Dash and Burn

by TheMessenger

Chapter 4

Mutters and murmurs buzzed around her ears like annoying gnats. Rainbow Dash squeezed her eyes shut, but her dreams were swiftly fading away. Try as she might, sleep had already slipped away from her, and with a sigh, Rainbow slowly opened her eyes.

"Oh, hey, Rainbow's up." Pinkie Pie launched herself off of the hospital bed's railing and hopped across the room. "She's up, she's up, she's up!"

As her friends crowded around her, Rainbow Dash rolled to the side and glanced over her shoulder at her wing. First one was fine, she decided after a few stretches. She checked the other and groaned at the sight of the white linen covering the blue feathers.

"How are you feeling?" Twilight asked.

"Like I just flew straight through a hurricane." Rainbow Dash said, rolling her neck.

"That's pretty accurate," Applejack chuckled, though she quickly grew stern. "Don' know what was goin' on in that mind of yours, goin' out with Spike into a storm like that."

"Spike?" Rainbow's eyes grew wide, and she tried to sit up. "Where's Spike? He was falling, and he, he--"

"Um, hi?"

Rainbow turned to her side and stared, mouth agape, at the dragon resting the bed beside hers. It was a few sizes too small for him as his clawed feet dangled uncomfortably over the edge and his bandaged wing was forced to rest on the nightstand instead of a lamp. With an exhausted grin, Spike gave Rainbow little wave.

"You alright?" Rainbow asked. Spike tried to shrug, only to wince.

"Yeah, I guess," Spike answered. He lowered his head back onto his pillow. Twilight left Rainbow's side and went to Spike's, using her magic to fluff the cushion. "I don't remember much," he said, "what happened?"

"You, uh, crashed." Rainbow craned forward to examine Spike's wing. "Hard, I guess."

"Oh." He turned to stare at his bandages. "Right, sorry."

"You'd better be sorry, mister," Twilight scolded, tapping her assistant on the forehead, forcing him to lie down. "You should've known better, going out into a storm when you still haven't gotten the hang of flying down yet."

"Ow, stop poking me," protested Spike as he tried to wave Twilight away. "I'm sorry, really, I'm sorry."

The alicorn sighed and sat down. "I know, just don't do that again."

Spike looked away. "I, okay," he muttered, rubbing his shoulder.

A few moments of uncomfortable silence wafted through the room, only for Rainbow Dash to interrupt with an uncertain cough.

"So, uh," she said, "how long have been here?"

"It's been just over a day," Rarity answered. She looked toward the room's entrance and sniffed. "I have half a mind to complain. What could be keeping that doctor?"

"Oh, I'm sure there's a good reason for the wait," said Fluttershy. "I don't really mind."

Rarity hummed. "Perhaps, but an update or an explanation for the delay would only be courteous. Oh, not knowing what's wrong with Rainbow and Spikey is driving me mad," she cried.

"You guys haven't been here the entire time, have you?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Naw, only about an hour or so," Applejack said, rolling her eyes. "Rarity's just being over dramatic, as usual."

"Well, excuse me for displaying some concern for our friends' well being," Rarity sniffed, though a light blush slowly creeped across her features as everypony else began to giggle.

The door suddenly swung open, and in stepped a tan stallion in a pristine, though wrinkled, lab coat. His brown mane was a complete mess, like multi limbed monster trying to climb up his horn, and the glasses he wore rested crookedly on his muzzle. He smiled tiredly at the ponies waiting as he scrambled toward them with a shuffled set of folders and files and a white screen in his magical grasp

"Good morning, everypony," he said. "Sorry for the wait, but there was a line for the X-ray processes. You two weren't the only ones injured by the storm. Turns out it was a little stronger than the weather manager made it out to be." The doctor laughed weakly as he turned from each pony to the next.

"So how are they, doctor?" Twilight ask when the stallion's gaze went to her.

The physician cleared his throat. "Yes, right, straight to business." He opened a folder and removed a black sheet, placing it on the screen and moving it toward Rainbow Dash. There was a flick of a switch, and the screen lit up, revealing the image of a skeletal wing in a pale green light.

The doctor pointed to a thin line cutting through the bone. "It looks like a small fracture, nothing too serious. It shouldn't take very long for you to fully recover. You were very lucky," the doctor added, pushing his glasses up.

"Psh, luck had nothing to with it," Rainbow Dash exclaimed as her friends rolled their eyes. "Crashing takes skill."

"Yes, well, skill or luck, we'll be releasing you by the end of the week."

Rainbow's smug look vanished. "What? But that's, like..." She turned to Twilight.

"Four days," Twilight immediately answered.

