It’s easy to expect drama in a hospital. After all, major accidents happen every day. Countless patients go in and out of a hospital every week. Nurses and doctors and surgeons all have their own problems and often have the problems of patients thrust upon them in times of emotional weakness. Lives can be changed in a heartbeat, for better or for worse. But, not usually in the way several lives were apparently about to change at this moment.
“You’re WHAT!?”
The screeching yell in the hospital waiting room was enough to make everypony their turn their heads. After all, it wasn’t every day you had five mares screaming that kind of question to a stallion as well as a mare in a hospital. It was enough to make a few nurses passing through make ‘shush’ing noises directed at the group. However, they were abruptly ignored as Twilight and her friends looked at Shadow and Silver in a mix of surprise and confusion.
“What do ya mean yer leavin’?” Applejack asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Just that; we’re staying here in Canterlot,” Silver repeated. “It’s clear that we lived here for a good part of our lives. We have a better chance of finding out more here than we do back in Ponyville.”
“Besides,” Shadow added, “We just told you the full story about what happened; what if that had happened down in Ponyville? That crazy mare was after us; we can’t just go and drag you girls into it, or anyone else who doesn’t need to be, for that matter.”
“Yeah? Well what if we want to-“ Twilight started, but then found herself cut off by Silver, who raised his hoof and shook his head.
“Don’t give us that, Twilight,” he said quickly, “We know you want to stay involved and help us. And we really do appreciate it, but just look at what happened to Rainbow Dash.” He watched the five mares in front of him, waiting for some kind of reply, only to be met with silence. At the mention of their friend, the five hung their heads; Sure, Dash would be okay. But she still hadn’t been moved into a normal room, and it had been a while since they had arrived now.
“Exactly,” he said, “We can’t let that happen again, to any of you. This never concerned you, after all, and one of you is already paying the price for getting mixed up in our situation. Please, try and understand we just don’t want you all getting hurt for our sakes.”
For a few seconds, the mares were quiet and the only noise was the hushed chatter of other ponies waiting around in the room. Most were just ignoring the group against the wall by this point, trying to occupy themselves with other things. Still, an occasional head turned towards them, and those that did at that point could see the yellow Pegasus raising her head up to finally speak.
“What about Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked. Her normally quiet, timid voice had risen a bit, and her eyes were fixed on Shadow, filled with a mix of sadness and, surprisingly, anger. “What are you going to tell her, Shadow? You can’t just leave her behind; I know she’ll want to come and be with you. How are you going to… to break up with her?”
Shadow opened her mouth, about to answer to Fluttershy. About to tell her she hadn’t worked a speech out yet, but that she was working on it, only to be interrupted by a small, attention-seeking cough aimed at their group. Ah-hem. She stopped and all of them turned to see a young mare with a pale green coat, wearing a nurses hat.
“You’re all waiting for Ms. Rainbow dash, yes?” she asked. The seven of them all nodded. “Well, we’ve moved her out of the emergency room and taken her to a normal room,” she explained, “Now, she’s had some bad damage done to her eardrums, so until they’re healed up we’ve given her a hearing aid. But please, it’s probably best for you to speak a little loudly so she can make you out. Come with me.” She turned and started down the hall, leading the group through several twisting hallways until finally coming to a stop outside a door, Rainbow Dash’s name present on the plate outside it. “Please, only four guests at the most at any time,” she told them, standing off to the side to make sure they followed the rule.
Twilight turned to her friends, “You girls go on in and see Dash. I’ll wait here with Shadow and Silver for now.” The four nodded to Twilight, thanking her before heading inside the room and shutting the door behind them. Once the door was closed, she turned and looked at the two ponies now sitting beside the doorway, “Now what in Tartarus are you two thinking? Leaving behind your jobs, your home, just too potentially risk your lives looking for the truth? This isn’t noble; it’s stupid!”
“Noble?” Silver asked, “This isn’t about being noble Twilight; it’s about keeping you, your friends, that whole town safe. It’s what’s best for all of you.”
“Oh yeah? Well then, what about you two?” Twilight asked, sitting in front of them. “How are we just supposed to let you both leave and risk your lives? I get that you want to know who you two really are, and I also get you want to make sure we don’t have to be hurt for your sakes, but we want to! We all want to be there for you two in case something happens!”
