//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: This Means War! // by Whirl Wind //------------------------------// Chapter six: At the Hospital The sun rose over the hilltops and Whirl saw the light through the windows. He was still holding the picture of his family in his hooves and his face was soaked with tears, as was the bandage that covered his other swollen eye. With a sigh he stood up and went to his medical kit to change his bandages. He did his best to wrap it on his own, but he was sore from the beatings he had taken and was in no shape to do much of anything on his own. The bandages ended up being loose but he didn’t really care as he walked to his front door. “I wonder if the newspaper is up and running again…” he thought as he opened the door. Sure enough when it opened a newspaper hit him in the face. “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!” the little colt who was delivering the paper said. He ran up to Whirl and hoofed him another paper. “Here, for free. Just don’t tell my boss.” Whirl chuckled. “Don’t worry, I can’t really feel much on my face anymore.” he said with a grin. “Hey, I know you! You are in the paper with Princess Luna!” the colt said happily as he opened the newspaper he was going to give to Whirl. “Whirl Wind right? That is so cool!” Whirl opened the paper hurriedly and saw himself standing behind the podium that he spoke behind yesterday. He saw the tears that were in his eyes and the title that read, ‘General Wind or Not General Wind?’. Whirl sighed. “General Wind? What does that mean?” the colt asked with a tone of curiosity. Whirl looked down at the colt with a slight grin. “At least somepony doesn’t know who I was.” “What do you mean? Did you fight in the war?” the colt asked with a more excited look. Whirl sighed and nodded. “Yes, but King Sombra brainwashed me to serve him… I ended up on the wrong side of the war…” “Oh, I see. That explains all these mean things they are saying about him. Well, I don’t think you are that evil pony. You are nice and you tip me all the time. You don’t seem like a pony who would just switch sides suddenly unless you were forced to.” Whirl grinned. “Thanks… What is your name? I want to tell your boss that you are an amazing delivery colt.” “My name is Rumble. Nice to meet you Mr. Wind.” Rumble said as he held out a hoof for a hoofshake. Whirl shook his hoof lightly. “Sorry about the weak hoofshake… I am kind of hurting right now.” “You look hurt. What happened?” Whirl looked in the newspaper and read a paragraph out loud. “Whirl Wind returned to Ponyville more than a week ago. According to our sources he was beaten mercilessly by bystanders the moment he stepped off the train. Although we do not have an actual diagnosis from the victim we have been told he most likely has several bruises over various parts of his body and a shattered eye socket.” Whirl rubbed his eye at that part and nodded in agreement. “No attempt has been made by the victim to go to Ponyville hospital. ’If he does come here we will treat him like any other pony, we took an oath to do no harm and we will follow it.’ says the director of Ponyville hospital. Other bystanders have said differently. One even said that if he ever saw Mr. Wind anywhere in Ponyville he wouldn’t hesitate to give him a piece of his mind and a few kicks for good measure. At least that is how he felt only a few days ago. Yesterday Princess Luna of Canterlot spoke on his behalf, after that many ponies changed their opinions. She called up several witnesses to his so called ‘heroics’, one of which was a guard that Mr. Wind personally stabbed through the chest.” Whirl put the paper down and looked at Rumble who was sitting down listening with interest. “Why did you stop? It was just getting really good.” Rumble said happily. Whirl raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Doesn’t this make you hate me? Or want to beat me up? Or something along those lines?” Rumble shook his head. “I told you that I don’t think you are General Wind. Why would I be mad at the stallion who has done nothing but treated me with kindness since I started working. You and he were two different ponies in one.” he said with a smile. Whirl smiled and continued reading. “The guard known as ‘Vector’ said that he was defending Fillydelphia when General Wind fought him to the death. After he was stabbed Vector told us that he saw something in General Wind’s eye that lead him to believe that he was not in control of