Chapter Three: I See You
Chapter Three: I See You
“Oops.”
“Oops?” Smolder repeated, her cheeks suddenly feeling lighter as she bit the inside of her cheek. ‘Oops’ was one of the last words she wanted to hear when she was sitting in a wheelchair with little choice but to put all faith put into Gallus not screwing up. There were few in her life she trusted as much as that griffon, but everyone makes mistakes. She was a not-walking testament to that. "What did you do?"
“Nothing. No worries,” Gallus said. She heard him grunt as something slid and scraped along the vinyl cushion. “Gah, your tail keeps sliding near the wheels.”
“You better not have run it over.” The range of motion in her neck felt less in less tense with each attempt to shoot the griffon a glare of suspicion, but she still couldn’t quite crane her neck far enough to make eye contact. At least not without pain or dizziness.
“Relax. I bet you would have been able to tell that. You’d definitely have felt the pull in your spine.”
“You sound like you’ve been studying,” Smolder scoffed.
“I have.”
“Huh.” Smolder eyed her shoulder. Gallus’ shadow near the back of the curve was the best view of him she could get at the moment. Even then, she could sense him rubbing the back of his neck as the wheelchair slowly started to roll forward again. “For real?”
“Duh,” Gallus chuckled. “Gotta do what I can to help out my favorite lizard.”
Smolder blinked, surprised at the moisture creeping to the brim of her eyelids. He’d read, he’d studied… for her? That was too cool. “Heh,” she forced a shaky snort. “Nerd alert.”
“Excuse me for caring,” he chuckled. They ventured past a few doors before Gallus slowed the chair to a stop once again.
Smolder frowned. “Why are we stopping?” There were doors on each side of her, closed shut, but she could hear the sounds. The beeping of monitors, the labored breaths, muffled voices delivering news. Probably the bad kind. Her claws scratched against the armrest. She had to keep moving. She had to keep moving.
"Just trying to figure out where we should go," Gallus said, leaning on the handles of Smolder's wheelchair. "This boring hallway?" He turned her chair to a hall that looked not unlike her own. Walls painted an eggshell white lined by nurse carts and chairs before turning to a flanking clone of a hallway. "Or this one?"
"Decisions, decisions," Smolder said as she tapped at her chin, putting on her mask as her finger was driven faster and faster by the hurried pulse thundering in her chest. The sounds were growing louder, and her stomach churned. A few seconds more, and she knew she’d be sick all over the floor. She gave the air a sniff, testing which hall smelled less like a nauseating mix of old eggs and cleaning fluid. That seemed to be the left hall. Less stenches, less chances of turning the freshly-waxed tiles into a Puke ‘N Slide. She cleared her throat, prepared to give Gallus directions when she noticed a figure at the end of the hall, heading their way.
Rainbow Dash.
"Right hall," Smolder said too quickly. "Right hall. Go right, right, right."
"Uh, sure. Wouldn't all those rights just put me back on the left?"
Smolder squeezed the armrests. Her nails dug through the fabric. The soft foam was like fire on her claws."Can it, nerd. Right hallway!"
"Alright, alright. Going right. Sheesh!" he chuckled. He started to turn her wheelchair to the right, but he was slow. Again. It was too late.
"Smolder!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her voice a mix of excitement and shock. The cyan pegasus rushed forward, half-running, half-flying, a grin plastered on her face. "Oh, man! It's good to see you out and about! How are ya doing, girl?"
"Hey, Coach," Smolder said as she glared over her shoulder at Gallus. If only the featherbrain had turned a little quicker. At least he’d done her the favor of moving over enough that she could get him in her line of sight. Way to go, G.
Whatever. Nothing she could do now but attempt to roll away, and she had no doubt that would be a failed escape. Rainbow Dash had seen her, so she had no choice but to talk a little. "Feels good to get some fresh air." She sniffed and gagged. She could roll anywhere, and that stench of antiseptic would be there. She wondered how the ponies who worked here could stand it. She’d take the smell of roses over this. "Well, as fresh as I can get around here."
Dash's smile faltered a little. "I hear ya." She looked over the dragon, taking a deep breath. "Still, it's great to see you out of bed. Didn’t look right, seeing my best cheerer laying there like that.” Rainbow’s wings twitched at her side, one of her pinions twisting the whistle still around her neck. “Maybe I should bring the squad over to say hello again. Heh, preferably without looking like a sardine can. Since you’re out and about, we could go out to the courtyard or something."
Smolder chuckled at that. A genuine one. When Coach Dash had brought the squad over right after her injury, only a fourth of the squad could squeeze its way into the room at a time. It went without saying that Nurse Redheart and Dr. Stable were not fans of this at all. There were still tests to run, tubes and IV bags to switch out, and monitors to check. Eventually, Redheart kicked them all out. Thinking back to it now, that glare the pony gave everyone as she pushed to Smolder’s bed was when Smolder realized she liked that pony. She had the heart of a dragon in her.
That didn't stop Rainbow from constantly zipping by with cards and apologies like everyone else, though. And due to her speed, Smolder swore Coach came by double as much as everyone else.
"Guess that'd be cool, Coach," Smolder said, scratching at the arms of her wheelchair, flicking the bits of yellow foam onto the floor. It would be cool, but there was also a chance that… they’d be there. Yona, Ocellus. She wanted to see them so bad. She wanted to let them know that everything was cool and to tell them to stop beating themselves up and, damn it, she would hug the daylights out of both of them. But she also couldn't bear the idea of seeing their faces. Yona at least seemed to be holding it in the few times she’d shown up, but a part of Smolder knew that the yak seeing her in a wheelchair would be the crack that shattered the dam. Laying in bed, they could pretend it was all going to be alright. Sitting in a wheelchair with her legs no doubt splaying out like the useless hunks of meat that they were? That would be the hit. She could see the yak now, broken, crying, begging for forgiveness. And Ocellus would be ten times worse if she popped in. Honestly, the whole thing would probably just piss Smolder off. It wasn't their fault. It was a freak accident. Could they just get over it?
