The Last Cutie Mark Crusader

by Jatheus

23 - Quarantine, Part 4 of 5

Cloud Blazer awoke to the familiar and incessant pain that dominated his waking hours. Something seemed different, but he couldn't quite put his hoof on it at first. The light coming into the hospital room window bore the tell tale signs of evening. It took a full minute before he realized that he hadn't dreamed. It had been the most restful sleep he'd had in weeks. In spite of this, not having a dream made it feel incomplete somehow.

Pixyglitter hadn't spoken to him all day. Ever since they had talked about the dream that they had shared, she'd been silent. At first he actually thought she was sleeping, but he was now alarmed to believe that she was ignoring him. He knew the dreams had purpose, and the fact that they had both shared one made it seem all the more imperative to understand the meaning.

With Pixyglitter ignoring him, and no visitors right now, he had time to think. Naturally, his mind turned back to Scootaloo and the deep sadness that had been caused by that situation. More difficult than that were the permanent injuries he now bore. Cloud Blazer looked back slowly, and for what seemed like several minutes, he stared at the bandages that covered his back, where his wings had been. He would never fly under his own power again; the thing he loved more than any other was gone. He ached all over. Laying back down eased some of it, but the pain continued to throb through his entire body. There was no relief from that constant companion.

Without warning, tears began welling up and streaming from his eyes. Normally he wouldn't cry if anypony else was around, but he didn't even worry about it this time. It had begun slowly, but when he didn’t try to restrain it, a great heaving of emotion poured out. There were several minutes of sobbing before he had cried it out. So much had gone wrong... He let it flow until it stopped on its own. Afterward he stared at the wall, his thoughts evaporating into nothingness. He didn't care. And so he lay there, not really waiting for anything to happen, and not so much as caring what would be next.

...

Pixyglitter could hear Cloud Blazer crying. She had been pretending to sleep, but she hadn't actually been able to after the bizarre dream they had shared. It made her sorry she'd been ignoring him all day, but it was already too late to do anything about it. He was upset, and it might make him feel worse if she started talking to him now. As much as she tried to push it out of her mind, the dream wouldn't leave.

The last thing she'd ever seen was the skies over Las Pegasus during the battle. Now the surface of the moon and the circle of rocks were burned into her mind like a ghostly after image. She could almost still see it in the void of her blindness. The voice, or chorus of voices, seemed to echo in her ears in spite of the silence in the room. Her desire to escape this was becoming desperate. And yet, a small piece of her heart longed to return to the dream. The mere thought of being able to see again threatened to consume her.

She listened and waited as Cloud Blazer cried for several minutes. He finally stopped on his own. There was nopony else in the room. His friends had gone for the day while he slept. Their round the clock vigil had now ended, a result of his continuing recovery. They had other matters that needed their attention, including getting some sleep at night. From what she'd overheard, he wasn't expected to survive the fall he'd taken. It was practically miraculous that he was even alive, let alone recovering as quickly as he was.

Whatever; it didn't matter. If he was strong, he'd get through it. It's as simple as that. The thoughts rang hollow in Pixyglitter's heart. She had always thought of herself as strong, but she had been reduced to something rather pathetic. If only she'd been flying a little higher. Or maybe lower. If only she'd fallen a little toward the rear when the shooting had started. If only they'd put the unicorns in front when they were flying into combat. If only...

...

"We need to intubate stat!" Sparklefly heard one of the medics call out. Her heart stopped.

In moments there were three of them surrounding Duster. He looked completely lifeless laying there. He had again stopped breathing only moments before. Tears were blurring her vision, and she knocked off her eye patch as she wiped them away. She fumbled for it, replacing it over her left eye socket. The medics were performing CPR again, but Duster wasn't getting any air. They gave him a shot and began inserting the intubation tube in his mouth. Within moments they were pumping air and pressing his chest in perfect rhythm. An eternity of seconds later he shook and began breathing on his own. The medics stopped, giving him space but staying close until Duster settled into a more normal pattern of respiration.

Wiping sweat from his brow, one of the medics said, "One more saved... for now." He shook his head.

"How many have we lost?" another medic asked. Sparklefly couldn't see them well for the tears in her eye.

"Five, I think."

"Six," the third medic said. "They're just... burning up. We need more ice packs."

The others nodded at him and marched wearily away.

"Are you alright, LT?" the remaining medic asked Sparklefly.

Clearing her throat, she said, "Yes, I'm fine."

"When did you sleep?"

She tried to remember, but after a moment she gave up. "I don't know."

"Well, you've done a great job staying with him. If you hadn't let us know when he stopped breathing, we might not have found him fast enough."

She snorted, half smiling, but only as a reply. She didn't feel cheer of any kind, only a minor amount of relief. She coughed, and it felt scratchy in her throat. Was this the first symptom?

"I'm about to be on break. Why don't you get some sleep?" he offered.

"No, I can't," Sparklefly answered; she was too afraid to leave her brother's side.

"You'll not do him any favors if you're not alert and he stops breathing again. Just lay down beside the cot. I'll wake you if I have to leave."

She looked at him, still unconvinced.

"I promise," he said.

She nodded at him, relenting. Crawling to one side of the cot, she laid down on the floor. It was made of rubber mats they had put over the dirt. It made for a fairly comfortable place to lie. She was only awake for a matter of moments before exhaustion put her into a dreamless sleep.

Comments

[Emperor]

With the amount Sparklefly is hanging around the sick, hopefully she doesn't contract an illness soon either.

Maybe it's for the best that Cloud Blazer doesn't get together with Scootaloo. It would probably leave him deeply envious of his kids if he had them when they could fly and he couldn't (seeing as him and Scoots are both pegasus, I would expect their offspring to also be so).

[Jatheus]

8237300
Huh, you're the first person to point that out about Brownie and Scoot. I never bothered to trace either of their ancestry, but yeah, I'd expect the odds of pegasus babies would be really high, should such a relationship ever develop.

As for the illness... it is airborne...