The Bond

Chapter 6

Crashing in

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS PICNIC ORGANIZERS!"

The tree fillies that compromised the Crusaders galloped furiously towards the popular spot in the field just outside of Ponyville, where many local ponies went to spend time on weekends and on special occasions. Today though they were the only ones around, as it was a normal week day; well not for them as they had a day free from Cheerilee's class, due to personal reasons. The fillies: Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, had decided that perhaps organizing a picnic would get them their Cutie Marks. It also helped that Apple Blooms big sister Applejack agreed on this and had helped them to come up with enough goods to fill the basket near a breaking point.

There was just a one catch..

"Oh what a beautiful day for studying." the violet-purple unicorn said while levitating her saddlepack off her back, which was filled with couple of books. The fillies simultaneously groaned in agony, as they had feared she would say that and ruin their plans for having fun by subduing them with studying

It wasn't like Twilight intented to be boring; she loved studying and cause her subject was friendship, she was more than eager to keep a watch over the three best friends when Applejack had asked to. Besides, she needed a day off from the normal daily routine. Spike had of course wanted to join in, but he still a lot of unfinished chores left, so Twilight had forbidden him from coming and mentioned that yesterday he had the whole afternoon free. Twilight felt little sad for having left her assistant behind, but knew she had to be strict when it came to being a mother figure for Spike.

As the Crusaders started to unfold the blanket and serve the many Apple family goods, they immediately started to talk about their usual stuff: planning the future attempts to get their Cutie Marks.

Twilight just giggled on some of the ideas the fillies came up with while at the same time reading one of her many books and tasting the many home baked goods the Apple family were so famous for. She could remember just before she and the Crusaders had left, Applejack had asked to Keep em out of trouble.

"Silly Applejack. What could possibly happen in such an gorgeous days?"

* * * * *

"Shit I'm so tireeeeed!" Mike said, stretching the last word to mark his agony.

"Don't forget the hunger." I responded to him, perhaps a little too cheerfully, as I could hear Mike groan in defeat and soon my stomach followed him, echoing its lack of food.

Still, I couldn't agree more with Mike. As we had now walked for another hour or so, both of us were tired nearly to the point of passing out. And it also didn't help that we both had to help Alex to walk, so our travelling speed was dramatically reduced, but luckily the fields were mostly clear and flat, so no extra energy had to be put on walking over hills. Still, neither me nor Mike blamed him for this, not after what he had to go through other night. I couldn't help but to recall what had happened then and I would have wanted to know what Alex's mind had been doing during then; but I respected his feelings, so I kept myself in line and didn't ask anything. In regards, Alex didn't blame me for causing his current condition.

By now, Alex had gotten so bad, that he struggled to keep himself aware of his surroundings. It wasn't the infection that caused this, but the deep hunger his body went through, as it desperately needed more energy than an already bitten apple could provide. His body craved for it and I felt little guilty I couldn't provide it...

Looking back at Mike, I could see that he was leaning on the other side of the tree. We had decided to take a break about ten minutes ago and both of us just wanted to relax before having to carry our big friend again. Turning to the other side, I could see that Alex was sleeping; I couldn't help but to smile at the sight, as he seemed so calm, even if he had some major pain while still trying to prove to us that he was fine.

"Shouldn't we continue?"

I snapped out of day dreaming and while I turned back, I could see that Mike stood infront of me, blocking the sun. Sighting, I stood up and we walked to Alex, gently shaking him to wake.

"Hey. Time to move." I said, trying to sound more calm than I was, as I knew that Alex was a really deep sleeper and he hated to wake up. Soon enough, his eyes started to blink rapidly and small groan erupted from him, soon followed by a silent swear. Without saying anything, me and Mike grabbed him from the sides, making him dart up and land between us. After some adjustment to our stance, we gave a small nod of approval to each other, while Alex just looked down to the ground.

