Ponies often wished for the power to reverse time, much like Twilight and her friends did as they gazed upon the bed that held Twilight’s friend. The constant beep of the heart monitor grew and faded out over and over again as the nurses walked past the open doorway, talking quietly while accompanying to their duty for the patients. Twilight glanced all over the room, her mind wandering for few moments as she took in the plain features of the room. With a single window with the view of Hoofington- it was a beautiful evening sunlight reflecting off hundreds of skyscrapers. A white plain room with a single light source shining down on stallion, a lonely flower vase on the small drawer table. Also there was something that Rarity and Twilight recognized; a black saddlebags sitting at bottom of the bed. Twilight couldn't think straight anymore, it was like reality got warped around her; her environment disappeared leaving only a distraught Unicorn and a single bed across her within the new cracked world of hers.
All she could do was stand there with silence reigning, biting her lower lip as she peered at the white stallion enveloped in blood-stained bandages with a huge cast adorning his hips to keep them from separating further and another covering his right hoof, but all of that injures doesn't compare to having his horn being severed, while Twilight was observing Silent- only thing that was not bandaged was his left eyes and his mouth. His chest was rising and lowering gently; he was at peace- unaware of the heart-shattering news he would learn upon waking up. All of a sudden, her knees buckled under the heavy tension that she felt the whole time from the moment she learnt of the train tragedy only mere few hours ago.
All of her self-control got decimated when she realized there is nothing she could do to help Silent but wait. All of her best friends instantly picked up on the signal, rushing over quickly and holding her, petting her mane, telling her everything will be okay. They had to remind Twilight that Silent was still alive! Fluttershy ushered her over to the couch which sat at the opposing side of the room near the exit. All ponies within the room were quiet, and the only sound that they could hear is laborious breathing of the deaf stallion, constant beeping of the heart monitor and soft sobbing coming from the lavender mare. Rarity asked the doctor straightaway if all of them could stay, with the promise they won't cause any trouble naturally.
“Oh doctor!” Rarity rang out with a spry voice before pressing on with quieter voice, “Is it improper to request upon you if we all could stay to support her...and him?” Rarity subtly gestured at the Unicorn sitting on the couch with and next to cream-colored Pegasus.
Doctor Fleetheart didn’t even gave it a thought, being used to deal with this situation with hundreds of families and friends grieving or worried about their loved ones in his career, nodding once before replying.
“Of course, but only two ponies can stay in here while others have to stay in the lobby, you may rotate the visits. Since you are going to stay here, I implore you to inform the nurse at the desk right there immediately if Mr. Dreamweaver wakes up.” Doctor Fleetheart held his hoof up to drive the point home.
All ponies in the room minus the injured Unicorn and distressed Unicorn gave their affirmation.
“Thank you. I have to go to check out others patients. Have a good evening. If you have any questions, ask the head nurse or myself.” the doctor finalized with soft yet authoritative voice, trotting out of the room with rest of her friends following him the way out.
“Wait!” Everypony paused their trotting, turning their head in the direction of the lavender mare. “Um thank you Doctor Fleetheart... and thank you everypony,” Twilight quickly inserted before her friends left, with all of them giving their soft smile.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash optioned for the lobby while Fluttershy wanted to go outside to escape the dreadful environment that loomed over the hospital, and Pinkie Pie was followed by the baby dragon as they left to find some guilty-pleasure food to cheer themselves up. Rarity stayed behind with Twilight because they knew Silent the best, even though if it was only mere days. Rarity approached the distressed mare as the others left and began lightly petting her mane; it helped Twilight drift away to dreamland. Just each others company was enough to put both at ease for tonight. The rest of the gang slept in the lobby, Twilight being firstmost on their minds- hoping she was strong enough to go through this, and even if she wasn’t her friends will be right there.
It was well into early morning; Princess Celestia haven't yet raised the sun and Princess Luna is about to finish attending to her night duties. An alluring white mare stepped off the couch quietly as she could- she didn't want to wake up her scholar friend who have been through so much in last few days. Letting out a depressing sigh, remembering what Twilight said yesterday- echoing around her empty mind.
“How..can so many bad things happen to one pony?”
Adjusting her mane to calm the little nag that had been gnawing at the back of her mind while she began contemplating about what Twilight said yesterday.
