Living in Ponyville had given Rose plenty of bad days. But of all her most frightening experiences, watching orderlies haul Tracy to the hospital was certainly on the list. If there was one mercy, it was that she hadn't known precisely when he was going to jump, so she hadn't been close enough to see the fall.
She watched nervously as doctors flowed in and out of Tracy's room, listening for any hint of what might be happening. Whenever she asked, the responses did little to reassure her.
"Flying ponies always crash soft," and "we're having a little trouble reviving him, but there's no sign of serious trauma" did not make her feel better. This is my fault. I'm the one who talked him into these lessons. He's not from here, he's not meant to fly.
From what the instructor explained, the problem was that Tracy had flown a little too well.
"The course was carefully marked, with plenty of clearance. We've never had someone who could fly enough to leave but couldn't get themselves somewhere safe to land. With as little reading as he did, I expected he would fall. That would've been safer for all involved."
She had nothing to say to that. Rose didn't trust herself to talk to any of the flight school staff without saying some extremely unfriendly things. Every promise that they would cover all Tracy's expenses, as well as offering him the rest of his training with a personal instructor—what would that matter if he ended up crippled from his experience?
"Just tell me his injuries," she asked one of the doctors, after cornering her outside the room. "Nopony put up a chart."
She shifted nervously, clipboard glowing in unicorn magic. "I'm, uh... What's your relation to the patient? There are rules about privacy—"
"I'm his partner," she snapped. "Tell me what happened." He doesn't have family anymore. I'm the only pony who even knows he's here.
"Well..." She straightened, adjusting a pair of thick glasses on her snout. "There was a clean fracture in the right foreleg. No complications, cast is in place. More troubling are the burns. He bridged a set of electrical lines, rather... dramatically, it appears. Given his cutie mark and the lack of any identification, that's what we put on the..."
She turned, exposing the top of the chart, and the name "Spark Gap" listed there, before quickly flipping it back around. "First responder said we were dealing with one of the palace's own high-voltage terminals, and the burns should've been far more severe. Frankly, he's lucky to be alive."
"He's not... Is there any permanent damage?" Rose asked. "Didn't tear his wings, or..."
"No, nothing like that." The doctor waved a dismissive hoof. "None of his burns were serious, though he might think differently when he wakes up. But that's... the other part of the problem. There's no head trauma we can find, but he hasn't responded to revival spells. A specialist should be here tomorrow morning."
"I need to see him," Rose said, moving to get around her. "Even if he's not awake."
For a second it looked like the doctor would refuse her—then she shrugged. "Alright, miss. So long as you don't interfere with any of the nurses, that shouldn't be an issue. Just don't expect to get much out of him."
Tracy was the pony patient in the hospital room, though just as the nurse had said, the board at the foot of his bed listed him as "Spark Gap."
He didn't look nearly as bad as the nightmare she had imagined. His coat was shaved away in places, to make room for burn poultices. His right foreleg was in a cast, suspended above the bed by straps. But other than that, he looked intact. His wings were folded, and if anything his face was comfortable.
A nurse moved past Rose, nodding once but not giving her trouble. She'd seen rose waiting outside this room for the last several hours. She knew who she was. "This is my fault," Rose whispered, as soon as she was alone. "I shouldn't have pressured you to be more of a pony."
She laughed to herself, though the sound was spiteful and bitter. "I can't believe I thought you were here to invade. Crashing into buildings, puking up breakfast..." Tracy had never been a threat to Equestria. Equestria was a threat to him.
"There were bugs in the pancakes. It's not my fault."
Rose spun, staring down at the hospital bed with mouth agape. The bat had one eye open now, watching her. It was like somepony had flipped a switch. "How the buck are you awake now?" She jerked over to the bed, wrapping one foreleg around him in the closest hug she could manage. She kissed him—or tried, but some of the bandages were on his face.
"Careful!" He didn't exactly have the strength to scream at her, though the pain in his voice was obvious.
"Sorry." She retreated a few steps, ears flattening. "They couldn't revive you, Tracy. I thought... I thought you might've been electrocuted." She couldn’t bring herself to say what she was actually thinking. I didn't know if you would ever wake up.
He twitched, glancing down at himself. The restraints held him firmly in place, so he couldn't do more than wiggle slightly to either side. "Feels... like I was. Everything hurts. Leg worst of all. Do you people have painkillers?"
"Yes. Hold on, I'll get the nurse."