his actions. Later that day we talked to Zecora, a local zebra who lives in the Everfree forest, who says that Mr. Wind was in fact inhibited by the General Wind persona. Zecora went on to explain that Mr. Wind remembers all of the fine details of what General Wind did and was not able to stop him in any way. Other witnesses came to us as well vouching for Mr. Wind’s honor and his heroic traits. Almost all of them were the very guards who he fought against. Many of them spoke of how if one guards vouches for a pony, that all of them will. So now Mr. Wind is backed by Equestria’s entire military, which is no small thing. After seeing all of these glowing reviews of this pony, this reporter supports Whirl Wind and his return to Ponyville and his home. I think we all owe Whirl Wind an apology and I will be going out to his home to do so personally. I may lose my job over saying this but, if anypony had any honor left after this war, you will go down to the nearest store and buy an apology gift for Whirl Wind and encourage him to go to the hospital to tend to his wounds.” Whirl finished with a surprised look on his face. He turned to Rumble who was smiling widely, “It seems like it was a good article to me. Maybe you should go to the hospital though, you look kind of rough.” Rumble said with a concerned tone. “How about I take you?” Whirl chuckled. “Don’t you have papers to deliver first?” Rumble shook his head. “I save the best for last, these are just extras they give me in case something is wrong with another paper.” “Wait here for a moment, I want to get something for you. Then we can go to the hospital.” Whirl said as he walked back inside. Rumble waited patiently for Whirl to come back out. When he did he was wearing a saddlebag and he had a note in his mouth. He pinned it to the door and turned to Rumble. With a smile he pulled out a picture of the Wonderbolts. “Do you like the Wonderbolts Rumble? I have a copy of a picture here, signed by the old team. One of them… is my father, an earth pony.” Rumble laughed at Whirl’s statement. “Earth ponies can’t join the Wonderbolts. They can’t fly.” Whirl shook his head. “He was part of the land team. An elite team of the best earth ponies in all of Equestria. The team was disbanded years ago and few know it even existed. But here he is.” Whirl said as he turned the picture around so Rumble could see. Rumble’s jaw dropped as he saw a small group of earth ponies standing with the entirety of the Wonderbolts team. “Wow, I can have this?” he asked excitedly. Whirl nodded with a smile. “Of course, it is the least I can do for such a good delivery colt.” he said happily. Rumble held it in his hooves with a glowing expression. He looked up to Whirl for a moment before asking, “Can you sign it too? You are a hero after all.” Whirl was surprise at Rumble’s request. “Sure, do you have a pencil or a quill?” Rumble reached into his delivery bag and pulled out a pencil. Whirl took it and signed an open spot on the photo. Whirl smiled as he looked at his signature next to his fathers. He gave the pencil back to Rumble and grinned. “Wow! Thank you so much!” “Let get to the hospital.” he said as he stepped off of his patio. Rumble followed next to him eagerly. “I am glad you decided to go.” Whirl nodded. “I am glad that somepony wanted me to go. You heard how well things have been going for me since I returned, I never expected anypony to like me ever again.” Rumble shrugged. “Just goes to show you that friendship can be found even after the worst of tragedies.” Whirl chuckled. “You are very well spoken for a colt your age, did you know that?” he asked with a smirk. “I get that sometimes. I try not to sound too smart at school though so I don’t get picked on.” he admitted. Whirl nodded. “I can understand that.” Rumble raised an eyebrow at Whirl’s statement. “You mean from everypony here picking on you for what somepony else did?” Whirl shook his head. “No, well yes but… no. When I was a little colt I moved around a lot. Being the new kid ten or eleven times can make you very different than everypony else. Being super smart, wearing glasses, and actually taking time to study made me a ‘nerd’. But I learned something very special from it all though, in the end you just got to take the pain in stride, because when you become an adult you will end up being much happier. Well, in most cases.” Rumble chuckled a bit. “Are you happy?” Whirl sighed. “I was, before all of this. I was happy with my one friend, my