No. No, they can’t. You’re not even over it.
"So, um," Dash coughed, breaking the silence that Smolder hadn't realized had been growing. New scratch marks lined the armrests. Smolder crossed her arms over her chest. At least her chest scales were more formidable—though she did make sure to cross them where she could actually feel herself scratching if it came to that. "How are things with the… you know? The... uh..." Dash made a motion to her legs, her face shifting from hopeful to unsure.
Smolder shrugged. "Still useless. Can't feel anything below here.” She patted her torso midway down her belly. “Can't move anything either." She reached down and knocked on her thigh. "But I guess that's to be expected."
Rainbow Dash frowned. She looked like she was about to cry. Not the big blubbering tears that some of the others had, but the quiet ones that she always tried to hide. The mare looked back at her own hind legs briefly. "Gah, I couldn't imagine..." she mumbled softly. In that quiet hall, it might as well have been a yell. It definitely rapped against Smolder’s skull like she had shouted.
"Of course, you can't. Not something you can imagine. But then it happens…" Smolder shrugged, squeezing the gown tight. How resilient was the fabric, she wondered. "It's okay though. Honestly, at the moment, I'm just happy to be out of that damn bed for a little bit."
Dash nodded slowly, looking down at Smolder's legs. She took a deep breath. "Hear ya there, girl! I'm glad to see you're in somewhat good spirits. Could always count on you to keep pounding!" She smiled a bit. "At this rate, you'll be on your feet in no time." She cringed. "Well, maybe not... uh... but maybe so... ideally, yeah, but uh, um..." She sighed, shaking her head. "Ugh, sorry. You get the idea."
"I do," Smolder laughed. "I really do, Coach. Do me a favor though."
Rainbow leaned forward, her backend practically rising off the ground. "Sure thing, Smolder. Anything."
"Have the squad run extra laps at practice in my honor. Tell 'em twenty laps around the field is the medicine that'll make me feel better." The smirk on Smolder's lips faltered. "Except, you know... except for Yona and Ocellus. They can have a pass."
Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. "No worries. They, uh... haven't been at practice much anyway. Or… not really at all."
Smolder blinked. "Yeah... yeah, I guess not..." She hugged her arms tight to her chest, hard enough that she thought her sternum would snap. That’d be something. She wondered if Dr Stable would be pissed if she did that or just impressed. At the moment Smolder would take any scolding though. If she hadn't gotten hurt, her friends would be just fine. If only she'd stepped out of Ocellus' way...
If you'd done that, she'd probably be the one in this chair, Smolder thought to herself. The image of Ocellus’ eyes, hollow and broken as she stared at her, flashed in her mind. It was so real she could almost feel the hot tears burning her scales. She shook her head, hoping to clear her thoughts, but it didn't help. Instead, she stared at her legs. She touched them again. Just in case. Still nothing. But it got her mind off of Ocellus, at least for a moment.
"Look, I gotta run back to school. Gym class starts in, like, a couple minutes. Gotta keep those Freshmeat in line, y’know?” Rainbow winked and patted Smolder’s shoulder hesitantly. Why did everyone have to think she was some fragile doll or something? ”Just wanted to check up real quick while I had some time. Keep givin' 'em hell, tiger."
Smolder smirked, braving to make eye contact with Rainbow Dash. No tears, thank the lords. "No plans on stopping.”
"Awesome." Dash smiled and gave her a wings-up. "Catch ya later," she said, and then she took off down the hall, her hooves skidding across the linoleum as she turned around the corner, vanishing from sight.
"Tiger?" Gallus snorted. She heard his talons tap against the handlebars once again. "Wouldn't that make more sense for me? I'm the one who's half-cat after all."
"A pussycat maybe," Smolder giggled. "Hmm... Lionboy. That might be better than Featherbrain..."
"Definitely brings up my more attractive features, hmm?" Gallus grinned, leaning over Smolder's shoulder.
She rolled her eyes at him. "Let's just get moving down the hall, Lionboy," she said. A thought smacked her atop the head as soon as she had started moving again. "Wait... don't you have Pinkie’s class now?"
"Yeah, but I told Principal Glimmer I was coming to see you. Free excused day off of School!"
"Glad I could be of service," She laughed but frowned quickly as she took a deep breath, her heart racing a little bit. Just seeing Rainbow was enough to... bring her back to that day. The lights felt too bright. The halls seemed too long. The smell of the place... it was making her dizzy. She shook her head, trying to keep her focus.
"You alright?"
Smolder jumped a little, having not even noticed Gallus' beak right next to her ear. She shivered a bit, letting the feeling wash over her. It was pleasant.
"Y-yeah," Smolder said, rubbing her arm. "I'm good."
"Want me to turn around?" he asked. "We can go back to the room."
"Oh heck no." Smolder shook her head, sending a bolt down her spine. She winced but sucked the grunt back down. "We were told 'Lobby,' and we are not chickening out now. Let's do this."
"Alright. As you wish," he said, chuckling.
Gallus wheeled Smolder down the hallway. His pace was quick but gentle. The way he pushed her down the hall was so smooth that she didn't feel a bump or jolt from any of the imperfections of the linoleum tiles as they ventured down a patient-less hall. Windows were all that greeted the pair with each steady roll.
Smolder had to admit Gallus was a quick learner at this rolling thing, dodging incoming nurse carts and patients being wheeled by on gurneys with ease. He would occasionally lean down to talk to her, pointing out passing nurses or nodding towards rooms, asking questions and making theories on who was who.
"What do you think happened there?" he asked, pointing to a room where they could see a mare sitting up on a hospital bed, a pony in a white coat taking notes on a clipboard.
"I don’t know. Probably a cold or something," she said, not daring to look in the room. Starswirl Memorial Hospital was, from what she’d read during those boring days where her options were to read a pamphlet or yet another card, an ever-growing hospital. Hundreds of patients filled its beds—dozens of different creatures of so many different sizes—yet each doorway was like a mirror.