She did, though obviously it wasn't so simple. Her report that the patient was awake and needing help caused a flurry of activity, as a fresh wave of doctors poured in. Rose watched from the back of the room as they assaulted Tracy with a barrage of tests. At least none of them tried to send her away this time.
While they worked, Rose ran outside to scavenge a meal with a street-vendor, and by the time she got back the worst was over, and Tracy had a meal resting in front of him, with a smell that was about as appetizing as Changeling slime. "You didn't tell them my name?" he asked, glaring at her as she slipped in. "Did you forget how to pronounce it again?"
"No, but I think they did. Doesn't matter, flight school is taking care of everything." She settled beside the bed, touching his shoulder with one hoof. "I'm sorry, Tracy. I shouldn't have pressured you."
Tracy took an unsteady bite from the bowl. It looked like oatmeal, though it didn't smell much like it. He winced, then pushed it away. "I'm not sorry. I wanted to be here, Rose. I wanted to fly. I still do." He glanced up at his leg, groaning weakly. "Maybe that makes me sound insane. I feel a little insane, thinking about that cliff. You're right that I'm not built for this. But..."
His wings twitched, half-opening at the thought. "I was so close... could almost taste it. I wish we had jumped off something shorter. I could fall a few times, figure things out more that way."
I was wrong. He's not completely alien—there's bat in there. It was just a stereotype, Rose knew that intellectually. But every bat she'd ever known had the same reckless bravery. It was probably the exact thing that got them into such trouble with the whole Lunar Rebellion thing.
It was also incredibly attractive. "You can go back to the school when that leg heals. With the spells they put on you, that should be under a month. At least they're offering you the rest of your classes free of charge?"
He chuckled. "I see ponies have invented liability mitigation. But I don't really blame them, I'm the one who—" He trailed off abruptly, jerking in bed. He winced, clutching at his damaged leg. "Dammit... Rose, the doctors say I won't be able to leave for another two days. I need you to talk to them—I can't miss work."
Now it was her turn to glare. Rose leaned down over him, inches from his face. She wanted to kiss him again, but she didn't. Not when he was saying such stupid things. "I know how much your work means to you, Tracy. But don't you think that healing properly might be a little more important? Are they really going to be upset when you tell them about your accident?"
He hesitated, slumping back against the pillows. "I guess you're right. They won't like it, but I think Janet will understand. I'll need to get my doctor to sign something I can bring back. And..." It was his turn to look embarrassed, fluffy ears twitching under the bandages. "If you're going back to Ponyville, could you do something for me? I need you to call my boss and tell her what happened."
Rose opened her mouth to agree, even if she wasn't exactly sure what “call” meant. She could yell about as loud as anypony she knew, but not loud enough to cross universes.
"Wait. We need to come up with a lie. Janet doesn't know there's another world, she doesn't know I'm a horse, and she certainly doesn't know that I was taking flying lessons on the weekends. But there's some stuff you could tell her. You can say we went... hiking. And that I fell. Broke my arm and got torn up on the way down, but I'll be into work..."
He glanced at one hoof, as though he were going to do something with it, then sighed in frustration. "I could still go to work with one arm. But how well can ponies get around with a leg in a cast? Will I be able to walk?"
"Not well," she answered. "If you're smart, you'll use a wheelchair for the first week or two. Bats like you have hollow bones, Tracy. They need to heal exactly right, or they'll be weaker for the rest of your life."
"I only have hollow bones half the time..." he muttered, but he didn't put up much of a fight.
Rose stayed the night, and found the experience as awful as she remembered. She never had as much time alone with Tracy as she would've wanted—but considering his condition, that was probably for the best.
She would've stayed all of Sunday too—certainly her guilt was strong enough. But Tracy was positively terrified about his job, and her sisters would be equally afraid for her. "I'll be here Monday night when you're released," she promised. "We'll take the Ponyville Express straight back."
He nodded, pushing a scrap of paper towards her. "I wrote everything down I told you about my phone. Remember—"
"Nothing about Equestria, nothing about flying, nothing about you being a bat," Rose recited, rolling her eyes. "I'll remember. But I think you'd probably be happier if you were more honest. It's one of the Elements of Harmony you know."
"No, I didn't," he said, with total sincerity. "I have no idea what that is. But I'm trusting you, Rose. If I lose this job, I can't pay Discord. You know what that means better than anyone."
Oh. Suddenly Tracy's near terror at the suggestion of anything that put his job into question made much more sense. There were few ponies in Equestria who could understand as well as Rose could. She took the sheet of paper reverently, tucking it away into her saddlebags. "I'll do it exactly how you told me. Not a word otherwise."
