Fang hated getting knocked out; it was always a pain in the flanks and it was disorienting to wake up from it.

The sound of clinking as she tried to move her legs was even worse.

Damn, she mentally cursed. Either they know who I am, or this doctor’s really obsessive about keeping his patients in one place. Either way, I’m in trouble.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” a voice off to the side grumbled. “My latest guest from another stupid barfight is back in the waking world.”

Snorting, Fang turned her head to see where this doctor was but he was hidden from view behind a wall that was covering half of his workshop. “What a warm welcome back,” she rolled her eyes before shaking her leg. “Care to explain this?”

“Beyond the fact you and that… speed pony,” he stuttered a bit, seemingly scared for some reason. “Got into a fight, it is something I’ve incorporated into treating patients of more notable tendencies to be… flighty.”

“Really?” Fang laid as much sarcasm as she could, turning her head to the other side, seeing her bag and crossbow, as well as the door. “What on Equuis could make you do that?”

“Well,” the doctor said as he walked up behind her. “Back in the war of our tribes against the Speed and Electric ponies, there was this one crazy mare that refused to be treated. She had so many injuries but she was so thick headed that she went to go to Soft Bandage to be treated and I couldn’t stop her due to an influx of patients. So now if I feel a patient of mine will be difficult, I take matters into my own hooves.”

“That’s fascinating,” Fang grumbled and hissed as the doctor began to poke her sore body. “Reminds me of this complete asshole doctor that refused to treat me; sure I might have-” she couldn’t stop herself from letting out a yip of pain and shock as he pushed onto the small of her back, causing her wings to unfold before blushing as something cold was brushed across it. Closing her eyes shut, Fang forced herself to continue on “might have had a few extra injuries but I was part of an assault squad; it means I needed to be able to get back into battle quickly so I could help move the line closer to the enemy and help our side win the war.” Fang grumbled into her hoof, letting out an annoyed sigh. “And this pushy medic tells me no, I need to go lay down and stuff and then he has the gall to push on a wound as if to prove he’s correct or something.” Rolling over to the other side so she could look the doctor in the face, she continued speaking. “I mean, isn’t it some kind of oath you guy hav-” she trailed off as she saw that her doctor was the medic pony she had been searching for! Light blue eyes, eggshell white coat, pale green mane and tail... But before she could even continue to say anything, the flutter pony pushed something onto her tongue and shined a light into her mouth.

“Yes, you are correct that there is an oath, but I suppose he was quite busy that day,” he said, looking deeper into her mouth. “And thank you for opening up, this does save me some time.”

Staring gobsmacked at him, she dimly closed her mouth while the pony in front of her continued to scribble some notes down on a levitating clipboard. “I would recommend you see a specialist for your teeth; in your little fight, you chipped one of your fangs.”

Shaking her head to clear her mind, Fang managed to push herself upright as far as she could. “You!” she jabbed a hoof towards him.

“Me who?” he asked, frowning and narrowing his eyes.

“From the war!” she shouted, shaking her head in disbelief. “How can you not remember me?!”

“As I recall, all of your warriors wore masks,” he said, eyeing her sternly.

Forcing back a blush, Fang shook her head and said, “I mean, you were the medic that refused to serve me for my minor injury.”

“As I recall, you were the idiot that wanted to go back out into the fight,” the stallion said, blinking a couple of times before lightening his horn up and sending a probe of magic through her body. With a snort and a roll of his eyes, he peered down at her and pushed a hoof onto her chest, directly onto the place that her injury had never healed properly. “If you had listened to me back then, ma’am, this would not be hurting you.”

With a hiss, she slapped his hoof away and pulled him in close. “It would not be hurting if you were not purposely making it hurt!”

“Excuse me for trying to care for my patients, miss!” he snapped back, shaking his head at her. “If it were not for my oath to treat everypony, I would toss you out of here this sec-”

“Sshh,” she slapped a hoof across his mouth, ears twitching as she tilted her head. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” he asked just before somepony started banging on the door. In response, the doctor yipped loudly and ducked under her table.

Blinking in disbelief at his cowardness, she rolled off the bed as best as she could to glare at the pony.

“What are you doing?!” she hissed at the shaking Flutter pony.

