Inside; chapter 2 Waiting
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It had been a couple of hours since Rainbow Dash had woken up and already her room was alive with countless doctors, nurses and even some scientists who, much to Rainbow’s annoyance, kept pestering her with questions. Even though she had been to the hospital many times before, due to her daredevil antics, she was not prepared for the sudden explosion of tests and checkups that were “Standard Operating Procedure” every five seconds.
Reluctantly, Twilight and the others lingered in the waiting room, anxiously waiting for any information on their friend. Twilight, as always, had her nose deep in a book with her hoof loosely tapping her chin in interest. Rarity and Applejack were busy debating on how old the hospital was, frequently leading Twilight for being asked who answered correctly. Pinkie Pie had tried relentlessly to entertain herself, from reading a magazine to doing multiple cartwheels down an active hospital hallway. However in the end she just resourced to sleeping the endless hours away. Fluttershy did what she usually does in these situations; hide behind her curtain like mane and quiver. She had been quite panicky when she went out the room but instantly broke down when she saw the amount of ponies rushing into Rainbow’s room. She persisted to do so even through the multiple attempts to reassure her from her friends and the staff, who in the end gave up.
Twilight, after countless hours of reading, gave up on her research and looked up above the pages of the old book, only then did she notice how engrossed she got into it as her nuzzle was only inches away from the pages. She let out an annoyed sigh and, using her magic, tossed the book over her head. The scatty old book landed a few centimetres away from Rarity, sending small clouds of dust into the air. Rarity squealed and darted behind Applejack.
“Twilight!” she cried. “Please! I know you like these old and dusty books but please refrain from letting them get anywhere around me!” She emphasised every adjective by pointing an accusing hoof at the tattered old book.
Applejack and Twilight both rolled their eyes at the drama queen’s outburst. Rarity saw and glared at them dramatically in retaliation
“What?” she asked in a sudden innocent tone as she began gently flicking her glossy mane.
Applejack bent down and eyed the book in suspicion. The book was clearly years old as its thick covers were covered in decades worth of dust. The book’s pages were ripped stained and quite a few were either missing or falling out making it quite hard to read, even though there were many pages absent the book was well stacked. Applejack blew some of the dust away from the book’s cover so it was more understandable.
The words “Pegasus Magic” were written on the front and underneath there was a poorly drawn picture of a pegasus flying with a few blobs of white surrounding it. Applejack guessed that they were supposed to be clouds. The cover itself was a bright turquoise colour. However, a few stains and patches where the colour had faded from old age were clearly visible. Applejack stared at the title for a few moments before looking questionably at Twilight who wore an unreadable expression on her face.
“Uh, ah’m sorry Twi, but pegasus what now?”
Twilight snapped out of her daydream and began pacing around the small waiting room as she spoke.
“Pegasus magic, Applejack, and I know your probably thinking that pegasi having magic inside them is crazy, but it apparently is indeed a real thing”
Applejack cocked her head to one side. “Wait. Apparently?”.
Twilight stopped in her tracks and sighed before looking up. For a few moments she stared at the wall trying to conjure up the right words to say that would make sense to the earth pony. After a while she turned around to look at the quivering pegasus in the corner of the room. However, when Twilight turned around, Fluttershy only flinched, reacting as if Twilight had tried to hurt her She sunk deeper into her haunches and buried her head further into her mane.
Twilight’s serious gaze softened as it fell across the Pegasus. She neared closer towards her. “Fluttershy?”
No answer.
“Fluttershy, could you please do a tiny favor for me?”
Fluttershy looked up at Twilight, but no response was given.
“Please?” Twilight begged as she stepped further towards her friend.
Fluttershy didn’t reply for a while but then spoke up.
“W-what is it?” The yellow Pegasus whispered.
“Could you fly just for a few seconds so I can demonstrate something to Applejack?”
The shy pegasus looked at the ground for a brief moment before slowly rising out of her comfy corner and into the air.
Twilight smiled at Fluttershy before clearing her throat.
“As you can see, all pegasi have wings that grant them the gift of flight.” She gestured towards Fluttershy. “However, compared to the body mass of the usual Pegasus, the wings they have wouldn’t be enough for sustained flight.” Everyone, except the sleeping Pinkie, took in everything Twilight was saying. Even Fluttershy who was now fully intrigued by what the lavender unicorn was saying.
“This is where the theory of Pegasus magic comes from.” Twilight continued.” And oh, Fluttershy, you can stop flying now.”’ She did as she was told and lowered to the ground.
“The book says that this magic should be able to help lift them off the ground and the wings are used to simply navigate and determine how high the pegasus goes. This theory is very popular among scientists. However, it has never been proven due to the fact that there has never been any spell or technology to be able to sense it. The fact that magic is more spiritual than scientific hasn’t helped determine the answer.”
Everyone in the room was quiet for a moment but Rarity swiftly broke the silence.