Then she kissed him—lighter this time, without any danger of worsening his wounds. Impossibly, Tracy didn't blame her. This relationship of theirs could still work. If we can stay together after all this, we'll make it through anything.
Ten bits says Janet demands to know which hospital he's in, and Rose either clams up or blurts out 'Canterlot'.
Either way, Janet's probably gonna see right through the lie.
Or it might be funnier if Rose forgets to distinguish between arms and legs, which leads to raised eyebrows when he comes to work: "Your friend said you broke a leg, but your arm is in a cast. How the hell did she mix that up?"
the way he got injured sound's like one of discord's practical joke's xD
10520007
This. All of this.
Sorry, Tracy, but I think you're boned. And not in the good way.
See, I knew she was going to go and do that, blame herself. I don't think she's really right to, though--like so many other things in life, it was an accident and more or less beyond her control. Besides, let's not forget, Tracy had decided he wanted to try flying himself, so it wasn't like she was the sole deciding factor on this.
Yeah, and right now that's the bigger issue here. Kudos to Rose and all for being there for him in lieu of anyone else, but I worry the fact nobody knows where he is back on his side of the portal is only going to cause trouble.
Hey, speaking of...nobody's told Tracy about that yet, have they? Probably ought to. Just a hunch.
She'd better. Worker rights and all that.
Of course, the real hard part will be convincing her that he isn't just making it up to get out of work. A doctor's note would probably help, but...well, how do you think she'd react when she sees the name of the listed doctor is something like Heart Gauze or some typical pony name like that? They just might have to fake such a note in order to bypass that problem, and then that runs the risk of someone finding out that they had faked it...
Of course, maybe Rose could just go and deliver said note in person herself and speak on Tracy's behalf...I mean, it sure sounds like we're building up in that direction anyway.
Okay, be sure to give her EXACT instructions on how to operate that smart phone of yours. I know I can't just pick up some stranger's phone and immediately know precisely how it works, and I actually have some past experience using such phones--Rose doesn't.
Why do I feel like she's jinxing herself here?
That really is how it ought to work, agreed...but you don't know our world like we do, Rose.
Still...happy thoughts and all that.
10520007
Or Rose will mistake the distinction, and Janet will force the cast off him, thinking it's a lie and nearly ruin her own career.
One of my in house rules I use in my own stories is no transformations with broken bones. Which has me wondering: what's going to happen to Tracy if he goes through the portal with a broken limb?
Discord: You cannot pay me? Then, you have to get a job here in Ponyville until you can pay me back.
Rarity: But that... [thinking about gossips she's heard so far] I've never thought you would be considerate.
Discord: Simply kicking him out won't get me the bit he owned me. But having him work here, I can keep watching him to get my bit back. A win-win situation, if I would say so.
Cadance: Discord, that's not a proper way to be 'subtle' in shipping business.
The family that flies together, fries together. No, that’s not quite right. At least we know his resistance. In ohms. Oh the jokes about Equestrias newest bug zapper just write themselves. His friends will bug him about this for ages.
Electrical Talent, huh? And oh, ponies have electricity stuff! Cool!
This is gonna get real interesting, Rose going human!
Twilight Tagalong?
----
Typo:
She'd seen Rose waiting outside this room
10520021
It'll probably be a Doctor Horse since that's a fairly common pony doctor name, and Janet... I've worked with and for people like that. They are the reason we have so many laws protecting workers. She has already violated his rights by insisting he show up to after work get-togethers, and I can honestly see her taking a hammer to his cast.
this reminds me of a story, i think it's "growing up dandy" by Goldfur, where a young pony visiting the Weather Factory nearly gets electrocuted, but she manages to re-direct most of it, and GETS a "spark" cutie-mark from the experience!
Upside: Pegasi (and hopefully thestrali by extenion) heal quickly. He'll be in a lot of pain, but he'll be fine soon enough.
Downside: His employers aren't likely to let him keep his job. I see a trip to the unemployment office in the future.
You know, I'll bet it was that moonleaf stuff he was on that kept him out like that. Unnatural wakefulness followed by a crash right?
Oh hey, if Rose is going to make a call she'll need a signal. Can't get that in Equestria...
I'm getting the feeling that we need Silver Quill's Doom Flag meme.
10520014
Are their any provisions in Discord's contract that would punish Mr. Landlord for his conduct? Tracy getting hurt by pony related accident and possibly losing his human world job should count. After all this was the job Tracy needed the residence for.