"Four days?" Rainbow Dash groaned. "Are you serious? What am I supposed to for four days?"

"Did you know Daring Do's assistant from The Serpent's Scepter recently published her own personal journal?" Twilight said.

"You mean the one who tried taking the scepter for herself--"

"But came back to save the day after Daring Do saved her life in chapter twelve."

"Do you have it?" Rainbow Dash asked after a moment, to which Twilight responded with teasing grin. "Of course you do." She leaned back and placed her forelegs behind her head. "Well, guess I'm set for four days."

"No wall climbing?"

"Not this time, Pinkie," said Rainbow Dash.

"Aw."

"What about Spike," Twilight asked as the doctor stumbled through his files. "Was he as lucky as Rainbow?"

"Well," the doctor began as he replaced Rainbow's X-ray. The differences in the images were jarring; while Rainbow's wing was like a tree or root, with a line of bones and branches extending from it, Spike's wing was more similar to a spider's web. Thin bones curved over each other, creating little pockets of blank darkness that were absent from Rainbow's X-ray. A few white spots floated around the largest pieces of bone, seemingly unattached and free.

Applejack let out a low whistle. "What a mess. How can you see anything out of that?"

"Experience," the doctor answered before gesturing to the image. "For instance, I can tell that, that, uh..." He turned to stare at Spike's wing before looking back to the screen. "This is, is, well, I think, we're going to need a specialist," he finished lamely as he nervously readjusted his glasses. "Excuse me."

Applejack and Rarity quickly stepped out of the physician's path before exchanging looks with the rest of their friends. "Now what was that about?" Applejack asked.

"He didn't even tell us what's wrong with Spike," moaned Pinkie Pie. The mare patted her front hooves on Rainbow's bedside. "Or when he's leaving. How am I supposed to plan a congratulations on recovering, we're super glad you're not crippled for life party?"

"It is rather odd for a doctor to stumble through a diagnosis like that," Rarity said, frowning, "though perhaps this is simply an off day for him."

Fluttershy swallowed as she stared at Spike's X-ray. "You don't think, you don't think it's something serious, do you?"

"Serious, why?" Pinkie laughed. "Just because the doctor rushed out with a worried look on his face after looking at an X-ray oh." The earth pony deflated a bit. Expressions of worry and pained looks spread from pony to pony as they turned from the screen to Spike, then back to the screen. "Yeah, I can see why you'd think that."

"Now hold on, if it were somethin' serious, you'd think the doctor would tell us straight," Applejack challenged, her stomp echoing through the room. "No need to start looking glum and panicky, alright? Spike's fine," she assured with an encouraging nod toward the dragon. "I'm sure the doctor was lookin' worried because, well, uh, because..."

Spike grew cold as he watched Applejack reach and pull her hat over her face. She turned away, suddenly unable to face him. "Twilight?" he whispered, almost whimpered.

Twilight placed a gentle hoof on his shoulder. "Don't worry," she said. "Applejack's right, if something was seriously wrong, they'd have told us by now."

"And the doctor's, uh, weirdness?" Spike frowned. "I mean, him running out like that and everything. What was that all about?"

Twilight bit her lip. "I have no idea," she finally admitted after a moment. "But don't worry," she quickly added, seeing Spike sink back with an uneasy look, "I'm positive there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for the doctor's behavior."

Spike swallowed slowly. His entire arm tensed as he grabbed hold of his comforter. "Like?"

"Well..." Twilight's smile became crooked, and she turned to the others for help.

"Oh, knock it off," Rainbow Dash groaned, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "Look, if I'm fine, you're fine. Same storm, same place, same crash, right?"

"Same hole, actually," said Pinkie Pie.

"Yeah, exactly." Rainbow bit back a wince as her wing brushed against the pillow she was using to prop herself up. "A-anyways," she continued, "like I was saying, whatever happened to you can't have been any worse than what's happened to me."

"You said crashing took skill," Spike began slowly. "Are you saying I'm--"

"Skilled as me?" Rainbow snickered. "Pft, yeah, in your dreams, but that size probably makes up for it. Come on, you really think a crash like that would mess up a full grown dragon?"

"Spike's hardly full grown," Twilight argued.

"Well, he's not exactly a baby either." Rainbow Dash leaned back and waved lazily. "Look, he's fine, the doc probably had to pee. I'd bet Spike'll be out of here in no time, like sometime next week."

"Sometime next week, huh?" Spike began to grin. "Why not four days?"

Rainbow's eyes flew open, and she matched his smirk. "Oh, do I hear a challenge?" she sneered. "What, losing our last one wasn't enough?"