“We know that, Twilight, we honestly do,” Shadow said, looking down at the floor, “But please, try and see this from our perspective. Ponies we care about are getting hurt now, and it’s our fault because these ponies are after us. Have you ever felt a guilt like that before, Twilight? Because if you haven’t, let me tell you; it hurts. It hurts like you can’t imagine.”
“Oh yeah, well then explain that to Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, pointing at the door. “Explain to her just why you’re going to up and leave her, Shadow. Explain that you’re scared for her. Her, Rainbow Dash, one of the bravest and most loyal ponies in Equestria. You should realize that no matter what, she’s going to come after you, because she cares about you! We all do, so please, just let us help you two. We can go back to Ponyville, we can think up a plan, and-“
“Stop it!” Silver suddenly yelled, standing up and stepping up to Twilight. His eyes were narrowed in a harsh glare, their faces just inches apart. He snorted, “For the love of Celestia, just stop it! Can’t you just understand us; I can’t let you get involved. I won’t let you! Because…”
Silver found the last words stuck in his throat, and managed to choke them down. Turning his glare to the ground, he finally backed away from her face. Twilight cocked an eyebrow at him, “Because why? Why can’t you let me get involved, Silver? Just tell me that.” It was Twilight’s turn to glare now, eyeing silver as he refused to look back at her and just stared at the ground. “Well, why? Just tell me so I can understand you, Silver!” she nearly screamed at him. And yet, even as she yelled at him, he could hear something in her voice. It took him a second, but he quickly realized what it was; there was a tone of understanding to her voice. So that’s how it was…
Finally, he looked back up from the ground, their eyes meeting in a harsh gaze. “Why bother when you already realize it?” he asked slowly.
Twilight was quiet for a second, her gaze unfaltering for even a second. Finally, she spoke; “Funny, I thought from how strong you were and how you worked that weapon of yours you were a strong pony. Guess I was wrong… you’re too scared to let your friends help you, and you can’t even say what’s on your mind. I guess you’re just some kind of coward.”
That seemed to do it; something inside of Silver snapped at the moment, and in anger he launched a beam of magic at her. Twilight only just brought up a shield in time, deflecting the blast at the ceiling. There was a small explosion and a cloud of smoke shot downward along with several shattered chunks of ceiling. Almost immediately, several doctors and nurses were on the scene.
“What in equestrian is going on here!?” a stallion in a doctors coat asked, his magic condensing the smoke into a small ball as a nurse began to pick the chunks of ceiling up. Silver and Twilight looked at the doctor, only having just realized what they’d done as the doctor glared at them. “I’m sorry, but we can’t have visitors doing stuff like this in the halls or anywhere else in this building! I have to ask both of you to leave now, please.”
With one last glare at each other, the two unicorns started a quick trot down the hall back to the lobby. At the same time, the doctor and nurse discarded the dust and debris in a nearby trash can before trotting away. Just a second later though, the door to Dash’s room opened, four mares poking their heads out. Rarity was the first to speak, looking and seeing the mess being cleaned up
“What in Equestria happened out here?” she asked, looking over at Shadow.
The Alicorn, having watched the two in a rather surprised silence, finally found her voice, “Twilight and Silver had a bit of a… argument, about what we told you all.” She motioned up to the fresh, small ceiling with a hoof.
“Woah, that musta’ been some argument,” Applejack said, looking up at the hole with wide eyes.
Shadow nodded, “Definitely. They just got kicked out of the hospital. It looked like they were heading for the front exit.” The door opened fully, the four healthy mares stepping out.
“Well then we best go after ‘em and make sure they don’t do anything else they might regret,” Applejack said. She looked over at shadow, “Ah’d go talk ta Dash now; she was askin’ fer ya when we went in.”
“Right,” Shadow nodded, standing and watching her friends round the corner. That could be the last time she saw them for a while, she reminded herself… but it was for the best. And so was what she was about to do, she thought to herself with a nod and nervous gulp. With that, she grabbed the door to the room and opened it, stepping inside.
The room was what she expected. The walls were white, and the tiled floor a light gray. One her left was Dash’s bed, the Pegasus laying on her back on in a white, blue-flecked hospital robe. She turned to look at her as the door opened and flashed her a grin. As Shadow walked up to her, she quickly caught sight of a hearing aid in Dash’s right ear. The Alicorn smiled at her as she came up to the bed, trying her best not to think about what she was about to do. “Hey Dash, how you feeling?” she asked as she sat by the bed.
