Lyra eventually made her way through the front doors of Ponyville General, a rather timid Terra curled up on her back. The reception area was entirely barren, barring a tired looking Nurse Sweetheart at her usual place behind the front desk. She perked up when she saw Lyra enter.

“Oh! Welcome, Lyra. What brings you— Terra!” she exclaimed, before immediately excusing herself from the room to find Nurse Redheart.

Lyra felt some movement from Terra, and looked to see her attempting to hide her face in Lyra’s mane while only partially succeeding. Lyra couldn’t help but see a bit of Fluttershy in the filly. “Terra is way cuter though,” she thought with a grin.

Very shortly after, a blur of white burst through one of the side doors at Pinkie Speed, before resolving into the shape of Nurse Redheart. She looked rather ragged though, with a bedraggled mane and tail and eyebags visible on her face.

“Terra!” was shouted again, this time by Redheart. The nurse had to take a moment to catch her breath before saying anything else. “Where have you been?! You can’t just run off like that! And with your injury too…”

Lyra could feel the filly gripping tighter onto her back while staying completely silent. She couldn’t help but empathize.

“I found her out near town square,” Lyra replied in Terra’s stead. “As far as I could tell, she’d been hiding out somewhere in town, and only came out for food and water right before I found her.”

While Lyra was talking, Redheart had taken to inspecting Terra’s bandages, before sighing in relief at the lack of damage to them. Something odd caught her eye though…

“Well, I’m just glad she’s safe,” Redheart said, exasperated relief apparent in her tone. “It’s not every day that a twenty two year old foal deliberately runs away from the hospital. But she’s back now! Right, Terra?”

It was only then that the filly finally peeked her head up and made eye contact with Redheart, only to quickly avert her gaze and give a shallow nod. “And um…” she squeaked, her shaking voice barely audible, “I’m… I’m sorry for running off…”

Terra looked to be on the verge of tears, causing Redheart’s demeanor to quickly soften with remorse. “Oh, you’re alright,” the nurse said in a comforting voice, moving over to Terra again and placing a hoof on her back. “Just don’t do it again, okay? You’ll be a lot safer here in the hospital than out on the streets.”

Terra’s only response was a barely perceptible, “Okay,” her gaze still tracing the ground.

Redheart smiled, patting Terra’s head a bit, before taking a moment to get Sweetheart’s attention. “Would you mind taking Terra back to her room, Nurse Sweetheart?”

After a careful exchange, Sweetheart made her way through a side door leading further into the hospital, a blushing Terra now lying on the nurse's back. Lyra’s heart ached watching the filly glance back at her as she disappeared through the door.

Redheart then motioned for Lyra to follow her to the waiting room area, where they both took a seat in two of the many empty chairs. As soon as they were there, Redheart’s facade dropped, her expression somehow filling with even more exhaustion.

“I can’t thank you enough for this,” Redheart said wearily. “I thought she’d be found quickly once Mayor Mare was alerted, but… how long has it been? 16 hours almost?” She said, glancing at a nearby clock with a sigh. “How did you do it, even? How did you convince her to come back?”

“Oh, just some music and a chat between friends,” Lyra said with a grin. “I just had to remind her that us ponies have to stick together.” She paused for a moment, her grin widening. “The food probably helped, though.”

Lyra’s quip did not have the intended reaction, as Redheart’s eyes quickly widened with shock. “Oh, she was out there for so long, she’s probably starving! That poor foal…” she said, her face overtaken by sorrow.

The unicorn recoiled, her smile quickly dropping. “Oh, yeah, I probably should’ve gotten her more than just a pretzel…” she said with a tinge of regret. “She was pretty tense as is though, almost didn’t eat at all.” Lyra sighed suddenly. “What’s her story, anyway? Mayor Mare didn’t tell us much, just her basic description and that she ran away from the hospital. It seemed a bit too odd of a response to just be ordinary circumstances.”

