//------------------------------// // Surgery // Story: My Little Dashie : A Threequel // by EpicBG //------------------------------// I have had my wings for quite a while now. All things, no matter how good, must come to an end. I suppose I should’ve learned that all those years ago when Dashie was brought back to Equestria. My wings are now molting, the feathers falling off more and more each day. Day by day my grey feathers fall off until the day that they are all gone. If I try to fly I’m struck with a horrible pain that starts cold in my neck, makes it’s way down my back as the tingling pain amplifies and gets hotter. My tailbone fells like it is going to split at any moment. Sometimes my wings shake for no apparent reason, sometimes I can’t even fold them up. It’s been long past a month, the time Zecora initially thought that I’d have these wings would for, and I believe that it is time now for them to be removed. I have made an appointment with the my doctor, I should be having surgery in a few days. I’ve got nothing left to do with Dashie that I wanted to do with her with these wings, I am at peace with being flightless once more. ----- I walked into the hospital with Dashie, knowing I would leave a changed man. In the waiting room I saw the same pony from the bar that I‘d seen a few weeks before, with his little daughter and wife. I called his name, he called mine back, followed by a ‘Hey, what’s up’. We shook hands and hooves, his wife gave me a quizzical look. I sat down next to him, he looked happy. His daughter looked happy too, even though she looked ill. “You’re that guy! Dash’s papa!” She called out. Dashie walked up behind me, taking a seat next to the filly. Shortly after exchanging stories, one of the nurse called my name, having problems pronouncing it. I corrected her. “Brian.” She nodded, writing something down on the clipboard that she levitated. I sighed, stood up, and followed her to my room. Dashie couldn’t come with me, no amount of begging would change that, I tried. ----- I was falling asleep in the waiting room, I couldn’t completely because I was so nervous. I felt a sharp pain in my chest, moving it‘s way down my arm. The pressure only got worse. I got really warm, then cold, then warm again. I was shivering. This only lasted a few seconds before I heard a doctor shout “He’s flatlining!” in a faint scream. The gruff voice struggling to get the words out. “Pops!” I flew out of my seat. I didn’t know where I was going, I flew blindly down the hallways, dodging ponies in wheelchairs and stretchers along the way. But, by some kind of luck, I managed to make my way through to the right room. I didn’t even know if it was Pops who the scream as about, I just had a hunch. Pops was on his belly, facedown. His back was covered in blood. He was twitching and shaking, his one wing, still barely attached by a tendon. “Stabilize!” The gruff voice shouted again. Three of the doctors around Pops held down on his legs and arms. The unicorn held a small syringe with his magic, it was full of purpley blue liquid. He stabbed it into Pops, the plunger forcing it down and into his bloodstream. The sight of it all was just too much, I fainted right under the doorsill, whacking my head against the floor. ----- The unicorn surgeon gave me an anesthetic, I was unconscious in moments. While under the knife I saw something. Someone, rather. My mother. For the first time in over twenty years. I didn’t see her for very long, and I didn’t get a chance to respond to her but what she said to me left me stunned. “I’m proud of you.” She said. “You’ve kept that old wish of ours, the one to be happy.” she reminded me. “Ours?” My father emerged behind her, them both positively glowing. He cleared his throat. “Son…” he began. “I’m very happy for you. You didn‘t give up where so many others have.” I felt a stab in my chest, then a tightness. I fell to my knees. I reached out towards my mother and father, they were cold. I felt myself float up, trapped in their frozen embrace. Something pulled at my leg. I looked down, it was Dashie! She bit at my pants leg, but I didn’t stop moving up. “It is not your time. Not yet.“ They said. I let go of my parents, and floated back down to the white ground. The white around me faded to black. I fell back into the physical world, I gasped for air as I opened my eyes. I was surrounded by nurses and doctors. I heard the beeping begin again, I felt the pressure in my chest go away. The tension in the room melted away as a collection of sighs echoed through the room. The pain in my back came back, worse than ever. “I WANT DRUGS! NOW!” I shouted. There was a faint snap, I fell unconscious from pain for the umpteenth time because of those wings. I woke up in the hospital ward, I was propped on top of an uncomfortable hospital bed. I had a needle in my arm, it fed clear liquid into me. There was a piece of plastic wrapped around my wrist, it led into a screen that displayed my pulse. The ambient beeping drove me insane, I was alone in the dark room. I heard a snore, “Guess I’m not alone…” I said in a near whisper. Something black moved in through the window, landing with a thud and grunt. I called out “Hello…? Who’s there?” I saw the dark figure move in the darkness, shadows concealed it's expression as it walked up to me with it’s wings outstretched. “Pops?” “Dashie?” She removed her hood and reached down to hug me. “They wouldn’t let me stay.” I returned the hug. Dashie stayed with me until Celestia’s sun rose, we heard hoofsteps echoing in the hallway. Dashie hid under the bed. The nurse came in and gave me what was supposed to be breakfast. When she left Dashie came out from under the bed, we hugged, and she flew home. She stayed with me every night that I was in the hospital, when visiting hours ended she would leave the hospital for some time, wait until it got dark, and fly back into the open window.