The soft chirping of birds brought Thunderball back to consciousness. The soft, warm cloud that his body rested on invited him back to slumber, but his mind was too curious to rest. 'Is this place the Elysian Fields?' he wondered. 'Funny. I never thought I'd end up here after everything that I've done.'
"Ooh! He's coming to!" a familiar voice cheered. Thunderball's eyes instantly shot open in terror. There was no way Rarity would be in Heaven with him. Had he woken up in Tartarus instead?
He was, in fact, in a brightly lit two–person hospital room, surrounded by medical equipment whose wires and tubes criss–crossed his body. Several, including a heartbeat monitor and an EKG machine, began to beep loudly as he regained consciousness. He looked around the sterile white room and saw Rarity sitting by the other bed, which had its curtains drawn. A warm breeze wafted in through the open window; judging from the position of the moon, it was very late at night. The door opened, and Princess Twilight came in, followed closely by her friends.
"Your Highness!" Thunderball immediately struggled to get up, only to be restrained by Twilight's telekinetic field.
"No!" Nurse Redheart burst into the room a second later and firmly, but gently, pushed him back into bed. "We did not just spend 14 hours dragging a legally dead pony back to life only for him to kill himself in the ICU! Do you have any idea how much paperwork I'd have to fill out?"
Thunderball reluctantly allowed himself to be bundled into his sheets. "You know, I could have sworn I bled out in front of the library. How'd I survive?"
The ponies looked at each other. Twilight was the first to speak. "Emergency blood transfusion. Princess Celestia clamped your severed blood vessels while I hooked you up to a transfusion kit."
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I still can't believe Twilight had one of those on hand. "Talk about paranoid."
Twilight bristled at the accusation. "I'm not paranoid, I'm properly prepared!"
Rainbow laughed and nudged Twilight in the ribs. "Well, at least it wasn’t because Pinkie had them stashed all over Equestria. Right, Pinkie?"
Pinkie Pie looked up at the ceiling and whistled nonchalantly.
Rainbow cleared her throat. "I said, right, Pinkie?"
Pinkie Pie gave a nervous laugh. "Well, um..."
Rainbow could not believe what she was hearing. "You’re kidding."
"Hey!" Pinkie squawked. "I’ll have you know I keep those stashed around Ponyville in case of vampony emergencies! Better to have vampony food than be vampony food!"
Twilight visibly struggled to understand Pinkie’s logic. "But where would you get...? Oh, never mind."
"Now that’s just creepy," Applejack added with a shudder. "Raises more questions than answers if ya’ ask me."
Thunderball chuckled at the surreal conversation playing out in front of him. "Well, I'm glad you read my file, Your Highness. I doubt anypony’d have been able to find my bloodtype otherwise. I guess I should start wearing my dog–tags at all times."
Twilight cleared her throat uncomfortably. "I couldn't actually remember it in the commotion."
Thunderball looked around the room in puzzlement. "Then how'd you know to find a O– donor?"
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as every other pony glanced uneasily at the other bed. Thunderball felt his hair stand on end as Applejack opened the curtain to reveal a heavily bandaged Bonling. The changeling timidly glanced into Thunderball's eyes before looking away again.
"What–?"
Twilight placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Thunderball, just give us a chance to explain." She gave him a moment to recover from the shock before continuing. "Bonling was just trying to help."
Bonling staring straight at the wall in front of her. "A skilled changeling can mimic a pony down to the genetic level if we have a blood or tissue sample to work off of. I just changed my blood to match yours and supplied you until the ambulance arrived."
Thunderball's expression was inscrutable as he stared down at his hooves in stony silence.
"I think you need some time to yourself," Twilight said as she blocked his view of Bonling with his curtain. The princess patted his shoulder gently and motioned her friends to leave. "The doctor tells me it'll be around two weeks before you can leave – perhaps less if Zecora has any remedies. We'll try to keep you company while you're here."
"Thank you, Your Highness," Thunderball mumbled.
Twilight shook her head as she walked up to the door. "We're friends now. Are you ever going to stop addressing me as 'Your Highness'?"
"Maybe when I'm off duty." Twilight perked up at the statement, and Thunderball smirked. "I said 'maybe,' Your Highness."
"I swear by Celestia's mane, I am going to make sure you live long enough to regret that," Twilight threatened before leaving, convincingly enough that Thunderball wondered if she really meant it.
There was a gentle clopping sound that echoed from beyond the door, and he looked up to see Rarity trotting into the room levitating a small wooden box, followed by Celestia in all her royal glory.
"Hello, Thunderball. I’m so glad to see you alive. I’ve talked with your superior officers, and we’ve decided to put you on medical leave. Now, I want you to take good care of yourself while you’re hospitalized, is that clear?"
Thunderball nodded, too stunned by the sudden presence of the princess to speak. Rarity placed the box on his lap and opened it for him. The light caught on a four pointed star’s silver surface and refracted in a scintillating pattern that left Rarity bedazzled and Thunderball in awe. It was the Star of Equestria, a medal awarded for uncommon valor above and beyond the call of duty. The medal itself might not have been worth much – many who deserved recognition for their deeds never received one – but the fact that Celestia had personally given this one to him left him shocked.
Celestia winked covertly at Rarity as she conjured a blank–covered book. "By the way, I brought you some required reading material while you're recuperating, Thunderball. I want you to read it and promise to do your best when the time comes to use it."
Thunderball caught the book in his lap. "O–Of course, Your Majesty."
"I'm dreadfully sorry," Rarity began after a moment, "but I simply lost my head in all the excitement and forgot to tell you that Goldengrape said he'd be willing to postpone your date for a while. He's in no hurry – in fact, I think it might be better for him to have more time to get over his breakup. You don't have to worry about a thing."
Thunderball glanced from unicorn to alicorn in dawning horror, rendered speechless before his diarch, who had just heard Rarity label him as gay. He looked at her, expecting to see a trace of anger or disappointment in her face, but only saw an expression of serenity. To distract himself from the awkward situation, he opened the book to read the first chapter's title, since its cover itself was bound in silk and devoid of text: How to make the best of your first date with another colt.
"Oh buck no," he groaned.
Celestia cocked her head. "What was that?"
"N–Nothing, Your Majesty," Thunderball stuttered in embarrassment.
"Good." Celestia beamed happily. "Now, to avoid discharging such an honored hero of Equestria, I've decided to take advantage of the popular support for you to push for a repeal of Parliament's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy and allow gay ponies to serve openly in our armed forces!"
"That's great, Your Maj—" He blinked. "What?"
"As the first openly gay servicepony, you are blazing the way for others to live their lives without hiding who they really are! I've always believed that everypony should have a chance to love anypony they want, so long as it's consensual. Good luck, Captain!" Celestia waved her mane at him and walked out of the room, trying desperately to keep a straight face.
Rarity swooned. "The wounded warrior and his heart's fondest desire! It's all so romantic! Ta–ta, Captain! I'll send Goldengrape your regards!" She turned and cantered out merrily, closing the door behind her.
Thunderball stared at the doorway in front of him, occasionally hearing a rustling sound from the other side of his curtain. After several long minutes, he pushed open the curtains to see Bonling lying on her side and watching the night sky.
"Bonling?" he asked tersely.
The changeling turned around to face him, her nervousness showing in her alien eyes. "Y–Yes?"
"Thanks." He spoke so quickly that Bonling was unsure if she had actually heard it.
"It was nothing," she said bashfully. "Oh, and Captain? Congratulations on your promotion, as well as on finding your very special somepony."
Thunderball threw his pillow at Bonling and hit her in the face.