With A Little Help From My Friends

I was certainly right about the bed rest. Pinkie Pie as well as Mr. and Mrs. Cake didn’t want me leaving their care. However, I did want to go out so Matt and I could get our own place, but I suppose it could wait. If it made Pinkie and the Cakes happy, I’d do it.

I had a good few visitors over the next few days.

Rarity had come over Wednesday evening. She told me she would try to come over as long as she had spare time, which was difficult because she had to fill several large orders for different celebrity ponies that had ordered entire wardrobes from her.

Rainbow Dash came over every afternoon to chat with me. We’d talk about music and flying and things like that, we would also swap funny stories from our pasts. Matt would help me out for most of our stories as he was almost always part of them.

Applejack came over once a day to bring me apple pie. She really does make the best apple pie around. She’d tell me about her family and things like that. I learnt about Applebloom and her friend’s ‘crusades’ to find their cutie marks. I learnt about her big brother, but she didn’t talk too much about him. Applejack also told me how if it hadn’t been for her grandmother, Ponyville wouldn’t even exist. That story was certainly something to hear.

Fluttershy came over on Wednesday and didn’t leave. She stayed at Sugar Cube Corner because she was afraid something more would happen to me. She would only leave for about half an hour at the most to go feed her animal friends but rush back as fast as she could.

Twilight came over every day as well. She would come and read the history of Equestria to me. I never found any of it boring, I always enjoyed history for the most part. I found it incredible that there was never a pony war or conflict of any kind. The only wars that happened were between griffons and zebras and such. I also found it quite surprising how the princesses had control over the sun and moon. I suspected it to be a ruse, but then I thought about how we are thousands of years in the future, and magic has a part to play now rather than just physics.

On Friday morning at 6 am, Twilight came to pay me a visit.

“Jimmy!” She yelled as the door flew open. “I found a spell that will heal your broken bones!! Isn’t that great?!” I opened my eyes; I had only just woken up from the sound of the door flying open.

Purple… Horse… What…? Bones? Ask her what she said again…

“Uhh… What?” I asked, trying to figure out what Twilight was jumping up and down in excitement about.

“I found a spell that’ll fix your ribs!” Twilight repeated “I was looking through some old spell books last night when I came across a couple of healing spells!!”

Ohh… That sounds cool and stuff… I guess… Give me a minute to reason this out, I’m not awake yet…

Matt then woke up and looked around the room to find Twilight hopping back and forth.

“Uhh… Whuh?” He asked “Where… Where dem white bitches...” he said groggily as he fell back into his pillow and started snoring. I looked at Matt for a few seconds to try and imagine what his dream was about.

Whatever that shit was about, it sounds like a party. A party I’d very much like to attend.

I then looked to Twilight who was standing very close to me with a big smile on her face. It was obvious she hadn’t slept last night, she had bags under her eyes and her mane was quite unkempt, her right eye was also twitching a little too much for my liking.

Guy, I think we should hold off on the healing spells for now.

Why?

Number one, she looks tired as fuck, she’ll probably fuck it up due to her lack of sleep. Two, it’s old magic, shit ain’t reliable, it’s possible she could fuck you up more with that.

Fair enough.

“That’s great, Twilight. But um, didn’t you tell me a little while ago that old magic wasn’t really the most trustworthy?” I asked.

“Yes, that is true, but this magic I’m sure will work!” She replied continuing her hopping “Please let me try it, please?”

lol dis bitch crazy if she thinks she’s trying old magic on me in my state. No thanks, I’ll take the six weeks of bed confinement.

“I don’t know, Twilight. I’m a bit scared for me right now. What if something goes wrong? Even if the spell is a sure-fire thing, you don’t look like you’ve had a lot of sleep. I don’t want something to go wrong, is all.”

“Jimmy…” She said calming down “I want to help you get better. I just don’t want you to be in pain anymore. I don’t know what it’s like to be in your position, but I’m sure it’s unbearable. Can I please try and help you?” There was a pause.

Aww that’s adorable, she doesn’t want us to be in pain. I don’t think she understands the fact that there is only do or do not. Ain’t no try up in this motherfucker.

“Well, it’s not a really a ‘try’ when it comes to magic, is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You do the spell or you don’t. You help me or you don’t. There’s never a try involved. Hell, that’s not even just magic, that’s everything. What I’m saying is, if something goes wrong, I could be put in an even worse condition. I’m not saying I doubt your abilities, Twilight. I’m saying that this spell is either gonna work or won’t work and there’s no practice run. It’s either the spell’s successful and I’m healthy again, or it isn’t and I’m in a worse position than I was before or I’m dead. Do you see what I’m getting at?”

“I understand Jimmy.” She said “That’s why I am going to help you. Are you ready?”

