Split Struck Spare

by Josh Crapo

Hospital

Air Wiff lays in the hospital bed, stirring and beginning a low groan.

"Look! She’s waking up!"

Tingle Doo shushes Reprise.

"Air Wiff?"

"Dry Stone?"

Reprise gets into the conversation without consent. "There’s also me, Tingle Doo, Snow Flake, Mud Stick and the rest of your friends."

"What happened to you that got you in such condition?"

"Magic," Aura Draft states almost gothically. Everyone else, with the exception of Air Wiff, Snow Flake and Cool Aid, gasps.

"Whoa. What spell did you c-" Dry Stone begins.

"Storage. But, how did I get here?"

"I got you over here about a month ago. It only took a few seconds just to get back to Changico."

"Without Shell here, you may’ve been a goner."

"And without that spell I attempted to cast, you still might’ve had your hovercraft and I might’ve been able to..."

Aura Draft and Air Wiff from that point perfectly sync each other's speech. "...stay in Cloudsdale."

"Well, we’ve had your soda stored for you, but it’s gotten flat," Cool Aid announces.

"No problem with us. Snow Flake, can I see the bottle of Peace-a Cola? Okay. Now, let’s get this in here... and... Aha!! Got it. Hey! You got cups in the house?!?"

A nurse comes in with an annoyed expression and shushes Aura Draft. And then she leaves.

"I'm on it." Queen Shell summons two cups for Aura Draft and Air Wiff. "There you are you two. Bottoms up?"

Aura Draft levitates the two cups and gives one to Air Wiff. Both look at each other, one of which, anyone could guess who, looks back at Queen Shell afterwards.

"Bottoms up."

Cool Aid walks up to Air Wiff. "So, I suppose not much was done with the Cloudsdale Project."

"I’m afraid not."

"Well, don’t worry about cleaning up Equestria. We and the yaks will clean up the land," Hut says.

Queen Shell comes up to Air Wiff now. "And I’ve come up with a project of my own."

"Your own? And what’s that?"

"That I can’t tell you. But it’ll be necessary to rejuvenate the land."

"I won’t tell anypony."

"Okay. But just this once..."

Air Wiff listens in on Queen Shell's plan with reactions in between the gaps. "...Hmm... oh... that would be much better... oh... mhm..."

Suddenly something barely audible comes out of Queen Shell's whisper that sounds like "congratulations for the next nine months".

Air Wiff gasps. "Oh my gosh! Thank you so much Shell!!"

"Pleasure’s all mine."

"Thanks, I wouldn’t have made it this far without you guys."

"Air Wiff, you owe a lot more to Shell than all the other changelings you’ve met combined for how far you’ve come."

"Wrench has a point. If I had not taken the throne, I wouldn’t have sent the nine changelings to you ponies, one of which took charge of the others while they were in former Equestria."

"Hey Aura Draft, you can drink it straight from the bottle. I’m not going to have any."

"There’s some bad news however. The Changico National Debt has quintupled because some potions were never returned to Zebramala. And it wasn’t even paid for. I won’t be available for the next five days because I have to prepare to meet with Princess Ajabu."

"Oh, yeah. The shodasa. I had to get some of that to help Air Wiff clean the clouds of Cloudsdale," Snow Flake says to herself.

"What was that, my little pony?"

"Air Wiff requested Snow Flake and Cool Aid to get a chemical from Zebramala, apparently it’s named shodasa, to clean Cloudsdale of the remains contained in it," Hut clarifies.

"Snow Flake, you could have just gone to me. I would have been more than happy to get it for you if you just asked. That way, the debt would not have quintupled. I may be very busy but I will have time for each and every changeling and pony."

"I’m sorry Queen Shell. I understand your anger."

"Just try and make sure that does not happen again. May I be with you."

"Thank you."

Air Wiff spends the next two weeks in the hospital. And in that time, Queen Shell has contacted Prince Rok about her plans of collaborating with the yaks to expand their countries to form a new border in replacement of the previous two. While the yaks have agreed, they are still too cautious to map out their half of the border. Still, it is a step in the correct direction.