"I'm sorry...." muttered Alex with a sorrow tone, clearly pointing out his agony over his need of help. Neither me nor Mike couldn't help but to chuckle to this obvious statement. It seemed to relax Alex a bit, but soon we got serious and I nodded towards Mike, as to indicate that he should talk. Luckily he got the hint, as he turned over to Alex, who by now had raised his chin up. Oddly, Mike was still grinning.

"Ahh drop that act! If you don't, I swear I'm gonna make you walk for the rest of the trip."

Alex's reaction was an immediately blushing and muttering something quietly, generating laughter from Mike who took the first step forward. I gave in and joined in the laughter, whilst taking the second step.

And were off...Yet again.

* * * * *

By the time Twilight had finished the first book she had brought with her, about an hour had passed and the basket nearly emptied of the the food. As she looked at the fillies, they were already starting to pack their stuff up; Apple Bloom was gathering the plates, Scootaloo was folding the blanket and Sweetie Belle was cleaning the area of trash. Twilight couldn't help but to smile as she watched the three best friends do their stuff. As Twilight stood up, she levitated her saddlepack to her and placed the book in one of the holds, while also putting the pack over her.

It was as she had predicted. Just a pleasant normal day without the normal ruckus she and her friends went through normally. It wasn't like she disliked it, but for once, she just wanted to have a normal and pleasant day...

"Umm, Twilight?" said Sweetie Belle somewhere behind her, sounding bit worried.

"Yes Sweetie Belle, what is..." Twilight never got to finish her sentence, as she saw what the fillies were looking at.

In the distance, there were three stallions coming towards them; A Pegasus, a unicorn and a Earth pony. This was a unsual sight for even Twilight, as this area was way off from the town and they came from direction where to her knowledge nothing else but a part of the Everfree forest laid. At first she thought that they must have heard the fillies and must have come to pay a visit. But soon all this vanished, when she saw that the Earth pony was being supported by the other two. The Pegasus must have seen her, as he raised his head to look at her direction.

"We need help! He's injured!" he shouted while stopping along with the unicorn, Twilight didn't give it any though, as she dropped her saddlepack to the ground before giving order to the fillies.

"Girls, go to the hospital and tell I'm coming with injured pony!" Twilight shouted before starting to gallop towards the stallions, who by now must have noticed her, as they had stopped on dead on their tracks. The girls didn't say anything as they started to gallop towards the only hospital in town.

As Twilight got closer to the group their support on the Earth pony began to buckle. At first she thought it must have been to assist in helping him, but soon the pegasus collapsed down to the ground. The unicorn tried to shout something towards her before dropping down to the ground, as he was now carrying the Earth pony by himself. Twilight increased her pace even more from this sight.

Twilight shortly arrived at the three stallions and to find the unicorn trying to wake his companions up. As Twilight approached him, he suddenly stopped before falling onto to his back.

Immediately Twilight's eyes enlarged in shock from what she saw and she tried to keep herself from not panicking. The unicorns horn she looked at was covered in a thick layer of blood. While Twilight didn't have any problem with blood, she wasn't just used to seeing it in such quantity and on another pony nevertheless. Gulping down to clear her throat a little, she immediately checked on the other two, only to find out that they both were only unconscious and that the Earth pony had a quite nasty wound upon him. It didn't help that their bodies were covered in dust and dirt, covering most of their body from head to hoof. Their manes and tails were also in such of horrible condition, that it would have made Rarity faint in shock.

This didn't matter for now, as Twilight levitated the Pegasus onto her back, and began lifting the other two in the air, and started to gallop towards Ponyville's hospital. She couldn't help but to give a look to them and ask the obvious question deep inside her mind.

Who are they and what happened to them?

* * * * *

The forest that was near the school was usually filled with screams of joy and laughter, as children used to play there during their free time. Currently, only me and the boy from the first day were there, panting heavily while laying down on the ground. Both of us were covered in bruises and other wounds, but we both were smiling. Soon, the wool hatted boy turned his head towards me.

