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Will You Keep My Secret?

by xCobaltRainx

Chapter 15: The Mending

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Chapter Fifteen
The Mending

Rainbow Dash always hated the lemony scent that accompanied hospitals. Especially now since the smoke and ash from the fire had burnt her nostrils. Wheeling down the hallway on the gurney she and her sister arrived there in, and ignoring the pain in her nose, Rainbow Dash took in what she saw.

Florescent lights passed by overhead and shined in Dash's eyes periodically. A light brown stallion had his front hooves on the gurney, and was pushing it along at a brisk pace. Next to him trotted the dark gray unicorn nurse, who had a pen and clipboard held in her magic, jotting down notes.

Throughout nearly the entire journey to a destination unbeknownst to Dash, the unicorn asked questions about her.

"May I please have your name?" asked the unicorn.

"Rainb-"

Dash was suddenly interrupted by a massive upheave in her chest. She coughed for a while, further scarring her throat. Finally she regained control of her breathing, and spat out something awful tasting in her mouth. She looked down and found her spittle to be a grayish black. Turning back to the nurse, she answered the question.

"Rainbow Dash"

"Thank you. Age?"

"Nineteen"

"Thank you. And your friend back there, what it her information? I'd imagine from how you were clutching her that she's close to you."

"Yeah, her name is Scootaloo, and she's ten."

The nurse then went on to ask questions about things like allergies that afflicted the two ponies, to which Dash replied they had none that they knew of. The cyan mare didn't pay full attention to rest of the questions; she just answered without thinking.

After a ride that seemed to be going on forever, the pony pushing the gurney along slowed to a stop in front of a door, and allowed the gray nurse to use her magic to open it. Dash was wheeled inside the room, and the stallion left without a word.

This room was much different that the one she left Scootaloo in. There was a smattering of other afflicted ponies occupying other corners of the large room. It was obvious to Dash that she wasn't about to get the same treatment her sister is now receiving.

The gray nurse then busied herself with tending to Dash's wounds. Using her magic to levitate a flurry of bandages, some spools of string, needles, and a few tubes of ointment towards her, the nurse began to mend the few cuts that still glistened with fresh blood.

Dash just watched the nurse work silently. Wincing slightly as ointment was pressed against open wounds, and as needles slid through her damaged skin, Dash observed the pony gracefully stitch the pegasus up.

As she watched, Dash could realize what shape her body was in. Thin gashes ran the lengths of her barrel and flanks; her feathers were ruffled, burnt, and unkempt; and shed blood was drying on a few parts of her body.

The nurse worked tirelessly, and before Dash had realized she had even started, the unicorn was nearly finished. "I should get her onto that quilt Granny Smith and her cousins have been working on that AJ told me about," Dash mused to herself in her exhausted mind.

Tying up the last of the stitches, the nurse set about applying bandaging. After covering everything, she took out a tongue depressor and looked at Dash.

"Alright, Miss Dash, open your mouth and say 'ah'."

Dash did as she was told.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhh."

The nurse used the tongue depressor to look deeper into Dash's throat. The nurse studied the blackened esophagus, let out a "humph", and removed the depressor. Dash then coughed dryly, hacking up what little moisture there was in her throat.

"I'll be right back, Miss Dash," said the nurse as she exited the room. The cyan mare watched her go, and then sighed deeply as she inspected her body.

"Ugh, look at my wings!" thought Dash as she painfully lifted her right wing to inspect it. There wasn't a feather in place. The cyan pegasus surveyed the unkempt wing, and decided that it would be too much work to preen right now, as she was too tired to do anything.

After waiting for what seemed like hours, Dash began to fall asleep. As she was slipping away, she heard the door begin to open. The dark gray nurse walked in with a small white spritzer bottle and two cups, one large and one small. The three objects were being held by the dark blue magic.

The nurse went to the sink and poured water into the large cup until it was full. Extending it to Dash, she took it, and before lifting it to her mouth, she was interrupted by a hoof on the glass.

"Don't drink yet, simply take a mouthful and gargle it around to get the gunk out."

Once again, Dash did as she was told. Taking a large swig in her mouth, she sucked in nearly half of the water. She swished it around and gargled for a bit, and after she deemed it ready to spit out, she leaned over to the small cup to vacate the contents of her mouth.

Black flakes floated around in the grayish water, to Dash's disgust. She wiped her muzzle with a hoof, and looked at the glass thirstily.

"Go ahead," said the nurse.