"Maybe. I dunno. Looks a bit more serious than that," he said. She expected him to laugh as if it were just a joke, but he didn't make a sound.
"Ha. Ha. Real funny," Smolder rolled her eyes, hesitant to look through the door, but as was often the case, curiosity won out. She glanced at the mare again, just catching sight of her dark green face as she sniffled and wiped her eyes. Damn. So he wasn't joking. Smolder couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain in her chest, especially when she noticed a familiar sight: the sheets of the bed pulled up to the mare's waist, her hind legs exposed, thick metal braces encasing the immobile limbs. She couldn't confirm anything, but the metal and motionlessness sent her stomach plummeting. "Gah, I hope she's not..."
Gallus sighed. "Yeah, me too. That'd suck." He cleared his throat. "Well, I'm sure she'll be fine. Just a little banged up or something."
"Yeah, maybe..." Smolder looked over the mare's face again. She caught her eyes, just for a moment, but she saw the pain amidst the golden irises. It was a familiar look. Maybe. She repeated to herself over and over that the mare might have something else wrong with her entirely. But she couldn't shake that look.
One hall led to another, which turned into yet another. As they reached the end of another room-less hallway seemingly built out of windows, they turned onto a path that was a little more crowded. A little noisier too. It was full of patients and visitors walking in every direction, their conversations mingling together into a jumbled mess of words. Some didn't look unhealthy at all and walked tall despite their hospital gowns. Even the patients being pushed around on wheelchairs or gurneys seemed to lack that ‘look’ she had seen in the previous halls. Here, they bore an expression of annoyance. Definitely the type of folks who probably whined about having to go to the hospital because they 'had things to do.'
Smolder could almost smell the difference. The sharp scent of the antiseptic was still there, but now it was mixed with the outside world sneaking in through the constant opening and closing of exit doors. A fresh breeze, a scent of flowers and grass. And then there was the occasional hint of coffee. She could almost taste the steaming mug.
Gods, but she could go for some coffee right about now. She doubted her stomach could handle it, but eh that was future Smolder's problem.
Gallus wheeled Smolder up to the double doors at the end of the hall. He stopped just before pressing the button that would open them. He leaned over, his beak next to Smolder's ear. "You sure you're good?"
"Yeah, man." She nodded. "Honestly, I wish we could go a little longer. I'm just starting to get the hang of this thing." The words felt wrong on her tongue. She didn't want to be 'getting the hang of' this whole chair thing, but... eh, she was stuck with it. Better to get used to it than mope around and waste away.
Slowly, like reaching towards an ice-cold pool, Smolder lowered her claws to the rims along the wheels. She squeezed them, hitching her shoulders a little as though the metal had shocked her. They were cold. But that was it. Cold. Not thorny or covered in electrical currents. They weren't going to hurt her. Not any more than she already was. She pushed, rolling the wheels forward, then back, then forward again. They spun with ease, despite her shaking claws struggling to brave a good grip on them. She took a deep breath.
"Let go," she said.
"Huh?"
"Let go, Gallus. I wanna do it myself," Smolder said, voice quivering more than she expected.
"You sure?” Gallus walked around the chair so that he was beside her, looking down with an arched eyebrow. “I can keep pushing. It’s no big deal to me. You sure you're good?"
"Think I can't handle it?" she asked, tilting her head up and smirking.
"Just checking," he said, raising his wings. "Alright, Legs, it’s all you." He stood back, talons raised as his wings beat just fast enough to keep him balanced. It was almost like a breeze on Smolder’s burning face. She closed her eyes, smiled, and let go of the rims. Immediately, the front wheels rolled forward, jolting the chair a bit. She squeezed the rims tightly once again, her heart racing a little. She’d just let go at an angle or something. No biggie, right? She felt totally lame for freaking out a little at a tiny roll. There would be much more hostile terrains to conquer in this bad boy in the future than the boring ol’ tiled floor. She needed to just dragon-up, take a deep breath, and let it roll.
She squeezed the rims and pushed. She rolled a little further, the doors opening just in time for her to make it through. Gallus walked beside her, close enough that she felt his presence but not close enough to look like he was waiting to grab hold of the handles at any second. Good, because she didn't need help. She could do this. She... she...
The lobby was full of ponies and other creatures. Too many. She turned to the right as her hands simultaneously gripped too hard and fell too loose on the rims. Cripes, she should have gotten her first rolls in when they'd been alone in one of those hallways with a whole lot of nothing and nobody flanking them. Now it felt like there were dozens of eyes on her. Staring. Judging. Did she know that pony? And that kirin over there? They looked familiar. Were they a student at the school? She could just imagine the lame, totally untrue stories they’d take back to the dorms if she screwed this up. The wheels turned to the right again.
"Hey, uh, Smolder?"
The right again.
"Smolder!"
Left. Left. Right. Right. Left.
Then stop. She looked down at the armrest. She could feel Gallus' fur brush against her arm as he held the chair still.
"You alright?" he asked, leaning over. "You were weaving around like you’d had a few, and… jeez, you look like you’ve seen a ghost, Smol’."
"I... yeah, I'm fine. Just..." She blinked and stared out at the waiting room. Looking at it with a fresh breath and Gallus by her side, she could see that not a soul had even paid her much mind. And why should they? Most ponies who entered and left those doors did so in wheelchairs. At worst, the glances she got were from those hoping to see—or dreading to not see—some creature they knew and loved coming through the doors. Not her. She was just some faceless dragon who had rolled into the lobby.
She stared at the floor. All along the polished tile, track marks had been worn into it from the rolling of so many wheels. No amount of wax could buff out that heavy traffic, she figured. She took a deep breath and let her fingers loosen up from around the rims.
"You want me to take over?" Gallus asked.
"Buck off, I got this," she said. "'Least let me get to the doors."
