Wrapped up in their embrace, Trixie’s heart skipped a beat as Rainbow Dash told her she had a question for her. Ignoring Applejack entirely, Trixie stared up into those magenta eyes, with her ears stood up straight. A brief thought spared to the notion that she’d been able to feel Rainbow Dash’s heartbeat all this time. Th-that means she can feel mine to doesn’t it?
Trixie tried to swallow, but her mouth felt so dry. While Rainbow Dash took a breath, in that short window a dozen thoughts raced through Trixie’s mind. Is she going to? Can this day get any better? Trixie knew coming here was a fantastic idea! What do I do? Rainbow’s been so great all day! Well during the morning and evening anyway! This is wonderful! May—
“Do you want to go back to the hospital, or stay here?”
Blinking rapidly a few times, Trixie tilted her head. “THAT is your stupid question? What is with you and asking rhetorical questions tonight!”
“Stupid? Rhetorical?” Rainbow Dash looked taken aback.
“It means yer asking fer directions when ya already know the way, Rainbow.” Applejack filled in for her oblivious friend, while she scooted back away from the pair as far as the couch would allow.
“Yes that! See even the country bumpkin knows you’re a mule! No offence Applejack.”
“None taken.” Applejack tried to stay out of it any further.
“Trixie practically crawled here to see you two again and you’re asking if she wants to go back to that itchy, boring jail cell all alone? Can’t you just assume the accursed obvious?” Her angry rant was somewhat diminished in impact by the fact that Trixie, despite her anger, refused to untangle herself from Rainbow Dash.
“What’s with me? What’s with you?! I thought you’d be happy I asked your opinion, you liked it just a minute ago!” Rainbow Dash ears perked up then she pulled herself away from Trixie and trotted towards the door. “It’s not going to be like that twice. Fluttershy will visit, and I’ll visit as much as they let me. I promise. So I need to know what you want! You’re the one that said I should not assume things about you!”
Trixie stifled a whine as Rainbow Dash pulled away. “Can’t you just read the mood or something! Does Trixie have to spell it out across the sky in sparkly green letters? Of course Trixie wants to stay here!” Her vision of the room doubled and Trixie set her hooves on the couch cushions and shook her head trying to clear it. C-curses, not now!
“There was that so hard? I just wanted to hear you say it.” Rainbow Dash rested her hoof on the wooden door and ran it horizontal groove in the middle, checking the metal latch that locked the top and bottom parts together. She held the door in hoof while looking out the opening, enjoying the cool night breeze on her fur.
Trixie laid down on the couch to stop the room from spinning. She could see a cyan and prismatic blur standing at the door and stretched out a hoof. “Don’t leave. Trixie is sorry…”
“Hey, Applejack, could you do me a favor? Go upstairs and open the bed room window?” Rainbow Dash did not break away from looking outside.
“What? Well Ah guess Ah could do that.” Applejack looked unsure of the odd request, but rose up and made her way up stairs. A few moments later a soft, brief creaking could be heard from outside and upstairs.
It didn’t make much sense to Trixie, but each attempt at thinking about it just aggravated her headache further. Trixie stared at Rainbow Dash in confusion through one eye, she had closed the other to get rid of the doubled vision, then perked up her ears. What’s that sound? It’s coming closer. Hoofsteps?
Trixie could not really see outside, the candlelight in the window near the door made it impossible to look through it. However she was certain she could hear ponies approaching and soon could even hear voices.
“Well we can’t be certain that she is there, but if she was not I am fairly confident she would have flown back to inform Fluttershy.” Nurse Redheart spoke.
“Oh… I hope she’s okay. Rainbow Dash? Is that you?” The sound of Fluttershy’s voice brought a smile to Trixie’s face.
Nurse Redheart quickened her pace and trotted up towards the front door, the pale candle light caught her just enough that Trixie could see her. “Good there you are, Rainbow Dash! Why did you not report back after you got here? So is Trixie there? Rainb—”
Rainbow Dash slammed the door shut in Nurse Redheart’s face. “You are banned! Come back when you break an Equestrian record.”
Trixie flinched as the loud sound reached her ears and closed her eyes with a soft hiss. She could guess what would come next, and brought her hooves up over her ears. Sure enough she could hear the muffled sounds of an extremely angry Nurse Redheart coming from behind the door.
“Redheart, are you alright!” Trixie was not quite sure who the voice belonged to, but it sounded similar to the nurse she had spoken to in the afternoon just long enough to get ignored by her. Oh great she’s here too? Just what Trixie needed. She rolled her eyes.
“Open this door right now! Do you think you’re being clever?!” Nurse Redheart’s voice was nearly unrecognizable.
