Mender woke up, sprawled out on top of the hill. The impact didn't do him any favors as he had trouble breathing almost immediately. He then thought back to the breathing exercises from two days ago. He would need them again now.
He started with the small, rapid breathing, being careful not to put any more pressure on his chest. He was certain his ribs were broken again, but that couldn't be helped now. He had to look for Dash. If the impact did this much to him already, then Dash would be in no better shape.
He didn't have to look far. A tree at the bottom of the hill had a large branch torn from it from her impact...but that didn't worry him.
What DID worry him was that she was impaled on a branch that extended out from the one she broke.
Despite the immense pain, he set aside the rapid breathing exercise. Dash was in a more dire situation than him right now.
As he approached the damaged tree, he silently cursed that dart for putting them both in this situation. He felt his stomach sink as he took in Dash's condition.
The offending branch pierced her through her chest and out between the wing joints. It barely missed her heart, but the damage would be mortal if he didn't do something fast. Blood was beginning to pool under her slowly, and removing the branch as it is now would certainly kill her from all the excess blood loss it would cause. She wasn't breathing, and Mender wasn't sure if it was due to the dart, the impact rending her unconscious, or both.
He hated the option he had to do, but there was no choice in the matter. He moved behind the impaled Dash and quickly bucked the small branch off the larger one. She fell to the ground, and he was careful in hoisting her upon his back and began to run.
Nightfall had come by the time he reached Ponyville Medical. It wasn't a long time, maybe five minutes, but it felt like thirty. His lungs were burning as his loose ribs bounced against them, but he didn't care about how much he was wrecking his body. He wasn't the one in mortal danger, Dash was.
He burst through the doors immediately, and his darted around for somepony, anypony. They fell upon Nurse Redheart, who heard the noise and looked upon the two in shock.
Mender strained to speak, but his words were clear. They were not a request, but an order. "Operating Room. Prep it for immediate surgery."
Redheart dashed off and started the preparations as Mender carefully laid Dash on the nearest gurney. He wheeled her to where Redheart was gathering the materials required and opened the double doors into the room. It was at this moment that his body gave out as he crumbled to the floor. Nurse Redheart was upon him in an instant.
"Mender, you're hurt too! We need to get you into a room, now!"
"Redheart, where is the resident surgeon?"
"He-" She realized the surgeon pony wasn't here. "He's...not here."
"Then I will NOT take a room." Mender stood up and took small breaths to regain his focus and dull the pain in his chest. "I will have to operate, then."
"Mender, you can't! You're not a registered-"
"Nurse, if I don't do something right now, she WILL die. She has already lost a significant amount of blood and further debate will doom her. Do you understand?"
Nurse Redheart turned quiet...but nodded in response.
"Good. Are the tools ready?"
Another nod came from her as she brought forward all the equipment necessary. Scalpel, forceps, sutures, and other tools were mentally checked off in Mender's mind, but of special note was a small power saw. Everything was there, everything was ready.
Mender took a large breath, ignoring the pain it caused. HE was now ready. He looked to Nurse Redheart, who began procedures to stabilize the patient in front of her. She was ready.
He hoped Dash was ready too.
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The longest hour had passed in that small operating room. Dash was no longer lying on her side as she lied on her chest in the gurney. Meanwhile, the branch that pierced her sat on a tray off to the side, cut into three pieces. Two of which were the extreme ends that stuck out of her, and the last was the one directly inside her body.
The damage inside was extensive as the bark and small twigs stripped off the branch and caused lacerations across multiple organs in the open cavity that was her thrashed back. Mender had spent much of that hour suturing the cuts and removing the bark and twigs carefully from the gaping hole in between her wings. Nurse Redheart had a tray at the ready every time he plucked a piece out of Dash's body, and soon all the fragments that were left of the branch were gone.
The suturing was Mender's magic touch. His hooves flew through the air with extreme precision as the cuts inside closed in the blink of an eye. Redheart stood back as he worked, worried that her interference would break his concentration.
The heart-rate monitor was the only thing making any sound in the room. Rainbow Dash's heart was still pumping. She was still slowly breathing. She was living.
Mender finished up the operation with a final suture to the hole in between her wings. Redheart produced a small medical salve and a bandage, which he applied in order on the wound. The operation was finally complete.
As Mender took a large breath of relief, his body gave out and he collapsed. The last thing he heard was Redheart's worried voice, but he was unable to make out the words.