“I could understand where you’re coming from dear, but I don’t see the connection between that and the current state Rainbow Dash is in.”
“If the theory is true, then I’m worried that Rainbow’s magic is somehow being used to heal her wounds. I’m not sure if it would come with consequences. I’m not even sure if the magic would be limited or not, so that’s why I’ve been looking to see if there has ever been a scenario were a pegasus did use her magic differently. So far I’ve found none.”
Twilight hung her head in the mist of her own failure. She almost never fails with her research and now that her friend’s well being was at stake she felt more depressed than she ever would have been.
“Now don’t ya’ll worry, Twi. Ya did yer best n’ that’s all that matters.” Applejack said as she put a reassuring hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight couldn’t help but smile at her friends sweet words. Rarity and Fluttershy had millions of questions for Twilight but decided it was best if they stayed quiet.
The door suddenly slammed open making everyone jump and even woke up Pinkie. A brown colt stood in the door way. His mane was a mess and there were some bald patches on his head too. His left shoulder looked badly bruised and he had numerous others including one just near his eye. An alarmed look hung on his face which caused the five mares in the waiting room to jump in surprise as they looked at the usually cool headed colt.
“Miss Twilight!” He began between struggled breaths. He’d clearly been running. ”We need your help!”
“Wait, wha-“
“NOW!” He shouted before turning on hoof and darting down the corridor. Without even a second thought, all five ponies dashed on after him.
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Spinning. That was all Rainbow saw. The room spun at break neck speeds. At first she only saw the room’s colour; white. However, as she regained more consciousness she noticed scarlet red blurs dashing by her. It was like flying.
No. It was more like spinning uncontrollably.
Her head swayed as the feeling came and went. Much to Rainbow’s disappointment, the room was slowing down. She stared at the ceiling for a second before pushing herself steadily up, with the help of her shaky forelegs, and shutting her eyes tight with effort. Her body felt numb all over; like she had been running for hours. She opened her eyes. Her vision was coming into tact. The red blurs slowed down.
The door swiftly opened making Rainbow Dash yelp and fall back down to her mattress.
“Ugh. Could you guys stop doing that? I’m trying to sleep.” She whined as threw the pillow over her face and kicked her legs under the covers like a foal.
No answer came back to her. No scolding. Nothing. Rainbow brought the pillow down to her chest to look. Her friends had a mixture of shock and fear on their faces making Dash confused. Only then did she notice the red splatters on the wall. Her pupils shrunk to a pinprick as she looked to the left of her bed.
Multiple ponies lay unconscious on the floor, many of them with blood stains and bruises.
"W-wha..." voices came from the right side.
She didn’t want to look to the right side. She didn’t want to look at her friends faces. She carried on staring at the ponies.
Did she do this? No. She didn’t remember doing it. But then why wasn’t she hurt? Why are her friends looking shocked at her?
“W-what...” was all she could say.
Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash. She didn’t know what to think. She knew her friend wouldn’t attack ponies without being provoked. No. Rainbow hadn’t done this. She refused to believe it.
“Ugh.” Murmured a voice.
They looked around for the source of the voice before looking in the corner of the room at a mare in a science coat. Twilight wasted no time in rushing over to the pony and helping her.
The others quickly followed on, helping the other ponies laying on the floor. Rainbow tried to help to but the mares and colts were too afraid of her, as every time she got close to them they’d just whimper and shuffle out of her reach. In the end she just decided to wait in her bed.
“M-miss?” Twilight asked the mare lying on the floor. She opened her eyes enough to be able to just make out Twilight’s coat and mane. Everything else was blurred.
“Ugh, w-where am I?” said the science mare in no more than a whisper. She lifted herself off the ground. This proved quite difficult as one of her legs was badly broken. She looked up.
“You’re in the hospital.” Twilight reassured her, assisting the pony in getting up. “Ma’am, do you remember what happened?”
Twilight instantly regretted asking that question as the mare’s eyes went wide with fear and she suddenly fell into a ball, shaking. Twilight was about to say something but was cut off by the pony shooting her hoof in Rainbow Dash’s direction.
Twilight looked over at Rainbow. She felt distraught. Why would she do this? How could she do this? Was she even responsible for this? As much as she hated shouting at her friends, she had to stand up for what was right. She crouched down into an angry stance and glared at her.
“What happened, Rainbow?” She snapped. Everyone in the room instantly halted what they were doing and looked at Twilight in shock.
“Huh? Nothing! They put me to sleep for a test an-and then I woke up! And everypony was on the floor! I would never do this to anypony Twilight! You should know that of all ponies!” Rainbow said, glaring defensively at the unicorn.
Twilight was confused. Who was she to believe. Her best friend, or those who claimed to be attacked by the mare in question?
“If I might cut in.” Everyone looked round to see the Brown colt standing next to the doorway. “I think I should explain what just... happened.” The colt stammered. ”I think it might help clear things up.”