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Chapter 3

Rainbow Dash woke up screaming. Her mind ripped free from the tormenting fog of sleep, her memories finally releasing their hold. Terrified, the filly cried out in a hoarse scream that was heard through the entire building. A crowd of doctors and nurses rushed into Rainbow’s room, and were greeted by the sight of the colorful filly sobbing fiercely into her pillow. One of the nurses tried to approach the upset pegasus, but in response Rainbow Dash just pulled her single blanket up over her head.

“Ah, nurse, I think we’d better contact her guardian.” The doctor consulted a sheet of paper next to the door. “Miss Rainbow Dash here doesn’t seem like she’ll respond well to strangers. I think it would be better if we informed Miss Spitfire that her charge is awake.” The doctor tapped the sheet with his hoof as he scanned it for relevant information. “You should be able to find Miss Spitfire at... the weather factory.”

The nurse stepped out to the room’s balcony, unfurling her spotted tan wings. “I’ll be back as quick as I can doctor.”

****15 Minutes Later****

Spitfire, shaken by the events of the past week, had thrown herself into her work at the cloud factory obsessively. Her work was able to remove some of the pain that seemed to always accompany her-for a time, at least. She could never quite manage to get rid of the pain completely-trying to help Rainbow had taken an enormous toll on her. Thus, the hospital nurse was able to surprise her quite easily.

“Uhm, excuse me but are you Spitfire?”

Spitfire whirled around with a very good speed considering how worn out she was.

"Yes that's me, why?"

Then she noticed the white robe of the pegasus standing in front of her

"You're from the hospital aren't you? Is something wrong with Rainbow?"

Alarm entered her voice as her worries overcame her attempt to be polite.

"No ma'am everything is... well, she's awake at least. We've had some trouble getting her to communicate. She's a little... upset."

"Of course she's upset you idiot! She's lost both her parents!" Spitfire's wings flared out in anger, and the nurse quickly backed away from the angry pegasus.

"There's no need to be like that miss, I was just here to inform you that Rainbow Dash woke up, and since you are her current guardian you may visit her." With that, the nurse turned and flew out of the weather factory. Spitfire stood still for slightly less then a second before racing out of the factory herself-in a blaze of speed, she passed the nurse that had brought her the news and flew as quickly as she could towards the hospital.

****

Nurse Greenheart tentatively walked into the hospital room with a simple oat sandwich.

"Uh, excuse me, Rainbow Dash? There's some food here if you would like"

The filly didn't respond-her eyes staring lifelessly into the distance. Greenheart set the tray down to the side of Rainbow Dash's bed and looked at the pegasus sadly.

"If you ever want to talk, I'm here honey. You don't have to go through this by yourself."

The filly let out an agonizing sigh that was, in the nurse's opinion, much too old sounding for such a young soul. Rainbow Dash began to twist over to face nurse Greenheart, but was startled by the appearance of a brilliant streak of yellow-orange speeding through the sky. In a few short moments, Spitfire had arrived at the room. Only marginally slowing down, the yellow pegasus rushed to Rainbow Dash's side and gave her a fierce hug, almost crushing the young filly. A small group of tears managed to find their way out of Spitfire's eyes and onto Rainbow, and it was nearly a minute before the blue pegasus was released.

"Oh Celestia I'm so glad you're okay now Rainbow." Another few tears found their way onto Rainbow Dash. "You HAVE to promise me not to do this again though. You almost killed me Rainbow!"

Uncomfortable with the attention being paid to her, Rainbow Dash squirmed under her blanket.

"I'm sorry Spitfire I didn't mean to."

"It's alright Rainbow just... Don't do it again. I'm not old, but my heart can't take another stress attack like this"

Spitfire turned to face the doctor. “Is it alright for Rainbow to leave the hospital now?”

“My apologies Miss Spitfire, but we need to keep Rainbow Dash with us for one additional night to make sure there’s no complications. She was stable before she woke up, and we want to make sure that she will stay stable now that she’s awake.”

Spitfire sighed, the energy that propelled her to the hospital at top speed quickly deflating. “Fine then. Is it possible that a chair could be placed in the room so that I can stay with her?”

“No problem Miss. Nurse Greenheart, if you could please bring a chair?”

The Nurse nodded and trotted out of the room. As the nurse exited, a slightly more officious-looking pegasus in the getup of an officer of the Royal Guard poked his head in.

"Are you Miss Spitfire? I heard that you were the one that brought Rainbow Dash in to the hospital and I am required to speak with you. Could you please come with me?"

Spitfire scowled at the Royal Guard, but grudgingly agreed.

"Yeah, all right, I'll be there in a minute." The bold yellow pegasus quickly turned to face Rainbow Dash, giving the troubled young filly a reassuring nuzzle. "I'll be right back Rainbow, don't worry."

With that, Spitfire exited the room and followed the Royal Guard away.

****

The two pegasi entered a suspiciously empty break-room. When the Royal Guard finally stopped walking, Spitfire immediately snapped at him.

"What the HAY is your problem, you Luna-loving dimwit! She just bucking woke up and you decide that you IMMEDIATELY need to converse with the ONLY bucking pony she knows in this place!"

The Royal Guard, however, remained stoic in the face of the anger in Spitfire's voice. "My sincerest apologies Miss Spitfire, but it was determined to be better to deliver this... unfortunate... news to you now. Trust me when i say i would rather not do this, to say the least."

Spitfire stared at the guard, mute and motionless.

"Ah, that is, you're going to have to give Rainbow Dash up to an orphanage. According to Equestrian law, you aren't yet old enough to be her guardian and all of her relatives are dead or incapable of taking care of her."

Spitfire was silent for a rather long few seconds as her jaw slowly crept towards the floor. Shaking her head, her wings snapped out aggressively as she realized what the pegasus standing in front of her had just said.

"You've got to be BUCKING KIDDING ME!" she screamed, her rage matching her name and mane. "You're going to make a filly that just got hospitalized after trying to attend her bucking parents funeral go to a BUCKING ORPHANAGE? Do you have any inkling of how MONUMENTALLY DUMB that idea is?"

The Royal Guard remained motionless, but the threat in his voice was quite clear.

"Miss Spitfire, I am aware that this situation is not... being resolved... to your satisfaction, but you will control yourself. I will not hesitate to utilize the authority that I have been granted by Celestia if you refuse to comply. It would, however, be much easier if you would willingly give up Rainbow Dash-and it would probably be better for her as well."

A small glob of phlegm found its way out of Spitfire's muzzle at high speed and landed less then a hoofspan away from the armored pegasus standing before her. For his part, the Royal Guard remained immobile, although his anger quickly found its way out.

"Miss Spitfire, you will control yourself. I remind you that I have the authority of Princess Celestia at my backing. You cannot overcome the force i can level against you, so it would be better for you to obey without causing conflict."

"You can just go ahead and buck yourself. Rainbow deserves better then being stuffed in an orphanage."

And with that, Spitfire left the Royal Guard and returned to her young charge's bedside, where she quickly joined the young pegasus in sleep.

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