//------------------------------// // Chapter 31: Grounded // Story: The Long Life of Breeze Rider // by Tyler-the-Brony //------------------------------// Fluttershy was out giving food to all the various animals around her house. She didn’t know why, especially when it was such a lovely day out, but she had a tingly feeling in her gut today. She thought maybe she was getting sick. It was when she finished giving the worms to her birds that she heard the wing beats behind her. They weren’t like what she usually heard when Rainbow Dash came to visit. They sounded strained and panicked. Fluttershy turned around to look for what was distressing Rainbow Dash, when she saw Rainbow coming with another 2 Pegasi by her sides. “Rainbow Dash, Derpy, Miss Spitfire. What are you all doing here? What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked as the 3 Pegasi stopped in front of her, clearly out of breath and worried. “Fluttershy! You have to come with us to the hospital now!” Rainbow shouted. “W-Why? What’s wrong? Who’s hurt?” Fluttershy asked, now as worried as they were. “It’s Breeze Rider! He was hurt during a new stunt! He’s in emergency surgery now! We gotta go!” Derpy yelled, clearly even more worried than the others. “Of course. Angel!” Fluttershy yelled down to the ground. “Keep everypony safe and healthy until I get back!” Fluttershy added, seeing Angel look his most serious as he saluted her. Moments later, they were all on their way. Even Fluttershy and Derpy, who weren’t the speed specialists of the group, were keeping up with Spitfire and Rainbow. They arrived at the hospital within minutes. Spitfire entered first, leading the others. She walked straight up to the receptionist at the counter, followed by the 3 younger Pegasi. “How’s Breeze Rider doing?” Spitfire asked, worried about her teammate greatly. The receptionist looked as though she had been expecting this question and wasn’t ready to give the answer. “He’s in very bad condition. We’ve never had a Pegasus with such bad injuries come here. We’re calling in doctors from all over Equestria to try to help.” She told everypony, horrified to see their expressions worsen. “We also have your 2 unicorn friends helping. We’re doing everything we can. Currently, his survival chances are below 20 percent.” She finished, feeling horrible with herself for having to have say such things. Derpy looked as though she had been told she was fired and forced to leave Ponyville. Rainbow even stopped flapping her wings, keeping them stiff at her sides. Fluttershy felt herself get very visibly pale. Spitfire, even with all her practice at not showing distress, appeared worried. “Please let us know absolutely anything as it happens. We’ll be waiting in the waiting room.” Spitfire answered, barely able to look at anypony. All of them went to sit in the waiting room. Barely a minute passed before the inevitable question was asked. “What happened?” Rainbow asked, looking over to Spitfire. Derpy and Fluttershy looked over to, wanting to know how this had come to be. “We were practicing a new trick over at the far edge of Ponyville, close to Cloudsdale. We called it the ‘Thunder Twister.’ We’d start with our Thunder Streams, and then begin circling all together, around and around, like you all did to make that Hurricane.” Spitfire motioned to them. They nodded, not knowing if she had seen them. She continued on though. “We weren’t certain how stable or durable this trick would be. Breeze Rider volunteered to use his Breeze Stream to try and dissipate it to see. Everything was fine until he got to the eye of it. Then, everything went wrong. Breeze Rider lost control and got sucked into the Twister. He got shocked badly and then got spit out at the fastest speed I’ve ever seen a Pegasus hit the ground at. He landed directly on his wings. Soarin, Rapidfire and I quickly brought him here. Soarin and Rapidfire went to go tell his parents and Princess Celestia about this. They should be back here with them at any time.” Spitfire finished, feeling even more shame that she had let this happen. “How could I let this happen?” Spitfire asked aloud. “How could I be so stupid to let him try to break that Twister apart on his own?” Spitfire felt horrible as she finally asked it aloud, waiting for any and all answers she deserved. “It’s not your fault Spitfire. It’s nopony’s. Nopony knew what would happen. You can’t torture yourself with ‘What If’s.’ Come on.” Rainbow Dash offered. “Let’s go outside and get some air. Derpy, Fluttershy, let us know anything okay?” Both ponies nodded as the Wonderbolt and her biggest fan headed outside. Derpy looked far worse than Fluttershy felt, so she went to sit by her and comfort her. “It’s okay Derpy. He’ll make it. I know he will.” Fluttershy felt bad saying that. She really wasn’t certain, but she had to try to pick Derpy’s spirits up a bit. “What if he doesn’t though? I don’t want to be alone again.” Derpy voiced her worries to Fluttershy. “You won’t be alone Derpy. Rainbow Dash, Me and the rest of the girls will always be here for you. Never forget that.” Fluttershy told Derpy, hugging her. At the feeling of the hug, Derpy began to cry. Fluttershy just let her get it out, feeling her own tears begin to flow too. How long they stayed there and cried, they never knew. All they knew was that when they looked up again, Rainbow Dash and Spitfire had rejoined them. Applejack and Pinkie Pie had joined too. They explained they’d have been there sooner but they had to finish up their jobs for the day. Everypony just nodded. Nopony really felt like talking much more than that. 2 hours later, Princess Celestia, Breeze Rider’s parents and the remainder of the Wonderbolts showed up to join them in their vigil. Nopony spoke, they simply waited. An hour after that, Rarity and Twilight came out from behind the emergency doors. Everypony looked up at them. “We were told there was nothing more we could help with. We were told to come out here and wait with the rest of you. I’m sorry we don’t have any more information.” Twilight told them, their spirits falling slightly again. Eventually, after about 4 more hours, most everypony had fallen asleep. Only one remained awake. It was Fluttershy. “Why am I so worried? I know he’s my old teacher and was a big part of my life back then, but why do I feel like it hurts me even more than the rest of them?” Fluttershy thought to herself. As she continued to ponder, a doctor pony finally came out. He cleared his throat to rouse everypony and get their attention. “I’m about to give you permission to see Breeze Rider, now that he’s stable. But I must give you all fair warning first.” He explained. “What do you mean doctor?” Princess Celestia asked. “Well, we worked tirelessly on him for well over 20 hours, and we were only able to stabilize him within these last few hours. That was because we were unable to accomplish what we had been attempting before now.” He elaborated, worrying over how he would answer the next question. “What were you attempting to do before now then?” Spitfire asked. “We were trying to save his wings.” The doctor stated as quickly and loudly as he could, not wanting to have to repeat that part. “Are you saying that…” Rainbow Dash began. “Correct. Breeze Rider no longer has his wings. We had to amputate them off. He’ll spend the rest of his life as an Earth pony.” The doctor blatantly stated.