Who knew death was this uncomfortable?
Keeping my eyes closed, too scared to see what awaited me, I listened and felt my surroundings.
I could feel some warmth over my injured wing and the embrace of a sling. My nose still felt sore but not as much as before. I could feel something sticking into my right fore leg and wires running up past my shoulder. A steady and distant beeping reached my ears. I tried to swivel them to locate the source of the sound. I couldn't, the same warm encasing feeling I had on my wing was the same as that on my head, they were covered in bandages. Then I took a breath in through my nose, the smell of disinfectant and sterilized air was strong.
Wait beeping, bandages and a funny smell. I’m in a hospital, I’m not dead.
I don’t want to be here, It just meant that I'm now a bigger burden on even more ponies. Just a waste of space and time.
Great.
Then, a sound I wasn't expecting reached my ears. Snoring. I slowly opened my eyes and what greeted me was a sight I was not prepared for.
“Rainbow Dash!?”
There, slumped on the end of my bed, was a worn out Rainbow Dash. Here, at the end of my bed. She was asleep, her snores reverberated around the room and even shook the windows. Her mouth opened and closed in an almost comedic manner. Her mane was ragged and stuck up in places, but what was strikingly apparent was the blood covering her fore hoofs, giving a powerful contrast from deep red to cyan.
I scanned over her. Other than looking tired, she had no visible injuries. Where did the blood come from?
From the doorway came the sound of hoof steps. Dash and I were the only ponies in the room, leaving the other three beds unoccupied. Hopefully the pony making the noise was just passing. I wasn't ready to see another pony yet. Not after my most recent failure.
I wasn't so lucky
"Miss Scootaloo. I see you're awake," stated the brown toned doctor. He raised his hoof to push a lock of grey hair out his eyes and carried on talking. "I'm doctor Mend. The injuries you sustained might have been fatal had not miss Dash found you."
So that was the rainbow streak I saw. Also explains why dash is here.
"The hit to you head cracked your skull and your left wing is broken in multiple locations."
Well that explains the bandages.
"Your nose will straighten and the bruises to your face should heal in the next week or so. The stitches on your head can come out in a few days."
Great. Stitches.
"The crack to your skull isn't too severe but we may need to do surgery to place a plate over it to keep it from splitting."
Well, that's nice.
"Your wing will take close to a month to heal."
Amazing. I finally figure out how to fly and I'm earthbound for the next month.
“After a weeks stay in the hospital, miss Dash here has offered a place to rest after you get discharged due to your father also being the hospital.”
So they kick me out after a week tha... "Wait what!?"
"Once the majority of your injuries heal, you will be discharged. We est-"
"No-no. After that," I interrupted.
"Oh. Miss Dash here has stated that you will be spending the remainder of your recovery in her house."
I looked to Rainbow Dash just in time to see her open her eyes. While she raised her hoofs to wipe her eyes I tried to hide under the sheets, but trying to slide under only resulted in hurting my wing.
"Ow."
Dash stopped rubbing her eyes and looked at me.
"Hey, squirt," she said. Then looked towards the doctor, "So, doc, how long is she gonna be here?"
"Well, due to the severity of most of her injuries and the possible hemorrhaging to the-"
"Doc. How long?" she interrupted impatiently.
"Oh. Roughly a week. Then she can be discharged." He stated, sounding a bit annoyed by being interrupted again.
Rainbow looked towards me. Worry filled her eyes. "Doc, can you give us a minute?"
"Sure." He picked up a chart from the end of my bed and walked out, closing the door softly.
"Listen, kid, I'm not much for mushy talk, but that was a nasty crash. Are you okay?” She started to try and wipe the blood off her hoofs.
"Yeah, I'm fine... How did you find me?" I mumbled.
"Oh, I saw you crash in town and wanted to see if you were ok. By the time I landed you were gone. So I went around trying to find you. I was heading to whitetail woods when I passed over the gorge. I saw you pull up from the dive. You shot off down the gorge so fast I couldn't see you. I flew after you and saw you on the... There was way too much blood." During this I could see her eyes glazing over. "I thought you were... I brought you here as fast as I could. When they had you in surgery I went to find your dad. He's in the next room. Do you want me to get him for ya?"
"NO. I mean... no it's fine. I don't really want to see him now." I didn't notice myself shaking.
Your mother should have killed you along with herself!
I couldn't help crying. The shaking became worse when I tried to hide it. Rainbow caught on.
I closed my eyes. I couldn't let her see me like this.
"Can I have a moment, please, Dash?"
"No." Just as that was said I could feel a comforting hug. "I'm here for ya, kid. I ain't the element of loyalty for nothin. I ain't leavin ya, kid." The hug got tighter.
I leaned in and hugged back. Taking the comfort from the hug, I broke. For what felt like the hundredth time this day, I cried... and cried... and cried. I cried till I ran I out of tears.
"You know what, kid? I know the feeling," she whispered in my ear.
How could she know what it feels like to be wished dead by somepony. Especially when its their own father.
"Don't tell anyone this, okay? Pinkie swear on it." She let go and sat next to me.
I went through the motions and mouthed the words. Hiccuping from the crying I got to the end of the swear.
"I was around you age when my mother left one day. She and dad got into a fight about me going to flight school. She wanted me to go but dad was convinced I was too weak a flyer. She didn't agree. She stormed off out the door. A few days later the Cloudsdale guards called. They said she died in a storm that swept in over from the Everfree. We got a closed coffin funeral. I never got the chance to say goodbye. Dad never got the chance to say sorry. He blamed me for it. He beat me for even the smallest mistakes. Every little thing I did wrong.” She took a shuddering breath.
“The day I came home with my cutie mark was the day my father kicked me out. The last thing he said was that I never deserved the mark I got. It broke me. I was left wandering Cloudsdale for days trying to find food and a place to stay.”
I moved closer to her. She had tears falling off her chin.
I guess she does know the feeling.
I slid next to her and wrapped my forelegs around her, putting my head against her shoulder. She hugged back and rested her head on mine, careful to avoid the stitches. We sat in comfortable silence. A few minutes later, she started talking.
“The next bit I tell you is not just my secret but Fluttershy’s too. Please, nopony must know.”
“You can trust me.”
“Ok. Well, after about a week of wandering aimlessly around Cloudsdale, I decided there was nothing there for me.”
“I flew down to the Ponyville Orphanage. A very quiet place. There was only one caretaker, Cheerilee, she took me in without question. Then she introduced me to the only other orphan that was there. Fluttershy. She got kicked out of home due to her parents both being unicorns and did not like having ‘bird scum’ in their house. She had stayed with a disowned cousin in Cloudsdale. This stallion did some really bad thing to her. So bad that if I saw him I would probably start kicking him and wouldn't stop till my legs fell off! I swear if...” she took a deep breath.
“Well, after she fell out of Cloudsdale and discovered her cutie mark, she stayed on the ground. About a day later, Cheerilee found her and took her in. Cheerilee paid for the remainder of my schooling in Cloudsdale and taught Fluttershy here in Ponyville. Since then, me, Flutters, and Cheerilee have been like family.”
I looked up at Rainbow Dash. Although there were still tears coming down her eyes, she had a smile. She was at peace. Looking away from the window, she looked into my eyes.
“I mean it, kid, I’m here for you.”