Rainbow's words wiped Spike's grin away. "Wait, when did I lose?"

"Today's, no, yesterday's crash puts you ahead of me, dragon boy." Rainbow laughed as Spike's mouth fell open. "Come on, pay attention to your score."

"Hm, actually, you've tied!"

"Wait, what." Rainbow Dash pushed herself up and leaned forward. "Pinkie, what do you mean tied?"

"As of yesterday, both of you've crashed the exact same amount of times," Pinkie Pie announced cheerfully as she ducked down and pulled out the chalkboard from beneath Rainbow's bed. "See," she said, pointing at the large white numbers on both sides of the board.

Rainbow scowled at the board. "Who added one to my count?" she demanded, pointing. "I know this number should be one less."

"Well, you did crash too, sugar cube," Applejack said. She pushed the chalkboard out of Rainbow's face and met her glare with a woeful smile. "Sorry, but them's the breaks."

"No, them's the breaks," Pinkie snorted, sticking her hoof at Rainbow's wing. In unison, everypony groaned.

"So, a tie." Spike laughed weakly as Rainbow Dash turned her glare on him. "Heh, so, still want to see who'll recover first?"

Twilight began to glower, her lips twisting into a disapproving frown. "Spike..."

"What? It's not like we're going anywhere or doing anything dangerous. Besides," Spike added with a hungry look, "we have decided who won the bet. Come on, Twilight, free rubies," he pleaded.

"That, or you'll end up being Rainbow's servant for an entire week." Twilight sighed, then glanced over to Rainbow.

"Sorry, Twilight," Rainbow apologized, her head bowed to hide her grin, "but Spike's got a point. We've got to settle this somehow."

"And you two really can't just accept a tie?"

"Nope," Spike and Rainbow said together, winning an eye roll from Twilight, a head shake from Rarity, and giggles from everypony else. Just as the laughter began to taper, the door swung open, and in stepped the physician from before. Following closely behind was pegasus mare, also dressed in a white lab coat and with a stethoscope draped over her neck. The two seemed deep in a discussion, with their heads low and quiet mutterings between them.

"Well, let's see," the pegasus said wearily, moving past her companion toward the screen with Spike's X-ray. With a hovering hoof, she traced a few gray lines. "Okay, huh, hmm..."

She turned to Spike. "Can I see your wing?"

Slowly, Spike stretched the unharmed limb.

"No, the other one," the mare ordered. "Easy now, don't overdo it."

Spike looked to his friends, who could only shrug in confusion. He hesitated and turned to the doctor.

"It's fine," he said, "she's a doctor."

Still, Spike moved slow, gingerly holding out the bandaged wing for the new mare. He flinched as she reached forward and took the wing between her hooves.

"Did that hurt?" she asked.

"A-a little."

"Hmm." The mare's hooves moved further along. "How does this feel?"

"Uh, tight?" Spike ventured. "I don't know, it's just kind of weird feeling."

"Uh huh. Could you elaborate?"

Spike took a moment to mull. "It feels tight," he finally said lamely, receiving a series of eye rolls and exaggerated face plants into hooves from half the room. "Weird and tight."

"Alright then." The pegasus's hooves traveled further, stopping inches away from Spike's back. "And this?" she asked, applying pressure.

Everypony ducked as a stream of green flames flared from Spike's mouth, punctuating his feral roar. His injured wing sprung out with a sharp snap and struck the pegasus. She released Spike's wing the instant the blow connected to her jaw, which sent her spinning into the air until she crashed into the X-ray screen. It buzzed frantically as it flickered before turning off with a dying fizzle.

"Ah, oh, uh." Spike slowly pulled his wing back and swallowed, his face twisting at the arid taste of smoke and the pain running through the wing. "That hurt."

"No, really?" Rainbow Dash tried to smoothen the blanket she had hid under as casually as possible. Thankfully, nopony seemed to notice as they slowly climbed back onto their hooves or, in Fluttershy's case, out from under Rainbow's bed. "I bet she got the idea," Rainbow Dash said pointing at the struck mare.

"S-sorry," Spike said, rubbing his claws together nervously as the doctor made his way to his coworker's side. "Is she going to be alright?"

"Looks like she'll be fine," the doctor answered as the pegasus mare began to groan. He lifted her slowly and draped her over his back. "There doesn't seem to be any serious damage, but I'd better get her to lie down first. Uh, excuse m--"

"Hey now, hold on," Applejack interjected, grabbing on the doctor's lab coat. She released him and chuckled sheepishly as the physician turned to her with his brow raised. "Heh, um, I get you're busy and everythin', you bein' a doctor and all, but we're all still kinda waiting for news 'bout our friend."

