//------------------------------// // Rainbow Dash 3 // Story: Unwell: Recovery // by HazamaBrony //------------------------------// Luckily, after my chat with Shining Armor, I had gotten home… er, to my hotel fast enough that I’d gotten to bed on time. That meant that I could drag myself out of bed in time to get ready for my first real shift at the hospital. Not that I was looking forwards to cleaning toilets and floors all day… As I flew to the hospital, I thought over what Shining had told me last night. I was an only child, so I was having a bit of trouble imagining what it must have been like for him. Still, I could empathize, especially after having witnessed Twilight's latest episode. It was… scary and heartrending to see Twilight act so different and strange, and I at least had known what was happening. I couldn’t imagine how terrifying it must have been for her family to have her suddenly start acting like that, without any way to know what exactly was going on. From what Shining had said, it had nearly torn them apart. And then there was the fact that Twilight didn’t know what had happened to her family… It was probably for the best, I told myself. Twilight did have a problem with blaming herself for things that were out of her control, and I didn’t want to needlessly cause her stress, especially right now. And it wasn’t like it would come up in conversation. And then there was the matter of that Cadance mare. To be honest, from what Shining had told me, she sounded awesome. I mean, she marched right in and took charge of the situation, and Twi might have not had the whole family still together if she hadn’t. Something sparked in my brain, and I screeched to a stop. Cadance had mentioned an aunt of hers that had taken Twilight on as a student… and the only pony I could think of that had Twilight as a student was… “Yeah, right,” I said out loud. The only other pony I could think of that could claim that was that idiot Blueblood, and even his small claim to Celestia’s bloodline had him set for life. If Cadance was really related to the princess, then she wouldn’t have been foalsitting. That aunt she was talking about must have been some other teacher, or maybe Shining was remembering wrong. I shook my head to clear out the cobwebs. It hadn’t helped that Shining had been so darn mysterious about her. The next time we met, I was going to get some answers out of him, one way or another. Anyways, I had wasted too much time just hovering in spot and thinking. I needed to get to the hospital before I became late. “Clean Shine! I’m here!” I announced as I trotted into the staff room. The white stallion looked at me, then up at the clock. “Heh. And a little bit early to boot. I’ve got to say, you’ve impressed me so far. I didn’t expect somepony assigned here as punishment to take this so seriously.” “Yeah, I’ve been getting that a bunch lately. But you don’t have to worry, I’m gonna give it one hundred and ten percent today!” I said, striking a pose in midair. “So, what are we doing?” “Well, the nightshift crew took care of the floors and restrooms last night, so what we’ll be up to is cleaning the patient’s rooms while they are at group therapy. After we do that, we will need to do some yard work on the grounds and on the indoor garden,” Clean said, glancing at a schedule on the wall. “Okay, let’s get started!” “Hold up, we need to wait until it’s actually time to clock in. After all, we can’t exactly barge into the patient’s room while they’re still there, you know?” “Oh. Okay,” I said, landing on the floor. “I just hate waiting.” Clean raised an eyebrow. “Rainbow, it’s literally ten minutes. Don’t you have any patience?” “Sure I do! It’s just… it’s not one of my strong suites to do nothing. The last time I ended up in the hospital, I nearly drove myself crazy,” I admitted. “What, didn’t you have friends, or, I dunno, a book, to keep you occupied?” “Funny story about that… I used to think reading was just for eggheads. It was that stay at the hospital that changed my mind. A friend of mine gave me a book, and I got so bored I eventually started reading it. And now I’m hooked on adventure novels.” He chuckled. “Well, they sound like a good friend.” “More than a friend, nowadays.” “Oh, lucky you. I hope they’re doing well.” And just like that, my good mood evaporated. “Not really…” “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” “Yeah. I try to tell myself not to worry, and that they’re in good hooves.” Clean gave me a look. “Are they going to recover? Or have they, you know, passed on?” “What? No, no. She going to be fine. Like I said, they’re in good hooves,” I said, gesturing to the room around us and the building beyond. “Huh? Oh!” Clean said, comprehension dawning in his eyes. “They’re here? Then how did you get assigned here as a ‘punishment?’” I laughed. “It’s a long story. You see—“ “Hold on, it’s time to clock in. You can tell me on the way to our first room,” he said, holding up a hoof and gesturing to a punch clock device on the wall. “You’re only temporary, so you’ll need to sign a form at the end of the day.” “Got it,” I said as he operated the device. “Now then, let’s go!” By the time we got to the first