"There is something to be said for solitude..." Nightshade carried her plate to the kitchen and washed it quickly, ignoring the pair of glowing green eyes that were watching her from outside. She returned to living room, and took a seat next to Snow on the couch. "...However, being alone too much gets quite dull after awhile. Ponies are social creatures, after all."
The dark red unicorn's body was lifted onto a stretcher once the ambulance arrived at the scene. The lights flashing across the street causing quite a large crowd to surround the scene. The guards tried desperately to prevent further details from escaping, but it seemed like there was no use. A breathing mask was placed onto him alongside an oxygen tank, it would have kept him alive long enough to make it to the hospital. Along the way, they went past Snow's house. Crimson, even with Saul's healing magic, was in a critical condition. If he was able to, he was burdened with the impossible task of surviving the first night....
Snow nodded, "Yea, it does get fairly boring. Though I usually don't notice as I'm always working..,," Snow sighed and looked at Nightshade and Dark, "I'm just glad I have both of you to keep me company!" ******* Doctor Light Showers stepped off the train into Ponyville, he had been in Canterlot doing regular check ups when he got an regent telegram about a pony who was in critical condition from the first home invasion in Ponyville in over a year. He quickly checked his portable equipment before galloping off, quickly arriving at the Ponyville Hospital. he trotted int the room Crimson was being kept in to see a pale, unconscious Crimson surrounded by doctors and nurses trying to keep him alive. Setting aside his bag full of equipment, he quickly parted the group of doctors to look at Crimson, "I haven't seen wounds this bad since the Griffin Kingdom Civil War..." He muttered as he cast a diagnositic spell, "Let's see,.severe internal damage and bleeding..." He muttered, he then motioned for the doctors to step back and he began to get to work, occasionally casting a spell to help with the internal damage as he slowly put Crimson back together
"And I'm glad to be here with you." Nightshade smiled contentedly and began absently preening her wings, lost in thought about her past, and her possible future. "This has been one the best nights that I've had in a long time. I'm really glad that you decided to come to the restaurant tonight."
Snow smiled at Nightshade, "I'm happy I've given you such a great time tonight!" She said happily, "I'm glad I went to the restaurant too!" Dark suddenly yawned exaggeratedly, "Well, I'm gonna let you two lovebirds have some alone time! Goodnight!" And simply went up the stairs. "eh, goodnight?" Snow said confused before turning to Nightshade, "Well...here we are..." Sh muttered
"Well, that was about as subtle as a kick in the the head," Nightshade thought to herself as Dark Light left the room. She turned to Snow, smiling. "I really should be going to bed, too..." She moved in closer, and put a wing affectionately around Snow Mark. "...But I'd much rather just sit here with you." She yawned, tired from a long and extraordinary day.
Snow blushed and hung her head slightly in embarrassment as Nightshade's soft, kind wings draped over her, "Nightshade..." She muttered, "There's something you should know..." She muttered as her eyes suddenly turned purple and she glanced upstairs, unknowing to Nightshade that she was checking were Dark was, "Well, I can't say exactly... But I just want you to know...There's a lot more to me...and Dark...and everything about us...Than we let on..." Snow muttered before getting closer to Nightshade and leaning her head against Night's, "And you can go to bed any time..."
Saul was in the ambulance, on a seat facing the musician. He didn't even knew his name (he presumed it was Crimson), yet he felt like he owe him something. He just couldn't leave him behind. Why was his impartial mind suddenly caring for something else than himself? And why was that poor pony being robbed, almost killed, the same night he arrived in Ponyville? Was that related to him? The guards will have plenty of questions about this. And they'll want to know what's wrong with his horn. Maybe conduct experiments. Or simply sawing it off to study it. He came to know no one cared about the different, or ''monsters'' as they called it. He wasn't a pony, and he'll never be in their eyes. And yet, he was again thinking about himself in front of a critically injured pony. He forgot to count hom many times that situation happened. It was time to retire. To go somewhere, deep in a forest, and stop being around innocent ponies. He brought harm everywhere. He didn't belong. He didn't deserve to save another's life. Yet he felt like he needed to save him. By any means. ''Musician, i swear, i won't let you die.'', he muttered, his voice cracking slightly. For an unknown reason, there was some liquid in his eyes. It came from his eyes. What the hay was that? Tears? Why?
