//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: The First Journey: Feelings of Etherealism // by Kaille //------------------------------// ~Chapter 12: Can I Be Done With Hospitals Now? Please?~ We reached the clinic after about fifteen minutes; we had to move slowly due to the mare's injuries. As soon as we walked in the door the mare at the desk looked up smiling to greet whoever entered, but her entire expression fell at what she saw. Her horn lit up instantly and she used her magic to shout through the hospital, "EMERGENCY! INJURED PONY!' She rushed over to us, using her magic to lift the wounded pony up off the ground, reducing strain on her muscles that could cause more pain. "What is the extent of her injuries to your knowledge, Ink?" "Broken right wing, broken left foreleg, head injury, likely concussion. That is as much as I know. When I found her I splinted her limbs and gave her a little bit to eat, then aided her in walking here. It has been about twenty five minutes since I found her, but I am unsure how long she has been like this. There was a small puddle of blood beneath her body." The nurse shouted into the hospital again, but she cast a bubble around the patients head first, not wanting to give her a migraine, or at least worsen it. "MARE, BROKEN WING, BROKEN FORELEG, HEAD INJURY, BLOOD LOSS, ROOM 12!" The other two nurses flew around a corner ahead, equipment in tow. Nurse Redheart saw me and nodded slightly before disappearing into the room with the injured mare. She came back out of the room after depositing her supplies and trotted over to me, hugging me. "Thank you Ink. This was very good of you to do." I looked her in the eye. "I would like to stay at the hospital overnight, if you don't mind. It might be best for me to be there when she wakes up after you treat her, so there is somepony she will at least slightly recognize. And I want to be sure she recovers. If you need anything but are too busy at the time to grab it, let me know. I will do anything I can." The nurse smiled. "Thank you again; I appreciate it. You may come into the room with us, but we will draw the curtain, and I will call to you if needed." I nodded and we rushed into the room. I took the chair to the side of the door and the nurse took her place with her colleagues, drawing the curtain magically into place. They would occasionally call to me to grab them something or clean something, and I obliged with haste, but was still thorough. After about an hour and a half to two hours they finished, and Nurse Redheart came over to me. She explained that the mare would be asleep for a while, but that it would be alright if I stayed. I thanked her and kept vigil. Occasionally one of the nurses would bring in something for me to eat, which I was grateful for. Eleven hours passed, and then the mare started to show signs of wakefulness. Her eyes started to open and she groaned, grimacing. I got up and walked over, sitting in the chair next to her. "Hey, are you alright?" She looked at me and her surroundings for a second, panicking, but she calmed down a bit as she remembered the events of the night prior. Because of the blood that was matted into her mane, they had to cut it short, and they held it back with a yellow hair band. "I. . . I think so. For now. Thank you for your help." She smiled slightly. I smiled in response. "Your very welcome, but no thanks are needed. I couldn't leave somepony injured and alone like that." Her smile grew. "By the way, whats your name? I'm Chroma." Now it was my turn for my smile to grow. "I'm Ink. It's great to meet you, but it would have been better under other circumstances, no?" I lightly joked, trying to ease the mood a bit. She laughed a little, so I got the desired reaction. We sat in silence for a few moments, and then I spoke up again. "You must be hungry, after all that time unconscious. Would you like me to get you something?" She smiled and closed her eyes, nodding lightly in affirmation. I smiled in return. "I will be right back." I left the room and closed the door quietly behind myself and proceeded to the front desk. The mare on duty looked up to me, and I smiled to her. "She is awake again. I am just going to go pick up something light for her to eat." The nurse grinned and thanked me for the help before continuing with whatever it was she was working on. I walked to one of the little restaurants in town and picked up a couple of daisy sandwiches and some orange juice to drink, with a side of oats. Despite being quite the carnivore as a human, I was growing to love Equestrian food in it's simplicity. I returned to the hospital and knocked on the door to room 12 with Chroma. "Come in." I heard her call out, and I opened the door. I entered the room to see Chroma sitting more upright, Nurse Redheart next to her and talking to her. I walked up and proceeded to set out the food, removing it from the saddlebag Twilight lent me. By the time I finished arranging our meal, Chroma and the nurse had finished speaking and were looking at me with light smiles on their faces. "I got you a daisy sandwich and oats with a glass of orange juice. I hope you don't mind. Nurse Redheart, if you would like, you can have half my sandwich; I'm not hugely hungry." "Thank you Ink, but I will have to professionally decline." The nurse said, nodding her head in appreciation to me. "Well, Ms. Chroma, Mr. Ink, I will take my leave and allow you two to enjoy your meal." She exited the room, leaving Chroma and I alone once again. I took her food over to her bed on her lap for her, which she smiled in appreciation for. However, eating it was going to be difficult; one hoof was encased in a cast. I unfortunately had not considered this. I winced at the realization. "Sorry, I forgot that with a cast this will be hard to eat." She shook her head. "It is not a problem. My left hoof and right wing are broken, but I still have my right hoof and left wing." She smiled as she unfurled her wing and then she pinched the sandwich between the appendage and her foreleg, lifting it to her mouth with ease. This caught me somewhat by surprise. "Well, your wings are quite flexible." She looked at me and swallowed her bite of the sandwich. "I am a painter, and I like to use my wings to carry stuff as I work, so I stretch them to increase my range of movement." An idea came to mind. "Hey, you paint? I am an artist as well, but I spent a month in a hospital bed unconscious. Maybe you could teach me how to use my wings like that? I would love to start drawing again." I showed her my cutie mark of a calligraphy pen and she beamed. "Sure! It's the least I could do for you helping me reach the hospital." I smiled at her in thanks and began on my food. We continued to eat in silence, comfortable with the mere presence of each other despite