Dash repositioned both hooves on the glass, lifted it to her mouth, and took a few large gulps. Finishing off the water, Dash handed it back to the nurse who refilled it. Again downing the entire drink, the pony sated her thirst. She set it down on a nearby metal tray and looked at the spritzer bottle being held in the unicorn's magic.

"Open wide, like before," said the nurse.

Dash closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and said "ah". She heard a spritzing noise followed by moisture and a foul cherry-like taste coat her mouth and run down her throat. The spray had caught her by surprise more than it should have, which caused her to wheeze and choke uncontrollably.

Dash opened her eyes after a few seconds of wheezing to find the nurse leaving, and her spot being quickly taken up by two very familiar and very worried ponies.

"Oh my goodness!" cried Fluttershy as she bolted towards Dash. "Are you okay?"

"Sweet Celestia, Rainbow Dash, you look- er, not-so-awesome..."

Dash grunted in pain as the yellow pony squeezed the air out of her lungs. Although it seemed like Fluttershy had somehow gotten stronger, Dash knew that her exhaustion was to blame instead.

"Yeah," the mare said after a moment of silence, "I'm fine."

Once she saw that she was hurting the blue pony, Fluttershy released her grip and backed off, although still remaining mere inches away.

"We were so worried and confused after you flew out the door," admitted Twilight, "that is until we saw what building was on fire..."

Dash blinked a stray tear away and looked at the adjacent wall. "Yeah, it was the place where Scootaloo stayed."

Fluttershy turned her gaze towards the floor. "We asked about her, and they said that she should be okay."

Dash smiled weakly at the news.

"However," started Twilight. Dash's ears perked at the turn. "The preliminaries show that there might be some damage to her left wing."

"Wha-" Dash said, "what do you mean?"

"Well, the doctors hadn't done much more than clean her up a bit and give her a one-over by the time we asked. Fluttershy and I got here just minutes after you two did."

Any bit of calm Rainbow Dash had felt melted, or rather shattered, at the notion of serious harm that had come to her sister. The mare started to get up, but was quickly pushed back down by her friends.

"Get outta my way. I have to see her!"

"If you're talking about Scootaloo, then you're just going to have to wait," said the nurse that had re-entered. "She's currently fighting her way through fifteen to twenty minutes straight of smoke inhalation." The nurse thought about the state Dash was in. She looked to the two other mares before speaking again. "I'm assuming you told her what I told you two?"

Twilight and Fluttershy nodded, which the nurse took as a sign to continue. "Yes, Miss Dash, unfortunately there were signs that damage was sustained by her left wing. The bruising and swelling around the base of the humerus, where the wing connects to the body, are indicating a Proximal fracture, but it's still too early to be sure. We'd sedate her and investigate, but there's too much of a risk of her slipping away."

"...Huh," said Dash she thought. The only words she pulled from the nurse's speech were "damage," "wing," "fracture," and "risk of slipping away."

"Well, Miss Dash," said the nurse after a moment of silence, "you're free to go home. Don't worry, we'll look after her." The nurse closed with a smile, and walked out the door.


Rainbow Dash pushed herself deeper into her seat as she grappled with her thoughts. The meek, ineffective-in-comforting scent of lemon seeping from the waiting room walls was bothering Dash, mostly because nearly anything could bother her at this time. The itching from the stitches, the dry feeling in her nose, the pounding headache from the intense pressure and heat she had felt earlier, the pangs of dread soaking her mind, and the knowledge that she can do absolutely nothing about her sister's condition, of which was still a mystery, had made her quite irritable. The sink bath she had taken, which at the time had been refreshing, made her fur wet. She understood the inevitability, but nevertheless was annoyed that the dampness in her fur wouldn't go away.

For probably the fourteenth time, she looked around the room. A mid-sized table separated two rows of cushioned chairs in a rectangular area next to a few windows. One of which was open and gave the room fresh air. A few steps behind the row of chairs facing the window was a desk where a young, upstart assistant busied himself with stacks of paperwork. To the right were a set of large double doors, and next to it on the adjacent wall was a normal door that could swing freely.

Grumbling from the boredom, she got up and walked over to the open window. Looking out, she could see the glow of Luna's moon still illuminating a neighboring field. Dash sniffed, and noticed that she could still detect the unmistakable smell of burning wood lingering in the nighttime air. The thought of her now probable aversion to campfires, or fire in general, quickly crossed her mind; though, it was quickly swept away by the rapid flow of thinking she was experiencing. Try as she might, she could not get the tidal wave of analyzing, memories, or pent up emotion to subside. It was almost agonizing. She couldn't focus on anything; nothing stuck in her mind for more than a second or two before another, slightly similar thought assumed the position.

