My Little Tactics

Chapter Four: Off Schedule.

“I’m back!” He called out, not sure if anyone was home or not but either way before an answer even came back he was already trying to peel off his armor. His yelp of pain, both cause he was no longer producing adrenaline from his encounter with the Bomb and the fact as he went to peel off his armor and clothing did he find that there was more than a few splinters that now called his back, the back of his arms, and his legs their new home very likely from the detonation the flaming sphere put off when it came to critical condition.

His yelp caused the sound of hooves on wood as Zecora came out from the back room. “I heard your call but didn’t think to reply. Myself and many other ponies at the train station were more focused on the sky.”

He gave a nod and gritted his teeth as he found that his voice wouldn’t come out now with how much pain his body was in. The sound of water splattering against the wood of the floor caught his attention and looking down he saw that it was sweat dripping off his body. He tossed was tossed to the ground only to be followed by his shirt that is when he heard his teacher gasp. He could only give her a questioning look before he followed her eyes down to his shirt. The back of it was completely bloody.

“Quickly you must lay down.” He briefly gave her a questioning look before she just urged him down. “I am not making a joke as if I was a clown.” He did as she asked though with how his body was yelling at him, getting down was likely the easiest part of this, getting up would be a different matter. “Whatever caused this must have caused quite an uproar; especially with how deep this wood has in your skin bore.”

He wanted to answer her honestly but still couldn’t find his voice, well including minor hints of pain to out in whimpers whenever she pulled out a stubborn splinter. He was pretty sure that he had gone in and out of consciousness a few times as he remembered a few times when he caught the clock out of the corner of his eyes and watched it sometimes miraculously skip ahead between what felt like blinks. A few times he caught sight of other things, specifically small wash basin that the Zebra was using explaining the occasional cool feeling on his heated body. When the rag was removed he caught sight of how red it was making him briefly wonder if it was as bad as it looked or if it was just a lot of shallow cuts and holes making a lot of mess.

His answer never came as time once more skipped between the blinks of his consciousness as he came to with something more than cool being applied to his back that was both soothing and slimy. “Hush my friend and stay calm. This is a type of healing balm.” He wasn’t frightened at all but Zecora’s tone left no room for argument at all. “When you can find your voice I would like an explanation on how this came to occur. For now though I need you to help me remove your cloths so I can find if you have any more of this type of spur.”

They had discussed before his want of clothing and why he always tended to wear it while doing everything. He had explained it was a combination of his species view on sexuality, the need for warmth and comfort with the lack of fur, as well as time playing a factor in enforcing it in the minds of his people. She understood and left it the subject alone after that point but with his injuries and the fact more pain was coming from his waist down meant he had to get her help for this.

Mustering up as much strength as he could he undid his belt, removed it and started to tug down everything all while muttering a single thing. “Sorry.”

He said it not because of him feeling shame for his body or anything, but for two reasons. The first being Zecora having to work so hard to help him out like this when he was the guest and shouldn’t be causing her this much trouble. The second reason is his strength gave out and he couldn’t get his clothing any lower than his knees forcing the shaman to remove them the rest of the way. He remembered only one more thing from him lying there, him going to say sorry once more as he could see by the red face of the Zebra that he had clearly embarrassed her.

Dustan barely heard he reply before he passed out completely this time. “Sleep my friend so that your energy will no longer drain. While you rest you will also be free of pain.”

The next couple of days found the Squire struggle to move to anyplace but the floor with bandages covering his entire back as well as the back portion of his arms and legs. Zecora had stated that he would heal quicker if the wounds weren’t exposed and covered with that healing balm she had placed there. It also got really awkward as he had to use her support to make it to the restroom to relieve himself or when he couldn’t manage to move his arms enough to eat anything she prepared. Needless to say he couldn’t manage to hide his ‘dignity’ from her eyes in that state and she got more than an eyeful of it as she helped out.

It wasn’t even till the third day that he could manage to even drag himself to the restroom by himself though luckily by this time he managed to get a towel to cover himself though from the looks of things while his armor had protected him somewhat along his back, mainly his upper back, his sides and lower back had taken the full brunt since that type of armor focused mostly on the chest than anything else.

