A Lost Friend

by Sirius Starshine

Chapter 5

A Lost Friend

Chapter 5

Rainbow Dash slowly re-entered the realm of consciousness. However, she kept her eyes closed. She groaned softly in irritation, she always hated waking up in the morning. She rolled around trying to get into a more comfortable position, but the braces on her neck and wing were making it difficult. In the process of tangling herself within the sheets she noticed the bed was softer than the hospital bed she was in when she fell asleep. She also realized that the room smelled different. It was a sweet-smoky scent with earthy tones and hints of nuts.

“I must be in his house, Loveheart’s plan worked. I never took him for one to pick up smoking though, but it does have a nice scent.” She thought to herself. She slowly cracked her eyes open. Careful not to tweak her neck, she turned her body so she could get a full view of the room. It was dimly lit, only a small amount of light filtering through the heavy drapes covering the room’s window. The walls were made of a dark stained wood, with one wall taken up by a large bookcase stained the same color as the walls. The shelves were only half full of books of various sizes. The other half was filled with several different glass bottles, jars, and cups. The jars were filled with shredded, dried, flakey leaves with colors ranging from tan to black. The bottles were filled with various shades of amber liquids, and the glasses were empty.

On the opposite wall was a built in fireplace. On the mantle above it sat a couple picture frames. One contained what looked like a college diploma; the other held a picture of two ponies. One was a pegasus stallion with a green coat and dark green mane and tail, but with ice blue eyes. He was wearing military armor with a white star embedded in the breast plate, and a matching white cape. The other was a unicorn mare with a magenta coat, and indigo hair, with deep golden eyes, and she was wearing a sleek black dress.

“Oh yeah, those are his parents,” she thought as the picture jogged her memory. She stopped and turned towards the door as it slowly creaked open. A green pegasus stallion walked in, holding a tray with a plate and cup on it. She saw his cutie mark, now marred by a long scar, but instantly recognized it. She just stared at him, hardly daring to believe that it was him.

He placed the tray on a cherry wood table next to the futon she was lying on. “I was just about to wake you up,” he said to her. “We’re going to need to leave as soon as you’re ready so that we can get to Ponyville this afternoon. How are you feel- urk!” Rainbow Dash had waited until he moved right next to the futon and grabbed him around the neck and pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

“Viridian! How’ve you been? It’s been years since we’ve seen each other. What’ve you been up to?” she exclaimed as she attempted to choke the life out of the pony she waited so long to find.

“C-can’t… ack… breath…” Viridian greeted.

“Oops, my bad, you alright?” Rainbow apologized as she released the death grip on his neck and shrank back into a sitting position.

“Yeah, I’m alright.” Viridian said between a few deep breaths and rubbing his throat. “Geeze, that’s some grip you’ve got.”

“Eheh, yeah sorry again, I forget my own strength sometimes.” Rainbow said as she sat up, rubbing the back of her head.

“Don’t worry about it,” the green stallion said once he was sure his windpipe wasn’t crushed. “How are you feeling this morning?” he asked her.

The cyan pegasus’ stomach answered the question before she could even open her mouth to speak. “I could go for something to eat,” she said sheepishly.

The green pegasus grabbed the tray he brought in with his jaws and lifted it off the small table it was sitting on. He used one of his fore-hooves to unfold the short legs beneath it and placed it so it was sitting over Rainbow’s lap. On the paper plate was a couple pieces of toast with peach jam, and a small mound of steamed dandelions. The plastic cup next to the plate was full of cold milk.

“There you go,” Viridian said when he lifted his head back up. “But how do your injuries feel? Do you feel any pain, anything start bleeding again?” He asked as his eyes flashed over the numerous wraps and bandages that covered her.

“I feel alright, except these braces on my wing and neck are killing me.” She said as she tried to rub her neck through the brace. “Do you know if I can ditch these things yet?”

“I’m not sure, but we can go to the clinic in Ponyville when we get into town and ask. Loveheart gave me the information on your injuries, so we could give them to the pony in charge there. I think she said it was a cousin of her’s, Redheart I believe.” He said as he looked up as if trying to spot the memory on the ceiling.

“Oh yeah, Nurse Redheart,” Rainbow Dash chuckled “she’s really cool. She’s patched me up plenty of times” The rainbow maned pegasus said.

“Okay well I have to pack a few things in here, so you go ahead and eat. You’re going to need your strength today.” He said as he walked over to the room’s closet.

