The white sterile hospital room slowly came into focus. The sharp scent of antiseptic hung in the air and a blinding light hurt the cyan pegasus's eyes. 'Where am I?' thought Rainbow Dash sleepily to herself. She felt a throbbing pain coming from her right wing and the hospital sheets were starting to become quite stuffy. Rainbow flung the sheets off and proceeded to stretch out her wings.
"Youch!" She grit her teeth together and flopped back down onto the pillow. As the mare looked down at her wing she saw that the skin attaching her wing to her body was covered by bandages. She was feeling sort of dizzy and light-headed.
Suddenly it all came back, Ice Petal, the fight, getting stabbed and finally the pain.
"Where's Scootaloo and Ice Petal, are they alright?" asked Rainbow hoarsely. She noticed the doctor standing close to the door and writing on a clipboard. He looked up briefly before returning to his scribbling.
"I see you're awake Miss... Rainbow Dash. Feeling any better? You did have a fair amount of blood loss after all."
"I'll survive but what about Scootaloo and Ice Petal? Are they alright?" repeated the pony in question.
"I'm guessing that they are the pegasi who brought you here. If you're talking about the orange filly and white mare then they are exhausted but otherwise relatively alright."
"Yes, who else do ya think I meant? Can you get them in here?" The doctor looked a bit uncomfortable at this newest request.
"Well, as much as you guys would like to see each other I'm afraid it's against the rules. Unless they are family or royalty than they're not allowed to come in."
"WHAT? But those two bought me here and knowing Scoots they probably have been waiting for me to wake up. You gotta let me see them doc!" exclaimed Rainbow. What was wrong with these ponies? First the guard and now the doctor. These guys really like to stick to the rules. Besides she needed to know what happened back in the alley.
"Uhhhh, can you just give us five minutes at the least?" she groaned. The doctor sighed and gave a big huff.
"Alright but the head doctor isn't going to be too pleased about this."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." As Rainbow Dash waited for her companions she got a sense of déjà vu. She always seemed to be ending up in hospitals these days with some sort of wing injury. 'Hospitals are so boring!' Rainbow started to fiddle with the lamp switch that was sitting on a small table next to the bed. 'Then again my time in hospitals haven't been all that bad. Last time I got to talk with a Wonderbolt who was pretty decent compared to some of his team mates. The time before that was when I first discovered the best books in all of Equestria.'
Before she knew it the prismatic maned pegasus felt somepony wrap their hooves around her.
"Rainbow Dash! I'm so happy that you're alright! There was all this blood and I thought that the worst had happened!" sobbed Scootaloo.
"Awww Scoots! Don't you worry, it'll take more than some wing injury to bring this pegasus down." She returned the hug and gave the filly one of her trademark grins. Even though the two were only honorary sisters any onlooker could clearly see that they cared for each other just as much as real sisters. Ice Petal sat down on the edge of the bed and looked wistfully at the scene. She thought about how much she missed her family.
"So how long have I been here for?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Well it was around 1:00pm when we got here and now it's 5:00pm." said Ice as she looked down at her watch.
"Horseapples. I guess I'm gonna be here overnight huh?"
"Yes Miss Rainbow Dash, we'll check up on your wing tomorrow but I don't think you'll be out of here for a couple of days. We have to keep an eye on your wing otherwise it could get infected. Then once we dismiss you from the hospital I recommend staying off that wing for around two weeks so you don't reopen the wound. While you were unconscious we put stitches in." reported the doctor. Rainbow groaned loudly. 'How was she going to survive two weeks without flying?'
"I guess we'll get to be flightless buddies together Dash." said Scootaloo as she nudged Rainbow. She winced as the nudge poked her wound.
"I'll leave you with your visitors for ten minutes then I'm afraid they will have to go." The doctor exited the room and Ice Petal was heard to give a sigh of relief. Suddenly Rainbow Dash remembered that the others would be wondering where she'd got to, not to mention Scootaloo's foster parents.
"Darn it, what are we gonna do with you Scoots."
"I dunno, I wanna stay here with you though."
"Thanks squirt but you have to get back to your parents."
"But I want to be here when you get better. Besides how are you gonna get back to Ponyville if you can't fly for two weeks?"
"I'll manage, they have chariots here that I can catch. Real sorry kid but once the doctor comes back I'm gonna ask for some paper so that I can send a letter to them and I'll write one to Twilight as well. No point writing a separate letter to everypony else since she'll probably tell them anyways." Scootaloo looked downtrodden as she gave a small shrug.
"Fine, how long will it take for them to get the letter and arrive here?"