Rainbow Dash’s first response was to ignore her completely. “Fluttershy, take the window above you.” Trixie could swear Rainbow Dash was taking way too much pleasure in her defiant act. If she had to guess this was a grudge Rainbow Dash had been nurturing for a while.
“Up here, Sugarcube.” The sound of hooves hitting something up above soon followed, then a pair of voices, but it was too muffled for Trixie to make out. Especially with Rainbow Dash and Nurse Redheart’s faceoff taking place in right on the other side of the room.
“Calm down, ponies are trying to rest here. You keep shouting and I will ban you from more than just a room.”
The door shook under the pounding it took outside. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash carried on with another comment that on the face of it seemed fairly reasonable to Trixie, but she was pretty sure Rainbow Dash had an ulterior motive for.
“Rainbow Dash, I swear if you don’t open this door right now I will personally see to it that there are no comic books in your room next time you're in the hospital, or ever again for that matter!”
“Why don’t you go see if she’s powdering her nose outside!”
Trixie raised a brow. Now that one made no sense.
A hint of something yellow out of the corner of her eye quickly drew Trixie's attention. She spotted Fluttershy coming down the stairs, with Applejack not far behind. "Hey Fluttershy!" She waved excitedly at first, and slightly less so when she found out doing so made her head start to spin again. Quickly after this, Trixie dropped her hoof back onto the couch to steady herself. It seemed to pay off though as Fluttershy immediately came closer. Worth it.
“Trixie are you alright? Oh I was worried sick about you! Please don’t ever do that again! Uhm, if you don’t mind.” Fluttershy’s hooves were all over Trixie, much to her delight. It took a moment for Trixie to realize that Fluttershy was checking her for injuries and warning signals.
Nodding her head, Trixie gave a warm smile at Fluttershy. “Trixie is fine, Fluttershy, she is just a little bit dizzy.” Any thoughts Trixie might have had of controlling herself went right out the window, and she reached out her hooves around Fluttershy and pulled her closer. “I-I’ve missed you. Both of you. Why didn’t you tell Trixie anything?”
Fluttershy eeped softly as Trixie hugged her, giving a glance towards the door where Rainbow Dash and Nurse Redheart were still going at it with undiminished energy. She looked back down to meet Trixie’s eyes with a guilty look. “I’m sorry. You were not supposed to have any more stress, and I thought that telling you we were going to climb a mountain to literally wake up a sleeping dragon would be very stressful. ”
Trixie’s eyes went wide as plates. “YOU WENT WHAT?!” Trixie screamed loud enough to actually draw the attention of Rainbow Dash and Nurse Redheart away from their argument. “That is way worse than a fire! Why were you going there of all ponies? And who wakes up a sleeping dragon! Do you have any idea how lethal that is historically? Trixie knows over twelve tragic saga’s on that premise alone! And and Gah!” She winced as she brought her hooves up to her head trying hard to keep it from exploding. “T-Trixie’s fine! Don’t wor-worry. Just give her a, grahh, minute.”
“Whoa, Trixie, relax! None of those saga’s had me in it after all!” Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest in pride. “I’m so awesome that I kicked that dragon right in the face! Oh man you should have seen it!”
“Not helping Rainbow!” Applejack scolded.
Fluttershy shook her head. “But she is right, this is was nothing like those stories. This dragon was very understanding. We all made it back fine, see?” It did not seem to help much. Trixie closed her eyes trying her best not to think about the sheer insanity of their task, and how they went about it if Rainbow Dash was to be believed.
With everypony inside distracted for a moment, Nurse Redheart and Nurse Manners pushed the door open to a crack before Rainbow Dash caught on and pressed herself against the door to stop them from getting through. One hoof in the door was already making it impossible to close it again though. “Oh no you don’t!” While she was busy with pushing the door, Rainbow Dash looked towards the pained Trixie. “Hey, Fluttershy, I dunno try giving her a hug or something! Turns out she likes that! Maybe it’ll calm her down.”
“W-what? Uhm uh if you say so, Rainbow Dash.”
Trixie’s ears perked up at the brief exchange between the two pegasi. She did not feel like she needed any special attention to deal with her headache, after all Trixie had dealt with plenty of them already, but she was not about to tell them that! Best. Suggestion. Ever. All is forgiven Rainbow Dash.
Applejack joined Rainbow Dash in her efforts to keep the door from letting anymore ponies in. “Y’all reckon this is really such a great idea? How is this making it any less stressful on the gal? Cant y’all calm down fer five seconds?”
Following Rainbow Dash’s suggestion, Fluttershy climbed onto the couch. Trixie could feel Fluttershy sitting next to her, but the expected incredibly soft and warm embrace Trixie looked forward to did not happen. Growing impatient, Trixie peeked a glance towards Fluttershy. Trixie found her fidgeting uncomfortably while she looked at Trixie, self-consciousness written clear on her blushing face.