“Pack? Does that mean you’re going to be staying in Ponyville for a while?” Rainbow asked.

“No, not just staying. I’ve been reassigned there so I will be living in town. Now go on and eat your food before it gets cold.” He told her without looking back.

With that news a huge grin grew on Rainbow’s face and she started eating. She wanted to be done as soon as possible so she could start talking to Viridian again. However, she remembered what Loveheart said yesterday and fought to eat slowly so she didn’t vomit all over Viridian’s house. As she ate she watched him as he went about packing his things.

He pulled a pair of plain brown saddlebags from the closet and started placing objects into them. First he grabbed a small black bag, which looked like it had some things already in it, out of the closet as well and placed it in one of the brown bags. He then pulled a couple grey hooded sweat shirts out and placed them into the bag. She watched him walk over to the shelf she examined earlier and pull down a couple of the jars containing tobacco and one of the bottles filled with whiskey and placed them into his bags. He then walked over to the small table next to the plush chair. On the table sat an object with a long wooden stem with a small wooden bowl at one end. He opened a drawer under the table and pulled out long box and placed the pipe into it. He also pulled an intricate gold lighter out of the drawer and placed it in a small box and placed both boxes into his bags as well.

He was closing the clasps on his bags when there was a knock on the door. “One second,” Viridian Night said and walked over to the door. When he opened the door there was a brown earth pony with a black mane and tail with a wooden crate cutie mark.

“We’re ready to pack everything up for you, sir. We just need the address for where to take everything once we’re squared away.” The earth pony said in a strong Hooflyn accent.

“Good, just give me a moment to grab the address.” Viridian responded and walked back over to the small table and picked up a small piece of paper that was sitting on top of it. He brought it back over and gave it to the moving pony. “No rush or anything, just make sure nothing gets misplaced or damaged.”

“Not to worry sir, everything will be delivered in tip top shape, I personally guarantee it.” The earth pony said proudly.

“I appreciate that, thank you. We’ll be out of your mane soon.” The green pegasus said. With that the earth pony walked away and Viridian closed the door behind him. By this time Rainbow Dash had cleaned her plate and cup. Viridian Night walked over and threw the paper plate and cup away, then folded up the tray and leaned it against the side of the futon. He then looked at the injured pegasus and asked her, “Do you feel well enough to get up, or do you need to lie down for a bit longer?”

“Naw I feel great! A few scrapes like these can’t keep me down.” Rainbow said, her usual bravado coming through. She then started to slide herself to the edge of the futon. When she got there she pushed her back legs off the edge and placed them on the ground. She then walked her front legs to the edge. She started sliding the first hoof off the futon, but it slipped and she started falling to the ground face first. However, Viridian was right next to her and caught her right after she slipped.

“Whoa, take it easy there. You alright?” He said as he helped her back on her hooves.

She stood there and took a couple deep breaths and said, “Yeah, no problem, I got this.”

“Okay, just give me one second to grab my bags,” the stallion said. He went over to where he put his saddlebags down and threw them over his back, all the while keeping an eye on Rainbow Dash in case she started to fall again. He then walked back over to her. “Alright, ready to go?” he asked as he positioned himself next to her. Ready to support her in case she started to collapse again.

Rainbow Dash nodded her head in response and the two pegasi started walking out of the room, the green pegasus leading. From the room they entered a hallway decorated much like the room they left and preceded down it. Once they reached the end of the hallway it opened up to a large central room. The room was filled with cardboard boxes and there were a couple other moving ponies marking the boxes to help keep everything organized. The two pegasi continued to a door at the other side of the room and waked through it.

Rainbow Dash had to squint at the sudden light that assaulted her eyes as they walked outside. The sun rested just over the trees of the nearby forest in a cloudless sky to the East. A few feet ahead of them was a large chariot with ‘Taxi’ written on the side, and two pegasi attached to the front ready to pull. One, a stallion was black with yellow mane and tail, while the other, a mare, was yellow with black mane and tail. Viridian Night and Rainbow Dash continued walking towards the chariot.

When they were near it the mare taxi pony asked. “Got any other luggage, or are you set to go?”

“This is everything. We’re ready to go whenever you are.” Viridian Night responded.

“Alrighty then, where abouts are we headed today?” The yellow mare asked with a cheery smile.

“Ponyville please, to the hospital there if you would.” Viridian Night said as he got Rainbow Dash and he situated on the large softly padded bench seat and closed the door.