house, my job. Coming home and sitting down to relax for a bit before calculating the next weeks weather with a cup of tea. Going to bed and then doing it again and again.” “Sounds a bit lonely.” Rumble said sadly. Whirl nodded. “It can be. But overall it was nice. Peaceful. All of it changed on Nightmare Night…” Rumble laughed. “I love Nightmare Night! Last year Princess Luna stole one of my lollipops when she caught me, but it was really fun!” Whirl chuckled at the thought of him being the one who got him caught. “Yeah, I helped her find a lot of ponies last year. I dressed up as a guard so she asked me and my friend Sonic Flare to help her find ponies. I pointed out a scarecrow.” Rumble laughed again. “How did you manage that?” “Hey, from the clouds a pony looks like a pony, so do scarecrows.” Whirl responded in a prideful tone. Rumble shook his head. “If you say so. Oh hey look, we are here.” he said happily. Whirl smiled at the sight of the hospital. “Great, now I can get some treatment for my eye. It really hurts.” Rumble and Whirl opened the door and walked into the hospital with confidence. The waiting room was empty save for the nurse behind the counter. She looked up with a smile that quickly turned to a frown. “Oh uhm, hello… I think I know what you are here for. P-please wait here.” she said nervously as she trotted through a door. Rumble and Whirl sat in the waiting room for at least an hour before a different nurse came back through the doors. “W-will you please follow me and I will g-get you into an examination room.” she said nervously before she started to walk down a hall. Whirl and Rumble followed along as she lead them to the far end of the hall. When they got in the room they each took a seat. The nurse was shaking with the clipboard in her hooves. “S-so, what seems to be the p-problem?” Whirl looked at Rumble with a frown. Rumble simple gestured for Whirl to just get it over with. With a sigh Whirl told the nurse how he felt as she wrote down notes nervously. Whirl held up his fore hoof to point at his eye and the nurse yelped and dropped the clipboard. With a blush she picked it back up. “Th-that should be enough for the doctor.” she said nervously as she quickly walked out of the room. Whirl sighed again and looked to Rumble for encouragement. Rumble simply smiled. “Well, that could have gone worse.” “How? She nearly had a heart attack.” Whirl said with a frown. Rumble shrugged. “She could have not seen you at all.” Whirl nodded with a shrug. “True, I guess I should be happy they are seeing me at all.” Rumble laughed a bit just before the doctor came inside the room. The doctor took one look at Whirl and sighed. “Well now, look at what we have here. If it isn’t the infamous Whirl Wind. Let’s see what is wrong shall we?” he said as he started to take the bandages off of Whirl. Whirl’s eye looked like a small apple was lodged in the side of his face and his various cuts looked infected. “My, my, my… You had the daisies knocked out of you. You are lucky you came, these infections look pretty bad. And that eye, eugh…” the doctor said as he wheeled himself around the room grabbing various disinfectants and bandages. From the last cabinet he pulled out a pill bottle and popped it open. He shook out two pills and hoofed them to Whirl. “Here, this is penicillin, it will help stop the infection.” Whirl nodded and took the pills and Rumble hoofed him a glass of water. The doctor started to dab a rag in the disinfectants. “Okay, this is going to hurt a lot. Just… keep as still as possible.” the doctor said before he started to scrub the cuts with the rag. Whirl winced in pain but kept relatively still. “You know, I read the paper this morning. There is a nice article in it about you.” Whirl nodded. “Yeah, I read that…” The doctor sighed. “I’m sorry…” he said as he started to scrub another wound. “For what?” Whirl asked as he winced in pain again. “For your eye… that was me… I was angry and I didn’t know…” the doctor explain. Whirl’s eyes were practically glowing. “It’s… it’s okay… I understand why you did it…” The doctor moved on to another cut. “That was no reason to do what I did. I should have known that if you were actually the one who did all those horrible things the princesses would have never let you come back.” Whirl smiled. “Thank you, for apologizing. I forgive everypony for all the bruises they gave me. Besides, you are fixing your mistake right now.” he said jokingly. The doctor smiled and his horn started