Wings of Friendship

by DemonBrightSpirit

Investigation

As Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity started to cheer up in the hospital's waiting room, a trio of ponies burst in. A yellow pegasus mare with a fiery mane wearing nothing more than a pair of goggles—which were currently up on her forehead—led the two other ponies. The trailing duo were a pair of stallions, one a grey unicorn and the other a brown earth pony. The earth pony had a black mane that was swept back, wore a pair of corrective lenses, and sported saddlebags and a bowtie. The unicorn had a neatly combed brown mane and wore a blue, pinstripe suit complete with a tie.

They looked quite official. The stallions did, at least, but the mare didn't need to. Anypony could easily recognize her. She was the one and only captain of the Wonderbolts: Spitfire. While the two ponies flanking her managed to maintain a stoic expression, Spitfire just couldn't shake her frown.

The trio walked up to the nurse's station and the unicorn retrieved an official-looking scroll from the earth pony's satchel and unraveled it onto the counter. "We are investigating the…unfortunate accident that injured Rainbow Dash," Spitfire requested in a professional manner. "If at all possible we would like to speak with her or her doctor at their earliest convenience."

The nursed examined the document a moment before nodding. "Her doctor may be able to see you," she conceded as she began to trot off. "If you will follow me, please."

A few dizzying hallways later, the group entered a small room with a massive pane of glass for a wall. The nurse walked over to a unicorn in a white coat who was staring intently through the glass. Using a clipboard to mask her muzzle, she whispered to him.

Curious, the trio looked through the enormous pane of glass to see what was so fascinating while the nurse explained their presence. The unicorn and earth pony both turned away in disgust almost immediately as they saw a pony on a table surrounded by several unicorns. The window's view was perfect poised to view the pony's insides as the surgeons performed their delicate work.

Spitfire didn't look away. Instead she focused on the fur and what she could see of the rainbow-colored tail. The bloody mess in front of her could only be Rainbow Dash. The spunky pegasus that could famously perform the sonic rainboom…and here she was, missing a wing and her insides spilled out on a table.

She nearly growled at the sight. It was ultimately her fault that Rainbow Dash was in this situation. After all, the event that she was injured in was endorsed by the Wonderbolts. She was the captain. It was her responsibility.

Spitfire couldn't remember the last time she had loathed herself so much. Although she kept it to herself, Spitefire had always possessed high hopes for Rainbow Dash. Ever since the first time she witnessed the sonic rainboom…well, at least she had been there and heard all about it after she woke up.

Now she can't even fly, Spitfire bitterly thought. It was almost a fate worse than death. At least for a pegasus, especially one that so loved to fly. Spitfire couldn't even imagine the horror of living out the rest of her days tethered to the ground.

She snapped out of her reverie at the sound of her name. "W-what?" Spitfire stammered as she finally tore her eyes away from the operating table.

"I said: it's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Spitfire," the doctor repeated himself. He had remind himself not to be cross with her. Professional or not, many ponies in this place tended to easily lose themselves in thought, grief, and worry.

"Right," Spitfire acknowledged as she regained her poise. "You know, we've never had a single serious injury on our courses before," she lamented as she turned back to Rainbow Dash. "And then this happens. To one of Princess Celestia's Elements of Harmony and, quite frankly, one of the best fliers I've ever seen."

The expert flier had to fight back a wave of nausea as she looked back to the doctor. "I honestly believed our courses to be safe for experienced fliers, but obviously that isn't the case. I need to know what happened up there so we can make sure that the course is safe for competitors in the future. And so I can look Princess Cesestia in the eye and tell her exactly how I got one of her Elements of Harmony maimed…or worse"

The doctor winced at the thought of having to report this fiasco to the ruler of all of Equestria. Spitfire's situation was not one he wished to ever experience. "I see," he muttered as he prayed that the surgeons wouldn't make any mistakes. "Well…"

Before the doctor could finish, Spitfire continued, "Please tell me she's going to pull through."

With a weary sigh, the doctor followed Spitfire's gaze to the operating table. "She's strong, and her vitals are better now than when she was brought in. If I had to bet, I'd bet on her and not The Reaper."

"Good," she curtly replied. "When do you think she will be able to tell us what happened up there?"

The doctor shook his head. "She won't be awake until morning, and it's unlikely that she will be cleared to talk to anypony until in the afternoon," he gave his best guess. "And that's assuming she isn't confused or missing parts of her memory from the concussion."

Seeing a look of frustration on Spitfire's face, he continued, "If you want my opinion, I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened."

Spitfire raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Enlighten me."

"All of Rainbow Dash's injuries are consistent with a serious fall—all except one," he explained. "She has a curved laceration on the side of her head far too regular to be caused by a fall." Already Spitfire's expression had morphed from skepticism to enthrallment. "I've seen the wound before. Too many times, in fact. It's usually seen in assaults, not on some pegasus race track."

Spitfire let her impatience get the better of her. "What caused it?!"

"A hoof," he bluntly replied. "She was kicked in the head. In my expert opinion, the laceration indicated a blow that certainly would have been violent enough to render her unconscious."

