Everything was blurred, and then far too bright. The sting in his eyes tempted him back to sleep, but... when did he go to sleep? In time, his eyes adjusted to the light. He was in a room, mostly white, on a bed he didn’t remember. He grumbled and groaned as he instinctually pushed himself up.
“Hold on, don’t move too much.” A white pony hurried over to him and put her hooves on his chest. He wanted to swat her away, but he was too tired and confused. Her gentle touch urged him back onto the bed. He recognized the hat; it was like the pictures Sandbar had shown him. A nurse's hat. Was he in a hospital? There were some strange machines, a curtain in the middle of the room, and, besides that, it was bare, like the place had been purified.
“Is this what a hospital looks like?”
“Uh, yes? Do you know what day it is?”
“June second.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “That was a few days ago. You’ve been out for a bit. Have you never been in a hospital before?”
“I’ve only heard of ‘em. Am I dying?”
“Oh, honey, not at all. You’ve had a head injury but you should be fine.”
“Oh. Cool. So this is what ‘not dying’ is like.” Gallus chuckled as he let the urge to sleep nearly take him.
“Ms. Dash, your student’s awake,” the nurse said as she pulled back the curtain that divided the room. Rainbow Dash sat in an identical bed, staring into a cup. She seemed fine until his eyes caught the scars on her forelegs. Both bore a set of three scars near the shoulders. The memory hit him like a storm. He was holding her. He was holding her so desperately. He found himself looking at his talons as if they'd still be stained with her blood. He didn’t remember when he grabbed her that hard, but he kept imagining it. His talons felt warm.
“I’m sorry,” he said. His voice was quiet, lacking the force to express anything besides weakness.
Rainbow Dash looked back. He felt trapped seeing himself in her eyes reflection. He saw hurt and suddenly Gallus wished he was dying. They both turned away. The door clicked shut. It was just the two of them now. Fiddling with the I.V stuck in his leg satedhis restlessness. The door clicked again, accompanied by the sound of hooves.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re awake.”
“We were worried you’d be sleepin’ for days!”
“Woohoo, wake-up party!”
His professors expressed their gratitude to… something. Fate, he supposed. Twilight brought a book on griffon kings; Applejack brought in more apple juice than he could drink in a week; Pinkie had brought a cake. A small grin grew across his face. It felt strange.
“You’re all here?”
“Of course we’re here! We could barely sleep worrying about you,” Rarity said, placing her hoof on his foreleg.
“Worrying about me? What about Rainbow Dash?”
“I woke up yesterday.” Her tone was distant. Her eyes gazed into the dots of the ceiling, her mind elsewhere. Starlight stood beside her, levitating a stack of get-well cards.
He heard another set of hooves rush into the room and, before he knew it, Sandbar’s hooves were wrapped around him and his chest was drenched in tears. He could barely understand Sandbar’s blubbering. The feeling in his cheeks was starting to become overbearing. When had a smile ever felt like this before?
“I’m glad you’re okay too.” Was that the right thing to say? The last thing he remembered of Sandbar was dropping him several stories. They both knew he’d be fine at the time, though now his mind was flooded with nightmare scenarios. He looked over at all the ponies who cared for him. Someone was missing.
“Where's Fluttershy?”
Everypony's smiles disappeared. Their real ones, at least. They all still tried to smile, but the discomfort was clear. Rarity stroked Gallus’ head. “She’s in surgery.” She tried to make it sound soft.
“I don’t understand. You’re all fine, why is she in surgery?” He was vaguely familiar with the concept. Needing surgery is bad; it meant you got really hurt. That was the extent of his knowledge.
“She saved you two.” Sandbar said.
“She and Spike were the only ones outside the shield. Nopony even knew you were there, so she did what she had to. Spike’s hide protected him from getting hurt, but Fluttershy wasn’t so lucky.” Twilight explained.
“Oh.”
“After that, I didn’t say anything. I waited for everyone to leave. When the docs said I was free to go I just...” Gallus sighed. “Went home.” The group went in for a hug but stopped when he gave the signal to call it off. Everycreature made the same hum of understanding. They were still hanging around the anger management room. The room was quiet now, with every creature taking a seat and listening. He had told them the whole story from start to finish. The flash of light, tricking Rainbow, watching from the cliff: the whole thing.
