Filler and Fodder

‘Okay’ I thought cynically, ‘she is, by far, the weirdest creature I have ever met’. Not only was she a draconequus, she was absolutely bonkers as well! I wondered if she was like this before I found her or if whatever banged her up so bad made her so weird. I hoped for the latter as I really didn’t want to be dealing with an insane chimera. She just stood there, staring at herself in the mirror as if it were the first time she has done so. Coupled with the fact that she didn’t recognize her I made a mental note to be on the lookout for possible amnesia (also insanity).

“AHEM,” I cleared my thought to catch her attention, “We don’t want to keep the princesses waiting, now do we?” I forced a smile.

“Oh, okay I guess, but I have some questions..” she started before I cut her off with the wave of a talon.

“As do I, but the trip to Canterlot is not a short one, so I say again; we don’t want to keep the princesses waiting.” Did this girl really not understand the importance of the situation? Her ignorance was riding my nerves and I began to grind my beak while the smile I wore became even harder to force.

The odd draconequus chuckled and agreed, “Of course Softie! Lead the way, will you?” In a broad sweeping motion, she brought her unbound arm in a bowing gesture. As she went to actually bow she grabbed at her gauze and winced. Clearly the fates were testing me with this one. Glad to have her agreeing and wanting to finally “get the show on the road”, I simply nodded and began to exit the room.

The soft clicks of claws and clop of a hoof on the linoleum let me know she was indeed following me. I wanted so badly to relax; it was just picking up some paperwork, a quick walk to the elevator, and then we would be at the chariot. The only problem was the actual walk there. I could already feel their eyes on me as I slowly made my way to the floor main desk, draconequus ward in tow. Who was ‘they’? Why, the entire hospital staff I worked with of course! With the exception of my roommates, I really had no friends here in Manehattan. Or anywhere else for that matter.

I find ponies to be a very tolerant and accepting bunch, as long as one is a pony. Otherwise, it takes great effort to gain a pony’s favor. I also find that ponies rarely give one a chance to gain their favor. I am a young, broke, nurse who is also a gyphon. I work my tail to the bone with extended shifts every night and even take extra work from others but I’m still the lowest rung on the ladder. Of course, I had to take my break in the park last week. Of course I would help anybody injured I found. And of course that anybody was a (crazy) draconequus. I don’t think there could be any more reasons for my coworkers to hate me. Oh wait, I forgot, because no one wants to work with a draconequus and I was the one who found her, she became my patient. And the piece de resistance, the princesses summoned the draconequus but because she’s injured, I have to accompany her. NOW I’m sure there couldn’t be any more reasons for them to hate me.

Ponies actually stopped what they were doing to stare daggers at me. What great work ethic, I thought sourly. I wished the draconequus would shuffle faster so we could leave faster. It wasn’t entirely her fault though, she was pretty banged up. Still…

Eventually we made our way to the front desk where an eggshell coated and maned mare sat, that is, until we walked up. “I need the rest of the file on the draconequus and blank general and emergency admittance forms, please,” I added the ‘please’ in place of something ruder that might get me fired. Her eyes flicked to the draconequus who had finally limped her way to the desk for a moment.

“I’d need to know a name or when said draconequus arrived,” her tone was very chipper, as a desk clerk could, but it was clear to me that it was patronizing. She knew perfectly well when something as important as a draconequus arrived.

“No name on file, but she arrived one week ago,” once again, I stood on my tongue. The bland mare locked eyes with me for a while in defiance, but turned to the cubbies full of files behind her with a flick of her tail. She was clearly going out of her way to be slow about finding the file. I rolled my eyes and leaned on the counter. Glancing at the draconequus, I noticed her not paying one lick of attention. Instead, she was manically and intently staring at everyone that passed her. Once again, I rolled my eyes and waited for the desk mare to get my papers.

After an unnecessarily long time of trivial searching, a relatively thin tan folder was practically slapped onto the counter in front of me, along with a few pages of admittance forms. She immediately did an about face and busied herself shuffling papers.

