//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 - Recovery and Answers 
// Story: Under Her Wing 
// by Tinyweasels 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2 - Recovery and Answers

Rainbow Dash felt like she was swimming in darkness, but slowly became aware of muffled voices. She moved towards them like a beacon as she recalled a crash and her mind quickly categorized the four types of crashes a retired Wonderbolt had once described to her:

1. Your friends gather around you and have a laugh at your expense while you dust yourself off.

2. Your friends and family gather around your hospital bed and have a laugh at your expense, but it's an awkward, uncomfortable laugh as they know it could have been much worse.

3. You wake in a hospital bed and your immediate family is at the far end of the room talking in whispers with the doctors. 

4. They gather what's left of you and put you in a pine box.

As her awareness grew stronger she was relieved to hear a number of voices surrounding her. Sounds like a Category Two. She felt great relief, and as if breaking the surface of the dark waters she was in, she stirred and opened her eyes.

"Is her face going to stay like that?" Pinkie asked curiously.

"Hey, Doc! She's wakin' up!" Apple Jewel said urgently and several medical ponies approached. 

Rainbow's eyes focused and she looked around then focused on herself, finding she was wearing a medical gown and her lower right leg was in a cast, but surprisingly nothing else appeared broken. Around her were the concerned faces of her best friends and vases of flowers all around, except for the huge flower containing a bouquet of vases. Ah, Discord sending his regards she chuckled inwardly.

"The kid!" Rainbow shouted in alarm, finally recalling why she had crashed.

"Relax, Dashie," Pinkie reassured her with a smile. "She's fine, just a few bumps and bruises."

Rainbow leaned back on her bed. "That was waaay too close."

Pinkie came over and gave Rainbow a gentle nuzzle to her cheek, each in turn doing the same.

"We watched the crash on the recording crystal thingy that Twilight put on your helmet. Rainbow, that was super spectacular!" Pinkie said, hopping excitedly in place.

Rarity approached and used her magic to adjust the bedspread so it wasn't bunched up. "Rainbow, darling, I am quite in awe of your exploits. That was breathtaking!"

“That was so brave of you, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said softly, shuffling her hooves nervously as her eyes darted around. "We were all so worried about you."

"Thanks guys," Rainbow Dash said. "It means a lot to me not waking up alone among strangers here. And where is 'here' for that matter?" Rainbow looked around at the unfamiliar hospital and noticed her bed was actually a proper human sized hospital bed.

One of the doctors strode forward, a gray stallion with glasses. He looked over the charts. "You are at Canterlot Royal Hospital. I am Doctor Gray. You've had quite a serious crash, Miss Dash."

"Yeah, that's the truth, doc. So how bad was it? I thought it would be far worse than this," Rainbow asked, moving her arms and wiggling her fingers. They were sore and bruised, but worked. She moved her legs and wiggled her toes. Everything was attached and moving.

The pony doctor paused, looking down his spectacles at her. "Young lady, when they brought you in here, everything from your ribcage down was broken. Fortunately for you the best doctors in Equestria are here and the only medical team on the planet qualified to do emergency treatment on humans."

Using his magic, Doctor Gray materialized the x-rays and all those present gave horrified gasps. “Miraculously your organs weren't seriously damaged and there appears to be no damage to your brain or nervous system. Your skeleton absorbed the majority of the impact, and what internal bruising you do have will heal well enough on its own.”

The x-rays vanished and he resumed his story. “Your skeleton on the other hoof kept our team busy for several hours doing nothing but casting bone fusion spells while going over human skeletal anatomy charts to make sure everything was being put together correctly. Right now magic is the only thing holding your jigsaw puzzle of a skeleton together. The royal sisters themselves came to assist us. We used far more healing magic than is customary when treating broken bones, but the princesses authorized us to do whatever was necessary to stabilize you."

Rainbow took a moment to absorb it all. "That's great and all, doc, but when does that come off?" she asked gesturing to the cast.

Dr. Gray sighed and face-hoofed. "Miss Dash, you very nearly died and if not for our help you'd have been in a body cast for months and would have required more months of physical therapy before you could even walk again."

Rainbow lay back on her bed and pondered that. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry, Doc. Not very grateful of me. Thank you."

"Now," Dr. Gray continued, a shadow of a smile forming, "that being said, we've magically accelerated the healing of your bones, but due to the sheer amount of damage we couldn't push it too far.  I'd give it three weeks for the cast to come off and then you may engage in normal activity. I'd wait an additional month before you try anything strenuous."

Rainbow sat bolt upright to protest, but the pain that shot through her at the sudden movement silenced her complaints and apparently it was plainly written on her face.

"Do you see what I mean?" the doctor asked smugly.

"Yeah," she grunted a bit as she lay back down. "Ow. So much ow."

The doctor levitated over a set of crutches. "If you're feeling up to it, you are welcome to try these."

Rainbow Dash didn't need to be asked twice. "Yeah, I've had enough laying down." Shrugging off the pain, she was quickly up on the crutches and began hobbling around. 

"Do take it easy. Just because you can move around isn't license to overexert yourself," the doctor warned.