Gallus scoffed. "Why, so you can break out?"
"Oh, you know it." She smirked, looking over her shoulder at him. "Wanna come with?"
"I dunno. I think that Redheart would track us down and string me up if I tried. Probably snitch on you to save my own tail," he laughed, moving from beside the chair to a little in front of it. "Well, what are you waiting for? Redheart's stopwatch to start beeping?" He looked around, leaning forward and back on his talons. "Professor Dash stole a lot of those fifteen minutes we had."
Smolder pressed a claw against her forehead. "Jeez, you really are scared of her aren't ya? Gah, you really are a chicken."
Gallus clucked and clicked his tongue. "A smart chicken," he corrected. "There’s a difference."
Smolder scoffed. "Sure. Whatever you say, Chicken."
"That's, what, two new nicknames today? What'll the third one be?" Gallus asked. "Chickenbutt? Chickenface?"
"I dunno. I'll probably come up with something. Maybe I'll just start calling you Drumsticks."
He chuckled. "And that's the second time today you've complimented my legs, Legs," he said, winking.
Smolder's cheeks flushed. "Oh, shut up. Those were not compliments. They were just... well, that one’s just a ... actually, you know what? Shut up!" She rolled her eyes. "Scales, why do I put up with you?"
"Because I'm just that great?" he asked, holding a wing to his chest.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Move aside, Chickenbutt," she said, reaching up and pushing his hip aside. This caused her wheelchair to turn to the right and wobble a little as she steadied her claws to the rims. Scales, there were so many things to get used to with this stupid thing. She took a deep breath and pulled the left wheel back into reverse. Course corrected, she slowly but surely shifted her claws into first and began to roll her way across the lobby.
With each turn of the wheels, the air became a little fresher, the lighting a little less artificial. It smelled less like medicine and more like fresh-cut grass and flowers. The sound of the automatic doors opening and closing filled her ears, as did the chirps of the birds outside. Would Redheart mind if they did a little lap up the walkway outside? Honestly, she didn't feel like playing with those odds. Maybe on her next little venture.
Her claws gripped tight around the rims as she tensed her arms. The wheelchair came to a quicker stop than she'd expected it to. With the lack of sensation and control, this small surprise was nearly enough to send her toppling forward out of her chair as she watched her left foot slide off the footplate. The rest of the slab of meat some may call a leg was dragged along with it, causing her hip to slide forward in her chair. It all happened in a second. Grumbling, she pressed one claw against the seat and was able to scoot herself back against the backrest—after threading her corpse of a tail off to the side enough with the other claw—before Gallus had probably noticed.
Still, now was the awkward part. She reached down and wrapped her claws around the bottom of her thigh. Through her fingers, she felt her scales, scratched lightly at the muscles beneath them. Through her leg, she felt nothing. Those muscles she gripped would soon waste away, leaving her legs nothing more than bone and scale. A shiver ran down her spine as she squeezed her eyes shut. She glared down at the stupidly useless lump of flesh in her grasp and lifted it up.
The limb flopped around pathetically, her foot swinging in the air like a dead fish as she shifted her weight and lowered the stupid thing back onto the footplate. She adjusted the limb so that her foot rested in the proper place. There. Good as new…
…No. No, there was nothing good about this.
Tired of looking at her dumb leg, Smolder raised her gaze to the window she'd parked in front of. Outside was a little patch of bushes and sunflowers. There were flowers planted in rows along a winding path that led to a little pond filled with fish and ducks. And, of course, there was a fountain in the center of the pond, spraying water into the air. All around it, ponies and creatures strolled about, admiring the sights and enjoying the day, walking on legs that actually worked.
"Dammit," she muttered, glaring down at her useless limbs again. Even a glance outside couldn't provide an escape. Still... green and glowing was better than orange and dead. She sighed, focusing on the flowers and trees rather than the ponies around them. Flowers weren't really her thing—dragons tended to avoid putting a lot of effort into something they could burn to a crisp with a single sneeze—but they were pretty, she guessed. At least these ones were. They were all orange and yellow. Fire colors. The only cool ones.
Still, her eyes caught sight of some purple ones planted near the fountain. As much as it pained her to say she enjoyed a color so lame, they were probably her favorite. If she went out there and picked one... maybe it’d fit with her scales. Maybe Rarity was still hanging out around the hospital. She could ask her if one of those buds would look good tucked in her spines. If she clipped it in just right, maybe even Gallus would like it...
A quick peek down the road noted a white, cantering speck that could have been Rarity. Whoever they were, they were far out of shouting range, and Smolder doubted the wheels of this hospital chair would do much good on the dirt paths. Maybe next time.
As she reached down to turn her chair away from the window, Smolder noticed a pegasus in a blue and black dress sitting on a bench down near the main pathway. Nothing about the pegasus stood out—they were just sitting there, fiddling with their forehooves as ponies often did when waiting for a taxi or something—yet she couldn’t look away. The pegasus looked up, scanning the windows of the hospital before freezing when they made contact with Smolder’s. It was the color of the mare’s eyes that threw a hitch into Smolder’s breath, putting a pause on her exhale. Those turquoise eyes seemed so familiar... they shimmered as they stared at her.
She knew those eyes. She didn't know how, but she knew that she knew them.
"Woah!" Gallus' voice echoed through the lobby to her right. "These things are tricky."
Smolder looked away from the window and let out a noise halfway between a laugh and a gasp. Gallus was sitting in one of the hospital's wheelchairs. His talons gripped tightly to the rims of the wheels and his legs were pressed together. His tail fluffed out at the base, threatening to drag on the ground and get caught up in the axles. Goodness, if that’s how dumb his tail looked in one of these chairs, hers must look legendary levels of silly.
He rolled forward a little, then back, then right into the other wheelchairs lining the wall. The griffon muttered curses under his breath as he backed himself out of the mob of spokes.
"You're doing it wrong," Smolder said, crossing her arms.
