[Cabbage, Chapter 3]

[Cabbage, Chapter 3]
>It wasn't long before you had all of his cuts bandaged, and all of his broken limbs splinted. It wasn't an expert's work, but it would do the job well enough. He wasn't dying, at least- that was good.
"So... What's your name?"
>The human scowled and narrowed his eyes at you. "Anonymous. Friends call me Cabbage." he stated harshly, his cold, blue eyes boring into your soul.
"Okay! Where'd you come from, Anonymous?"
>"Not here." he stated bluntly, never taking his gaze from you.
"O-kaaay, moving on; how'd you get here?"
>"Don't know." Anonymous said, his scrutinizing gaze burning into your mind.
"You're not big on talking, are you?"
>"Depends on my situation." he replied nonchalantly.
>This was starting to irritate you. First contact with a human, and you couldn't get him to say a more than a sentence. Either he was trying to be difficult or you were bad with interrogation. Either way, you had one more thing to say.
"Well, fine. I'm going to see if somepony I know can help you."
>Anonymous snorted derisively. Now, you began to glare at him.
"And what exactly do you find funny about that, Mister Anonymous?"
>"Speech mannerisms. Humans say somebody." he replied, humor leaking into his tone.
>Oh, brother. This guy was going to be a joy, wasn't he?

>The mint horse had left you quite a time ago. Now, it was just you. Alone. In the dark. Usually, you'd be asleep by now, dreaming about the old days, how things were before the blizzard. Now...? Well, you were in the home of a toothpaste colored unicorn capable of speaking English; you probably wouldn't be getting a whole lot of sleep tonight.
>You let out a long, trailing sigh, eyes dragging up towards the ceiling. Things here reminded you of Gramma's cottage. All the furniture looked decades old, everything was made of old-looking wood, and there were no electronics in sight. Ah, those were the days... Gramma had always read you stories from her childhood before bed, and she made sure you'd always been given a warm glass of milk and a homemade cookie before sending you off to sleep. You missed her...
>...
>Where were you? You were avoiding the question before because you had more pressing matters to attend, but, now, in the suffocating darkness, you were faced with it. Where could you be? Ms. Mint-Horse seemed to be a unicorn, and she used some kind of magic. At least, it looked like magic. You didn't know what to think anymore. It was like moving to the U.S. again; everything was new and strange, and everyone seemed so alien. Or, was it everypony? You didn't know. Best stick to the diction you knew. You'd probably butcher it if you tried speaking like they did, anyhow.
>Slowly, you allowed sleep to overtake you. Tonight wouldn't be a night to stay awake; you would have company in the morning.

>"Okay, Fluttershy. I want you to promise me that you won't freak out, okay?" came a distant voice, bringing you to semi-consciousness.
>"O-okay..." came the whispered reply from a second voice.
>"No. I need to hear you say it." the first voice ordered firmly.
>"I p-promise not to g-get scared." the second voice said, a somewhat adamant undertone in her voice.
>"Alright, good." A soft creaking echoed out from near you. "I'd like you to meet Anonymous."
>You weren't quite awake before. You only dully recognized that there were people talking near you. Of course, you jolted awake when an ear-splitting shriek rang out directly next to you head.
>You sat bolt upright on the couch, but let out a loud grunt of pain as you tried to bend your arm. You recalled breaking it all too late, wincing in pain as you gingerly cradled it. After recovering from the pain, you scanned around for the source of the noise. You found it in the form of a cowering yellow-and-pink ball, hiding behind a less cowering vomit-colored horse.
>Oh, right, the horses.
>"Don't worry, Fluttershy! Look, he's harmless!" the green one reassured her companion, walking over to you and placing a hoof on your shoulder.
>You started up a low, predatory growl, warning her to stop touching you. She, of course, ignored it completely, so you reverted to glaring at her. Soon, the other horse started to unfurl from her ball, giving you a questioning look.
>Yeah, that there probably gave you diabetes. With a great sigh, you softened your expression.
"Yeah. Perfectly harmless."

>Things were going MUCH better than you expected. The entire "bringing Flutrershy over to better care for Anonymous" thing had been a risky gambit. You had no idea how he'd react, but there was the overwhelming thought that it wouldn't be good. However, not only was he being polite about her appearance, he was allowing her to re-bandage him and check his splint integrities. It was going better than the best scenario you dared to imagine.
>"I don't think I've seen anything like you before!" exclaimed Fluttershy, replacing the scraps of cloth on his left forearm with actual bandages.
>"I could say the same." Anonymous grunted, watching the pegasus pony work in a withdrawn awe.
>"You don't have ponies where you come from?" Fluttershy asked, aghast.
>"Not like you two." he replied, looking pointedly at your horn and her wings.
>So he didn't have unicorns OR pegasi where he came from? How strange. Well, the more that you thought about it, maybe it wasn't. You didn't have humans here, so maybe it wouldn't be all too strange to not have pegasi and unicorns there. It made sense, really.
>Hovering back a bit, Fluttershy smiled in triumph. "Done. Now, Mister Anonymous, I want you to come tell me if those cuts start bothering you. I've got some medicine that can fix you right up."
>Anonymous nodded. "Don't worry. I'll be sure to think "Fluttershy" when I'm violently seizing on the floor."
>Fluttershy giggled softly, then landed and trotted over to you.
"So? How is he?"
>"Don't worry about it. He'll be just fine, if you give him some time." she replied reassuringly.
"That's great! Thank you so much for this, I didn't know who else to go to."
>"Oh, it wasn't a problem. Does anyone else know about him?"
>Oh. That probably should've been something you'd thought about sooner.
"Uh, no. We should probably keep it that way, too."
>"I understand. Come see me if you need any more help." she said, trotting out the door and closing it behind herself.
>You looked over to Anonymous, who was, in turn, looking at you. He vaguely looked like he was struggling with a decision.
>"Well... I don't really have anything better to do." he stated. "You wanted to ask me about my home?"