"You fight good for being four-eyed." The kid said with a joy full tone, while turning upwards to a sitting position. I soon followed him and we found ourselves just sitting there quietly. Soon enough, the bigger kid raised his right hand over towards me.

"Oh by the way, I'm Mike."

* * * * *

Shit!

The first thing my mind came up with when my conciousness returned to me from was shit from two reasons.

One; I felt like it. My whole body was sore, I was still dirty and my head yet again felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer.

Two; Me and Mike had let Alex down. Even when we had tried to hurry up, our travelling speed just had been too slow for us to try and make it before either me or Mike would trip out. One could say hurrying up only caused us to faint, I couldn't think of something else we could have done...

Before I got to think more, I started to hear voices somewhere near me, speaking something about extra-monitoring and preparing next batch of treatment. This let me to believe that I was currently inside an hospital and that scrapped out the first obvious question. As for the second question, I had to open my eyes.

From what the little I could see, as I didn't have my glasses on, I was in room that had blue walls and a green ceiling, and that I was currently laying down on actually very comfy bed. As I tried to move upwards into a sitting position, a small groan got out of my mouth, as my muscles had obviously been in bad position. From what I could make from the blur that I saw, there were two figures, both of course being ponies and that one wore a white overcoat. They must have noticed me getting up as they stopped talking and the not overcoated pony rushed to my side, getting something from the side table near me. Soon enough, I was handed my glasses and I immediately putted them on.

"It seems the treatment worked quite well. Nurse Redheart here will get you something to eat soon and there's somepony here who wants to see you." the overcoat wearing stallion, a doctor I presumed, said while taking his leave. As I looked to my left, my eyes shot wide open.

It was Alex. He was laying there with a heartbeat monitor attached to him, generating an ominous beeping sound. I tried to get out of bed, but the nurse soon put me down, saying that I ought not to move until any possible side effects are gone. For some odd reason, I decided to check my right side and as I had predicted, I could see that Mike was laying on his own bed, snoring very heavily in his sleep. The nurse actually said that they had hoped he would have woken up first, as other patients on other rooms had started to complain. I couldn't help but to grin to this statement, but for once it had been better that Mike was a really heavy sleeper when he was really tired.

The door opened up and soon a violet-purple unicorn trotted into the room. The nurse excused herself and said that she would bring me and my companions food soon. I didn't answer to her, as my focus was on the unicorn that I could remember had been the one that had found us. Then it struck me who was infront of me...

"Umm... Is something wrong?" Twilight Sparkle said to me with her bright and clear voice. At this point, I was mentally in a state of shock and I thanked God that I was good at hiding facial expressions.

There, infront of me, stood my favorite pony from the My Little Pony show, Twilight Sparkle in the flesh. The brony side of me was jumping around, trying to break free from the governing DON'T ACT FOOLISH grip and ask all kinds of questions. Luckily, my super id part gave myself kick in the nuts that got me out of day dreaming.

"No, nothing is wrong. It's just that I'm thinking how to thank you." I responded to her with my normal tone and to my surprise, she blushed little before regaining her composure. Couldn't help but to grin, as she looked so cute when she blushed.

"No need to. One needs to help another when he or she is in trouble. By the way, my name is Twilight Sparkle" she said with her regular modesty. Before I got to say anything, the nurse Redhearth came back with foodcart holstering three plates of food. I remembered from the episode when Rainbow Dash was in the hospital that the food had been horrible, so I was surprised to find a big bowl of strawberry soup with some jelly and glass of juice served. Without giving it proper thought, I grabbed the bowl with both of my frontal hooves and drank the whole bowl in one go. I could hear Twilight chuckle a bit.

"The doctor said that you would be pretty hungry, so they got you some extra good food from town." the nurse said to me while starting to place one of the plates to side table next to Mike.