“Not a problem,” she replied and turned to her companion, “Ready?” she asked. The black stallion nodded and the mare said, “Okay, on my mark. Three, two, one, mark!” On the last word both pegasi started pulling the chariot and beating their wings. Once they gained enough speed they took off from the ground, hauling the chariot and their fare with them.

“Well,” Viridian said as he turned to Rainbow, “It’ll be a few hours before we get to Ponyville, and I was up all night working and making sure my things were ready to be moved so I’m gonna catch some shut eye. You should get some sleep too. You need your rest.” He then leaned his head against the side of the chariot, and closed his eyes. Rainbow Dash really wanted to keep talking. To catch up and find out what he’d been up to and how everything was going for him. However, she didn’t want to pester him and possibly aggravate him. Plus, she was feeling exhausted even after such a short walk and realized that she was still weak from her injuries and needed to conserve her strength.

“Besides, he’s moving to Ponyville anyway. There’ll be plenty of time to hang out and catch up.” With that thought in her mind she lied down, Viridian had left her most of the room on the bench seat, and went to sleep.

*****

Viridian Night was awoken when the chariot touched back down. He stretched and yawned as he looked out the window. Outside he saw a gently rolling landscape with a short path leading to a small colorful town. Out the other window he saw that the chariot had landed directly in front of the main entrance to a large hospital. He looked down at Rainbow Dash and saw that she was sprawled out across the bench seat they shared, snoring gently.

The yellow pegasus came around, opened the door and said cheerily, “We’re here!” Then upon seeing Rainbow, “Oops, sorry, I didn’t know she was asleep.” She whispered.

“No worries,” Viridian replied. He then started gently prodding Rainbow Dash in the shoulder. “Hey we’re here, time to get up.”

“Huh, wha?” she replied as she raised her fore hooves to her eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them. “Oh.”

Viridian Night then stepped out of the chariot and helped Rainbow Dash out. Once she was out he leaned back in and grabbed his bags and placed them on his back. “So what do I owe you for the ride?” he asked the yellow mare.

The yellow pegasus pulled out a small notepad and pen from under her wing and jotted down a couple notes. After a few scribbles she looked up at Viridian Night and said, “Well since you’re part of the Royal Military forces we just charge them directly so all I need is your name, rank, and branch and we’ll be all set.”

“Oh, that’s convenient. My name is Viridian Night, rank Captain, and I’m part of the Royal Air Force.” He told her.

As he related the information to her she quickly jotted it down on the pad. Once she was done she tucked the pen and pad back under her wing. “Thank you very much sir and I hope you two have a great day.” She said sincerely and trotted back over to the harness and buckled herself back into it. She turned to her companion and said, “Come on, if we hurry we can still make it to Holly Driver’s party.” With that the two taxi pegasi took off.

Viridian Night then turned back to Rainbow Dash and asked, “Alright ready to go?”

“Yep, let’s go get this over with.” She said with an excited look. She was really glad to be back in Ponyville again, and was looking forward to going around and letting everypony know that she was home and alright. “Afterwards we can go around and introduce you to my friends! I bet they’d be thrilled to meet you!” She told him.

Viridian Night nodded in response and looked up at the entrance to the hospital. He saw a pink earth pony with saddle bags walk out of the hospital’s entrance. She turned and looked in their direction. Viridian Night looked at her and blinked. Once he reopened his eyes, the pink pony had somehow moved thirty yards from the hospital entrance to directly in front of him and Rainbow Dash.

“Dashie, you’re back! We were soooo worried about you!” The pink pony cheered and embraced the sky blue pegasus.

Viridian Night reacted immediately, grabbing the earth pony and pulled her off Rainbow Dash. “Hey be careful, she’s still badly injured and grabbing her like that could hurt her.” He said, scolding the overzealous mare.

“Hehehe, it’s okay Viridian,” Rainbow Dash chuckled weakly. “She didn’t hurt me at all. What are you doing at the hospital anyway Pinky?” she asked as she turned back to her poofy maned friend.

“Oh, the Cakes are pretty busy today so they asked me to bring the twins in to get their booster shots.” Pinky responded and turned so Rainbow and Viridian could see what she was carrying. Viridian Night now realized that the bags on either side held a foal. On one side was a pegasus colt, and on the other side was a unicorn filly. Both were rubbing their shoulders and had very disgruntled looks on their faces.

