“What’s the situation?” snapped the doctor as the pink pony was cut free from her swaddling blankets.
“Nng,” said the orderly, horn glowing brightly as she struggled with the shears. “Who wrapped these? And why so many?”
The duty nurse tried to explain, “She was brought in by a pegasus –“
“You’ve got to save her!” cried the rainbow-maned pegasus in question from the public area, frozen tears streaked across her cheeks. Behind her was a smashed wagon, one wheel missing, the other hanging loose at an angle, its axle nearly torn in two.
The doctor nodded. “Deceleration trauma then?” His own horn glowed as he scanned the pink pony, finally denuded of her wrappings and transferred to a rolling bed. “Odd. No broken bones…”
Twilight Sparkle appeared in a purple flash, making the doctors and nurses squint and cringe away from the sudden burst of light and sound. “Pinkie! Are you okay?” she asked, rushing to her side.
“You can’t be back here!” shouted the orderly, her magic grabbing hold of Twilight’s tail. With another purple flash, the intruder teleported to the other side of Pinkie’s bed.
“What’s wrong with her?” Twilight asked.
“Everything…” croaked Pinkie Pie weakly, her eyes still held tightly shut. “I’m dying, Twilight…”
“She’s not dying!” the doctor insisted, catching Twilight Sparkle’s gaze as she looked up, and holding it with his fierce stare. “Just let us do our jobs!”
===
Several hours and several very confused doctors later, and Pinkie Pie was bouncing around her hospital room. “It was awful, Twilight!” she said to the worried purple unicorn sitting by her bed. “It was like the most non-non-non-non-non-amazingly wonderful thing ever! I couldn’t keep the air mask on and it was way too hot instead of cold like we thought it would be and everything just hurt so much and I screamed but Rainbow couldn’t hear me! I couldn’t even hear me!”
“How did she know to come back down?” Twilight asked, eyes wide as she imagined what could have happened. “And – aren’t you supposed to be getting some rest?”
“Aren’t *you* supposed to be waiting until visiting hours to visit?” Pinkie Pie asked. Twilight glanced nervously at the door, but it was still closed, the hallway outside dark.
“Was it just… luck?” Twilight asked, blinking back tears.
“Nah,” Pinkie Pie said, unconcerned. “I never leave home without an emergency confetti bomb. Especially when I think I’m going to be partying with Moon Ponies. Do Moon Ponies even have confetti?”
“I guess we’ll never know,” Twilight said. “I’m just happy that she did bring you back, and that you’re going to be okay. Does it still hurt?”
“Only when I touch things,” Pinkie Pie said, then demonstrated, going, “Ow, ow, ow,” with each bounce for a bit. “It hurts a lot more when I stand still, or try to lie down. Like my whole body is one big bruise.”
Twilight’s horn glowed as she lifted Pinkie Pie up into the air. Pinkie laughed, “That works! Are you going to carry me around until I’m ready to try again?”
“What?” Twilight Sparkled asked, eyes widening. “You want to try again?”
“We have to, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie replied. “We smashed Fluttershy’s wagon, lost half the air tanks from the Ponyville scuba center, got a dozen of Rarity’s blankets torn to shreds and nearly killed me! If we give up now it was all for nothing!” She gave a wide grin. “But don’t you worry, Twilight. I know exactly what went wrong, and how to fix it.”
“Yes?” Twilight asked, levitating Pinkie Pie over in front of herself and leaning close.
“I’m going to make a wish!” Pinkie Pie said. As Twilight leaned back a bit and raised one eyebrow, Pinkie Pie started her chant. “Twilight, star bright, first twinkly winkly Sparkly star I saw tonight, I wish I may, I wish I – MAKE ME A PEGASUS!”
Twilight laughed. “I wish I could!”
Pinkie Pie pouted. “You can’t grant my wish?”
Twilight shook her head, smiling.
Pinkie Pie frowned. “What about your own wish, to be able to grant my wish? Can you grant that one?”
Twilight giggled, “No, Pinkie, I’m not actually a wishing star, even if I was named after one. The last wishing star in Equestria was lost hundreds of years ago.”
“Then…” Pinkie Pie’s eyes widened, and she somehow managed to bob up and down in Twilight’s purple aura. “Can we go on an epic quest to recover it? Please please please?”
“How about we go on an epic quest to the library, and try to find a way to get you to the moon safely, without changing tribes?” Twilight Sparkle suggested.