A Compass for a Lost Dreamer

by reflective vagrant

Chapter Four: Seeds of Trust

Author's Note:

I welcome constructive criticism from my readers, even on older chapters. Please feel free to comment.

Lightning Dust fell into a deep, dreamless sleep almost immediately after Zecora and Nurse Redheart left. She didn't know how long her sleep lasted, but it was finally interrupted by the sound of her health monitor's steady beeping.

A few minutes passed by before somepony came in the room. "Hello?" she called out to them.

"Good to see you're awake," Doctor Pulse said as he went over to the health monitoring station. "And judging by your charts you slept well. How is your headache?"

"I can barely feel it now, just a little throbbing in my temples but it still hurts pretty bad where I got hit. It's starting to get itchy there too."

"That's a good sign. It means your body is healing." He brought his head under the table so that she could talk to him face to face. "Have you decided what you want to do with your back now that you have gotten some sleep?"

"Ya. I actually made up my mind this morning," she said with a confident face, "but I wanted to get a clear head so I knew it was the right choice."

"Very well. Did you want to take the surgery then?"

"Actually, if it's alright with you I want Zecora's idea."

"...OK then. I'll go fetch her and we can get started." The doctor was not surprised per say, but there was something else to his voice lightning Dust couldn't place.

* * *

"That's it? That's all? Why couldn't you do that doc?" Lightning Dust asked as the straps that held her to the table were being untied.

"I know it might have seemed like a simple bone popping but trust me, it wasn't," the doctor said from a distance, letting Nurse Redheart work. "If Zecora had slipped up in the slightest, you could have been in worse trouble than you were already in. There is no way for a normal doctor to know where the bones are going when they are being knocked around like that. I told you the only 'by the book' way was surgery and I meant it. Zecora was only able to do it safely because of her years of practice under her teacher. For any normal doctor to do what Zecora did would have been reckless. A one out of three shot of not paralyzing you at best. Never mind actually fixing it."

"What!?"

"But those are the odds of a normal doctor, Zecora knew what she was doing," he added quickly. "If I had to give the odds on her doing it, I'd say it would have even had better chances than the surgery with the fact she has never failed to set a back correctly. The surgery would have had about a twenty percent chance of failure or complications based on the statistics of past surgeries. You were in capable hooves."

Lightning Dust slid off the table with Nurse Redheart's help and stepped down onto her hooves for the first time in almost a day. Hearing the doctor's explanation disturbed her, but she checked her back. Though she found it was still very sore, it still felt much better. "Well It's fixed anyway, but don't you ever leave me in the dark like that again." She started stretching her sore limbs with Nurse Redheart's help.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to hide anything from you," the doctor apologized, "But you need to understand that your back isn't quite 'fixed' yet. The bones have been set back in place but your back is still quite fragile. You still need to go very easy on it until it heals up on its own. I am giving you some orders to follow to make sure it heals right.

"No lifting anything heavier than an apple until tomorrow evening. Even after that, I still want you to try to avoid lifting anything heavy enough to where you have to put in effort if you can help it. No flight at all for the next two weeks. I don't even want you flapping your wings in that time. If you have to stretch them, do it slowly. After those weeks are up, I want you to do nothing more than a gentle glide to work your muscles for the two weeks following. No speedy flying, sharp turning or dives. Keep it to basic, just above the ground exercises only. Also no carr-"

"Are you trying to throw her back out again!?" Zecora interrupted loudly from the corner, which she had been sitting in ever since she finished working on Lightning Dust.

Everypony looked at Zecora in shock. Lightning Dust whispered to Nurse Redheart, as they stopped doing the particular stretch that Zecora was yelling at them about, "She can talk without rhyming?"

Nurse Redheart answered her in just as soft a whisper, but with a small tone of fear in it, "Ya. When she's really pissed off."

After Zecora knew she has everypony's full attention, she spoke up again, in a more controlled, but obviously still irritated, voice. "Of those forms I would be weary. They strain more than necessary." She got up from her chair, sat down on the floor next to a wall and placed her back up against it. She then tapped a forehoof on the wall to her side and directed her attention to Lightning Dust. "If limbs stretched is what you need, then come here and follow my lead."