Ugh... If she fucks it up, right?... Bugger it, let’s just fucking do it.

You sure?

Yeah…

“Don’t I need to take off the covers or anything?” I ask.

“Oh yes, I’m gonna need you to take off the brace too.” I was able to move the covers off of me. Sitting up was a challenge on its own, just as it had been for the past few days. Hopefully this would be the last time I’d feel it. Once I sat up, I took off my brace with some help from Twilight and put it on the bed next to me. I took a deep breath.

“I’m ready Twilight.” I said. “Make it happen.” Her horn started glowing brightly. My chest started to feel numb as it also started glowing. I felt the bones moving around inside me, clicking back together and being cemented back. There was no pain throughout the operation which continued for a good minute and a half. Finally, once the operation was finished, her horn stopped glowing and Twilight was struggling to keep standing.

Huh… Ain’t that some shit… I guess that’s what it feels like being healed by the Medic’s medigun in Team Fortress 2.

“I… I did it… Hah… Hah…” She panted, she was about to fall over on her side when I sprung from my bed and held her up.

“Twilight… Thank you…” I said as I kissed her on the cheek. I lay her on my bed and put the sheet over her body. Matt started the slow clap. I turned around to see him sitting up on his bed seeming to be fully awake.

“How long have you been up?” I asked him. I hadn’t noticed him being awake until just now.

“A little while.” He replied “Since you started talking like Yoda.”

“What, you mean the ‘Do or do not, there is no try’ bit?”

“Yep.”

“Ah, interesting. Anyway, come on, let’s go get some food, I’m hungry as hell.” I said while putting on a clean shirt and pants.

“I need about tree fiddy.”

“Then I realised my friend was the Loch Ness monster all along. I ain’t got no tree fiddy fo’ yo dumb-ass, they ain’t even got cents here!” I said exiting the room. We came downstairs to find Fluttershy who upon seeing me walking down the steps flew over to me with an incredibly worried expression on her face.

“Jimmy, oh dear, please go back to bed, you can’t nearly be well enough to be walking around like this!” She pleaded.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy, Twilight just found a spell that mended my bones, I’m perfectly fine now.” I replied smiling. “Well, almost fine.” I said as I noticed the cuts on my arms and was reminded of the rest of them all over my body.

“We’re gonna go head out to look at that house I went to see yesterday afternoon.” Matt told her as he was putting on his jacket.

“Fluttershy, I have to ask you a favour.” I started. “Twilight is passed out on my bed. I think it’s just from exhaustion. But anyway, she’s been up for the past, probably three days at the most. She passed out just after finishing the spell, could you just make sure she’s okay when she wakes up for me?”

“Of course, Jimmy, I’d be happy to.” She replied.

“Hey, where’s Pinkie Pie?” Matt asked upon noticing there was no pink bouncing pony anywhere in sight.

“I’m right here!” Pinkie said. We looked around the room for a sign of the elusive pony.

‘Here’, such a specific location…

“Where would 'here' be, exactly?” I asked. I looked up and saw Pinkie hanging upside down in mid-air much like she had when I met her. “How the hell do you do that?”

“It’s a secret!” Pinkie said as she landed on her hooves and bounced into the kitchen singing a tune that sounded like the Super Mario Bros. theme. Matt, Fluttershy and I all looked at each other blankly and after a few seconds we went about our business. Matt and I left the house leaving Twilight in Fluttershy’s capable hooves.

“So, how much money did you get off all that treasure?” I asked as we walked.

“About tree fiddy.” He replied.

“Ha ha, serious thing though, how much?”

“I don’t really remember; all I know is that it was a lot.” He stated stopping his Loch Ness monster voice “But it’s more enough that we’ll basically never have to work again and we can still be sitting pretty.”

“Yes, sitting all pretty and fabulous.”

“Damn straight gurlllllfren’!”

Eventually we reached the house Matt had picked for us. It was hardly a three minute walk from Sugar Cube Corner and the same time to the library. This was one of the larger houses on the street. Matt went to the front door and took a set of keys from his pocket.

“Wait, you have keys? You bought the place already?” I asked, slightly upset he didn’t wait for my approval.

“Yeah, I did, but don’t worry. You’re gonna love this place.” He replied opening the door.

Motherfucker, buying shit without my approval and shit…

We walked inside. Across from the door was a staircase with a passageway next to it. Under the stairs were more stairs which led to the basement. The kitchen could be seen at the end of the passageway. To our left was what seemed to be intended as a living room, I only guessed this because it had a fire place. To the right of the entrance was another large room. I guessed it to be the dining room due to the large chandelier hanging in the center of the room. At the end of the dining room was a doorway in the left side that led to the kitchen and directly across from that doorway was another doorway which led to the living room.

