//------------------------------// // Chapter XXXIX: Integration // Story: As I'm Falling to Pieces // by Pinkamena Diane Pie //------------------------------// Chapter XXXIX: Integration Rarity stayed in the hospital for three more days after her breakthrough. Twilight said it was for her own safety. But Lightning knew better. She was still afraid Rarity would snap like she had before. She wanted to see if She was completely cure or not. Applejack went down everyday to see her, along with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Their presence seemed to help her. On the third day, Applejack called him down to the hospital. He walked down to Rarity’s room. When he got there, he saw Rarity and Applejack standing outside the room. Rarity was leaning on Applejack, and she looked tired. Twilight was standing off to one side, her expression a mix of joy and sadness. “What's wrong with Rarity?” he asked as we walked up to her. Twilight sighed. “Well, she hasn’t walked in about a month, plus the medicine we have been giving her have taken a toll on her muscle mass. We are going to let her leave today. But she will need help walking for at least two more days.” She shook her head. “I didn’t think that it would have gotten this bad. The change in diet seems to have hit her the hardest.” Lightning couldn’t help but laugh. “Blood? A bad diet? NO?!” He snorted again. Twilight nodded. “I think that I should have just fed her blood for the first week, then slowly changed her diet. This seemed to have done more damage than keep feeding her blood.” she shook her head. “But this was an experiment, and it worked. That is all I care about.” Lightning smiled. Her heart was in the right place, and the fear for her friend showed before his doctoral nature. They watched Applejack help Rarity around the room a couple times. She stumbled and tripped and was getting frustrated with herself. At one point she yelled,” Why the hell can’t I do this?!” scaring Fluttershy, who had just walked into the room. Rarity had been in shock when she first noticed Fluttershy’s hair. But she had come to realize that it was a good look for her. However, Rarity’s own looks were another problem. When she laid back down in the bed after walking for a while, Twilight walked up to her. “Ummm...” she started, not knowing how to say it. “If you would like...I could do some reconstructive surgery to get rid of the scars and....” he voice trailed off. She didn’t want to say self-inflicted wounds. Rarity smiled at her, knowing what she meant. “I would like that.” she said, beaming. But then the smile slipped off her face. “But I want you to leave this,” she pointed at the cauterized heart, “And these.” she pointed up to her eye, where the three scars ran the length of the side of her face. “I want to be able to remember what happened, I just don’t want to look like it.” Twilight nodded, understanding. That night, Rarity was taken into surgery. In the morning, when Applejack pulled Lightning down to see her, she was covered in bandages. But Twilight said that when they healed, she would look good as new. Rarity wanted to talk to Applejack about something, so Lightning waited outside. He could hear laughing and whispering, which only annoyed him. When she came back outside, she was looking cheerful. “What did you talk about?” he asked, curious. Applejack beamed at him. “Just the day we got married, that’s all” Lightning sighed, remembering the day. Suddenly he felt the bracelet around his left hoof, weight he never really felt anymore. Together, they walked towards the mess hall, meeting up with Phoenix and Celia as they did. Lightning noticed that they were both wearing bracelets again. ***** Every day since Rarity had broken through, Applejack had gone down to see her. Lightning didn’t understand how they could be friends. They were polar opposites. But then again, he and Applejack wasn’t exactly one of a kind either. He would follow her down sometimes, just to see how the recovery was going. The bandages from her surgery were gone, and her legs and stomach looked a million times better. Slowly, the bags under her eyes shrank, until she looked about as normal as any ex-Death Hunter could look. Lightning understood why she had left those two marks on her skin. She wanted to remember, she had even said that. But there was something else. She wanted anypony who looked at her to know, she had lived a life that they would die to get out of, and she had survived. Those scars showed a tale, showed that she was strong, and she was a survivor. She hadn’t had any more ‘eruptions’, as Twilight called them. But then again, she hadn’t left her room, and they had decided to take turns being in the room with her. She slowly started to understand life in the Bunker more. Applejack would help her by telling her stories about what went on in the Bunker, and would please her by telling her stories from their past. Finally, about a week after her initial breakthrough, Twilight said she could be released from the hospital. She was given her own W.I.C., which at first she hated. But she figured out that she could decorate it with some ribbons to, ‘Match her eyes!’. She was given her own room, which was actually just down the hall from Fluttershy’s. And last, she was given a hospital bracelet with her name, age, blood type, and finally, “Heavily Medicated” written on side. She stared down at it, then looked at Twilight. “Is that all you think of me?” she said, a fake pout on her lips, which quickly changed into a smile. Twilight smiled back, then opened the door to her room. Rarity walked out. It was the first time that she had ever been outside of her room. She stared around at the blank grey walls, the white, cold linoleum floors. The bright fluorescent lights. Then she turned back to her room, which was painted a bright blue. She looked at Twilight, her expression worried. “Is this what the whole thing looks like?” Twilight nodded. “Any chance I can live in that room?” she asked, a sly smile on her lips. Twilight shook her head “No, you need to be a big Mare and face the world.” Rarity nodded, then walked towards the doors at the end of the hall. Doors that led to the rest of the Bunker. As she walked, doctors and nurses avoided her, moving to the sides of the hall to allow her to pass. Twilight shot them all hateful looks, then continued to follow Rarity. When they reached the doors, she held them open for Rarity, who walked out into the hall for the first time. Applejack and Lightning when with her, but Twilight stayed behind. “Take her up to the mess hall. Get her something to eat.” Twilight said to Applejack, who nodded. Applejack put her fore-leg around Rarity’s shoulders, directing her up the stairs. As