Chapter 11 – Healthy Practices

The morning came early, much earlier than she would have liked it to. Fluttershy lay in bed, as her eyes adjusted to the light coming from her window, a light that gently caressed her cheeks as she curled up in her familiar sheets surrounded by animals of all kinds, and suddenly, a knock at the door and her dream vanished as she looked up, slightly drowsy from the restless night, "Yes?" she groaned as she looked up, not a drop of sunlight in this grey metal room.

"It's me Fluttershy." she heard Blade say from the other side, "Piks was able to get us some Points, I think you might want to go into town and see if you can gather any decent medical supplies for our team."

"Ok." she said groggily as she lifted herself from the bed and slid to the floor to actually wake up.

"Are…you ok?" the stallion asked, "You sound, out of it."

"I'll be ok." she said softly, finally knowing she was letting her tiredness show. She opened the door and saw him standing there. A worried expression in his eyes and his long coat firmly wrapped around his shoulders, trailing down nearly to the floor behind him. The golden bands on his front legs nearly touched the tops of his hooves as well as the thick belt that wrapped around his waist to hold the ensemble together. A yawn escaping her mouth as she looked at him, "Just tired."

"Didn't sleep well?" he asked as he walked with her.

"Not really." she admitted, "I miss my animal friends."

"I understand." he said to her as the two of them made their way towards the main garage, "Despite him getting on my nerves, and blaming me for a lot of things; I kind of miss Angel Bunny and Discord."

"Discord blamed you for something?" she asked as they finally made their way into the garage.

"Nope, Angel tried to blame me for something after I refused to break the rules for him." he explained.

"What rule?" she asked curiously.

"Sorry Fluttershy, I promised not to tell." he said, and pulled the corners of his mouth up into what she could now tell was a cheeky smile, "We came to a compromise."

"Good." she said as her energy started returning. Suddenly she found a large plate in her way, one carrying a large number of cups filled with hot cocoa.

"Figured you'd both like a pick-me-up." Spike said happily as he held onto the plate from underneath.

"Thank you Spike." Fluttershy said as the two of them each grabbed a cup using their wing. The little dragon's response was a simple smile, and off he went to serve others.

"Writch and I are going to go over the drive system, try and see what kind of adjustments we need to make to have it fit Rainbow Dash." he told her solemnly.

"I had no idea that mechanics worked so hard." Fluttershy admitted as she turned to the progress they had made. The hull was nearly put together, the white shell of the Meltackian luxury ship wrapping around what was once the skeleton of the ship, the nose pointed and one of the wings almost fully pieced together in the shape of a pegasus wing.

"This part is only temporary." he told her, and wrapped his unoccupied wing around her shoulders, "Once the ship is placed together, we'll be placed on maintenance and have a bit more free time on our hooves. During the race, we'll all have to be ready. Writch and I are seeing if we can build a second Rainbow Trail just in case."

Fluttershy smiled at his embrace and inhaled deeply, "If I'm going to be ready, I'll need some bandages and aloe, and other medical supplies." she said as she thought through the list of things she'll need.

"Take Piks with you, he'll know more about the things you'll need than anypony here. Just be on guard and be careful ok?" he asked her.

She smiled, and turned to him, "I promise." was all she said and she walked up to the red-furred fox man. "Piks, can you help me?" she asked getting the Dryskian's attention, as well as the two twins at his feet. The instant they saw her, they squealed and began running around her, just to climb up on her back and start playing with her wings. Piks sighed, and then moved over to them, pulling the twins off of her as she giggled with the two children.

"Sorry Ms. They're at that age when they just have to climb everything and everyone." he explained.

Fluttershy simply giggled, "They're alright." she simply said, and turned to the Dryskian, "I'm going to need a few things to prepare for the medical side of the races. All the bandages I found are covered in oil and I don't see any wing braces."

"Hmmm. Medical supplies huh?" he asked and turned just as Pinkie Pie walked up.

"Whatcha thinking about?" the pink pony asked.

"Just how I know a guy we can get our medical supplies from." he said, "A friendly Hylop named Kalin."

"What's a Hylop?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

"Like a cat person of sorts, they like to be social and group together when they can. Love swimming." he said, and then licked his lips, "Fish is one of their favorite meals."

"They eat FISH?" Pinkie asked as she scrunched her face in confusion.

"Most cats do Pinkie." Fluttershy told her.

"I know that, but have you ever seen a Dryskian eat a giant ugly bug?" Pinkie said in response.

"Oh Piks, you didn't…" Phis groaned.

"EEW!" the twins said in unison.

"It was a once in a lifetime experience." he argued happily.

"You mean the one time I wasn't there to stop you." she corrected him, getting him to grin sheepishly.

Fluttershy looked back and forth confusion and disgust both on her face, "Ok."

"Anyway, Kalin is a great friend, he's been running a wonderful clinic somewhere in the middle of North Square. Great with all kinds of aliens and animals." he said, then turned to the twins, "And kids." The two of them visibly flinched as he said this, and ducked behind their mother. All she did was smile. "He'll have what you need, and at a reasonable price."

"We'll go with you!" Pinkie said and moved to be right next to Fluttershy.

At nearly the same speed, Piks arrived on the opposite side of her, "It'll be great!"

Now sandwiched between two very happy smiles she felt like this was going to be an interesting adventure, and she might not have been ready for it, "Um, maybe in a bit. I don't know if I'm…" she never got to finish; Pinkie pulled her to the garage door.

"Come on!" the pink pony shouted, "We've got medical supplies to get, and the trip to North Square is going to be a while."

"But…" she began and turned to the crew. Blade had a look of surprise on his face like he hadn't expected to see what he was seeing. In his hooves, he held a paper plate with what looked to be an apple tart on it. Then, as the realization hit him, he ran right for her, plate in hoof.

She was now on something that looked like a train. Pinkie and Piks had pulled/pushed her all the way to the station, and somehow, Blade was there with her, both curious as to how that had happened. "You two really needed to get out of that garage." Pinkie said in bliss.

"Uh…" Blade said as he sat there with Fluttershy. The plate now in her hoof, and she still was confused as to how all of this happened.

"It was nice of you to bring Fluttershy some breakfast on the go." Piks admitted, and lifted a single blue card with a rainbow printed on the front of it, "I got these cards made for our team, this one will help you pay for medical supplies." he said as he handed it to the grey stallion. "Don't lose it."

Luckily, he had remembered to put his coat on this time, so he placed the card inside his pocket. "It says on the schedule, North Square Station will be about two hours from now." Pinkie said, and somehow Blade snapped back to reality.

"Wait, two hours?" he asked, "But I need to be at the garage right now. Writch and I were going to…"

"Too late now!" Piks said and leaned back, "Look, just relax and enjoy the ride. Pinkie and I are going to acquire our team more funds, so you can stay with Fluttershy all day."

Bladed turned to the yellow pegasus next to him, eyes wide open as he kept his surprise on his face, "I…guess I haven't really been paying much attention to her since we got here." he said, mostly to himself, "But how will I tell the others about my unexpected absence?"

"Just use the Komlin when you get to Kalin's place. Oh, and tell him Piks says hi." the Dyskian said as he relaxed.

"Komlin?" Blade asked as Fluttershy finally took a bite of her pastry.

"Oh yah, you two haven't been here for at least one Cycle. Komlin is the new communications device, the company streamlined all of it." Piks explained, and leaned back again, to let his eyes close.

Blade sighed a bit, then looked to Fluttershy, watching as she finished off the last of her pastry. 'Well.' he thought, 'I was planning on taking her to lunch before all of this happened, I guess better late than never.'