Chasing Sunshine

by UltraCombo

Awakening

Whispers slowly began to regain consciousness. She had been fading in and out for a good while now, as foreign sounds ran through her mind. However, this time, she finally seemed to be coming around, and light poured into her retina as shapes and objects began to form. And, eventually, Whispers realized she was in a comfortable hospital bed.

Just as she awoke, a doctor wearing a name tag which read "Nurse Redheart" came to her side. "Aaaah, Miss Whispers. Glad to see you're awake."

"Where...am I?" Whispers asked, still in a bit of a stupor and in quite a state of terror.

"You're in Ponyville General, dear. Seems you were roughed up quite a bit, Celestia knows why, but at least we got you here in time." Nurse Redheart replied.

Memories flooded Whispers's head of the brutal attack the night before. She tried to move, but stopped when she felt a sharp pain run through her entire body. "Oh, I would suggest not doing that. You're still in pretty bad shape. If it wasn't for your friend, I'm not sure if you would have made it."

"Oh, my...wait, who?"

"The stallion who saved your life, miss. You don't know him?"

Saved my life? Whispers thought.

"Is he here?"

"Why, yes." answered Nurse Redheart, gesturing towards the curtain on the other side of Whispers's bed. "He's right behind that curtain. The doctor is setting his wing. I'm sure he'd love to talk to you after he's done, though."

Whispers's heart beat rapidly and uncontrollably, and suddenly, she didn't want to be in her bed anymore. She just wanted to get out of there by any means necessary. Feeling the pain of each movement, she kicked off the covers and sat up, turning so her legs dangled over the side of the bed.

Nurse Redheart rushed to her side and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Dear, you need to lay down. You are in no condition to be-"

"No!" Whispers yelped, shrugging her hoof off her shoulder. "Get off me! I need to go home!" She hopped off the bed and tried make a break for it. However, the immense pain was too much for her, and her legs gave out as she tumbled to the ground.

"Sweet Celestia...Someone, I need help over here!" Nurse Redheart called out. Several doctors rushed to the collapsed Whispers and tried to help her back to her bed. However, this proved to only put her into a deeper state of panic, crying and hyperventilating as she thrashed all the doctors off of her, still in unbelievable pain.

This state of panic was like a wide awake nightmare to Whispers, until she heard one voice that stood out in her mind. She turned towards the source of the voice to see a blue pegasus smiling down at her. "Hey. You okay?" he said as gently as he could. He gestured towards to doctors as if to tell them to step back. So, all the surrounding doctors slowly backed up as the pegasus approached her.

"You're in pretty bad shape. I know you're scared, but you need to let the doctors, help you, okay? I promise, there's nothing to be afraid of." The pegasus's voice swiftly calmed her down, and her heart rate returned to normal. Glancing over, she saw that the pegasus's wing hung limply to his side. Slowly, he reached down to her with one hoof. "Here. I'll help you back into bed." he said, smiling at her. She returned a timid smile and reached out, grasping his hoof as he pulled her up and slowly helped her back to her bed.

Once Whispers was back into bed, the pegasus looked at her and said, "Now, you have to promise me to be brave, okay? Don't be scared. Everyone here is here to help you get better."

Whispers was exhausted, but she nodded back. The pegasus gave her a big smile back and turned to leave, but Whispers stopped him. "Wait!" she said, beginning to drift off. The pegasus turned back around to face her.

"Yes?"

"Were...you the pony who saved me?"

The pegasus smiled again. "Yes, that was me."

"Did...did they do that to you?" she asked, pointing at his paralysed wing.

"Yeah." he responded.

"I...I'm so sorry..."

"Hey, don't be. The doctors say it'll be fine once it's set. I'll just need to stay off it for a few days. Never really used them THAT much anyway." His look was not one of contempt for the pony that caused him to dislocate his wing, but rather of someone who was more than happy to sacrifice his wing for her. This baffled Whispers. Who would be willing to give up something like that for her?

"...What's your name?" he asked. Whispers froze up. She never usually gave out her name. Giving out that sort of information gave her an identity, something people would know about her. However, she looked into the pegasus's deep, blue eyes and felt a sense of comfort that she never really felt in another pony. She felt...safe.

"...Whispers." she responded, reluctantly.

"Whispers...what a pretty name." he said. Whisp blushed...pretty? She'd never had anyone tell her that her name was pretty. "Anyway, I've gotta go get the doc to fix me up. Maybe I'll...see you later?" Whispers stayed silent. "...Okay. So I'll see you some other time, okay?" She nodded, and with that, he and one of the doctors left the room, leaving Whispers deep in thought about the the blue pegasus.

Whispers had known his name. Even if she hadn't moved into an apartment right across from Ultra's house, everyone eventually learned the name of the owner of Ponyville's only arcade. Occasionally, she would glance out the window and notice him talking to arcade-dwellers or tending to his house, but she had never actually exchanged words with the stallion, though they had made eye contact a few brief times as she passed the arcade.

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"One...two...THREE!!" The doctor yanked on Ultra's wing, setting it back into place. Ultra cried out in pain as the wing locked back into its joint.

"Ugh...Sweet Celestia, that hurt..." Ultra moaned.

"Well, just let me put it in a wing sling, and I'll give you a couple painkillers for it." The doctor set to work, preparing everything he needed to set up the sling. "You know...that was a fine thing you did, Mr. Combo, saving that girl. Never seen anypony pull off a stunt like that."

"Heh, thanks." Ultra responded.

"So," the doctor continued, "why did you do it?"

"Huh?"

"You didn't HAVE to save her. Your life could have stayed just the way it was if you didn't save her. So why do it in the first place?"

Ultra hesitated. "I...I don't really know...Maybe that's just it. Maybe I did it because I was tired of being in the same old rut every single day. But...I'm not even sure myself. I might be completely off."

"Heh. I guess the world will never know." joked the doctor as he finished up his work on the sling. "Well, you should be all good to go. You're free to check out anytime you want, Mr. Combo." And with that, the doctor left the room.

Ultra decided to not check out, however. He had other plans for before he left. He left his room and set off back towards Whispers's room.

Comments

[Darkheretic]

D'aww a nice sweet chapter