It’s so strange. A few months ago, I couldn’t believe I was suddenly in a world full of magic and flying ponies, and now it’s almost boring, in a way.
The work in the weather patrol wasn’t the most exciting line of work, most of the times. For Blue, it was routine by now, therefore she had plenty of time to let her thoughts wander like this while she flew from cloud to cloud to do her thing.
Occasionally, she waved when one of her co-workers flew nearby, but this was a one-pony-job and they had their own share to do. Clearing up the sky in time for the festival that was about to happen the next day. Everypony in Ponyville was excited and the prospect of a free day tomorrow made everypony try and finish their tasks as quickly as possible. That, and cloud-busting was not a hard job to begin with.
Blue was almost finished in fact and just flew another loop to check her section, just in case. After that, she’d most likely help Cloud Chaser pick up the slack. He was a great guy and tons of fun to hang out with, so Blue didn’t mind at all giving him a hoof.
However, something caught her attention when she turned for the Everfree Forest. The place was creepy enough that most ponies stayed the heck away from it, and the weather patrol was no difference. It also had some ‘wild magic’ in it that made the clouds move on their own, which was a scary prospect for most pegasus ponies, even if Blue didn’t really get it. Even so, what she saw right now gave her a pretty good idea.
From the forest, she could see a huge bulk of clouds, black and angry clouds like in a thunderstorm. They formed quickly and the large mass grew into a massive storm front that started to move towards Ponyville, of all places.
Unsure what to do, Blue gave a loud shout and a few of her co-workers flew over, but their questions on what was wrong died down as they too saw the storm that was still growing.
“Somepony please tell me that’s something normal, right?”
Blue didn’t get an answer, but the worried faces told her all she needed to know. This was definitely not normal, and it meant trouble.
Cloud Chaser immediately chased off to get the captain, while the others hovered over the edge of the Everfree Forest and started mumbling among themselves. Blue got that they were worried, but she really got more by just staring at those black clouds. She could feel seething anger from them, and she knew instinctively that they meant trouble. She didn’t see any lighting bolts yet, but she knew they would be coming soon. She didn’t know how she knew, but she was absolutely sure.
Lucky for them, the captain arrived barely five minutes later. Unlucky for them, she frowned more than all of the others combined, which in turn made the others worry even more. Blue just gritted her teeth and waited for the hammer to drop
“It’s too late to stop that storm now. I don’t know why, but it’s building up way faster than normal, so it’s too dangerous to interfere right now. All we can do is hope it won’t grow even bigger.”
Blue glanced around and saw ears drop all around as now. A storm like this could be dangerous on its own, but of course it would also mean a disaster for tomorrow’s festival.
Blue felt that familiar anger again, like always when life threw another boulder into her way. This time however, she knew what she had to do: Put that anger into something where it would be useful.
“So how are we gonna deal with this?”
Blue didn’t care that everypony was staring at her now, instead she kept glaring at the storm clouds that just kept growing bigger and bigger. As such, she was completely surprised when the captain called out
“We won’t.”
This time, she joined the others when the stared at the captain in disbelief or some, like Blue, in annoyance
“We can’t just let this storm roll over Ponyville and do nothing!”
“I’m not saying we do nothing! But as it is, we can’t do anything to stop it. As long as the Everfree magic is still going, if we did something now, it would just push back harder. We’d only make things worse.”
Blue wasn’t very satisfied with that and went back to glaring at the storm. Somepony else asked what most of them were thinking
“Then what are we going to do now?”
“You’re all going to take a rest.”
Blue’s eyes snapped back at the captain, as did most of the others
“What? We can’t just go and do nothing! Everybody is still out preparing for the festival!”
“Yeah, town is packed with visitors, too. We can’t let all those ponies down!”
“And we won’t. We’re not doing nothing. Nopony can stop this storm from reaching Ponyville at this point, so we’ll do all we can to be ready when the hay hits the fan. And that means I’m gonna need all of you in tip-top-shape when it happens. So you’re going to get home, grab a snack, take a nap and prepare for a sleepless night, cause when this storm hits town, we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Once the captain put her hoof down, so to speak, most of them saw reason and flew off in small groups. The captain called out to a few to get the mayor informed and sent a pony to Princess Twilight as well.
A few minutes later, only Blue and the captain were left. Blue must still have burning rage in her eyes, because she heard a sigh from her side
“I know you wanna jump right in and do something, but that’s not happening, Newbie. Your heart’s at the right place, but sometimes you need to wait for the right moment or else you’ll just be in over your head.”