"Didn't you, like, just start doing this?" Gallus said. "You're an expert now?"
Smolder chuckled. He had a way with words. "Doesn't take an expert to see that you're crashing and burning, dude. You're turning too hard with your right talon. You're just gonna keep going in circles—that’s if ya don’t flip the thing over. Also..." She blinked, the fact that she was staring at Gallus sitting in one of the wheelchairs fully registered in her mind. "Get out of that!" she hissed. "There are ponies here that frickin’ need that, Featherbrain!"
Gallus raised a claw, the chair wobbling in place as he did so. "Calm down. The waiting room is basically empty." He motioned with his claws, causing the chair to do a one-sixty, the front wheels of an empty one pausing his spin. "If someone needs it, I'll get up. I just... wanted to..." Gallus looked down at his claws, his beak clenching. Smolder knew the look all too well; the look of a griffon fighting to find his words and only beating himself up in the process. “Never mind. Stupid.”
“Can’t just plant that seed and not finish,” Smolder said, crossing her arms.
Gallus sighed and shook his head. "I dunno. I figured if I knew how you felt, I could help you. I guess. I dunno. It sounds even stupider now that I've said it out loud."
Smolder smiled. Scales, he had no business being as sweet as he was. "I mean, it's not... stupid. Okay a little stupid. " Smolder shrugged. "Just get up though, dude. The last thing I want to see is you falling outta that and ending up like me."
“It’s, like, a two-foot fall.”
“Knowing you, you’d find a way.”
Gallus rolled his eyes, smirking. "True that. Guess I'll just make sure I fall forward. Breaking the beak's better than the back, yeah?" With that, he gave the chair a hearty push forward and rolled past her.
As if on cue, a flare of pain shot up Smolder's spine. She clenched her eyes shut and leaned back against the chair with a grimace. It wasn't constant, and for that, she guessed she could be thankful, but when it decided to rear its fiery head? It churned her guts, unleashing what felt like an army of birds to peck at the inside of her skull. Her head swam, and she gripped her claws tight around the armrests, the metal under the vinyl creaking as she pulled. She heard a sharp screech. The screech of chair wheels on tile, followed by the sound of flapping wings and claws landing on the ground.
She turned her chair around. If only the thing didn’t want to keep moving forward or backward, she’d have gotten a good look of Gallus face-down, butt-up on the ground in a hilarious pile of feathers. Instead, she caught him already sitting up, rubbing a knee.
"Well... that hurt," Gallus grumbled. "Me and my big mouth."
Smolder snickered at the sight, the headache forgotten even as the laugh jolted another bolt up her vertebrae."You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, just bruised the ol' pride. I think I'll live. Maybe. For griffons, broken pride could be fatal…” He rubbed at his talon, hissing. "Man, you gotta be careful in these things."
"Want some pointers?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I mean I don't want to have to need to know how to work one of those things, but..." He shrugged. "Couldn't hurt. You never know, right?"
No. No, you never did.
"Alright, let me get over there. Get up." She rolled her wheelchair towards him, motioning to his. "Now, sit down, and don't lean forward so much this time. You'll face-plant again."
Gallus grabbed the wheels, shifting in the seat. "This makes no sense," he muttered, looking down at his claws.
"What? That you're not automatically cool at everything you do?" Smolder smirked.
"No. No, like..." He continued to shift, the wheels slipping from his grip with each movement. "You'd think chairs here would be built with four legs in mind. It's called PONYville for crying out loud."
Smolder blinked, then shrugged. "Guess they just expect someone else to do the pushing or something."
"Lame. I will only be my own pusher." He looked around. "Seriously though, you'd think they'd have a few of those wheel harnesses around, y'know?"
“Those things probably take too long to get strapped into or something.” Smolder shrugged. She couldn't say she noticed. Plus, she couldn't say she really had much sympathy there. Ponies were lucky they could use wheel harnesses. Those harnesses let them still walk around on their forelegs, dragging everything around like it was in a wagon. At least in that case, they could pretend that they could walk normally. Smolder didn't have that benefit. She ran a claw along the rims. "Look, just get up, dude. You clearly weren't built for that thing. It's not griffon-sized!"
Gallus sighed, scooting his tush around to the left and right. The chair was thinner than he was, so gripping the wheels was about as easy as getting him to pay attention in Magical History class. "You're probably right," he muttered, placing his talons on the rims. He stood up and stretched, rolling his shoulders and neck. "Maybe they have a griffon-sized one back behind all these pony ones."
"I doubt they have many injured griffons come in here," Smolder said. "I mean, you're still the only one around here I know. Well, you and Gabby, but still not a high population."
"Yeah, but it'd be nice to know the basics if I ever... y'know..." He ruffled his wings, looking off to the side. "Don't get me wrong, I don't plan on ever getting hurt. But… I mean, you know they got me on storm duty now, right?"
"What? They do? Why?"
"Eighteen, baby. I was able to weasel my way out of this semester because of the whole 'focusing on school thing.' But next big storm, your Chickenbutt here’s gonna be out there pushing the clouds around and keeping these weak pony buildings from blowing over. Pretty cool, huh?" He sighed. "But… pretty scary too..." He shook his head. "I don't exactly have the best track record of luck."
"Right back at you," Smolder said, her eyes once again moving to her legs.
"Augh, dammit," Gallus shook his head and kicked at the tiles, his talons leaving slight scratches on the smooth surface. "Sorry. I keep bringing crap up. I don't mean to. Really. I don’t mean to keep opening up all these cans of worms, just 'cause...." He let out a muffled shout, bitten back by his tongue. "Like, I literally was just thinking about challenging you to a race in one of these things ‘cause I thought that’d be fun. Not sure why I brought up all that crap about luck and getting hurt. Just... I dunno."
Smolder smiled, reaching up to pat him on the shoulder. "Hey, it's fine," she said. "We’ve all got a hundred thoughts going crazy nowadays. Lots of junk to unpack." She rolled forward a little, getting closer to him. “The whole graduated adult thing's gonna hit us like a train, eh?"
