The Long Road to Normal

by scifidude47

Chapter 5: Suffering

The small group found themselves in a house after some uneventful trotting back into the city. Iron Wing had put down the saddlebags and was looking for something to barricade the door with. He had located a small, broken machine which he couldn't make out the origin of. It was heavy though, so he pushed it across the floor, screeching across the chipped linoleum in the kitchen and hallway. Rainbow Dash had looked for bedding upstairs, but just found some fluffy material. Only enough for one pony, really. He she brought it downstairs to Fluttershy, who had been looking the main living room near the entrance of the house for anything of use. She didn't find much but a small plastic trashcan full of assorted junk and ash, which she managed to pick a ash filled water bottle and a ceramic dinner plate out of.

"Hey Flutters." Rainbow said.

"O-oh... I found some... stuff..." She said meekly.

"Like what?" Rainbow questioned.

"Just this bottle... and a plate..." She said, disappointed in her find.

"Hey, we could fill that bottle, and we can eat off of the plate." Rainbow said, trying to comfort her friend. She knew she felt like a burden, but Rainbow found her as a great pony to have around. She just seemed to brighten up the usual gloom a bit.

"What good would the plate do?" Fluttershy asked.

"I dunno, make you feel a bit more at home, I guess?" Rainbow said back with a small smile.

"Y..yeah.. I think that would help." Fluttershy said, her frown turning back into a grin.

Iron Wing had finished barricading the door, and the heavy pushing took its toll on him. He was heaving as he rested against the wall next to the door. He pushed the black hair out of his eyes and got back up. He trotted over to the two mares, and Rainbow Dash returned to her now usual mood.

"Hey." Iron Wing said simply.

"What?" Rainbow said sharply.

"I just wanted to see if everything was alright."

"We're fine. Thanks for asking." Fluttershy said kindly.

Rainbow remained silent, keeping her disapproval upon her face.

"I'm going to sleep on the couch. You two could share the beds upstairs, if you'd like."

"There's only one up there. I'd say it's large enough for two ponies." Rainbow responded with an almost monotone voice.

"What about that white fluff?" Iron Wing responded.

"I was going to give it to Fluttershy, for a pillow. I can rest my head on the mattress."

"Um.. Rainbow, are you sure?" Fluttershy asked.

"What's the problem?"

"I.. I thought if you had it, it'd be like sleeping on a cloud..."

"It's fine... you need it more than I do."

"Please? I'll be ok... honest.." She said as she looked away.

Rainbow Dash sighed.

"Alright, but just this once. After that, I won't use it anymore."

"Ok." Fluttershy responded.

"Will you be alright D.. I mean... Iron Wing?"

Iron Wing was slightly disappointed at her change of words.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." He responded. "If you need me, just holler."

"Ok. Night." Rainbow Dash responded.

She and Fluttershy both trotted upstairs to find the bed. Fluttershy looked back and waved goodbye to Iron Wing silently. Iron Wing trotted over to the torn and basically broken couch. It was probably a step up from sleeping on the floor, so he chose to rest here instead of forcing a constant awake state any further. The couch was uncomfortable, itchy, and there must have been some spring that was poking Iron Wing in the back, but he didn't care. The floor had to be worse. He managed to drift off to sleep after about half an hour.
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Iron Wing opened his eyes on the hospital bed, a white ceiling, a pain in his side, and a constant beeping of two heart monitors to his left. He somewhat painfully turned over to see if Robin Feather was awake.

"Honey? You up?" He asked to her.

"Yes." She answered with a grunt as she turned over to face him.

"You feel any better?" He asked her, concerned about her well being.

"I suppose, perhaps a little more than yesterday." She responded after pulling up her covers a little bit.

"Any recovery is better than none." Iron Wing said optimistically.

Robin Feather simply nodded, still not quite awake yet.

"Do you know when breakfast is honey?" Robin Feather asked after a while.

"I'd say about half an hour. Why?" Iron Wing asked. Robin Feather simply winced and grabbed her stomach.

"It'll be fine, Robin. Why don't we talk to get your mind off of your hunger?"

"Not much to talk about when you've had a good number of your bones broken by a manticore..."

Iron Wing's ears flopped down on his face.

"...I'm sorry... I just-"

"It's ok. It's ok... I'm just a bit sad right now..."

"Thank Celestia that ranger came..."

"Yeah..." Robin Feather tried to lay on her back, but her broken wing made her shoot straight back up.

A nurse came in with a tray with several foods and a newspaper. Iron Wing and Robin Feather thanked her as she left.

Iron Wing leaned up and picked up a newspaper from the tray. He pushed the tray to Robin Feather, who smiled back to him in thanks. Iron Wing laid back down and flipped open the newspaper. After going through several stories, one in particular intrigued him.

"Hey Honey, did you hear about the new flu going around?" Iron asked.

"No, why?"

"Just wondering... it says that there's already forty cases of it back in Ponyville."

"It's probably just a sniffle going around. Nothing too scary to me."

"Oh, alright." Iron Wing set the newspaper back down and laid back down.

"I'm going to rest for a bit Robin, I'm not very hungry."

"Alright dear. Goodnight..." He got up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Love you." She whispered to him.

"Love you too, Robin." Iron Wing closed his eyes.
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Iron Wing woke, with a single tear streaming down his face and several more forming in his eyes. He only let out a small cry for a moment before calming down a bit and getting up. He wiped his face and looked about. He caught a glimpse of Fluttershy at the top of the stairs, but she ducked away before he could see her face. He sighed, and then laid back down, turning his face into the sofa and weeping himself to sleep.