"Mmmmf..." Rainbow Dash's eyelids stirred. Her mouth winced as she squirmed on a metal table under pale lamplight. "Nnnngh... where... how...?"
"Shhhh..." Imre's scarlet hoof steadied the pegasus as she trotted around the center of the infirmary within Searo's Hold. "Please don't move. You have a gazillion stitches and I'm already enough in the red without having to steal a gazillion more from the metal mares' supply cabinet."
"How..." Rainbow Dash gulped dryly. "How long was I under?"
"Around eighteen hours," Imre murmured, glancing over a clipboard. "Now I have a question for you. Who in the hay is 'Gold Petals?'"
"Nnnnngh—Darn it!" Rainbow Dash sat up, snarling. "I am getting really sick and tired of falling unconscious around other ponies—"
"Uh uh uh uh—" Imre shook a hoof and gestured to where Rainbow Dash was sitting. "No sudden movements. You're a masterpiece, and it would be a shame to ruin you." She stirred. "Well, actually, what I did on your wing is a masterpiece. The rest of you is just damn weird."
"Huh? What d-did you do to..." Rainbow Dash glanced at her left side. "...my wing." The appendage was bundled up in an intricate array of bandages. Tiny tourniquets braced the bones at the extremity, and several of the strings were actually glowing. "Whoah. What in the...?" She reached a hoof towards it.
Imre instantly batted it away. "No touching!" She frowned. "Sapphiric string is most delicate, but healing."
"'Sapphiric string?' Pffft! Now I know you're just making crap up."
"Judge all you like. But its magical properties is healing you a heck of a lot faster than conventional... mmmrrmm... 'wing medicine.'" Imre shrugged, then pointed at Rainbow Dash's flank. "Plus, you may be happy with the side effects."
"For real?" Rainbow Dash glanced at her rear, then sputtered with joy to see the tiniest stub of prismatic tail hair growing back. "Oh, for real!" Her voice cracked with a jubilant chuckle.
"Hmmph..." Imre strolled over towards a table on the far side. "You're welcome."
"Yeesh... And here I thought you were gonna steal one of my kidneys or something while I was under."
"Who said I didn't?"
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth. Her ruby eyes darted left and right. Her brow then furrowed as she uttered, "Where's the nearest exit?"
"I wouldn't think of it if I were you."
"But you're not me."
"Thank the Spark. If I had that many colors, the nearest bounty hunter would gut me to pour out the fruit."
"For real, Doc... Doc..."
"Just call me 'Imre.'"
"Imre, I gotta get out of here." Rainbow Dash hopped down from the table, wincing. She shuffled towards the furthest door. "I gotta go out there and find my friends."
"And just how do you expect to do that?" Imre spun about with a brown-eyed glare. "Especially on your own?"
"I... will... erm..." Rainbow Dash fidgeted in the middle of the infirmary. "Trot swiftly?"
"You can't fly anytime soon."
"How much is 'soon?'"
"Not even remotely close to now." Imre swiveled about. "Which is why I'm making some alterations to the suit you were given."
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "What kind of alterations?"
"Don't worry. I know you're not exactly Searo material," Imre grunted. "You're small, light-weight, you have an enchanted collar around your neck, you lack a mana-core inside your gut, have I mentioned that your small?"
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and trotted closer to her. "Just get to the point already."
"I haven't endeavored to replace any of your body parts with cybernetic enhancements," Imre said as she fiddled with two halves of a suit of armor. "But I think I've prepared a few things that will help you for when Roarke gets you out of here." She sighed, then muttered, "Blessed Spark, I do hope she's planning on dragging your flank out of here."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because her solution to everything involves dragging ponies to this place."
"Yeah, I can see that," Rainbow Dash said with a nod. She leaned over Imre's shoulder to look at what she was doing. "But, bounty hunter's gonna bounty, right?"
Imre quietly and slowly pushed Rainbow back before saying, "Yes and no. Roarke isn't your typical metal mare, which is exactly what brings her so much attention around here."
"Seems like with you Searonese, notoriety is a plus."
"I am not Searonese!" Imre growled, turning from her metalwork to glare at Rainbow. Her horn strobed with a touch of anger. "You would do well to remember that."
Rainbow Dash winced, glancing down at the blood-stained tile floor. "Sorry..."
"Hmmph..." Imre returned to her tinkering. "Well, at least you're modest."
"To a degree." Rainbow Dash trotted around, gazing at the instruments and tools hanging along the walls of the place. "So, like, Roarke is big stuff around here, huh?"
"I said she got a lot of attention. I didn't say she was big."
Rainbow turned around, squinting. "Is there a difference?"
"Being popular in Searo's Hold also means having a bullseye on your muzzle," Imre said, slapping a few metal panels together. "If Roarke knew better, she would have stayed out in the open countryside, rounding up petty thugs and Xonan dissidents in the Confederate Territory north of here. Instead..." Imre sighed long and hard. "She hauls your flank here, bringing you to the enslaved medic without any of the other metal mares knowing. Trying to pass you off as a half-blade in training..."
"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash smirked awkwardly. "Just what's up with that lately? All I ever did was beat her to a friggin' pulp."
Imre turned and glanced at her. "Is that so?"
"Uhhhh... yeah?"
Imre swiveled back to her work. "Curious."
"In what way?"
Imre shrugged as she continued tinkering. "I didn't beat the crap out of her, and she did the same for me."
Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side. "She brought you here herself?"
"Mmmmhmmmm."
"You must really hate her, then."
"I'm a little too preoccupied with managing this infirmary to do so," Imre muttered. "Besides..."
"Yeah?"
"If it was any other metal mare who brought me back, I'd probably be dead by now."
"Dead? What for?"
"I'm no earth pony. And I'm certainly no Searonese one." Imre's jaw clenched as she hesitated to say, "As much as it bugs me to admit it, Roarke went out of her way to keep me alive."
Rainbow Dash gazed beyond the walls. She thought out loud, "But... but that's not what a bounty hunter would do." She blinked towards Imre. "I mean, a bounty hunter who actually cares about getting props from all her buddies, right?"
"Roarke is a complicated train wreck of a mare," Imre said. "I love her and hate her. I envy you, in a way."
"Huh? What for?"
"Cuz all you do is hate her."
"Ha ha ha ha!" Rainbow Dash laughed. Suddenly, she froze in place. She blinked a few times before saying, "Huh... funny..."
"Hmmm?"
Rainbow gulped. "Just why has she done all of this stuff for me? She knows that I hate her. All she's done so far is throw my friends and I for a loop."
"And dragged your body away from certain peril, I'm guessing."
"Well..." Rainbow bit her lip and ran a hoof through her mane. "She did kinda/sorta rescue me from the Ledomaritans."
"Just like she dragged me away from the Xonans."
Rainbow glanced at her. "But you got yourself into that mess, right? I mean... I did hear that correctly before I went under, I thought."
Imre turned and icily stared at Rainbow. "Did you do no less the same with the forces of Ledo?"
Rainbow Dash gazed blankly back.
"It matters little," Imre muttered. "If it pleases Roarke for me to be here, I'll be here. If it pleases her to get you fixed and suited up, I'll get you fixed and suited up. Best not to make a big deal out of things."
"We can ask her what her plans are when she comes back," Rainbow Dash muttered. "Celestia knows, I wanna be informed."
"That's assuming she's going to come back."
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash performed a double-take. "What's that mean? Is she going off into battle or something?"
"Hmmph..." Imre's lips curved sadistically. "She should be so fortunate at the moment..."