Chapter 9- Trapped in a Hospital
The sterile smell of the hospital wakes me up from the darkness. I blink away the heaviness in my eyes as I try to adjust to the sudden brightness. I lift my foreleg slightly to find that it has many tubes sticking out from it, and I have a cannula attached to my nose, tickling my nostrils as oxygen flows down into my throat.
“S-Soarin’?” I whisper, my voice breaking.
Twilight Sparkle appears out of nowhere and walks over to my side. “Hey Rainbow, how are you feeling?”
“Where is Soarin’? I have to see him!” I say urgently, I am not concerned for my wellbeing, only for his.
“He is in the other room, you can’t see him yet.” Twilight smiles sadly and puts a purple hoof over mine.
My chest tightens in fear as I realise that he may be in a very bad state. “Why not? I need to see him, why can’t I see him?” I try and throw out my wings, but they have been strapped to my sides with a cloth strap which has been wrapped tightly around my body.
My eyes widen in shock as I stare at Twilight, why did they strap my wings down in the same way they would to a mad pony? I begin to thrash about more in panic. What’s happening to me? What are they going to do?
“Calm down, Dash. You don’t want them to put you under again!” She whispers urgently, and I realise that I have had an
outburst like this before.
“Can you get Spitfire for me?” I whisper, staying as calm as possible.
Twilight opens her mouth in protest but once she sees the dark look I’m giving her she immediately runs out the door obediently. I realise now how weak my body actually is: my head feels light and dizzy. I figure that I’m probably on a hay load of drugs.
After a few moments, the captain of the Wonderbolts walks in alone, a small smile across her lips.
“Hello, Rainbow Dash. I heard you wanted to see me?” The Pegasus sits down beside my bed.
I look at her for a few moments, trying to decide which question I should ask first. “How is he?”
“He’s doing better than you, actually. He’s off all of the drips and oxygen now.” Spitfire scans my face with concern in her orange eyes.
“Then why can’t I see him?” I frown in confusion. If Soarin’ is doing well then he must be fit enough to come and see me.
Spitfire looks at me with sadness in her eyes. “Well, you’re only allowed one visitor at a time, Dash. The doctors also think that seeing Soarin’ this soon after the experience would be too traumatic for you.”
“Please, Spit. You have to let me see him!” I beg the Wonderbolt sitting beside me.
Spitfire is silent for a few moments; she stands up and begins trotting around the room as she thinks.
“I disagree with what the doctors want, Dash. Soar wants to see you too, pretty badly as a matter of fact. But, I can’t do anything about it, I may be the captain of the Wonderbolts, but in here I’m just another pony,” She sighs sadly and my heart drops.
“But, I want to see him. I need to, Spit,” I wiggle around slightly and wince as the cloth rubs against my feathers, pulling them back. I groan in pain as I feel one of my feathers being pulled out.
Spitfire stands up instantly. “What’s wrong, Dash?”
“The- The cloth is pulling out my feathers... It’s too ti-“ I groan in pain again. “-Tight.”
Spitfire reaches behind me and pushes a red button above my head, instantly a doctor rushes into the room. “What’s the problem?” He asks urgently.
“The restraint is hurting her, take it off!” Spitfire orders in a powerful voice.
My eyes begin to drift shut again as the pain drags me under and the doctor hesitates. “But she may try to escape again.”
“I don’t care about that! The wings are the most sensitive part of a Pegasi, especially one who flies as much as she does. If you don’t take that off she will never fly again. So take it off. Now!” Spitfire’s voice grows louder and louder, and by now she is eyeball to eyeball with the doctor.
She must have scared him since I can feel myself being released; my wings instantly stretch out as the cloth is pulled away, they flex in attempt to take the pain away. I sigh in relief. The doctor walks out of the room, muttering under his breath about how he let a visitor take control over the situation. I glance up at Spitfire who is now carefully examining my wings.
I look down at my body and see that there is a red mark running around my ribcage where the cloth was pressing down on.
“Thank you,” I say quietly as she moves around to look at my other wing.
Spitfire smiles at me, “It’s okay, Rainbow. Hopefully they’ll let you see Soar soon. Just don’t try anything funny or you’ll never get out of here.”
I sigh and nod in defeat. “Can you at least see what you can do? I really want to see him.”
“I will try, Dash. Your wings are fine, just rest them and stretch them out a bit. I need to go back to Soar now since other people want to see you too, do you want me to pass on a message?” Spitfire begins to head over to the door.
“Wait, do you have any parchment?” I ask as an idea pops into my head.
Spitfire reaches into her saddlebag and pulls out a piece of parchment and a quill before passing them over to me. I smile as I take them in my mouth before I begin to write a letter to Soarin’.
Hey Soar,
What’s this? The one and only totally cool Rainbow Dash is writing a letter to some pony other than Celestia? Yes. Just remember, if you mention this to any pony, any pony at all, I will hunt you down and skin you alive.
Anyway, apparently they think I’m too weak to have more than one visitor at a time, and they think it’d be too traumatic to see you after what we’ve just been through. Do they know who I am? I’m Rainbow Dash, the Pegasus who can get through anything! I’m not weak, they’re underestimating me.
It would be nice if I could get to see you, I want to talk and hangout with you for a while without the fear of dying looming over our heads. Don’t you agree?
In the morning if they say that I’m not allowed to see you again I am going to storm out of this room, they had to untie my wings because it was pulling my feathers. It hurt so much I felt like I was going to black out. You know how sensitive wings are, the doctor who put on the restraint obviously didn’t.
We can use Spitfire as our own personal mailmare at this moment though, you can be the one to beg her to do it though, she’s your captain!
By the way, can you see if you can get some pony to sneak in a Daring Doo book to me? I doubt the doctors will let me have one because it’s too ‘traumatic’ and I need to ‘rest’. But it gets so lonely in here, you’re lucky; you can have more than one visitor. I’m pretty sure that they have a set time limit for my visitors too. It sucks. I have only seen Twilight and Spitfire though, I think they’ve had to knock me out a few times.
So, Soarin’, I hope you’re doing well, I shall speak to you soon!
The one and only,
Rainbow Dash.
X
I roll the parchment up and pass it back to Spitfire. “Can you give that to him, please?”
Spitfire smiles and takes the roll in her mouth before waving and trotting out of the room. I sigh sadly as I look out the window into the bright, sunny Ponyville day.
The door swings open and the loud cry of Pinkie fills the room, and she pushes in her party cannon along with her.
I groan internally, today is going to be a long day.