“Don't know...oh dear!” Rarity muttered, spotting something in short distance and recognized it instantly but it was torn and battered. Calmly activating her horn which glimmered in light blue; picking up it then guided it through the air toward Rarity.
The fashion designer gave out a small gasp, it was Silent's black turtleneck that was made by her mother- she remembered that detail because it reminded her of how much anger the deaf stallion gave to her at that party, and now it was unwearable. Closer examination revealed that the sleeves were torn to shreds, the bottom half of the attire was missing and splotches of dirt caked what remained of the cloth. A light glimmer of reflected moonlight danced briefly across the fashionista's eye, so she inspected it further but immediately turned away in horror when she realized what had cause the silver light show. Pools of the blood stained the little pieces of shirt that weren't caked in mud or torn away altogether.
This won't do! I must correct this anomaly; this is simply crime to fashion! It simply won’t do!! the fashion designer claimed inwardly in her overly dramatic voice.
Rarity “borrowed” it, deciding upon herself that she would mend it to exactly what it was and give it back to the deaf Unicorn as further apology. She felt that it was least she could do for him as both an apology and a surprise. Carefully she folded it with her magic, then using a empty trash bag from the room to wrap it in deposited it in her saddlebag. She was exhausted, trotting out of room carrying the saddlebag and began heading for bathroom to fix up herself best as she could.
Soon after the hospital came back to life as patients, families and friends stirred. Doctor or nurses coming in for their day shifts with barely enough sleep due to the intensive calamity of the train catastrophe. Twilight slowly blinked her eyes open when the first of morning light crept upon her face. Wiping off the excessive eye mucus, the intellectual Unicorn hopped off the couch. The first thing she checked was if Silent had woken up, but got dejected when she discovered that Silent was still slumbering. Twilight sat down at the foot of the bed exhaling; calming her nerves as she summoned up enough courage to look over Silent in detail, seeing his injuries in full extent. Twilight was stricken by this but never let it get to her.
Perking up when the door opened, looking away from Silent and gave a weak smile at the farmer pony, she was carrying a breakfast table in her mouth. Setting it down on a small table next to Silent's bed, taking a quick breath in before speaking.
“Ah, I'm sorry. He hasn't woken up yet?”
“No,” Twilight said as she lifted a hoof to rub her head, as if it would help her to what say next. Finally a crackling voice rang out, “Not yet? I don't know, I don’t know how long til he wakes up either. I have been thinking last night of how I feel useless right now Applejack.”
Applejack circumnavigated the bed, grabbing ahold of Twilight then held her in arms while replying in solemn yet strong and honest voice.
“No, ah don't think you are useless at all! You are the Element of Magic. You are one of six ponies who saved Equestria twice now! You are far from being useless. As soon you heard that he could be alive you came all way here with your friends to be there for him!”
Applejack paused for moment, letting her words sink into the Unicorn before her.
“Just because you wanted to be there for him!”
Applejack paused, boring her sincere and honest eyes at Twilight.
“Ah' don't want to hear of this again.”
Twilight gave Applejack a hug, whispering a thank you before releasing her.
“Well! You must be mighty hungry, so I brought you breakfast!” The lavender Unicorn gave a small smile for first time, despite the situation that she was going through. Together the cultivator and intellectual mares ate their morning meal in peace. Twilight only finished half of her breakfast; it was hard to think about food when all of her capacity of her mind was devoted toward the deaf stallion, of how she could be of some use to his recovery. An idea formed inside her head but she wasn't ready to make it a reality. The mare quickly put her thought on the hold when a doctor arrived to perform a quick check-up on the patient, but it wasn't Fleetheart from last night. This doctor didn't speak, he just nodded once and left.
About half of the hour passed, her friends rotated their visits- Twilight remained in the room naturally. While Fluttershy had her turn in the rotation of the visit, they optioned to banter back and forth about how recovery worked with her animals back home and how it would be applied on Silent. Fluttershy explained that she once took care of a dog who was mauled by some animal near Everfree Forest which took about two months of recovery to be able to walk again. Fluttershy reassured that his recovery won't be impossible based on what the medical practitioner told the group last night. However, worry reigned within the shy Pegasus because she knew that Doctor Fleetheart was right; some ponies do give up on their recovery and she had seen this happen all too often with her animals caring experience.
