Weeks passed and Silverstream was regaining her strength little by little, she was maneuvering in the wheel chair like a dream, her flying was improving, and her swimming seemed unaffected by the frost bite and amputation, though being able to turn into a seapony helps, her walking however was not improving. She would stumbled and trip, one time she fell on top of Gallus making them blush bright red. Without a leg to help her balance she may never walk again, but luckily the doctors have been slaving away at a present for Silverstream.
Silverstream's friends and parents would visit everyday to see how she's doing and even offer their support, but even they knew that it was likely that she'd be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Silverstream laid in her bed doing her missed schoolwork that piled up and had just finished the last of it when the doctors came into her room rolling in a covered table.
"You've made great progress, Silverstream, but you may not walk again. You may be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of your life." The doctor said.
Silverstream just hung her head in sadness, but understanding "I understand." Silverstream said before the doctor cut her off.
"But hopefully you won't have to." He pulled the cloth off the table revealing a prosthetic leg." I'm sorry I didn't lead with that, I just wanted to surprise you."
Silverstream with tears in her eyes just admired the prosthetic leg, it looked study and durable. It was purple in color to match her feather tone, the only thing showing it to be prosthetic was the screws and bolts used to hold it together. Silverstream overcome by joy could only mutter two words "thank you" she said.
The doctor showed her how to put it on and helped her stand up, she wobbled a bit, but quickly learned how to balance, the leg blended in perfectly that you couldn't tell that it was prosthetic unless you touched it or saw her put it on, Silverstream overcome by joy hugged her doctor with tears in her eyes. "Thank you" she uttered overjoyed that she could walk again
The following evening she was released from the hospital with a clean bill of health, she couldn't wait until tomorrow to go back to school, while walking to the school to return to her dorm, she saw posters of Celestia up to rally able bodied ponies to sign up for the army to defeat Sombra, they war was coming fast, Sombra had taking up residence in Grogar's abandoned fortress and made it his own territory. Word had spread that he already conquered small towns around the area and made himself an army so Equestria and it's allies were desperate to rally troops.
She got back to her dorm and found that it exactly the way she left it eight weeks ago, minus some dust which has accumulated, she laid her stack of completed missing assignments on her desk ready to turn them in tomorrow morning.
She laid down on her bed and let out a little moan as she felt the comfort of her bed compared to the uncomfortable hospital bed, she felt herself sinking into the quicksand mattress adorned with satin sheets and cotton covers, her head was placed on her feather stuffed pillow as she quickly fell asleep while the threat of war seemed to drift away, at least for a moment.
The next day Silverstream attended her classes and turned in her late work, her other school mates asked how she was and said how worried they were. Twilight called a school assembly and called Silverstream up to the stage, there she presented Silverstream with a collage the students made with pictures of them and her with words saying "always thinking of you, get well soon."
Silverstream with tears in her eyes accepted the collage and thanked her school mates. The rest of the day involved normal activities, studying, playing sports, all the normal things Silverstream would do, she was maneuvering quite well in the prosthetic leg despite just getting it yesterday.
The rest of the day had Silverstream's friends asking how the prosthetic leg felt with Silverstream telling them, she would even take it off and let her friends feel it, the plastic was durable and matched her color, the doctors even put artificial feathers on the leg to make it look like the genuine article.
After a long day at school Silverstream retired to her dorm, put her bags away and fixed herself a beverage while she sat at her desk doing her homework.
While in her dorm doing her homework she heard a knocking on the door only to hear a familiar voice.
"Silverstream, it's me Gallus. We were wondering if you'd want to hang out tonight."
Silverstream closed her book as she finished her homework and opened the door inviting her friends in. "What did you all have in mind?" Silverstream asked as Smolder brought ok a deck of cards.
"We figured we'd try our hands at poker, it's something I read about in an article about Appleloosa." Smolder said. "The rules are simple, the player with the biggest hand wins. Though usually played with money, we'll be playing for fun" Smolder added to her previous statement.
Silverstream stood there and replied "sure, sounds fun she chimed in."
Silverstream and her friends sat on the floor in a circle and began to play. Smolder dealt out five cards for each of them and they each picked them up, each of her friends discarded some cards and Smolder dealt out the same number of cards that they discarded, Silverstream discarded one and got another one from the deck. They showed their hands with Silverstream winning with a full house of aces and eights.
After hours of playing poker the friends went back to their rooms leaving Silverstream alone for the night, she climbed into her bed and extinguished the candle that was she had used for light.