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Mender didn't know how long he was out when he woke up in a familiar looking bed, with a familiar clean smell. He rose slightly upward from the bed, looking down to see similarly wrapped bandages covering his chest once again. Most likely Redheart's work, no doubt. She was there when he fell in that operating room...but how long has it been since then?
He looked to his left and saw a second bed with a pony in it that was resting. Her prismatic mane hairs told him it was Dash in an instant, and the rising and falling sheets confirmed her life was still within her. He glanced at a calendar beyond her bed that was marked with X's across the days that have passed. It had been a week since that operation, then.
Suddenly, a pink blur shot out from his peripheral vision to his right as he heard a voice that induced a headache instantaneously.
"OH MY GOSH YOU'RE FINALLY AWAKE!"
If Mender had any hearing capabilities in his ears, that was gone thanks to Pinkie's voice. He placed a hoof over her mouth in a simple way of telling her to be quiet. She acknowledged and closed her mouth, waiting for Mender to recover enough to speak.
"Is she alright?"
Pinkie's cheerful demeanor was toned down enough for her voice to be low, yet still squeaky.
"Yeah, she's fine. You did a wonderful job, Mendy."
At this, Mender smiled, then turned his head to the right and saw Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy sitting on chairs against the wall. All of them were jolted awake by Pinkie's voice too, Mender though. An odd thought crossed his mind, and he inadvertently spoke it out loud.
"How long have you five been sitting there?"
Pinkie spoke up for them, as they were still waking up.
"They've all been here since a day after the operation, Mendy."
"That was a week ago! Didn't they have THINGS to do during that time?" He thought for a moment. "Didn't YOU have things to do during that time?"
"We...all did, Mendy. We all had plans, but when we all heard about you and Dash in the hospital, we knew it was serious. Then Nurse Redheart told us about the surgery you performed on her."
It was at this point Mender noticed that Pinkie's mane wasn't poofy, but straight. Dull...and bland. It wasn't like her, he thought.
"They all tried staying up, waiting for either of you to respond. They were all surprised to see Dash wake up first, which was two days ago. Dash tried staying up too, but all of them fell asleep about six hours ago waiting for your sleepy head to wake up."
"I'm guessing you simply stayed up that entire week, then? How did you not sleep?" Mender asked
Pinkie tilted her head to the side. "I'm not sure, I guess it's just me."
Mender didn't even bother trying to figure out what that even meant. His headache still lingered.
Finally, Twilight rose from the chair she was on and approached him.
"Mender, I'm glad to see you and Dash are okay."
"Eh, it was no biggie. Just had to remove a tree branch from a dying pony, is all. Happens maybe twice a month for me on average."
"Your sense of humor hasn't gone away, I see." Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Hey, don't mock my jokes. Sarcasm's my lifeblood."
She shook her head. "Mender...what happened back there? Dash didn't remember anything other than something biting her."
Mender closed his eyes. "It wasn't a bite. It was a tranquilizer dart."
He didn't see it, but could sense Twilight's eyes widen. "What?!"
"A tranquilizer. Someone attempted to kill me on the way to Ponyville Medical."
"You?" She wondered about his choice of words before Mender clarified and removed any lingering doubts.
"Yes, me. I was the target. She was collateral damage, I'm sure of that."
"...how do you know this?" Her voice was cold.
Mender considered lying again, but Applejack finished waking up along with Rarity and Fluttershy in the back of the room. No...he would need to delay the explanation until later.
"Twilight, as important as this conversation is, it must be saved for another time. I can't tell you everything now, but I promise I will as soon as I recover?"
She mulled it over for a moment before asking, "Pinkie Promise?"
"Pinkie what?"
Pinkie chimed in. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" She crossed her chest, then put a hoof over her eye.
"...I'm confused."
"It means it's a promise you can't break...and if you try to, Pinkie will come and gently remind you not to try. Should you break that promise, Pinkie will come for you..."
A chill flew down Mender's spine as she trailed off. "...and?"
"Nopony knows what happens, but nopony has lived to tell." Twilight's voice sounded very sinister for a moment.
"...can I not make that promise then? I hate making potentially lethal arrangements."
"MENDER!"
"Dammit, fine!" Mender swallowed as he recited the words. "Cross my heart and...hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
Mender mimicked the motions Pinkie made, simultaneously thinking he was signing his life over to some unknown cosmic forces at that very moment. Cosmic forces that would be VERY displeased should he break that promise. Pinkie's eyes seemed to glass over for an instant before she returned to her bubbly, cheery self.