Instantly Fluttershy reverted to her shy self, diving behind the couch and began to shake like morsel mouse when a sound of rustling came across the room, not knowing what to do. Meanwhile the lavender Unicorn gave a gasp, hope built quickly within her when she focused her purple eyes at the bed. Quickly trotting over there while Fluttershy peeked over the couch with a quivering lips, her eyes widening at the miraculous sight.
____________________
Estranged feelings began washing over Silent- one felt as if a demon was crawling within him, deciding that Silent's inner organs would serve better as nourishment for his insatiable appetite. The other, an overwhelming sense of consciousnesses. Silent fought the feeling as best as he could manage, boring himself deeper into his pillow and forcing his eyes to remain closed in vain as life circulated through his veins. Suddenly memories of what happened to him a mere night ago came rushing into his mind, a scene replaying itself in first-person view. Everything was in slow motion, after clenching his broken right hoof after smashing it against the front chair. So vividly Silent could see himself getting picked up in the air by outside force and thrown around the train mercilessly then last thing that replayed inside his mind was a pole slowly getting closer, closer and..
Silent let out a pitiful cry as he snapped his eyes open, panting quickly- jumping from point to another in the room, his cheeks felt wet. Crying? He hasn't cried in long time. Groaning as he attempted to bring up his dominant arm to wipe off the wet streaks, the deaf stallion’s eyes widened as the cast on his right arm came into his view. Letting a quick yelp as he began moving around his bed frantically to to get a better view of himself. Silent chuckled at how terrible he looked, despite only being able to view a small percentage of his body. The deaf Unicorn snapped his head in either direction to get a better view of his surroundings, which proved difficult because the bandages that enveloped his face prohibited any moment. Silent attempted to force himself to sit upright when it hit him that there was no pain, quickly deducing the medicine was responsible for that. Managing to hoist himself upright, he felt himself being pushed back the bed gently. It was powerful magic, but it was lightly taking control all of his trembling limbs. Silent looked toward the source of the magic and began to calm down when his eyes settled on an all too familiar pony. Silent took a long and deep breath to calm some of his temerity, then let out a small wheeze with small smirk growing on his face. The deaf unicorn was very surprised to see her, but it cheered him up.
Fluttershy retreated from the room as soon Silent stirred, both out of her usual phobia of everything and her obligation to Doctor Fleetheart to inform the nurses. Twilight gave her own brand of smirk back when she saw Silent gave a tender smile upon her, turning her head around slowly to hide her blush- hoping that the deaf Unicorn didn’t take notice of it. Silence reigned in the room for few minutes when the lavender mare realized that the deaf stallion could lip-read well, opting to speak to him instead of writing on paper. Twilight was hoping to avoid use of magic because of what Silent’s reaction would be if he tried to use his magic to grab parchment and the quill and found he was unable to due to what happened to his horn.
“Hello, are you feeling better?”
Silent took a moment, his eyes wandering around the room. It was a bit strange that he didn’t feel any pain, knew he knew that it wouldn’t last. The deaf stallion weakly indicated that he was in-between. Just ok.
Groaning as he shuffled around in the bed to get comfortable and, whilst he was at it, casting a quick look around where he was in detail. Silent shot Twilight a imploring look with a hope that she could understand him then confirm. As Twilight have studied Magic of Friendship for over year now, she learnt that knowing the body and facial expression is one of most useful skill to have if you are communicating with somepony; this was the very skill that Twilight relied on to catch on to what Silent was thinking.
“If you were wondering, you are in a hospital.”
At first Silent didn’t get the last part, weakly waving his left hoof to have her repeat it.
“Hospital, you are in a hospital.”
Twilight put on her best smile for Silent, attempting to display that there was hope for the lugubrious stallion. Sighing heavily as his usual depressive temperament began to bubble back up, the stallion leant back on his bed- breaking the eye contact with her to stare at the ceiling to mull things over. What should he do now, and this train accident was another thing to add to his long mental list.
Just another fact to add to that long bucking list of what else can go wrong! You know what? I’m not going to ask myself that, I need a good-to-Luna drink! Or maybe a bowl.
Oh Luna, why is it so hard to breath? Maybe it just needs some watering down.