to glow. A small beam hit Whirl’s bad eye and a bone snapping back into place was heard. Whirl let out a yelp of pain. The doctor looked at him with grief. “Sorry, usually the pain subsides faster if you don’t know it’s coming.” the doctor explained. Whirl nodded as the doctor grabbed more bandaging. “Just wear this over your eye for a few weeks and it will be fine.” the doctor said as he wrapped up Whirl’s eye. Rumble smiled. “Looking good Whirl. A lot better than you did before.” The doctor smiled at Rumble. “Are you Whirl’s son?” he asked curiously. Rumble laughed and shook his head. “No, I am his newpaper colt!” Whirl laughed a bit too. “Rumble here was nice enough to talk me into coming here today. I owe him big time.” The doctor nodded. “Yes you do. I would like to keep you one night for observation. We need to keep an eye of your infection and make sure it doesn’t spread.” Whirl frowned. “Ah, okay. Not that I expect anypony to come… I guess that is okay.” Rumble smiled and looked at the time. “Oh dang! I am going to be late for class!” he said as he jumped out of his chair. The doctor pulled out a piece of paper from a drawer and started to write something. “Here, a doctors note so you don’t get in trouble.” Rumble took the note and put it in his saddle bag. “Bye Whirl!” he said as he dashed out the door. Whirl chuckled and waved goodbye. He turned his attention back to the doctor. “So, will I be staying in this room or…?” he started before the doctor interrupted. “Oh no no no! We have rooms up stairs for overnight patients. I will escort you there. Don’t mind the nurses, they are a little bit afraid of you despite how much I tell them you are fine.” Whirl chuckled. “I noticed. Don’t worry, I won’t scare them on purpose.” he said as they started to walk out of the room. **** “Yes, I knew Whirl’s mother. She asked me to send her letters on how he was doing. She taught the Appleosa school with pride, I miss her…” Cheerilee said sadly. Fluttershy nodded. “I’m sorry but… Do you know if her class could come here to help Whirl move on?” Cheerilee nodded. “I am sure they wouldn’t mind helping him. I am sure they miss her just as much as he does.” Fluttershy smiled. “That’s wonderful. Thank you for the help Cheerilee. I need to go talk to Twilight to get this all planned out.” Cheerilee smiled as well. “Let me know how it goes.” “Of course, thank you again for the…” Fluttershy started before she was interrupted by a small colt coming into the room. “S-sorry I’m late Ms. Cheerilee… I was with… Whirl Wind… at the hospital…” Rumble huffed as he hoofed Cheerilee the note. “You got him to go? That is wonderful. Thank you Rumble.” Cheerilee said as she set the note down on her desk. “Everypony is outside at recess right now, you should go join them.” Rumble smiled and hung up his saddle bad before running outside. Fluttershy followed him out after waving goodbye to Cheerilee. She watched as Rumble join the others before taking off towards Twilight’s. When she arrived she knocked on the door and heard the sound of hoof steps coming towards the door. Twilight answered it and smiled. “Good, you’re here. AJ just got here too. Come on in.” she said as she stepped back from the door to let Fluttershy walk through. Applejack saw Fluttershy walk in and smiled. “So, what didja find out Fluttershy?” Fluttershy sat down across from Applejack and said, “Well, Whirl’s mother worked in Appleosa as a teacher and Cheerilee said that her students would want to help Whirl. All I have to do is go get them.” she explained. “That’s great Fluttershy! I found out that Whirl’s brothers opened a franchise in Manehatten as window washers. Surprisingly enough they weren’t pegasi! Whirl’s older brother was a unicorn and his little brother was an earth pony. They both were apparently very well-mannered and did their jobs really well. I got at say they both seemed to be really nice.” Applejack said with a slight smile. Twilight walked over to a covered piece of furniture. “I found this in Ponyville’s gallery.” she said as she pulled the curtain off. The revealed painting was spectacular, it depicted Princess Celestia on the left side raising the run and on the right was Princess Luna raising the moon. Both had a spectacular glow behind them. “It was painted by Whirl’s little sister, Brushling. She was an earth pony also. I am surprised how diverse their family was. She lived in Los Pegasus for a while then moved to Manehatten with her brothers.” “How did General