After getting a somewhat hesitant nod from both the doctor and nurse, Lightning Dust headed over to Zecora then carefully sat down next to her. She began to mimic Zecora's strange movements, finding them unusually easy yet effective. While she moved with Zecora's lead she didn't feel any of her sore parts being strained. A little bit later as she got the hang of stretching in the new form and could split her attention, the doctor continued.

"As I was saying, no carrying anything on your back for the next month. If you need something carried, get somepony else to do it. I'm also ordering you to sleep only in a quality bed for that same month. Since you're a pegasus, I strongly recommend a cloud bed, if you can arrange for one to be brought down to the ground. No more of that tent sleeping or you will undo all of Zecora's work and she might not be able to put you back together again." Looking at Zecora, he blandly asked her, "Anything you want to add, Zecora?"

Hearing the tone of irritation on his voice, Zecora simply answered calmly as she stood up again, "As a healer your advice is most sound. From my knowledge not a flaw to be found, but wings and flight are not my field. So to your wisdom I must yield." Zecora bowed out to the doctor in a very respectful form that held just of hint of going through the motions. She then turned her head and smiled warmly at Lightning Dust as the pegasus got up slowly from the floor. Just before Lightning Dust looked up from her hooves, Zecora moved away from her, towards the door and into the hall, not letting her see the smile.

"That was interesting. I might have to add some of those to my morning regimens," Lightning Dust thought out loud.

The doctor spoke in a dispirited voice, while rubbing his head with his hoof, "At any rate, my orders will be on your copy of the discharge papers so that you can remember them after you leave, but for now, there are some ponies waiting for you in the lobby, if you feel up for a walk."

Lightning Dust turned her head to the doctor. "Really? Who?"

"Mr. Wayside and a few others," he answered with an uneasy smile.

"That's right! He did say he would be back today, didn't he?"

* * *

As they walked down the halls, Lightning Dust thought back on the conversations with Zecora. She was interesting for sure, but there was something else bothering her. "Hey doc, can I ask you something?"

The doctor turned his head towards her as they walked. "What did you need?"

"You and Zecora seemed to respect each other, but after she fixed me up you seemed bitter towards her, and when I think back both you and Nurse Redheart where acting flip flop towards her the whole time. You were respecting and defending her one minute, then it felt like you two would be practically at each other's throats the next if I wasn't in the room. What's up with that?"

The doctor stopped a few feet before reaching the lobby door. "...I had hoped you wouldn't notice." After letting out a sigh then drawing a breath, the doctor explained, "The fact is, to call Zecora a remarkable healer would be an understatement. She does things for the patients here that are just astounding. Otherwise, we would have never let her touch your back; however, she has a very different view about medicine than our own. Since she was raised believing healers should never charge for their services she feels we rob our patients every time we bill them.

"She doesn't fight it anymore but she has made her opinion on it quite well known in the past. You saw how she isn't afraid to fight us back there. When she sees us doing something that she feels is wrong she doesn't hesitate to say it.

"There is also a very big difference in our approaches to our work. The rest hospital staff and I hold ourselves in a professional manner. We have strict codes of conduct with set procedure. While she holds herself to some pretty high morals, sometimes they are not fully compatible with our professional approach. She generally respects and follows our rules when she volunteers hers skills to the hospital, but if they conflict with her own beliefs she won't think twice on breaking them."

He started moving towards the door again and placed a hoof on it. "So let's just say while we have learned to respect each other, it still isn't uncommon for us to have to butt heads over a problem on occasion, but right now you have some visitors to focus on. Now brace yourself," he said as he opened the door.

Lightning Dust didn't have long to wonder what he was talking about when he said 'now brace yourself', because a very startling noise came from the door as soon as he opened it. "Surprise! Aww..." she heard several ponies call out from the lobby, disappointed.

"She's right here everypony. I just didn't want her hit full force. Now remember: be gentle with her back as well as the bump on her head, and be sure to keep the noise down," the doctor said to them as he gestured to Lightning Dust to come out. "And that goes doubly with your promise, Pinkamena Diane Pie," he added in a very authoritative tone.

Lightning Dust was confused at first, from not seeing what he was talking about on the other side of the door; however, she quickly realized what is going on when she heard the formal name being said. It sounded far too similar to the name of a pony she had hoped to not see again to be chance. "Oh no... This isn't what I think it is, is it?" she whined as she walked up to the doorway, seeing what she hoped she wouldn't.

