Dusk could awoke to the sound of a heart monitor giving steady beeps, he struggled to open his eyes and felt his head stinging in pain. When he regained sight he found that he was in a hospital bed, and in front of him were Rarity, Twilight, AppleJack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.
"Oh my goodness you're okay, thank Celestia!" Fluttershy shouted as she gave him a nearly suffocating hug, it was pleasant to see her care about him so much. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!"
He felt his head and noticed that he had bandages wrapped around it. "Sorry Fluttershy, does any pony even know what happened? All I remember is seeing a blur coming out of nowhere, and then everything went black. Wait, is Hummingway okay?"
"He's fine, little guy got out of the way in time. I took him to my home since the hospital doesn't allow pets. As for what happened..."
Every pony directed their eyes to the bed on his right, when he looked he saw that Rainbow Dash was lying there, still unconscious. That didn't really click in Dusk's brain for a moment, but he soon realized she crashed in to him. A doctor walked in the doorway with a number of charts, every pony in the room turned to him. "Oh good you're finally awake, you gave us quite a scare there sir my name is Dr. Arch," his voice gave comfort to every pony.
"So doctor how are they?" Twilight asked. The moment of silence was unbearable as he flipped through his charts, looking for the correct ones for the two patients.
"Well, you my good sir are pretty lucky," the doctor answered. "That blow gave you a concussion, I seriously doubted you would wake up in less than another day or two here."
Dusk gave a sigh of relief, but turned to Rainbow Dash, who had yet to wake up, "what about that pony over there, Rainbow Dash?"
"She got off a lot easier than you did," Dr. Arch replied. "She is a little bit more durable considering you two suffered the same injury, she sprained a wing, but that is about it, nothing else was damaged in the crash."
The six ponies could finally breathe again, the doctor took his leave and Dusk decided to break the silence of the moment. "This is my fault, if I hadn't been there the-" Fluttershy stopped him, she wasn't going to hear any of that.
"This incident is nothing you could have prevented, in fact it's probably better that you were there when she crashed." Twilight said, trying to stop him from feeling any guilt about the whole ordeal. "If you weren't there to intercept her, she probably would have crashed into the boutique and potentially suffered more severe injuries."
Dusk understood, silence had consumed the room, Fluttershy was still holding him tightly and he wasn't going to ask her to stop. About an hour passed before Rainbow Dash came to. "Oh, what happened?" she asked as her brain was being unscrambled and she looked the bandages on her wing.
"You almost took yourself out on another stunt!" Fluttershy answered. "Only this time you weren't the only victim of such recklessness!" She pointed at Dusk, he was glad to see that Rainbow Dash was okay but that didn't quite get her off the hook.
"Oh horsefeathers! Sorry about that, I was trying a new trick when I lost control," Rainbow Dash apologized. "But you must be tough considering you woke up before me. How long was I out?"
Dusk had been wondering the same thing but felt it not important to ask, "About six hours, Dusk here woke up an hour ago and we learned that you had given him a concussion." The yellow pegasus was a little upset about the whole situation and every pony in the room was well aware of it.
Thankfully for Rainbow Dash, the Doctor had returned. "Oh good you're awake, good just let me check you're charts," he paused, flipping through a number of charts. "Ah yes, you have suffered a sprained wing and won't be able to fly. We are going to have you stay here to allow it to heal correctly for a few days before releasing you." He turned to Dusk, "We also want to make sure that you are back to one hundred percent before releasing you as well."
"I appreciate the hospitality, doctor I hope that I won't be imposing too much," Dusk replied. Unfortunately Rainbow Dash had different feelings about the doctor and how much she might be imposing.
"UUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHH!" She groaned, "I need to fly! I can't be stuck in here for a few days!" Dusk could see exactly how fun these next few days would be having Rainbow as his roommate.
"Doctor's orders I'm afraid," Dr. Arch protested. "We will check in on you two periodically but don't be afraid to use the call button if you need anything."
Dusk nodded, but Dash had one more protest as he left, "What am I going to do, I'll be crawling up the walls if I don't get out of here." Twilight saw a nurse pushing a cart of books in the hall and grabbed one for Dash, placing it on her bed. "What is this? A book? No thanks! I am way too cool to be reading!"
Her five friends had begun to laugh, Dusk simply wanted to beat his head in about how stupid that Rainbow had just sounded. Not to disrespect her, but that was the dumbest thing he had ever heard any pony say in his life and could only roll his eyes at her statement.
"But, reading is for every pony Rainbow Dash!" Twilight protested, Dusk was glad that his friends had tried to convince Dash about the importance of reading. "Dusk, would you like a book?"
