It's Always Worth the Price. (2022)
Chapter 9: The Art of a Fashionista.
Previous Chapter Next ChapterRainbow Dash, Lela, and I walked down Mane Street towards the library. On the way there, I was telling her about my day yesterday. She laughed at me for running away from the timber wolves, and asked," Why didn't you just burn the wolves with your magic?"
"I only really found out the day before coming here that I can even use magic. I need to practice; because I'm new and my knowledge is limited right now. The thought to burn a forest really didn't cross my mind, in the first place. The only spells I managed to use so far have been a teleportation spell, which Senior taught me; and a telekinesis spell. I used that to bandage myself up earlier, but struggled maintaining it." I told the curious cyan pegasus.
Her eyes shot open, as she grabbed me and searched around my body,"You're hurt?" The Pegasus started prodding. "Where does it hurt? Does this hurt?" She kept on poking around spots over my chest, then around the side of my arms, but I simply stared at her with a tiresome expression. She then moved over, and stood behind my back searching. "Feel anything yet?" She asked with curiosity, and I simply shook my head. She proceeded towards my shoulder blades, and the pain from it made me wince a bit. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! We should get you to nurse Red Heart! They'll be able to get you better soon." She quickly snatched my hand, and led Lela, and I down the street.
We entered a large building which almost resembled exactly like a hospital, except it was missing the waiting lines full of people, and lazy nurses. There were only three other ponies besides Lela, Dash, and I in the waiting room. One had a white mane and a light cyan coated fur. She had a tattoo on her flank, much like Dash. Tattoo's seem to be popular in Equestria.
Her tattoo, instead of a cloud with rainbow lightning, it was a star tipped wand, with a magic aura floating in the background. The other was a pony that had brown fur coat, but was covered in orthopedic casts and bandages. I couldn't really see much else to describe him, besides the hospital gown he was wearing. The last pony was, who I assumed, the nurse. Given, her paper hat inscribed with a red cross on top.
"Nurse, this is a 'new' John model, and he needs to be checked out. He's hurt and his pains are coming from his back!" I looked to Dash, and thought to myself that she made it sound like I was dying, or something. I was fine, just as long as nothing touched my upper back.
The nurse led us all to the back into a small cramped room,"Ok, just wait here, and the doctor will be in shortly." Just as the nurse with the pink mane left; closing the door behind her, the doctor opened it up, and stepped in.
I was stunned to see me being treated already,"That was fast." What an entrance.
He threw me a smug look,"When you're good at something, and your business is other ponies business, you make sure the waiting rooms are empty." He grinned to himself, and nodded,"Ok John, if you would please take off your shirt, and this armor, we can begin." The doctor said plainly, without looking up from his clipboard. I began unstrapping my shoulder pauldron, and placed it onto the floor. I then began to remove my shirt. I kept my bracers on, because he was looking at my back, nothing more. I tossed my shirt to the chair in the corner of the room. Dash looked at it, and seen the stains of blood. She turned back to me, and looked at my back and gasped. Lela seemed to just stare at me, with a hint of interest.
"What is that?! There's something coming out of your back!" She yelled; I just sat on the table, and the doctor began to examine my back. I couldn't see what he was doing, but I could feel a form of relief from the pressure coming from my back. "Doc, is he gonna be ok?" Dash asked.
"It's a good thing he had the common sense to bandage this up. It could have gotten infected, if he didn't. There is definitely something back here, and they're solid." He grabbed a scalpel from the table, and moved towards my back. I knew that he was trying to help, so I held my eyes closed and clenched my teeth in anticipation. I could feel the cold blade cut into my skin on both sides. It felt like melted butter as the pain seemed to subside even more.
"There's...Definitely...something here!" The doctor shot back after giving my back a light push, and I could feel something sliding out of my back, as I fell off the table. I was left kneeling on the floor with tremendous pain, but shortly through mere pants of breath, the pain started to dissipate. It hurt but felt relieving at the same time, like pulling out a wooden splinter. After a moment, the things stopped moving, and the pain was gone. "Mr. John, are you alright?" The doctor asked me in a calming tone, I turned to him through pants of air, and nodded.