The mare shunted her thoughts and turned her neck towards the guest-help desk. After noticing Dash's staring, the nurse offered a smile and nodded his head. Dash returned the gesture, then turned back to the window. She gazed at the drifting clouds aloft in the star-marked sky. She thought about how they must feel not having to deal with anything at all. They just get to hang around and rain on stuff all day.

Almost immediately, her mind shifted to another thought: How ponies feel knowing they are the masters of these floating layabouts. Then, it was about flying around up there. Then she thought about the act of flying itself. She looked at her own wings and saw how they were still in pretty bad shape. Next, she connected the two thoughts. The image of Scootaloo's twisted, unusable wing flashed through her mind. Dash yelped and grabbed at the windowsill, which caused the nurse at the desk to direct attention to her.

"Miss, are you okay?" he asked.

Dash awkwardly giggled and nodded. She turned back towards the window with a sigh. The image, slightly different this time, flashed briefly in her mind again. She lightly closed her eyes and started breathing deliberately. Luckily, the thought of her sister's injury ceased its haunting of her mind. With the leaving of this thought went various others. She was winning the battle with herself by dumping everything she didn't want to think about. She began smiling as her mind cleared. Once she thought herself to be rid of her annoying thinking, a new thought crept up on her from behind and took her by force. It was a piece of truth she had known the entire time, but hadn't been able to think about it until now.

This was all her fault.

If Dash would have just adopted the filly right when she found out she could, Scootaloo would have been much happier much sooner. She definitely wouldn't have a broken wing, and she definitely wouldn't have even been in the fire.

This realization made Dash want to scream. She loathed herself now more than she ever had in her entire life. The mare put her hoof in her mouth and bit down hard.

Scootaloo's left wing had been broken.

Dash sobbed as she bit her hoof. She hoped and plead and prayed to whoever was listening that whatever happened to Scootaloo's wing wasn't disabling. After wallowing in self-hatred, Dash slumped down onto the nearest chair. She sat there for a short while until the day caught up with her. Tears still drying, the rainbow-maned pegasus fell into a shakier sleep than the one she had fallen into during her sister's sleep-over.


Rainbow Dash violently jerked upright in the chair covered in a thin film of sweat. She looked and saw the sun had climbed halfway over the mountain. She yawned longer than she could remember, then slid off the seat and onto her hooves.

Her activities from a few hours ago, coupled with her awkward sitting position, caused her joints to ache and her muscles to cramp. She looked over to the desk and saw that the space was empty. The mare walked up to the counter and rang the bell. A moment later, a black maned, olive green coated nurse with the figure of Mrs. Cake sauntered out of the office.

"How can I help ya,' hon?'" she asked in a gruff cajun voice, practically opposite that of the grey nurse's

"Uh, I was wondering how Scootaloo is doing. She's a ten-year-old pegasus with an orange coat." Dash's voice was gritty and tired, which caused her to stutter in the beginning of her sentence. The voice that came from her throat seemed otherworldly, and it scared her.

"Ah'll go check on her fo' ya.' Just sit tight, Ah'll be back"

As the nurse walked away, Dash spotted a wall clock and saw that it was five minutes after seven. As she waited, she decided to squirt some more of that foul medicine into her throat. The taste was horrendous, but she could already feel the last dose taking effect. She ignored the dosage rules and spritzed her throat. Her aim was off, but it still got the job done. Dash sat down and decided to at least give it a look. There was mostly garbled wording, symbols, and letters scattered around the label, but eventually Dash found that she was supposed to do it every six hours. She shrugged her shoulders. "Close enough."

Soon Dash heard the door behind her open. The pony that walked in carried saddlebags and the most grateful smile Dash had ever seen.

"Hello, Miss Dash," said Nurse Kindheart.

The blue mare was getting tired of being called that. She wanted the world to hurry itself up so things could go back to being normal. "Hey," she replied.

Kindheart shuffled her hooves. "I uh, was expecting you to be angrier."

"Too tired for that, nurse. Whadd'ya need?"

"Uhm," she started before pausing for a long moment. "I just wanted to give you my thanks for rescuing everypony. Because of you, all the fillies were accounted for. The fire claimed not a single life thanks to your bravery. Blasted furnace, I've told the mayor repeatedly that we were in need of an upgrade, and she promised to see it done. Obviously the project was set aside in favor of 'more pressing' matters."