"Didn't I say she'd be out by the week's end?"

Rarity walked to Applejack side. "Yes, and our other friend?" she asked, gesturing to Spike.

"Ah, yes, uh, well..." The doctor scratched the back of his head. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy joined Applejack and Rarity. He took a step back as they leaned forward. "Ahem, well..."

"Yes?" they said together, the word sharp with impatience and anticipation.

The doctor took another step back. "Well, you see, in all my years as a medical practitioner, I've never had to diagnose a, well, dragon. I could name every organ and bone and its position in a pony, pegasus, unicorn, or earth pony, and even zebras and griffins, but dragons?" The doctor shrugged, shifting the mare on his back.

"Wait." Twilight's eyes narrowed as her voice lowered dangerously. "It sounds an awful lot like you're saying you don't know what's wrong with Spike."

"Well, no, not entirely. I mean, it's pretty clear something's wrong with his wing." He jerked his head toward the pegasus on his back. "Dr. Lift specializes in wing structure, but whether she knows anything we don't will have to wait until she awakes."

"And if she don't?" asked Applejack.

"Then perhaps some doctor in Canterlot or Manehattan will. We'll send a letter if it comes to it." Now if you'll excuse me," he said with a weary frown, "I have other patients waiting."

The doctor passed through without another word, nor did he receive any; even after the door closed behind him, nopony spoke.

"So," Spike began, breaking the silence, "was that good news or bad news?"

"If the doctors don't know what's wrong, they can't treat you, so of course that's bad news," Twilight replied as she began to pace.

"Um--"

"Hey," Pinkie Pie jumped in, "just because they don't know what's wrong doesn't mean some is wrong. Maybe it's just a cramp, and Spike-a-nator'll be home tomorrow. Come on, guys." Pinkie wave her hooves in the air. "Let's have some positive thinking!"

"What about--"

"How is that positive thinking?" Rainbow Dash protested loudly as Spike mouthed Spike-a-nator. "He goes home early, and then I'm stuck spending an entire day digging for gems."

Rarity gave the confined pegasus a pointed stare. "So you'd rather have Spike severely hurt just to win a silly game?" Several additional glares joined Rarity's.

"What, no!" Rainbow Dash quickly asserted, holding up her hooves. "Just, you know." Her voice grew softer, and she lowered her head. "Maybe just a tiny bit hurt."

Rarity gasped. "Oh, of all the--"

"Girls, please!" Twilight shouted over the protests and indignant cries of her friends. "Arguing will get us nowhere. I don't care who wins this silly bet--"

"You sure?" Pinkie Pie asked. "I mean, that's an entire week without your, ahem, quote, number one assistant, unquote."

"I'll manage," Twilight snapped. "I'd have to eventually, since he can't come..." She shook her head. "No, now's not the time. Right now I just want to make sure Spike'll be alright, and that means finding somepony who knows dragon anatomy."

"So another dragon?" Applejack suggested.

"Yeah, doubt it." Rainbow Dash folded her forelimbs over her chest. "Even if we could find one, it'd probably be as big a jerk as the one Fluttershy scared off or the ones me, Twilight, and Rarity met during the migration."

Spike raised a claw. "What about our old place at Canterlot?" he asked. "The library might have something ours doesn't."

"Um--"

"It won't, I'd know," Twilight said shorty. "The west wing of our new library was completely redesigned to have the exact same collection I gave to Moondancer for nostalgia sake."

Rarity tapped her chin and hummed. "Hmm, then perhaps--"

"Zecora."

Fluttershy shrunk as all eyes fell on her. When no one spoke, she inhaled deeply, drawing in a rush of air. "I-I mean, Twilight, you mentioned, when Spike grew into a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gashing, horn-wearing, chicken-coop-stealing--"

At every adjective, unbeknownst to Fluttershy as she spoke, Spike flinched visibly. His head lowered shamefully at the awful memory, with a claw wringing each wrist. Rarity, noticing Spike's discomfort, cleared her throat.

"Fluttershy, dear, forgive me for the interruption, but I don't recall Zecora being part of that incident."

"No, wait, I get it," Twilight gasped, clapping her hooves together. "I remember, I told Fluttershy anout how Zecora was the only one who could figure out what was happening to Spike during his birthday. Nopony else could explain what was wrong so maybe--"

"So maybe Zecora can tell us what's wrong with Spike now," Applejack finished. "Shoot, she might even have some sorta cure."

"Huh, having a mystical zebra around makes you wonder why we even bother with hospitals," Pinkie Pie muttered, though nopony heard her over the excited chatters.