Nightshade smiled sadly, thinking about her own past. "We all have secrets," she said quietly. Yawning again, she realized that she would not be able to keep herself awake for much longer. "But, this is a conversation for another time. I find that it is becoming difficult to keep my eyes open. Would you be so kind as to show me where I will be sleeping?"
Snow nodded, "I could, if you're willing to remove your wing from me, as I find it ver-" she suddenly yawned, and seemingly started to involuntarily use Nightshade as a pillow, "Very hard to move anywhere with it on me."
"Right... sorry... I... I..." Whatever Nightshade was trying to say, she didn't finish. Utterly exhausted by the events of the day, she had fallen asleep on the couch beside Snow.
Snow chuckled slightly at Nightshade's falling asleep, and before she knew it, she was falling asleep as well... (Wait for others to advance?)
Crimson was still alive on the operating table, but just barely. The first sword blow he had taken was just inches from his heart, while the other stabbings across his chest hit vital areas. Shower's medical training and talent was enough to keep him alive. Still unconscious, the majority of the wounds he had taken in the violent attack were healed within the next two hours. His breathing returned to normal, but there was still a 50/50 chance of survival. All he had to do was wait...
(There, won't have to wait too long, Crim.) Saul wanted to follow in the operation room, when the ambulance arrived at the hospital. But the doctors all said he had to wait, that nopony could be there; and he didn't want to be in their way. Strangely, the doctors weren't too scared of his horn. But the few other ponies, patients or not, almost ran when they saw him. Some, brave enough, walked past him, keeping their distances, head low. They all knew about changelings, and the sight of a changeling's horn on somepony wasn't really welcomed. The few who looked at his cutie mark couldn't really stand it either; a peeping eye with two tentacles was a little frightening. When the doctors left with him, past the door written ''personnel only'', Saul sat down in the hallway. A little filly was sitting on a chair, a few meters away from him. She was crying softly. He started to realize that fillies like her were sent to his office sometimes. He saw fillies, colts, mares and stallions cry. A lot. He even caused them to cry. But this time, he felt like crying too. He knew the musician would make it; he was deeply wounded, lost a lot of blood, but a part of him wouldn't think about any possibility of him dying. He didn't even know him. For all he cared, he could have been the robber and stabbed ponies almost to death, with little to no remorse. The filly forced herself to stop crying, but still sobbed. Saul wasn't looking at her, but he heard her trying to reduce her waves of tears and trembling respiration from shaking her violently. But he wasn't paying much attention. Until he heard a small noise coming from her. He turned his head towards her, trying his best to show a 'smile'. She cleared her throat, and looked at his horn. But it sisn't stop her. ''Do you think she'll be Ok?'' ''I don't know, lil' filly. Who are you talking about?'' She lowered her head. ''My mom. I had a magic burst, and it hit her. They say she'll be alright, but she bleeded and...'' She cried a bit, ''And she fell and stopped to move... And they say she's in coma...'' Saul approached. ''There, there. Don't cry. I'm sure they'll fix her. It's their job to save lives, you know.'' She smiled sadly. ''Are you sure?'' Saul sat next to her. ''I'm putting my friend in their hooves. I wouldn't if i didn't trust them. So yes, your mother will be fine. They will surely give her a room and let you see her before sunrise.'' ''Thanks. You look scary, but you're nice.'' It was Saul's turn to lower a bit. ''Nice... I'm used to terms like 'monster', 'horrible', 'ugly'... It's good to hear something positive from somepony.'' She smiled. ''Older ponies are always scared of what they don't know. Mom used to say that...'' She zoned out for a moment. ''If you say my mommy will be alright, then she will, right?'' Saul looked at her. ''Let me tell you something my sister used to tell me. If you beleive in something enough, Celestia will know it, and do everything to grant that wish.'' The filly looked right in his eyes, and Saul felt a little tingly thing somewhere in his chest. ''Then i'm sure mommy will be right up by tomorrow!'' Saul chuckled. ''That's the spirit. There's no need to lay down and cry; you mother wouldn't want you to feel bad and all sappy.'' She nodded. ''Hum-hum. Thank you! What's your name?'' ''I'm Saul Laski. What about you?'' ''I'm Fairy Mint.'' She chuckled. ''Your name is weird.'' Saul