Twilight found herself unable to sit in the waiting room. She was far too anxious, far too concerned for her best friend in the emergency room. She began pacing back and forth, deciding to try and think about something else. She looked around the room, actually observing it for the first time. It wasn't really impressive. The walls, ceiling and floor were simple white tile, and the floor looked like it used to be carpeted.
"We gave up trying to clean the blood stains months ago" said one of the doctors. The ceilings were decorated with long, fluorescent light-tubes that occasionally released a soft buzzing sound. There were three rows of chairs, with two back-to-back rows in the middle row, so it was actually more like four. There were about 25 chairs. A few bookcases were placed against walls, containing either children's books, magazines, or things about pregnancy and childbirth. There were also a few small tables with more magazines on them.
Twilight was the only one in the room aside from a few doctors and two nurses who were all talking to each other. One of the nurses was nice enough to actually try to cheer her up. "It's good you got her here when you did. That cut was pretty bad." The nurse said as she examined the cuts on Twilight, and treated them with some anti-septic fluids, and a bandage wrapped around a particularly bad cut on her right foreleg. Twilight's main concern was still Rainbow's condition.
She kept glancing at the door, knowing Rainbow was somewhere down the hallway on the other side.
Where in Equestria is Luna with Scootaloo? Twilight thought to herself over and over.
About nine minutes after Twilight arrived with Rainbow Dash still on her back, Rainbow was moved from the E.R. to the I.C.U.. It felt like so much longer. The nurse finally began to explain what exactly was going on in there.
"They cleaned her wing and patched it up, which was the primary concern because of the bleeding. After that, they came to notice some spreading damage in her left eye. Whatever it is, it's moving towards her brain. They may need to cut into her eye to remove it if they are unable to magically. The burns were not severe, and will be treated last. I'm confident that she will be fine."
After what seemed like forever, but was probably five minutes, she heard soft, rapid hoofsteps down the hallway opposite the one Rainbow was down. She smiled as the little orange Pegasus walked through the doorway, beaming at Twilight. Princess Luna followed close behind.
Scootaloo ran up and hugged Twilight, saying "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Princess Luna told me how you saved Rainbow and carried her all the way here! You're my hero! I don't know what I would have done without her! Thank you!"
"How are you doing?" Luna asked Twilight.
"My best friend, the one I care much more about than my own existence, is in the Intensive Care Unit. I could be better."
All three of them eventually sat down, Twilight wrapping a wing around the shaking Scootaloo and Luna sitting opposite to them. Apparently, Scootaloo was terrified of hospitals. Twilight just couldn't understand why. After more time passed, a doctor eventually walked through the door and wiped sweat from his forehead. "She will be fine. You may see her, but she is still partially under the effects of anesthesia, so you may want to wait."
After about ten more minutes, the trio decided it was probably long enough. Twilight stood first, lowering a wing to allow Scootaloo to climb on her back from the chair. Twilight walked through the door and followed the doctor to a seemingly random room, with Luna following. He opened the door, and Rainbow immediately lifted her head and smiled brightly at the sight of her savior and her daughter on her back.
Rainbow was lying on her chest. Her entire right wing was bandaged. There was also a bandage wrapped around her head and covering her left eye. There was no longer a black patch in her mane, and there were no signs of the burnt fur. There was an IV drip with a tube extending to her arm.
Scootaloo jumped off Twilight's back and would have landed on Rainbow if not for Twilight's magic catching her in mid air and putting her back down on the floor. She jumped up and down as she bombarded Rainbow with questions.
"How many Changelings did you get? Were they scared of you? How many did it take to bring you down? How many were chasing you?
How did Twilight manage to carry you all the way here? Was the Queen there? Did you get her too? Did Luna help?"
Rainbow smiled and chuckled at her daughter bounding up and down like a puppy.
"We will leave you all alone with each other." Luna said, smiling. "We really must be getting back to Canterlot. My sister must know what has happened, and that the Changelings are indeed here once more. We wish you the best of luck." Luna walked out and magically closed the door behind her.
Rainbow finally answered Scootaloo. "Easy there, kiddo. I didn't get any of 'em. The Queen was there, and she got me good." She said, pointing to her eye, then her wing. Her face flushed slightly when she mentioned that she was so easily beat."Twilight got a ton of those freaks though! It was awesome! You should've seen her, she landed and saved my flank at the last minute, and every time they tried to jump on her, she knocked them right back! Then, she started glowing, and..."
Rainbow continued with her story, giving every little detail all the way up to after Luna saved them. She put a lot of emphasis on the chase through the forest. Sliding under the tree, ramming the Changeling into another tree, knocking right through three more Changelings, jumping Ghastly Gorge...
"Wow Twilight, I never knew you were so awesome!" Scootaloo said excitedly.
"I keep telling you, she's the third coolest pony around!" Rainbow said back, lowering a hoof to mess up Scootaloo's mane. Looking back over to Twilight, Rainbow finally noticed the Cyan feather in her mane. "Umm, Twi... you've got a little something in your mane." Rainbow said, beginning to blush.
Twilight reached into her mane and found the feather. Pulling it out, her face immediately lit up red. She laughed nervously.
"Gee Twilight, I never knew you felt that way." Rainbow teased. Scootaloo looked confused. She had no idea what the feather meant.
"Well, I could always give you one of my feathers to make up for it." Twilight teased back. The two began laughing quite excessively. Scootaloo still had no idea what to say.
"Oh, just keep it you silly filly." Rainbow finally said.
"Can somepony please explain to me what's so funny?" Scootaloo asked.