Blue gritted her teeth, not so much because she called her ‘Newbie’, but because she hated nothing more than feeling helpless and angry at the same time
“There must be something we can do!”
“There is, and we’re already doing it. We need to be prepared. I know you’re angry, it’s written all over your face. You don’t have to stop being angry. Let it build up a little more, and in a few hours, you can use it to beat the living crap out of this storm.”
Blue couldn’t help but grin, even if she knew this was no time for jokes. As such, her moment of mirth didn’t last too long, before she turned to glaring again
“There must be something I can do!”
The captain watched her in a strange way, which reminded her a bit of Black Belt had sometimes looked at her, especially when she was beating all her frustration into a punching bag
“You got a sibling who works at the hospital, right?”
“Yeah, my sister. Why?”
The captain nodded and pointed back towards town
“Then you better give her a heads-up as well. Just in case.”
Blue stopped glaring for a moment, and turned to look at Ponyville
“That bad, huh?”
“Not if we have something to say about it.”
Blue looked over to see that the captain was glaring at the storm as well, just like she had a minute ago. But unlike Blue, she kept her anger under control. Blue threw one last glare at the storm
“You can count on me, Cap.”
“I know, Newbie. Now get lost. You’ll know when it’s time.”
Blue nodded and flew off towards the hospital. She flew as fast as she could, but she still noticed ponies on the streets running around and trying to gather everything and everypony inside. It wasn’t a real panic, but it definitely wasn’t the usual busy activity down there. Everypony was moving slightly faster, more urgent.
Shit’s going to hit the fan, alright. But it’ll take more than a freak storm to take me down.
Blue didn’t take that nap, she was too tense to get any sleep, so she spent the whole time staring out the window. Her sister didn’t come back from the hospital, even though her shift had to be over by now, so all she could do was stare and brood.
As soon as she saw another pegasus cross the sky in direction of the Everfree Forest, she more or less jumped out of the window and followed. She didn’t know if this is what the captain meant, but she knew that she’d go crazy by just sitting at home waiting any longer.
As it turned out, she wasn’t the only one. Half of the weather patrol was arriving or already there, plus some other pegasi Blue had seen around town. Usually, they didn’t recruit ponies for weather jobs, but this was obviously a ‘all hooves on deck’-situation, so everypony came to help. Even ones Blue hadn’t expected.
“Yo Dash! Thunderlane! What gives?”
A few ponies glanced up, but Rainbow Dash just laughed and waved her over. The others were keeping a bit of distance to her, since Rainbow was not only a national hero and a member of the Wonderbolts, but also the former weather patrol captain. Still, Blue and her got along fine without any fancy ranks. Part of it was that Blue already knew a Rainbow Dash before, but the two ponies just clicked as soon as they first met pretty much, so Blue had no trouble joining her with a casual hoof-bump. Thunderlane got the same treatment, he had only recently joined the Wonderbolts and was still getting used to things, but he had been a weather pony before that as well.
“Wow, we really have to be in deep shit for the famous Rainbow Dash to come and get her hooves dirty.”
Thunderlane glanced between them, most likely because he wasn’t used to ponies casually swearing like Blue did. Rainbow had a throwback as usual, but today she looked uncharacteristically serious
“Hey, cut me some slack, I might be a Wonderbolt, but I’m still the most kick-flank weather pony this town has ever seen.”
Blue chuckled a bit, but it died in her throat when she looked at the storm that had grown even bigger and angrier in just a couple of hours. By now, the whole sky was filled with dark storm clouds and a strong wind, more like a storm breeze, pushed them towards town. Blue even saw lightning flashes coming out of them, first just a few but quickly they became more and more frequent.
Rainbow Dash seemed tense. Even Blue got that was not a good sign. Rainbow casually talked about fighting dragons, changeling queens and all sorts of monsters and villains that threatened this whole world. How could a storm, even a massive one like that, shake Rainbow out of her cool?
Blue had to do something. A close friend would know what bothered Rainbow and find the right things to say. A semi-decent friend would maybe give her the chance to vent about whatever was bothering her. A casual friend would at least say something positive to encourage her.
Too bad Blue didn’t have any of those options. So instead, she did what she knew always worked with Rainbow Dash: Needle her and get her ego going.
“And here I thought Ponyville was all sunshine and rainbows. If anybody had told me about things like that before, I would have thought twice before moving here. Or join the weather patrol. What a downer.”
“Hey!”
Rainbow snapped back into a glare
“Don’t you just go and pin this on Ponyville! Or the weather patrol! We’re awesome, and it’ll take more than a freaky storm to change that!”
