Chapter 21: Aftermath
Dan sat up suddenly, gasping and panting heavily, looking around. He wasn't at the battlefield anymore, he was in... "Rainbow Dash's cloud house..." Dan muttered. He looked around and noticed a night stand to his left, on which was a copy of 'Daring Do Book Four.' He then realized he was in Rainbow Dash's cloud bed, and next to him on his right was Rainbow Dash.
"ARGGH!" He leaped up in shock, banging his head on the ceiling and falling back down.
Rainbow Dash yawned and rolled over to look at him, smiling. "Hey, hun." She chuckled as he rubbed his head, growling in pain. "You okay there?"
"Rainbow Dash!" He edged away from her a bit. "I-I didn't... Oh crap, um... I'm...sorry?"
Rainbow Dash reached over and rubbed his muzzle seductively. "For what, Ace? I wasn't complaining..."
Dan edged away a little more, stammering. "The...the battle? What happened with the battle? And...and how did I end up here?" He gulped as he awaited her response.
Instead, she sat up and looked at him in a confused manner. "What battle? Oh... Sigh..." She shook her head. "Were you having nightmares about the Battle of Canterlot again?"
"The Battle of...what now? It already has a name?" Dan scratched his chin with his hoof. "That was quick..."
Dash looked at him like he was crazy. "Dear, that battle happened seven years ago..."
"Seven years-" He hopped out of her bad and looked himself over. "No wounds..." He started shaking. "And...and am I taller? And is this a..." He scratched a small patch of facial hair growing below his chin. "A goatee!?"
"Hun, you're hallucinating..." Dash said, getting up as well. She looked older as well, a little taller, her wings longer, and her mane more flowing. "We'll get you to the hospital, you're sweating up a storm there..."
"No..." Dan raised a hoof. "Stand...stand back, Rainbow Dash. This can't happen..."
Dash shook her head, "I don't know what you're talking about dear... And keep your voice down... You'll wake up the fillies..."
"F-F-FILLIES?" Dan shouted in exasperation.
At this point, two filly Pegasai flew in and shouted, "Morning Daddy!"
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Dan fell to his knees and screamed.
Dan heard a slight beeping noise, like a hospital heart monitor.
"He's waking up... His vitals are all back, Doctor Carousel..." He heard a female voice say.
"Good..." The voice of the doctor responded. "The medicine I gave him seems to be kicking in..."
"Ugh..." Dan uttered as he tried to open his eyes.
"Is that Ace!?" He heard familiar raspy female voice exclaim excitedly. "Is he finally waking up!?"
"Yes..." The doctor said. "Ah! Nooo no no, stay in bed, Rainbow Dash..."
"Awwww..." Rainbow Dash sighed.
Dan finally, blinking heavily, opened his eyes. He raised a hoof in front of his eyes to shield from the brightness. Once his eyes adjusted, he found himself staring up at a white nurse pony and a yellow furred, red maned doctor pony in a white lab coat.
"How are you feeling, hero?" The doctor grinned. "You've been out for quite some time..."
"How...how long?" Dan rubbed his head, which had bandages on it, and looked around. He was in a generic two bed hospital room. He noticed an IV in his left hoof, bandages all around his wounds from his battle, and his right wing was bandaged around where Discord had cut it. One of his bottom legs was in a cast and raised up in front of him.
"A couple days...and maaaan, what boring days they were!" Dan looked over at Rainbow Dash who spoke up, smiling at him. "Finally, somebody to talk to!" Dan noticed her wing was completely bandaged, as it had been crushed by the dragon.
Dan noticed a copy of the Daring Do series on her bed-side table and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Reading is for eggheads, huh?"
She blushed, "Well, I'd rather talk to you than read, Ace..."
"Same here..." Dan looked up at the doc. "Doctor Carousel, was it?"
Carousel nodded. "Dr. Blaze Carousel, at your service." He made a quick little bow. "Master of remedies, concoctions, herbs, and medicines of all kinds..."
"So MD?" Dan raised an eye.
