Hostile Intent

by Storm Vector

CH10: The Recovery Begins

The smells of the hospital around her were intense, diverse, and flooded with sterilizing compounds, too strong for Vlyka to entirely zone out of the scent even after a couple of hours. But it had stopped bothering her by now, giving her time to think about what might be happening in this building. It was secure enough, with enough ambient noise, that she couldn’t even clearly hear what was going on in Crystal’s room behind her as she sat begrudgingly out in the hall while the nurses looked over her sister; picking up anything else was out of her hearing range. Winter would probably be in similar care somewhere until she woke up, but Midnight... Even when she’d had a few veterinary classes seeing the insides of furry pets, Vlyka understood Midnight’s severe phobia of being cut open or jabbed with anything. And he was probably having something invasive happening to him now...

Vlyka shook her head to try and clear the images from her mind, but they refused to leave her. Moments after she’d shattered Winter’s ice shell, she’d been petrified with fear at seeing just how badly Midnight was bruised up. He was barely conscious, shaking and whimpering in obvious pain, to the point Vlyka couldn’t bear to touch him. She’d left him there, standing shaky guard until a group of medics had appeared out of nowhere, led by some royal guard and a few of Princess Twilight’s close friends, all of whom had gone into a frenzy of work as they came close enough for Vlyka to recognize them. The guards had gone after the remaining creatures, the princess having a momentary pause of awe to ramble on about something called a “raptorian.” The princess' focus came back to the quartet thanks to a sharp jab in the ribs from an orange-coated earth pony, one Vlyka recognized solely because she was a dog owner she'd been debating talking to about their pet. The medics had approached, Vlyka barely willing to step back and let them work since she knew that they would be far better at caring for Midnight’s wounds than she could.

It had been another twenty minutes as the medics appraised Midnight and Winter, Vlyka barely speaking up to mention Crystal to them as well, leading them there as four medics carefully loaded Midnight and Winter into a carriage. Vlyka had almost refused to leave them be, but a guard had come by insisting she talk with them. Their questions, and her answers, were a blur in Vlyka’s memory, punctuated by her casting worried glances back at Crystal as she was tended to by some nurses; it was a relief when she’d been released by the guard before Crys could be moved to the carriage too. Vlyka had barely managed to get herself on the carriage with her sis, a brief set of praise from the princess herself for Vlyka and Crys that almost made the latter faint from glee, allowing the sisters to ride back to Ponyville together. Crys had been admitted for minor injuries and observation, but the nurses had forced Vlyka to wait outside while Crys was settled in.

It had taken Crystal gently talking Vlyka down from snapping in fury at the nurse, prompting her to exit the room and sit dejectedly at the door where she was now. She wondered if she should take the time to check on Winter or Midnight, but as she tried to convince herself that taking a moment to think about anypony but Crystal wasn’t a horrible betrayal of her sis, Vlyka realized that those two would probably be in worse condition than Crys was. She’d heard the medics handling Midnight mention intensive care or the emergency room, and Winter would certainly be under observation until she woke up; at least she’d found her voice to tell the medics that Winter usually was fine after some cold water, even when it had taken a few tries to get them to take her seriously.

Vlyka growled and threw her head back, almost bashing it against the doorframe behind her. It was impossible to wait for these doctors to check on Crystal after all the waiting and fretting she’d done all day searching for her! Vlyka wasn’t sure if she could take this much more, especially when she felt the panic of her other friends, the only ponies who really truly cared about her, looming in the back of her mind. But the minute she saw all of them together in pain, Vlyka’s mind overloaded, panic spiking her heart rate and scaring her as her brain refused to stop. Every pain and fear crashed down on her in a moment, making her clutch her head in her hooves and hyperventilate. What would have happened if she’d been just a second earlier, or later? Should she have gone after Winter, instead of cling to Crystal and keep her safe like she had? Would something have happened to Crys then, all alone? Did something happen anyways and she never could have prevented it? The guard had barely arrived in time, what if they’d been delayed, and those two monster raptorians had attacked her all alone...