When the bed-ridden stallion tried to swallow his saliva, his his throat became dry as if there were a sandstorm raging in the desert in his trachea. The bed-ridden stallion tried to swallow some saliva once again to fight off the raging sandstorm within his throat, but it didn’t work as he began to cough violently, looking around the room for something to quell his seared throat. The answer was instead presented to him in the form of a floating cup of water encased in a light purple hue. Twilight evinced a concerned face as she held it up with her magic; her mind having completely forgotten about his severed horn as her subconscious naturally performed her hasty, yet genuine, gesture. Silent nodded in gratitude and released a magical charge of his own to take the cup from Twilight's grip. Twilight gulped when she realized what Silent just tried to do, but went unnoticed by her friend in the bed. Instantaneously the lavender Unicorn’s body felt like it was ran over by a stampede emotionally.
Nothing.
Blinking his eyes then wiping his eyes with his free hoof with debilitated resolution.
Must be the medicine hehe... now let's try again. Silent geared up again to attempt another one, focusing one’s magic field to his horn- imaging that he was gripping the cup or it was surmised to.
Once again nothing materialized. Silent's mental health quickly deteriorated as he casted a demented look at the cup, swatting it out the air. Silent desperately attempting to cast a spell, any spell, on everything in the room. The pain killer that the doctor had been feeding him via IV was working well, until the moment the deaf Unicorn became hysterical and started forcing himself out of the bed. The heart monitor’s beeps intensified, becoming louder and more erratic as the pain killer diluted. Indubitable pain that he learnt of back at the accident came back in full force; he held back his voice, on verge of screaming. The white stallion tried to step down from the bed when purple aura encased him, the Unicorn tried to fight it off with raw muscle but it wasn't a match for the powerful magic of Twilight. Silent finally bellowed out loud as he gripped the bed with all his strength, still endeavoring to escape- his mind finally collapsed upon itself, his voice bellowing out unintelligible noises.
Twilight intensified her aura, effectively doubling its strength, and forced the bewildered Unicorn onto the bed with a loud thud. She hated to do this to the already weakened pony, but the situation desperately called for a more forceful grapple. A team of nurses rushed into the room upon hearing the commotion from the lobby; one of head nurse quickly trotted up with a syringe acknowledging that the patient was a danger to himself and his recovery. Silent began to cry uncontrollably, still trying to escape while his mind is trying to wrap out of not being able to have magic forever or if he could ever get it back.
One of the nurses took advantage of powerful magic that held him in the place, quickly injecting a powerful sedative into Silent's neck. Twilight immediately became paralyzed when she could see Silent promptly falling into unconsciousness in spark of irony of what she saw in his eyes met after he broke out of his torpor. The thrashing, crying, and general noises slowly died down into nihility. Snoring rang out after few moments of silence, everypony including Twilight and Fluttershy were stunned at what had happened; one of nurse muttered that this hasn't happened in long time. The whole ER floor was in reticence, the team of nurses then shuffled out together planning on telling the patient's doctor of what transpired, and one nurse stayed behind to give the patient a full check-out. Twilight just stared at empty space, still shocked at of what happened. Something finally pushed her into right direction as she turned herself around.
Trotting out of the room with Fluttershy trailing behind, Twilight decided it was time to put her idea that popped into her head recently into action. What inspired inside that hospital room would put someponies in for more misery, but not Twilight. It instead solidified her idea and support since the deaf stallion needed it now more than anything, and the more support he received, the better. Twilight but of course will offer all of her support for stallion that she liked. She could finally admit it to herself after what she and he have been through in short amount of time, but it was still too early to admit to the world, or her friends, and especially him. The lavender Unicorn and cream Pegasus made for the lobby where their friends waited.
The scholar mare knew that the chariot was still waiting outside on standby until the order came from the protege of Princess Celestia to go home or to another destination, proclaiming that surprised her companions.
“Girls, I'm going to go Baltimare. I think it is only appropriate that I bring his father into this; he is going to need all support he needs!”
Twilight expected some of the girls would be against this idea but they agreed without provocation.
“Spike!”
The baby dragon stepped up, giving a salute to her mentor. “Present!”
Twilight weakly chuckled at his attempt of humor before getting on with her scheme.
“Take a letter!” With this command the baby dragon spent few moments borrowing a blank paper from a nurse at the front desk and a pen from somepony at the lobby.
“Thank you Spike, Dear Princess Celestia...”
[Done. I’d rage about yet another cliffhanger, but I know the story now! >:D] - MrMinimii
[Starting on chapter 16 today or tomorrow] - Morfonious