Broken Bones

by eraser

Clippings

When Sky ended up in a newspaper for the first time, our mother was very proud. She framed the piece of paper and hung it on the wall. Over time this collection grew. Gosh, it's been over twenty years already...

Am I jealous? Well, maybe a little. By Celestia, Sky does not enjoy this kind of attention, says it's too much extra pressure. Surely, being famous has to have its perks, but I can't name any offhoof.

It all started when Sky was in elementary school.

A Re-mark-able Rescue of a Teacher

Yesterday morning Turnip Sack, a teacher from an elementary school, which requested not to mention its name, took her class to the forest. As she was standing by the edge lecturing the class on the sedimentary layers seen on the opposite side of the ravine, the chunk of earth under her hooves started to slide down. Fortunately, she retained enough composure to push the two foals next to her to safety. Unfortunately, that last action made her lose her balance and land in a very regrettable way, breaking her right foreleg.

“First thing I realized was the sickening cracking sound,” she told us. “Then I saw my leg sticking at a wrong angle. Then came the pain. I almost passed out.”

Most of the class were frozen in shock. Most, but not Sky Gift. The pegasus colt may have been the only one paying any attention to the first aid lessons. Little Sky quickly realized what had happened, used an axe (the class was going to build a campfire later) to cut several tree branches and turn them into planks, then flew down to the teacher, set her broken leg and made an improvized splint out of the planks and Turnip's scarf. The whole operation took him less than a minute. With the splint in place the teacher was able to hobble down the ravine and eventually to the hospital, where professionals could appreciate Sky's work.

“It was flawless, considering conditions where they had to splint the leg,” says Dr. Home of Chaos Memorial Hospital. “Of course, a seasoned professional like me working in a hospital environment would do a bit better, but this was on par with what our trained paramedics are expected to do."

With all the commotion nopony noticed exactly when the cutie marks appeared on Sky's previously blank flanks. They look like some complex lattice-like contraption the exact purpose of which eludes anypony we asked. Maybe it is some obscure medical apparatus, too advanced for our backwater hospitals and their undertrained staff. Or maybe it is just some abstract woodwork, something to showcase the carpenter's skill rather than serve any utilitarian purpose. The planks young Gift made with nothing but an axe are of remarkably high quality, so his talent may just as well lie there. We had asked several professionals what they think of them. Annual Ring, a carpenter with decades of experience summed it up nicely:

“Seriously? An elementary schooler with nothing but an axe? Maybe. If said elementary schooler practised from birth. Even so, he or she has an unmatched talent, and I would gladly teach that pony all there is to know of the joinery.”

Whatever this mark means, we congratulate Sky Gift and wish him to find his true calling, be it cutting dead wood or repairing living ponies. As for Potato Sack, the school board has some questions she'll have to answer once she is discharged from the hospital.

Photo: Sky Gift (front), Turnip Sack and the rest of the class in hospital.

Yes, you've read it right. They printed “Potato” instead of “Turnip”. The paper apologized the next day. She continued teaching, but had another life-threatening accident the same year and got a job at a high school instead. Supposedly high school students can take better care of themselves. The name Potato stuck, at least we both did call her that behind her back, and so did our younger cousin five years later.

At first Sky was eager to become a doctor, but later decided that medicine was too bloody. We all thought he would be a carpenter.

The next article had nothing to do with either career choice. Or so it seemed back then.

Pigeon Show Next to the Town Hall

Last Sunday all bird enthusiasts from our town and nearby villages gathered by the town hall for the annual dove show. There were some guests from further away, even a couple from as far as Baltimare. It may not gather as many ponies as the events in bigger cities, fewer breeds are exhibited, but there are attractions you wouldn't find anywhere else. Like trained pigeons performing aerobatics with a teenage pegasus colt.

Sky Gift is an apprentice carpenter, but his true passion is doves. He's been teaching them various tricks for years and dared to demonstrate them to a wider audience at the last year's show. Then they spent a year practising and polishing their act. And on Sunday IT WAS AWESOME! Unfortunately, all our photos against the sky ended up hopelessly overexposed. The only photo of an adequate quality is of Sky on the ground.

Photo: Sky Gift (Best Tricks Award) demonstrates giving water mouth-to-beak to his pigeon Tourmaline. WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!! Birds can carry dangerous diseases. The pony and the bird have both been properly vaccinated for this performance.

