Running Late

by FlashFoward


Recovery

“We have to be quick you know.” Celestia muttered quickly, trying not to be over heard by the nurses present in the hallway.

“If we rush it, the spell might not work!” Luna replied in mild disbelief.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” Celestia pushed open the door the Spike’s room quickly.

Spike lay there on his bed, not moving a muscle. Celestia sighed to herself and looked down at the dragon in pity. He had tried so hard to make it to the show and this had to happen. She couldn’t help but wonder if Spike was regretting going at this point.

“Shall we start?” Luna asked anxiously.

“And what do you think you’re going to do to my patient?” Blue Heart turned his chair and looked at the princesses with interest, rather than anger.

“Oh! Um, we are here to visit Spike.” Celestia quickly lied.

“You do know that visiting hours have long past?” Heart replied calmly.

Luna slapped her hoof to her temple and Celestia looked down to the ground. “We are here to help Spike in our own way.” Luna explained.

“If it heals him, I do not oppose to what you’re doing.” Blue Heart replied.

“Are you saying you lost hope on Spike?” Luna asked, scandalized that the doctor was calling it quits.

“Sadly, yes. His head bounced off the floor pretty hard. There was nothing to break his fall.” Blue Heart confessed sadly.

Celestia sealed the door the room shut and returned her attention to her sister. “Shall we start?”

“I thought you would never ask.” Luna’s horn glowed with a purple aurora.

Celestia’s own horn started to glow with a faint blinding white light. “Let’s make this count.”

The sister princesses averted there magic onto Spike’s body. For a moment, Blue Heart wanted to ask so many questions about what they were doing to the dragon and go in depth on how they managed this. But, perhaps, it would be better to sit back and watch instead. This was a rather rare experience and Blue Heart figured it would be all the more memorable if it remained a slight mystery to him. But the hunger to know what they were doing was too much for Blue, he peeked in between the shoulders of the princesses to see what they were doing. It was a fascinating sight there magic was completely coating Spike’s body. Beads of sweat were starting to drip from the princesses faces as they continued their spell on Spike.
Blue Heart didn’t dare say a word, not wanting to blow their concentration. The doctor retreated back to his chair stared at the princesses work from afar.

“I think we are done.” Luna ceased the glowing of her horn and let out a tired sigh. Celestia followed suit to her sister.

The princesses worked nonstop on Spike for about two hours. Blue Heart nearly fell asleep a few times, but knew he had to be awake to check to see if Spike would be responsive.

“I guess it’s time for the moment of truth.” Blue Heart trotted his way to Spike.

“It will take a while for the magic to take full effect.” Celestia explained, her voice awfully croaked as she spoke.

“I appreciate what you have done princesses.” Blue Heart said with a bow, but Celestia quickly motioned him to rise.

“Luna, I think our work here is done.” Celestia looked for her sister and noticed she had fallen asleep in a vacant chair in the room. “Oh right, its morning and Luna usually is asleep by now.” Celestia explained to the confused doctor.

With a flash of blinding light, Celestia vanished from the room with her sister.
__________

It wasn’t long before Spike’s first visitor came for the day. Naturally it was Octavia, who was usually the first to come and the last to leave. Octavia greeted Blue Heart as usual but she noticed he looked rather…happy. How can he be happy when Spike is in such bad shape?

“Why in such a good mood Blue?” Octavia asked the tone in her voice coming off more coldly then she would have liked to.

Blue Heart didn’t reply and returned to looking at Spike’s chart. Octavia tried to gather what was going through the doctor’s head to little avail. Anger was starting to bubble inside Octavia’s body. How dare he take things so light hearted while Spike still hasn’t spoken a word since the incident at the Note Theater! What kind of doctor was he to find such a time to smile? Looking down, Octavia nearly yelped when she realized that she was crushing Spike’s hand in between her hoofs. As soon as she let go if his hand though, they started to flex a bit.

“Octavia, what did you do to my hand?” Spike asked meekly. His voice sounded so weak and frail.

Octavia couldn’t believe it! She wrapped Spike in a tight hug, which caused Spike to wince in pain, and she kissed Spike right on the lips. Instantly, Spike’s face went from pain to a dazed one. He had dreamed about this moment for ages now. Her lips were so tender and soft, much more so than in his dreams. This had to be a dream…No, this was heaven.

“Am I dreaming?” Spike asked after Octavia parted from him.

“No.” Octavia whispered back before kissing him with even more passion.