room, Clean Shine was frowning. “The Princess assigned you here… as a punishment?” “Yeah. I’m not crazy about being forced to do janitor's work—no offense—but it beats any other type of punishment, right?” I said, following closely behind him. “Yes… but… Rainbow, you might want to keep that to yourself.” “What!? Why?” I asked, utterly confused. “Why should it matter?” Clean sighed. “Look at it this way: if you heard that a pony that committed a crime—and one that hurt another pony at that—and got off almost scot-free because they were friends with the sentencing judge, how would you feel?” I frowned. Well, when he put it that way… “I guess I would be kind of upset.” “You see my point, then?” “Yeah, but still, that’s oversimplifying it, you know.” He snorted. “I know. And since it was the Princess herself that sentenced you, I don’t have a problem with it. But others might. Especially because it was Celestia that handed down the sentence.” I gave him a sharp look. “What do you mean ‘especially?’ Why would anypony care that—“ “Because Princess Celestia has gotten her share of doubters, after what has been happening lately. First that business with Nightmare Moon being turned back into Princess Luna and given powers equal to Celestia’s, then there was everything that happened with Discord…” he trailed off. I felt a chill run down my spine. “So, what, are you saying we’re on the verge of rioting or something?” Clean Shine laughed. “No, no, don’t get me wrong, most ponies still support Celestia, and most of the ones that don’t, don’t really care. It’s just like everything, though. There is a portion of ponies that hate anything, and yell loud enough that they convince themselves that the world should be changed according to their rules. It’s just better if you don’t give them anything to yell about, not that that’s possible.” “Well, why should I care then? They just sound like a bunch of bullies.” “They are, but they can still make your life miserable. By Faust, there’s this one newspaper that seems like Celestia ate the editor’s last slice of cake. They never miss a chance to smear the crown, no matter who gets caught in the crossfire.” I gave Clean a sidelong look. “Are you speaking from experience? Did you get caught in that crossfire?” Clean just shook his head. “Not personal experience, no. I just keep up with a bunch of news publications, and theirs’s is always ranting and raving about Celestia or some celebrity that met with her recently. It gets old quick.” “I see…” “Look, you seem like a nice mare,” Clean said. “I just don’t want anypony to end up one the wrong side of those attention seekers. Understand?” “Yeah. I got it,” I said. “Good, then let’s get started. Do you want to change the sheets or mop the floor?” “I’ll take the sheets,” I said quickly. “Sure thing. In fact, since you’re a pegasus, you can just hover over where I mop. That’ll make thing easier.” “Sounds good to me,” I said, then hovered into the room. Four hours later, we had mopped and changed the beds in every room on all three floors, and I was feeling… not exhausted, the work wasn’t strenuous enough for that. Still, I was ready for a break. “Okay, are you ready for lunch, Rainbow?” Clean asked. I grinned at him. “It’s like you read my mind. Where do we get some grub?” “Follow me. The cafeteria is serving hayburgers today. The healthy stuff, not the deep fried crap.” “That’s good. I don’t eat stuff that’s too fatty. Got to keep in shape, you know. Besides, it would be kind of ironical for a hospital to serve unhealthy stuff.”’ “I think the word you were looking for was ‘ironic,’” Clean said dryly as we trotted down the corridor. “You know what I… meant?” I finished absentmindedly, as I caught sight of door number 112. The window on the door was large enough for me to peer through, and I caught sight of Dr. H reading a book to Twilight. Twilight, for her part, was just gazing up at the ceiling, blinking every so often. “Rainbow?” Clean said, jerking my attention away from Twilight and the door to her room. “Are you okay?” “Yeah,” I said, wiping a bit of moistness from my eyes. “I’ll be fine.” “Look, we’re not actually supposed to spend time with the patients, even on lunch, and your hours are set in stone because of the community service, but I can tell you really want to spend time with your marefriend, right?” I chuckled mirthlessly. “What gave you that idea?” “Just a hunch,” Clean said sarcastically. “Really, if you want to visit her more, then you should make an appointment in the morning. You’re going to be working the later day shift consistently, and that ends at the same time as visiting hours.” “What?” I said, struggling to keep my voice low. “Why?” “Patients are more likely to be out of their rooms then, and we can clean without disturbing them.” “Fair point,” I admitted. “So, if our shift starts at eleven in the morning, and ends at eight in the evening, and visiting hours are… um…” “From nine in the morning to eight in the evening,” Clean supplied. “Thank you. So, if I show up at nine, I’ll have two hours to talk with Twi?” “I think it depends on the patient, but the doctors might limit that a little. And I’m sure they would appreciate it if you made