“So who’re you? I’ve never seen you before, and I know everypony who lives in Ponyville.” Pinky turned and asked Viridian Night. He was caught off guard by her sudden interest in him. He recovered quickly however and was about to answer when Rainbow Dash beat him to the punch.

“This is my foalhood friend Viridian Night, he’s the one who helped me get better after I crashed in Trotington. He’s also moving here to Ponyville.” Rainbow said.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Viridian said and held out his hoof to shake. Pinky, instead of retuning the shake however, released a huge gasp. Viridian was astonished by how her gasp seemed to lift her several feet off the ground. Then she zipped off like a bolt of lightning. Viridian just stood there with his hoof still raised; after a second he looked down at his hoof, then back up at the spot Pinky just occupied. He then looked back at Rainbow Dash and asked, “Was it something I said?”

“Bwahahahahaha, that’s Pinky Pie for ya, she’s so random! Heeheeheehahaha” Rainbow Dash laughed.

Viridian Night waited for a couple seconds for her to elaborate, but was only rewarded with continuous fits of laughter whenever Rainbow Dash looked at him. Once her laughter finally died down Viridian asked, “Are you ready to go now?” wearing a slightly dead-pan look.

“yeah, hehe, sorry but your face was priceless.” She chuckled. “Ow, now my ribs hurt,” She cringed. Now that her laughing had stopped she could feel how much it had irritated her cracked ribs. When Viridian Night saw her cringe he went up next to her so she could lean against him for support.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She gasped “yeah, I guess I shouldn’t’ve laughed so hard. I’ll be alright, just gimmie a sec.” she told him while taking slow easy breaths. After a couple minutes the pain subsided enough for her to breath normally again. “Okay, I’m good.” She said.

Viridian Night nodded and started leading her towards the main entrance to the hospital, careful to keep next to her to support her if she needed it. They passed through the doors into a reception area. Behind the counter there were two mares, one a dull pink, the other stark white, wearing nurse hats and chatting with each other.

Upon seeing the two pegasi enter the building the two nurses looked up and the white one said, “Welcome to Ponyville Hospital. How can we help you today?” Both mares put on friendly smiles, but after a second the dull pink one recognized the rainbow maned pegasus and gasped, “Rainbow Dash are you alright? What happened to you this time?”

“It looks worse than it is, nothing to get worked up over.” Rainbow said, waving a hoof.

“Long story short, she crashed all the way over in Trotington and sustained several injuries. She was treated by the doctor there and was released yesterday after she was deemed stable. All the details…” Viridian explained to the two nurse ponies as he opened one of his bags with his wing and fished out the medical records Loveheart gave him earlier. “…are written down here.” He laid the forms down on the counter in front of the pink nurse.

Rainbow Dash, remembering what she and Loveheart talked about turned to the white mare and said. “Oh, by the way, your cousin Loveheart says hello. She was the one who patched me up.”

“Oh my word you really did take a beating didn’t you dear.” The other nurse said as she skimmed through the document Viridian gave her. “Well the paperwork seems to be in order. Redheart, would you care to take Rainbow back and perform a checkup on her? According to your cousin’s notes she should be okay to at least have the neck brace removed.”

“Of course, right this way dear. You’re welcome to make yourself comfortable while you wait…” Redheart looked at Viridian Night.

“Viridian Night ma’am, and thank you.” Viridian then turned around and walked over to a coffee pot and poured himself some into a Styrofoam cup and sat down. At the same time Redheart grabbed the document and led Rainbow Dash down a hallway next to the counter and into an examination room.

“Alright hop up onto to bed and sit up normally.” Redheart told Rainbow Dash when they entered the room. She then closed the door and pulled her stethoscope from around her neck and into her ears. She breathed on the end to warm it up and placed it over the pegaus’ chest. She followed through with a routine checkup, occasionally jotting down notes on a clipboard.

“Alright everything seems to be in order, now let’s check out your injuries.” She said and contemplated the document her cousin made. “Well I can see her writing hasn’t improved.” She said with half irritation, half humor. “Wow you really did a number on yourself; concussion, whiplash, cracked ribs, and electrical burns. Well let’s check your concussion and work our way down shall we?” She said more than asked.

“Uh sounds good to me. How much longer is this gonna take?” Rainbow Dash asked, starting to get a little impatient.

“This won’t take much longer. Now I’m going to need you to lie down on your back while I check your head and neck.” Redheart replied and walked over to the head of the bed. Once she was down Redheart took off the bandages around her head and started gently rubbing Rainbow Dash’s scalp, “Do you feel any pain or dizziness?” Redheart asked.

