//------------------------------//
// Chapter 41 
// Story: Fine Print 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Living in Ponyville had given Rose plenty of bad days. But of all her most frightening experiences, watching orderlies haul Tracy to the hospital was certainly on the list. If there was one mercy, it was that she hadn't known precisely when he was going to jump, so she hadn't been close enough to see the fall.

She watched nervously as doctors flowed in and out of Tracy's room, listening for any hint of what might be happening. Whenever she asked, the responses did little to reassure her.

"Flying ponies always crash soft," and "we're having a little trouble reviving him, but there's no sign of serious trauma" did not make her feel better. This is my fault. I'm the one who talked him into these lessons. He's not from here, he's not meant to fly.

From what the instructor explained, the problem was that Tracy had flown a little too well.

"The course was carefully marked, with plenty of clearance. We've never had someone who could fly enough to leave but couldn't get themselves somewhere safe to land. With as little reading as he did, I expected he would fall. That would've been safer for all involved."

She had nothing to say to that. Rose didn't trust herself to talk to any of the flight school staff without saying some extremely unfriendly things. Every promise that they would cover all Tracy's expenses, as well as offering him the rest of his training with a personal instructor—what would that matter if he ended up crippled from his experience?

"Just tell me his injuries," she asked one of the doctors, after cornering her outside the room. "Nopony put up a chart."

She shifted nervously, clipboard glowing in unicorn magic. "I'm, uh... What's your relation to the patient? There are rules about privacy—"

"I'm his partner," she snapped. "Tell me what happened." He doesn't have family anymore. I'm the only pony who even knows he's here.

"Well..." She straightened, adjusting a pair of thick glasses on her snout. "There was a clean fracture in the right foreleg. No complications, cast is in place. More troubling are the burns. He bridged a set of electrical lines, rather... dramatically, it appears. Given his cutie mark and the lack of any identification, that's what we put on the..."

She turned, exposing the top of the chart, and the name "Spark Gap" listed there, before quickly flipping it back around. "First responder said we were dealing with one of the palace's own high-voltage terminals, and the burns should've been far more severe. Frankly, he's lucky to be alive."

"He's not... Is there any permanent damage?" Rose asked. "Didn't tear his wings, or..."

"No, nothing like that." The doctor waved a dismissive hoof. "None of his burns were serious, though he might think differently when he wakes up. But that's... the other part of the problem. There's no head trauma we can find, but he hasn't responded to revival spells. A specialist should be here tomorrow morning."

"I need to see him," Rose said, moving to get around her. "Even if he's not awake."

For a second it looked like the doctor would refuse her—then she shrugged. "Alright, miss. So long as you don't interfere with any of the nurses, that shouldn't be an issue. Just don't expect to get much out of him."

Tracy was the pony patient in the hospital room, though just as the nurse had said, the board at the foot of his bed listed him as "Spark Gap."

He didn't look nearly as bad as the nightmare she had imagined. His coat was shaved away in places, to make room for burn poultices. His right foreleg was in a cast, suspended above the bed by straps. But other than that, he looked intact. His wings were folded, and if anything his face was comfortable.

A nurse moved past Rose, nodding once but not giving her trouble. She'd seen rose waiting outside this room for the last several hours. She knew who she was. "This is my fault," Rose whispered, as soon as she was alone. "I shouldn't have pressured you to be more of a pony."

She laughed to herself, though the sound was spiteful and bitter. "I can't believe I thought you were here to invade. Crashing into buildings, puking up breakfast..." Tracy had never been a threat to Equestria. Equestria was a threat to him.

"There were bugs in the pancakes. It's not my fault."

Rose spun, staring down at the hospital bed with mouth agape. The bat had one eye open now, watching her. It was like somepony had flipped a switch. "How the buck are you awake now?" She jerked over to the bed, wrapping one foreleg around him in the closest hug she could manage. She kissed him—or tried, but some of the bandages were on his face. 

"Careful!" He didn't exactly have the strength to scream at her, though the pain in his voice was obvious. 

"Sorry." She retreated a few steps, ears flattening. "They couldn't revive you, Tracy. I thought... I thought you might've been electrocuted." She couldn’t bring herself to say what she was actually thinking. I didn't know if you would ever wake up.

He twitched, glancing down at himself. The restraints held him firmly in place, so he couldn't do more than wiggle slightly to either side. "Feels... like I was. Everything hurts. Leg worst of all. Do you people have painkillers?"

"Yes. Hold on, I'll get the nurse." 

She did, though obviously it wasn't so simple. Her report that the patient was awake and needing help caused a flurry of activity, as a fresh wave of doctors poured in. Rose watched from the back of the room as they assaulted Tracy with a barrage of tests. At least none of them tried to send her away this time.