These days Sky has no time for pigeons and had to sell them all. But when he was a teenager... The dovecot was eating all of Sky's free time. And when they flew together, Sky and his birds, that was a sight to behold. I lost count how many birds there were. Maybe twenty, maybe thirty. He was always buying new ones, selling the hatchlings, exchanging with other pigeon fanciers... That's what Sky was talking about most of the time. We thought maybe his cutie mark was some kind of bird cage.

It came as a great shock to Sky when a stray cat broke into the dovecot. Most birds escaped unharmed, but one got mangled pretty badly. I don't remember its name. Not the Tourmaline, but it was the same breed, I think. I never could tell them apart, anyway.

Of course, Sky took it to the vet, but the stupid bird kept jerking its wings and tearing the splint off. And the wing could not heal right. Sky was mad at the bird, at the vet, at himself... He got the vet to the point where she wanted to put the pigeon out of its misery just to get Sky out of her mane. So, when Sky got this crazy idea, she just rolled with it.

A Carpenter Fixed His Pet's Wings

Young carpenter Sky Gift and his doves are well known among bird enthusiasts, both in town and beyond, for their performances on yearly bird shows. This kind of aerial choreography with pigeons has to be seen to be believed.

But one day a disaster struck. A cat has injured one of his prized birds breaking all its radial bones as well as the right humeral bone. In other words, turning its wings into bleeding bellows.

Healing this kind of injury magically is very taxing to the caster and few can do it. Transporting the dove to Canterlot was not an option — it was unlikely to survive the journey. The only thing our local veterinarians can do is immobilize the wings in a plaster cast and hope the bird does not move too much. Unfortunately, the dove was too stressed and agitated and kept wiggling itself out of the cast. Sedating it was not an option, according to the vet it would kill the bird quickly. Of course, the bones cannot heal properly in such conditions and protracted non-unions started to form.

Facing the imminent disablement and likely death of his beloved pet, Sky came with a solution, as crazy as it was drastic. Seeing no alternatives, the vet agreed to try it. Each piece of the broken bones was pierced with metal rods, the rods were affixed to wooden frames, the frames were connected with screws, allowing to move frames relative to each other and stop at set distances. The contraption was painful to even look at, the patient had to be kept on painkillers, but at least the bones started to mend.

Photos: Left — the injured bird with fixator frames. Centre — Sky Gift spreading the wings to demonstrate they healed properly. Right — testing the new wings in flight.

Sky Gift told us that this is a completely new area nobody tried researching yet. Most doctors have only a vague idea how carpenter's grip vice works, while neither smiths nor carpenters had to solve the problem of applying controlled tension to a bone fracture site. Fortunately, Sky was a carpenter with enough medical knowledge to understand what the doctor needed, and desperate enough to try it.

And there's more to the story. The way the fractures were healing, the length of bones changed, and the dove was going to end up with wings of unequal size. But Sky discovered that slowly lengthening the frames can force healing bones to increase length. He did not risk pushing it too far, but he believes he can make bones several times longer with no ill side effects.

Just think of the implications. Will it make insecure pegasi with short wings complex to directly stretch their wings and stop overcompensating in other ways? Can the same technique be applied to unicorn horns? What about skulls, will more place for brain make you smarter? Still, Sky's words need to be taken with a grain of salt, since he lacks proper medical training and this is just a guesswork. He did quit his current job to enrol to a medical school, but it'll take him years to be able to make educated guesses.

Then there's the legal aspect. The veterinarian refused to comment, refused to take any credit and requested to never mention her name. She hinted she was not sure this experiment did not constitute animal cruelty. If Sky Gift is going to continue the research, he has to figure a way to attract volunteers. A lot of volunteers.

Still, there's another piece of good news for Sky. For years anypony who saw him was puzzled by his cutie mark he received for emergency leg splinting. Not anymore. Now we know it's his fixator device.

At this point Sky had already finished his apprenticeship and was working as a carpenter. The job was not much fun, but it paid well. After saving the pigeon he decided to be a surgeon and went to a medical school. Said he'd rather help injured than make coffins.