“Cone along, the chariot’s on the roof’s landing pad,” I brought the draconequus back into reality and we began our slow walk to the elevator once more. Thankfully it was close and within the minute we were out of the viewing range of the ponies, and I was enclosed in a small box with an annoying draconequus. It took all off two seconds for both the doors to close and the silence to be broken.

“Soooo… How long does it take to get to Canterlot?” We were on the third floor; four left before we were at the roof.

“About four hours by chariot,” Three left.

“How long ago did the princesses say they wanted to see us? You said they’ve been waiting for a while.”

“The day after you arrived here,” Two.
“Why are you called Soft Wing?”

“It’s my name,” One.

“Do you have soft wings?”

“I- What?” *DING* Thank the gods.

The elevator opened to reveal a rather small, closed chariot with four royal guard pegasi at the ready. They stoically gazed in front of the chariot and didn’t pay the slightest attention to me practically running out the elevator or the lanky draconequus limping behind.

After helping her into the cabin, I gave the pegasi the all clear and settled in for a headache-inducing trip across from my ward. There was a strong lurch and the sense of moving quickly. You couldn’t even tell when the chariot went from rolling to flying. They were part of the royal guard for a reason, I guess. I closed my eyes for a moment to clear my mind and pulled out her file.

“Okay, now to fill out your records,” I noticed she was glued to one of the small portholes that were on each of the walls of the cabin. “Excuse me, I said it’s about time we fill out your information,” She mouthed something I didn’t quite catch.

Leaning in, I heard her repeat herself “Is this really happening?” her words came out airy and were still barely audible.

“What? Flying in a chariot,” Was this really such a stupefying experience for her? “or a royal summons?” Oh, I realized, maybe it is.

“Both,” she said just as breathlessly as she had before.

“Well, yes, and I’m terribly sorry to interrupt your sightseeing, but we really must fill these forms as soon as possible.”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” she snapped out her stupor and focused on me, “What’s up doc?”

“First, I’m a nurse, not a doctor,” I inadvertently said a bit more curtly than I had wanted.

“Sorry. But seriously, what do you want to know, Softie?” I cringed internally and began grinding my beak once again. Though she didn’t know, I loathed being called ‘Softie’. That nickname had followed me from flight school, through medical school, and even in the hospital. I let it slide.

“Let’s start with the basics: Name, date and place of birth, current residence, insurance, and any known allergies.”

She answered immediately, “Easy! Eris; June fifth, nineteen ninety-two; St. Louis Missouri, USA; none; blue cross; and bees.”

Sighing, I set the quill and papers down and tried to keep my composure, “Ma’am, please, be serious. The sooner we get these forms done, the sooner we can relax and enjoy our ride.”

“I was serious,” she deadpanned. I had nothing to say. I was in no mood to give myself an even bigger headache if she was going to behave like this so I quickly jotted down the information she had given me on a piece of scrap parchment and filed everything back in the folder.

“Well then, I guess the papers can wait until a later time,” my excuse fell on deaf ears. The draconequus, Eris, was fast asleep propped up against the window. She really looked innocent when she was silent.

With nothing left to do but wait to arrive in Canterlot, I decided it best to try to rid myself of my headache before most likely getting an even larger one meeting with the royals. I could scarcely imagine the migraine medicine I was going to go through dealing with the fact that I had a royal summons whilst having to deal with an insane draconequus (as neither were common in the least). And then I entered a restless, anxiety-driven, sleep.

Author's Note

I love how since my last chapter, I've had absolutely NOTHING going on in my life, and the past 2 weeks my life has basically fallen apart and I somehow manage to write a coherent chapter. Okay then.
Anywho, my life is shit right now, but eh, it happens. But since this is what seems to inspire me to write, expect another chapter this week.

Thanks again for readin, and I really do apologize for waiting so long to update again (I really think that doing so breaks up the reader's ability to fully understand/retain what's happening in the story :P
Constructive criticism appreciated and the pointing out of straight-up writing/grammatical errors encouraged!

Next episode: something interesting actually happens and we meet the fucking princesses!