Dash shrugged, “Well, I’ve felt a lot worse than this. They said I’m just a little banged up from all the stuff I got put though. That and I gotta wear this thing.” She tapped a hoof on her hearing aid and chuckled, “Pinkie said it made me look like a secret agent, but I just think it makes me look silly. You know I can’t even fly fast enough for my best stunts without losing it, they said. I just hope it can come out soon.”
Shadow nodded, “Yeah, hopefully. So, did they tell you what happened to you after you were knocked out?” Dash shook her head in response.
“Not really, no. Something about not wanting to risk the stress having adverse effects,” Dash said, rolling her eyes a bit, “I am such an egghead for knowing what that means… Anyway, come on, you and I both know I can handle anything. So come on, tell me what happened!”
“Erm… right, well okay, but then… you gotta listen to everything I have to say, okay?” Shadow told her, “And I mean everything, because this is important, alright?”
Dash just shrugged, “Sure, if you say so. Just come on and tell me already. I can take anything you have to tell me!” She grinned, “So, bring it on!”
Shadow nodded, taking a deep breath and releasing slowly, “Well, okay. If you say so… So, after you got knocked out, this unicorn came out…”
**********************************************************
As was to be expected, the front entrance of Canterlot hospital had a steady enough stream of ponies going in and out. Some were going for their jobs, other for check-ups or to see how family or friends were doing. However, each pony coming in and out couldn’t help but take some time to look at the scene unfolding to the left and right of the entrance, both near one of several flower beds located on the grounds. On one side of the bed was a lavender unicorn, her back turned to the path as two mares did their best to talk with her. One the other side, a silver-coated stallion sat facing away from the path as well, his head raised and eyes closed as two more mares tried to figure out why the two were no longer talking with each other.
“Come on, Twi, ya gotta tell us what’s going on,” Applejack told her friend, who continued to glare between her and Fluttershy, both of whom sat across from her. For a good five minutes they’d been asking her what had happened in the hall. Well, she had been asking the questions, mostly. Fluttershy had simply stated she was okay with Twilight telling her or not and hadn’t really tried to push for any more information. “We hear ya both talkin’ out there, and next thing we know you’re fighting like two timberwolves after the same bit o’ territory. What did ya say to each other?” she asked again.
Finally, Twilight turned and looked at Applejack, and finally her friend saw what her eyes looked like. They were filled with anger, but beneath it all was just a small glimmer of sadness. “Forget it, Applejack… It doesn’t matter anymore. Not if those two are going to leave to come here…” she said quietly. “None of it matters anymore,” she sighed.
“What doesn’t matter anymore? Ya ain’t makin’ sense here, sugercube,” Applejack told her. “Why can’t ya just tell us what you talked about?” she asked.
Again, Twilight looked down at the ground, “I… oh, Applejack, I just said some things I honestly shouldn’t have! I basically provoked him into attacking me like that! Oh Celestia, what was I even thinking!?”
“Oh Twilight, I-I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Fluttershy said, slowly reaching a hoof out onto her friends shoulder. “Um, i-if I can ask, what exactly did you say to him?” she asked, now feeling a bit more curious as to what had happened. Her only response, however, was Twilight’s ears dropping as well now, as she muttered quietly,
“It was something stupid.”
“It was something stupid.”
Across the path on the other side of the entrance, Silver had ended up saying the exact same thing to Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who were standing beside him as he continued to gaze at the sky. He felt both their eyes on him, but refused to look down even as Rarity replied to him.
“Come now, if it was worth getting into a scrape like that over, then it was surely nothing stupid,” she assured him. “Why did she confront you, then, hmmm? Was this about your moving away?” she asked, before suddenly being interrupted by Pinkie Pie.
“Oh, was she mad because you didn’t want a going away party?” the pink mare asked. “I mean, you do want a going away, party?” she asked somewhat hopefully.
Finally, Silver brought his head down and sighed, but gave a nod, “Yeah, of course you can throw one, Pinkie.” At once a grin sprouted on her face, but Silver didn’t match it, instead turning to Rarity, “And she basically said something that I should have told her ages ago.”
“Really? And just what was…” Rarity stopped, taking a few seconds to read the stallions deflated-looking face. At once, it snapped, “Oh… I see. I thought I’d seen the signs, but I never said anything. So, you…” he nodded. “And she…” again he nodded. “And so…” one last nod. “Oh, oh dear… I’m sorry,” she said solemly.
