Trapped

by Gylden Glor


Investment

Two of us are pacing, one is madly flipping through a book, and the rest are sitting in anxious silence.
Applejack and I are the ones pacing, and I’m pretty sure I don’t need to say who’s flipping through the book. Fluttershy is practically vibrating with how much she’s shaking, and Rarity is continuously chewing on her lower lip. Pinkie Pie is sitting stock still, and constantly throws me questioning glances. Spike is standing by Twilight, ready to fetch any book she requests.
During the time that we all waited in this room, I had been introduced to each of them by turn. They initially blamed me for Rainbow Dash’s pain, but Twilight tells them that it was me who forced Rainbow Dash to come to the hospital.
The door to the Pegasus’ hospital room swings open, and a doctor walks out. We all look to him expectantly, and he motions for us to follow him. He gives me a suspicious glare, but doesn’t say anything.
I’m the first one through the door, oddly enough. And I’m also the first one by the cyan Pegasus’ side, as the other ponies paused to ask the doctor what had happened to her.
I silently walk up to her bedside, and sit in the adjacent chair. She seems to be asleep, but that’s shot down as soon as she begins to speak.
“Hey,” Rainbow Dash croaks. “Nice of you to drop by…”
I smile. At least she’s back to normal, and isn’t babbling on about “it”. I lean forward, and look directly into her eyes. “Hey,” I respond. “Nice of you to be alive.”
She chuckles, but winces as she does so. I frown, and notice that she has bandages almost everywhere on her body, except for her face. Her wings are both covered in gauze, and a splint on her left wing suggests it was broken by the impact.
Or by something else.
I’m quickly joined by the other ponies, who crowd around and start to attack the cyan Pegasus with a deluge of questions.
“Ohmygosh, Dashie, were you doing a crazy stunt when you crashed!?” Pinkie Pie shouted. I look to Rainbow Dash, and see that she winces each time somepony speaks a little bit too loud. “Guys, don’t be so loud,” I demand. “She’s gone through a lot. She needs time to rest. If you wanna ask her a question, do it quietly.”
I look back to her with a smile, and she smiles back. “Thanks,” she croaks.
“So…What did the doctor tell you?” Twilight asks in a hushed voice. I sigh, remembering what the doctor told us.
“She’s damn lucky to be alive,” he had said. “Her left lung had blood flowing into it, and it’s good that you got her here so fast, or else she would have drowned. Half of her ribs were broken, and her right wing was dislocated, as well as broken in several spots. She had internal bleeding, and the lining of her stomach had almost been punctured. Her leg was broken, and the veins were cut. And, back to her right wing, depending on how it heals, it may be rendered useless. In other words…She may never fly again.
I shudder at the thought, and decide that Rainbow Dash deserves to know.
“He said…He said that I was lucky,” she wheezes, tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. “Thank you, Twilight…Peter…You saved my life…”
As tears begin to stream down her face, I reach for her hoof, and grasp it in an attempt to comfort a friend. Knowing what I know, she may need us all to be here, holding on to a different part of her body.
I decide not to tell her just yet. And, apparently, so has everypony else. We’d rather not make this experience any more traumatizing for her.
As I remove my hand, an emotional canister by the name of Pinkie Pie explodes.
“I love you, Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie Pie cries, wrapping her forelegs around an un-bandaged portion of the Pegasus’ torso. “You’re my bestest-bestest-bestie-bestieest friend!”
This only causes Rainbow Dash to cry even more. “I love you, too, Pinkie,” she sobs. “I love all of you guys…If it weren’t for you, I’d…I’d be dead!” Sobs wracked her body, each accompanied by a burst of pain. I put a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder, and quietly explain to her that Rainbow Dash has to calm down, or she might jiggle her ribs out of place.
Now standing, I grasp Rainbow Dash’s hoof in my hand. “Calm down, Rainbow,” I whisper. “Calm down. It’s okay; you’re safe now. Nothing’s going to hurt you, alright? You just need to calm down, or your ribs won’t stop hurting.”