they walked, they talked. Talked about what happened after Ponyville, then their lives in the Bunkers. Cautiously, she told Rarity that she had been infected, but Lightning had saved her. Rarity turned back to Lightning and thanked him. He just nodded in return. He didn’t like to talk about that trip. It brought back painful memories of Applejack. Slowly, the sounds of the mess hall met their ears. Rarity stopped when she heard it, her eyes shut tight. Applejack looked concerned. “What is it?” Rarity waved her away, her hooves pressed against her temples. After a couple seconds, she lowered her hooves. “It’s....it’s nothing.” she finally said. “Just some....memories. That’s all.” she started walking back towards the mess hall. Applejack looked at Lightning, worried. She trotted to catch up with Rarity, who was almost at the doors. Rarity’s eyes widened when she walked into the mess hall. “Wow” was all she could say. Lightning had never realized how big the Bunker was until she stared. About a thousand ponies lived in the Bunker, but that was more than twice what Rarity had. She slowly started walking towards the food counter, through the sea of ponies. Every time she was bumped, Applejack flinched. She could tell something was going to happen, but she didn’t know when. She just watch Rarity get jostled around. Finally, it happened. One Pony bumped into her her, hard. She turned her face towards his. “Oh no.” said Applejack. The hope gone from her eyes, Rarity pulled back and punched the pony straight in the stomach. He doubled over with a muffled cry of pain. The she brought both of her front legs down on his back. The pony went sprawling. A circle had formed around her, as ponies tried to get away from her. She prowled the outside of the circle, growling and shrieking. With pounding hooves, guards ran into the circle, tazers ready. Rarity dodged the first strike, pulling back and kicking the guards arm out of the way. Lightning heard the sound of a bone snap. The other guard tried to come up from behind. But Rarity kicked him straight in the chest. All the air left his chest, and he went down gasping. Rarity stared down at the guards, breathing heavy. She looked up and saw Applejack and Lightning standing a few feet away. Slowly her anger fell from her face. Hate turned to nothing, which turned to fear. She looked around, saw the ponies on the ground. She looked up and saw the faces around her. Tears formed in her eyes, and she galloped past Applejack, back out into hall. Applejack started to follow, But Lightning caught her front leg. He shook his head. Applejack turned back and watched Rarity disappear from view. “Why don’t you stay here.” Lightning said, starting to walk away. “They will probably want to do a report on this, and you can give them the full details.” “Where are you going then?” Applejack asked, annoyed. “I’m going to see Rarity.” he said as he took off down the hall. ***** Lightning knew exactly where she would be. Since she didn’t know where her room was, she would have gone back to her old room. He galloped down the halls, passing ponies who still had confused looks from when Rarity passed them. Finally, he made it down to the hospital. Doctors were running back and forth. Trays of pills and syringes were spilled on the floors. It looked like Rarity had given them a fright. Lightning smiled when he saw this. Carefully, he picked around the syringes and turned down the hall leading to Rarity’s room. Twilight was standing outside, talking to the door. “Rarity! Please let me in, I can help!” All that met her calls were the sounds of muffled crying. Lightning walked over, Twilight taking notice. “Do you know what happened?” she asked as he stood next to her. He nodded. “She had another eruption.” he said, his tone low. “She broke a guards wrist and probably broke a rib on another.” Twilight looked shocked. “What caused it?” she asked, worried now. “A Stallion bumped into her, and, I think, all the noise in the mess hall. I think it was too much, too soon.” Twilight nodded. “I should have brought her in slowly, letting the experiences build on each other.” she said, her head bowed. “Now she wont even let me in.” Lightning looked at her, confused. “Aren’t you a unicorn?” Twilight nodded. “And isn’t that a patient in there?” Another nod. “Well, do what needs to be done.” He pointed at her horn, then at the door knob. She bit her bottom lip, but then her horn started to glow. A small click rose from the door. Lightning slowly opened it, ready to fight if he had to. Rarity sat on the bed, her hooves over her eyes. Tears fell from the side of her muzzle, and she hiccuped occasionally. When she heard the door open, she looked up, eyes red and puffy. “I told you to leave me alone.” she said with a trembling voice. But when she saw who it was, she sniffed. “Oh, hi Lightning.” “Hello.” he said, very uncomfortable. He turned back to Twilight, motioning for her to shut the door. She nodded, still biting her lip. The door shut with a small thud, and they were alone. Lightning walked over and sat down on the bed next to her. He was going to put a leg around her shoulder, but then he remembered. Instead, he crossed his fore-legs over his chest. Rarity sniffed again. “You must hate me.” she said, not looking at him. Lightning shook his head. “I don’t hate you, but I’m not going to lie either.” he said, his voice a mixture of apology and sternness. “I don’t trust you. I see no reason to trust you, yet.” She hiccuped when he said that. “But from what I have heard, you were a great friend to Applejack and the others, and that is good enough for me to give you a chance.” Rarity sniffed, bringing her eyes to his. “So you don’t trust me because I was a Death Hunter?” “Exactly.” he said, shifting slightly on the bed. “Less than two months ago, we were prepared to kill each other. I would have killed you if Fluttershy hadn’t stopped me.” She gasped when she heard this. “Fluttershy recognized me?” she asked, her eyes wide. Lightning nodded. “Yes. I don’t know how, but she did.” He stood up, facing her. “That shows me that, even through the scars and blood, she could see a friend. That kind of devotion shows that you were a good friend, and a kind friend.” He held his hoof out to her. “And I am willing to try to meet that pony.” She looked up at him, a smile at the corners of her mouth. She took his hoof, bringing herself to her hooves. She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, then she smiled for real. “Thank you, Lightning.” she reached out and hugged him. She let go and walked towards the door. Opening it, Lightning could see Twilight, he eyes foggy. Rarity stepped out into the hall, and Lightning could tell that she was a changed Mare.