//------------------------------//
// Harshwater, Twice Bitten 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

A warm glow of light suffused a windowless room on the first floor of the Izvaldi general hospital, massive machinery lining three of the four walls. Pipes thrummed with soft energy, feeding from drums and synthesizers decked with dials into a covered cradle suspended in the middle. Grenada, Maple, Amber, and Starlight lined the free wall, along with Chauncey and two unicorns dressed as sarosians who seemed to know what they were doing.

"Forty percent... fifty..." one unicorn mumbled, watching a meter, speaking in a normal tongue for the benefit of everyone else.

"It's rare to see patients who were subjected to such intense prolonged injury without being completely disabled," Chauncey rasped, standing to the side next to a terminal display that controlled the healing machine. "You were wise to bring her here. Other methods of medicine would leave her frail for life, if she recovered at all."

"But she'll be fine here?" Maple glanced worriedly at the screen, then back at the healing cradle.

Chauncey nodded. "It was for injuries such as these this machine was designed. Lacerations, blunt trauma, internal damage that cannot be reached save through surgery. Anything that could be incurred in combat. She is in the best place she could be."

"Eighty percent," the unicorn read.

The cradle hummed pleasingly, slight vibrations at the joints where hoses were connected, but the meters attached reading green. From the side machines, the whirring shifted in tone as the cycle progressed, entering its final phase. "Ninety percent. Ninety-five..."

The screen clicked green, and the whirring slowly subsided.

"We've done what we can," the second unicorn said, reading from a display as the first went to open the cradle. "There will be lingering effects from keeping these untreated for so long, and atrophy from a month of bedrest. Constant exercise will do her good, and she should eventually make a full recovery."

"Whew!" Amber wiped her mane back. "That's a relief."

Grenada watched intensely as the lid on the cradle tilted up, a cloud of vapor rising into the air and a fan turning on in the ceiling to disperse it. Harshwater sat up inside, rubbing her head, her coat and mane soaked but not dripping. "Nnngh..."

The pegasus checked herself, sitting halfway up, moving her wings and forelegs and feeling her barrel and chest. "It doesn't hurt to breathe anymore," she murmured, almost in a trance.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and Valey strolled in uninvited, giving a quick blink to Chauncey but then turning to the rest of her friends. "Hey guys. The receptionist said I'd find you here, and we need to-"

POW!

Harshwater flung herself from the cradle, wings zipping as fast as they could go, and punched Valey in the face, sending her flying into a wall with a yelp.

"Hey! What gives!?" Valey landed on her butt, massaging her skull and giving Harshwater a dirty look. "You actually did that?"

Harshwater landed, wobbled slightly, and shrugged. "I needed to do it to someone, and you were the one I knew could take it. I've been bedridden for nearly a month! No offense, we'll talk later, I need to go fast and scream. This way is out?"

Everyone else was too busy blinking. "Uhh... yeah," Valey mumbled, getting to her hooves as Harshwater dashed away, nearly tripping and colliding with a wall as she went.

"Should someone go after her?" Amber asked with a worried look to the door.

"Yeah, I'll do it." Valey was upright, giving Chauncey another glance before nodding to her friends. "Could you guys be back at the ship in a bit, though? Wanna have a chat about what we're doing next."

"Of course," Amber promised, nodding. "Now go get her!"

Valey didn't have to run far to catch up with the healed pegasus. Harshwater was faceplanted in the middle of a hallway, legs brushing the floor like she was a spider with no leg joints. Her tail flicked violently in agitation.

"Hey, uhh... you alright?" Valey stepped up beside her in concern, staying a safe hooflength away and paying much more attention to her cutie mark, though it wasn't warning her right then.

"My legs aren't doing what I tell them to!" Harshwater whined, her voice a shrill squeak of frustration. "Nnngh! This is embarrassing!"

Valey tilted her head. "You want me to help you up? Probably less embarrassing than staying on the floor."

"Mmph," Harshwater grumbled in grudging assent.

Leaning down, Valey scooped the small pegasus up, setting her upright and then offering herself to lean on. Harshwater grudgingly took that, too.

"Can we get outside?" Harshwater mumbled, leaning over half her weight on Valey. "Please?"