“Miss?” Vlyka jerked from her panic, shaking her head and staring at the now-opened door. A unicorn nurse pony had opened it, glancing worriedly at her while holding a clipboard in his magic. “You can go in and see her now, she’s stable enough to have visitors.”

Vlyka wanted to say “thank you,” but even in the best of moods those words were hard to remember to say. Right now she stammered and strained to say anything, but when nothing came to her mouth Vlyka simply nodded and trotted past the nurse and into the room. It wasn’t a single room, but Vlyka only had patience to look at one bed: Crystal’s.

Her precious sister was lying with her back elevated in bed, bandages wrapped around her hooves and neck. A strange device was attached to the tip of her horn, Crystal casting worried glances up towards it every so often as it pinged and glowed softly. The device was attached to a machine next to her bed, along with a traditional heartrate monitor beeping steadily below it. Vlyka hadn’t memorized a pony’s heartbeat and standard blood pressure, but it sounded regular enough to her own heartbeat that she felt comfortable thinking Crys was ok, at least for now. The unicorn took her glance off her horn device, or at least as close as she could see it, to smile at Vlyka as she recognized the mare entering. Vlyka trotted a little faster to her sister’s bedside, raising her hooves to the bed and pressing one on Crystal’s hoof. She felt the bandages graze her hoof, But Vlyka could do nothing but stare at Crystal’s eyes as she stared back at her. Vlyka’s usual social phobias, even with Crystal, had melted away for the moment, and she felt a profound sense of relief once again: Crys was here. The usual sparkle in her eye was dulled, but Crys’ smile was there, gentle as ever and soothing Vlyka enough to steady her heart rate again. “Crys...”

“Hey Vlyka,” said Crystal, gentle smile and a small laugh escaping the corner of her mouth. “You saved us.”

Vlyka huffed, smirking but shaking her head dismissively. “Winter did, I just led her...” Crystal opened her mouth to say something to counter her dismissal, but Vlyka spoke quicker. “I was so afraid we would be too late...”

“Well you weren’t,” she said back, shaking her head briefly. “At least not for me. And Midnight...is he...?”

Vlyka pressed her hoof down a little bit sterner. “They have him in the emergency room. I...don’t know anything more.”

“Well the good news,” came a voice, jerking Vlyka backwards so hard she almost fell on the floor. A doctor had approached while the sisters had been having their moment, and Vlyka’s defenses had been lowered in public so much. She tried frantically to recompose herself as the doctor checked his clipboard. “Your friends who came in with you are both in observation. The pegasus...Midnight,” he said, as he paged through his notes. “He’ll be in inpatient care for a few days at least while we help him through his injuries, but he’s responding well to preliminary treatments. And...Winter is up and on her hooves again as well. Seems like a severe case of exhaustion, possibly heat exhaustion from her stroll through the desert.”

At that, Vlyka couldn’t help but snicker very slightly. She’d seen what had happened to the castle ruins firsthoof, and Vlyka had only seen that kind of ice once before. Winter had been fine the whole walk, but at the moment Vlyka didn’t find the strength to speak up and correct the doctor. “As for yourself,” the doctor said, gesturing to Crys as the little mare at her side gulped. “You’ll be in observation for at least the rest of the night, just to be sure your magic won’t need any help recovering.”

Vlyka glanced at the device on her sister’s horn, as Crystal glanced up towards it herself. “So...should I expect anything? I lost my magic before with Tirek’s attack, I thought this felt the same...”

“Yes, plenty of unicorns came in after that little incident, I assure you,” the doctor sighed. “We had no problems with anypony there, and so far your readings are about the same. You should be back on your hooves and in your normal magic in no time...though you’ll probably want to go easy on the heavy lifting for a few days as your body recharges. Your release documents will be more thorough with their instructions.”

Crystal smiled gently, but Vlyka felt the relief for Crystal’s status lifting...only to leave one more intense fear lingering on her heart. “Doctor...how’s Midnight?”