Blue grinned, but not only her. Rainbow Dash was talking way too loudly, almost yelling, so of course the others heard her as well. They were looking at her as they listened, and a few even called out some affirmations. Soon enough, Rainbow Dash wasn’t talking just to Blue anymore, but to all of them
“And we’re the Ponyville weather patrol! No matter who’s captain, no matter what kind of storm there might be, we can take it! Because we’re awesome like that!”
Blue grinned and joined in the shouts of “Yeah!” from all around. She only wanted to shake Rainbow out of her funk, but any Rainbow Dash at her best was bound to push everyone, or everypony around her to their best as well. Some things just never changed.
Now riled up by Rainbow, their former captain and idol, all the pegasus ponies faced the storm, but this time with confident expressions. Only Thunderlane threw a weird side-glance at Blue for some reason, but that changed when something happened. Blue focused on the mass of clouds and felt it. She didn’t know how she felt it, but she knew what it was even before the captain called out
“It’s starting. Get ready, everypony. We’re in for one heck of a ride.”
Everypony called out their commitment, as did Blue, right before they dived into the mountain of storm clouds.
Two hours later, and Blue yelled in frustration. Granted, they kept the worst away from Ponyville so far, but that storm wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Everypony did their best to get the rainclouds under control, but with very little success so far.
Blue glared at the heart of the storm and frowned. She didn’t grow up with this, but the weather had somewhat made sense to her from day one. Maybe because she had a weather-related cutie mark, maybe because her pegasus instincts were new to her and so she paid more attention to them. Right now, Blue couldn’t give less of a fuck about the why, she only cared about how she could use this to her advantage right now.
She had been on storm duty before, but those had been scheduled storms with a clear plan in mind. She knew that for a regular pony-storm, there was a certain pattern in which the clouds had to be arranged. It was a little bit like knitting, just with clouds and weather magic instead of string. Point was, there was usually a clear system behind pony-made storms.
This one had no system at all. It was just a mess, like if someone had just thrown together a metric shit ton of broken fishnets and haphazardly rolled them together into a tangled chaos with no real start and no real end. And now the ponies of the weather patrol were fiddling with a few loose strings they could grasp, but they never really got anything done because the biggest bulk had so many knots, no matter where they pulled or pushed it only made the knots tighter. Even Rainbow Dash with her super-speed couldn’t do anything, no matter how many times she crashed into the centre, she just bounced off with barely any impact. It seemed like that tangled mess was more than just a net, it was a fucking trampoline or something.
Blue glared and focused on the storm-bulk that was closest to her. We can’t untangle this shit, but there’s more way than one to open a knot.
She charged right at the knot with her forehooves stretched out in front of her. As usual, she felt some resistance that she knew was weather magic, but this was different. This time, the magic seemed to push her, like it wanted to push her away. Fuck that, gonna take more than that to stop me.
So Blue kept pushing back with all her might. Her wings worked hard to catapult her forward with each flap, but she also pushed with all her anger. She gritted her teeth and kept pushing against the resistance, and she could feel she was causing a dent, at least. Come on, just a little more!
Then suddenly, something snapped, and Blue pushed through. She could practically feel the tear she caused in the weather magic as she charged through the clouds with all her built up speed. Luckily, she could catch herself quickly and fly a turnover, just to see what had happened. The knot she’d seen was broken up, and finally she could feel different layers of weather magic. It was still a tangled mess, but now she knew this was something they could deal with. The others noticed as well, since suddenly the lightning bolts stopped altogether.
Rainbow Dash shouted something at her that Blue couldn’t hear through the wind, but she heard some cheers going through the crowd. She flew over too them with a grin plastered on her face
“You did it!”
“Great job, Newbie!”
“YEAH!”
Blue laughed and shared a hoof-bump with Cloud Chaser, but the captain’s voice had her quickly snap back to attention
“No time to celebrate yet. We still got work to do.”
The others gave a quick salute and dived right back in, but Blue got called out before she could follow them
“Blue, I need you over here!”
She glanced at the others who made some progress now that the biggest knot was gone, so she turned around and flew to the captain instead
“What’s up?”
As soon as she turned around, she knew what was up. She might have opened one knot, but around her, the storm was still raging. The captain waved at the clouds and asked what Blue knew she would ask
“Whatever you just did… can you do it again?”
Blue looked around and focused. She tried to think about all the ponies down in their houses who were still worried, maybe even scared. She thought about the fillies and colts who would miss out on the festival. She felt herself get angry again.