Rainbow Dash returned to the bed and sat down. "This isn't the first time I've had a broken leg, doc. If you're going to be a daredevil flyer you're going to be hurt now and then. Oh, my wing suit. Did it survive?"

"No, we had to cut it off of you."

Dash hung her head, as if losing a dear friend. "Aw man, that really was my lucky suit. I wore that when I BASE jumped off the top of Canterlot Mountain and winged it all the way to Ponyville," she recalled with a smile.

Dr. Gray looked over Rainbow's medical chart, made some notations to it and put it back. "I must say, it is always a big event when one of the royal sisters visits the hospital, but for all three of them to show up showed this was a matter of national importance. It was also fascinating to watch them work. One must wonder what the full limit of their powers are. It must be beyond imagining. That being said, I was quite amazed by your own magic, young lady. I had no idea it was even possible for humans to get cutie marks."

Rainbow smiled and proudly patted her backside through her gown. "Heh, so far the one and only one to do so."

There was a timid knock on the door and she turned to see a young pony standing there. It was filly she had rescued.

"Kid!" Rainbow exclaimed, a smile coming to her face.

"Rainbow Dash!" the filly replied, rushing up to her as she reared up and hugged her middle.

"Argh! Gently, gently," she grunted.

"Sorry, Rainbow Dash," the filly said, releasing her and stepping back, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm so sorry I almost got you killed! Thank you for saving me."  

Rainbow looked down and the filly was so emotional she was trembling. From the corner of her eye she noticed the doctor usher her friends out of the room so they could have some privacy. She reached down and stroked the filly's mane. "You're welcome, kid. Hey, what's your name?"

"I-I'm Scootaloo."

"You're welcome, Scootaloo. Hey, doing the impossible is what awesome fliers like me do. Glad to help," Rainbow said with a smile.

"But you could've been killed! It was all my fault."

"Could have but wasn't, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it and you shouldn't either. But I gotta ask, what happened up there? How'd you fall off the cloud?"

Scootaloo ducked her head a bit as she remembered. "I got so caught up in being up so high that I was trying to fly and I managed to get a little lift but I was so focused I lost track of where the cloud was and I wasn't able to keep in the air and I called to the others for help but they couldn't hear me because of the noise from the wind."

Rainbow knew she was going to have words with the Wonderbolts who organized that outing--hopefully it wouldn't end with her punching somepony in the face.

Tears were streaming down Scootaloo's face as she looked up at Dash, admiring. "That was the most amazing thing ever! I was sure I was gonna die, but there you were, flying towards me to save me, my guardian angel." She choked up as she relived the moment, leaning forward and this time very gently resting her head against her hero. Rainbow patted Scootaloo's head.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry," Scootaloo whispered, then began sobbing.

Rainbow hugged the little pony gently to her and let her cry, then she took Scootaloo's hooves in her hands. "Scootaloo, look at me," she said as she gave the foal's hooves a gentle squeeze.  Scootaloo looked up with a tear stained face.

"I forgive you," Rainbow said softly, but that only caused the foal to cry harder and bury her face against Dash's chest. Rainbow again wrapped her arm around the crying child. It took several minutes for the filly to regain her composure and Rainbow smiled down at her as the hug ended. "Feel better, squirt?"

"Yeah," Scootaloo said, wiping her eyes. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash. You're just amazing."

Rainbow heard the sound of hooves at the door and looked up and she had to fight the urge to stand. "Lady Golden Meadow!" 

The light brown unicorn mare smiled wide with pride and she had a few tears in her own eyes. "Rainbow Dash, it has been a while, hasn't it? I am so proud of you."

Scootaloo looked between the two, clearly confused. "Rainbow Dash, you know her?"

"Hey, I spent seven years at Her Lady of the Blessed Cutie Mark Orphanage."

Scootaloo's eyes opened wide and her mouth dropped open as Lady Golden Meadow came up beside Scootaloo and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"You were one of us?" Scootaloo mumbled at Rainbow.

"Yeah, good old Cloudsburg," Rainbow said with a smile. "Forever in the literal shadow of Cloudsdale directly above us, envying the pegasi that could fly up there whenever they wanted. "

"Yeah, I know all about that," Scootaloo said and buzzed her useless wings.  "Were you raised by ponies?"

Rainbow nodded and smiled.  "They made me the awesome mare I am today."

"I think this shows that it was time well spent," a male voice said at the door.

"Dad!" Rainbow shouted in excitement, wincing in pain.

The blue, rainbow-maned pegasus rushed over and sat beside her, holding her hand in his hooves. "Rainbow, I have never been prouder of you, and that's saying something. You just never cease to amaze me."

Rainbow Dash beamed with pride. "Thanks Dad. That means a lot to me. Oh hey, Scootaloo. Meet the most awesome dad in the world, Fullbright Dash."

Fullbright reached down and rubbed the filly's mane. "Hey Scootaloo. Nice to meet you!" he said with a smile.

"But I nearly got her killed," Scootaloo protested.

"But she didn't die. So no worries, kid."

"This would be a lot easier if you two were mad at me."

Rainbow Dash laughed and rubbed Scootaloo's head again. "No such luck, kiddo. You're forgiven and you're gonna like it."