Maybe the portal dose the required editing to the doctor's note too or we are getting that choose between the worlds thing now.
10520047
Mine is said injuries translate 1 to 1 wherever possible. Even if that means adding broken wings to a human form. Now that woulda been awkward.
To be fair, it wouldn't make me feel any better either.
Hopefully he has insurance...
Tracy (alias Spark Gap): "Okay then, I'm going back to sleep. See y'all later!" *passes out again.*
Plot twist: It is Changeling slime...
Good chapter, as always!
I enjoyed reading it.
Also, congratulations for passing 1,000 upvotes!
Found a typo:
Must be uppercase.
10520083
The worse thing I can imagine is going through the portal, his body transforms but the cast doesn't.
Problems could also ensure when he heals from this way too soon. Saying he was electrocuted and in the hospital with his arm damaged and him unable to move would be both more accurate and believable. These things do happen. If you take even 240 wrong...
10520121
That would be bad but said portal has already been shown to transform worn objects so he'll be perfectly fine.
10520024
Hmm, I don't think so. Janet so far seems like a corporate hard-ass who is keenly aware of where to draw the line when it comes to liability.
She won't manhandle him.
If she really does not believe him, it's far safer and more effective to interrogate him on the oddities of any 'official' documents he might submit, like the doctor's funny name and the hospital that doesn't exist.
10520147
When the thing says "Don't fly for 2 weeks. Favor your other 3 legs." Letterhead having Canterlot.
If Rose goes through the portal to use the phone, is she even cleared to do so? If she got stuck as a human or couldn't make it back due to security measures... She'd have only one person she knew in a whole alien world... That would be Janet... ouch.
Ouch. He did just well enough that no one was prepared for the resulting crash. Glided right into a crack in the system.
Interesting. Looks like that mark comes with a degree of electricity resistance. In the D&D sense, not the electrodynamics sense.
Well, given the consistency and the nutrient density, it only made sense to feed the stuff to recovering patients.
I suppose "hang gliding accident" might be a little too unbelievable? It's kind of what happened, after all. But yeah, this is going to be complicated. Especially since that doctor's note will likely be signed by someone whose name is a medical noun phrase of some sort.
Haha man, Spark Gap, you got fucked up.
The romantic writing continues to be very cute and much appreciated.
Spark Gap, eh? I like it. I hope someone calls him Sparky at some point. That sounds like a fun nickname.
I really like the interaction between Rose and Tracy in this chapter. I never considered until now that Tracy wouldn't be able to pay Discord if he loses his job and given everything that's in the contract that isn't an option you want to explore. Tracy also had the bad luck that he crashed into one the worst places possible for him and I'm not totally convinced that's a coincindence.
10520017
Yeah, employers tend to want to know which hospital a wounded employee is in. To validate the excuse note if for nothing else.
And even if it wasn’t an on the job thing that they have to deal with workers comp claim paperwork, there’s still probably potential medical insurance issues they expect to be helping hammer out, or short term disability pay claim paperwork to do.
And if you’re lucky enough to report to an actual human being, they may want to visit just to see how you are doing and because they know hospitals are horrible places to be stuck without company.
“Um. It’s actually in another country” is unlikely to work. Which one?
“Uhh, you’ve never heard of it...” orly? How’d he even get there quickly enough for a weekend getaway to Ben worth the trouble, then? A country I’ve never heard of would be super far away!
“...a magical portal to a country of talking small horses in another reality.”
I’d totally buy that...
10520082
the cutimark "spark Gap" = the powerline axident
10520222
10520196
Yep, its official , when ponies give you a pony name, its now your new name forever :p
Also looks like the doctors didnt know he drank an everwake potion. Darn it Spark Gap, we knew you drinking everwake was a bad idea.
10520007
"Shock, mainly. It had just happened and docs were worried about the leg for a while too."
"And, uhh, out of curiosity, why did she say your wings would be fine?"
"...no comment"
Spark "Tracing" Gap.
You'd think the potion would be detectable in a medical scan, especially if it's known for common use by bat ponies... 🤔
So he was just over the bar of "failed", such that he exceeded the safety area for complete failure, but obviously didn't have the full control necessary to actually complete the glide proper. He's the reason they're rezoning that stretch of the city, isn't he?
Four bits says Janet is actually really concerned for him and when she finds out about his "hike" and subsequent injury, will refer him to psychiatrist.
Keep going! ;)
10520335
It is written *sage*
Interesting Chapter Indeed, I know Tracy has some technical prowess from his Job on earth but I'm having a hard time remembering if he's always had a cutie mark and was simply hiding it or this experience granted him one. I wonder how his Job will take his sudden inability to show up.