"To put it short..." The doctor chuckled slightly. "Anyway, you got pretty banged up by Discord. You'll be in here for at least a week with Rainbow Dash for company."
"Oh no!" Dan feigned a look of horror on his face. "Alone with Rainbow Dash? You can't do that doc! She'll eat me alive!"
"Knock it off, lover-colt!" Dash chuckled hurling a pillow at Dan. The doctor laughed and caught it as it sailed towards Dan's elevated leg. "That means no rough-housing, now!"
"Fine..." Dash folded her hooves. "But he started it..."
"Did not!" Dan barked at her, but regretted it, as his chest was hurting him. "Ouch..." He muttered quietly.
"Yes, as I was about to say, try to keep your voice down... Damn chaos God did a number on your ribs..." The doctor said, taking a bottle of blue medicine out of his lab coat pocket and showing it to Ace. "Now this is a concoction I brewed up that helped with the mending of your bones in your leg and ribs, which are what's keeping you bed-ridden... Take a teaspoon twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner. The good nurse here will help you."
He handed the bottle to the nurse and the nurse nodded before walking out of the room.
"I'll be back before lights out to check on you..." The doctor said before stepping towards the door.
"Wait! Doc!" Ace raised a hoof.
"Yes?" Blaze turned around, looking at Dan.
"Thank you for everything." Dan smiled.
The Doctor shook his head, smiling. "No, no, Ace. Thank you." With that, he shut the door and left Rainbow Dash and Dan alone.
The two lay in bed in silence for a few moments before Dan leaned his head over in the direction of Rainbow Dash, who was gazing at him, and said, "So, what happened after I defeated Discord?"
"About time you asked!" Dash raised her hooves up in the air and fell back on her pillow. "I was just waiting for it!"
"So?" Dan waved his hoof in a circular manner. "Go on..."
"Well, first you collapsed..." She giggled. Dan rolled his eyes. "I knew that."
"Hey, Ace. You said after you defeated Discord. The first thing did was...ccchhh...faint..." She laughed again.
"You would too after taking punishment like that!" Dan snapped, but gritted his teeth in pain as his chest hurt again. "Continue..."
"So anyway, Captain Sixer, Mic Bluez, and everypony else comes down and starts cheering once they learned what happened. The rain stopped, the sun came out, it was great." She leaned back and closed her eyes, smiling. "You and I were carried back to Ponyville by Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. They checked you and I and the wounded into the hospital. They removed your 7th Element Gear and rushed you into the ER."
She opened her eyes and looked over at Dan, "I thought you were gonna die again..." She chuckled slightly, and so did Dan.
"Oh yeah..." Dan said. "Hard to lose somepony twice, huh?"
"I was in tears when they wheeled me in here and bandaged up my wing..." She said, staring up at the ceiling, the beeping of Dan's monitor the only other sound in the room. "Then, they wheeled you in." She looked over at him. "They said you were in a fatigue-endused coma, and that you would wake up in a couple days..." She smiled. "I knew they were right but..." She blinked away a tear. "Deep down I felt like you were never gonna come back to us... Back to me."
Dan frowned. "I'm not that easy to kill, Dashie..." Dan repeated. " And, I would come back for you... You know that."
"I had my doubts..." Rainbow Dash sighed. "Anyway, Twilight brings me a book, insists that I read, and viola!" She flipped her hooves up in the air. "I'm an egghead..."
"You're not an egghead." Dan sighed and rolled his eyes. "I read too."
"Yeah? What do you read?"
"Music." Dan chuckled.
"Ha ha, Ace..." Dash giggled sarcastically. "Like a real book?"
"Of course! There's something for everypony out there! Like your...what is it...Daring Do thing you got goin' there... Hey, she looks like you, only tan and without the rainbows..." "Indiana Jones, much?"
"I was thinking the same thing..." Dash said, picking up the book. "So, your turn, Ace. What did you do all the time you've been out? Have any interesting dreams? Or life-changing experiences?" She chuckled.
Dan widened his eyes. "Ha...ha ha ha..." Dan laughed nervously. "Nope, just...just blackness. Last thing I remember is the battle."