She could see more knots, all around her, and she knew what to do
“Fuck yeah I can!”
The captain nodded and shouted out over the storm
“Okay Blue, do your thing. Everypony else, follow her lead.”
Blue didn’t even wait for anyone to respond, she just dived head-straight towards the nearest weather-knot and pushed. It took a little more effort, but soon that one broke as well. This time, Blue didn’t stop and charged at another one. And another one. There still were dozens left, but now she knew what to do.
She didn’t even realize that for the first time, the captain had used her real name.
Blue didn’t even know how many hours she just kept working through the storm with the others, everything was a blur of anger, adrenaline, and exhaustion. She was running low on fumes, but it was worth it. The storm was down to just heavy rainfall and the weather patrol and her could handle it finally. After Blue had opened up more holes, they finally untangled the mess, and everything was back under control.
Still, their work was far from done and Blue wasn’t going to drop out as long as she could still fly. Everypony around her was tired and nopony was talking anymore, but they knew they were on the last stretches, so everypony gathered the last of their strength and pushed on.
Suddenly, she heard a scream close to her and her head snapped around. She couldn’t see too much in the rain, but she saw a brighter shape plummet down towards the ground.
She didn’t think at all. She was just running on adrenaline. She tucked her wings close against her flank and went for a nose-dive into the dark. It was the middle of the night and most of the sky was still covered in clouds, but she could see the shape still.
Blue had almost reached it when she suddenly saw something else. A tree. She was plummeting straight towards a tree. In a split-moment of clarity she knew she could either reach the screaming thing, or dodge the tree, but not both. She braced for impact.
A moment later, the thing, a pegasus colt with a blue-greyish coat, was in reach of her hooves. She grabbed him, pulled him close against her as she curled up in mid-air and tried to turn the colt away from the tree she was about to hit. She felt the first impact and a sharp pain ran through her wing. She hit a couple more branches, which thankfully broke her fall, before she landed on the ground flank first.
She was just lying there for a minute, catching her breath, and gritting her teeth together to help ignore the pain. The cold rain helped dull everything down, except in her right wing, but enough so she could sit up and open her eyes again. She was still holding the colt in her hooves and looked down. Blue let out a sigh in relief when she couldn’t see any visible bruises on him, and she shook him carefully
“You okay buddy?”
He opened his eyes and nodded, obviously he had no idea what just had happened. He looked around to get his bearings, but when he noticed he was still on top of Blue while she was sitting in wet dirt, he quickly jumped out of her hooves and on the ground
“Sorry.”
“Eh, no biggie. Did you get hurt?”
He shook his head and stared wide-eyed at something next to Blue, but before Blue could say anything else, they heard a voice from above. Blue didn’t get what it said, but the colt must have because he shouted back.
Two pegasi landed next to them, followed by three more, and finally Blue recognized the voice
“Rumble, are you okay? What in the name of Celestia are you doing out here?”
Blue rolled her eyes when Thunderlane started fussing over his little brother and tried to get back on her hooves while the colt explained
“I wanted to help you! Everypony is out to help and I’m a pegasus too!”
Blue laughed when the two brothers started going back and forth but winced when another surge of pain ran through her chest. Immediately, somepony was beside her again
“Oh my gosh, Blue, are you hurt?”
Blue tried to push them away, but in the end had to accept that they were helping her back on her hooves, and she could look down herself. She was covered with mud and there was a gash on her left leg, no big deal. Her ribs hurt a little, probably from the impact, but all in all she felt fine. She was about to say so, but the three pegasi, including the captain, stared at her right side from some reason. She turned her head and saw that her right wing stood in a weird angle, and by now realized the throbbing pain.
“Oh no! Blue, your wing! This is awful!”
Blue rolled her eyes and shrugged
“It’s fine. Barely even hurts, no need to make a fuss.”
“But it looks like it’s broken, or worse!”
“You need to see a doctor! We need to call an ambulance!”
Blue, before she could get angry again, just walked a few steps away from them and looked at the sky, and the few remaining clouds
“Save it. We still got a job to do, remember?”
They were all looking at her like she had just grown a few extra heads, so she turned away and spread her wings. She winced and realized that had been a mistake. The rain had dulled down most of it, but as soon as she tried to move her wing, the pain was back, and she bit her tongue so she wouldn’t scream.
A hoof on her shoulder stopped her from trying again, and the captain shot her best glare at her
“You’re not flying anymore tonight. You’ll get your flank straight to the Doc and have that thing looked at.”