"Well then, now that this little situation is settled, I think I need some alone time. You can all go back to doing what you need to, I can make sure neither Dash or I die from here on out."
Mender chuckled at his own words, and that seemed to lighten the mood enough to get the other ponies out of the room, leaving just him and Dash.
Mender sighed, the headache was still there. "Ugh, my head's pounding thanks to Pinkie's mouth."
"That's what she said." Dash sat up in her bed, wearing a soft smile.
Oh great, that joke again.
"Shouldn't you still be resting? You took more of a beating than I did."
"Hey, I wasn't aware of how bad my injuries were until I woke up in here two days ago! You're the one who takes their sweet time getting up."
"Hey, I'm brittle you know. I savor my resting periods."
Dash huffed in slight frustration, and Mender laughed. The chest pain came back, and Mender started taking small breaths.
"Heh, looks like the impact hurt you more than it did me, old timer."
Ugh, this mare. "If I wasn't busy making sure my lungs were functioning, I'd punch you for that quip."
"Hey now, doctors shouldn't be harming their patients." Dash's face went from happy to slightly angry.
"Oh, so I'm a doctor now, huh? Last I checked, I was still a retired army medic."
"I don't care what you were!" Her shout silenced whatever Mender was about to say. Her demeanor changed to thankful in that moment. "I mean...I wanted to say thanks for saving my life."
Mender couldn't help but soften up. "Don't mention it, Dash. Saving lives is my job...was my job, but still is, in a way. I still owe you, though."
"What? Why?"
"I still haven't repaid the debt from the first time you airlifted me here."
"Oh, that? Please, that's way in the past now...and from what I heard about my injury, I think I'm the one that owes you now."
Dash? Owing him something? He smirked.
"Oh, well in that case, I want some pristine clear skies over my house for a month, two cases of Cloudsdale Ale, and two of those nice showmares from the Mile High Club I've heard so much about."
Dash laughed, and so did Mender. They both knew that wasn't a serious request.
"Haaaaa...seriously though, I hate owing ponies favors, but I hate ponies owing me favors even more. I insist that our debts be even, then."
"Hee hee, deal."
Mender was about to extend his hoof, but he added one more condition. "Oh, and no more of those 'she said' jokes."
Dash smirked and extended hers. Neither could meet, but it didn't matter. "No promises."
At that moment, Nurse Redheart entered the room. She smiled at Dash, but glared at Mender. She approached his bedside and smacked him across the face.
"Ow! What did I do?"
"Barely two days have passed since you last came here, and you're already back in a hospital bed for a week!"
Redheart was fuming. He wasn't surprised.
"Hey, it's not like I go off and purposefully get myself injured so I keep coming back here, you know!"
Redheart calmed down slightly, but was still clearly mad. "I know that, but you somehow keep ending up in danger, Mender!"
"That's not true!" Mender paused. He wondered if that was actually the case...nah. "Danger just keeps finding me. There's a difference."
Redheart sighed, then asked a barbed question. "You haven't even paid your last bill. How do you expect to pay for our services if you're not even working yet?"
This caught Mender off-guard. "I...I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?! Did you forget what you did last week?"
"I saved Dash's life. What of it?"
"Well, our resident doctor came back while you were out. He examined Dash's recovering injuries, and he was very impressed with your work, Mender. He was even more impressed considering how badly you were injured while you performed, though I personally thought that was reckless. He thinks otherwise, and has an offer for you that you can't refuse."
Oh no, she isn't about to suggest-
"He's formally extended a job invitation to you to work at Ponyville Medical as a resident field surgeon. It's already been approved by the Mayor, so all we need is for you to accept."
Yep, she did. A job offer from Ponyville Medical.
Mender thought about the offer carefully. He still hasn't established himself in Ponyville yet outside of being the one who owns the creepy house near Sweet Apple Acres...and he still hasn't found a job yet on account of being in the hospital for the better part of over half a month. He then remembered that he still hasn't formally bought any food for his home yet, still reliant on handouts from Applejack, which she clarified as now being gone.
He needed steady funds now, and in comes a job related to his field of expertise flying in on a silver platter. That, and having a reputation as a surgeon couldn't hurt him. As far as he was aware, he had no reason to refuse.
"I accept."
Mender's stomach began to inexplicably knot up as those two words left his mouth.