//------------------------------// // What Happened? // Story: Racing Hearts // by Lazzari //------------------------------// When Fleetfoot and Soarin arrived at the hospital they told the receptionist who they were there for and she directed them to the right floor. Soarin hadn't said a word at all since the compound, and as they sat in the waiting area for the emergency wing Fleetfoot rubbed Soarin's shoulders and his back and hugged him a few times. None of the times she had hugged him had he reciprocated. Fleetfoot stared at the doors to the hallway. They had been there for two hours already and heard nothing from the doctors. At some point Dashs' friends had shown up, telling Fleetfoot that Spitfire had contacted Princess Twilight on the matter. Fluttershy tried to talk to Soarin but he just stared at the ground, not even reacting to Fluttershy asking him how he was holding up. Fleetfoot had to wave off Twilight as she tried to talk to him, knowing that nothing would really help him at this moment. Fleetfoot frowned a bit, still seeing Soarin's unchanged expression. She gently rubbed his shoulder and looked at him. "Soarin, I'm going to go see if I can talk to a nurse and get an update. Just... sit tight... it'll be okay." Fleet said, trying her best to keep him from breaking down. She could tell he was in a state of shock, she didn't need a doctor to tell her that. After giving him another hug, she got up and walked towards the desk at the front. Twilight walked beside her, saying nothing. "Excuse me, but is there any information on the condition of Rainbow Dash?" The nurse at the desk looked at Fleetfoot first, then at Twilight. She then looked at her computer and started to type. It took her a moment but after what felt like an eternity for the two, she spoke up. "Well, there isn't much to go off. It says here that they are trying to find someone that matches her blood type so they can give her blood. For now, she is just being kept as stable as possible." She finished and saw both girl's expressions change to disheartened. She frowned at seeing this. "I wish I could tell you more about what's happening, I really do, but without proper blood flow in her, it's impossible to get a good read on her vitals." Fleetfoot nodded gently at this, understanding. "Okay, thank you." Fleet turned to look at the others in the room. She hadn't even noticed, but Spitfire and Dashs' squad had shown up at some point. She quickly went over to Spitfire and hugged her as tightly as she could. Spitfire returned the hug and did her best to comfort Fleetfoot. "Sorry I couldn't be here sooner, Fleet. But I was talking with the local authorities on the matter and asked where they took her car so I could take pictures of it. Her medical insurance will need some details from me and I honestly think pictures of that car's state will help them understand the gravity of her injuries..." Spitfire trailed off a bit, seeing Fleetfoots even more nervous look. "Show me." "What?! You... want to see those pictures?" "Yes." Spitfire looked at Fleetfoot, bewildered as to why in Equestria she would want to. But Spitfire complied and pulled out her phone and opened her photos. What Fleet saw took the breath right out of her lungs. The entire passenger side of the car was caved in, windows shattered, and the door hinges broke. The front bumper was completely ripped off and the passenger side of the hood and frame were bent out of place, exposing the destroyed internal structure of the engine, which was now pushed into the front windshield a bit, which was now shattered and gone. The right front tire was bent awkwardly and the wheel itself was bent inward and the spokes were broken off in some places. After seeing the clear initial impact there was still more damage. the front of the car was completely destroyed and looked like it had collided with something large, and the roof of the car was scraped and bent inward. Once spitfire felt like Fleet had seen enough of the damage she put her phone away, shivering a bit. "I talked with the police officer who is handling the case. He didn't want to talk about it at first, but I ended up throwing my higher rank at him to get the information out of him-" Spitfire was cut off by Fleetfoot dragging her over to a corner and flagging the rest of Dashs' friends over. "Fleet?" "The last thing Soarin needs right now is to hear how the love of his life potentially got killed!" Fleetfoot snapped in a hushed, but aggressive whisper. Spitfire looked over to Soarin, seeing he still had the blank expression on his face... But she agreed. With the rest of Dashs' friends huddled around her she began explaining. "Well, from what the investigators saw and reported, and what they also got from witnesses. While on the highway, Dash was speeding, going at least 10 miles over the legal limit. And somewhere on the highway, there is a crossroad that is just a mane road. This intersection has lights to keep the flow of traffic. Dash had the green light to continue going, but another person who was speeding decided to run their red light and hit dash, T-boning her. This pushed her into oncoming traffic from the opposite direction and another unsuspecting driver collided with her head-on. After that, the car flipped on its side after being pushed about 20 feet from the initial accident. I was told the four others were brought to the hospital as well, but the driver that hit her first escaped without too many bumps or bruises. I was told he was a teen and he was texting when he hit Dash. The other car had two passengers and the driver. Two adults and one minor were in the vehicle, and no I'm not aware of their condition. They told me Dash was unconscious when they arrived." Spitfire finished, looking at all the distraught faces in the group. She felt Fleetfoot hug her again tightly. She quickly returned the embrace, hugging her tight and keeping her close. She looked to Soarin and sighed. "Come on everyone, let's keep Soarin company while we wait. He needs comfort right now more than anyone here." Fleetfoot