“I’m not gonna bail out of work just because of a little…”
“Blue.”
Blue shut her mouth immediately when she heard the tone of voice
“You did enough. You pulled more than your weight already, we’ll take care of the rest.”
Before Blue could say anything else, everypony except Thunderlane and Rumble got back into the sky, leaving her with the captain and the two brothers
“Now, you’re gonna wait right here while I get an ambulance and…”
Blue rolled her eyes again, but not as angry anymore
“Seriously, I can still walk fine. I don’t need a fucking ambulance.”
The captain stared at her for a minute, but then nodded
“Fine. Thunderlane, you make sure she actually gets there, understood?”
Thunderlane gave a sharp salute and picked up his little brother onto his back
“And you’re coming right along, you little pest.”
“Hey, why me? I’m not even hurt!”
“Because I said so, that’s why! What were you even thinking, trying to fly through a storm like that?”
Blue sighed and walked down the path back towards town, a bit slower than usual because her leg hurt a little, but she wasn’t going to tell Thunderlane that. As they walked, the rain grew less and finally stopped, unlike Thunderlane’s rambling as he scolded his little brother, to the point Blue couldn’t take it anymore
“Geez, cut him some slack, will you? At least he’s shown that he’s got guts.”
“Guts maybe, but not much brains to go along with it.”
Rumble did probably the best thing and didn’t say anything, least to give his brother even more fuel, but Blue shot him a wink when Thunderlane wasn’t looking. She had done her own fair share of stupid at his age, and most of the stuff way worse than that.
It had to be around two in the morning when they reached the hospital, and the storm was completely gone by then. Everything was still a little wet, but nothing the morning sun couldn’t take care of. With no point to drag things out even longer, Blue sighed and walked in, only to have the first nurse that saw her start fussing around. She just closed her eyes and hoped she could get out again soon.
She didn’t get out. Instead of a quick bandage for her leg and a quick look-over, Blue was sent into an examination room, together with Rumble. They both sat on one of the beds and Rumble was looking as miserable as Blue felt
“Man, this sucks…”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
Blue chuckled a little and glanced over to the little colt
“Why are you even here? I thought you didn’t get hurt.”
“I didn’t. But my big brother told me I needed to have a doctor look me over.”
Blue just laughed
“That’s not too bad. Trust me, could be way worse.”
“Oh yeah? What worse than your brother sending you to the doctor?”
Blue didn’t even have to answer, as in that moment the door opened and a stern-looking mare with a nurse hat walked in. Rumble watched as the nurse completely ignored him and kept glaring at Blue for a whole minute before she said anything
“Hello, Ocean Shore.”
“Hi Sis.”
Rumble’s eyes flew wide open and suddenly he knew how things could be worse. Like, if your older sibling is the doctor.
The mare turned to smile at Rumble for a moment
“I’ll be right with you, sweetie. Just a minute.”
Rumble watched as the two sisters (even though they didn’t look anything like sisters) talked with each other. They were talking in some foreign language that Rumble couldn’t understand, but Blue’s face told him enough. She was clearly unhappy at having her sister fuss over her, but she answered all questions and held still when the nurse checked her legs. Rumble winced when the nurse cleaned the gash or Blue’s leg with an alcohol wipe, but Blue didn’t even flinch. She didn’t even care when the nurse poked and pulled her wing. She only winced and bit her lip when the nurse popped the wing back into the proper angle, but she was back to stoic when she got a bandage after that. They kept talking in that weird language, but Rumble didn’t really mind. He watched as Blue got another bandage on her hoof, then the nurse turned to him and started talking normal again.
“Now sweetie, let’s make sure everything is alright with you, okay?”
Rumble nodded and just followed along. The nurse was very friendly and patient with him, she didn’t seem as gruff as she had with Blue. He didn’t say anything though, since he wanted to get out of the hospital as fast as he could, so he just did everything the nurse said. After a couple of minutes, she seemed satisfied and told her that her brother was waiting outside.
He threw a glance to Blue, but she was just staring at the ceiling and didn’t even notice it, so he just waved shyly and then rushed out of the room.
Blue must have fallen asleep at some point, because suddenly it was morning and the sun was shining. She allowed herself a satisfied grin but groaned as soon as she tried to move. She felt stiff from laying awkwardly all night with her wing in a splint. She looked herself over and saw a couple more bandages, which seemed weird since she didn’t even remember getting hurt more than her wing. But since her coat was now clean as well, she guessed that probably somepony had given her a more thorough check-up while she’d been out from the painkillers the doctor had prescribed her last night.