It was on the fourth day that something happened and honestly it started in such a way that Dustan didn’t even realize what was happening. Zecora promptly announced that she would be heading out to search for more of the herbs she needed for the healing balm she had been using on him. He told her promptly that he would be alright that he could move around a bit without being in pain. That got a smile from his zebra friend who told him that there were leftovers in the kitchen if he got hungry of if she stayed out late.

Honestly Dustan was happy she was away, it was just last night that he had once more visited the classroom.This time he found that he had enough points for a few skills if he wanted to get them, as well as something having unlocked: A second level to the skill Tactical Eye. Considering what the first level could do he was considering getting it but that meant he would have no points for anything else this time around. His choice made he ended up going with the upgrade, now finding that its descriptor allowed him to see not only the HP, MP, and CT of his enemies, but now their Names, Genders, Class, and Zodiac sign. He was still missing things like bravery, faith and such but he could live without those things for now. That and he had no clue how to unlock anything further on that. There was also the warning of those with abilities to hide their stats, those that were more than a few levels higher, and those with certain items could fool or hide their information from this ability.

Having down time was both good and bad in that there was nothing to do but think while he was healing up. He thought back to his fight with the goblins, something he was loathed to do but then again his mind gave him no choice in that he couldn’t help BUT think of them. It was during that time he remembered the red glow of his sword and the surge of power he felt, he remembered that clearly once he forced himself to go over the scene once more. He remember in sharp clarity the feeling, how he felt like his blow came off quite a good bit stronger than it should have. The Goblin should not have been one-shot when it was clearly in the advantage like that.

Lying on the couch like he was he noticed a couple of small slivers of wood that had fallen on it, likely from the fact not every single bit of wood was able to be pulled from his back when it had swollen up from the wounds. Flicking one away he suddenly had a though and noted where it landed. Locking on to another piece of wood he looked at it and breathed in slowly and exhaled. Part of him thought what he was doing was stupid for sure as he just concentrated on the wood before him; part of him wanted to stop and give up and find something better to do. Another part of him told that part to shut up because they had nothing better to do.

It seemed that his persistence paid off as well as he felt power surge to his fingers making them glow just like his sword had and as he went to flick the splinter away it went further than the other. “That’s it! It’s so simple!” He had gotten so excited that he jumped up right away though that caused more than a small bit of pain as he groaned at that.“I am so stupid! Of course I can’t activate skills from commands because this isn’t a game. It’s real. If Ivalice was real then how would Ramza and the rest activate their skills?” His grin came more and more easily to his face as he ranted to himself. “They wouldn’t. Those would be skills that are natural to them, turn based combat would be laughable to them as that is just a mechanic for the player. Everything would be from experience and would be done in real time.” Looking at his arm his face took a small look of concentration before his whole arm started to glow red before he let it go. “Aim+1 is a skill that makes the person concentrate on what they want to hit to hit it harder or more effectively. The Archer’s ability, which means I guess I have that equipped to my second ability slot. So if that means all my abilities are done by my knowledge and actions not by command. When I throw those rock, that was the skill; me making the salve is the same way. That wasn’t done instantly or by a command but by knowledge.”

Wouldn’t believe how plainly the answer was staring into his face the whole time and he was just too dumb to see it. Feeling the need for something specific he headed towards the restroom, specifically the mirror over the skin. Breathing out slowly he had to look at it and concentrate with only one thought in his mind.

I want to know

He was rewarded for his effort as a window popped up in his vision just like it had for the goblins. Sure this wasn’t something that likely could be done for Ramza and his crew in real time, but it meant that skills weren’t exclusive to battle for specific things like reading levels and such.

Speaking of he looked upon his plate and seen what it said. “Name: Dustan, Level: Five, Hp: Unknown, MP: Unknown, Gender: Male, Zodiac Sign: Virgo, Class: Squire.” Looking at his stats he couldn’t help but wonder a simple question: why the hell couldn’t he read his HP and MP? The best guess he had was that it was tied to more realism in how things worked. Sometimes you had to judge your own state because you couldn’t see how exhausted you were? He wasn’t sure what it was honestly and just chalked it up to the weirdness surrounding him.