“Yeah it still feels tender where the thick wad of bandages was.” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Hmm I thought it might, your concussion is better but still there so I’m going to put some fresh bandages on.” The nurse said and placed a pack of gauze on the spot and gently tied it down with some medical wrap. She then took off the neck-brace and said, “okay let’s have a look at your neck.” She then took the sides of Rainbow Dash’s head and slowly started turning it to the left. “Let me know if this hurts at all.” She told her.

“Okay.” Rainbow replied. She was feeling no pain at all, then she heard pop, pop popopopopopopop.

Redheart was expecting that and asked, “how did that feel? Any pain at all?”

“…that…felt…..AWESOME! Do it again!” Rainbow Dash cheered, she didn’t think her neck had ever felt any better.

Redheart chuckled a little at that, “alright I’ll do the other side now.” She then started moving Rainbow’s neck just as slowly back the other direction. Once she passed the point her neck would be straight she kept going and heard another cacophony of pops from the pegasus’ neck.

“That was great.” Rainbow Dash said once Redheart was done with her neck.

“Well you obviously don’t need the neck brace anymore, now I just need to check your burns, your wing, and redo the bandages around your torso for your ribs and you’ll be good to go. Now roll over onto your stomach for me please.” Rainbow Dash obliged and Redheart removed the brace from her wing and started flexing it and feeling the bones and feathers. Every so often a hiss of pain would escape Rainbow’s mouth when Redheart would flex her wing.

“Okay I’m going to put your wing back in the brace. It’s still sprained and I don’t want you making it worse by trying to fly.” Redheart said as she redid the straps on the brace.

“Awww I still can’t fly? For how much longer?” Rainbow Dash whined.

“For a few more days, then it should be well enough to do some easy flights like up to your house, as for your usual antics you’ll have to wait at least a week.”

“Aw man, a whole week? That stinks!”

“Well it’s either that or you reinjure your wing and it’ll take even longer to heal.”

Huff, “Fine.”

“Now sit back up please so I can redo the bandages on your burns and torso.” Redheart said as she pulled out a large roll of medical wrap, scissors, and tape. She quickly and expertly removed the old bandages, threw them away, and rewrapped all the burns that still hadn’t healed completely yet and around her torso to support her ribs. “Alright you’re set to go. Just come back in couple days so we can check everything out again.”

“Cool, thanks Redheart.” Rainbow smiled as she was led back out to the reception room.

Once they were in the room Viridian Night looked up from the magazine he was reading and walked over to them. “So, how is she?” he asked.

“Fine, she just needs to stay off her wing and take it easy for a few more days with her ribs and concussion.” Redheart told him, “I see that you have also taken attorney over Rainbow’s medical decisions when she was unconscious until she is well again. Viridian nodded in response and Redheart continued, “Since Rainbow lives in a cloud house and she can’t fly for at least a few more days she’ll need someplace on the ground where she can stay. Since you do have her medical attorney it would be best if she stayed with you. Would that be an issue?”

For a split second Rainbow Dash thought she saw a conflicted look cross his face, but she must have imagined it because faded instantly. “Sure, that won’t be a problem,” He smiled.

“Great then you’re all set to go. Make sure to bring her by in a couple days for her checkup.” Redheart said.

“Will do,” Viridian Night said. He then walked over to Rainbow Dash. “Ready to go?” he asked.

“Yep!” she said, “hey we should totally stop by my friends’ places. I’m sure Pinky has already told everypony I’m back, but I would like to see them myself and let them I’m alright.”

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind meeting your friends.” Viridian replied, and then his stomach grumbled. “But we should get something to eat first.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled, “hahaha, sounds good to me. There’s a restaurant I like to go to, and it’s on the way to my friend Twilight’s house. I’ll show you the way.” With that the two pegasi left the hospital and headed down the road.

Comments

[ArcaneTrex]

an update
YES
and the story is building up well
just for future reference, dont rush
ive seen stories that build up well
then rushed the ending
yeah
kills it
but anyways, its a good read

[Sirius Starshine]

Hey sorry the next chapter is taking so long. I've been having several other story ideas bouncing around in my head that I've been working through and filtering though everything has been a pain. However, I am still currently working on this story more than any other because I want to get this done before I become serious about any others so that I produce the best quality writing I can. Thanks again for being patient with me and I hope to get the next chapter written, proof-read, and revised within the next couple weeks.