Rusted

by gallagsp the corgi

Chapter 2

The day began normally, or as normally as it could for somepony laid up in a hospital. Shimmering Blade went through her routine that had been established, after breakfast a nurse came in and took away the bowl, followed by the doctor and a physical therapist to evaluate her range of motion. She hated that part.

"Alright, rotate your left wing for me, nice and slow." The therapist said in her I-am-going-to-be-your-best-friend-if-it-kills-you voice, irritating Shimmering Blade for the umpteenth time in the last ten minutes. She sighed and did as she was told, slowly rotating the weakened muscles with the use of damaged nerves. The therapist pressed her cold hooves against her wing, pushing it a little too hard, causing her to flinch.

"Hmm. Well that isn't good. You've seemed to have developed a bit of stiffness in your wing." She smirked. "I know I look good, but try to contain yourself."

"Doctor, some professionalism would be appreciated." The army doctor said, having heard one to many failed dirty jokes.

"Bah! You two have no sense of humor. Anyway, despite the stiffness, everything checks out. I'll give you some muscle relaxers and see how everything looks tomorrow morning. Won't be long now until you're home free."

"Yes, I'd say one, two days tops. Your recovery is something of a miracle. I've never seen somepony is such bad condition recover so quickly." The army doctor said, flipping through Shimmering Blade's chart.

"Yeah, sure, a miracle." She retorted, turning her head to look out the window. She didn't believe in miracles. Where were the miracles when they got to her? When she escaped, there wasn't any miracle to be seen, just her own will and determination let her escape, and it was her will alone that let her survive in the wilderness for so long, not some otherworldly force.

An awkward silence followed. Both doctor unsure of what to say.

"Well then. Something tells me we should step outside for a bit." The physical therapist said. "By the way, you have a meeting with Dr. Thinker, the psychiatrist, at two o'clock."

"Wait, what?" Shimmering Blade yelled, sitting up in bed. She turned to the army doctor. "Why do I have to see a psychiatrist? You said I didn't have anything wrong with me!"

"I said you didn't, that is correct." He sighed. "Its just a final thing before you get sent home, just double checking."

"Well, what if I don't want to go?"

"Go home or go to Dr. Thinker?"

"Take a wild guess." Shimmering blade said, crossing her hooves across her chest. "Of course I want to go home. Jeez, you doctors get stupider and stupider everyday. I feel fine, I'm a little sore, but I'm fine. This mask thing is really unnecessary, you said yourselves I've made an amazing recovery, and I definitely have nothing wrong with my head. I'm not crazy, and I don't need somepony else to confirm that for me."

"It's just a precaution, we could have missed something."

"That's a load of horseapples." She said, again turning to look out the window. "Fine. I'll go see him, but I'm not happy about it."

"You don't have to be happy about it, but it's necessary." He said, turning to leave. "He'll be here at two." the two doctors left the room, leaving her alone again. She watched them go, then turned back to the window. She was doing that a lot, not that there was anything else to look at in this boring hospital room. Outside, the sun was even higher than the last time she looked. However, what would normally be a beautiful day was going to be ruined. She could see the Canterlot weather team pushing large, menacing dark clouds into position. She thought about that for a bit.

She could understand why small rural farm towns like Ponyville and Boulder Province would need that much rain, but she never understood why big cities needed it. There's no farms in the cities that need that water, and most big cities, especially Canterlot with its hard-to-reach location on a mountain, got most of their drinking water from aqueducts. In fact, Shimmering Blade could make out the faint outline of one of the closer ones out on the horizon. Then she thought maybe it was for sanitation. The rain helped wash out the streets, cleaning up any trash or junk left out, and cleaning up the occasional puddle of blood in areas like the Broncs, where street crime was huge.

Or was it still a problem? Heck if she knew. All she knew was that she hated the rain. Rain meant things got wet, and wet things broke down. Broken things didn't work properly when you need them to, which means you're dead. At least, that was her experience with rain. It seemed that the main thing essential to life is also life's greatest enemy. She subconsciously reached over to the bedside table, opening the drawer and pulling out the metal chain made of small links, attached to the chain were two thin metal plates, they were rusted, like everything else she saved, but they were probably the most important.

She idly twirled the dog tags around her hoof before abruptly grabbing them with the other and looking them over. Standard issue tags. Aluminum chain and plates, machine stamped, with her name, rank, and serial number for identification purposes.

Private First Class Shimmering Blade, SN9284384

She turned the tag over, etched into the other side was her own personal signature, but it wasn't her name, it was a nickname given to her by her allies. She chuckled at it.

"Razor Waz Here"

Razor. Now that was a nickname. Shimmering "Razor" Blade. It had a nice ring to it. It came around because of how sharp she kept her sword, sharp enough to rival even Japeneighs Katanas. They had confiscated her sword when she was rescued, along with her armor, saying she didn't need it anymore, but she remembered it could cut down small trees in one swipe, or in many cases, cut through entire limbs...

Suddenly she sat straight up, shaking her head. No, she wouldn't think of that. She wouldn't think of that ambush, when she cut that kid's leg clean off. She wouldn't think of the blood, or how he grabbed at the wound yelling in pain before another soldier finished him off. She wouldn't think of the terrified looks those prisoners gave her when she watched him bleed, how they thought she was a monster for her cruelty...

She wouldn't think of it. She wouldn't think of it...

Celestia damn it, She was thinking of it. Her whole body shook. Her pupils shrunk in her eyes and she stared straight ahead. She kept swallowing even though her mouth was suddenly dry. She cradled her head in her hooves and began sobbing like a filly. This was not good.

Ouside, the rain began to fall.

Author's Note:

Chapter two is here! Hooray!

We get a little bit more background on this one, even a flashback and a mental breakdown, and we get to learn a bit more about Shimmering Blade as a pony.

Hope you enjoy!

Comments

[QPaysTaxes]

Yup. Nothing at all wrong with her.

Totally not PTSD.

And you've captured it perfectly. Well done.