Chapter 6: Invitation
The hospital, despite being in the most colorful town in Equestria, was a drab and dreary place. I flew there after the next day, as the paramedics had instructed me to. Slender and Fluttershy came with me, I had to carry Slender on my back as we flew, which gives me that much more respect for Necktie. Slender is a very heavy pony, and I am a very weak mare. I was sweating and out of breath by the time we landed.
We asked the nurse at the front desk what room Necktie was in.
"Room Nine. It's… kind of hard to miss." She said. I had to agree with her as there were only a total of ten patient rooms in the hospital, and the rest was one giant surgery and health clinic.
"Knock knock." I said, opening his door.
"Hey, you." He said in a scratchy voice. The manticore had hit him in the throat, so he couldn't talk very well.
"Rainbow Dash? What happened?" said Fluttershy, entering the room. I looked over and saw Rainbow Dash in another bed across the room.
"It's nothin', I just broke my wing trying to do a triple back flip and then rocket dive into the lake. I, uh, hit a tree. Hard." She said. She seemed to not have noticed me and had her face buried, much like Twilight's frequently is, in a book. I couldn't read the title.
As she talked with Fluttershy, I walked over to my injured friend. Slender was already there, looking at the tools keeping him alive.
"So, how are you holding up?" I asked. He decided not to speak, but to write it down on a whiteboard the doctors had given him.
My legs are healed up fine, but my chest and my throat are seriously injured. I have to stay at least another week while the doctors perform surgical magic on me.
"Well, what are you going to do with your spare time?" I asked. I was very curious at what he did when not fighting huge monsters and eating cupcakes. His reply surprised me.
I'm going to mostly practice on the guitar. I have a song I'm working on, but I can't get the guitar part right.
"Well, your guitar broke on the way over to Ponyville, remember?" said Slender, crushing his brother's plans. Necktie thought for a bit, then handed me a bag of bits from his saddlebag, which laid on the side table next to his bed.
Go to a music shop and buy me a new guitar. Go with Slender and get one like the one I had. He'll find one like it.
I nodded and left the hospital, saying goodbye to the nurse that helped us. Slender tagged along and then I realized that I didn't know where a music shop was. I stopped someone on the street and asked them if they knew where one was.
"Well, I believe there is one if you go all the way down the road the library is on, and turn left. It should be one of the first buildings there," said the white unicorn.
"Thank you so much. My name is Velvet, by the way." I said, offering my hoof to her. She shook it.
"Oh, my, what a simply marvelous name! I do so love velvet. My name is Rarity. I own the town's fashion boutique." She said.
"Ooh, a boutique. I'll have to stop by for a visit! I could use some accessories. I'm looking a bit… bland." I said. "But, I have to go! Thanks so much for the help!"
I grabbed Slender, who was asking another pony about it, and took off to where the music store was. As we passed the library, however, we were stopped by Twilight.
"Hey, I was just about to go get you! I got a letter from Princess Celestia in response to the one I sent her about you." She said. "She says that she would like to meet you as soon as you can go up to Canterlot."
"That would be great! I'll get ready!" I said. Then I remembered the bits in y borrowed saddlebag and my friend in the hospital and made a decision.
"I'm afraid it'll have to wait a bit, actually. My friend Necktie is in the hospital, and I'm going to visit him every day until he gets out." I said.
"Well, I'll tell Celestia real quick and have Spike send the letter. Thanks for letting me know" she said.
"No problem!" I said, already walking towards the music store. I followed the directions I was given and came across a small, but retro looking, building.
As soon as I entered, the entire vibe of the world around me seemed to change from regular life, to excited and happy.
"Hey, new customers! How are you?" said a pony from behind the counter. She had a punk-rock hairstyle and big sunglasses.
"We're just looking to get a guitar." Said Slender, heading over to a wall covered in electric guitars. He looked for a minutes, then seemed to find what he was looking for.
"Can you get me down that black one, right there? It has red paint splattered on it, like a bloodstain." He said. The pony, apparently a pegasus, flew up and retrieved it for him.
"How much is it?" he asked.
"Well, that depends. What are you going to use it for?" she asked.
"Actually, it's for my brother. His got broken in a street fight with a couple of gangsters. It was epic how it broke, but he's in the hospital now and wants a new one." He explained.
'Wow… that's pretty sweet. I'll give it to you for two hundred bits." She said. She dumped the bag of bits I handed her into a counting machine and it counted out two hundred bits, putting the rest back in the bag.
"Tell your brother he had better stop by and have a jam session with me!" she called out as we left.
Necktie smiled as we told him about the pony at them music store, and began to tune the strings. I had never actually seen a pony play the guitar before, and I was dying to see it, and hear it.
"Hey, don't you have a job or something?" asked Slender. I facehoofed. I had completely forgotten about my job!
"I'm going to go to work. You just… play that guitar." I said, leaving. I arrived at the Sugarcube Corer, and saw Mr. Cake standing at the cash register.
"Hey, Mr. Cake, I am so sorry that I didn't show up for work yesterday. I was attacked by a manticore, and my friend fought it off and now he's in the hospital." I said, rambling on.
"Well, that sounds like a pretty good reason not to come to work. And, besides, I heard from Pinkie what happened." He said. "She was visiting Rainbow Dash in the hospital when your friend came in."
"Well, I can get to work now!" I said.
"Take over the register for me. I'll wait the tables. Pinkie is in the kitchen again, so all posts are covered." He said. I just nodded and got on my hat and apron.
The rest of the workday was torture. There were so many customers that my hands cramped up from having to punch in the numbers. The counting machine helped, but I still didn't enjoy. It also seemed to last longer than any other work day in my LIFE. I desperately wanted to get back to Necktie and keep him company, but I was stuck here.
Finally, though, after six grueling hours, I collected my pay and my tips and flew to the hospital as fast as my wings could carry me.
"I told you, visiting hours are over! They ended at eight o'clock. It is ten o'clock at night. Just come back tomorrow." said the nurse at the front desk. I had been trying hard for the past ten minutes to convince her to let me go and visit my fearless friend.
"Fine. I give up." I said. I went back home, grumpy and and Slender were already in bed and asleep when I got there, so I just hopped in bed and was out like a light.
The Next Day
Morning came and went, and I slept through it. It came to be afternoon, and I was woken up by Fluttershy. She couldn't wake me up her way, so she tried mine and slapped me across the face.
"You're lucky you're so nice. I can't stay mad at you, even for a minute." I said. We flew over to the hospital, Slender staying behind this time (I refused to carry him under any circumstances). When I walked into the room, I was surprised to see, and hear, Necktie singing to Rainbow Dash.
The song he was singing, which he called "Escape from the City", was an amazing song. And I was very jealous, mostly because one part caught my attention.
"Rolling around at the speed of sound,
Got places to go, gotta follow my rainbow.
Can't stick around, have to keep moving on,
Guess what lies ahead, only one way to find out!"
That part, follow my rainbow… it made my heart break inside when I realized that he really was singing it to Rainbow Dash. I left the room, tears starting to form in my eyes. He never even saw me.
Hey, everyone, BigBadFluttershy here. I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up quite literally all night to bring you guys another chapter before I left. I got to bring my laptop, so I may just be able to keep the stories coming! Not too much other than that, but I'm always accepting character profiles for insertion into the story, either by PM or review.
The pony that only cares a little bit, BigBadFluttershy