Deciding to have some of those leftovers mentioned, he went and warmed them up. Turned out to be a rather tasty stew, though of what he never did know since Zecora was the one to always cook. That and he couldn’t watch her this time to even guess what it was to be. After eating he went on to just think, think about how to change classes mostly. Was it something you just thought and happened? Did there need to be a specific trigger? Was it as simply as just saying ‘job change’ or ‘class change’ then what you wanted to be? He didn’t know.

His mind then wondered to other things, specifically his last moments on his own world. Touching his bare chest there was not even a scar to show he had been stabbed but he knew he had been. His sword was a constant reminder every time it was drawn. Was anyone even wondering where he was? Did his interactions with the Merchants get caught on camera or something? Hell was time even relative to where he was now?

He wracked his brain for the answers to those questions and more but nothing came forth and he knew they wouldn’t, luckily he was saved with the door opening around noon. “I have returned quicker then I had assumed.” She then took note of the empty bowl in front of Dustan and chuckled. “I can assume that the rest of the soup has been consumed?” The Squire would have answered her normally except the gurgling in his stomach followed by a rather loud belch answered for him. “I will take that to mean you had enjoyed your lunch though I myself had something happen that was strange.” He waited for the other rhyme he knew was coming that would finish her speech but was unprepared for what she said. “As I was leaving Ponyville I had met with seven other ponies and had a bit of an exchange.”

The instant she said that his blood went cold and his face forgot to ask for extra blood to be pumped to it. “Shit.” He spoke softly, so much so Zecora never heard it.

“I had warned them of the flowers of blue. However a fog came from the Everfree before I could see if they walked through.” Dustan’s brain kept screaming at him hoping that it wasn’t true. “I can only hope that it is true that they didn’t touch the Poison Joke. Otherwise tomorrow will be a bad day for those pony folk.”

“I see.” He told his host out loud but in his mind only one word was being said. 'Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-'

Dustan didn’t sleep at all that night and was left along with his thoughts once more. ‘Ok, so it’s only been a couple of days. I mean a few episodes can happen in that amount of time right? Let’s see there should have been Ticket Master, Applebuck Season and…oh…that one happens over the course of a while. FUCK, the show is off schedule.’ He assumed it was because of the balm used on him, likely using up the supply of ingredients far sooner than they should have been forcing Zecora to go look for the herbs she needed in town like in the show. ‘Ok ok, this isn’t entirely bad. This could be good right? Tomorrow they will show up ask Zecora for the cure and will become friends and learn an important lesson. Unless they see me.’

He knew he was the weak link here. The girls might have listened to Zecora on their own as she was a pony and they didn’t out right fight her like he had been. That meant if he was around they might fight her and never get cured. All through the night he tried to think of things to fix this problem but in the end, the sun rose and he was left with only one option.

When Zecora woke up he was already dressed in his tattered clothing and prepping to head out as well as with a sack full of supplies just in case he needed to be gone longer than a day. “Where are you off to so early in the morn. Are you also sure you should wear clothing so worn?”

“I am off to go fish Zecora, I haven’t had any meat and a while and rather keep myself topped up on the healthy meter so not to risk falling ill from my wounds. Plus I am ok to move and the cloths are fine. Luckily my cloak was not in the way of the explosion.”

Dustan knew the shaman had been surprised to hear about the Bomb for sure and how close he came to being splattered all over the place and though she had questioned him he said he did it to save travelers in the Everfree. Nodding and smiling to her as she nodded in return she told him to be careful and not to over exert himself.

“Sure sure you know me.” Her only response to that was ‘That is exactly why I worry. If you see something dangerous do not feel ashamed to scurry.’ With that he left with his fishing pole. Once he was out of view of the hut he let loose a groan he was holding in. He knew he honestly shouldn’t have been moving this actively like this but he felt like he had no choice. “A chance for Zecora to have a more normal life with friends vs being attacked and hurt cause of me. It’s a no brainer.”

Dustan wondered the Everfree for a while knowing he would have no strength to reel in any fish if they even got on his hook today. Overall his wondering found him deep in the forest at the familiar ruins that only a few days ago hosted an ancient evil as well as the Elements of Harmony. Not able to resist his curiosity he crossed the threshold and proceeded to the interior. Overall while the castle was incredibly dilapidated parts of it held the test of time. He discovered more of the castle to be explored then the show ever showed as well as more than a couple of rooms that just needed some simple repairs to make them livable again. Problem was no one, pony or not, would ever likely want to live here again.