KICKED!? Spitfire's mind raged as her vision turned a shade of red. Had she not been in a hospital, something would have been broken. Violently.

Somepony KICKED her?! In the middle of a race?! For what!? To win!? Spitfire's thoughts raced.

"Doctor," the unicorn accompanying Spitfire spoke up. "Have you informed anypony about your…suspicions?"

The doctor shook his head. "Patient info is…supposed to be confidential, and there is no actual proof of wrongdoing."

"We would appreciate it if you continued to withhold that little tidbit," the unicorn insisted.

"Of course," the doctor replied.

"This isn't an accident investigation anymore," Spitfire ground out now that she had calmed down a bit. "It's a criminal investigation. Assault. No! Attempted murder!"

The earth pony cleared his throat as he started to speak, "Um…ma'am, you don't get make that decis—" His words were stopped mid-sentence by a nightmarish glare from Spirfire. "R-right. Criminal investigation."

Spitfire didn't even bother to say anything to the doctor as she sent Rainbow Dash one last glance before storming out. Oh-so-quickly this had gone from a tragic accident to a heartless crime, and Spitfire wasn't about to let it go unpunished. She didn't even care that her career was essentially clear of the guillotine now that they knew that the fall wasn't caused by the course itself. She just couldn't imagine any competitor doing that to a fellow pegasus.

As Spitfire reentered the waiting room, she saw the same five ponies milling about that were there when she had walked in. It was then that she recognized them. They were the same ponies that accompanied Rainbow Dash to Cloudsdale. No small feat for earth ponies and unicorns. Though she was still a little bitter at the purple-maned unicorn for nearly killing her and making them look a bit foolish.

"Excuse me," Spitfire spoke up as her entourage caught up. "You ladies are Rainbow Dash's friends, right?"

"Yes ma'am, we are," the purple unicorn asserted…only she wasn't a unicorn anymore.

The two ponies accompanying Spitfire bowed as the Wonderbolt gave a crisp salute. "Princess," Spitfire started again with a more respectful tone, "we are working hard to try to piece together exactly what happened that led to, well, this."

"Please, just call me Twilight Sparkle," the alicorn dismissed with a wave of her hoof, urging the ponies to stop prostrating themselves. "Do you know how this happened?"

"We are getting a clearer picture, Prin...erm, Twilight Sparkle," Spitfire stumbled as she fought against so many conflicting emotions. Complicating her position was the fact that she didn't want to give too much information away. After all, the doctor did have a point when he said that there wasn't any actual proof that there was wrongdoing. "I was hoping maybe you or one of these ponies happened to be at the event."

All eyes fell on Fluttershy. She didn't move to the front of the group, but the rest backed away, letting Spitfire approach her. "Oh dear," the yellow mare mumbled as she cowered a bit. "Um, yes, I was there."

"Good, because I wasn't," Spitfire unabashedly admitted to what she perceived as a mistake. "I need you to try and remember the names of the fliers that were up there with Rainbow Dash when…when she started falling."

Fluttershy hesitated. It was hard finding the memories of something so…insignificant. Most of the day's memories were washed away by the horrors and worries of the accident. But the request did seem to make sense. Anypony up there with Rainbow Dash might have seen something. "Um, Lightning Dust was up there with her when-when she…" Fluttershy trailed off.

The unicorn behind Spitfire retrieved a quill and pad from the earth pony's saddlebags before writing the name down.

"Good, can you remember anypony else?" Spitfire urged.

Fluttershy shook her head. "There wasn't anypony else," she refuted. "Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust were the only ones there. Everypony else was way behind."

Spitfire worked hard to fight off the snarl that so desperately wanted to appear. "You're telling me that Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust were alone in the storm clouds at the time of the accident?"

Fluttershy slowly nodded. "I hope that helps," she meekly replied.

"More than you know," Spitfire claimed as she headed for the door without another word. The second she stepped clear of the building she spread her wings and disappeared in a flash.

"She seemed rather upset," Rarity noted as Spitfire's entourage chased after her.

"She must feel guilty," Fluttershy guessed.

Twilight let out a sigh as she reorganized her thoughts. "I'm sure she will figure everything out. We, on the other hoof, need to prepare. And the first thing everypony needs is a good night's sleep," she asserted. "Like I said before, I'll stay here in case anything happens. You girls go home and try to get some rest."

"And I shall relieve you first thing in the morning," Rarity insisted.

"I'll get started on gettin' a room ready for Dash—just in case," Applejack added.

"Right," Twilight asserted with a nod. "Tomorrow morning we will meet at the library to discuss strategy."

"We'll get Rainbow's wing back or die trying!" Pinkie loudly proclaimed.

The rest of the girls looked skeptically at one another before Applejack replied, "Uh, well, we're certainly gonna try our darndest."

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically as she, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy headed towards the door. "Even if it kills us!" Pinkie swore.

"I'll let you girls know first thing if anything happens!" Twilight called after them.

Comments

[GoldRose]

Buck you, Lighting. Shame on you.