She opens her eyes, and looks up into mine. I can see another wave of sobs of gratitude about to burst forth, and so I place a hand on the side of her face to calm her. “Just breathe, Rainbow. Take deep breaths…That’s it. Just breathe, Dash. You’re okay now.”
When she’s finally calmed down, I remove my hands, and sit down next to her.
“So…Would you happen to remember what…‘it’, is?” Twilight asks. I throw a glance of disbelief at her.
“Twilight, maybe you should go back to the library,” I suggest in a firm, yet soft, voice.
“Why?”
“If you’re only here to ask her about what happened, then you should wait until a later time to do so. She needs rest and relaxation, because it’s all probably very taxing on her mind, not just her body. Asking her questions about it will only make it hurt more.”
Twilight frowns, but ultimately cedes to my wisdom. “Okay. Spike, come on, we have to do some research on this thing. I need to know if it has lingering effects…”
Rainbow Dash watches Twilight go with a mixture of relief and desperation. “Y…You guys can go, too,” she stammers, trembling as she looks at each of them, including me.
“Darling, you are so strong,” Rarity says, finally speaking up from the corner in which she’d been secretly crying. “But you’re simply a mess…Are you sure you can handle this on your own?”
She nods, and vocalizes her response, as well. Everypony leaves, except for me.
“C’mon, Peter,” Applejack urges. “She wants to be alone.”
“To hell with what she wants,” I respond. “My friend is in the hospital, and almost died, and I’m not leaving until she does.”
Applejack starts to respond, but then she looks at Rainbow Dash, and sees the same amount of gratitude that I can see in her eyes as I look into them.
“Alright, sugarcube,” Applejack ceded. “Ah’ll be back ter’ visit termorrow, Dash.”
And, with that, Rainbow Dash and I are alone.
“Visiting hours are over,” the doctor silently informs me. “But…Seeing the condition that your, ah, ‘friend’ is in…I can make an exception. On the right of her bed, there’s a part you can pull out to make a second bed. If you need anything, just press that button on the wall.”
And, with that, Rainbow Dash and I are finally actually alone.
“Thank you, Peter,” she whispers as soon as the door closes behind the doctor. I grasp her hoof, and smile at her. “Any time,” I respond. “But you have to promise me one thing.”
“What?”
“No more dying. It doesn’t look good for a resume for the Wonder Bolts.”
Rainbow Dash chuckles, but winces in pain due to her ribs. I pat her hoof, comforting her as she shuts her eyes and focuses on her breathing.
“You know…” she whispers, “you…you don’t have to stay, Peter. I can…I can do this. It’s…It’s nice, and I appreciate the gesture, but…You can go if you want…”
I stand, lean over her, and stare directly into her now-open eyes. “Fuck you. I’m staying right by your side, and I won’t leave until you do, Rainbow Dash. Gotta make sure you don’t die on me.”
She smiles, but doesn’t laugh. She’s probably just too mentally drained to laugh. I cup the side of her face in my hand, and smile into her eyes.
“You should rest, Rainbow,” I tell her softly. “Go on; go to sleep. I’ll be right by your side the entire night.” She nods, and smiles a watery smile, filled with tears.
“Thanks,” she whispers. She smirks before adding on, “and keep your hands to yourself. I know you’ve got a total crush on me.”
I chuckle at her remark. Good old Rainbow Dash, back from the dead. “I’ll try; but I make no promises. I mean, you’re just so hard to resist, girl,” I tease as I circle the bed. I instantly find the latch for the guest bed, and pull it out all the way. A small gap remains between my bed and Rainbow’s bed, which is good, because that way I won’t accidentally roll over and kick her in the face and totally own her. I lie down on the mattress, rest my head on the pillow with a sigh, and close my eyes.
As I do, the lines are blurred even more, and I can barely discern reality from faux and simulation. It’s all too believable - the injured, desperate-for-company Rainbow Dash, and the valiant, Dutifully Present Peter…It makes me feel needed. And that feels…Nice. I'm becoming emotionally invested.
Kinda makes me wonder as to whether I would want to use that executive override at all.