//------------------------------// // Chapter 17b: Miracle // Story: A Shadow Brought to Light // by k12314 //------------------------------// CHAPTER17b I couldn't focus on anything but the road ahead of me, and Pinks. She hadn't moved at all, asides from slightly shifting around on my back from my movements, as I was galloping at full speed. I couldn't think of anything but her survival. "This is why I never wanted to be around anypony, Pinks! This is what happens when you're close to a pony like me... You get hurt. I'm staying away from everypony after this. I can't let anypony else get hurt." So I'd made my decision. Save Pinks, move out of Sugarcube Corner, and avoid any and all ponies. "Oh no!" "Is that Pinkie Pie?" "What happened?" "Why is he carrying her?" "Did he hurt her?" I just barely heard the voices of passerbys, and that last one hit me hard. I did hurt her. Sure, I wasn't the one DOING it, but it's my fault the gang went after her. Indirect, but still my fault. I didn't worry about that, and kept pushing. "Please be OK, Pinks... I don't know what I'll do if you aren't." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beep, beep, beep, beep... I was sitting in the hospital, watching Pinks, waiting. It'd been four hours since the escape, and Pinks' condition seemed to be slowly worsening. I felt my stomach wrenching and turning, and I didn't know whether I was going to cry, scream, or vomit, or a combination of any of the three. I knew then how Pinks felt when she was sitting here while I was out cold from the Manticore attack. "Sir, you should leave. We'll contact you when- Oh, it's you." Nurse Redheart stepped back a bit. "Pinkie was here waiting for you... I guess you're in that position now, huh?" I nodded solemnly. I wasn't in a talkative mood at that moment. "Well... I'm hoping for you. I hate to tell you, but she's in really bad condition. Multiple lacerations, deep bruising, internal bleeding... We'll need a miracle for her to pull through." And that did it. I ran to the bathroom, and started to blow my lunch and breakfast out into the toilet. I sat on the floor, and leaned against the stall. I felt a bit better, but I was still worried sick. Literally. "Are you OK, Shadow?" Nurse Redheart stood there, and was staring at me. "Yeah, I'm fine... This is the stallion's room, you know." I gave her a little smirk, and she blushed slightly and backed out of the door. "Ugh... Get it together, Weaver. She'll be fine. She's Pinkie Pie, after all. Nothing could ever happen to her! As soon as you go out there... She'll be just fine..." I smiled a little bit, and started reflecting on our short time together. I remembered when we first met, how I avoided her, and when she found me hiding in between those rocks outside of town... And when I moved into Sugarcube Corner. "Oh man... I've really bucked up this time. There's no way she'll like me after this kind of incident. But I don't care... As long as she's OK, I'm happy. I leaned back and sighed. I felt a lot better... "Hurry! She's gone critical!" I jumped up and almost threw the bathroom door off of it's hinges. I ran into Pinks' room, and the heart monitor was going crazy. Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep... "Sir, you need to leave!" A doctor tried to push me out of the room, but I shoved him back. "There's no way you're getting me out of this room! She's my marefriend, and I'm sticking with her through this whole thing!" I stomped on the ground, and the doctor rolled his eyes. "Fine, but don't interfere with anything." He stepped up to Pinks, and I took a good look at her. She was breathing quickly, and she'd broken out into a cold sweat. The doctors started doing various types of magic, and being an earth pony, I didn't recognize any of it. The heart rate monitor slowed down every time they cast a spell, but immediately sped back up. Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep... "Clear!" ZAP. Beep, beep, beepbeepbeep... "Clear!" ZAP. At first, her heart rate was slowed to dangerous levels, and I almost fainted. But then... Beep... Beep, beep, beep, beep... It was stable. Her heart was beating normally. The doctor let out a sigh of relief, and looked at me with happy eyes. "She's alright. We almost lost her... But something happened. I don't know what, but it was a miracle. She's gonna make it." He walked away, and I just stared at Pinks for a second, and I felt a smile breaking across my face. "She's... OK..." I slowly walked up to her, and I put my hoof on the side of her neck. Thump thump, thump thump, thump thump... There was no mistaking it. She was alive. I couldn't believe it, but I couldn't have been happier. "SHE'S OK! SHE'S OK!" I started jumping up and down. A few nurses stopped and stared at me, but I didn't care. My Pinks was alive, and that's all that mattered. The doors burst open, and I looked over to see Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack all staring at me. I waved them over, and I could see the relief on their faces when they heard the soft beeping of the heart monitor. "Hey, girls..." "What in tarnation happened?!" Applejack was glaring daggers at me, but I couldn't stop smiling. "Some guys ponynapped her, but I showed 'em a thing or two. She was hurt really badly, so I rushed her here. It was a miracle that she survived, at least that's what the doctors say." Twilight was reading the clipboard that the doctors always have, the one that says what happened to the patient pony. "There's no way she could have survived this on her own... She was injured so badly, it's a miracle she made it here alive, let alone surviving the ordeal." I smiled even wider. Pinks was rubbing off on me. I nodded. "Like I said, it's a miracle." Rainbow Dash stepped up to me, and she looked MAD. "Who're the guys that did this?! I'll teach 'em not to mess with my friends!" I frowned at that question, but I had to answer it. "They... They're a gang from Manehattan." Everypony looked at me as if they were about to question how I knew that. "I... I worked with them. You see, girls... I used to be a criminal. I never got my Cutie Mark, so I ended up becoming a lowlife so I could make money. I did a lot of things that I regret, and when I got here, I decided to try and turn my life around, since there's virtually no crime here at all... But they came for me, and instead of confronting me directly, they went for the most important thing I have in my life..." Rarity nodded, knowing what I was going to say. "Pinkie... Darling, that is so romantic! She's lucky to have a kind, caring stallion such as yourself." My jaw hit the floor. "You mean you guys don't hate me? Even knowing all that about me?" Fluttershy gave me a friendly hug. "You're not a bad pony, you just never got the chance to be good. Until now." She smiled in a warm, motherly-like way that made me feel a million time better. "Thanks, Fluttershy... Hey, how about we all wait here until she wakes up? I bet she'd love for us to be the first thing she sees when she does." "That sounds like a mighty fine idea, Shadow." I felt my smile come back. "Everything's gonna be alright."