an appointment at least a day in advance.” “Right, I’ll do that after we finish work today.” Clean shrugged. “It’s up to you. Anyways, we’ve wasted enough of our lunch just chatting. We really should get to eating.” As if on cue, my stomach started rumbling. “Heh,” I said, blushing. “Lead the way.” I dragged myself into the reception room. Now I was feeling exhausted. The hospital grounds were huge, and the fact that there was an extra little plot of them inside hadn’t helped. At first it had been easy enough, just flying up and trimming the trees back a little. But after that… If I never saw another lawnmower in my life, it would be too soon. Those things were heavy and hard to move, and combine that with the size of the grounds… at least it had been easy for Clean Shine, considering his greater strength as an earth pony, but for a lightweight pegasus like me… “Um, are you okay, Rainbow?” Izzy asked. I gave my best glare to the earth pony behind the desk. Or, at least, I tried to. I don’t think I succeeded, given how she started giggling. “You look like something the cat dragged in! So then, I take it your day went well?” she asked, her voice still wavering with laughter. “Everything hurts but my wings. And thank Celestia for that. I didn’t want to have to fly back on sore wings.” “That does sound like it would be a drag. So, see you tomorrow?” I whimpered at the thought of doing the whole thing over again tomorrow… and the day after that… and after that. Dear Celestia, I still had a month of this to do! Oh well. At least between this and my flight to and from the hospital, I wouldn’t be missing out on too much training. Just then, I noticed Izzy packing up her saddlebags. “Are you going home?” I asked. “Yeah, my shift is over for the day. Did you need something?” She said, pausing in her packing. “I wanted to make an appointment to see Twilight. Sometime in the morning, between nine and eleven.” Izzy suddenly looked sympathetic. “I’m sorry, Rainbow, but I can’t set it up today, all the appointments for tomorrow have already been set in stone. If you come by in the morning, I can set it up for the next day.” I took a deep breath to steady myself. “Okay. If there really isn’t anything you can do, I guess I’ll just have to accept that. So, today is Tuesday and an appointment on Wednesday is out of the question, so would I be able to see her Thursday?” “I am ninety-nine percent sure that would work, but check back with me in the morning. We can put it in the books then,” Izzy said. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning then.” Just like I had promised, I met with Izzy first thing in the morning when I got to the hospital, and ten minutes later, I had an appointment for the day after. “Thanks, Izzy,” I said as I left the receptionist room and headed to the staff room. “No problem,” she yelled after me. “So, Clean, what are we doing today?” I asked as I entered and spotted the head janitor, forcing cheer into my voice. Please don’t be mowing the lawn again, please don’t be mowing the lawn again… “The same thing we did yesterday for the first half. Just cleaning patient’s rooms while they’re at group therapy or in a meeting, but after lunch, we’re going to be doing something different.” “Oh thank Celestia!” Clean gave me an amused look. Woops. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?” Clean just nodded, smiling. “Sorry, I just don’t want to mow the whole lawn every day,” I said. “Grass doesn’t grow that fast, Rainbow,” he said, chuckling. “We do that once a week. I wouldn’t want to mow the lawn everyday either. Anyways, for the latter half of today, we’re going to be cleaning the windows of the hospital. You can take the outside windows, and I’ll take the inside.” “But, the whole building is pretty much one big window!” I protested. “Then you better work fast. Or are you too slow to finish in time?” I glared at him. “That was the most transparent attempt at appealing to my ego I have ever seen.” “Did it work?” “Yes,” I said reluctantly. “C’mon, let’s get started.” By the time I got back to my hotel room, it felt like my foreleg was going to fall off, but I had shown Clean just how fast I could be. He had been a full ten minutes slower than I was at cleaning the windows. Of course, after how strenuous yesterday and today had been, I was feeling pretty wiped out. It was all I could do to stay awake long enough to get ready for bed. But no sooner had I snuggled under the blankets and turned out the lights, somepony started banging on my room’s door. “Really?” I said to myself. It was almost ten at night and I had to get up early for my appointment with Twilight in the morning. There was no way I was going to answer that. Whoever they were, they were really persistent. They kept up the knocking for a full five minutes before I finally got up and stumbled over to the door. If they had the wrong room, I was going to buck them in the face, I thought to myself as I unlocked the door. “What do you want?” I asked, none too gently, before it registered in my mind who was standing in the hallway. They said nothing, and they couldn’t seem to meet my eyes. “Well, what do you want?” I repeated. “Spit it out, Applejack.”