"Yes. Yes it is," the doctor answered her in an apologetic tone.

"Oh for the love of the royal sisters..." Lightning Dust called out in an exasperated sigh as she noticed the nearest corner of the lobby set aside for a small party. There were streamers, carefully tied down balloons, balloon animals and what looked like a punch bowl on a cafeteria cart with other party treats all waiting there for her. There were also not quite a dozen ponies, huddled as close to the door as they can without being in the way. Some of them she recognized, others she didn't.

The doctor turned to her and explained, "We normally wouldn't have allowed it, but Pinkie would have thrown you one anyway. With your condition, we decided to throw it here in a controlled setting for your safety."

Pinkie, not bandaged any more but still sporting the remains of a black eye, came bouncing up and stopped farther away from Lightning Dust than she normally did, much to Lightning Dust's relief. "Sorry about not being able to make the party super-duper extra spectacular like I said I would, but Doctor Pulse said you could get hurt at a big party and it just isn't fun if somepony gets hurt."

Lighting Dust hated parties and celebrations with a passion. They were filled with noisy, eccentric ponies. She just wasn't comfortable in them but she needed to be on her best behavior. Her boss was right there watching her.

"Umm, Pinkie was it?" Lightning Dust asked, trying to swallow her pride and bear the situation.

"Yup-yup! That's my name!" she said with an innocent look on her face, giving Lightning Dust her full attention.

"Well to be honest Pinkie," she said as calmly as she could, with a small and forced smile, "I'm actually kinda glad it's a small party. I don't really like parties."

"Whhaaa!?" Pinkie gasped, throwing her head up. Her eyes lost focus and she became unresponsive.

The doctor came up to her and waved a hoof in front of her face with no response. He then tried to shake her shoulder with the same result. "Oh dear. I think you may have broken her," the doctor softly exclaimed. He gave a small but merry laugh. "I guess that about makes you two even for her causing you to fall. Could somepony bring me one of the balloons?"

A pegasus mare with a pale turquoise coat and vanilla mane flew fairly quickly over to the corner for the party, retrieved a balloon and brought it to the doctor. The doctor asked the pegasus to help Lightning Dust cover her ears. He then bit the balloon down by the stem where it wasn't stretched and inhaled as much of the gas from the balloon as he could. He then let the rest go in Pinkie's face in a loud sequel. The wind from the balloon made the front part of Pinkie's mane flip up and swirl in the air and the muffled sound still caused Lightning Dust's headache to sharpen a little.

Seeing this do nothing, he spoke to her in a very funny sounding voice from the gas, "Pinkie Pie polishes pretty pebbles around Ponyville." After a little deep breathing the doctor regained his normal voice. "Still nothing. I really didn't want to have to do this."

Leaning up to Pinkie's ear nervously, he spoke softly, "Somepony broke a pinkie promise." The doctor backed away quickly even before this registered.

Pinkie's eyes came back into focus and her entire face became encompassed in rage. She turned to the doctor and grabbed him by his lab coat with both front hooves. "Who broke their Pinkie Promise!?" Pinkie screamed at him in a voice so fiery that Lightning Dust wondered if Pinkie had become possessed.

"N-nopony Pinkie! I just had to say that to snap you out of it! I'm sorry!" the doctor exclaimed in fear.

* * *

After Pinkie calmed down, the party went pretty smoothly. Lightning Dust met some of her soon to be coworkers including her trainer Sunny Rays. She also found out the pony that held her ears down was known as Sassaflash and was the pony she would be replacing. She, as well as her husband, stated that they were grateful she finally came along so that they could go on their honeymoon.

Even Wayside and his wife and child were there, though Keen Wit was already digging into the cart of food from the lobby chair he was standing on to reach it. His normal hat was tied down with a coned party hat on top of it. When she was properly introduced to Wayside's wife, she found her name to be Serrano Pepper but everypony just called her Serra.

Lightning Dust found that instead of normal party food, Pinkie worked hard with somepony called Ms. Cake to find healthier alternatives to respect Lightning Dust's distaste for unhealthy food. She was surprised at the fact they would bother to throw a party for her, but she was amazed that they would go through that much trouble just to fit her tastes when she had barely even mentioned it.