Up the stairs, there were four bedrooms. The master bedroom was the last door on the left down the hall at the top of the stairs. One other bedroom was down that hallway. To the right were the remaining two bedrooms as well as the bathroom. The master bedroom had its own bathroom as well as a large window that looked out into the street. The last bedroom on this hallway was the same size as the master bedroom, just without the bathroom in it. It also had a window which looked out onto the street below. The other two bedrooms were basically mirrors of each other. The windows of both these bedrooms had one that looked out to the back yard and another that faced the neighbour’s houses.

Well Matt, I gotta give it to you…

“This place is pretty awesome, man.” I told Matt patting him on the back.

“Oh, but you haven’t seen the basement yet.” He replied leading me downstairs. The basement led to a small ground floor with three doors. To the right were two large windowed doors which also contained a fireplace. That room must have been used as an office or another living room. The door across from the stairs led to a pantry.

“So, what’s behind this door then?” I said pointing to the door on our left. Matt chuckled as he opened the door and led me inside. The room was the same size as the office/living room, but this room was different, it was sound proofed. The room was all white with no windows leading into it, so no noise would annoy the neighbours. There was a doorway that led to another room inside this one with a glass window.

No fuckin’ way… Duuuuuuuuuude…

“Dude, is this… A studio?” I asked in disbelief.

“That it is, my good sir.” He replied. “This room is why I picked this house. It would’ve been nice to have the house furnished, especially because we would’ve gotten all the audio equipment with it. But still, I think that’s not much of a problem, is it?”

“Not at all, man. Not at all.” I said patting him on the back again.

“What’s with this pat-on-the-back crap?” He replied holding out his arms. We hugged as we had found our new home. We exited the house and Matt was in the process of locking the front door when a thought crossed my mind.

Canterlot.

What about it?

We’re going there tomorrow.

What? Why?

Remember? Twilight sent a letter to the princesses and they want to meet us?

Oh shit! Right!

“Hey dude, I just remembered something.” I stated.

“What’s that?” He asked.

“We’re going to Canterlot tomorrow.”

“Wait… Oh right! We were going with Twilight to meet the princesses! Shit, I completely forgot!” We locked the house and made our way back to Sugar Cube Corner recounting what had to be done before we leave for Canterlot and what we need to get when we’re there.

“Yeah, so we gotta pack tomorrow. While we’re in Canterlot, we should shop around a little bit for furniture and stuff. They’ve probably got a way better selection than here.”

“Oh yeah, for sure they will. Another thing we have to do is check out their music scene.”

“I dunno man; something tells me it’s all classical stuff.”

“Hey, remember what we thought about back home? We thought it was all just soca and dub and all that kinda bullshit? Weren’t we proven wrong when we found that bar?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I said as we opened the door at Sugar Cube Corner. The place seemed dead. It was closing time, but we didn’t even hear the sound of Pinkie cleaning up the kitchen or anything. Not even Pumpkin or Pound’s crying or laughing or any kind of noise at all. “I guess everyone went out.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Matt replied. We headed upstairs to find Fluttershy asleep on Matt’s bed and Twilight reading Matt’s borrowed copy of The Formation of Old Equestria on my bed. She looked up from her book.

“Oh, hey there Jimmy, hi Matt,” Twilight said cheerfully. “You guys ready for tomorrow?”

“I guess so.” Matt replied.

“Where’d you guys head off to?” She asked.

“We went to visit our new house!” I replied happily “It’s awesome, we’ll have to bring everyone over once we furnish it. It’s barren right now, but it’s really awesome!”

“Matt, I thought you hadn’t bought the place yet.” She said as she looked to Matt who was taking off his shoes and nearly lost his balance when Twilight said his name.

“Yeah, that was on Wednesday when you asked me about it. I bought it yesterday evening because that’s when I was given the tour.” He replied sitting down on the floor next to his bed where Fluttershy still lay sleeping.

“Oh, I see. Well, it’s good that you guys are both happy with it.” She replied.

“So… Get to the station for what time?” Matt asked.

“Get there for about 8:30.” Twilight replied after thinking for a moment.

“Should we bring our instruments?” I asked.

“I suppose you could.” Twilight replied. “I think the princesses would like to hear the kind of music you play. As long as the songs you play are tasteful, of course.” Matt and I grinned at Twilight.

“Oh yeah, sure we will.”

/sarcasm.

“Where’s everyone and what happened to Fluttershy?” I asked.

“Pinkie and the Cakes have gone out for dinner tonight. As for Fluttershy, well, I don’t know. I was reading this book to her and, well, I didn’t even notice she fell asleep. I suppose we better wake he-”

“NO.” Matt and I interrupted.

“Uhh… W-”

“Twilight,” I started “I don’t think you understand the level of cuteness a sleeping Fluttershy emits.”