Dash looked away from the mare. The last thing she needed was praise and a pat on the back. "Well, you're welcome. Is that it?"

"Well, I just wanted to give you something." Kindheart opened her bag and pulled out a manila folder. She set it onto one of the chairs and motioned for Dash to look through it.

The cyan mare moved cautiously towards it. Once she was at the chair, she carefully lifted the folder and opened it. The first line on the page caused Dash to quickly slap the folder shut.

"How?" she asked. "How was this not destroyed in the fire?"

Kindheart blushed. "I took it home to work on it for you two. She loves you, Rainbow Dash, and nothing should keep her from having her wish granted."

Dash looked at the folder again. "But, I haven't done the evaluation, and nopony but me and a couple of my friends have seen her room yet."

"Oh, don't worry about any of that. I gave them my word that you'd give her the perfect home. Honestly, the fact that you rescued her from certain death proves to me that you would do absolutely anything for her."

"Oh," said Dash. It was the only thing she could say to such words, from such a pony. "Well," she began again, "thanks."

"Of course, Rainbow. Both of you deserve the best." After a moment of silence, Kindheart continued. "If I could just get you to sign your name a couple of times, we can make it all official." She reached in her mouth and pulled out a fountain pen.

Dash walked over to the nearby table and dropped the folder on it. She took the pen from Kindheart and signed her name as fancily, and legibly, as she could. It actually turned out better than she thought it would.

"Then," the nurse said as she turned the document over, "this one." Dash dutifully signed it, after which the nurse took the second paper and slid it into her bag. She slowly closed in and embraced the blue pony. "Do a good job," she said into the mare's ear. Kindheart drew away, then after a farewell, left the room.

The blue mare simply stood there, almost catatonic. It was mostly from the hug, but another source was the thought that Scootaloo's records might have been destroyed, and it would have been much longer until she could be adopted. For all Dash knew, the matrons and the fillies could be on a train headed for another town, and Scootaloo very well could have been with them if she hadn't been trapped under the beam. But, then again, if the filly hadn't have been saved, Dash would have no use of her papers.

Rainbow Dash pondered the triviality of the world for an indeterminable amount of time until she heard chattering from down the hall. Five cherished ponies walked into the room bearing compassionate smiles. Dash snapped out of her trance and gathered the papers into her wing as they entered.

"Hey guys, were you worried 'bout me?" Dash said.

"Goodness Darling," responded a powder white unicorn. "Your voice is dreadful! And your mane! No, your wings! An-" Rarity was stopped when a jab in her side silenced her. "Erhm, sorry."

Dash grimaced. "Thanks, Rarity."

"What she means is 'yes, Rainbow Dash, we were worried 'boutcha'" Said Applejack to the unicorn.

"Uhm, yes of course, that is what I meant…heh heh…" said Rarity with an apologetic smirk.

"So how are you feeling?" asked Fluttershy.

"Well," Dash began. She hardly had any idea where to start. After picking a spot, she continued. "My throat feels like I've been gargling nails, my wings feel like they're being plucked clean, my head feels like it's being pounded like a drum, and my whole body feels like somepony hit it with a spiked mallet. That answer your question?" Dash didn't mean to come off so short.

"Oh, um, are you alright?" the yellow pony asked, ignoring the accidental hostile tone.

Dash sighed. "Yeah, I'll be okay."

The room grew quiet. Finally a pink pony broke the silence.

"Soooo…can somepony please tell me if her face is gonna stay like that?"

The group let out a collective giggle at Pinkie's joke. After the laughter subsided, Twilight looked at the folder Dash held in her wing. "What's that?" she asked.

"This?" Dash clarified. "Oh, nothing, just Scootaloo's adoption papers."

All five gasped excitedly.

"They weren't destroyed in the fire?" inquired Twilight.

"Nah, the head matron there apparently took them home and finished them." She bounced the folder around in her wing a few times. "Safe and sound."

Suddenly, the olive green nurse burst through the door. "Miss Dash, Miss Dash!" she called. Dash looked up at the nurse.

"Scootaloo has just woken up!"

Author's Notes:

Well, here's another one for you guys. In case any of you are wondering, the green nurse sounds like an African American woman, not like Applejack. :applejackconfused:

Just a couple more chapters to go!

Next Chapter: The Two Sisters Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes
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