"How is he?" a female voice asked worried.
"He is fine, the doctor said he'll be unconscious for a few days." a male voice replied.
"How much?"
"I don't know, he didn't specify when, but it can't be more than a week."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm just telling you what the doctor told me. I know nothing about the subject."
"Well, okay. And what about Steel, his dad?"
Silence.
"He didn't make it."
The female voice gasped.
"Whaaat?!"
"His heart got pierced with the stab on his side."
"Those... damn sons of...!"
The male voice shushed.
"You're in a hospital! Moderate your words!"
"What do you want me to do?! I hoped that we could eradicate them without any important casualties."
"These things happen Rainbow, it's inevitable when it comes to war."
"I know. At least we won't be bothered anymore by those Reds right?"
"True, but there are still Guardians in Anvil. If we want this threat to be dealt with, we must tear it from the source."
"Are you going to attack the city?!"
"Not yet. If they attack again, then we'll have to finish this ourselves. Celestia sent us another wave of soldiers, now we won't have problems defending the village."
"How much will you wait their attack?"
"They shouldn't take too much time. Guardians are known for retaliating almost instantly, unless they can't rally enough troops."
"However they do have a lot of soldiers."
"I know, they went full power against the assassins. But they shouldn't mess with us, we are under protection of Celestia and Luna."
"Why aren't any of the princesses coming here to help in the first place? They can help you big time! They aren't mortals!"
"They are more busy taking care of things in Canterlot."
"Is there any time they're not busy?"
"It's the price of being monarchs, Rainbow. But I can lead this army myself, the princesses have faith in me."
"Will he go with you?"
"I don't think he'll be able to join us. Besides, he's done more than enough yesterday."
"Well, can I come instead of him?"
"I don't think that's a good idea Rainbow, those robes will betray you."
"I can hide!"
"Sorry. But you better stay here, I have it under control, you have my word."
I woke up around noon, I saw the sun shining outside.
I tried to get up, but I could barely move. I looked at my left and noticed that I had my shoulder wrapped up. I looked under the sheets and noticed another bandage in my right ankle and forearm. I tried to move my right leg, but it didn't move, I guessed it should be asleep.
With extreme effort, I tried to stay in a sitting position, now that I was awake, I couldn't stay laying down.
I tried to remember the events of the battle.
The sound of clashing swords, my first kill, the "brute", that Guardian unicorn...
My dad...
It sounds repetitive, but I could have avoided this if I recurred to diplomacy. But what's done it's done, Reds were gone for now, I just hoped they didn't come again soon.
And Fluttershy? Where was she? Was she fine? Was she still mute or something else? Those questions were kept unanswered for now.
After what seemed to be an eternity, a nurse came to check on me:
"Oh good! You're finally awake!" she said.
"For how long was I asleep?" was the first question that came to me then.
"Let me see your date of entrance." she said while grabbing a chart from the other side of my bed "You've been here for 4 days now." she finally answered.
"Oh good, looks like everytime I enter in a coma it takes less time for me from getting out of it." I joked.
"Well this was not a coma per se. You just were fainted these days."
The door opened again, a white unicorn entered.
"Hey! Good to see you're awake!"
"Hi Shining." I replied without much emotion.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"I could be better, but I'm fine, how about you? You got any injuries from the battle?"
"Just a few scratches, nothing worrying."
"What about the Reds? What happened?" I asked.
"Well, after we managed to repel them the first time, they retaliated again with even more forces. But with the reinforcements that Celestia and Luna sent, we were able to hold them off easier."
"They attacked again when I was unconscious?!"
"Don't worry dude! You wouldn't be alive if we didn't repel them."
"That's true. Well, good thing Ponyville is still standing." I pointed "They won't bother us again now, will they?"
"Oh don't worry about that, I planned to attack their headquarters if they attacked a second time. We finally got rid of them."
"You eradicated them?!"
"Yes. We do have some of them alive for interrogation, specially the master of the guild."
"What are you expecting for them to say? I don't think they have more Reds undercover."
"Well, better safe than sorry."
"True."
"Is Ponyville still evacuated? Or it is being poblated again?" I asked.
"Right now the train from Canterlot is bringing back the ponies here, they should arrive at midnight." Shining explained.
"Ugh, I can't wait that much."
"What's wrong?"
"Uh, nothing you have to know."
"Tell me."
I groaned.
"I just want to see Fluttershy again, I want to know if she's okay."
"She'll be fine, there are guards in the train for good measure. But why are you asking about her specifically?"
"For the same reason you got married, isn't it obvious?"
"Oh I see. The cheesy ol' Flare is still up isn't he?" he joked.
"Oh shut up."
"Hey I have to go, I have some other things to do." Shining said.
"Oh sure, go ahead."
As Shining was about to leave, I stopped him:
"Why didn't you tell me?"
He turned around, confused.
"Excuse me?" he said.
"Why didn't you tell me you have a sister?" I asked again.
"Oh, well. The truth is, I didn't tell you because..."
"Because...?"
"Because I uh..." he stammered a little "didn't want you to hit on her or something."