“Gallus,” Ocellus said. “I hope you don’t mind, but there's something that stuck out to me. You said Pinkie Pie shouted about a bomb.”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“Well, it's just that Miss Fluttershy called it a magic accident. Starlight and Spike did, too. They even showed me a newspaper that said the same thing. No one ever mentioned a bomb.”
“Well, none of it mentions me either, apparently.”
“Sure, but that's different. That's about your feelings.” Her hooves covered her mouth as she worried she sounded callous.
“Professor Dash said she got those scars from fighting Cragadiles!” Silverstream was shouting, clutching her face in shock that Rainbow Dash, of all teachers, would lie.
Ocellus let out a soft chuckle“Okay, that one is just to make her sound cooler,” she paused. Her tone and expression became more focused. “Jokes aside. Keeping Gallus out of the story and keeping a bomb out are two entirely different things!”
“I didn’t even know that, and I was there. If our professors never showed up then...” Sandbar trailed off, his teeth gritting as his mind wandered into the possibilities.
“So, what are we gonna do? Ask our professors why they all lied?” Smolder looked towards Ocellus. ”’Cause that doesn’t sound like a good idea. They’re either gonna lie harder or maybe make us leave.”
“Why? Pony teachers honest. Usually. If we know, they tell.” Yona beat her chest. “Have faith in teachers!”
“I don’t know what to do. I think Smolder’s right. I can’t imagine telling them what we know could end well for us. They might send us back home. I feel bad about distrusting them like this, but I don’t want to test it. On the other hoof, I’m really afraid of what else we don’t know. But...” Ocellus paused as she looked over every creature in the room. “If some creature planted a bomb, I think that answers my questions about self-defence class.”
“Whaaaat? Are you back on that? I explained this already,” Silverstream moaned.
Ocellus let out a huff that was one stuff removed from being a growl .“I am. You did, and I don’t agree with your conclusion. I don’t think it's about preparing us for villains in general. I think it's reactionary. I guess that would still make you right, but not entirely. The headmare, Queen Twilight, or whoever decided all this is afraid of something happening to us. At least, that’s my guess.”
“Reactionary to what?! You can’t do a takedown on a bomb!” Silver shouted, throwing up her forelegs. Everycreature backed up, preparing for another shouting match, but Ocellus merely grumbled in response.
“Hold on, guys!It could have just been blast mining; it doesn't mean anyone was trying to hurt us.” Gallus handed each of his friends one of the crystals, keeping the last crystal to himself. “See. Fluttershy said they were from the explosion. Have ‘em.” Now that he wasn’t so in his feelings Gallus noticed the aura of magic swirling around each crystal. Leftover energy from the explosion he figured. It wasn’t wild or flashing like the magic before, and Fluttershy did say they were safe.
One by one, they each took their own crystal. Ocellus twirled hers in her hooves.“I guess that makes sense. But I don’t feel confident in it.”
“Ocellus.” Smolder gripped Ocellus shoulder, and gave her a shake. “You’re stressing yourself out. If you spend a whole semester like this, you’re gonna turn into a conspiracy theorist.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I really should relax.” Ocellus focused on her crystal. Turning it at just the angle to watch Silverstream's reflection.
Later that night, all went to their dorm rooms. Gallus did what he did every semester, tear his covers to shreds to make a fluffy nest of cotton. A replacement comfort would come later anyway, but, for the first week, he’d have to settle for only the nest. As he curled in it, his mind drifted back to what Fluttershy said. It's not his fault. Comforting, but a lie.
Shuffling came from the top bunk. “So, uh... I don’t know if you saw her today, but I think Rainbow Dash isn’t too happy with us.”
“That's fine.”
“I dunno.” Another shuffle came from Sandbars bunk. He mumbled something to himself before speaking up again. “ I still feel pretty bad about tricking her. Like, I deserve for her to hate me. I was just wondering if you felt something like that.”
“It's a waste of time,” Gallus grumbled.
“I’m going to take that as the Gallus way of saying ‘yes.’ It might be a waste, I guess, but I just feel like I have to live up to being her student and all. I want to make it up to her somehow. What about you?”
“Somecreature got hurt ‘cause I was selfish. I’m going to be better.” Gallus claws tore at what was left of his comforter. “Better than a griffin.”
“What does that mean?”
Yeah, Gallus. What does that mean?