//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Hospitals are a Mercenary's Least Favourite Place. // Story: The Misadventures of Fanta Shock // by Feathers and Fanfics //------------------------------// Chapter 5: Hospitals are a Mercenary's Least Favourite Place. Fanta woke up and immediately wished she hadn't. The familiar pale colours on the ceiling, the crisp stiffness of the bed she was lying on, and the sharp, sour smell of cleaning fluid told her all she needed to know. She was in hospital. Again. Fanta hated hospitals. They were sterile and full of people who pampered you, but only in the ways they thought were suitable. The unicorn sighed and put a hoof to her face, feeling her bandage. It felt like she'd been knocked unconscious, so she probably only had a bruise. Fanta's eye registered movement and she slowly looked down to see a forlorn foal at the bottom of the hospital bed. The orange and purple filly was sobbing softly. Fanta recognised her as the pilot of the scooter and let out a sigh. What was it with her having to deal with all these kids, recently? "Hey, kid." The filly looked up, her big, watery eyes almost making Fanta cringe. "Errr.. It's fine, kid. Really. See? I'm fine." Fanta made the mistake of nodding, which left her with a throbbing headache. "B-but I-I hit you w-w-with my s-scooter and..." The filly blubbered and sobbed, and Fanta very, very slowly facehoofed. "Kid, these things happen. Ya can't go back and change the past, so don't worry about it. I just need to esca- I mean... heal up and rest. Got it?" The filly nodded, mercifully not noticing Fanta's blunder. "C-can I give you a hug?" A hundred thousand warning sirens went off very loudly inside Fanta's head. She hated hugs, she was paranoid that the hugger would try to stab her or something. Although, if it'll calm the kid down... She sighed. "Yeah, fine. Just a quick one." The filly carefully hugged Fanta, and left. Fanta glared at the nurses grinning to themselves in a corner. They must think she was going soft. She'd show them. She looked at the time. 8 pm. It would be dark soon, perfect for her to sneak out. She'd wait another hour. A few seconds later, Fanta was bored. She turned to the patient next to her, a green unicorn stallion with a brown mane, who was reading a Daring Do book. Ah, the Daring Do books. She had never liked reading, but that series was the only one to ever really interest her. "Hey." The green unicorn looked up, and smiled. "Hey there. What's your name?" "I'm Fanta Shock." "Ahhh yeah, I heard the nurses talking about you. You like to escape from hospitals." Fanta raised an eyebrow. Maybe she could get some more information to aid in her escape. "Yeah, that's me. Did they say anything else?" "Nah, nothing that could help you." The green unicorn grinned. Fanta was almost starting to like him. Almost. "Ah well, worth a try. What're you in here for?" "Me? Oh, problems with my magic. They think I might've taken a hit, and are keeping me in for observation." He chuckled. "And you?" "Oh, I got hit by a scooter." The stallion nodded in appreciative sympathy. Two nurses had just come in, and were starting to unlock his bed so they could wheel him away. He turned to Fanta as they left. "Good luck, and watch for more scooters next time!" They disappeared behind the closing double doors. "Well that was weird," Fanta mused, and turned to the bed on her other side. A creamy-yellow earth pony lay in this one, with streaks of purple in his mane. He seemed to be asleep and Fanta couldn't be bothered waking him, so she resigned herself to devising a plan of escape. 42 minutes, one toilet break, and two cups of water later, it was coming up to nine o'clock. Fanta was ready. She was coiled, waiting to pounce. The clock hit nine, and she rolled up in her blanket, and fell to the floor. Moving like a caterpillar, she shuffled across the floor of her ward and peeked through the crack between the doors. Just as planned. The doctor was coming to make his rounds. Discarding her blanket, she waited next to the doors, pressed up against the wall. The doctor, who was tired and just wanted to finish up for the night, walked through the doors and straight past Fanta, who slipped in behind him as the doors closed. Now she was in the corridor. It was empty for now but she knew that could change at any moment. She looked for a hiding place and saw a laundry cart full of clean (thank goodness) blankets and bedsheets. She dived into it and covered herself up. Now, the hard part. She focused on the wheels of the cart, slowly making them turn, moving the cart down the hallway. Fanta had never been much of a magic-user, despite being a unicorn. She'd always preferred to use her head rather than her horn and, as such, her magic was considerably weaker than most other unicorns. Still, she managed to move the cart, inch by inch, to the next set of double doors. She peeked out carefully through the laundry , realising they were locked. Silently cursing herself, as she couldn't pick the lock without risking detection. Fortunately, the doctor was on his way back from his rounds. He had apparently missed Fanta's disappearance and, judging from the tremendous yawn he let out, Fanta could see why. However, if he spotted her now... The doctor strode right past the innocent cart of laundry, and unlocked the doors. Putting the keys back in his coat pocket, he yawned and went through the doors, making sure they shut with a click. He nodded, satisfied, and went to his office so he could start packing up to go home. Meanwhile, a white unicorn was grinning to herself as she looked at the keys she'd stolen. Magic was handy, sometimes. She waited until she heard the doctor say goodnight to the nurse at reception, and the doors sliding closed. Fanta unlocked the big double doors and slipped through, abandoning the cart. This was the home stretch and the most difficult part of her escape. She could slip by reception by crawling around the main desk, out of sight of the nurse. However, the nurse would see the motion-sensitive doors open, look up and see Fanta crawling on the floor. She needed to be smart about this. She looked around. Another cart, a vase of flowers, and some leaflets. Nothing helpful. Fanta turned her head to look at the doctor's office. He'd left his door ajar, and she could see a vase of flowers in there. Slowly, a plan formulated in her mind... Fanta slowly levitated the keys she had stolen and scooted them across the floor into the doctor's office. Sweating with strain, she carefully lifted them up to the vase, and placed them on the edge of the vase's mouth. The extra weight caused the vase to topple, and smash on the floor. The nurse behind the desk shot up and ran to the doctor's office. Fanta took this opportunity to run for the door, breaking into a gallop as she cleared the threshold. A few blocks down the road, she stopped for breath. She wondered if there would be any serious repercussions for her escape and guessed probably not. The hospital has a ridiculous amount of ponies escape, almost on a yearly basis. She looked up at the stars. She briefly pondered suing Luna for indirectly getting her into this mess but decided against it, choosing instead to slowly trot home. Slipping under her sheets, she let out an exhausted sigh, and curled up to sleep. She hoped she wouldn't have to deal with anything tomorrow, but something in the back of her mind was telling her that she wasn't going to get off so easily.