"You were afraid of that?"
"Put yourself in my horseshoes, if you had a sister, wouldn't you want to protect her from any arm?"
"Well yea, but you know me for years. You know I'm not a bad guy."
"I know that, but still, I couldn't tell you because if you both were to become coltfriends, how would I comfort her if you two break up?"
"Well, you got a point there. But you could have told me and I still wouldn't hit on her anyway."
"But that's a possibility, I really want Twilie to find love on her own. She's my LSBFF after all."
I lost track at that.
"Um, what's that?"
"Little Sister Best Friend Forever." he explained.
"Oh right, she mentioned something similar when she told me of her life in Canterlot. Should you be that-so-called BBBFF?"
"Yes, exactly."
"Well, seems like everything is being connected."
"I'm sorry I didn't say it before."
"Hey don't worry! In fact, I'm thankful. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have met Fluttershy and fell in love with her."
"Oh so you DO love her huh?"
"Didn't I make that clear already? Stop joking and go do your stuff already!"
He left the room laughing.
I was surprised I didn't ask him about my dad, but it hurt me to do so. Besides, he already left, and I couldn't get down from my bed to reach him, I'd have to wait until another friend would come to talk.
Some more time passed, until a pegasus showed up.
"Flare! Awesome, you're awake!" Rainbow Dash was happy to see me okay.
"Hey there Rainbow, how are you?" I asked.
"I'm fine thanks. Looks like the 'hit & run' strategy works really good for me."
"Tell me something I don't know. It really suits you."
"Hehe, thanks." she giggled "How are you holding up?"
"Well, kinda better than I expected. I had the feeling I'd be totally wrapped in bandages."
"Well you should be, I gotta say all those scars you got aren't normal." she joked.
"I think they add up personality."
"Are you telling me you did that on purpose?"
"Hey I'm not that stupid."
"Whatever you say."
"Did you get any scars or wounds from the battle?" I asked Rainbow.
"Not really, I do have a sprained fetlock from the diving bomb though." she showed me her left foreleg carrying a bandage near the hoof.
"Ouch. It must hurt a lot."
"Not as much as having two arrow bolts nailed in the foreleg and ankle I assume." she said.
I looked at my limbs where that happened.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"How long will you be here?" she asked.
"I dunno, doesn't that chart over there say something?"
She looked at the other side of my bed, looking the board.
"Nothing." she said after inspecting it.
"I guess I'll have to ask a nurse or a doctor then."
We stayed quiet for some time, until she broke the silence :
"You look sad, anything wrong?"
I nodded.
"Care to tell me?"
"I think you already know." I said.
"Maybe, but it's good for you to release it anyway."
I sighed.
"I mean, why did everything happen like it happened? Why didn't we search for another route?"
"Are you still thinking about that?"
"I can't get it off my mind, Rainbow..."
"I understand, but it's done, okay? Everything is alright now."
"Yeah, now. But why did it have to be wrong in the first place?"
"We didn't have other choice."
"Oh didn't we?"
"No! Don't you remember what you said? Those guys weren't known for listening."
"But it would have been better to only kill me and leave Fluttershy be!"
"And she'd have to live without you!"
"Many lives were lost due to this Rainbow, many families are now one or two members short due to this skirmish!"
"These guys decided to give their lifes for the ponies of Equestria, they didn't die in vain."
"But it could have been avoided if we recurred to talking!"
"Listen to me." she came flying to me and stayed at a hoof of distance "Try to get it through your thick skull. What's done it's done, you can't mourn the past now! Be glad that we managed to rescue her after all this."
I looked at her sadly, and looked down.
"It's just... I'm starting to believe my cutie mark is wrong."
She flyed back a little.
"All of this mourning, and all you think about is your cutie mark?!"
"It means a lot to me, specially after getting the second part of it revealed. But after Fluttershy got filly-napped, and my dad got seriously wounded, I'm starting to doubt its qualities."
Rainbow stopped flying and landed softly next to the bed.
"I don't know if what I say now will be of any use. But there are times that things are beyond this marks."
"But these things represent our talents; and in my case, my purpose too."
"Okay, but there are times were these talents (or purposes) can't be fulfilled at some time or another."
I kept looking down.
"You didn't know Fluttershy would be filly-napped. You didn't know that just because of something you like to do, a big misunderstanding can occur. There are things which are beyond anypony, and everything." she continued.
I sobbed a little, and looked at the pegasus.
"So stop mourning about that. It was not your fault, nor anypony's else." she assured me again.
I kept quiet a little.
"You're right. Everything came out okay in the end."
"Wait... MY DAD! How is he?!"
"Uh.. he..." she stuttered
"TELL ME!" I demanded grabbing her by the shoulders.
She released herself calmly from my grip, and in exchange she grabbed me by the shoulders.
"He didn't make it." she bit her lip.
My mind went blank at that, and just as slowly Rainbow released from my grasp, I did too. I had a lost gaze, as Rainbow tried to talk to me again, I didn't pay her attention.
There were important casualties in the end.