"John, when were you going to tell me you have wings? That's Awesome! You might have to take a shower though, they're kinda covered in..." She gulped,"A whole lot of blood...". She looked to the doctor, and asked,"Is he going to be ok?"
The doctor stepped closer, and continued examining my back. After a minute of inspections, he looked to Dash, and said,"As long as he doesn't try to use those anytime soon and tries not to bleed on our nice, clean sterile floor... Yes."
After I put my stained shirt back on, and my shoulder piece, we exited the hospital. We left towards what I assumed was the library. I had to rip two slots on my shirt, to fit my wings. Dash turned to me,"Follow me, your shirt looks kinda...Yeah..." I could she her teeth from her squeamishness, making sure to not look my way. "Rarity will fix that with something less disgusting. You should dress like most pegasi, and wear something more free. How about something awesome like a backless shirt?"
"No chance, Dash. I'd rather go through the wolf chase again, before I wear a backless shirt. Thanks for the idea, though." I didn't hate the idea, but I personally didn't want to have people looking at my back.
Dash rolled her eyes, and smiled,"Ok, Mr. Tough-Guy. Follow me, then. We're going to the boutique." She led us towards a rather fancy, posh looking building considering this was just a small rural town. Lela looked at me, and began following closely. I gave him a quick pat on the head, and he brushed against my leg.
We entered the shop, and I could see a white fur coated, radiant jasmine colour maned unicorn standing in the middle of the boutique. She was levitating numerous mannequins, fabrics, needles, and threads through the air. "Rar-ity! This John needs a new shirt." Dash yelled, trying to grab her attention.
Rarity simply kept her concentration focused on her task,"No way Dash. I just made him a shirt yesterday! He needs to stop helping A.J., and I've already had to tell him this a number of times. He's a good man, but he's not a farmer." She stomped her foot, and turned to us but as she laid her gaze upon us, all the objects she was holding within her spell fell to the ground.
"Dashie, my dear. Who is this rather fetching fellow?" She slowly swayed her hips, as she sauntered her way over to us. Being a couple steps away, she put her finger to her glasses, and started eyeing down my clothing. "That won't do, we'll just have to burn this... What you call your 'Clothing'."
Dash rolled her eyes, and looked to Rarity,"Well, this is John's son. The John we know is now 'Senior'. This is our new Guardian." Rarity gasped, as she gazed upon my attire. It was interesting to see mortified, and elated combined in a single expression.
"A guardian, in such dirty rags? That will just not do. I shall make you something that cries,'Behold Equestria, I am your Guardian!' The mares will faint upon seeing you." Without hesitation, she floated a measuring tape over to me, and started measuring my waist, and height.
"If you wouldn't mind, could you just make me a dress shirt of some kind with slots in the back to fit my wings? I want to look good, but I don't want to brag about being the guardian." I told the busy mare.
Dash jabbed my side with her elbow lightly,"Yeah, you're already a knock out. We get it." The compliment made me laugh. "If you're doing that, make it easy to use. Nothing says unprepared, than a thirty minute shirt change."
Rarity looked up at me in confusion,"You are like your father then...Modest...Well, I guess I could make something like that work and functional. At least you have the sense to wear something formal. Your father only wore 'western wear'." She seemed to gag at her comment, as she left towards the center of the room again. After a few minutes, she returned with a pretty amazing long-sleeved dark dress shirt, a clean white t-shirt, and a pair of blue jeans with a design etched into the left back pocket.
I slipped on the new clothes, and took a quick stretch. I looked to Rarity,"Thanks for helping me, these fit perfectly. I already love it." She nodded, and I could see she was blushing with her hand on her face. I turned to Dash, and she was too. I felt confused, and looked to Lela. He held an expression that said 'Really?'.
"I'm glad that you like it." Rarity had been putting her hand cautiously covering her eyes,"It's just that I have a changing room you could've gotten yourself dressed in." That got me back to thinking about my choices.
I guess I should have done that. Yeah, now that I think about it a little more...
I don't have fur.