“The level of cuteness is clearly over nine thousand.” Matt continued. “If one were to wake her, the target would have to be eliminated immediately.”

“You guys can’t be-”

“Oh, but we are Twilight.” I started again. “If you wake her…”

“You seal your fate.” Matt finished. Twilight looked at us with a frightened and confused look.

“Alright, fine.” She said going back to her book. Matt and I quickly started d’awwing over the sleeping Fluttershy for the next hour and a half while Twilight read her book and occasionally glanced at us in confusion. Matt and I giggled like school girls every time Fluttershy made a small squeak in her sleep, which was surprisingly often. Eventually Fluttershy woke up to find me, Twilight and Matt all asleep. Twilight was still on my bed while Matt and I were on the floor. Fluttershy realised it was late and she had to feed her animals as it was past their dinner time. She left us leaving a note on the bed that read:

Dear Matt, Jimmy and Twilight,

It’s about 9 pm now and I have to leave because I need to feed my animal friends, if that’s okay with you, I mean, if it’s not a problem. I didn’t want to wake any of you up because, well, you all just looked so peaceful asleep like you were, so I’m leaving this note so that you don’t get scared when you find out that I’ve left.

I hope you all have fun on your trip tomorrow!

-Fluttershy

When I woke up, it was 5 am. I’m surprised Pinkie hadn’t come in and found us all asleep and told Twilight to go home or anything like that. As I got up from my more than comfortable position of being sprawled out on the floor, I read the note that Fluttershy had left us and chuckled at the fact she used an exclamation point at the end when she could hardly speak above a normal volume to begin with. As I put the note down, I went and packed my backpack as I should have done from the day before. Once I was finished and had gotten dressed to leave, I looked over at the still sleeping Twilight and Matt. I’ll have to wake them up.

“Twi,” I said as I shook her hoof a little bit. “It’s 5:30, wake up, you’re still at Sugar Cube Corner, come on.”

“Ughhhhh, I don’t wanna go to school today mom…” Twilight said in a still half-awake state.

She… Doesn’t want to go to school?! WHO THE FUCK IS THIS AND WHAT HAVE THEY DONE WITH TWILIGHT?!

“Twilight, seriously, you gotta wake up.” I said shaking her hoof a little more.

“Ughhh,” She opened her eyes and looked at me “Jimmy… What’re you doing here at this hour?”

“Well, this is kinda where I’ve been staying for the past week or so. Why wouldn’t I be here?” I replied. Twilight opened her eyes wider.

“Oh no!! I’m still at Sugar Cube Corner!!!” She exclaimed. “Jimmy!! What time is it?”

“It’s 5:34…”

“AGH!!! I GOTTA GET HOME AND PACK!!!” She said jumping off the bed nearly putting a hoof into Matt’s crotch as she did. “GOTTA GO, SEE YOU IN A BIT JIMMY!!!” She yelled running out the door.

“Jack,” Matt said as I was looking at the door Twilight had just disappeared to, I turned around to see Matt on the floor lying on his side with his right hand propping up his head “Draw me like one of your French girls.” I looked at him for a moment before bursting out in laughter “Stop! You’ll wake Flutter-” He looked on his bed to find that Fluttershy wasn’t there “AAAAAAAAAAGH!!!! WHERE’S FLUTTERSHY?!?!?!”

“Chill the fuck out man, look, she left a note.” I replied giving him the note. He briefly read it and gave it back.

“I need to pack and stuff.” He stated.

“That you do, my friend.” I said patting him on the back and lying down on my bed.

“And what do you think you’re doing?”

“I packed while you guys slept soundly. I’m at least lying down for the next hour and a half in my own bed.” Matt looked over to see my guitar leaned up against the dresser.

“Not taking your guitar?”

“Well, I was hoping Canterlot would have some music stores that would have some good electric guitars. I mean, yeah, they’re just ponies, but if rock music exists, they gotta have electric guitars.”

“Don’t be expecting them to have Gibson and Fender though…”

“I know, it’ll be something along the lines of Hoofson or something like that. Amirite?”

“That was horrible.”

“I know. I’m terrible with pony puns.”

“That you are.”

Matt packed his clothes and his saxophone. After a little while of consideration, I packed up my guitar and amp because I may as well do so. I also remembered Twilight saying something about playing for the princesses. Chances are we would be playing for them because I couldn’t see Twilight not bringing up our musical abilities. Once we were finished packing and triple checked we had everything we needed, we headed downstairs where Pinkie had made us a send-off breakfast of pancakes.

After breakfast we said our goodbyes to Pinkie Pie and the Cakes and headed to the station with Twilight where we got on the train to Canterlot. Matt and I wondered what surprises we had in store for us in Canterlot, surely there would be at least a few...