For once, I don't know what happened. As soon as Redheart placed the tray to the table, Mike immediately dropped the snoring and started to sniff the air. All three of us just stared at him, as he slowly raised upwards to same sitting position as I was. Suddenly, his eyes darted out open and he turned over towards the plate that rested on the table. If I would have watched this behind a screen, I would have laughed my lungs out but for now I resisted the idea.

Before me, nurse or Twilight got to say anything, Mike just planted his face in the bowl in very much the same way as I did and started to eat the food very eagerly. I couldn't help but to chuckle to this sight, before addressing nurse and Twilight.

"Could you give us a minute alone?" I addressed them, perhaps a little bit sternly as both of them didn't say anything and just got outside of the room in orderly fashion. As soon as the door closed behind them, I saw that Mike had stopped eating and gave me an amused look. I checked the wall clock and I found that it was already well past seven.

"Look Mike, things didn't go as planned. For now, let me do the talking if we're needed to do so" I said to him, still having the stern tone ringing. Mike just nodded to me and I turned towards the closed door.

"Were ready here!" I shouted and soon enough both nurse and Twilight came in, both smiling from something. Before I got to ask what, the nurse went over to Alex and strapped of the heart beat monitor. Twilight came between me and Mike, who by now had gone back to laying position, resting his frontal hooves behind the back of his head.

"The doctor just informed that you're free to check-out by tomorrow morning." Twilight said to us, making me sight in a relief. I couldn't help but to look over to Alex, who was still sleeping. Twilight must have noticed this, as she continued talking.

"You shouldn't worry too much for your big friend there. He had a pretty bad infection going on, but the wound was cleansed and is now covered up." she said, while also giving a little upwards look towards me. At first I didn't realize what she was doing, but soon the realization struck me.

She was looking at my horn, still covered in blood...

I knew I had to act fast!

"Look, it doesn't help to explain things right now, as were all tired and one of us isn't awake. We'll explain what happened to us tomorrow" I hastily said to her, making her look me into my eyes. She sighted and nodded to me, while taking her leave. The nurse Redheart also took her leave and turned off the lights from the room, leaving me and Mike in the darkness.

Neither one of us said anything, as I dropped down to the bed, making the bed squeak under me. After a minute or so, I could hear snoring coming from my right side. Even I decided to call it quits for a day.

Hopefully I'll not see any dreams...

* * * * *

As Twilight got outside of the room, she saw that the doctor from earlier was going through some papers, that seemed to be like some medical notes. The doctor's face bore an shocked look, that seemed to grow even bigger when more pages were flipped over

"This can't be..." he said in a gawking tone.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Twilight said to the doctor, who by now had raised his head to look towards the door where she had just come from. Immediately, he regained his normal composure, while turning his look back at Twilight.

"Miss Sparkle, did they tell you anything about themselves?" the doctor said, while starting to go through his notes again. Twilight just tilted her head and told what the unicorn had told her. When doctor heard this, he just sighted before turning towards the door.

"Did you happen to get a glimpse of their Cutie Marks?" he asked, taking Twilight off her hooves.

"In fact no I didn't. Why you ask this?" she asked curiously, as it seemed odd to ask something like...

"From what we've seen, none of them have a one; at least according to what these notes say."

*Thump*

Twilight just dropped down to the ground with her eyes widening up to even bigger when she had seen the unicorn's horn.

"H-how is that.... all of them must be way over...." she muttered in disbelief as her mind couldn't comprehend the idea and the truth. The doctor just shrugged his shoulders and turns to take his leave, leaving Twilight by herself. She just sat there, staring down to the floor, still trying to to grasp the idea of somepony not having Cutie Mark at adulthood.

Soon, she couldn't help but groan as she looked up the door where the stallions were now sleeping.

You three have some serious explaining to do tomorrow

A/U

Big shout-out for my pre-reader Silvarrn for being a big help even in rough times he has had.