The door opened and to Blue’s relief, her sister walked in instead of a nurse she didn’t know. It was a short relief since her sister looked like she hadn’t slept all night. Blue knew that Spring Meadow would never let anypony see this, but here with just Blue, she slipped up a little.
Of course, Spring Meadow had more than enough reasons to be angry at her even without that, so Blue just looked down at the floor next to her bed, waiting for the scolding that was about to happen
“How are you feeling, Blue?”
That was not the harsh tone of voice Blue had expected, so she dared look up again. Her sister seemed tired and a bit irritated from being up too long… but not really angry. Maybe a bit grumpy at most.
She was also staring at her, which meant she was waiting for the answer to the question Blue had almost forgotten already
“I’m fine. Just a bit sore. Wing hurts a little.”
Blue didn’t like talking about herself. It was easier with her sister when they could talk in German and nobody would understand them, but even then, she didn’t like it much. Spring Meadow knew and just nodded, then she walked around the bed to take a closer look at the wing once more. Blue sighed in relief when she undid the bandage and she could feel air on her feathers again, but winced since even trying to spread her wing just a little bit hurt.
Spring Meadow frowned but didn’t say anything. She moved the wing with her hooves and stopped whenever Blue winced when she reached a painful spot. After a while, she started talking again
“So, nothing’s broken but it’s sprained. You need to keep it still for a couple weeks, but you won’t need a cast. Your leg is still swollen and needs rest, and your bruised your ribs a bit. We’re keeping you in for today at least.” Spring turned around and now, for the first time, looked at Blue again “Other than that, just a few little cuts and bruises, nothing bad. Just stay in bed and take it easy.”
Blue nodded and mumbled
“Yeah. Sure.”
She looked away from her sister before she pressed out
“Sorry you had to patch me up again.”
She heard a sigh and looked up when Spring Meadow walked around the bed so she could look at her again
“It was never having to patch you up, and you know that. At least you didn’t get into a fight this time.”
Blue could grin a little at that
“Yeah, imagine that, me doing the right thing for a change.”
“Blue, stop that. I don’t want to hear you say things like that.”
And Blue stopped immediately. She was still sore, and Spring was tired, it really wasn’t the right time for that kind of talk. Instead, she glanced at her now freshly bandaged wing. She once had her arm broken as a kid, but compared to that, a sprained wing was nothing.
Spring Meadow followed her gaze and nodded
“All things considered, you’re lucky ponies are very resilient. A human might have broken their neck from a fall like that.”
Blue chuckled weakly
“It wasn’t really a fall, more like a crash landing. I’ve been practicing that kind of stuff in flight training.”
“I know. I just didn’t realize until last night how dangerous your job really is.”
Blue frowned at her sister
“Don’t tell me you want me to quit?”
She glared at her, but Spring Meadow just shook her head
“No, don’t worry. I mean, of course I’m a bit worried, but I don’t think you could do a job without at least a bit of danger. I can’t even imagine you being cooped up behind a counter or a desk eight hours a day.”
They both could laugh at that idea, and Blue felt okay enough for a little quip back
“I mean, it’s not like your job is that healthy. How long have you been working now, two days straight?”
Spring smiled mildly but not angry
“I had a nap in between. And technically, I’m already off duty. I just came to check on you.”
Blue rolled her eyes and waved with her good hoof
“And now you’ve seen I’m fine, so get lost already! And don’t you even think about just holing up at home until your next shift! Go have fun at the festival, or I’ll have to sick Pinkie Pie on you!”
They both laughed and Spring Meadow stepped closer to the bed so she could hug her sister. Blue usually wasn’t into the touchy-feely stuff, but with Spring she could manage.
At the door, Spring turned around and winked
“Try to get some rest while you still can.”
Blue tilted her head confused
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’ll see once visiting hours start.”
With that, Spring Meadow left the room and left Blue to wonder.
Blue had finished her hospital breakfast maybe an hour ago and was starting to get really bored. She heard music and more and more voices through the open window on the other side of the room, so she could guess that the festival had started by now.
Despite being cooped up in this room, unable to even move her wing or get up on her own, Blue smiled. The guys had managed to stop the storm and save the festival, and she’d done her fair share for that too. Of course she knew that it was just a festival and another one would be just around the corner, but everypony had been excited about it. And she had done something so they wouldn’t be disappointed. Even if she couldn’t enjoy the festival, it still felt good.