His last stops on his tour were the places the battle had begun and ended: The Elements room and the observatory. The first one he discovered was more ornate then first realized or maybe never shown on the show. There were broken windows that were once likely stained glass but with so little remaining it wouldn’t be possible to even tell what it was they showed. That and they were so covered in dust he didn’t even know they WERE stained glass till he ran a finger over to get some of the dust off.

The last place, the observatory he discovered something interesting: On the ground was the intact armor of Nightmare Moon herself. “Guess Luna and Celestia didn’t want to keep this around, I can understand why though, bad memories attached to it.” Taking the armor and putting it into his bag he remarked. “Its lighter than it looks, then again to fly quickly I suppose it would need to be. No sense leaving it here for scavengers, I might as well take it and who knows, might be able to repurpose it later.” The irony of this of course was lost on him as he was basically scavenging the armor so scavengers wouldn’t get it.

Around this time it was getting close to evening so he decided to head back knowing, or rather hoping, Bridle Gossip was over. Pulling his cloak around him closer to keep the air off his bare chest he really wished his shirt was unusable but it was completely ruined. His pants were ok as they didn’t have as many holes and were made of tougher material, of which he gave a silent thank you to the inventor of denim. Zecora had managed to get all the blood off of them which he was very thankful for as well.

When he finally got back to the hut he saw that no one was home and that the hut was trashed. Hopefully a good sign as he remembered why in the episode it was trashed but a note quickly caught his attention. It still amazed him he could even read the Equestrian or even understand it, but to him everything looked as if it was in English. The note read: I will be back soon. Some ponies need an herbal remedy bath so I hope they do not prune.

Smiling and sighing out in relief he went to the restroom to do his business though while in there he heard the hut’s owner call out. “I am home.” He knew she wouldn’t hear him from the restroom as it was well insulated, though he did find it weird that he could hear her but not the other way around whenever he was in here. “I suppose he is still out going about his roam.”

He was just finishing up and coming out as she said that. “I am here Zecora, no luck today sorry to say.” Moving to put a towel around on his back as he expected Zecora would want to change the balm since he didn’t get a new coat this morning.

“Oh I didn’t know somepony besides you lived here.” Came a voice that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. It was a voice he knew, even if it was just one he heard from the speakers of his TV, headphones or the speakers of his computer. Twilight Sparkle. He quickly moved to put his cloak back on just in case.

He stood in the hallway not daring to move as more voices were heard. “Ah reckon if another pony lives here we should apologize to them too for going at the home like a bull seein’ red.” The southern accented voice was none other than Applejack.

“Oh that means we can have a party for them and Zecora at the same time, a two-for!” The exuberant voice that sounded as if on a sugar high had to belong to none other than Pinkie Pie of which he still wondered if it was her that labeled him a monster when he first was spotted in Ponyville those weeks ago.

“Oh I hope they are a nice pony.” Least that is what he thought the quiet voice said which meant it belonged to the most timid of the bunch Fluttershy.

The sound of hair swishing was heard for a second before another voice called out. “Well darling I just hope they didn’t design the home. No offense Zecora but while you do have a lovely theme it could do with some flair of which I can help if needed.” A posh and noble sounding voice said while offering to do something for no other reason than to help especially if it was about fashion. Yep that was Rarity.

“I am just wondering if it was her or the other pony that has the pet monster.” He had already encountered that pony before and quickly had phantom pains in his chest from it. Her raspy voice was likely one of his favorite even if other fans found it annoying. To hear Rainbow Dash call him a monster did hurt a bit.

He was trying to decide if he should jump out a window quickly to avoid them or walk in nonchalantly as if nothing was wrong, except the choice was taken away from him thanks to a much closer, younger sounding voice. “Oh wow Mister, you sure are a big one.”

Looking down at the distinctly southern accented voice he found a very small pony. Now since ponies normally only came the start of his ribcage, if he was judging them all based on Zecora, then this pony only came to his thigh. Said pony was an earth pony based on the lack of horn and wings, with a yellow coat and red hair. That and a large red bow tied to her mane.

