notifying me that the call got through. However, the call wouldn't connect properly. All I could hear was static mixed with a woman's voice through the speaker. The voice was nearly drowned in the static, but I managed to discern the words "calm" and "ok."

The alley seemed to turn darker as I proceeded through. I kept trying to dial the police number, but the first call got stuck there. I couldn't finish it. I eventually got to the source of the screaming and crying. But, there was nothing there. The sound continued to echo across the alley, but there was nothing there. I held my phone in front of my face to see if there was any change in the call. But all I could see was static, and all the buttons on-screen were unavailable.

Confused, I turned around and tried to trace back my steps, however, the moment I turned around, I saw a flood of thorned vines lunging at me. After that, I blacked out.

(Celestia's POV)

This is certainly strange. Concluded Celestia while watching the little unicorn rest on the ground by another creature that was covered in rags but their face was hidden underneath a bloodied cloth.

The day was far from perfect, and the number of things Celestia now had to fix and investigate had increased tenfold when she arrived at a classroom where a filly was tasked with an aging spell. Something Celestia's tutor struggled in his earliest years as a fully-fledged wizard, at the age of thirty. The filly that was forced to take that test was no more than five. How could the teachers believe it was a valid assessment of the young filly's abilities to put her through that? Neighsay was many things, but he followed the rules down to the letter. Therefore, something else was happening in that classroom before Celestia arrived.

At the very least, the filly was ok. She had already celebrated and everything after realizing she had been accepted and received her Cutiemark. But, it wasn't until she collapsed due to exhaustion that things had gotten strange. When the filly collapsed, another magic burst occurred, as several thorns shot out from nearby plants and formed a cocoon of sorts. The thorns burst into flame before revealing the ragged pony-looking creature with the bloodied face-cover. The teachers were horrified at the scene, but the filly kept her hand extended while holding on to the grayish-blue coat of the stranger.

After undoing most of the damage caused by the magic burst, Celestia had the little ones removed from the classroom as she needed to have them checked for any type of damage beyond surface-level wounds.

Later that day, Celestia received news that the raggedy pony had to be isolated from the rest of the ponies.