"Say no more." Making sure she was stable, Valey made as fast as they could for the exit, stepping into the clear plaza air. She decided that wasn't quite far enough, seeing half a dozen families out enjoying the weather, and strolled with Harshwater around the perimeter of the hospital, stopping when they reached the unassuming back where a short concrete sidewalk bordered the building before the hill dropped away to fields and townships below. "Here good?"

Harshwater shook... then grabbed Valey like a vice, tilted her head to the sky, and bawled. "WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Valey's ears pressed back from the painful proximity of the pegasus's shriek, and she hoped no one came to investigate. She tried her best to give Harshwater a you okay look, and wasn't sure it got through.

"Don't you dare interrupt this; I've been holding my stupid breath for a whole stupid month," Harshwater whispered, voice briefly cold and composed. Then her delayed tantrum returned in full force. "I got played for a fool!" she wailed, clinging. "I threw myself at everything he asked! I hoarded his pictures when you raided his house! I forgave him when he tried to send me to my death and left all my friends in the company to run across the world to find him and he did it again and I thought I was going to dieeeee..."

"Uh... There, there?" Valey patted her shoulder, uncertain of what to do.

"And then y-you..." Harshwater sniffled, eyes already streaming. "First you didn't kill me when I was trying to kill you, then you saved me when I was dead in Mistvale! What's your problem!?"

Valey blinked. "Would you rather I have blown you up in the mines, or flew right past?"

"No. O-Obviously." Harshwater glared at her, shaking. "But I've made a m-mess of my life, and you keep being stupid and now I owe you, but e-everything I try is...!" She was interrupted by a shudder, then tried again. "Waaahh! I went into that cave and you had to rescue me again! And now my legs are n-noodles, so I can't even fight for you! I'm horrible at decision-making. That was the o-one way I could be useful, and you've dragged me around for a month w-waiting for me to be able to do this and now I'm useless!"

"We're not going to throw you out," Valey reprimanded. "Nobody needs to prove their worth. Being our friend is reason enough to hang out on our ship. You do want to come, right?"

Harshwater sniffled. "Well, duh. Where else would I go? I'll probably get cheated, or taken advantage of or trip in an alley somewhere and not be able to get up..." She drew a breath that sounded like a goose honk. "And you're an idiot who doesn't understand the economics of ponies who are deadweight. What do I have to offer you? What!?"

"Ohh no." Valey leaned back suddenly. "That's a rhetorical question, isn't it? Don't even think about kissing me." She glanced around, adding, "Uh, at least not here. Look, if you've just been dumpstered twice by Kero, I get not getting this, but it's because you need it and I actually care. And I'd much rather have you as an ally than not."

"W-Why?" Harshwater sniffed, daring her to answer.

"Nope. Not going there. It's not about what you can contribute." Valey put her hooves on her shoulders, preventing her from looking away. "Like half our crew spends all their time doing nothing but hanging out on the bridge and chatting, and I'm still glad they're there. Girl, I traded away a cushy job in Ironridge and a ton of political immunity for some friends I could stick up for, and not because Ironflanks or Starlight are strong. Bananas, at the time I did it, they were getting kicked around and run ragged and were such deadweights it took everything I had to get them out of the city alive. If we were talking contributions, bananas, it would be awesome to have another professional at fighting, and I'm sure your legs are just lame from laying down too much. But it doesn't matter."

"...I can't argue with you." Harshwater pitched forward, trying to hide her face in Valey's coat. "You terrify me. I still have nightmares about the mines."

Valey rubbed her back. "Worse times. I'd be lying if I said I haven't from time to time. So can you please try to just put aside what you owe me and come hang out with us? We won't skunk you again like Kero. I swear it."

"Obviously." Harshwater gritted her teeth. "Not like I have anywhere else to go. And do you mind? I'm a little busy feeling awful about the person I loved trying to murder me twice! I told you to let me have this!"

"Alright." Valey nodded. "On my back."

Harshwater blinked, then grunted in surprise as Valey deftly slipped beneath her, hoisting her off the ground. "What?"

"Wow, you're a lot lighter than Felicity," Valey remarked. "Just gonna get you back to the ship. If this is gonna be a while and we need to speak openly, probably best to do it in private."