"Well every town in Equestria has a post office where they keep a big furnace that has enchanted dragon fire in it. The letters get dropped in the fire and arrive in the post of whatever town you addressed it too. Twilight is pretty lucky to have Spike though since she can send letters whenever she wants. Your parents should be here in like an hour." Rainbow sighed now that all the boring organizy talk was over. She had a sneaking suspicion that there was something Ice Petal wasn't telling them and there was probably more to this attack than she was letting on. Talking about the fight Rainbow Dash was relieved to notice that Scootaloo didn't look too hurt with the exception of some scrapes and bruises whatnot. The unfortunate icy blue maned mare on the other hoof had a big band-aid on her right foreleg.
"So Ice Petal what exactly happened back there? I need to know what we got ourselves into back there."
She knew that this question was going to come along sooner or later. Ice had fleeting flashbacks of the events from the previous week. It wasn't Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo that she had trouble telling though because the cyan pegasus was the Element of Loyalty for pony's sake. If the Elements of Harmony vanquished the evil side of Princess Luna, turned Discord back to stone and rescued Princess Celestia and Luna from those black vines than it was pretty safe to assume they could be trusted. No, it wasn't her companions that she was suspicious of but the staff here at the hospital. The doctor was going to be back soon and who knew if he was on their side. Anypony here in Cloudsdale could be a spy for them. She shuddered as she thought about how evil ponies could be. Snippets of conversation came to mind and made Ice Petal feel sick to the stomach. Darkness was brooding here in Cloudsdale, there was no doubt about that. She just wished she could get back to the safety of Fillydelphia and sell her perfumes. Ice Petal remembered all the friendly faces that always stopped to say hi. Everyone knew her and she knew them. Selling perfumes wasn't a chore like it was here, it was nice to make ponies happy with her products. She never tired of standing in the park with her stall and smelling the invigorating scent of flowers that could all be used for her perfumes. The nice symphony of birds chirping and the excited sounds of fillies playing were always pleasant to listen to. At the end of a long work day she would relax at Meg's Coffee Cafe which was well-known in Fillydelphia for having the best coffee. Ice Petal let a small smile creep onto her lips at the memory. It wasn't until she heard Rainbow Dash clearing her throat pretty obnoxiously that Ice remembered she had a question to answer.
"Oh umm right, what happened back there.." Ice Petal trailed off. She shifted awkwardly at the edge of the hospital bed.
"You gonna tell us or what?" snapped Rainbow. Ice flinched involuntarily and gave a quick nervous glance around the room. She tried squinting her light pink eyes to see if she could see the doctor coming through the open door. Rainbow Dash gave a small sigh.
"Look I'm sorry that I shouted at you but we overheard those stallions saying something about how you know too much. What was that about?"
"Yeah why are those two being such jerkfaces to you? You seem pretty nice to me." piped Scootaloo. Ice Petal got off the bed and trotted closer to the pegasi.
"I can't tell you guys now but once you get out of the hospital, Rainbow Dash, I promise I'll tell you what I've found out so far. It's not safe to say anything here. For now I'm just going to say that I may have overheard something that I shouldn't have." hissed Ice. Rainbow's eyes widened slightly as she nodded.
"What about me? I will be with my parents soon." scowled Scootaloo as she sat on the ground and crossed her forehooves.
"Well maybe it's for the best because information like this isn't good for young fillies to here." The white mare shrugged apologetically.
"Hey, I'm not that young! I'm 12 years old you know."
"Wow! 12! I thought you were around 5 years old squirt." The mischievous pegasus chuckled. Scootaloo gave her a light punch on the shoulder.
"Awww shuddup ya big meanie."
"Ya don't mean that about the awesomest pegasus in Equestria do ya?" Rainbow feinted hurt for about 2 seconds before bursting into laughter. She leaned over from the bed, picked Scootaloo up and tickled her till she begged for mercy. The orange filly was gasping with laughter and squirming around.
"Please stop it!"
Ice Petal bit her lip worriedly as she watched Scootaloo's flailing hooves get dangerously close to Rainbow's injured wing. But seeing the two having a good time after the stress of the day's events made Ice lighten up. She was soon giggling like a schoolfilly and felt relieved to be laughing instead of crying.
"What do you think Ice? Should we give her mercy?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head as if she was thinking.
"Hmmm, I don't know? What do you think?"
"If Scoots here admits that I'm the most super-ultra-extra-awesomazing pony in Equestria than I might give her mercy."
"No never!" said Scootaloo dramatically.
"Oh well I guess there will be no mercy for you."
This was how the doctor found his patient and her visitors when he came into the room. He cleared his throat angrily.
"Miss Rainbow Dash! This is very unacceptable! Your visitors must leave now!" commanded the doctor. Of course nopony listened to him for a good five minutes. The doctor gave a huge sigh. 'How do I get roped into these things?'