Gallus nodded. "No kidding." He rubbed at his neck.
Smolder smiled, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms. She hated seeing Gallus get so down on himself. He was supposed to be the one she could rely on to push her through this with a joke and a laugh. The last thing she wanted was for him to get all sappy and sad like everyone else. "Sooooo, a race, huh?" she asked. "Think I have the leg up on you there, Birdy."
Gallus blinked. "Oh. Huh?"
"A race. You said you wanted to challenge me to a race." She leaned forward, pointing to the wheels on her chair. "And I've got the edge here, dude. These claws can grip these rims perfectly. I can spin 'em as fast as I want."
"Pretty cocky for a dragon who just almost fell out of that thing, what, three minutes ago?"
"But I didn't. Unlike someone I know." She smirked, tilting her head to the side. She rolled her chair past Gallus, looking through the collection of wheelchairs next to the door. A good chunk of them were pony-sized, four-wheeled contraptions not unlike Smolder's own. There were a few that were a little bigger, however—the width seemed more for patients of a... huskier sort. Gallus had the height and width to need one more along the sizes of those. Not that he was fat or anything. No, he was still quite an... athletic griffon. He just was built broader than the average pony.
“Here.” She pointed to one of the wider chairs. “Grab one of those. Then we can race.” Smolder scoffed at the very word. A ‘race.’ Saying it in her head, it sounded stupid, but she also couldn't deny the smile creeping across her face. It could be fun, she guessed. So long as Gallus didn't total himself into a wall or something.
Near the back of the collection of wheelchairs, she noticed a few harnesses, designed to strap over a pony's back, keeping their hind legs levitated by straps and metal while their forelegs were free to pull the contraption along the ground as though they were walking. Of course, the pony-sized aspect of the contraptions meant that Gallus had no hope of fitting into one of those—be it his circumference being too wide to hook the straps or his hind legs being too long and dragging the ground with each step. Plus... advantage, much?
Gallus rolled out one of the larger chairs. Smolder shook her head. "That one has a bum front wheel," Smolder said. "See how it wobbles a little to the left? Yeah, that's because it's lopsided. Now that one…" She pointed to a similar chair, the seat cushion coated in a layer of dust. As Gallus rolled it out of the corner, Smolder noticed a bright wheelchair outline against the wall where it had sat.
Gallus rolled it back and forth a few times, pulling back on the handles and sending the front wheels up to the sky. When he placed it down on all four, he glanced at her with a smug grin. “Hey. Don’t frown. You gotta admit that was wheelie cool.”
Smolder frowned. “If I could reach you, I’d strangle you right now, Drumsticks.” She eyed the chair and nodded. "That one should do. Now sit down and get some practice laps in. Then, we race." She couldn't hide her fangs as she grinned at him.
"What's the winner get?" Gallus asked as he took a seat in the new wheelchair. He rolled back and forth, back and forth, his tail flicking behind him.
Smolder tapped her chin. The only things she had in her room of any value were a few cupcakes and… yeah, that was about it. She shrugged. "I dunno. There's not much in here worth risking crashing and getting ourselves killed over. Bragging rights?"
Gallus waved a talon. "Pfft, bragging rights are cheap. Let's make it interesting. How about..." He leaned back in his seat, scratching under his chin. "The loser has to do the winner's homework for a week."
Smolder rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Pretty sure I’ve got a homework pass for eternity 'cause of this." She motioned to her legs.
"Well, sounds like I win either way then." He smirked, leaning forward. "Seems fair to me."
Before Smolder could respond, Gallus plopped back down in the wheelchair and began rolling himself around the room. "Huh. You picked a good one, Smolder. I feel like I have some control of this one." He placed his claws on the rims, pushing himself forward. The chair squeaked and groaned with each roll. He began to pick up speed, faster and faster, his legs lifting from the ground as he zipped by her. Smolder could feel the wind of his passing brushing up against her scales. The wheels rattled as he skidded to a stop, barely avoiding flipping into the collection of wheelchairs next to the door.
"Alright, alright. Enough showing off," she said. "Are you trying to crash?"
Gallus turned the chair in a smooth one-eighty. Smolder laughed. He was a natural. She hoped he'd never have to take advantage of such natural wheelchair skills. The more turns he pulled in the chair, the more her her gut churned. She knew he was fine. His legs worked fine. He was just being a goofball. But that couldn't stop her brain from feeding her those little mental pictures. Gallus being blown off course by a storm. Gallus careening into the ground. Gallus crying out as his back shattered into a thousand pieces. Gallus trying to get up like the tough and cool griffon he was only for his hind legs to not respond to his commands…
"Ready to lose, Lizardbreath?" Gallus asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
She shook her head and laughed, swallowing the lump in her throat. "In your dreams, Lionbutt." She rolled forward, past various chairs. She caught the eye of a young unicorn filly who may have been looking at her the whole time. She held one foreleg in the other, a nasty bruise on her pastern splotching her white coat. She waved and smiled at the filly. The filly sniffled, but smiled in return, pulling her injured foreleg closer. Poor little thing.
Smolder stopped near the door. Gallus tried to reach for the button to open it but nearly toppled out of his chair for a second time. Sighing, the griffon stood and pressed the button.
"It's a miracle!" Smolder cried out in a whispery, fake-angelic voice. "Praise Celestia, he can walk!"
"Shut up," Gallus mumbled. "You've been spending too much time around Silverstream."
The two were met with a hall devoid of ponies or carts or gurneys. Smolder frowned. They had to have been out and about for more than fifteen minutes. All the ponies she’d seen wandering about the hallways were nowhere to be seen. Still, the emptiness was a welcome sign, Smolder supposed. As boring as sitting around doing nothing might be, it had to be a good day when the hospital hallways were a dead zone. Less hurt, less pain. She winced at her thought. Dead zone? Great phrasing there, Smolder.
