Rising Above

by Quick Fix

Chapter 23 - Side Effects

Canterlot central hospital, Ophthalmology department
March 11th

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"Alright, can I take this off now?"

Scootaloo grinned as the doctor nodded, stretching her neck out and reaching up to her forehead. It was such a relief to have the bandages away now, able to let her mane flow freely again. She had Recovery to thank for that, his close watch on her progress and thorough tests had shown that she didn't have any signs of mental impairment. Her eye, that was a different matter altogether, aside from the badass scar she was developing, the doctors were still unsure if it had gone deep enough to cause any damage to her vision.

That was why she still had the eye patch, to keep her from overtaxing it while the tests continued. At the least, they let her take it off for those tests and her eye wasn't bad, nothing she wasn't used to at the least. It wasn't any worse than the rest of her, being comatose for a week or two had knocked some strength out of her body and these exercises doubled to build that back up.

Scootaloo slowly removed the eye patch and looked into a wall mirror. The cut was healing up at least, running for a few inches horizontally just above her left eye. The next visible effect was that she was holding her upper eyelid closed slightly, not enough to seriously affect her vision but the implications were still worrying. She looked back to the doctor and stretched out.

"So, what are we trying today?"

"I'd like to check your depth perception while in the air. Do you think you can still fly?" Scootaloo blinked at the question, trying to figure out if it was just a general question or if the doc knew about her progress. She decided to let it slide for now and spread her wings, pushing herself into a hover. It was a little more draining than normal but nothing she couldn't handle right now.

"That's, that's a yes right now. It's gonna have to be quick though."

"Alright, don't push yourself. Just try a few laps around the room for now."

Scootaloo nodded and slowly set off, the room wasn't exactly large but there was enough space for her to manage a circle at least. Her body felt a lot better this way, that familiar urge to fly building up again. The faint rush of air felt good as she sped up, feeling her mane and tail flowing, her wings pumping to speed her up further, her eye feeling like...Like it was engulfed in cold fire. Scootaloo cried out and screeched to a halt, burying her eye in her leg in a futile effort to make the sensitive pain go away.

"Ow, ow, dangit. Sensitive, pain." She panted, slowly bringing herself to the ground and pulling her leg away as the doctor rushed over and checked her over. Scootaloo silently scolded herself for letting the rush get in the way of common sense, trying not to wince as a light was shone in her eye.

"It's okay, it's not done any damage. From the looks of it, your eye is still adjusting to the proximity trauma."

"I'm guessing that means the eye patch goes back on."

"Yes," The doc waited for Scootaloo's anticipated groan of frustration. "But, we're going to reduce the amount of time you use it. If we make sure your eye is adjusting to natural light at the same time, it should aid in recovery."

"Got it, you can pencil that in," Scootaloo stepped back as the check ended, going and picking up the eye patch, carefully looping it over her head and settling it into place. "Same time tomorrow then?"

"Of course, Recovery will be waiting to see you back to the ward. See you tomorrow, miss Scootaloo."

Scootaloo nodded and waved goodbye to the doctor as she left the department. As usual, Recovery was sitting in the lobby waiting for her, springing up as she saw her coming. The two of them nodded and headed back for the wards together, Scootaloo watching the various ponies coming and going past them, it was a nice break from the hours of bed rest that she normally had to pass the time with.

"So, Scootaloo, how'd it go today?"

"Well, bad news is my eye is still messed up. Good news is, the doc decided I can cut back on how often I wear the eye patch so it starts adjusting to the light again."

"A good step forward," Recovery smiled, casting a profession eye over Scootaloo. "Considering how well the rest of you is recovering, it's a good sign."

"Thanks, Recovery. So is there anything unclassified going on today?" Scootaloo gave a cheeky grin, knowing that it wouldn't work but it served to lighten the mood anyway. Recovery chuckled and shook his head softly.

"Not like that. Though when I was heading over to get you, I saw ponies arriving for visiting hours and saw one of your friends coming in. Or heard her, trying to persuade the receptionist to put her stage name in the book. I wouldn't be surprised if they were still there."

Scootaloo smiled more at the news. So Trixie was here today, somepony to talk to for a bit would be a relief. As they reached the wards, she took a moment to look round for any new patients admitted while she was away. Since she'd woken up, the number of ponies recovering in the same area as her had gone up, probably since the doctors knew she wasn't going to lose it in front of anypony else. Right now, none of the others were present, likely on their way back from their own treatments. Recovery waited until she clambered back into bed before he left to gather the waiting visitors.

A few minutes later, once the four other patients had returned, visitors started to enter. Among them, Scootaloo recognised Trixie, followed by a nervous looking Quick Fix. The sight of him both surprised and left her full of questions. Why hadn't he visited before now? How did he feel about what had happened? Did she still harbour any resentment toward him for compromising her stunt work? Right now, Scootaloo wasn't about any of the answers. It wasn't really her place to push those kinds of questions when she was just glad for the company though.

"Hey Trixie, Quick. I didn't expect to see you two today."

"Yes well, I practically had to drag Quick Fix over from Ponyville. He seemed reluctant to come visit." Trixie nudged Quick forward, letting Scootaloo get a closer look at him. His body language was off from what she'd expected, it wasn't just awkwardness about being around her after the accident, it was...Fear? She realised that she couldn't just go in questioning him gung-ho, much as she'd like to get his perspective quickly.

"Are things that busy back in Ponyville?"

"N-not really, I just try not to think about it...What happened." Quick shifted in place, prompting a softer look from Scootaloo. He was clearly taking his role in things harder than even she had anticipated, even if he was staying composed, the poor pony was a wreck.

"It's okay, Quick. If it helps at all, I'm not angry at you over this." Quick looked down even more at those words. Scootaloo looked over at Trixie for support, the face she was making showing she didn't know how to handle this either. In more ways than one, if Scootaloo thought about it, the layout of the arena meant they both would have had a good view of the accident, of course Trixie would have had to deal with that sight as well. As she looked back to Quick, he raised his head again, his eyes now full of a feeling she remembered all too well from Sugarcube Corner back in October: Self loathing.

"Why? I decided that you being able to fly was what was important, no regard to what it took to get you to that point. You started to manage it and I thought 'Hey, that's all wrapped up.'. You found out that it had affected your riding and where was I? Sitting at home, like there was nothing wrong. I thought maybe we could find a compromise after this show and then...I brought this on you, I failed you..."

Scootaloo slowly brought a hoof to her eye path, thinking hard. Quick always seemed to be a bit of a perfectionist behind his good nature but this was just forcing the blame on himself for an oversight nopony had thought to catch. As he looked away to try and compose himself, Trixie walked up and whispered to Scootaloo.

"He saw you up close after your accident. It, wasn't pleasant." She stepped back as Scootaloo nodded, that made sense. She decided that it probably was a bad idea to let Quick keep his mind on the topic, they could deal with the main issue when he didn't look set to lose it slightly.

"Quick, listen to me," She waited as he recovered and looked back at her. "I'm alive, nothing serious happened, that's what's important right now. Come on, I'd really like to hear what's been going on back home." She settled down as Quick nodded, slowly starting to talk about the various happenings in Ponyville. Her mind remained here though, wondering what to do to help Quick pick himself up from this. Considering what they'd done together, she knew just how to start, building on what they'd done together. He may not think he'd done a good job, but she wasn't going to give up on her flight just for that.

She was going to rise again.

Author's Note:

100 views, wow. It may not sound big but considering my personal track record, this is a huge moment for my work. I really appreciate every view, comment and vote (even the downvote, you took the time).

Thank you all and I hope you enjoy what's still to come.