The punch was tasty yet unique, almost like a sports drink but not too sweet and it had a subtly pleasant bitterness to it. Some of the more notable treats were some sort of dipping sauce in a bowl with carrots, celery and other things to dip. There were a few baked items with a filling inside them that reminded her of the appetizers at her mother's restaurant, though the filling tasted a little different. The only sweet on the cart was what Pinkie called figgy pudding cupcakes.

When she bit into one of the cupcakes, she found it filled with as much fruit and nuts as it could hold without falling apart. It reminded her of the fruit cakes in the stores around Hearth's Warming Eve, but not nearly as disgusting. It was actually really good, for something healthy-ish yet sweet.

Pinkie was eager to hear her opinion as soon as she swallowed. She was ecstatic when she found Lightning Dust liked it despite not wanting the second one she made for her, which Keen Wit was more than happy to take instead.

When Wayside heard Lightning Dust mention that the doctor recommended a cloud bed, he immediately sent one of his team that was at the party to go get one. When asked why he did that, he stated that he was just protecting the investment he made in her with the hospital bills.

The rest of the party was spent simply having fun, exchanging jokes and enjoying their company. With calm conversation, no loud noises and nopony trying to be wild, she actually didn't mind this small party so much.

When she was dragged somewhere like this back home, even as a guest, there was always some underlying feeling of expectation that made her feel out of place. Yet there was just something about these ponies that made her feel, not quite fully at ease, but accepted without expectation. She was the guest of honor, yet they just let her be herself. By the end of it all, Lightning Dust was simply enjoying herself without worrying for the first time since she was in the academy, despite the lingering headache.

* * *

About half an hour after the party, Lightning Dust was checking out of the hospital. "And with that you are free to go Lightning Dust. Just remember my orders and you should heal fine," Doctor Pulse said as he gave her the patient copy of the discharge paperwork.

"So any idea where you want us to put your cloud bed for the night?" Wayside asked as they headed towards the hospital entrance.

Lightning Dust stopped in her tracks and dropped the discharge paper from her mouth, letting it fall to the floor. "Oh just great. I don't have anywhere to stay!" She looked at her boss then to his wife and then to the ground in rapid succession. She shook her head in dismay. "I guess I'll have to rent a room back at the inn for tonight. Then I'll have to find something else in the morning."

With a look of inspiration, Wayside spoke up. "Don't worry about the rent kid. I'll take care of the rent for you out of my personal stash until your first check comes in." His wife gave him a strange look of both admiration and confusion. "I owe you at least that with how I treated you yesterday."

Lightning Dust looked happy at this for a moment, but thought about how her mother would help her out then expect her to do something else her 'dear' mother's' way. It often ended up leaving her dependent on her mother again one way or another. This was another reason she didn't want to go home. Almost every charity 'freely given' that Lightning Dust had to take in the past had some sort of string attached to it or some other 'unsaid obligation'. At this thought, her face quickly turned sour.

"I can't have you do that. You've done enough already with giving me a job. I don't need your pity."

"Hey! The job has nothing to do with pity!" Wayside retorted firmly. "That's businesses. In debt to you or not, I'd still fire you if you slack off. I don't waste the town's funds on slackers."

Glancing at his wife to give him some space, he pulled Lightning Dust in gently to talk to her privately, "And I'm not doing this out of pity either. I have three angry mares riding my flank on this for different reasons. One is both willing and able to put me in the hospital next if I don't make this up to you. Another is threatening to fire me if you don't prove to be worth your hospital bills. And the last one -" He paused to do a subtle shift of his head, accompanied with a pointing of his eyes, to gesture to his wife. "- is the scariest pony I have ever met and would do even worse to me if I left anypony out on the street in the condition you're in, whether I knew them or not. Like I said, I'm not doing this out of pity kid. I'm doing this out of self preservation. So please, just take the offer already."

Lightning Dust looked down and pondered a moment. It sounded nice but she felt if she took it she could still get hooked. Turning back to face him, she asked, "If I take it can I walk out on it at any time no strings attached? You won't get mad and fire me?"

