//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: A Lost Friend // by Sirius Starshine //------------------------------// A Lost Friend Chapter 3                   “Nnnnnnnngggggghuh,” Rainbow Dash groaned as she woke up.  “How awesome did I look?”  the last thing she remembered she was about to perform her Rainbow Bolt when something went wrong and it exploded in her face.  She then had a dream where she was swimming and then was kissing a stallion pegasus.  She tried to remember who he was but she couldn’t remember ever meeting somepony that looked like that, but he seemed oddly familiar.  She chalked it up to just some weird dream and brought a fore-leg up to rub the sleep from her eyes.                   As she did she noticed that it felt like there was something pulling back on her fore-leg a bit.  She tried to look down at her leg to see what it was caught on, but found there was something around her neck to keep her head from moving.  She lowered her hoof and brought the other one up to feel what was around her neck.  While she was feeling her neck she noticed her left wing was stiff as a board.  She tried to turn her head again only to feel it restrained again, she then realized that she was in a neck brace, instead she shifted her eyes as far as she could.  She could only see about half her wing, but from what she could tell it was splayed out, but still slightly flexed at all the joints to allow blood flow, and was completely bound in medical wrapping to keep it from moving.                   She was starting to get worried now.  She looked around the dimly lit room around her not recognizing it.  She had been in the infirmary in Ponyville a few times after she’d hurt herself either in training or when the weather patrol had to clear up a particularly bad storm, and while the room looked similar the view from the window was wrong.  In the infirmary in Ponyville she remembered you could see the fountain in the town square through the window.  Here, however, all she could see was a small garden and some trees.                   Becoming more anxious by the second she sat up to get out of bed to try to find out where in Equestria she was.  When she got up, however, the muscles in her torso tensed and blood rushed to her head.  She cried out as she felt like she was struck by another bolt of lightning and fell back down on the bed.  She just lied there in pain, barely noticing the hoofsteps rapidly approaching the room.  She saw a pale teal unicorn with a red cross cutie mark burst into the room and rush over to her.                   “It’s okay just stay calm, tell me what happened,” the unicorn said while watching her intently.                   “Tried to sit up… head and chest hurt… a lot.” Rainbow said between clenched teeth and shallow breaths.                   Without another word the unicorn used her magic to pull out a needle from a sterile package with a small amount of clear liquid in it.  She gently inserted the needle into Rainbow’s arm and injected her.  Rainbow continued to writhe in pain for a couple more seconds before the medicine took effect.  She then started to slowly relax as she felt the waves of pain recede until there was only a shadow of it remaining, eventually even that faded as well until her entire body felt numb .                 “Thank you, I feel much better now,” Rainbow said, still a little short of breath, as she began to sit back up again.                   “No, stay down, don’t move!” Loveheart yelled and she used her magic to push Rainbow back down by her shoulders.                   “Why? Whatever you gave me helped a lot, I feel great.” Rainbow said, indignantly.                   “Because that medicine I gave you completely stops a pony’s pain.”  Loveheart replied, still keeping a cloud of her blue magic over Rainbow’s shoulders in case she tried to get up again.  “It’s some water that I enchanted to completely alleviate pain, however, pain is usually the quickest and easiest way to determine what is wrong with somepony.  I already know what your injuries are that’s why I injected you with it.  It’s only temporary, but you can’t get up until it wears off because you could worsen your injuries even more and not realize it.  Understand?”                   Rainbow Dash, completely taken aback by the urgency in the unicorn’s voice and serious demeanor, lied there stunned for a second.  She tried to nod to show she understood, but was stopped by the neck brace again and instead just replied, “yes.”                   Only then did Loveheart relax and release the magic holding Rainbow down.  She then asked, “right, well is there anything that you need? Are you on any medication, any allergies?”                   “No, nothing like that” Rainbow replied, “but, this obviously isn’t Ponyville, who are you and where are we?  What happened to me?  The last thing I remember I was trying out a new trick with lightning and it blew up in my face.” she said.                   “Lightning!?  Well that would explain all the burns that I found on you.  Oh, but where are my manners?  My name is Loveheart, and I’m the local doctor here, and ‘here’ is Trotington.  We’re a small village directly South of Canterlot.  Nice to meet you.” Loveheart said to her and held out her hoof close enough to Rainbow so she could shake it without moving more than her arm.                   Rainbow Dash smiled as she shook hooves with Loveheart.  “So I take it you’re the one who patched me up then.  ‘preciate it, my name is Rainbow Dash.”  She lowered her hoof and continued.  “But I’m from Ponyville, South-East of Canterlot, how did I end up here?”                   