Wind manage to get them all?” Fluttershy asked sadly. Twilight shook her head. “General Wind had all of Whirl’s knowledge… he must have sent agents after them… Let’s not think about that right now.” she said as she walked over to the others. “AJ, go to Manehatten and see if you can get the two brother journals, if they had any. If they didn’t, try to find something from them that would cheer Whirl up. Fluttershy, you go to Appleosa and talk to Whirl’s mother’s class. See if you can get them here by tomorrow.” They both nodded and headed out the door. Before Fluttershy closed the door she turned around for one moment. “Whirl is in the hospital right now getting fixed up… if you want to go see him…” she said before she left. Twilight looked back at the painting. “Maybe I should bring this up to Whirl… No, I should wait for those two to return…” she thought before heading out the door the visit Whirl in the hospital. **** Whirl was laying in a bed in the hospital feeling very relaxed for the first time since he got home. After hearing an apology from the doctor who was tending to him really lifted his spirits, as did Rumble talking to him. A knock on the window got Whirl’s attention and he saw a lavender pegasus mare. Whirl gestured her to come inside and she didn’t hesitate to oblige. “Hello, my name is Cloud Kicker. I just wanted to come by and say a few things to you. Oh, these are for you.” she said as she pulled out some flowers with a ‘get well soon’ card stuck inside. Whirl took the flowers with a smile. “Thank you Cloud Kicker. I already knew who you were though, you worked for the weather team as one of the leaders. I was the pony who gave you the weather orders.” he said as he tried to get her to remember. Cloud tapped a hoof on her chin in deep thought. “Huh, small world huh? Did you change your mane?” Whirl bonked his head with his hoof. “Right, I did! I guess it’s a bit more… blue now huh? What do you think?” Cloud smiled kindly. “I like it. It makes you look less like a ‘know-it-all’.” Whirl chuckled. “Thank you. I have to say I am surprised I got a visitor, let alone a former coworker.” “Well… I read the paper and I was at Princess Luna’s speech… Then I heard you were here so…” Cloud said as she rubbed the back of her neck. Whirl sniffed the flowers with a smile. “These are beautiful, did you get them from Rose?” Cloud smiled and nodded. “Yeah, she is giving discounts to everypony because a lot of us need them for… you know… sad things…” Whirl nodded. “Sad things… yeah… I got quite a few bouquets of flowers for… sad things…” “Who did you lose?” Cloud asked sadly. “Everypony in my family…” he responded quietly. Cloud clapped her hooves to her mouth. “Oh my… I’m so sorry to hear that. I guess I got lucky… Sorry that was a terrible thing to say.” “It’s okay, I am glad your family is alright. I am glad that he didn’t get to them…” Whirl responded with a shudder. “What was it like? Being him?” Cloud asked softly. “It was awful. I remember all of it but I would rather not talk about it please. It is getting a bit depressing just to think about it.” Whirl said with a sigh. “I understand, I need to get back to work anyway. One quick question… Are you going to come back to the weather team?” Whirl thought about it for a moment before answering. “I don’t know yet. I want to really badly but… I don’t know how many ponies want me to come back.” “Well, I do. See later Whirl.” she responded softly before taking off out the window. Whirl set the flowers she brought down on a small table in the room. “Somepony else beside Rainbow Dash wants me back…” he thought happily. Whirl felt a bit sleepy and rubbed his good eye with a yawn. “A small nap won’t do any harm…” he thought as he closed his eye. It didn’t take long for him to dose off. **** Whirl opened his eyes and he was sitting outside in front of five graves. He recognized the graves immediately as the graves he made for his family in his back yard. “Sorry I couldn’t give you a better funeral… Sorry I couldn’t burry your actual bodies… Sorry I got you all killed…” he said softly. “Do not fret Whirl Wind…” a soft voice said from behind. Whirl turned around to see Princess Luna standing with a smile. Whirl turned back around to the graves with a frown. “Why are you here?” he asked sadly. “I am here because I care for you… I want to help you move on…” she responded in a caring tone. “I don’t think I will ever move on. I am not sure I want to move on. I don’t know why nopony wants me