"Ready?" Gallus asked, shifting in his seat.
"Where's the finish line?" Smolder asked.
"Your room?"
Smolder scoffed. "That’s like three different turns, dude. No way you’re clearing those without smashing up a wall. I swear, it's like you want to end up in a wheelchair for real, Gal."
"Eh, what can I say, you make it look cool." He gave her a solid thump on the shoulder. "End of the hall then? No crazy turns between here and there."
Smolder nodded. While the image of him flat on his back with stars dancing around his head was a funny one, she could do without seeing another broken bone in her life. She pointed to the end of the hall. "Alright. End of hall it is. Ya ready?"
Gallus nodded. "Have been this whole time. You’ve just been dragging your feet."
“Was that another pun? Smolder asked. “Because if it is, I will ram you into the wall.”
“My lips are sealed then.”
She chuckled and lowered her head, placing her claws on her wheels. The metal rims were no longer icy. In fact, under her fiery grip, she half-expected them to be glowing red if she looked down. "On three or one?"
"One."
"Alright. May I do the honors?" Smolder asked, her fingers trembling with the adrenaline pumping through her veins. It was the same pulse that had led her to pace the locker room before a cheer competition or hover and flutter before a race through the skies (funny enough, those were also almost always against Gallus). Without much purpose in sending that blood down to her lower extremities, Smolder figured her heart had decided to flood her arms with the good stuff. She took a shaky breath. "Alright... One!'
The only thing she heard before the sound of her wheels and the rushing air drowned it out was a squawk of surprise from ol' Featherbrain behind her. No other sounds mattered. Smolder was already rolling, the end of the hallway set in her sights like a diamond in the dark. Her claws gripped the rims of her wheels, pushing them forward. What had been a chore in and of itself just minutes before had become as natural as bending her knees used to be in a sprint.
Her claws spun the wheels, pushing herself forward. A few rooms blew by in silence, while a couple sounded off with a surprised 'hey' or 'what the?' as she flew past. She couldn't hear Gallus behind her. She hoped the poor guy hadn't crashed or something, but she figured she would have heard that. Still, she peeked back as best she could. The familiar fire in her spine screamed at her to not crane her neck so much, but through the corner of her gaze, she was able to catch sight of Gallus.
He was still up and moving. Barely. He wobbled to the right and then to the left. He'd spin the wheel, then lose control, then spin the wheel again. In the five seconds she looked back at him, she caught him cheating, planting his paws on the floor and scooting his chair forward that way. Sure, they hadn't established clear rules, but that could not be fair. She was about to yell out at him to stop cheating, but he beat her to the punch.
"Heads up!" he shouted.
Smolder gripped her wheels tight in her claws, the sleek metal burning against her scales as her chair skittered to a stop. The chair bucked forward, sending her nearly soaring out onto the floor. Luckily for her, Nurse Redheart was there to catch her.
Unluckily for her, well, Nurse Redheart was there to catch her.
"What do you think you're doing?!" The nurse kept her voice low but it might as well have been a shout. Smolder couldn't bear to look Redheart in the eye as she gently lowered her back into her wheelchair. Smolder stared down at her legs as they were gently (but with more of an... angry gentle way of moving the limbs about if that was possible) positioned back onto the footrests. On a positive note, her back wasn’t hurting nearly as much as she had expected after the jolt, so no damage done there! On a negative note… well, everything else.
Smolder opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. It was dumb. Redheart was just a nurse, yet the way she looked down at Smolder when she finally braved a glance up at the pony churned the dragon's gut into knots in a way that only Ember or one of her Professors could.
She'd screwed up. In her state, even small mistakes could be massive. She knew she could be careless, and this race hadn't felt dumb when she'd agreed to it, but... the more she thought about it, the more she wished her legs worked so she could kick herself in the butt. Scales, she didn't think she'd let herself get this far.
The look of concern and fear on Redheart's face softened, but she was still clearly annoyed. What softness there was vanished as a voice chimed up behind Smolder. "Hey, Nurse R! Good catch!" Gallus said, walking up to Nurse Redheart with a talon resting on the rest of the chair he'd borrowed.
“What,” she repeated. “Do you think. You’re doing? You’ve been gone for thirty minutes!”
“Time flies, eh?” Gallus shrugged. “Just a little race. Having some fun.”
Smolder buried her face in her palms.
Nurse Redheart sighed, pointing to the door they had raced through only seconds before. "Out," she grunted.
"What?" Gallus asked, leaning an elbow against the chair, nearly falling as it slid out from under him.
"I said out, Mr. Gallus. Visiting hours, for you, are over. And if you so much as think of running that smart beak of yours, they'll be over for good. Understand?" Redheart was stern, but Smolder knew there wasn't any malice behind the words.
Gallus glanced over at Smolder. She gave him a weak smile and shrugged. "See ya tomorrow, Smolder," said Gallus with a nod. "Sorry, Nurse R," he mumbled, then turned on a claw and left. Smolder watched him go with a pit forming in her gut. It always felt like that when he left.
"Let's get you back to the room," Nurse Redheart said with a shake of her head as she reared back on her hind legs and took hold of the wheelchair's handles.
Smolder bit her tongue to keep from speaking. She wasn't going to argue. Sure, Nurse Redheart hadn't said 'No Racing' but she had to be an idiot to think it wouldn't get her in trouble. And now she was being babied again. She could roll herself. Her aching shoulders and burning flexors whined otherwise.
As they passed by rooms in silence, Smolder turned her head and peered into the room Gallus and her had passed earlier, where the mare had been crying in bed while a doctor had talked to her. The mare whose hind legs lay limp in a pair of bulky braces. For once, though, as she looked over, good news looked back. The mare was out of her bed, standing on all four legs, braces scraping along the floor as she shuffled carefully towards her bathroom. Smolder caught her eye and smiled and waved. The mare returned the smile weakly. “Gotta work on those brakes,” she said quietly.