“Hello there.” ‘Welp I am screwed’ He thought while looking at the filly Apple Bloom.

The girls must have all heard the small pony talk as well as his answer as they came around the corner and spotted him giving off a large group gasp all at once. “I see you have met Dustan here. Why don’t we head to the living area before your questions start to disappear?”

All the girls kept their eyes on him, especially Rainbow Dash since they had met before. Strangely enough though he didn’t really see any tells that they were angry or anything at him; scared, slightly upset, and curious sure but not angry. Ponies were really easy to read all things said and done.

“Hello, I am Dustan, though I think we all met once before.” Most of them shifted their heads curiously as if trying to think of when that happened except for two of them: Rainbow and strangely enough Fluttershy.

“Oh yeah we met.” The chromatic mare said narrowing her eyes at him. “You were coming up to Ponyville when somepony spotted you and ran off. I gave you a good bucking so you wouldn’t come back to try to hurt anypony else.”

Though he put on a smile for all the mares he could feel his eyebrow tick slightly at the accusation. “I have never hurt anypony in the first place.”

The pegasus’ wings flared up and spread out as she tried to look bigger likely her trying to appear frightening though Dustan just found it adorable in actuality. “Sure, then what were you doing at Ponyville the first time huh?”

“I was lost and trying to figure out where I was.” He said though he was starting to grit his teeth as he was losing patience with the pony that seemed intent on making him out to be a bad guy.

“Yeah yeah likely story, I am watching you.” Her wings moved in front of her and two of her primary feathers then pointed to her eyes then back at him. Damn that was some impressive control; he had forgotten how prehensile their wings were on the show.

He wasn’t able to stop from rolling his eyes at that making the pegasus growl though she was interrupted by the Element of Generosity as she suddenly gasped. “You’re the creature that pulled that flaming orb of a monstrosity away when we were on the path to the castle of the two sisters.”

Giving a nod he chuckled. “Yeah, Bombs are no joke, especially if you don’t know what they can do.”

A quick flash produced a quill and paper for the scholar of the group as she quickly started to write something down. “So they are called Bombs. I heard some guards back in Canterlot speak of things like them but they didn’t have much information, not even their names. What do they do? How are they formed? Are they friendly?”

“How do we know it didn’t put that fireball there huh?” Face palming at the pegasus continued suspicions Dustan just explained the basics.

“I do not know how they are formed but they are not friendly. They seek to consume to keep their fires going and do not care what they eat though prefer combustibles.” Looking at them all they seemed to hang on his every word especially Twilight as she wrote what he said down word for word. “They can produce and absorb fire, doing the later usually heals them. If they are critically hurt they tend to live up to their name and as such explode wanting to take down what hurt them with them.”

“So that was the boom I heard!” Pinkie shouted as she stood up with a gasp. The others just looked at her like she was crazy, though being that it was Pinkie well… “When we took down Nightmare Moon right as we fired that rainbow the woosh of it was drowning out my hearing but I thought I heard an explosion that didn’t sound fun like my party cannon in the distance.”

Zecora suddenly looked at Dustan with a wide eyed glance; she knew what had caused it now. “Yeah, that might have been it wanting to take me with it.”

“Yeah and I am an tortoise. Come on what are you really after here huh?” Rainbow Dash saw fit to fly up and look him the eye and poke her hoof at his chest accusingly as said that and honestly Dustan had enough of it.

“Believe me or not, it’s your choice. You want to think I am some monster, go ahead. Your mind is set in stone and is harder than your hooves when you bucked me in the chest, Rainbow Dash.” Standing up he started to head towards the back only to find his cloak being pulled by the Pegasus.

Seems she wasn’t going to let him go easily. “Hey now, I am not done talking to you.”

The tug on his cloak was causing the cloak to pull hard against his windpipe threatening to cut off his air way as such he quickly unclasped it and walked away as the girls gasped. He didn’t care if they thought he was rude for walking away, he just had enough of the most stubborn pegasus in Equestria for the day.

Rainbow Dash, self proclaimed fastest flier in Equestria, the prismatic pony, and overall twenty percent cooler than any other pegasus dropped the cloak she was holding in her hoof as her flanks hit the ground. Her eyes were wide and a hoof went to her mouth as she looked from the retreating, she wasn’t sure what it was but its back, it was something that would likely be visiting her dreams for sure.