While they worked, Rose ran outside to scavenge a meal with a street-vendor, and by the time she got back the worst was over, and Tracy had a meal resting in front of him, with a smell that was about as appetizing as Changeling slime. "You didn't tell them my name?" he asked, glaring at her as she slipped in. "Did you forget how to pronounce it again?"

"No, but I think they did. Doesn't matter, flight school is taking care of everything." She settled beside the bed, touching his shoulder with one hoof. "I'm sorry, Tracy. I shouldn't have pressured you."

Tracy took an unsteady bite from the bowl. It looked like oatmeal, though it didn't smell much like it. He winced, then pushed it away. "I'm not sorry. I wanted to be here, Rose. I wanted to fly. I still do." He glanced up at his leg, groaning weakly. "Maybe that makes me sound insane. I feel a little insane, thinking about that cliff. You're right that I'm not built for this. But..."

His wings twitched, half-opening at the thought. "I was so close... could almost taste it. I wish we had jumped off something shorter. I could fall a few times, figure things out more that way."

I was wrong. He's not completely alien—there's bat in there. It was just a stereotype, Rose knew that intellectually. But every bat she'd ever known had the same reckless bravery. It was probably the exact thing that got them into such trouble with the whole Lunar Rebellion thing.

It was also incredibly attractive. "You can go back to the school when that leg heals. With the spells they put on you, that should be under a month. At least they're offering you the rest of your classes free of charge?"

He chuckled. "I see ponies have invented liability mitigation. But I don't really blame them, I'm the one who—" He trailed off abruptly, jerking in bed. He winced, clutching at his damaged leg. "Dammit... Rose, the doctors say I won't be able to leave for another two days. I need you to talk to them—I can't miss work."

Now it was her turn to glare. Rose leaned down over him, inches from his face. She wanted to kiss him again, but she didn't. Not when he was saying such stupid things. "I know how much your work means to you, Tracy. But don't you think that healing properly might be a little more important? Are they really going to be upset when you tell them about your accident?"

He hesitated, slumping back against the pillows. "I guess you're right. They won't like it, but I think Janet will understand. I'll need to get my doctor to sign something I can bring back. And..." It was his turn to look embarrassed, fluffy ears twitching under the bandages. "If you're going back to Ponyville, could you do something for me? I need you to call my boss and tell her what happened."

Rose opened her mouth to agree, even if she wasn't exactly sure what “call” meant. She could yell about as loud as anypony she knew, but not loud enough to cross universes.

"Wait. We need to come up with a lie. Janet doesn't know there's another world, she doesn't know I'm a horse, and she certainly doesn't know that I was taking flying lessons on the weekends. But there's some stuff you could tell her. You can say we went... hiking. And that I fell. Broke my arm and got torn up on the way down, but I'll be into work..." 

He glanced at one hoof, as though he were going to do something with it, then sighed in frustration. "I could still go to work with one arm. But how well can ponies get around with a leg in a cast? Will I be able to walk?"

"Not well," she answered. "If you're smart, you'll use a wheelchair for the first week or two. Bats like you have hollow bones, Tracy. They need to heal exactly right, or they'll be weaker for the rest of your life."

"I only have hollow bones half the time..." he muttered, but he didn't put up much of a fight. 

Rose stayed the night, and found the experience as awful as she remembered. She never had as much time alone with Tracy as she would've wanted—but considering his condition, that was probably for the best.

She would've stayed all of Sunday too—certainly her guilt was strong enough. But Tracy was positively terrified about his job, and her sisters would be equally afraid for her. "I'll be here Monday night when you're released," she promised. "We'll take the Ponyville Express straight back."

He nodded, pushing a scrap of paper towards her. "I wrote everything down I told you about my phone. Remember—"

"Nothing about Equestria, nothing about flying, nothing about you being a bat," Rose recited, rolling her eyes. "I'll remember. But I think you'd probably be happier if you were more honest. It's one of the Elements of Harmony you know."

"No, I didn't," he said, with total sincerity. "I have no idea what that is. But I'm trusting you, Rose. If I lose this job, I can't pay Discord. You know what that means better than anyone."

Oh. Suddenly Tracy's near terror at the suggestion of anything that put his job into question made much more sense. There were few ponies in Equestria who could understand as well as Rose could. She took the sheet of paper reverently, tucking it away into her saddlebags. "I'll do it exactly how you told me. Not a word otherwise."

Then she kissed him—lighter this time, without any danger of worsening his wounds. Impossibly, Tracy didn't blame her. This relationship of theirs could still work. If we can stay together after all this, we'll make it through anything.