10520007
That sounds like the sort of "I hurt this arm" / "Now I hurt that arm" sort of mix-up that we see in every situation comedy when the writers can't think of something decent to write. I mean, imagine a cast moving across all 4 of a pony's legs as they wanted to avoid something. Can you imagine how ridiculously silly that plotline would be? There's no way that would be believable, right? (... nickname is "Crash" for a reason :-).
They could ask the Canterlot Hospital to write a doctor's note as if it came from Earth.
10520048
I think one of the 'odd jinxs' here, is that Discord made the whole set-up, because he for some reason or other, actually wants 'Earth side' currency.
Somethings he wants to buy? Could probably magic it ower, but that would be theft - and can't reliably convert bits, though I guess he could have them melted down and sold for their metal values...
But he might not have thought of that...
Now I want to know who actually owns the plot and house on Tracey's side. Does it have a back door? What do you see if you look through the windows?
10520407
He's always had the cutie mark, it might have been covered up more often than not with the funky Earth to Equus conversions, he's always wondered what the mark meant and I dont think anyone has told him much about what cutie marks are and what it means to have one for him, being an alien.
I think if he adopts a pony-like name it'd be a good idea to go with the john doe name the nurses gave him.
10512273
Not unless the scarf is multi-colored and 8 feet/hooves long. And then it has to be the right hat. :-)
10520247
I was of the understanding that Tracy is earning a significantly good paycheck and his bank must be adding on top of itself repeatedly, there's no way the place he's in, since it was the cheapest he could find, is draining his bank from a job like that and he's only done a few favors that cost earth money in Equus so... I think he'd be able to pay rent for a bit if he lost the job, but there would be immense pressure to find a job and IIRC there's not a lot of job opportunities for him atm as well as the fact that the contract with a god really does terrify him.
10520462
Well, from the inside, looking out? One wall looks out on earth, the rest look out on ponyville.
From the outside looking in? Probably looks like mostly empty house, unless you're looking from the front side.
Using another door/ window? ... Oohhh, Discord gets a plaything for tresspassing :-)
10520055
Eh, I dunno if even Janet would go as far as the hammer thing because she has shown some sympathy and understanding in the past--not a lot but still some--though I do fully expect it to be a very tough sell with her regardless, much more than it really ought to be.
10520474
You, Sir, are a Sir.
10520402
It probably was, but I'd imagine it was largely a non-event, medically speaking. It wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't the first time the docs had seen a bat pony hopped up on said potion (or one just like it) before and knew how to respond to it...if they needed to at all. It'd really only be important if the potion's presence were to somehow adversely affect the treatments they'd be trying to give Tracy for his injuries. If there was no such risk of that, then the best thing to do really would be to just let the potion keep on going its merry way until it wears off naturally.
Though, now that you've brought it up, I wonder if the potion was why Tracy initially couldn't be roused...it did have warnings about how the missed sleep still had to be caught up at some point, and maybe, since he was already knocked out cold, that was when his body decided to get caught up, since it had been given the chance and all.
10520531
Yeah, going unconscious probably triggered the rebound clause, since there's likely no detection of the type of "sleep"...
10520442
Or how he'll be all fixed up in less than a month while bones take on average 6 weeks when young? How about the physical atrophy? How about having to fake a cast while perfectly fine just to make it believable? Or the insurance payouts that he'll either have to commit fraud for or pay out of pocket to avoid because the dreaded red-tape-paper-trail-demon of Earth loves such inconsistencies?
Or... you know, READING THE CONTRACT to see if there might be a "Well... I didn't see that coming" clause that makes Discord have to cover for an unintentional/unavoidable breach?
Man... do I love these little mental panic sessions.
10520335
Oh no! He's got too many names! Tracy, Tracing, Spark Gap, Human Invader #1 of (insert continuously updating count here)...
10520402
Or demand to visit... to humorous/equine results.
10520542
Hey, a proper certified and legal visit would be a great idea! We fully support this concept!
10520535
I guess that in turn suggests that the fact he woke up when he did almost the same time as Rose visiting him was a coincidence. That mildly disappoints me, admittedly, because as cliche as it'd be, I kinda liked the idea that it was Rose's presence that actually woke him up.
10520184
Yeah, I bet that something like "The patient, Spark Gap, suffered an accidental fall from a cliff during flight practice, signed Dr. Stable" would go over well with Janet