looked at the ceiling. ''That's because i'm not from here. I'm from an old empire named Hivestread.'' The filly chuckled. It sounded like crystals. ''Where in the hay is that?'' Saul looked at her. ''Have you ever seen a map of Equestria?'' She nodded. ''Well, it's mostly near the Dragon's lands. In a peacefull village, away from dragons. South the Haysead Swamps, on the borders of the Badlands. But it doesn't exists anymore.'' She pouted. ''why so?'' ''We had to flee a Changeling's invasion. That's when they took me. I was younger than you, but i can remember it so... clearly.'' ''The Changelings took you away?'' ''I woke up with my weird horn, in Canterlot, in a box. That's mostly it. My parents were gone. Even today, i doubt they're still... Alive...'' She looked down. ''Don't be sad for me. I've barley known them. They gave me something i'm quite proud of, though. Life. And an orphan filly who followed me around, and called me brother. And a filly, just now, who wasn't afraid of my difference.'' Fairy Mint smiled sadly, before yawning. ''You should get some sleep; you want to be awake when your mother gets out of that room.'' She nodded. ''You're right. It was nice talking to ya, Saul.'' ''It was, indeed. Now shut those eyes; i'll wake you up when she gets out.'' The filly smiled, nodded, and curled in a fetus position on the chair, before going to sleep. But as soon as she closed her eyes, she whispered. ''I hope your friend will be okay, too.'' Saul pated her. ''He will. Thanks.''
Light Showers, assured by his best equipment that said that Crimson's condition had stabilized, he took a moment to wipe the sweat off his brow and look at the almost pristine condition he had left Crimson's body, the only thing endangering his life now is the low amount of blood in his system, which was slowly being replaced by U-type blood(universal aka pony version of O-type blood). Confident the local doctors could take over from here, he gathered up his equipment and have a small nod to the doctors left in the room, "You should be able to take care of him from here, I would say he needs another 1-2 pints of blood, then we can let his body take over. Will probably be about a 2-3 month recovery period." He said before ducking out, leaving the doctors inside glad they had one of the most exprienced trauma and magical incidents doctors in Equestria on hoof , or else it was likely that Ponyville's favorite musician would have passed away. Light looked at one pony who seemed to instantly pay attention to him the moment he stepped out of the room, "Well, I don't know your relation to that Crimson stallion in there, but he's fine now. He's currently in an induced coma in order to give his body time to recover without worry of anything else. I give it another 6-12 hours before he's ready to be brought out." He said simply before trotting into the next room, the room with Fairy Mint's mother, where he instantly got to work trying to undue the magical damage done, a task he would have deemed impossible a mere 3 years ago, but after that CEO Snow Mark released that paper on the relation between the life giving essence and the conscious mind and body, and how magic kills usually by destroying the connections between the two, if a pony wasn't killed, it would be possible to fix those connections, and thus save that pony's life.
Saul saw the doctor walk to the other room, and politel nodded at him. When the door closed with a click, the filly shifted, but didn't wake up. He looked at the clock. It was running early. He wanted to sleep too, but there's no way he could possibly sleep. He wanted to be there for the musician. He needed to think about this. Why was he always thinking about a normal pony. Why couldn't he stop worrying about him, even knowing he'd be alright? A few minutes passed. He couldn't stand it anymore. He was bored to think. He knocked on the door. He could assist the doctor. If it was the filly's mom, he knew a lot about magic- maybe saving some other pony's life would change his mood.
The nurse nudge the door open and spoke in a quick, hushed tone, "Sh! Later! Doctor Showers is in the middle of an extremely delicate magical operation! The slightest distraction could kill his patient! Go!" And with that, the nurse quietly closed the door to leave Saul alone.
Saul blocked the door with his hoof. ''I know a lot of magic. Let me in, and i'll save the poor mare.''
The nurse shook her head, "no! Doctor Showers is tending to this pony's essence connections, there is literally nothing you CAN do. It's a one pony operation, and Doctor Showers is about the most qualified doctor in Equestria in these matters, now good day!" With that, the nurse made sure the door shut all the way, blocking any attempt by Saul to stop the door from closing.
