Rainbow Dash gave a low groan as she stirred from unconsciousness. Hey body felt heavy and lifeless and her head felt as if her brain was made of a thick gloopy treacle. She struggled to remember how she had ended up in such a sorry state, which was hard to do considering her current condition. She frowned slightly at the texture beneath her. She wasn't sleeping on her cloud bed back home that was for certain. In fact the only time she ever slept in a regular bed was when she spent the night at a friends. Well, either that or she was in a hospital bed.
In a hospital bed.
In a hospital bed.
Dash gave another groan, this one of annoyance. It didn't take much to piece together she'd done something stupid and now she was suffering the consequences in hospital. She could even start to feel the drip in her arm, keeping her pain under control on some kind of anesthetic. She was surprised she didn't pick up on the fact she was in hospital sooner now, the beeping of the heart monitor omnipresent and constant. Strange though. She couldn't really remember doing anything crazy enough to warrant her bed ridden and hopped up on morphine. She hadn't come up with any new stunts recently she was sure of that, and she certainly didn't remember planning on trying out any of her more risky maneuvers this week. Maybe she was injured on weather patrol? A lightning strike was sure to boggle the mind for a few hours, and being blown off course by high winds was a common cause for some rather nasty crash landings. Ponyville had been due for a storm after all Dash conceded, at least according to the charts she picked up last night.
Last night...
Something about the night before seemed to spark a memory, if it even was the previous night anymore. She'd gone to receive the weather patterns for the next week from the Mayor's office, dropped by Sugar Cube Corner as Pinkie Pie was closing up, then she and Pinkie had bumped into Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy and... someone said something about going out to Vinyl's new club and then... nothing. She couldn't remember anything after that.
Her nose started to itch and her face squirmed. She tried lifting her right arm to scratch it, only to discover she couldn't feel it. Immediately, panic filled her mind with horrific images of her arm being little more than a stump at the end of her shoulder, the heart monitor beside her beginning to increase its tempo to match her rapidly beating heart. She didn't know how she would cope living with one arm. How would she fly? How would she do anything? Her right hand was dominant!
Deciding her eyelids would be easier to open than lifting a potentially non-existent arm. Preparing herself mentally for the worst, she began to lift her head from her pillow and turn it slightly to the right. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes.
Her arm was still there, though it was in a plaster cast. She let out the relieved sigh that her arm was in fact still attached to her body. It had probably been on a much higher dosage than the rest of her body, and it was still working out the anesthetic from her systems and averaging everything out.
The door was flung open suddenly and Doctor Stables burst in, a frightened look in his eyes. When he saw Dash however, propped up slightly and looking at him, he relaxed slightly and walked over to her.
"Rainbow," he sighed, reaching her side. "You gave me quite a fright there. Your heart rate suddenly shot up. I thought it might have been cardiac arrest or something."
"Just couldn't feel my arm Doc," she said smiling back at him. "Started thinking you chopped it off."
"Keep livin the way you do and someday that might just happen," Doctor Stable said, a knowing look in his eye as he began checking Dash over. "Hmmm, still the same sorry state you were in last night, but I think you're stable enough to at least see your friends."
"You're bedside manners' still appalling Doc," Dash grumbled, though she did smile slightly at the notion of seeing some friends and potentially finding some answers to what exactly happened to her last night. Doctor Stables rolled his eyes, before walking over to the door and opening it and stepping through. A few moments later Fluttershy flew in and pounced on Dash, burying her face into Dash's neck and sobbing. Dash in the meanwhile stiffened eyes wide as pain suddenly reached her numbed brain.
"'Shy," Dash managed to croak out. "I know you're worried... but still kind of in pain here."
Fluttershy immediately snapped away from Dash, hands covering her mouth and repeatedly whispering apologies through her tears, as Rarity walked in, followed by Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Battle. Pinkie had a bandage wrapped around her head and her hair was arrow straight, the way it usually was when she was upset. Applejack had a few bandages wrapped around her wrists and a plaster on her cheek but seemed to be in a much better condition than Pinkie. Battle meanwhile had his coat draped over his shoulders, revealing the bandages wrapped around his chest and shoulders.
"Morning twinkle toes," Battle said as Dash manouvered herself into an upright position. He had a styrofoam cup full of some steaming liquid. Whether it was coffee or tea, Dash had no way to be sure.
"Nice to see you too Battle," Dash replied, rolling her eyes, before leaning towards the others. "So I take it that the fact four of us are in bandages that last night was a good night out?"
Rarity frowned. "You don't remember what happened?"
"That's kind of why I'm asking," Dash sighed. Applejack rubbed her wrists with a grim look on her face.
"Gilda happened," Applejack told her. "She jumped us with some of her goons, knocked Pinkie out 'n' started wailing on us two. Rares and 'Shy managed to slip away."
Dash looked at her blankly, blinked then slumped back, rubbing her eyes. "So... Gilda attacked us?"
"She didn indeed darling," Rarity confirmed, pressing a hand to Dash's shoulder. "She was most interested in you and Pinkie Pie. I think she chose to rough up Applejack because she decided to fight back."
"Meanwhile Rares went 'n' got help," Applejack continued. "Which Ah'll be honest, Ah'm sorta glad that Twilight wasn't here for that."
"Why?" Dash asked, confused and still trying to process everything that she was being told.
"Because if Twi had been here, Ah doubt things would've turned out the way they did," Applejack admitted. "Let's be honest, Twi's never seen a real fight an' Ah doubt she'd know what to do in one."
Dash turned her head to Battle. "So Rarity went to you for help?" Battle nodded. "And you got rid of Gilda?"
Battle cocked his head and wormed his lips as he thought of a way to respond. "Got rid of is a funny way of describing what happened last night," he said at last. "Made sure she'd stay away from you and the others so long as she lives? Yes, yes I did that. Actually got her to leave Ponyville with her tail between her legs? Kind of."
"Why kind of?" Dash asked, eyes narrowed.
"Because she's still in intensive care with seven of her gryphon buddies," Battle replied evenly.
Dash blinked, amazed.
"Seven?"
"Seven, not counting Gilda. Where the two little bitches who flew away are I can't say but the whole gryphon thing won't be a problem for you."
"You put eight gryphons down for the count?" Dash whispered, amazed.
"Down for the count does not describe what happened to those gryphons," Rarity interrupted, as Battle lifted his drink to his lips. "I believe a phrase you might be familiar with darling is 'He fucked them up.'" Battle promptly spat out the mouthful he had just sipped and began to laugh.
"Language!" he cried out, guffawing with laughter, Pinkie Pie smiling slightly and Applejack letting out a snort as Rarity and Fluttershy both blushed crimson. Dash meanwhile couldn't help but crack a smile of her own, before turning to Battle again.
"So, fucked 'em up did ya?" she asked, much to Rarity's embarrassment. Battle rolled the sleeve of his coat up his arm, presenting it to Dash. There they were again. The scars criss-crossing across Battle's flesh.
"They aren't for show you know."
Dash looked him in the eyes and smiled. "I never said they were."