“What? What’s up?” Pinkie asked, peering at Silver, “What do you see, Rarity? Oh, are you talking telepathically? Twilight told me unicorns can do that!” Suddenly, she gasped and began to frown, “Awww, come on you two, that’s just being mean! Why you gotta leave me outta your conversation? I wanna help Silvy here just as much as you do, Rarity!” She gave her friend a look, then turned back to Silver, peering right at him and bringing her face close. “So, what’s up with you, huh?” she asked, “Come on, you told Rarity, right?”
“Um…. I, uh…” Silver stammered, not really sure how to answer her question. He supposed he had told her, but only because the fashonista was much better at reading faces then her friend. How was he supposed to explain that to her?
And still, she continued, now dancing in place on her hoof-tips, “Wellll? Come on, tell me, pleeeease! Tellmetellmetellmetellme…”
By this point, both parties were far too distracted to notice a group of four Pegasi, clad in golden armor, walking up the path towards them. That is, until one of them went over to Silver and tapped his shoulder a few times, causing the stallion to break away from Pinkies endless pleas and look the guard in the eyes. “Hello, are you mister Silver Soul?” he asked in an official tone.
Silver nodded, “Yeah, so what if I am? I already gave you guys my description of my sisters incident, so I’m not exactly any good to you.”
The guard shook his head, “No sir, that’s not why we’re here. The Princess has caught word of what you and your companion went through earlier. She’s requested that you both be brought to her to discuss this, at once. We’ve been sent to escort you to the castle.”
“Wait, what?” The other three had caught sight of the guards once they’d heard new voices across the path. It was Twilight who had spoken, and she went on, “She just wants to see the two of them? Not any of us?” She motioned with a hoof to the rest of her friends. Again, the guard shook his head.
“Sorry, madam, she was specific and said only they were to come along,” he answered.
“Oh… I see,” she said, staring back at the ground, “Very well then…”
“Twilight-“ Silver began, but the lavender are quickly cut him off.
“Don’t say anything, Silver. It’s just not important right now,” she said quietly before turning and starting off down the path towards the street. Her friends watched, even Pinkie frowning a bit at the sight. They looked at Silver, who just nodded to them. At once, they were off after Twilight, who just kept her head down. Silver just sighed sadly at the sight; great, now he had even more guilt bearing down on him.
Stoic as ever and apparently not moved by the scene, the guard continued, “Sir, we have chariot waiting for you and miss Shadow. Shall we go find her?”
“No need,” a familiar voice said. The group all turned to see Shadow stepping out of the front doors. She had a somber, depressed look on her face despite the neutral expression she wore. She stepped forward, looking over at Silver, “I said what I had to to Dash. What’s going on here?”
“Apparently, the Princess herself wants to talk about what happened this afternoon,” Silver answered, nodding at the guards. “But then, guess I’m not to shocked,” he added, “After all, not exactly every day something like that happens.”
“Well then, let’s go,” Shadow said quickly. She turned to the guards, “Lead the way, then.” They nodded starting across the lawn to the opposite end, where silver now noticed a golden chariot was sitting in wait. However, he ignored it and the guards and looked at Shadow, walking after her.
“Shade, you okay?” he asked, “You’re not exactly looking… well, anything right now.”
She gave him a fast, curt nod, “I’m fine, don’t worry.” She blinked a few times, her eyes shining a bit in the light of the now-setting sun, “It’s just… I didn’t think anything would be harder than fighting that crazy marre earlier today. Guess everypony gets proved wrong sometimes…”
“Shadow, what exactly did you two-“
“Please, don’t ask Silver,” she said, her voice heavy as she stepped onto the back of the chariot. She looked forward, watching the guards hitch themselves up to the vehicle. “I… it was hard enough the first time,” she said quietly.
“Alright,” he nodded slowly as the guards began to run, wings spreading and flapping to bring them into the sky. He just turned and gazed at the city below, pretending he didn’t hear the quiet sobs to his right. He wanted to put a foreleg around, hold her close and tell her it would be okay. But he didn’t know that would be the case. He really didn’t seem to know anything, he thought to himself. After all, it should have been so easy to tell Twilight how he felt, but any hope of that seemed to be gone. The way she’d looked at him, the tone of her voice as she’d walked away…
He just sat there in silence, resting his head on the edge of the chariot as he heard his sister cry, not having any comforting words for her, or even himself.