Smolder cocked her head, but the pegasus mare (something she was only just now noticing since her wings blended in perfectly with the light green hospital gown) had already turned away, shuffling towards the bathroom.
Smolder leaned back a little in her chair and smiled. Sure, the mare had just confused the cinders out of her and she looked like walking a few feet for her was a marathon, but at least she was walking. Everything had been going so bad lately. It was nice that her gut had been proven wrong for once. Still, the smile wasn't enough to fight the churn in her stomach. The guilt. The reason why Redheart said nothing to her as she wheeled her back to the room.
If she had fallen, that'd be it. What healing her spine had already done could have been ruined, broken along with her dreams of walking again on the tiles. She could kiss any chance of getting the use of her legs back goodbye if that had happened. And for what? A dumb race with a dumb birdbrain. No. No, she couldn't blame Gallus. He was just trying to make her feel better. She had agreed to it, she had counted them down.
Besides, going off what the doctors had said, it wasn't like the chances of her ever walking again were very good to begin with.
"Ugh," Smolder groaned.
"Are you alright, dear? Are you in pain?" Nurse Redheart asked, stopping. "How's your back? Is it hurt—"
“I’m fine!” Smolder slammed her fists against the armrests, black smoke trailing up from her nostrils and past her eyes. Maybe the smoke would stain the ceiling. That’d be what it deserved. She groaned, shaking her head. "I’m fine. Just fine." Smolder grumbled.
"Alright. We're almost to your room. If you are hurting, I could swing us by radiology to get a quick scan and check up on— "
"No. Dragon Lord’s honor, I’m not hurting. I just... need to lay down. Sorry."
"We're almost there. Just hang tight." Nurse Redheart said.
“Not like I can go anywhere.” Smolder's gut was twisted up in a knot with each passing doorway. Her head was fuzzy, her mouth dry. Her claws felt tingly, but maybe that was just from gripping the wheels so hard.
"So... did you and Gallus have fun on your little jaunt?" Redheart asked. "Clearly you were having some fun at the end there, reckless as it was."
"It was stupid."
"You are correct, but..." Smolder heard Redheart sigh. Not a disappointed one like after she had caught her and Gallus racing down the hall. A resigned one. "It was nice to see you smile like that."
The twisting knot in her gut seemed to loosen up. She glanced back at Redheart as best she could before her neck punched back, but in the brief glance she got, the nurse was looking straight ahead. The dragon smiled, looking down at her lap. "I mean, it was kinda fun." She reached down and let the metal roll along the tips of her claws, letting the nails clink through the spokes for a second. Like a baseball card clothespinned to a bike’s wheel. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine herself as careening down Long Hill, head lowered, neck-in-neck with Gallus as they neared their cheering friends. She swallowed hard. Scales, she’d never be able to ride a bike again.
Forcing a smile, Smolder turned her head. “I think I'm a quick learner with this thing."
"Well, I wouldn't say that going fast in a straight line constitutes ‘quick learning,’" Redheart said, letting out a dry chuckle. "And you definitely need to work on stopping."
Smolder snorted and grinned. "Hey, at least I had a good airbag!"
"Smolder," Redheart sighed.
"I know, I know," Smolder waved a claw. "I promise I won't do it again."
Nurse Redheart laughed. Not the reserved and polite one she normally responded to Smolder’s comments with, but a full-on guffaw. The wheelchair slowed as she raised a hoof to her mouth. "Sorry, Smolder. I... look, I know you," she said. "Just promise you'll be careful next time, okay?"
"I promise."Smolder smiled, gaze drifting down to her legs. At least she knew she had a chance of keeping this one.
Chapter three down. Some more fun Gallus and Smolder moments, and a little bit of racing action. Hope you enjoy this chapter. The next one won't be out 'til Friday (which is probably for the best. Proofreading it, there are several things I need to fix up in it). Also, now I guess you know where the 'Starswirl Memorial' in the title came from 
And, just for fun, I'm going to add an out of context line for the next chapter below. Think of it as a sneak preview:
Smolder sighed. "I-it's cool," she mumbled as she rolled closer. "You just caught me resting. We dragons can get a bit jumpy when someone surprises us." Smolder chuckled. "You're lucky. Usually we barbecue our scarers."
The filly cocked her head. "What's a barbecue?"
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Sounds like her tail is indeed paralyzed as well then. Surprised that hadn't been more clearly stated before now, because her tail may not be as vital as her legs, obviously, but it still plays a few vital roles for her body nonetheless. For example, steering while in flight (which surely she's going to want to try at some point, because her wings are still working so there's no reason she can't still do it, it'll just be more complicated given the lack of, shall we say, "landing gear").
He would.
Still greatly enjoying the story. It's been a good while since I've last been this excited to see the next chapter of a fic like this.
11724089
Yeah, your comment last chapter made me realize that I hadn't clarified that about her tail--and that I needed to! Honestly, I had not even considered the affect Smolder's paralysis would have on her tail, but once I thought about it you are correct: it's quite a vital limb for a dragon.
Thank you so much for the comments. Already, they have had an influence that will (hopefully) make future chapters just as enjoyable!
Awww that is so nice of him to do that and not only that he hates studying but he put his needs aside for now that's cool
Ohh busted 😰
you basically just gave yourself up man
11730730
Hey, if nothing else Gallus is passing honesty class
Redheart
Well I would say it was a pretty interesting one and pretty nice to see these two having fun despite the situation and smolder is getting a hang of the wheelchair while Gallus is having problem but she has like scary thoughts about one of her friends being in a wheelchair or never move again like her I mean I'm glad she's thinking about the others the safety despite she was the one who got hurt it was also nice to see Rainbow Dash visiting as well and of course those two really are comparative with each other so they race in the wheelchair but unfortunately nurse Red Heart caught them and got in trouble but luckily she's not too upset but she did tell them not to do that ever again she nice but very strict I wonder what else could happen