“Yes that is a very reasonable thing to say Applejack.” Nurse Redheart sounded only slightly less livid. “So if you would kindly subdue Rainbow Dash there, then we can have a calm civil discussion about just how much it hurts to get a door slammed into your muzzle. All I am trying to do is help that poor mare!”
Aww come on Fluttershy. It’s not hard. Uhm ahh... Oh got it! What if they come in? Will they take Trixie away? What if they start a fight? Could the noise attract big animals? Ahah, this is really working! The Great and Powerful Tr—Gaahhh! Trixie closed her eyes tightly as she felt a fresh searing pain pierce her skull and shook all over as she fought it. Soon she felt something besides shaking and pain, A gentle soft warmth all around her.
Fluttershy gasped as Trixie suddenly got worse before her eyes, and in an effort to help pulled the suffering unicorn into her embrace. Fluttershy could not be sure if it would really work, or if Rainbow Dash was pranking her. But it was not the first time that she’d calmed Trixie down like this so she did have something to go on. Already she could feel it worked as Trixie’s shaking diminished.
Meanwhile the struggle by the door had gotten more intense. The door was open by just one hoof still, and between Rainbow Dash and Applejack it was not about to budge, but Nurse Redheart and Nurse Manners had figured out it was a two part door and had their hooves feeling around the door for the latch. It was fairly easy to defend the latch, but it meant not pushing against the door which the nurses alternated their attention between.
Finally the latch connecting the doors was knocked loose, a triumphant cry came from the otherside of the door. It was quickly followed by an entirely different cry as the top half of the door was franticly slammed shut, the hoof in the door was only on the lower half.
“Ohhw! The muzzle again!? I’ve had it, Rainbow Dash!”
Trixie did not honestly pay it all much mind. She simply snuggled up against the soft fur of Fluttershy with a delighted smile, the throbbing in her head actually did seem to go away quicker. This is wonderful, totally worth it.
“Hey! You can’t pin that on me! What on Equestria made you think that was a good idea!? Of course it was gonna do that.”
“She’s got ya there ya know. That was mighty foolish, ya okay though? Ah didn’t mean ta hurt ya Nurse Redheart.”
“…I’m fine, it did not hit me as hard as I think it would have, like something slowed it do—Oh sweet Celestia! Manners! Bedside, are you okay?!” All resistance on the door vanished and it slammed shut.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked at each other and gulped worried. Neither had any intention of actually hurting anypony.
“She’s not breathing!”
In a single motion, Rainbow Dash and Applejack pulled the door open and rushed outside. Where they found Nurse Manners flat on the ground with Nurse Redheart frantically pushed down on her chest, then checking her pulse and going back to pressing.
This time even Trixie could not in good conscience remain passive, even if she did not like Nurse Manners it was not as if she wanted the poor mare to die. Reluctantly she pulled away from Fluttershy and gave a nod to her. “Go, Trixie is fine.”
“Rainbow Dash! Come here, do what I’m doing! Don’t stop!” She repeated the pushing motion a few more times then let Rainbow Dash take over. While she gave Applejack the task of counting the number of pulses each minute.
“Okay good, keep doing that and—” The door slammed closed, and locked. “Ahum, okay good where was I? Ah yes. Hello Fluttershy, Trixie. I hope I didn’t scare you?”
“W-what? Uhm I-I’m sorry but shouldn’t you be taking care of Nurse Manners?” Fluttershy mumbled quietly.
“What in tarnation!? Ya aint hit! Yer muzzle is fine!” Applejack cried out from outside.
“I am sorry Miss Apple, but you have to understand you cannot keep a patient away from medical care.”
A rapid wing beat followed by a thud on the door revealed Rainbow Dash had discovered the door was locked. “Redheart! That’s cheating!”
“Oh as if you of all ponies is going to give me a lecture on pranking. Just admit I’ve outsmarted you.” Nurse Redheart showed that same confident sly grin Trixie had seen back in the hospital, though her poor white muzzle was bruised and bloodied this time around, making her look rather deranged.
Trixie had to admit it was true, the nurse had shown before that she was quite capable of using her wits to deal with Rainbow Dash. “Congratulations you’ve proven you are smarter than Rainbow Dash, you must be so proud.” Trixie gave a weary smile.
“That’s not very nice, Trixie…” Fluttershy whispered. “Nurse Redheart, you’re hurt. Won’t you let me take care of that?”