Blue Heart’s presence was completely forgotten, not that he cared. He was busy keeping his attention on the door to the room, which he sealed shut. A purple unicorn could be seen trying to force the door open with her magic. Things could have gotten awkward if that mare and her friends got in and let’s face it, the happy couple needed a moment to themselves. Twilight’s magic was too powerful for Blue though the door shuddered violently and finally opened.

Just on time, Octavia parted from Spike before the new arrivals could notice what they were doing. That is, except for Pinkie.
But, she didn’t comment about it and gave Spike a knowing wink. Go figure, Pinkie was going to spare Spike from gossip and teasing.

“Oh my gosh, Spike! You’re alive!” Twilight hugged her assistant tightly, nearly knocking over everypony as she rushed to Spike.

“Why wouldn’t I be? Anyway, mind letting me go Twi? I’m still sore.” Spike croaked. Twilight instantly let him go and looked rather sheepish.

“Spike, we have to throw a welcome back party once we get back to Ponyville!” Pinkie squealed with delight, throwing confetti and balloons into the air as she said this.

“I would like that.” Spike replied with an approving nod.

“Octavia, you better come to!” Pinkie exclaimed, grabbing Octavia in a one arm hug.

“Thanks, Pinkie.” Octavia replied sheepishly.

“I am sorry Spike!” Rainbow wailed to Spike, bursting into tears as she grabbed Spike’s hand.

“Why are you sorry?” Spike asked, obviously thrown off guard by his friend’s outburst.

“I could have saved you or maybe slowed your fall!” Dash sobbed.

“Dash, don’t beat yourself up about this. You couldn’t do anything about it. It wasn’t like I told anypony I would be falling from the vents.” Spike tried to joke to lighten up Rainbow’s mood. It did the trick. She stopped sobbing.

“Thanks Spike.” Rainbow whispered.

Spike looked around the room, seeing relieved faces all around him. But, there was somepony missing.

“Where’s Rarity?” Spike asked.

The room went silent. Pinkie was in a mid-spring and crashed to the floor.

“Here I am.” A faint voice came from behind the door. Once it swung open, Rarity was standing there looking very nervous.

Octavia stared at Rarity with an uncertain look. Rarity did say she was one of the reasons why Spike ended up like this, but didn’t go in depth about it once asked. True Spike was fine now, but Octavia wanted to know what Rarity had done.

“Mind telling me what you did to Spike?” Octavia demanded, almost threateningly.

Rarity pawed nervously at the ground before answering Octavia. “You see, I discovered that Fancy Pants had been going out with another mare while he went out with me. Once I found out about this scandal, I wanted to get back at him. So, I kind of went to Spike for revenge.”

“You were using Spike.” Octavia stared daggers at Rarity, who slightly cowered at her stare.

“Dear, you have to understand that I was feeling so betrayed and insecure.” Rarity chocked out. “Wait, why are you so
worried about Spike? You only met him at the Gala.” Rarity went on the offensive.

Octavia blushed a bit. “Spike and I are close.”

“How close?” Rarity demanded, almost hysterically now.

“Boyfriend and girlfriend close.” Spike mumbled, barely being heard. Octavia gave Spike an affectionate smile before looking back at Rarity.

“Oh.” Rarity mumbled, what almost sounded like disappointment in her voice. “Well, I am glad Spike has found such a girl.” Rarity said, trying to regain her composure.

“Girls as much as I am enjoying this heart felt reunion, we must perform one last test to see if Spike can go home. So, if you don’t mind, I need all of you to leave.” The girls didn't move an inch. “Now.”

Slowly, the girls left the room. Octavia made sure to be a fair distance away from Rarity while she left. Once Fluttershy closed the door behind her, Spike let out a sigh of relief.

“You lied didn’t you?” Spike asked with a bemused smile.

“Indeed I did.” Blue Heart returned to his usual spiral chair.

“I guess I need to thank you.” Spike held out his hand.

Blue Heart shook Spike’s hand quickly. “Think nothing of it. I figure you would need a moment to take this all in and relax. As soon as you woke up, relaxation is hard to come by.” Blue Heart joked.

“You can say that.” Spike recalled Octavia warm tender kiss. “Think Octavia and Rarity are going to get in an argument?”

Blue Heart could tell this question was weighing heavily on the young dragon. “Perhaps, Octavia is concerned about you and bound to be angry at whoever would bring you harm.” Spike looked rather downcast, so Blue figured he had to say something positive. “Do not fear though, you’re all better now and she will put this behind her. Sure some yelling might be involved but it will get better.”

“Yeah, how bad can the argument get?” Spike asked with a sheepish grin.

Apparently, worse than Spike would expect.