Loveheart became contemplative while she thought for a second.  “Well you said that when you were trying to control some lightning it exploded right?  Then it’s my guess that the explosion sent you flying towards us because when you were found you had just crashed into the lake just outside of town.  That also explains some of your injuries, namely your sprained wing, concussion, and whiplash.  The pony who found you pulled you out of the lake you fell in and saved your life.  He then brought you here and that’s when I treated you.  If it wasn’t for him you’d probably be dead right now.”                   “Who was it?  I’d like to thank him for saving my life,” Rainbow said earnestly.                   “He said you two knew each other years ago.  Does the name Viridian Night ring a bell?”  Loveheart replied.                   Rainbow’s eyebrows rose a little upon hearing the name.  “Maybe, what does he look like?” Rainbow said asked.                   “He is a young stallion pegasus.  He’s got a green coat and darker green hair, and a big scar over his flank.”  Loveheart described to her.  “He also left that for you.”  She said indicating the Wonderbolts pin on the bed-side table.                   Rainbow could hardly believe it, “can it really be him?  After all this time could I have finally found him?”  She moved her eyes as far as they could go until she saw it.  She recognized it instantly, the pin she gave to him the day he left.  “See you later,” flashed through her mind as she remembered that day.                   “I can’t believe it, it’s him, I’ve finally found him!  After all these years, just like he said, ‘friends always meet each other again someday.’”  She had a huge grin on her face and her eyes filled with excitement.  “Where is he?  I gotta see him!”   *****                   Viridian Night stood with the two guard pegasi-from earlier waiting for admittance to the Princesses’ audience chamber.  He was in uniform now like the guard pegasi with the golden armor and mane fed through the crest in his helm.  However, instead of sporting a blue star on his chest like the guard ponies, his star was white, signifying the Air Force. He wore two sheathed swords attached to his shoulder plates, sweeping from his shoulders back to his flanks, as is standard issue for the Armed Forces.  He also had two saddle bags filled with charts of the night sky following different star groups and other astronomical objects, all with extensive notes and equations on their movements and trajectories.  When Sun Stroke asked him about it Viridian told him it was his report for Princess Luna and left it at that.                   Eventually another guard-pegasus cracked open the large door to the audience chamber and said, “The Princesses will see you now.”  He then stepped back to admit the three pegasi into the chamber.                   It was a massive room about fifty feet across and seventy five long, all black and white marble with several stained glass windows along the walls, and a red carpet leading to the princesses’ thrones.  At the end of the room, on the left, sat Princess Celestia, and on the right sat Princess Luna.  Celestia’s throne was made of pure white marble with yellow veins running through it.  Whereas Princess Luna’s throne was solid black marble accented with blue.                    When they were about five feet from the thrones they bowed.  After a second Princess Celestia said “rise,” the three pegasi stood up and faced the princesses.                   Princess Luna then said, “Ah Captain Viridian Night, we are pleased to see you.  Do you have another report for us?”  She asked earnestly with a look of anticipation plastered across her face.                   Viridian smiled a little when he saw the surprised looks on Moon Beam’s and Sun Stroke’s faces.  They must not have seen Luna’s ability to change her demeanor instantly like that before.  He’d seen it several times before, and was used to it and stepped forward.  He pulled the saddle bags from his back and placed them on a small table next to her throne.                   “I have discovered a few more comets and asteroids, and I have reason to believe that the red and blue blinking star that I found a few months ago may actually be two stars orbiting each other, but I will need to study it further to be sure.”  Viridian told Luna, proud of his work.                   “Excellent!  We look forward to examining your report in depth.” Luna replied excited, “And we also have something for you as well Captain,” Luna glanced at her sister and looked back at Viridian.  “But it will have to wait till the end of the debriefing,” she said still smiling.                   “Of course,” he said and he stepped back and joined the two guard-pegasi.                   This time it was Celestia’s turn to talk, “Viridian, I am pleased to see you again as well.  Have you given any more thought to my offer of a commanding position of mine and Luna’s personal guard here in Canterlot?  We would even be able to set up some equipment so you would be able to continue your work for dear sister.”                   Viridian sighed, every month Celestia offers him a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, and a position as a deputy commander of one her and Luna’s personal Air Force combat wings.  “I appreciate the offer, but again, I must respectfully decline and ask that I may continue my service as I have been.”  He could never command ponies again, not after that night, years ago.                   Celestia looked disappointed, but lamented, “very well Captain, perhaps next month you will have changed your mind.  