“I’m fine Fluttershy thank you. If it is all the same with you I would rather we just get this over with. You and Trixie follow me. We’re getting out of here. We need to run some tests, make sure Trixie is okay. Then get her prepared for her talk with Mayor Mare, and make sure she does not get lost again. If we hurry I will still have time left to burn every comic book in the hospital, just in case Rainbow Dash ever ends up there. Which, let’s be honest, is only a matter of time.”
It was not clear if it was the tone, the blood dripping muzzle, or the wild look in the mares eye, but Trixie did not like the sound of any of that. To be fair she’s been dealing with Rainbow Dash for a while, I guess that would drive anypony crazy.
“She is not going anywhere.” Rainbow Dash loomed up behind Nurse Redheart.
“Gah! How on Equestria did you get in here?!”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “The bed room window? Duh.”
Outside, Nurse Manners and Applejack sat on the grass of the meadow, and just looked up at the stars.
“So yer name is Bedside Manners?” Applejack said, trying to ignore the slightly deranged speech inside.
“Yes Miss Apple.” Nurse Manners winced a little as she heard the racket going on behind them hit a peak.
“I reckon it would be bad bedside manners ta call those two insane?”
“Yes, but it it would also be pure honesty.” Nurse Manners gave a playful wink. ”So, how is dear Big Mac doing? He skipped his last physical, I was so disappointed.”
“Wait what?”
Meanwhile Rainbow Dash and Nurse Redheart were at one another’s throats, the frustrations of the last couple days well and truly in full swing. Yelling and arguing getting ever louder and mere seconds away from fully exploding.
“You are crazy if you think I’m letting you take her back to that deathtrap you call a hospital! Look what you did: you starved her, let her leave, and near kill herself!”
“What you think that is any worse than near killing her yourself!? What we did merely counts a gross negligence, you are on full blown murder charges!”
“Are you kidding me! At least it took a week for something that serious to happen for us, you only needed a day! I hate to think what I’d find if I left her there a whole week!”
Fluttershy and Trixie sat on the couch clinging to each other while the shouting match gradually escalated. As much as she had seen the past week, even for Trixie this was genuinely terrifying. Trixie was sure this was going absolutely nowhere good, she’d like to say she had never seen Rainbow Dash so angry, but that was a lie, she knew it could get a bit worse still and dreaded it getting there. A gentle nudging from Fluttershy’s muzzle drew her attention. “F-Fluttershy?”
“Uhm Trixie, I… I’m sorry for what happened.” Trixie could barely hear Fluttershy’s soft gentle voice while the shouting match continued. “But uhm do you think you could maybe give me another chance? I promise I’ll try to do better this time so uhm… W-would you like to stay here again? It’s okay if you don’t want to. I-I would understand.”
Trixie stared at Fluttershy in disbelief, mouthing wordlessly before she just gave up and nodded. Earning a warm smile from Fluttershy, pulling her tighter into the hug before gently letting go.
“And another thing!” Rainbow Dash and Nurse Redheart said in unison. “If you don’t sh—”
“Quiet! Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves? Trixie is right here and you both know she is not supposed to get any stress. What could be more stressful than having two ponies that are claiming to know what’s best for her fight like feral dragons!” Fluttershy spoke up, barely as loud as a normal ponies speaking voice, but to Trixie, and anypony else in the room, Fluttershy might as well have been using the Royal Canterlot voice.
“But!” They both tried.
“No. If you both had just calmed down and talked about this nothing would have happened. But you were both so wrapped up in your petty grudges that you were only using Trixie as a way to get back at the other. And that is no way to for a caretaker to behave, look at her she’s scared.”
Rainbow Dash and Nurse Redheart were silent and stared at Fluttershy in shock.
Fluttershy lifted a hoof to stroke Trixie’s mane, and looked at her with that kind smile that made Trixie feel so warm inside. “Trixie has agreed to give it another try here. So there is no point in fighting any further. It is settled.”
“That, that is right. Trixie chooses to stay here one more time.” Trixie just barely managed to utter the words, but she felt she had to confirm the story.
A stern glare turned back on the stunned pair. “So now do you see how inconsiderate you were being? Apologize.”
“Sorry, Fluttershy.”
“My apologies, Fluttershy.”
“Not to me, to Trixie. And then to eachother. I’m waiting.”
“Hey, Sorry, Trixie… Sorry for the door, Nurse Redheart, and the yelling”
“Forgive me, Trixie… Rainbow Dash, I’m sorry for what happened.”
“That’s better. Now you two go outside and apologize to Applejack and Nurse Manners for roping them into this. I’ll put on some tea for everypony, and after that it’s time for bed.”
Trixie watched as Nurse Redheart and Rainbow Dash both turned around and trotted out side, dragging their hooves. Slowly she brought her gaze back up to Fluttershy, but it was still the same wonderful sweetheart staring back at her.
“What the hay just happened?”