At last, everypony began to settle down. "Alright, I guess we'd better let the two of you get some rest," Twilight said. She looked up at the clock hung on the wall. "It's getting pretty late, but we'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with Zecora."

Rainbow sat up. "And Daring Do?"

"And Daring Do," Twilight assured, rolling her eyes. "The book, not the pony," she quickly added.

"Eh, sure." Rainbow Dash slumped back and yawned. "See you guys tomorrow."

The mares said their goodbyes and well-wishes and, one at a time, exited the room. Twilight was the last to go.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," she was saying to Spike, leaning over him. The glow of her magic blanketed Spike's comforter, stretching it across the bed and tucking the dragon in. Spike blushed as Rainbow's poorly muffled snickers flew by, but he didn't struggle or protest Twilight's fussing. "Try to get some rest, okay?"

"No problem, not much else to do," Spike joked. "You should probably get going, I know how much work you've got left."

"Work I have to deal with without my number assistant." Twilight sighed.

"Sorry."

"Don't be, it's fine. See you tomorrow." With a final smile, Twilight left as well, leaving Spike and Rainbow Dash alone, save for each other.

"So," Rainbow began, "what was that about?"

Spike turned to the bed next to him, confused. "What was what about?"

"You know." Rainbow motioned with her hoof. "Twilight acting like that. I could taste the sap from here. What was that about?"

Another blush threatened to paint Spike's scales pink. He quickly turned away. "Don't know, guess she's just worried." He flipped over again to face Rainbow. "I mean, this is the first time I've ever been really hurt."

"Seriously?" Rainbow said, incredulous. "Like, you've never broken anything when you were a kid?"

"Nope. Thick scales, I guess."

"Hmm, well you did survive that lava bellyflop that one time," Rainbow reminisced. "You were always a pretty tough kid back then, guess this time you were just unlucky."

"Or maybe some of your bad luck just rubbed off on me," Spike said, smirking.

"Hey, what did I tell you." Rainbow rubbed her front proudly. "This was all skill."

"So all those crashes you've had..." Spike pointed to the chalkboard Pinkie had left leaning against the wall. "That was from skill?"

"That's, well, I mean..."

Now it was Spike's turn to snicker. "Laugh while you can, dragon boy," Rainbow huffed, "but we'll see who'll have the last laugh once you're stuck serving my every want."

"Not if Zecora has some miracle dragon cure for dragons, like Applejack said."

Rainbow took a few seconds to digest Spike's words before the color slowly drained from her face. "Aw, horsefeathers," she mumbled as Spike grinned, flashing his teeth with glee. "Well, that's a pretty big if," Rainbow shot back before rolling over to face the the bland curtained window instead of the smug dragon. "I'm going back to sleep," she announced, waving behind her. "Good night."

"It's morning."

"Then wake me up when lunch gets here," Rainbow Dash replied snippily with a yawn. She pulled up her covers and let her head sink into her pillow. "Bye."

"Uh, bye, I guess."

The clock, too soft to even be annoying, ticked away as the seconds passed. Other than the clock and the long drawn out breaths from Rainbow Dash that would eventually grow into snores, the hospital room was quiet as death. Seconds became minutes, perhaps hours; Rainbow hadn't been keeping count.

Gradually, the ticks grew louder, graduating from relaxing ambience to mild annoyance. Rainbow's ears folded over themselves in displeasure, trying to block out the noise. Wrinkles spread as her eyelids pressed forcefully together. The noise grew, with taps and bumps and clicks that weren't in rhythm with the clock's beat. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and threw herself up to glare at the dragon next to her.

Spike kept on drumming with his fists, claws, thighs, bed, the nightstand, and just about anything else in his reach. The sounds stopped instantly the second he saw Rainbow's scowl, and he lowered his claws into his lap without a word or an audible thud. Once again, the only noise was the ticking of the clock on the wall.

"Sorry. I got bored," Spike said when Rainbow raised an inquiring eyebrow. The pegasus groaned and plopped her head back onto her cushion.

"Welcome to the sick bay," she said. "Get used to it."

Comments

[TheMessenger]

6360936
Not having to deal with a word limit helps.

[Swashbucklist]

"Well, no, not entirely. I mean, it's pretty clear something's wrong with his wing." He jerked his head toward the pegasus on his back. "Dr. Lift specializes in wing structure, but whether she knows anything we don't will have to wait until she awakes."

A fun response from the doctor would've been, "So far, I'm afraid the only medical pony in history to examine a dragon and survive is on my back." [glances at unconscious doctor] "And she just got smacked into an x-ray screen."