“What happened to him?” Fluttershy asked simply with a worried quiver to her voice. “What could have caused those kinds of wounds?”

Dash also wanted to know but at the same time a part of her knew but she was secretly hoping it wasn’t what she thought. “He spoke to me and said some helped some travelers in the every free by being brave. From what he told me no pony likely would know how to handle it so those in need he did indeed come to save.”

“When?” Dash was surprised by the quiver in her own voice almost as bad as her friends timid voice. Gulping down she repeated her question with more clarity “I mean, when did he get hurt?”

“It was during the night that didn’t seem to want to end.” Zecora confirmed causing a churning to start in the pegasus’ stomach. “Since then he has been on the mend.”

The world started swimming as Dash found herself rushing out of the door of the hut and to the nearest bush she could before empting her stomach. The reason for this was simple, besides the fact the wounds were awful to see on any creature was the fact that she had enough sense in her mind to know she was trying to pick on the creature that had saved them. Celestia had called a chariot for them all to head back to Ponyville during that night and they had all seen the small charred area that looked like it had been blown apart. They had all assumed that Nightmare Moon had done it but now they knew better.

“That could have been us, even worse cause we didn’t know that thing could do that.” The speedster had said it to herself but seems somepony else heard it.

“Yeah Ah agree with ya there sugarcube.” The blonde mane of the earth pony briefly came to the edge of her vision before her stomach started another lurch and she hung her head back into the bush. “Let it all out, Ah am sure you will feel better after your stomach stops acting like a buckin’ bull.”

It was another minute before she was done but when she felt her insides settle she gave a nod. “I think I am good now.”

“Alright if you say you are ok then ya are.” Applejack patted her withers and helped her back inside as it seems conversation had continued without them.

“I see, so he is the one that has been making those. I have been wondering what pony has been making them and how they work. I am still working on the how but at least now I know the who.” Twilight was still filling page after page of notes it seemed.

“Oh those salves have been wonderful for treating some of my little animal friends; I just wished I could have bought more then what I got.” Fluttershy nearly gushed as she said all this then looked back down and sighed. “And I still haven’t gotten to thank him for saving me in the woods either.”

“I am sure we will all get the chance to give our gratitude towards him for how he saved us from that thing in the woods Fluttershy.” Rarity told her and tried to give her a comforting pat.

Instead the shy mare just shook her head. “N-no that isn’t what I mean.”

“What do you mean then you silly filly?” Pinkie asked smiling all the while but tilting her head back and forth.

“W-well.” The caretaker of the animals just touched her hooves together. “A few weeks ago I was looking for a lost animal that had wondered off from my cottage. It had gone in the Everfree and I was hoping to find them quickly before anything happened.”

‘Wait what? Why didn’t I hear about this?’ Dash was Fluttershy’s best friend, she normally told her everything right?

“Eventually I realized I had gone deeper then I meant to and was about to head back when something found me.” Fluttershy was about to continue when Zecora cut her off.

“I see, so you were the one he spoke of. The one whom he heard in plea.” Zecora had made herself a cup of tea by this time, how she had made it so quickly wasn’t even thought of for now though likely would drive Twilight crazy for some time after.

Nodding once more the butter yellow mare continued. “That’s right. I had seen that Timberwolves were surrounding me but had not gotten around me completely. I managed to run away but eventually I slipped in some mud and had it gotten all over me. I thought I would never see my little animals again when he showed up and drew a sword on the wolves. Normally I wouldn’t condone violence against animals but I was so scared that when he told me to run that was the only thing I could think of.”

She was suddenly hugged nearly on all sides by her friends which just made her smile. “Fluttershy anytime something like that happens again you let one of us know ok darling? We will show any kind of ruffian that it doesn’t pay to attack our friends.”

For a bit all of her friends save one was hugging her, it wasn’t until silence reigned that the final friend said something. “Why didn’t you say anything before? To any of us, to me.”

Rainbow Dash knew she was making a seriously uncool face as she asked that but she couldn’t help herself. “Well you see.” For a second the butterfly cutie marked pony hesitated as if thinking carefully about her words before continuing. “I remember how you said you beat the monster of the Everfree back making it run with its tail between its legs, you sounded so proud of it I didn’t have the heart to tell you that the same creature saved me.”

