“The X-rays have been sent to the doctors. After they’ve been analyzed, the doctors will come and give you the results.”
“Thank you, High Flyer,” Mom sighed. “May we please go see my husband now? My mother-in-law is already there, but I didn’t want to leave here until I saw Crimson myself.”
High Flyer responded, “Absolutely. Do you know where the adult Cardiology wing is?”
Mom nodded. “Yes, we always pass it when we come for Crimson’s biopsies.”
“Okay. Take my spare pager— I will page you when the doctors are ready to see you. I hope everything is alright with your husband.”
“Thank you.” Mom turned to me and said, “Let’s go, sweetheart. I’m glad to see you’re feeling alright.”
I nodded, then turned toward the window. “You don’t have to stay in here alone, Tess. I’m sure my dad’ll want to thank you, anyway.”
Tess flinched at my remark. “Oh… okay,” she responded, then followed us out the door.
As we trotted down the hall, my pole rolling beside me, I told Mom everything that happened. Her facial expressions were in constant flux, and she kept alternating looking at me and looking forward, but she kept a steady pace. As the three of us waited in the elevator, Mom said, “Tesla, words cannot express how grateful I am. You are truly a remarkable filly.”
Tess blushed. “I… I just did what I knew. I got lucky.”
“Lucky my hoof. You were amazing!” I chimed.
Mom chuckled, “I couldn’t agree more.” Tess’s face got even redder. “If you earned your cutie mark, you couldn’t have been anything less. Congratulations, by the way!” Mom smiled at Tess for only a moment, then looked at the elevator doors with her eyes glazed over.
Tess rubbed the back of her mane and broke a barely visible smile. “…Thanks.”
“Well, Mr. Dasher, if you were going to have a heart attack, today was certainly the right day for it. At least, for me it was.”
Following the directions one of the nurses gave us, Mom, Tess, and I finally found Dad in one of the adult rooms. A light blue unicorn in a doctor’s coat was speaking to him. As the three of us filed into the room, we caught the last thing he said, and saw Dad give him a smirk.
“Doctor, is my husband going to be alright?” Mom asked with urgency.
“I’m going to do everything I can for him, ma’am.” The response didn’t satisfy her, nor me— he didn’t actually say ‘yes.’ “My name is Doctor Osis. I’m the cardiac surgeon on call today. I am going to have an echocardiogram done on your husband right away to see if we can figure out the problem. It’s early enough in the day that if we need to rush him into surgery, I will have enough help available to do so. A nurse will be here in a moment to do the echo. I will return shortly.”
Mom and I jumped at the word ‘surgery,’ but if it was necessary, I didn’t see any other option. Dr. Osis nodded at us and exited the room, leaving me, Mom, and Tess with Dad.
I wheeled my pole up to the side of Dad’s bed and propped myself up to give him a nuzzle. “Dad, are you okay? You scared the hay out of me…”
Dad sighed. He spoke quietly, like he was trying to conserve his energy. “I’m sorry, Crimson. I never expected anything like this to happen. I’ve certainly felt better. What about you? You didn’t look too happy before, either.”
“Better than before,” I sighed. “I was just—” Something suddenly occurred to me. I looked around the room before I asked him, “Hey, where’s Gramma? I thought she was here with you.”
Dad smiled. “Don’t worry, she’s down the hall— she’ll be back in a second. She went to call her school in Baltimare to tell them she wouldn’t be back as soon as she thought. She’s gonna stick around to help your mom take care of you.”
Despite all the tubes and wires attached to him, I smirked. “You mean take care of us.”
He chuckled quietly, moving his foreleg toward me to rub my head. “I can’t sneak anything past you, can I, Champ?”
I nuzzled him again and shook my head, then I heard Mom sigh. “Thank Celestia for your mother, honey.” When I turned to look at Mom, she was looking at Tess. “Tesla, may I impose upon you to help as well?”
“Harmony, please,” Dad said, causing Tess’s eyes to ping-pong between him and Mom. “Tesla has done more than enough already.” He motioned to Tess to approach the bed, which she slowly did after I nodded at her as well.
Tess looked at him, her brows furrowed. “Mr. Dasher, did one of the nurses tell you—”
“I saw the defibrillator paddles in your aura when I came to, and there weren’t any nurses in the room,” he explained, shaking his head. “I’ve spent a lot of time solving puzzles— that wasn’t a very hard one to figure out,” Dad chuckled. “I don’t think I can ever thank you enough, you amazing filly.” He smiled as she turned away and blushed, rubbing the back of her mane with a hoof. That left enough space for Dad to see her backside. “By Luna’s moon! Did you get your cutie mark, too?” Tess’s face got even redder as she nodded and turned sideways, showing him her full mark. “Congratulations!”
“Thanks,” Tess responded as she looked at the floor. “But I…” She paused for a second and looked back at Dad. “It feels kind of… wrong saying this, but I wouldn’t have gotten it if you hadn’t…” Tess stayed silent after that, with a grimace on her face.
After a moment, Dad started coughing. I was worried at first, but then I realized he was laughing. “I can see why you’re concerned saying something like that, but let’s put it this way, Tesla: it’s a thick silver lining to an ugly dark cloud. Don’t you fret about it, okay? I’m glad I could help,” he finished with another chuckle, which elicited small laughs from everypony in the room, including Gramma, who had slipped in unnoticed.
“Well, it seems some good news has come out of all this!” Gramma exclaimed. “Congratulations, Tesla!” Tess nodded and rubbed the back of her mane again as Gramma turned to Dad. “Okay, dear. I’m here for as long as you need me.” Mom let out another sigh, but before she could say anything, Gramma said, “Please, Harmony, did you really think I would leave at a time like this? The school will survive without me.”
I saw Tess scuff the ground, then heard her quietly say, “Me too.”
Gramma looked at her for a second and asked, “What’s that, dear?”
Tess looked at Mom, cleared her throat, then repeated, “I’m here if you need me, too.”
Mom sighed again and smiled. “Thank you, Tesla. That means a great deal to us. With all of this going on at once, we’ll need as much help as we can get.”
Tess nodded. “Of course.”
Seeing Tess look so determined made me smile. She really was one of the best friends I could ask for.
A moment later, I heard a buzz. “Mom, that’s High Flyer’s pager. I guess we gotta go…”