Wayside looked at her surprised, stopping to think about what she just said for a few seconds. "Kid, you must have had some poor jobs in the past to think that. The only reason I would fire you is if you didn't handle your job professionally or did something bad like steal or kill somepony. So if it makes you feel better I promise you can stop staying at the inn at any time you think you need to, without me getting upset about you leaving, 'no strings attached'." He pointed down to something at her side. "Just be warned, Keen Wit has grown fond of you ever since he found out about you wanting to be a Wonderbolt."

She looked down to her side and saw the colt with a little food still on his face, looking up at her. "Will you be my big sister?" the colt asked with a smile of admiration.

Lightning Dust pulled her head back slightly upon hearing this. "Um..."

"Keen Wit! We're only offering her a room for a time," Serra called to her son. "We're not trying to adopt her."

After a short, awkward moment, she answered the colt gently, "No. I'm not gonna be your big sister." She saw a sad look on his face from hearing this. "But maybe we can still hang out later."

Something about the innocence of the colt's renewed admiration broke her determination, but just barely. The corner her mouth curled up ever so slightly. "Alright I'll take the room." She paused for a moment again. "For now."

* * *

Upon getting to the inn, despite having rested only a few hours earlier, Lightning Dust simply asked for the key to her room and went to bed. Upon entering the room, she found the cloud bed Wayside asked for already replacing the mattress of the normal bed. She also found her saddle bags and tent with the new rope all put up and in order, sitting on the nightstand next to her bed.

When she saw all of this, she realized Wayside had been planning on offering her the room the whole time. She felt both touched and disturbed but there was nothing to do about it. 'At least I know I can walk away from all this help without getting fired if I have to.'

Out of the lingering remains of paranoia, she reached into her saddle bag for her bit bag to make sure nopony slipped some into their own bags. Feeling it carefully with her hoof, she got a rough estimate of the number of coins inside. She felt a little guilty checking it after getting all the help today, but she still wanted to make sure.

She carefully replaced the saddle bag's flap and crawled into her bed. She would worry about the rest of tomorrow's worries tomorrow. Right now she was happy to be at peace for a brief moment. She had plenty of reason to be. She finally had a real job and a roof over her head, not just occasional day labor and a tent.

Somepony thought she was worth taking a chance on. The throbbing from her recently fixed back, the cloud bed she was laying on and the ceiling she was staring at were all proof of this. She didn't realize that the her face would be even sorer than her back from falling asleep while smiling so hard the next morning, but she wouldn't mind either.

* * *

Lightning Dust Looked Spitfire right in the eye. She knew what was coming and she accepted it. She didn't even flinch as the badge was torn off. When she was directed to leave, she didn't hesitate. She took the order in stride with little more than her ears going limp in sadness.

As she left with her escort, she looked back at her Idol with hope. Her wings stayed still as she did so. Upon reaching the entrance to the academy, she was still in high spirits. She opened her wings to take off.

When she took off she felt a pull on her tail. She looked back to see one of her escorts was pulling on it. He was now wearing a waiter uniform. The other had turned into her mother, holding a plate of noodles out to her to be carried out to a table.

"Sorry mom, but-" she said as she looked at her mom, while getting her back legs ready, "-No!" She gave the stallion holding her tail a swift kick in his face that seemed almost familiar. She flew up and circled back to her mom. "I'm not coming home," she called out to her from a few meters up in the air. "I'm a flyer and my dream isn't dead yet." She flew off to the horizon with no particular destination. She just drifted, enjoying the sensation of being in the air like she used to.

Still groggy and half asleep in bed, she muttered to herself, "I'll be back someday Aunt Spitfire. I will make you proud of me." She then fell back into her deep sleep.

* * *

When Lightning Dust woke up in the morning, she could smell Serra's cooking. It smelled like oatmeal, yet there something was special about the scent it. Before she went outside she did her morning routines. She tried to incorporate some of Zecora's methods that she managed to remember into her stretches, being careful to remember how not to strain her back as she did so.

When she went outside, she found Keen Wit coming down the hall. "Oh good you're up! Mom wanted me to fetch you for breakfast and dad said he wanted you to stay long enough to meet somepony from the weather team."

"But I met them last night." she responded in a mildly confused tone.

"Not all of them. Some of them couldn't come. This one has been out of town for the last week."

She followed the twerp to the Kitchen, which doubled as a dining room just off of the main room of the inn. Upon entering, she saw Serra and Sunny Rays sitting there, waiting for her with two extra bowls ready.