"Can I see the collection?" He asked, he wasn't sure what the hospital had, and didn't want to ask Twilight to bring one from her library if he didn't need to. She wheeled the cart up to his bed he skimmed the collection, "darn they don't have any books on chess."
The six ponies were shocked to hear any pony ever say the word chess, "you play that boring game?" Rainbow shouted. Dusk did his best to ignore the fact she said the word 'boring,' but just couldn't let that statement go unchallenged.
"Okay, first it is NOT a boring game, it is a thinking game. Second I don't know why you all sound so surprised," Dusk explained. "Rarity you had just saw me yesterday when I was playing a game against an older pony in the park, when I lost focus on the game and lost my queen."
He turned to Twilight, "You have played the game haven't you? I have seen the collection of books in the library on the game." She shook her head no, Dusk immediately face hoofed, "As soon as I'm released from the hospital I'm going to start a beginners' class in this town!" He was quite serious too, such an insult to the game and started a fire in his heart.
"Soooo, no book for you?" Twilight asked calming him back down.
"Could I make a request to be brought from the library?" He asked, "if it's not too much of an imposition of course." Twilight simply nodded with a smile. "'The Art of Chess' by an author named Fisher if you could."
"Got it," she replied as she slipped out of the room. The library was only a block from the hospital, and in ten minutes she had returned with his book.
"I really appreciate this thank you," Dusk said. He had opened the book to find it hadn't been opened in some time and freed the dust from it's pages. Twilight just smiled as a nurse had poked their head in the doorway.
"Visiting hours are over, please return tomorrow when these patients have gotten some rest," the nurse announced. Dusk looked out of the large window of their room to see that the sun wasn't going to set for an hour or two and decided to read his book.
His roommate however, decided to start bouncing a rubber ball on the wall opposite of their beds, the constant tapping had started to work his nerves. But, reading about the proper position of the knights and bishops for attack and defense allowed him to ignore it for some time.
Her next act was a little harder to brush off, she had taken the lamp on her nightstand and began to turn it on and off every two seconds. The sound of the button clicking with the constant change of lighting had made it impossible for him to focus, so he put his book down and tried to get some sleep.
Dusk heard the clicking stop, the sweet sound of silence had once again returned to him, until Rainbow began to start talking to herself. He couldn't quite make out the words as he was muffling the noise with his pillow, but a huge smile grew on his face as he realized what was happening.
Rainbow Dash was actually reading the book Twilight gave her earlier that day, he wasn't going to say anything, he already knew what it was like to have something private announced to their friends. Dusk simply took solace in the fact that she had been proven wrong about reading, to add more to his enjoyment, he distinctly heard her say 'I love reading.'
Dusk had slept comfortably that night,the next morning his sleep was broken when the sound of visitors coming into the room. Rarity, AppleJack and Pinkie Pie had come in, he rubbed his eyes and got himself up to properly greet them.
"Good morning ladies," he greeted. "How are you this fine day?"
"Mighty fine, thank ya" AppleJack answered. While the other guests were concerned with Rainbow's condition, Dusk saw they had good reason. She was sweating profusely, it was obvious her heart was beating quickly and she was sitting in an awkward position on the bed.
Dusk could see what was happening, the girls had nearly seen Rainbow reading a book, he simply laughed softly and pretended not to know what was the matter. He didn't want to embarrass Dash, and he also wanted to see how the situation would unfold, he was almost inclined to get some popcorn.
While the guests were talking to Rainbow, a nurse popped in with a food cart. "Breakfast time for Rainbow Dash and Dusk Light." The food looked, less than tantalizing to Dusk, especially when he saw Dash eating more sloppily than the animals he had hunted in the forest. At the sight of her plate emptied in a minute or two, he simply pushed his tray back, maybe hunger would drive him to eat it later.
"Okay we'll see you guys tomorrow," Pinkie said as the three retreated toward the door. They waved goodbye, as the three had left the room, Dash had spit all of the food on her tray on the floor between the beds. The sight left Dusk's stomach a little unsettled and less inclined to try to eat.
That 'hunger driving him to eat later' didn't happen, his tray stayed untouched for the rest of the day, he simply returned to his book and assumed Dash was doing the same. The morning had passed slowly, as did the afternoon, but things picked up in the evening when the two had some more visitors.
This time it was his sweetheart Fluttershy and his teacher Twilight, when they entered the room Dash stuffed the book back underneath her covers. Fluttershy gave Dusk a peck on the cheek when no one else would notice, "I think Rainbow Dash could use some company." Dusk whispered in her ear, she was going through an internal struggle right now and needed some support.
"Okay," she replied, joining Twilight at Rainbow's side, the three began playing some simple board game involving using coordinates to hit each others' targets.