“I’m sorry, it just startled me,” he said, pulling himself from under the table. “We Flutter ponies don’t do well with surprises. Or stress. Or confrontation.”

“And yet you were able to mouth off to me just fine,” Fang muttered as she shifted in this unnatural position. “Look, be careful when you open the door; the bitch that punched me is searching for me due to the fact I killed her sister.”

“You what?!” he squeaked, standing upright and smacking his head into the table, muttering something under his breath. “You killed-”

“It was during the war, you dunce!” Fang hissed. “She was an enemy soldier; besides, I was supposed to wipe out the entire squad, but one got away. The one I’m in here from getting hit by.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” he said, blinking rapidly in a way that was oddly endearing. “But wait; isn’t going after ponies for what they did in the war kinda… not allowed?”

“Oh yes, but I don’t think she cares, and besides that one of the wardens is helping the nutcase find me!”

“Oh my that’s terrible!” he said with his eyes widening. “Don’t worry, we can go to my homeland in Glistening Valley and I can get Tiny Terror to help you.”

“What, you really think you can get your alicorn to help me?” Fang asked, blinking in surprise.

“Of course,” he said, nodding his head as his horn lit up and the chain holding her arm to the bed came undone, causing her to smack herself in the face. “Go grab your belongings and hide under the bed, I will get rid of the pony at the door.”

Doing as she was told, Fang watched the stallion open the door to see a warden push their way into the office, shoving the doctor into a wall. “Where is she?”

“Wh-”

“The bat mare,” the warden snapped into the Flutter pony’s face. “I’ve been searching for this individual and I believe your latest patient may have some information on them.”

Stammering, he said, “Sh-she left a while ago,” he said while picking himself up. “I -I’m sorr-”

“As you should be,” the warden sneered, bumping into the doctor and knocking him over again. “All you had to do was keep her here.”

Before the doctor could stammer an apology, the warden spun around and left the office, slamming the door shut.

Doing the best to hold back her snarl of anger, Fang moved herself out from under the bed and looked over the stallion. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes,” he said with a bit of shakiness in his voice. “I’m a Flutter pony; I’m used to other ponies bossing me around…”

“That’s not right,” Fang snorted as she slipped her bag onto her back. “Look, get your stuff ready to go as soon as possible and don’t say it, I understand I am being a complete hypocrite.”

Chuckling to himself, the stallion lit his horn again as items began to fly around into a saddle bag. “I may not have been part of your army, but I was still in the army and one thing they made sure we were able to do was pack up and get out of the area quickly.”

“A very useful tactic for noncombatants,” Fang noted, with the stallion perking up with pride. “Come along, we should leave now.”

Nodding his head as he opened a window out into the storm, he was actually smart enough to allow her to go first as she was the more martial trained of the two. Squirming her way through the window and dropping to the ground, she quickly looked around for any trouble. Seeing none, she tapped the wall behind her with her hoof, with the Flutter pony letting out a squeak of surprise before grunting as he climbed out the window and landed next to her with another squeak.

Turning her head to check on him, Fang saw him pull himself upright. Nodding her head at him, the two began to run down the street out of the small town. After an hour of running and despite his shorter legs, the stallion was able to keep up with her just fine.

Turning her head to the side, she spotted a small hill and walked towards it with the doctor behind her. Walking to the other side of the hill, Fang let out a smile as she saw a burrow.

“We’ll be safe in there tonight,” she told him as she climbed in first, throwing her pack into the farthest part of the hole. “Pegasi hate being underground and she’ll never expect me to hide down here.”

“That seems reasonable,” he replied, sliding in next to her. “Somewhat of a tight fit though.”

“Well it is getting late and we needed to get off the road before something happened,” Fang said as she propped up her crossbow and pointed it towards the outside of the burrow while shifting to get comfortable, a wing almost draping the pony next to her. “I’ll keep an eye on things from here; make sure nopony comes sneaking up on us.”

“Thank you…” he trailed off, looking up at her. “I’m sorry, I never got your name.”

“I’m Snarling Fang,” she said, looking down at him.

Leaning against her, his soft coat against her chest, he replied, “My name is Tough Love.”