Lieutenants Sun Stroke and Moon Beam, you said you have information on the whereabouts of Rainbow Dash.”                   Sun Stroke and Moon Beam were startled when the princess addressed them.  Sun Stroke was the first to recover and said, “uh yes, we found Rainbow Dash in Trottington Your Highness.”                   “That’s good to hear, so I assume you made sure she made it back to Ponyville safely?” Celestia responded.                   “Well, when we found her she was severely injured and unconscious, we were about to prepare her to be moved, but we were ordered to stand down by the Captain here.”  Moon Beam explained.                  “Captain?” Celestia asked.                   “I witnessed Rainbow Dash’s landing in Trottington.  She crashed directly into the lake outside of town, when I pulled her out she wasn’t breathing and had no pulse, so I proceeded to give her CPR for several minutes before she started breathing again.  I then took her to the local doctor where she was treated for several cracked ribs, a concussion, whiplash, a badly sprained, almost broken wing, and burns that covered her entire body.  In her opinion it will be very dangerous to move Rainbow before she regains consciousness and can be observed for a few days for any signs of further injuries.  As such I ordered the lieutenants to stand down.”  Viridian relayed to the Princesses.                   “What did the doctor say about Rainbow’s recovery?” Luna asked.                   “She said that it may take a while, but that she should make a full recovery.” Viridian replied.                   Both princesses looked relieved at that.  Then Celestia said, “Lieutenant Sun Stroke, Lieutenant Moon Beam, thank you for finding Rainbow Dash, you will be rewarded for your efforts, dismissed.  Captain, please stay a moment longer, there is one more thing Luna and I wish to speak to you about.”                   “Thank you Your Majesties,” the two guard-pegasi said and bowed to the princesses, then they saluted Viridian, which he returned, and they left the audience chamber.                   When the doors closed behind the guard-pegasi the princesses turned their attention back to Viridian.  Celestia said, “Well, Viridian Night, because of your knowledge of Rainbow Dash’s injuries, and because you already know her, we would like you to monitor her during her stay in Trottington, and to escort her back to Ponyville as soon as she is, at your discretion, well enough to travel.”                   “How did you know I already knew her?” he asked taken aback.                   “Well easy, you’re always so formal when you refer to other ponies, but you talked about Rainbow Dash in familiar terms, and I’ve never head you do that.”  Celestia replied.                   “Oh, well, we did know each other way back when we were just kids, but that was years ago, I’d be surprised if she even vaguely remembers me, if at all.” He said, “but I will, of course, follow your orders.”                   Luna looked at her sister and asked, “Sister, may we tell him now?”  Celestia turned towards her sister and nodded.  “Viridian Night, we are happy to tell you that we were able to have the equipment you requested to be constructed.”                   “Thank you Princess, this equipment will hopefully allow me to study the behaviors of the universe more accurately.”  Viridian said excitedly.                   “We are pleased that you are pleased Captain.” Luna replied, “however, in order to create the equipment to perform the tasks you required the engineers had to construct it larger and heavier than was first conceived.  As such we cannot install it in your current location without building an entirely new building to house it.”                   “So I will have to wait until this new structure is built before we can set up new telescope and scanners?” Viridian asked, he previous excitement dropping off slightly.  “Well, I guess it can’t be helped.”                   “No, that is why instead we had the equipment set up in a different location; we found a structure that would be suitable to support the size and weight of all the equipment in an area that has the same conditions for your studies as your current location.  Slightly better actually because there is less ambient light pollution there.”  Luna told him, “That is why we are reassigning you to Ponyville.  Do not worry, we understand your desire for privacy, so We had everything put together as discretely as possible.  But, once you have escorted Rainbow Dash back to Ponyville you will be able to move in right away.”                   Viridian Night was thrilled by this news.  He finally got the equipment he needed to further his research, and he was going somewhere with even better observation conditions.  He had to move to Ponyville, but that didn’t bother him, growing up in a military family a pony gets used to moving a lot.  And it wasn’t like he had to worry about the ponies he was leaving and having to get to know some new ones since he kept to himself for the most part anyway.  All he has to do is just make sure Rainbow Dash gets back to Ponyville as well, once the doctor clears her for travel, and he’ll be all set.                   “That’s great news, thank you very much Princess Luna,” he said to her.  “Is there anything else that you wish to tell me or have me do Your Majesties?” he asked, referring to them both.                   “That is all that we have for you for now.  Sister?”  Luna said.                   “I believe that’s everything,” Celestia replied.                   “Then, by your leave, I will return to Trottington,” Viridian Night said.                   “Fair thee well Viridian Night”                   “See you next month”