to feel pain for what I did, I want to feel pain for what I did. Just look in front of me, five graves… one for each member of my family. Each one I personally hunted down and killed.” Whirl said angrily. “Each one killed by General Wind, not you. Why can you not accept that it was not you who caused this?” “Because! Because it IS my fault! I stepped out of line! I never used to do anything heroic! I never used to do things out of the ordinary! I was content with occasionally practicing for the Wonderbolts, going to work, relaxing at home! But all that changed that night… The night I met you! I wish I had never met you!” Whirl yelled in a fit of rage. Princess Luna recoiled with tears in her eyes. “You… you don’t really mean that… do you?” “Why does it matter to you anyway?! You don’t really care for me! No one can! The only reason anypony is apologizing is because you basically told them to! Nopony is actually sorry! Nopony actually cares! I don’t even care…” he yelled before he laid down in front of the graves. “Fine. I will leave you then.” Princess Luna said as her image faded away. Whirl merely buried his face in his hooves and started to sob. “Whirl? Whirl wake up…” a voice echoed in his mind. **** Twilight nudged Whirl’s shoulder and repeated herself. “Wake up Whirl Wind.” Whirl stirred with a moan. “It’s my fault…” he mumbled as his eye poured out more tears. Twilight rubbed his shoulder. “Just wake up Whirl, everything will be okay.” Whirl’s eye finally opened and he turned to Twilight. “Oh, sorry. I was just napping.” he said as he wiped away the tears. Twilight nodded. “I understand. Did you hear anypony else come in?” Whirl shook his head. “No, why?” Twilight gestured to the rest of the room. It was adorned with flowers, cards, and balloons. Whirl sighed as he looked on. “How many ponies do you think actually mean it? How many ponies do you think are just listening to what Luna said?” Twilight smiled. “I am sure they all mean it. What would they be proving otherwise?” “That they want to listen to Luna.” he said bluntly. Twilight grabbed one of the cards and read it aloud. “Mr.Wind, we would like to extend our apologies to you. We didn’t support you when you needed friends the most, despite what our own family tried to tell us about you. Sorry for not being there. Signed, the Apple Family of Manehatten.” Whirl smiled as she finished. “Okay, you’ve convinced me.” he said with a chuckle. Twilight grabbed another card and read it anyway. “Hello Whirl Wind! This is Derpy Hooves! I just wanted to let you know that I always believed in you, even when things seemed darkest! I can’t wait for you to start ordering merchandise from the Wonderbolts again so I can talk to you on the job again! Hope you get well soon!” “Awww, Derpy… She was always so nice. I never cared if she was late or anything, she was doing her best and it showed.” Whirl said happily. Twilight continued to read cards until they were all read. “…and even though things may seem bleak now, they can only get better. Signed, Princess Celestia of Equestria.” Whirl looked around for more cards. “I am surprised Luna didn’t send one… Although… I did have a bad dream where… I told her to leave me alone… You don’t think she… was actually there, do you?” “Uhhh, oh look chocolates!” Twilight said as she tried to change the topic. “That’s what I thought…” Whirl said as he looked down at the end of his bed. “Twilight, can you take a letter for me?” Twilight nodded and pulled out a quill and scroll. “Go ahead.” “Dear Princess Luna, wait no… My fairest Luna, I am sorry for what I said in my dreams. It was very personal and it was hard for me to handle. I think you would understand if it were your sister in her grave… Friends forever, Whirl Wind.” he said softly. “Oh my… sounds serious.” Twilight said as she rolled up the scroll. “What happened?” Whirl shook his head in response and didn’t say anything. Twilight put the scroll in her saddle bag. “There really are chocolates.” she said as she levitated them from the group of flowers and cards. Whirl chuckled. “Chocolates, the ultimate pick me up. I guess I could share some.” he said as he took the box. “Take your pick.” Twilight levitated one of the chocolates out of the box and took a bite. “Oh these are good!” she said happily. Whirl took one out and popped it in his mouth whole. “Mmmm… they are good. Who are they from?” Twilight looked at the card. “Pinkie Pie.” As if from some void between dimensions Pinkie Pie burst into the