“It’s not a happy one, I’m afraid,” Redheart admitted, her face darkening slightly. “Just promise me not to gossip about this, alright? The poor foal’s been through enough as is…”

Once Lyra had firmly promised, Redheart briefly went over Terra’s story, touching on her being found in the woods alone, and her lack of any living family or place to live. Lyra’s heart ached more and more the longer she went on. “How could such a young filly handle that kind of loss?” Lyra thought. “It’s no wonder she was so detached…”

Redheart continued, “I’ve already sent a letter to the Ministry about finding her a new home, but there’s no response yet. Although considering that telling her about it is what I suspect made her want to run away, I’m a bit wary about who they’ll decide she’ll be rehomed with…”

Lyra nodded solemnly in agreement. “I just hope whoever she ends up with is able to get through to her, you know? She strikes me as a filly who fiercely protects her heart, like she’s been hurt in the past and refuses to let it happen again. A tough egg to crack for sure…”

Redheart froze for a moment. “Say, Lyra…”

After a short journey through the bland hallways of the hospital, I was carefully deposited on my old bed by the nurse carrying me. She then swiftly left the room, mumbling something about taking too many shifts, and leaving me alone in the sparse, sterile space.

As soon as she left, I buried my face in the pillows and let out a frustrated groan. “Stupid stupid stupid! Why’d I have to go and run away?! What was I thinking?! Why did I make such an awful choice…”

I did it because I thought living in the streets meant I’d keep my freedom, right? Right?

…No, that doesn’t make any sense! I could barely do anything out there… how did I not realize that until just now? It was like… like I couldn’t control myself. I heard something I didn’t want to hear, and my emotions took over.

I just… I was scared. I’m still scared. I couldn’t stand to see my life turn back into my childhood.

The bandages itched, my hooves ached, but what was hurt the most was my pride. Running away didn’t solve anything… it just made me feel smaller.

…

I felt like crying, but I didn’t want to cry. My chest tightened and the lump in my throat refused to go away. My sadness, my anger, my guilt… it’s all just too much. Something clearly isn’t right.

This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed my emotions being off. Is this… did my emotions go all crazy because I got turned into a child? Into a girl?

I let out another groan, quieter this time. It was like every aspect I learned about my new life here did nothing but further exacerbate my embarrassment and discomfort.

I turned my gaze to the window, before briefly sighing. Despite everything, I wanted to hold on to the desperate hope that things would turn out okay. I learned how to control my emotions before, right? I can learn how to do it again.

At the very least, I was thankful for Lyra for snapping me out of the stubborn decision I had made, and for carrying me back to the hospital. I felt bad about Redheart, though. She had very clearly exhausted herself, likely in her attempt to help search for me. “Seriously, why did I think that was a good idea?!”

I let out a deep sigh, unable to stop the guilt from gnawing at my heart.

This entire day was becoming too much for me. Everything was too new, too unexpected, too… absurd. How was this my life now?

It was like… every familiar thing was just unfamiliar enough that I couldn’t help but linger on the things that were off. I recognized the food, but the taste was different. I could speak and read the words, but some things were inexplicably ponified. I kept my dexterity, but didn’t keep my hands.

Even still, I didn’t want to keep focusing on everything bad, on everything wrong. Like… the people are different, but there’s more kindness here. The food may have tasted different, but it did taste better. And… I might’ve been turned into a kid, but that meant I could just… be a kid again, right? No judgment?

…

I still couldn’t quite resolve my feelings on it all, and my anxiety was starting to get unbearable. I needed a distraction.

I eventually noticed that the book I had left on the nightstand the night before was still there, much to my relief. “Maybe reading can help take my mind off of things…” I thought with a yawn.

“What?!”

“Wait, but…” Redheart began, confused by Lyra’s outburst. “I thought you and Bon Bon wanted foals?”

“Well, sure! But we weren’t thinking so soon!” Lyra exclaimed, then took a moment to breathe. “Sorry, this is just a lot to take in…” She trailed off, her head shaking slightly. “Let’s just step back a bit. Would you even be able to make this happen?”

“I mean, I would hope so,” Redheart replied thoughtfully, holding a hoof to her chin. “The Ministry ponies I’ve met have been kind enough to listen to what I’ve had to say in the past, so it shouldn’t be much of an issue. I might have to let them know pretty soon, though…”

Lyra let out a thoughtful exhale. “Well, I’ll have to discuss it with Bon Bon first, but… maybe…”

Her words trailed off as the weight of the idea finally settled in. “A foal? So soon? Is this really something we’re ready for?” Lyra’s eyes wandered the room, trying to process what the nurse was really asking. “To take her in, to be responsible for her well being and her safety… are we ready for that?

Lyra still couldn’t quite process it. “When do you think you’ll need to know by?”

…Tap.

Tap, tap.

“...Huh?”