"Morning sweetie," Serra said as she got up and pulled out a chair for Lightning Dust. Lightning Dust hoped it was just out of respect for her back and it wouldn't be a normal thing once she recovered.

After sitting down Serra pushed one of the bowls to her then told her to eat up. Lightning Dust started eating as Sunny Rays talked with her cheerfully.

"Good morning Lightning Dust. If you felt up to it, Wayside wanted me to get started teaching you some of the not so hooves on stuff today, but we have the better part of a month to get through all of it. So we can take it slow and make sure you get it right."

"That sounds great," Lightning Dust answered after swallowing the first bite. The oatmeal tasted like it had some of the apples from the market and something else subtle in it, butter maybe. It wasn't common for something like this to elude Lightning Dust's taste. She had been drilled in understanding food from her mother and couldn't hardly eat anything without doing it reflexively. Whatever it was, it was good for oatmeal. "But don't you need to be out there? Wouldn't you spending time with me keep you from work?" Lightning Dust asked her as she gave up trying to identify the ingredients.

"Normally yes," she answered with a half nod and a slight tilt of the head. "But since you are technically an employee now we aren't short winged anymore. So now that you're on 'sick leave' Wayside was able call in some temporary help to cover for you from Cloudsdale without nearly as much trouble as if he had nopony at all." She shook her head as she recalled something. "The central weather office has some funny rules about that. He also called in an extra wing to cover some my shift to make sure I have the time train you right."

"Strange rules for sure but it got me the job so I won't complain," Lightning Dust thought out loud. Looking at Sunny Rays eating with her, she asked, "Are you here every morning for breakfast?"

Sunny Rays stopped eating and set her spoon back down in the bowl. "Naw. Sometimes Serra invites us, sometimes she doesn't." Lightning Dust could only guess she was talking about the rest of the weather team.

Sunny Rays looked over at the lady of the house cleaning up dishes and made sure she was out of earshot. She then leaned in at the table beckoning Lightning Dust to do the same. After complying with her as best she could, Sunny Rays spoke softly.

"Word of advice while you're staying here. She loves to cook for ponies but it isn't a part of her inn's service. Just be sure to only come in to the kitchen when she invites you and you'll be fine. If she doesn't call you then she doesn't want you in the kitchen. Got it?"

After she gave Serra a quick glance as she absorbed what Sunny Rays was saying, she answered back, "Got it," then went back to her oatmeal.

"That's right. This is my kitchen. So I had better not catch any midnight snackers in it," Serra said confidently. Both ponies at the table looked at Serra in surprise when she said this. "No. I didn't hear you. I just knew what you were talking about. I am a mom after all," she responded with a smile, not even looking away from her dishes.

As she got a good way through her oatmeal, Lightning Dust Heard Wayside outside, coming up to the door while talking to what must have been the other weather team member that he wanted her to meet.

"I'm sure you're gonna love working with this one. Once she's trained she might even give you a run for your bits."

"Ha! Fat chance! Only the Wonderbolts can keep up with me!"

Lightning Dust dropped her spoon when she heard the familiar voice. It clattered on the edge of the table then fell to the floor. The blood drained from her face before the screen door to the kitchen even opened to reveal who Wayside was talking to.

"So where is sh... You! What are you doing here!?" Lightning Dust heard her ex-wing pony Rainbow Dash exclaim, looking like she was ready to attack.

Comments

[SolidFire]

I've been counting down the chapters, just waiting for that encounter to happen. It makes me want to read the next one all the more. The story has been interesting thus far, and Lightning Dust's actions seem believable for her character. Believe it or not, I grinned when she landed that kick on Pinkie. I've wanted to see something like that happen to her for quite some time. I'm looking forward to reading more of this.

~SolidFire

[reflective vagrant]

5586869
It is good to see that people are still enjoying the story, and that I am making different readers smile from different things. I am glad you commented too. I try to listen to my reader's comments to hone my skills through reflecting on feedback. Though not a lot of comments help with this, I am still generally glad to get them.

[TheBBofC]

Something to note about your dialogue is that your characters talk too much at a time. If you listen carefully to most conversations, it's very rare that people deliver an entire paragraph during equal conversation. It's usually a couple sentences.