room from the cabinet. “Did somepony say my name?! OHHH! You found my chocolates! Do you like them? Do you, do you, do you?!” she asked excitedly. Whirl nearly had a heart attack when Pinkie made her surprise entrance. “Yes, I do Pinkie. You scared the living daylights out of me…” he said as he held a hoof to his chest. “Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to come by while you were awake to say hello.” she said happily. “Well then, hello.” Whirl said with a smile. “Hello! Okay, I have to go now! Bye!” Pinkie said before she dashed out the door. Whirl was so confused. “But… she just…” “It’s Pinkie Pie. That is just how she is.” Twilight said with a shrug. Whirl stared at the door for a moment. “Do you think she will forgive me?” he asked quietly. Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What would Pinkie Pie have to forgive you for?” “Not her… Luna…” Whirl said as he turned his head back to the end of his bed. Twilight nodded. “I am sure she will. She understands what you are going through even if you don’t know it.” “I… I do know it. I am sure she did some terrible things as Nightmare Moon… Things she didn’t want to do but did anyway. I am sure she still feels it too.” he said as he started to feel a bit sick. “Ugh… I feel nauseous…” he said as he started to turn a bit pale. Twilight noticed his discoloration and called for a nurse. One of them came in with a bucket. “Vomit in this.” she said as she dropped the bucket next to the bed. The nurse quickly turned around and started to walk out of the door. “Wait, isn’t there anything you can do for him?” Twilight asked before the nurse could leave. “I’ll get the doctor.” she said bluntly as she left. “That was kind of rude.” Twilight said as she sat down next to Whirl again. “I am getting kind of used to it… oh dear…” he said as he leaned over and vomited into the bucket. Twilight patted his back as he leaned over. “It’s okay, you are going to be fine.” Whirl heaved a few more times before he laid back down. “That chocolate did not taste as good the second time…” he said jokingly. The doctor came in hurriedly with a shot. “Whirl, sorry it took me so long to get here. Slight pain.” he said as he poked the needle into Whirl’s fore hoof. “Anti-bacterial agent. Should stop the vomiting soon.” “Why are the nurses acting so rude to Whirl?” Twilight asked with an irritated tone. The doctor sighed and turned to Twilight. “I am very sorry about that. Not everypony has warmed up to him yet. No need to fret though, I will continue to try and convince them to treat him better.” “No. Let them do what is right for them. I don’t want to stop them from letting it out.” Whirl said sternly. Both the doctor and Twilight turned to him with an expression of shock. “You want them to be rude to you?” Twilight asked. “No, but I can understand why they are being that way. Therefore I will not say anything about it and just let them be.” Whirl said as he shifted in his bed. “I’m itchy.” he said as he started to scratch. The doctor walked up to him and moved some fur on his pelt. A rash was starting to form around where the doctor had injected him. “Dang, you are allergic to these antibiotics.” he said as he rushed to the counter. He shoved some of Whirl’s gifts out of the way and opened a drawer just as Whirl started to gasp for air. Twilight was panicking as Whirl started to change colors because he couldn’t breath. The doctor pulled out another shot and ran back to Whirl and poked it into his fore hoof. Whirl was able to take in a deep breath. “Sorry! I am sorry! I didn’t know!” Whirl was coughing as he put a hoof on the doctors shoulder. “It’s… okay…” he said as he started to catch his breath. Whirl patted the doctors shoulder a few more times before he laid back. Twilight held Whirl’s hoof with concern. “You sure you are okay?” Twilight asked worriedly. Whirl simply nodded and continued to take deep breathes. “You should be fine now. Just keep breathing slowly. Sorry again for the whole allergic reaction.” the doctor said sadly. Whirl chuckled a bit. “Not… your… fault…” he breathed slowly. “Doctor… name?” The doctor smiled. “Doctor Ray.” he replied. “Thank… you…” Whirl breathed with a smile. “My pleasure. As a doctor I have taken an oath to do no harm and to help those in need. But, that is not the only reason I am making sure you get well. I still feel as though I owe you for shattering your eye socket.” Doctor Ray said with a chuckle. Twilight gasped. “That was you?! How could you?!” she asked angrily. “I made a mistake, it happens. Whirl has already forgiven me so please don’t get too angry, although I would understand why if you do get really angry.” Doctor Ray said with a chuckle. “Don’t get mad at him Twilight, he has more than paid for his mistake. Even though he doesn’t seem to think so.” Whirl said as he put a hoof on Twilight’s hoof. Twilight smirked. “You mean like you?” Whirl opened his mouth to speak but he was at a loss of words. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Twilight said with a giggle. “Alright, I get your point. I will try not to be so hard on myself for what I…” he started to say. “What HE did. Not you.” Twilight said as she squeezed his hoof. “What he did. He. It is like talking in the third pony.” Whirl said with a chuckle. Doctor Ray cleared his throat to get their attention. “I need to check a few things Ms. Sparkle.” he said as he moved forward a little bit. Twilight moved aside and let the doctor do his job. He moved up to Whirl’s head and pulled some of the examination tools off of the wall with his magic. A little light shone from the end of the tool and he moved in to examine various parts of Whirl’s head. First the ears, then the eyes. “Okay, everything looks alright. I am still a bit concerned about the vomiting but since I can’t give you that antibiotic that will fix it we will just have to use some more penicillin and hope that works.” “What if it doesn’t?” Whirl asked. “Then we will have to try something more drastic, but I would rather not do that.” Doctor Ray replied. Whirl nodded in response. “Drastic huh? I assume that means some kind of surgery?” Doctor Ray responded with a nod before trotting over to the sink. He pulled a small cup and two more penicillin pills out of a drawer before heading back over to Whirl. “Here you go.” he said as he floated the objects over to Whirl. “Nothing like a daily dose of mold to make you feel better huh?” Whirl said before he popped the pills in his mouth and drank them down. “Bleh, I both love and hate medicine.” Twilight giggled at Whirl’s joke as she turned to look at the time. “Well, it’s getting late. I am going to need to go back to the library now. I have fallen behind in my studies.” she said sadly. Whirl looked over to her and smiled. “It’s okay, I don’t need somepony here all the time. You take care of you before you take care of me, okay?” Twilight nodded and stood up. “I will try to balance it out.” she said with a wink. “If it’s not me here tomorrow, it will be another of my friends. I can guarantee it. Also, I will have Spike send that letter so it goes faster, so don’t worry about how fast Princess Luna will receive it. Well, see you later, get well soon.” she said happily before trotting out the door. “Bye Ms. Sparkle.” Doctor Ray said with a smile. “Bye Twilight.” Whirl said as well. After she left Whirl put his head down on his pillow and looked at his gifts. “Wow… there are just… so many.” Doctor Ray was taking Whirl’s blood pressure when Whirl spoke up. “Yeah, that is common when somepony is in the hospital with such terrible injuries.” he said with a smile. “Is it common when that pony was hated by everypony in town not but two days ago?” Whirl said bluntly. “It is when ponies start to like him again.” Doctor Ray said as he took off the blood pressure tool from Whirl’s fore hoof. “Your blood pressure is a little high, are you experiencing pain still?” Whirl nodded. “My eye hurts when I roll over or try to blink it by mistake. Hard to get used to only blinking one eye.” he said with a chuckle. “Alright, as long as that is the only pain you are experiencing I am having high hopes.” Doctor Ray said as he put on his stethoscope. “Deep breaths please.” Whirl took a few deep breaths and Doctor Ray moved it around his chest. “Sounds good. All good things so far.” Whirl smiled. “That is great. I don’t want to stay here too long, you might not have room for me in here after a while.” he said jokingly. Doctor Ray chuckled. “A sense of humor is a good sign of recovery. I need to go see other patients, but don’t hesitate to call a nurse if you need help, okay?” Whirl nodded and Doctor Ray headed out the door to do his job. “I am not sure a nurse will be the first pony I call for help.” Whirl said as he laid his head down on his good eye. He leaned up for just a moment to turn off the light before attempting to fall asleep. “I just hope that Luna isn’t mad at me…” he thought as he drifted off to sleep.