I groggily awoke to find myself lying on my back on top of the covers, with an open book having slipped halfway off my chest. “Did I fall asleep…?”

Thunk.

“Wha? Where is that coming from?”

I looked around blearily, my brain still fuzzy from passing out, but I was unable to find anything out of the ordinary.

I took a second to set the book back on the nightstand and shake the sleep from my body. “I guess I was more tired than I thought—”

CRASH!

All of a sudden, the window fell open in a burst of chaos as a fuzzy looking ball of pink tumbled into the room, before slowly resolving itself into a pony shape. I looked on in utter bafflement, and responded with the only reasonable reaction for such a scenario:

“WHAT?! WHO THE FU—”

“Fun?” The pink pony interrupted, seeming to suddenly notice my existence, “I’m the fun, silly Terra!”

I grew even more baffled, somehow. “W-wha? You know me?” “Why does everyone I meet know who I am?!”

“Yeah!” she said, before taking a comically large breath and continuing, “I felt a leg twitch ear wiggle twitchy tail and knew there was a new pony in Ponyville but I searched around and couldn’t find them anywhere and then the Mayor held a meeting about a foal who went missing and that foal was you and I looked around more and still couldn’t find you but then the search was called off so I knew you must’ve been back in the hospital so I checked through all the windows ‘til I found yours and now here we are!”

The pony then somehow wound up like a spring, leaped from her position by the window directly in front of me on the bed, then held out a hoof. “I’m Pinkie Pie!”

I blinked. Then blinked again. The hamster in my brain stopped turning, and decided to go on a lunch break.

…

“Um, can you talk?”

I took a moment to forcefully restart my brain. “…Y-yes, I can speak.”

“Oh, good! I was worried I’d have to start using baby talk or something! Anyways—“ she said, grabbing at my uninjured hoof and shaking it a bit, “Welcome to Ponyville! I’d have brought you something but I don’t know aaanything about you except that you were lost and injured and helpless—“

“Okay! I get it!” I interrupted with a stab of anger. “You don’t have to rub it in…”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie said with an oblivious grin, before suddenly gasping. “Oh, I almost forgot!”

She then sat down and dug around in her mane for a moment, her hoof emerging to reveal she somehow kept a notepad and pencil in that giant pink curly mess. “What’s your favorite color, favorite cake flavor, favorite music…” Pinkie rattled off with somehow limitless cheer. “What is even happening right now? How does she have this much energy??”

“...favorite ice cream flavor, favorite flavor, favorite cheese, favorite—”

“Pinkie Pie!” The door had slammed open to reveal a nurse I had never seen before.

Pinkie quickly turned to face the door. “Uh oh.”

“Oh, and one more thing,” Redheart said as she and Lyra began wrapping up their conversation. “On Terra’s bandage, there was this… sticker, that looked like…” her eyes glanced around a moment before she leaned in and lowered her voice, “Discord. Any idea where it came from?”

“...Huh? Oh, that wasn’t you guys?” Lyra replied, tilting her head slightly.

“No, it wasn’t…” Redheart replied slowly, holding a hoof to her chin. “That’s quite puzzling… Well, thank you for all the help anyway, Lyra. And of course thank you so much again for finding Terra!” she said, grabbing one of Lyra’s hooves and shaking it almost manically.

“Oh, of course!” Lyra replied with eyebrows wide. “Just be sure to take good care of her while she’s here, yeah? And take care of yourself, too! You look like you didn’t sleep at all last night.”

“I haven’t,” Redheart said in a low growl, then blinked and cleared her throat. “B-but, um… you have my word, Lyra, Terra will get the best care we can offer while she’s here,” The nurse replied as they both left their seats in the waiting room. “Let me know your and Bon Bon’s decision as soon as you can.”

“Yeah! I’ll uh… yeah…”

As Lyra walked toward the hospital doors, her mind buzzed with all the things Redheart had told her during her visit. Terra’s story, her struggles… it all made sense now, but it didn’t make the choice any easier. Could she and Bon Bon really take on that responsibility?

Lyra glanced behind her, her eyes held on the door she watched Terra disappear through. The idea of leaving a filly that vulnerable to face a system that didn’t know the full story… didn’t quite sit right with her.

“Bon Bon, we’re going to have a serious talk tonight…”

Author's Note

New chapter yay! Don't have much to say about this one, hope u enjoyed tho :3

Special thanks to my editors Lilyheart, Rainy Skies, and Sparkly Sparks!