"I woulda gone crazy!" She put the book down, a look of shock on her face. "What's it like to be out that long?"
"It's like a split second..." Dan explained. "I was on the battlefield, laying in the mud one second, and then the next, I hear beeping and you."
Dan heaved a heavy sigh and closed his eyes. "I'm just glad it's all over..."
Dan heard the covers of Dash's bed come off and the clopping of hooves on the floor. Before Dan could open his eyes, he felt Dash's lips on his. He opened his eyes after Dash broke the kiss. Dash smiled, "Thanks, hero. Couldn't have stopped Discord without you."
Dan blushed. "I'm sure the amazing rainbow Dash could've assembled the Wonderbolts and flown in to save the day..."
She narrowed her eyes lustfully. "True... But still." She leaned in and kissed him again.
Just then, the door slammed open and somepony gasped. Dan and Dash quickly broke apart and turned to see a grinning Pinkie Pie and a blushing Applejack. "SO CUUUTE!" Pinkie squeed, bouncing forward. "Dashie's got a coltfriend! Dashie's got a coltfriend!"
"N-no he's not my-" Dash quickly jumped back into her bed as Applejack stepped forward, followed by the rest of her friends. "Sure looks like it ta me, partner..." She glared a Rainbow Dash.
"Really, dear, must you fight it?" Rarity said, looking back and forth between the two ponies. "You two triggered the element of love, after all."
"That, uh...that doesn't mean anything!" Dash quickly retorted as Dan chuckled quietly to himself.
"Um...it kind of does, Rainbow Dash..." Fluttershy said quietly upon flying in.
"You were kissin' him..." Twilight Sparkle made a fake grossed out look.
"From what I heard, they were all over each other when Ace died!" Spike, who was on Twilight's back, said while chuckling.
"Ok, everypony." Ace raised a hoof. "I'm sure she's had enough... Let her admit it when she's ready..." He looked over at her. Dash blushed and quickly pulled her covers up around her.
"So Ace..." Twilight said, walking up to the edge of his bed. "How does it feel to know you've saved Equestria?"
"Well..." Dan leaned back. "It's a little weird... I didn't think I'd ever in my life-time kill a God..." "I'm so totally Kratos..."
"Yeah, wasn't it foretold the seventh element would seal Discord away fer ever?" Applejack said, also approaching dan's bed.
"Yes..." Twilight said. "I'm looking into why it killed him instead..."
Dan gulped, "Uh, anyway..." He smiled. "How's the town doing? Has everyone calmed down?"
"Oh yes." Fluttershy said, fluttering up to him. "Everypony celebrated when we brought you two home."
"But today..." Rarity broke in. "Everypony is acting as if nothing has happened. You saved the day, Ace!"
"And we couldn't be more glad to have you as a super special friend!" Pinkie Pie said.
Dan smiled, "Am I in on this group of friends now? Like, officially?"
They all nodded in unison, smiling. Even Rainbow Dash off to the side in her bed.
Dan smiled he gazed at them all. "Thanks, guys. It means a lot."
As visiting hours ended and their friends were sent home for the night, Dash and Dan ate their horrible hospital food by lamp-light, watching the Equestria News channel on the television. The reporters would not shut up about what had transpired at Canterlot, but Dan couldn't really blame them.
"If the same thing happened to D.C., it would be all over the news as well..." Dan sighed, taking another bite.
As they went to bed that night, Dash came over and gave him another kiss before getting into bed herself and turning out the light.
Falling asleep, Dan wondered how he could further a romantic relationship with Rainbow Dash when, in reality, he wasn't even a pony. He remembered his nightmare. "I can't do that to her..." Dan thought. "I have a life away from this world... I only came here temporarily anyway... Who knew I would be saving their world? Let alone kiss a pony..."
Dan tossed and turned until finally he thought, "I'm going to have to talk to Celestia once I get out of here..."
OCs:
Dr. Blaze Carousel (c) Le Critical Writer
Mic Bluez (c) Don'tDriveAngry7