"Oh, that's right, I never told you how Pegasi show affection. Basically, When A Pegasus really really likes somepony, they offer a feather for the other pony to wear in their mane. It's a way of showing relationship and love." Rainbow explained.
"Oh, so if there are two Pegasi... or a Pegasus and an Alicorn, they both offer a feather?" Scootaloo more guessed than anything.
"Exactly." Twilight said staunchly.
"So does that mean you and Twilight..."
As if on queue, the same doctor that led Twilight into the room in the first place opened the door and entered.
"I don't believe I have introduced myself yet. My name is Hopeful Cure." He was a light tan-ish Unicorn with a caramel mane. His Cutie Mark was a beaker filled with a purple liquid, with hollow purple bubbles excreting from the top. He wore a white lab coat (at least it looked sort of like a lab coat) and square-lensed glasses.
"I oversaw the treatment of your friend here. There were a few complications, but hay, you're alive and kicking."
"Yeah, no thanks to you poking me in the eye with that horn of yours." Rainbow said accusingly.
"I thought I already apologized for that! I was only trying to help get that... thing out of your eye. It looks like it worked to me. Again, you're alive and kicking. Anyway, I came in to give you a full report on the damage, as you both may need to make some decisions. First off, there is no way you will be flying for at least three weeks, and that's with the wing alone." He said to Rainbow.
"Wow. Guess those flying lessons will have to wait, huh Twi?" Rainbow said, smiling nervously at Twilight.
"That's seriously your first concern? If anything, I thought it would be something like Wonderbolts training, or maybe how you and Scootaloo will get to your cloud house every day." Twilight responded.
"Oh horseapples! How are we gonna get home if I can't fly?"
"Well..." Twilight started. After a moment, she let out a deep breath and continued. "You and Scoots could... come live with me and Spike for a while..."
"That sounds awesome!" Scootaloo said, once again jumping into the air and hovering for a moment by rapidly buzzing her wings.
"Well, it does sound pretty cool. Are you sure about this?" Rainbow asked to Twilight.
"Of course! As long as you don't act like Applejack and Rarity did during my first slumber party..." memories of her former friends stung Twilight's eyes. Rainbow immediately felt this in her best friend, and sought to change the subject.
"So, uh, how about this eye?" Rainbow said, pointing a hoof to the lame eye.
"Unfortunately, we have no idea. We have never seen this kind of thing before. Well, there was something a little similar that one time... anyway, your eye began to discolor. We found some sort of magic in there, and it was spreading backwards towards your brain. Luckily, me and one of the other doctors manages to magically remove it. The damage is very unlikely to be permanent, as the last time we looked, it was beginning to recolor. I still wouldn't risk anything for a while." Hopeful explained.
"The wing was a bit of trouble, with all the bleeding, but again, a few weeks and you should be able to fly again. The burns were easily healed with magic, and we even managed to save your mane. You will be fine with time. I recommend you get some rest." He finished, and turned to walk out the door.
"Wait." Twilight said to Hopeful Cure. "Is it okay if... I stay here for the night?"
"Rainbow? It will be your decision." He looked to her for approval. She nodded excitedly, smiling at her new lavender roommate. "And of course your daughter can stay as well." He said before finally leaving the room, turning the lights off, and leaving the door open just a crack.
"Anyway, to answer your question from before, Scoots, me and Twilight are just friends." Rainbow said. Twilight felt her heart tug a bit from the statement, although she was unsure why. She didn't realize that her face was already turning red.
"Then why are you letting her keep that feather?" She pestered on.
"Because it's a best friends thing." Twilight quickly answered. Bothe Rainbow and Scootaloo looked at Twilight's red face, puzzled. How did she know Rainbow was about to say that exact same thing?
"Come on girls, the doctor said Rainbow didn't want to see us." Came Fluttershy's familiar voice from down the hallway.
:That's probably just whatever fancy painkillers they got her on." Came Applejack's unwanted voice.
"But he said Rainbow only wanted her daughter and Twilight in there!" Said Pinkie Pie.
"We are not leaving her in there with that... that... purple pariah!" Said Rarity.
"Hee hee, alliteration!" Said Pinkie.
Rainbow let out a sigh. "Twilight."
"I'm way ahead of you." Twilight said back to Rainbow.
She pointed her horn at the door and released her magic, causing the door to fully open and the doorway itself to be blocked off by translucent purple magic.
"You know, you could've just shut and locked the door." Said Scootaloo.
"Aww, where's the fun in that? Then we wouldn't be able to see the looks on their faces!" Twilight responded. Both Rainbow and her daughter giggled.
When the four ponies outside finally reached the door, Applejack tried bucking the barrier, to no avail.
"You let us in this instant!" Rarity commanded.
"What're you gonna do about it, fancypants?" taunted Scootaloo, as she stuck her tongue out at her best friend's sister.
"You little brat!" She yelled.
"Hay! Don't call my daughter a brat!" Yelled Rainbow Dash.
"Come on, if she doesn't want anyone but Twilight and her daughter, we should respect her decision. We should just leave now." Fluttershy said coyly. The other three turned and stared at her. She stared right back. Before long, they were all leaving the hospital, with Fluttershy staring them down like animals.
"Well, that was certainly interesting." Twilight observed. "I wonder if they noticed the feather".
With the door shut and locked, Scootaloo climbed up on the hospital bed, next to her mother. Twilight pulled up the unused hospital bed, but made sure to keep it about a hooves distance away from Rainbow Dash's bed, to prevent awkwardness.
Despite this, it wasn't long before Twilight found a Cyan wing draped over her. Twilight returned the favor and put her wing over Rainbow's, and they fell into a blissful slumber.