immediately went back to Soarin's side and kept herself glued to him as they waited. *** They all sat there and waited for what felt like an eternity. Two more hours passed in complete silence. All of Rainbows' friends keeping each other company and giving each other comfort. Dashs' Squad all huddled close together, keeping Dash in their thoughts. Fleetfoot and Spitfire stayed by Soarin, who had gotten out of his shaken state to drink some water. After he finished his water, he had leaned against a wall next to the chairs they had occupied and slumped down onto the floor, and buried his face into his knees while they waited. Fleetfoot had sat on the floor next to him leaning against his side and letting her head rest on his shoulder. Spitfire had pulled a chair up closer to them both and was gently rubbing his opposite shoulder. He still had yet to make a sound that was intentional or even try to speak. Both women felt powerless in this situation. They couldn't do anything to help him through this, he was their best friend and they could do nothing. The only thing that would bring him comfort right now, is hearing Dash was ok. The silence was ended when the hallway doors opened and a doctor walked out. Soarin had looked up so fast that his head would have fallen off if it were not attached to his neck. All the eyes in the room were on him as he looked up from his clipboard. "Who all is here for Rainbow Dash?" The doctor asked, quickly seeing a bunch of people standing up and shuffling towards him. Soarin had gotten up and quickly made his way to the doctor, almost shoving Applejack in the process of getting to him. He didn't give the doctor a chance to speak as he threw questions at him. "Is Dash ok? Is she going to live? What's her condition like? Can we-" Soarin was cut off by the doctor putting up his hand and giving him a stern look. "Sir, calm down, I'm going to give you all an in-depth report on her condition, and what's going to happen going forward. Just please settle down first." He said giving all of them a stern look. Fleetfoot had finally made her way next to Soarin and wrapped herself around his arm, keeping herself close to him. Soarin looked down at her, but didn't protest. He then took a few deep breaths and calmed himself as he looked towards the doctor. "Thank you, now, Rainbow Dashs' condition is complicated. The first problem we had was her blood loss. She has O-negative blood, which usually isn't a problem because of how common it is. But because of reasons unknown to us, there is a shortage around the country of O negative blood. Our hospital does not currently have any O negative blood in its supply, but we were able to get two donors from our staff who donated a pint of their own blood to Rainbow Dash. But the problem doesn't stop there. She still needs more blood and-" "How much does she need?" Soarin asked, cutting off the doctor again. "Sir, I just said-" "I'm O negative. How much does she need?" Soarin asked, cutting the doctor off again. The doctor gave him a quizzical look and turned to Spitfire, who simply shook her head. "I couldn't stop him even if I ordered him not to," Spitfire answered the doctors questioning eyes. He quickly flipped a few pages on his clipboard and looked up to Soarin. "She needs two more pints for us to get a proper read on her vitals. Are you sure you're willing to donate?" He asked, giving Soarin a chance to back out. "I'm sure," Soarin replied instantly. "Okay then, after this is over I'll take you to her room so we can draw your blood. As I was saying. Before we had gotten any donors, she was hemorrhaging, which if you don't know what that means, it means she basically was having a stroke. This could lead to possible brain damage. It is not out of the equation that this could also cause some heart problems. Without enough blood in her body for that period of time, some of her organs could have gone into failure. This includes her heart, I'm honestly shocked she didn't go into cardiac arrest." The doctor paused to let that bit of information sink in. He then flipped a page again and started to speak again. "Now, onto the other physical things that happened. Her wrist on her left hand is shattered and the ulna bone in her forearm is broken in several places and will need to be replaced with a metal rod. Her nose is broken and will take time to heal. The impact sent her throat directly into the steering wheel, so it might be a while before she is able to make any audible sounds. Her right leg was crushed in between the seat and the driver's side door, a few broken bones but nothing that won't heal over time, the biggest problem was the severed muscles and tendons. Her hip is broken as well. Her left wing was the biggest fear factor in her ability to fly." The doctor was cut off by several shocked and terrified gasps coming from all the pegasi in the room. He quickly shook his head. "We aren't yet sure how the damage will affect her ability to fly, her wing has a few broken bones, but all those bones are incredibly important in its functions. Only time will tell if she will be able to use it again. Even if it does heal just fine, it will need physical therapy to get back on track. All in all, she was lucky she didn't break her neck or spine in any way, or else there would be more severe problems. She will need lots of physical therapy to get back on her feet. Right now we can only continue to monitor her as her body heals itself." The doctor finished his explanation and looked at all the faces looking at him. Nobody had the strength to say anything. Fleetfoot was gripping Soarin's arm with a vice grip. Spitfire just looked incredibly defeated. Dashs' friends and Squad all looked worried and scared. But Soarin just kept his eyes on the doctor. The doctor noticed and nodded. "Please follow me, sir." Soarin didn't hesitate. He quickly gave Fleetfoot a hug and gently guided her to Spitfire, who she then latched herself to. Once Fleet had the comfort she needed, Soarin followed the doctor to Dashs' room. The walk was long and silent...