Her ears perked up when she heard some commotion by the door, and before she knew it, there was a big explosion of streamers, balloons, and confetti. She blinked and suddenly the room was fully decorated, and a hyperactive pink menace bounced up and down beside her bed
“Surprise! Welcome to your very own “Get well soon!”-party-surprise! Were you surprised? Were you? Were you?”
Blue just burst into a laughing fit and tried to nod, but her bruised ribs made laughing hurt quite a bit, so she ended up wincing in pain.
Thankfully, Pinkie Pie wasn’t the only visitor and another familiar voice chimed in
“Pinkie, Darling, can’t you see she’s still hurting, the poor dear! Please, do be gentle!”
Pinkie shot a worried look at her but Blue just help up her good hoof and grinned
“Great surprise, Pinkie!”
That got Pinkie smiling again and as they bumped hooves, Blue noticed that behind Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight and even Spike walked in, giving the room a rather cramped feel.
“Hey guys, what you’re doing here? Shouldn’t you be out there and get the party going? Twilight, don’t you have a speech to hold or something?”
They all laughed when Princess Twilight blushed at this, but they kept focusing on Blue
“We just wanted to see how you were doing, Ocean Shore.”
“Yeah, we heard from Thunderlane what happened and…”
“And we thought it’d be nice to pop in for a visit.”
“And we brought you some treats, so even if you can’t come to the festival, you’ll at least get some out of it.”
Applejack grinned and held out a plate with some freshly made apple fritters
“We figured it had to beat hospital food at least.”
“Oh hey, sweet!”
They all laughed as Blue bit heartily into one of the fritters, which only had Pinkie Pie bounce on the spot again
“Oh, speaking of sweets, I also brought some caramel apples, chocolate strawberries, cinnamon nuts and…”, Pinkie stopped for one big breath as she pulled all the treats out of thin air it seems, including the last one which was almost as big as herself
“Cotton candy, freshly spun of course!”
Blue stared at the mountain of pink cotton candy that was literally just dumped on top of her while everypony else was chuckling it up, except Twilight Sparkle
“Pinkie Pie, I know you mean well, but Blue is still recovering so she needs to make sure she gets a well-balanced diet with lots of vitamins and fluids, fresh produce and…”
“Yo Princess!”
Blue waved her hoof in front of Twilight’s face to get her attention before she drifted off into full lecture mode
“Twi, I got a sprained wing. I know you can’t help worrying, but you don’t have to, okay? I’m not fatally ill, so stop acting like I am.”
Princess Twilight frowned for a couple of seconds, but then Twilight Sparkle’s face softened into a smile as she nodded
“I understand. But you know we’re doing all this because we care.”
“Yeah, gotcha.”
Blue threw a look around the now fully decorated and candy-stacked room
“And I think I can make it through the day with all of this, really. So why don’t you go and enjoy the festival now? AJ, Rarity, your sisters have been talking about nothing else for weeks, and I’m pretty sure ponies are just waiting for Pinkie to get things rolling.”
Blue glared, but all her friends could see that there was no force or anger behind it as she waved them towards the door
“I’ll be fine, okay? Just go.”
The seven friends shared a knowing look and nodded, then stepped forward one by one for a quick hug before they left.
Rainbow Dash was the last one in the room, and she turned around when the others were outside
“Hey Blue.”
Blue sighed and rolled her eyes. Rainbow acting weird like this would mean she wanted to talk about some feely stuff, but she was really bad at it. Fortunately, Blue had experience with that from another Rainbow Dash one world over, so she just cut the awkward moment short for both of them
“It’s really not a big deal, Dash. I’ll be fine with a few days grounded.”
“Well, you shouldn’t be fine with it. I was out there and I’m faster than you. I could have caught Rumble without crashing, or I could have stopped you from hitting that tree.”
“But you didn’t. And it’s okay, really. I know you would have if you could, but you didn’t and it’s fine. I don’t blame anyone, especially not you. It’s just part of the job.”
Rainbow nodded once, still a bit uncertain but at least somewhat reassured, so Blue went for the thing that always worked with Rainbow
“Besides, I’m made of tougher stuff than some soft pony-pants.”
“Oh yeah? You think you’re tougher than me, too?”
Blue grinned and Rainbow grinned back
“As soon as you got flight clearance, I’m gonna give you another flying lesson, Wonderbolt-style. We’ll see how tough you’re after that. You’ll never even get close to hitting a tree ever again!”
“Do your worst, Dash!”
They bumped their hooves together to seal the deal, and finally Rainbow Dash felt good enough to leave.
At the door, she hesitated for a moment
“Oh, um, should I send in the others now?”