Dash was slightly shaking, she hurt and accused an innocent creature of being evil, went so far as to attack it, saw the wounds it suffered on their behalf defending them, and that same creature had saved her best friend. The sick feeling in her stomach had come back but there was nothing for it to remove now leaving her just feeling very ill in general.

“As much as I would like to continue to answer your questions about myself and Dustan. I am afraid that to treat his wounds is the plan.”

The mention of the squire’s wounds brought all of the mares to silence during all this time even little Apple Bloom had been quiet and on the verge of tears pressed up against her older sisters side. Likely Rainbow Dash wasn’t the only one to be the one to dream of his wounds.

As they were heading out Zecora bid them safe travels giving them a small herb bundle to help ward off the noses of predators. Twilight was examining the bundle trying to determine what they were made of before she looked up towards her friend.

“How did he know your name Rainbow Dash?” A valid question indeed but it seemed fate had a way of covering for others at time.

That way being boasting. “Pfft, who hasn’t heard of me? I am the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria after all.”

Zecora would have loved to ask them to help clean up, that much he could tell. Problem was he also could tell that she wanted them to leave based on how they had looked at him. How did Dustan know this? The apologetic look she gave him when he was called back into the living room.

“I wish to give me apologies to you.” She told him gently while she started to spread the balm onto his back. “Had I known that was how some of them would react I would have never allowed you to even come into view.”

His wounds were healing up quite nicely it seemed, though likely going to leave him with many divots where he was wounded. “Its fine, I honestly was thinking of jumping out a window but was caught by the little one. At that point I couldn’t exactly leave.”

“They seemed like very nice ponies, a bit excitable but of the decent sort.” The feeling of her hooves moving on to his arms was soothing and he found himself dozing lightly from the long day it had been. “Next time a pony acts that way I will make sure to give them quite the retort.”

Chuckling at this he said nothing as more and more he dozed off. When he woke up she was handing him the rest of the balm so that he could put the rest on himself since he was well enough to do so now. A quick trip to the bathroom to rub the rest on and he made sure to wrap things like before.

“I know my wounds won’t heal to be the nicest to look at but they are a badge of honor for me Zecora. Proof I helped others.” He told her before smiling. “Seems like ponies from Ponyville accept you now. Maybe you will be able to find herbs and such easier there, maybe even sell things easier.”

Her smile was very wide indeed and that made his smile brighter as well. “Indeed that is the way it is now. Shopping and selling should be something that they allow.”

“Good, maybe I will pay a visit and see if I can get some clothing made sometime. I kind of don’t have anything else to wear with my own being shredded like it was.” A finger poked his bare skin through his jeans as he said this. “A few pairs of pants, same with shirts, some socks, and some boxers for sure.”

“Of this you should have no worry.” The hostess of the hut said as she was moving to the kitchen to prep for dinner. “The one known as Rarity is quote the seamstress and should have clothing of that nature done in a flurry.”

Giving a grin as he already knew that Dustan nodded to her. “Good to hear. I know you have been keeping the bits you make from selling my salve but I hope you don’t mind me getting some to pay for them do you?”

The zebra’s voice called from the kitchen as she asked that barely seen from the from the living room area. “I have been only taking what is considered decent for food and rent. The rest is up to you to determine on how it is spent.”

His grin vanished as he honestly didn’t consider that she was saving up the bits from the sales like that. “Are you sure, those belong to you after all.”

She started to boil the water on her stove, somehow the stove being automatically heated thanks to magic and crystals arranged in a way he didn’t understand. “You have earned those bits yourself with your hard work. To take more than needed for what was agreed on would make me quite a jerk.”

“Thanks Zecora, you are the best.” Dustan said moving to start cleaning up the mess that the Mane Six had caused during their accusations earlier. Besides being wounded a few times, the depression, and the mysteries surrounding him and his new abilities, he honestly thought that this not a bad life.

Author's Notes:

Another chapter down. Next one is coming along fine already but I do want to try spacing them out just a bit so as not to burn out on them both on writing them, and for you all reading them.