It was no doubt the shortest game he had ever seen, five moves and Rainbow admitted defeat, "oh well I guess you win, thanks for coming to see me but I'm just worn out, so I'll see you tomorrow." This was merely another attempt to get rid of her friends to keep reading her book in private.
The two tried to protest as Dash did all but shove them out of the room, they looked at Dusk probably thinking they hadn't really visited him much that day. "If Rainbow Dash is tired I'm not going to keep her up by asking you to stay, we will see you tomorrow." Dusk waved to the two as they left the room before looking back at Dash, who had returned to her book, he followed suit.
The sun had set and Dusk decided to sleep, Rainbow Dash on the other hand kept reading. Dusk woke especially early to the sound of mumbling from his neighbor's bed, he gave a soft chuckle as he got up and put a sign with the words DO NOT DISTURB written on it on the door of their room.
The two spent the following morning reading in relative silence until the doctor entered the room, Dusk feared the worst, did something happen? Is something in my body that shouldn't be? Did my blood work come back with some terrible diagnoses?
Dr. Arch approached Rainbow Dash's bed, when he got her attention he noticed a lantern in her bed. "Have you been up all night?" he asked.
"O-of course not," she answered. You are not a good liar miss, Dusk thought, but that's probably a good thing.
"Well I will be quick, congratulations we're checking you out of the hospital," he announced with gusto.
"Later today?" she asked.
"Nope. Right now!"
"Right now, right now?!?"
"Right now, right now!" Before she could protest, she was put into a wheel chair and taken out of the building. I don't think she was quite finished, Dusk thought, it's a shame I can't see what she does, I'll just ask her when I get released. The doctor turned to Dusk, "don't worry Mr. Light you will be released tomorrow morning."
"Thank you doctor," Dusk replied. "This has been a most enjoyable recovery." The doctor nodded as he left the room, the rest of the evening was quiet until Dusk received a new roommate, an older pony with a fever.
"What brings ya here?" he asked.
"Concussion," Dusk answered. "you?"
"Serious illness, pneumonia I had fought off this week," The older pony replied. "They moved me here because I stabilized. You aren't a loud roommate are you?"
"No sir," Dusk responded. "I'm just going to read my book and then go to bed."
"Then we should have no issues," he paused. "So long as you don't try to steal my slippers."
"Wouldn't dream of it sir," Dusk wondered about the last statement but thought best not to ask.
The night came quickly and both ponies had fallen asleep, Dusk was having a pleasant dream about having a family with Fluttershy. The two had a colt in school who was a unicorn, and a young filly that had just learned how to use her wings. Unfortunately, the dream was shattered and Dusk was sucked back into reality at the sound of shouting coming from his roommate.
"HELP! BURGLAR, BURGLAR! SOMEONE'S TRYING TO STEAL MY SLIPPERS!"
Dusk was shocked to see some pony was actually stealing something from under his bed, the figure had run out of the room. He could see the figure had a rainbow tail, gave a heavy sigh, Rainbow Dash, and did his best to calm his roommate down. "Sir, your slippers are still here they didn't get taken!"
The old pony took the slippers and held them tightly before calming down. Silence had fallen upon them again as there was something going on out the window, Dusk could see a crowd gathering at the library. He would have to wait until tomorrow to find out what happened and slumped back to bed.
He woke up the next morning with bloodshot eyes, the night was not kind to him and didn't allow him much sleep. He stood up as Dr. Arch entered the room, "ah you're awake, good timing, now you might still have some pain from the incident." He put a bottle of pills in a saddlebag for him, "take one of these twice a day and you should be back to normal in no time. Any questions?"
"Just one," Dusk answered. "Is Arch your whole name?" He had no idea what possessed him to ask but he was too fatigued to care.
"Actually, no," the doctor replied. "My full name is Archimedes, but that is a little lengthy so I shortened it." That was by far the coolest name that Dusk ever heard.
"Well, Dr. Archimedes I will take my leave," Dusk gave a small bow, as was customary for him. "I thank you for the excellent hospitality."
As he walked through the front doors of the hospital, Dusk could see that his friends were coming to visit him again, and had wanted to tell him so much.
"Wait, why aren't you in bed?!" Fluttershy asked, concerned about his health.
"Just released a minute ago," he answered. "So Rainbow Dash, does every pony know?"
"Know what?" Dash replied. Dusk had simply pulled out Twilight's book from his saddlebag. "Wait when did you find out?"
"Okay, I'm taking that as yes," Dusk announced. "I don't know if you're aware of this but when you read, you read out loud, I didn't want to say anything because I could tell you were embarrassed."
Rainbow Dash stood there, speechless, while every pony else had started to laugh a little before walking off for some breakfast. This has been a fun experience, Dusk thought, hopefully it was worth this splitting headache.