A Light in the Night

My leathery wings beat as fast as they could. I could barely see – the speed I was flying at was blurring my surroundings. My escape was calculated – right before the sun came up. Time enough to get out while it’s dark, with it being daylight by the time they found out I was gone. My sides were sore from my saddlebags slamming against them over and over. I was going to have to land soon. My wings weren’t very strong on their best days, but this-

“Shit!” I gasped. My wing had gotten caught on a branch. I could barely move it without hissing in pain. I was going down. The ground sped towards me, and-

My mind felt like mud as I woke. My memories of what had just happened were blurry, swimming around in my head before snapping into focus, causing me to shoot up in bed. Wait. Bed? Where am I? I thought, my eyes snapping open and darting around the room. The walls were plain, and I could see from the forest outside the window that I wasn’t back home. No, I corrected myself. That’s not home anymore. I looked down at myself. The wing I hurt was bandaged, as well as several other areas of my body. Patches of my light pink coat were darkened with dried blood. The realization that I must’ve crashed pretty badly passed my mind, but didn’t linger long enough to form into a concrete sentence. I wasn’t any closer to figuring out where I was, or who brought me here.

I heard hoofsteps outside my door, bringing my attention to the sounds I could hear. Animals outside, the hoofsteps, and some kind of clattering further out. Must be more than one other pony.

“Um, are you awake yet?” I heard a soft voice ask, along with the sound of a creaking door. The voice calmed my racing thoughts a bit.

“Yeah…” I choked. My voice was so hoarse I didn’t even recognize it at first. Blegh. A yellow pegasus with a pink mane stepped through the door.

“Are you feeling better? I mean, I don’t know how long you’ve been up, or- um, how are you feeling?” I paused to think. I was still sore as tartarus, and my wing throbbed with pain.

“Still hurts pretty bad, but not as bad as I expected.” I mumbled, before remembering how little I know. “Where am I? Who are you? Where’s my stuff?”

The pegasus’ eyes widened. “Oh! Sorry, I guess you’re not from around here! My… um, my name’s Fluttershy, and this is my cottage, just outside of Ponyville.” She replied, stumbling over her words a bit. “Your saddlebags are over there-” She indicated towards a hook with my saddlebags on it with her head. “I had to take them off so I could bandage you. I’m sorry that I don’t have any thicker curtains, I know batponies’ eyes are sensitive to light. Do you need anything? Food, water?”

I started to shake my head, but suddenly felt how dry my throat was. “Water…” I choked out. It hurt to talk.

“Oh! I’ll get you some water, then!” She squeaked, backing out of the room.

I stretched – as much as I could, at least – in bed, and took mental inventory of my situation. Ponyville. There are worse places to start over. Much worse. I heard Fluttershy coming again, and she set a glass of water on the table beside the bed. “Can you… Um, can you drink by yourself right now?” She asked. I nodded and took the glass in my hooves and gulped it down. “I don’t mean to pry, but… what were you doing out here? Where are you from?”

I froze. “I’m…” I started, not sure how to finish.

Thankfully, after a moment of silence, she quietly, almost whispering, said “You don’t have to explain if you don’t want to. There’s a million reasons for a pony to leave home, and not many of them are good.” I paused, and then nodded.

I heard another voice coming from seemingly nowhere. A deeper voice, saying “Ah, yes, things aren’t very pleasant for her at the moment.” A snapping sound filled the air, as the unmistakable form of Discord, chaos incarnate, appeared in the room. Was that who I heard before? “I have that tea you asked for, Fluttershy.” He said, with three cups floating in the air beside him, alongside a kettle.

“Oh, that’s great, this should help your throat.” She said, sitting on a seat next to a larger, shorter table, and the teacups landed gently onto it, as the kettle poured into each. “So, um, are you comfortable telling me your name, or if you plan to stay in town? Maybe how old you are?” I gulped nervously as I took a teacup – that had floated over to the bed – into my hooves.

I took a sip – the hot tea burned my throat a bit. My mostly blurred mind swirled like a stormy sea – before a few thoughts rose to the surface, one by one. Discord is in the room with me right now. All he did was set up the tea. He seems to know what happened. My head snapped towards him – causing a sharp pain my neck – and I exclaimed “Wh- wait, you’re Dis- I mean- You know what-?” I stammered out, all of those thoughts pouring out.

He twisted his long body to face me, and smiled. “Oh, of course. I am the embodiment of chaos and disharmony, after all. As for anypony else finding out… well, I suppose Fluttershy would be quite cross with me if I went around telling ponies without your permission.” I gulped nervously again. “Though for what it’s worth, I don’t see what the big deal is. They really made such a big fuss about nothing.”

I wasn’t sure whether I should be comforted that somepony knows about my situation and isn’t making a big deal about it, or worried that Discord knows about it in the first place. I nodded slightly, and turned my mind back to the pegasus’ questions. “I’m… My name is Night Light. I’m 19, and I’m not entirely sure if I’ll be staying in town. I can’t…” I paused. “I can’t go back.”

Fluttershy nodded gently, and spoke up. “For now, I think we should focus on you getting better. Now that you’re awake, do you want us to take you to Ponyville Hospital? I couldn’t carry you all the way there on my own, and I feel like you shouldn’t teleport in your condition, but if you’re able to walk again, or okay with me getting somepony else to help, we could probably get there-” she started before devolving into rambling.

I thought for a moment. Finding comfort in Discord of all creatures? Stranger and stranger, today. “Um… Okay, if- do you have anypony in mind?” I asked. Fluttershy’s eyes lit up.

“Oh! Yes, I’ll have-” There was a sudden banging from somewhere, presumably in the house, like someone knocking too hard on a door, and a voice rang out.

“Hey, Fluttershy! You home?” I froze and tensed up at the sudden noise. Fluttershy looked from the room’s door to me and back again.

“Oh. One moment, please.” She said before jogging back out of the room. After a few moments, she came back with another pegasus – this one with a blue coat and rainbow mane.“I was hoping you could help me take them to Ponyville Hospital.”

Fluttershy was saying to her. “Sure thing, Flutters. Here, I’ll help them out of bed, you be ready to get their other side.”