still being fairly new acquaintances. When we finished eating I picked up all the wrappers and waste and took them over to the garbage can, Chroma thanking me again for the food. When I dropped them in the receptacle I thought I heard her mumble something behind me, but when I turned around to ask, she was sound asleep. I smiled, and walked over to her. I helped her slide a little lower in the bed and pulled the sheets up. I watched her for a few more seconds, still smiling, and then I left the room quietly. I said goodbye to the nurses, and that I would likely see them later in the day. I plan to visit Chroma as often as possible. ~ After the hospital I went to my hotel room quickly, letting Mr. Ledger know about the reason for my absence. He smiled at me, thankful for letting him know, and approving of my actions the night before. I grabbed a few bits out of my room and let for the Carousel Boutique, picking up a new bag for Applejack and one for myself as well. I entered the establishment, silver bell above the door ringing. I looked around and saw Rarity at one of her work tables, materials and tools floating in the air around her. "One moment please!" She called out, staring at one of her mannequins on the table which had a smooth, form-fitting white dress in the making, adorned with pale green lace and peridot gemstones in a fine vine-like pattern along the right side, with a bright orange padparadscha sapphire flower growing from the vine at the base of the neck. She spun the dress on it's stand around, to which I saw that the peridot pattern was only on one side, and this side had a series of buttons along the side to put the dress on. Hmm. Asymmetrical pattern, and a beautiful one at that. She quickly applied a bit more lace to the dress on the front left hoof, which was also the only fully covered leg, and made another vine and flower grow from there. I also looked down the length of the dress and noticed it swept over the back of the stand draped over the side to the left of the tail. The dress was actually breathtaking; I was completely shocked. She nodded her head in satisfaction and turned to the door. "Hello, thank you for stop- oh! Ink! My, how are you? I haven't seen you in ages!" The fashionista exclaimed, exaggerating in her usual manner, and she trotted over to me. She then noticed how I was fairly awestruck by the dress. She turned back to it and beamed. "Yes, I am very proud of this one. It was special ordered by a friend for an event coming up that she is attending. I would love to go as well, and I was given a ticket, but I unfortunately have business to attend to." She turned back to me. "You wouldn't happen to be interested in going to an art show in a couple of months, would you?" I look at the fashionista at this, grinning ear-to-ear. "I LOVE art shows. I would be delighted to go on your behalf." She grinned in return. "Now, what was it you stopped by for, dear? I highly doubt it was to go dress shopping." She said with a light chuckle that I shared. "No, I was going to buy a couple of saddlebags. I was going to pay for you to make me one sometime, and I have to get Applejack a replacement." Her look grew questioning at this point, wondering why I needed to reimburse the farmpony. I explained the events of the night before, to which her look grew more and more horrified. When I finished my account, she finally spoke again. "Oh my! Is the poor dear alright? Of all the things that could happen to her, that is the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!" I smiled a little at the expression she used. "Yes, she is fine. I got her something to eat this morning, and she was asleep when I left not to long ago. Anyway, would I be able to purchase those bags now?" Suddenly the dressmaker snapped into attention. "Oh! Yes! I have just the bag to replace Applejack's old one, and I went ahead and made your saddlebag the day before yesterday. I had a fit of inspiration! I will be back in a moment!" She trotted off into one of her storage rooms and the sound of moving fabric could be heard. She returned with a plain but durable looking brown bag first and deposited it on the table next to us. She went to another storage room now and shuffled more items. She returned again with another bag in tow, and this one, my jaw actually dropped on. So much it hurt. "I took what you said during my measuring session and came up with what I feel to be the perfect bag for you!" She preceded to describe the bag. It was a dark grey colour, silk, close to the tone of my own fur. It had a darker grey trim and violet stitching. On the front side there was a celtic cross in a similar dark grey, part of it designed on the top flap as well so that open or closed the full cross was visible. It had a ruby in the centre of the left arm of the cross, sapphire on the right, emerald on the top, and onyx on the bottom. In the middle of the cross was an amethyst, my birthstone. The clasp for the cover of the bag was a nice, matte black, not too obtrusive. When one looked closely, the grey fabric was stitched with more grey thread in a tartan-esque pattern. It was perfect. "Rarity, you are a genius. That saddlebag is incredible. I almost don't want to use it; I'm afraid it will get dirty or damaged." She laughed at this. "Oh, you are too kind, Ink. But I made this for you to use. It will not be too expensive either; I had an abundance of these materials." She laid it on the table next to the one for AJ and put on her glasses, lifting a pencil and paper with her magic. She began to write something down, muttering numbers under her breath, so she was likely tallying up the price for the two items. "So, the bag for Applejack is a very bare-bones and practical bag, the kind she usually orders from me. That will be twenty-five bits. The bag for you, with the silk and jewels, plus extra stitching for the pattern, will come to seventy-five bits, so an even one hundred bits, please." On Earth, that saddlebag would have likely cost me a fortune. In Equeastria, it cost next to nothing in comparison. I handed over the bits and commented. "I feel like I am ripping you off; that price is a steal." She laughed once more. "It is not a worry darling. I am happy to offer it to you. Was there anything else dear?" I shook my head, putting my saddlebag on and popping the farmpony's replacement bag inside. "No, thank you. I should head to work. Thank you again, Rarity! You aren't the element of generosity for nothing! I will see you again sometime. If I am going to that art show I feel I should get something appropriate to wear for it, if that dress on your table is any proof of how high class it will be there. Goodbye!" I waved, leaving the Carousel Boutique. I noticed a slight blush on the white unicorn's cheeks at the comment of her generosity.