“The others?”
Rainbow opened the door a bit further and Blue saw an actual line of ponies waiting outside. She just groaned and sank back into the pillows. This is going to be a fucking long day.
Way past noon, Blue finally shooed out the last visitors. She could have maybe expected some of her co-workers from the weather patrol, but not all of them. The nurses made sure there were only two or three ponies in her room at the same time, so Blue had to take the whole ‘fussing over her wing’-routine a dozen times.
To some part, it was nice to know that everypony seemed to care enough to pay her a visit, especially with the party going on in town, and she took the chance to share the load of candy she’d gotten from Pinkie Pie with her visitors (which was good, since she could never have eaten all of it by herself). On the other hand though, Blue’s patience was limited, especially when everypony treated her sprained wing like a life-threatening disease or like she had to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair or anything.
So when the last group finally left, Blue had to press her pillow against her face and just scream out her frustration. One of the nurses poked her head in, with an amused expression, and winked
“There’s just two more waiting for you.”
Blue groan and waved her hooves helplessly
“That’s what you said about the last ones! Can’t you just send them home and tell them to come back tomorrow?”
The nurse giggled, but her expression didn’t really carry it
“I could, but I really think you want to see those two today. I promise I’ll send anypony else away after that.”
Blue sighed and slumped back into the bed, it wasn’t like she had much of a chance
“Okay, fine, send them in I guess.”
Blue closed her eyes and kept them closed until she heard hoof-steps walking in. When she looked up, she knew why the nurse insisted on seeing those two today instead of later.
Rumble, the colt she had caught before anything bad could happen, was staring at her bandaged wing with wide eyes, and looked like he might start to cry. Thunderlane stood next to him and didn’t know what to say.
Blue waited for a minute, but when nopony said anything, she just decided to get over with it as fast as she could
“Yes it will fully heal, no it doesn’t hurt much, yes I’m sure and no, I don’t need anything from you to get me. They’re just keeping me in for safety, mostly. Anything I missed?”
Thunderlane smiled at least, and he nudged his brother closer to the bed, so Blue waited for Rumble to say something
“I’m sorry you got hurt because of me. And I’m sorry you can’t fly anymore because you’re hurt.”
Blue wanted to roll her eyes and just wave it off, but she could see that Rumble really felt bad, so she forced a smile
“Don’t worry, kid. That’s all part of the job. I’m glad you didn’t get hurt.”
Rumble looked like he wanted to say more, but since he didn’t, Thunderlane spoke up instead
“It goes without saying, but Rumble is grounded for sneaking out in the middle of the night, and he’ll never try to fly in a storm like that again. Isn’t that right, Rumble?”
The colt nodded and Blue rolled her eyes
“Geez, don’t sweat it kid. I’ve done way worse when I was your age.”
Rumble nodded, at least a little calmer now, and of course a bit curious now as well. Before he could ask anything about what Blue might have done, Thunderlane sent him out and told him he was allowed to go to the festival now. He didn’t need to be told twice and ran off with an awkward ‘Goodbye’ to Blue.
When they were along, Thunderlane turned to Blue
“I think I never really thanked you yet, for saving my brother. I owe you big time.”
“You don’t owe me squat. You think I would have just let the fella hit the ground?”
“No, of course not. But you saved my brother, when I couldn’t, and…”
“And nothing. You would have saved him if you’d saw him first, but I was there instead. You would have done the same thing. You’re not to blame for anything and you don’t owe me shit.”
“But…”
“Just shut up!”
Thunderlane backed away and Blue felt bad for a moment, but after a whole day of being pitied, she just couldn’t take any more
“Look, I get what you want to say, but just save it. I did my job and there’s nothing else to it, so don’t act like this is such a big deal. I’m glad the kid is okay, and I hope he learned his lesson, and now can we please stop talking about it!”
Blue groaned frustrated and Thunderlane laughed softly
“I guess being cooped in here doesn’t make it better, huh?”
“No, not really. But it’s not your fault either.”
“Isn’t yours, too. But you’re still stuck here.”
He looked around the room that was still decorated from Pinkie Pie and now plastered with flowers and get-well-cards as well, and he nodded
“So, I’m gonna leave you to it. But, you know, if you want some company later…”
Blue groaned and waved towards the door
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll send a memo. Now get lost!”
Thunderlane nodded and headed straight for the door
“See you later, Blue.”
“Are you still here?”
They both laughed a bit, and when the door close, Blue could finally sink back into the bed and enjoy some quiet time.