He did not keep his technique a secret. But bringing it up always resulted in accusations. Cruelty, fraud, unnecessary risk... I don't know which was worse. Even the ones who didn't accuse him hesitated to support him. He quickly learned to stop talking about it. He could not do much research until he returned home and got a job at the town hospital. Here he immediately became the chief surgeon — by virtue of being the only surgeon in town. But in a small town he could do very little.

Then came the unfortunate... or fortunate... Celestia, how can we judge the merits of such events in the grand scheme of things? You've probably guessed what this article is about.

A Big Break for Our Underappreciated Genius, or Another Dream Shot Down?

Our humble understaffed and underfunded hospital has been visited by none other than Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle. Believe it or not, she is seeking the medical expertise unavailable at any of well-recognized medical facilities. Namely, the controversial non-magical technique of bone setting being developed by Doctor Sky Gift.

We will not delve into rumours whether the Very Important Patient is an illegitimate daughter of the Princess herself or of her lover or maybe even of one of older princesses. Nor are we going to discuss how did she get her wings broken. There's something with potentially greater lasting effect than gossip — Dr. Gift's research.

Until now Dr. Gift's experiments were limited to cell cultures, pieces of corpses and occasional volunteers. And he could not risk too much with the latter, thus his dream of increasing patients' wingspan tenfold remained just a dream. Besides, the hospital suffers from chronic shortage of everything — from bandages and thermometers to nurses and doctors. We never had a specialist who could mend bones with magic. But if a princess is going to join the team and utilize her resources, things are going to change. Since the wings of little Scootaloo were too short even before her ordeals, it only makes sense to employ fixator capabilities to the fullest. And if it comes to the worst, and Gift's technique proves harmful, as the last resort alicorn magic can fix everything.

But should we set our hopes high? What if the Princess only wants her daughter to be treated by the best traumatologist in Equestria, but would not risk damaging her wings even further? After all, according to Dr. Gift, rebuilding her bones is more like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. Even so it will give Dr. Gift publicity he so much needs. Will that be enough? Will his dream come true? Will Scootaloo ever fly? Will the hospital overcome its bedsheet shortage? Only time will tell.

That's all. Just four pieces of paper and somewhat faded memories. You said you know the rest of the story.

Of course you can borrow them. Just bring them back intact.

Author's Note:

I had to write that down, because it wouldn't stop gnawing me.

Inspired primarily by I'll Always be Here for You and I'll Do Anything for You. I liked both. But I still call them lacrimatory.

Comments and corrections are welcome.

Comments

[JFalk]

I liked it - it is interesting to show the problems to develop a new surgery technique. And I liked that you implied, but don't mention, that the method was successful.

[eraser]

6546301 In real life bones can be lengthened by about 10%. I haven't decided what the limit should be for Equestria. Should the ending be sad or happy? So I let the readers decide for themselves.

[LavendarRegards]

I like this story. It's got a pretty interesting premise.

[eraser]

8126004 Thanks. At that time I got a bit tired of the stories where she can never fly, and there was a good story, where her wings required a reconstructive surgery, and I thought "Why not make them bigger in the process?"

[LavendarRegards]

8126246 You're welcome.

[Comrade Bagel Muffin]

Okay so where to begin with this. First off I just finished my first read of it, it's really good. I love the POV and the vehicle of story progression. It was amazingly unique and artsy while not getting in the way of the story you were trying to tell. I didn't understand the last line though, however I understood that this seems to be a family member giving an interview to someone for what I don't know. Lastly the only problem I hit was in the first part when you used-

She framed the piece of paper and hanged it on the wall

I think it would read better if you used "hung" instead. All in all it's an amazing read and I'm gladly putting it in my favorites library. Merci beaucoup for posting it.

[eraser]

8697972

this seems to be a family member giving an interview to someone for what I don't know

Yes, I had in mind a younger brother or sister (haven't decided and it doesn't matter). I started the story in a form of obviously sensationalist newspaper articles, but then felt they needed comments from someone familiar with the events, but not Sky.

I think it would read better if you used "hung" instead.

Thanks.

I didn't understand the last line though

The speaker lets the interviewer borrow the newspaper clippings.

[Comrade Bagel Muffin]

8698195
That I understood, the think that was what I didn't understand was why.

[eraser]

8698290
Those newspapers don't circulate outside the town. They aren't available in other libraries. The interviewer wants to have texts to be able to quote them, or something like that. Maybe photocopy them (to a film) in proper conditions.