Pain.

All she could feel was pain, everywhere. It hurt to move, so she just lay there, the running water soaking her mane. Hours passed. Where was she? She titled her head back, but this only caused more pain, and dizziness. How long had she been here? She tried unfolding her wings, only to cringe as this shot more pain throughout her body. Her face felt sticky, and her left eye was swollen shut. What had happened? She relaxed against the cold earth beneath her and passed out.

Something landed heavily just beside her. She tried to look over by just moving her eyes, because it hurt to move her head. Standing over her was a large dark brown Pegasus, with green jade colored eyes and a red orange mane. His eyes were filled with tears, as he stared down at her, his expression unreadable, a mixture of pain and happiness and horror. Gathering her up gingerly in his forelegs, he took off and flew away from the ground. “It’s okay Ditzy Doo, everything’s fine now, you’re safe. I'm gonna take you home now.”

Realizing the danger had passed, she relaxed into the strong arms of the pegasus carrying her, and passed out. She heard several voices through the void, in varying tones. Some seemed shocked or concerned, others angry or upset, some just curious. She didn’t know how much time passed as she heard all sorts of hoof beats, opening and closing doors, hurried conversation, loud beeps and whirs; a medley of sounds assaulted her ears as she slept.

---

“Is she alright? Can I see her?” Alphonse asked, trying to get around the white nurse pony who was blocking his way.
“She won’t wake up for another few hours at least, we’ve got her on narcotics so she can rest. You can see her when she wakes up.”
“Just tell me how she is please, I need to know my little angel is okay.” He pleaded, tears streaming from his eyes.

The nurse pony gave a sigh before continuing.
“There was extensive bruising across most of her body, and she suffered several bone fractures in both of her wings. One of her wings is completely broken. She also sustained multiple head injuries. It’s going to take a while to heal from all that and she’ll have to stay in bed for a few weeks at least, perhaps even a couple of months.”

He put his hooves on his head and sat down on the bench beside him. Weeks? Months? His poor little angel, broken.
“When can I see her?” he asked looking up at the nurse, who gave him a sympathetic look.
“You can wait here if you like, but it’s going to be a few hours at least, and we still have a few tests to run.”
“I’ll wait.” He responded flatly, sighing, “I can’t leave her now.”
His eyes began to droop before long; he had not slept since he found out she was missing.

It had been a normal evening. He had just wrapped up all the major deliveries and reorganized the mailroom. Locking up the place when he left, he headed home, anxious to hear how his little angel’s first day at school went. He had called out her name as he walked inside, but instead of the usual pounding of hoofsteps and the sight of her rushing to greet him, there was silence. He looked all around the house for her; under the stairs, behind the bookshelf, under her bed. He checked her room, the basement, everywhere. She was nowhere to be found.

He had gone to the school to see if there was some trouble there. The teacher informed him that she’d had a rough first day, but managed to make a friend. After asking where this friend lived, he thanked the teacher and hurried off toward the rock farm out on the outskirts of town, wings beating hard. Storm clouds loomed overhead, and it began raining. Upon arriving, he knocked on the door and was greeted by an old gray earth pony.
“Can I help you sir?”

“Yes, hello, my name is Alphonse Mailek. I’m looking for my daughter, Ditzy. She goes to school with Pinkie Pie. Can you tell me where I might find her? She wasn’t at home when I got back today.” He asked, quickly.
“Oh, that little filly is always bringing home new friends. She’s probably just out in the south field having a party in that pink clubhouse silo of hers.” He pointed with his hoof.

Alphonse thanked the old pony and swiftly took off flying in the direction he had indicated. By now it was pouring rain, making it difficult to see, but he managed to spot the pink silo and angled down to land in front of it. Music could be heard coming from the inside. He rapped on the door, and before long a small pink filly with thick curly hair opened it.
“Oh, a visitor! Have you come to join the party?”

He leaned down on his front hooves so that he was on her level.
“Actually I’m looking for my daughter Ditzy Doo, have you seen her?” he asked, smiling so as not to cause her alarm.
“Oh yeah I have, she ran off to find you a little while ago. You must have just missed her.”

No! She would have come straight to the post office or home if she wanted to see him. This was bad.

A clap of thunder shook the air.

“Sir?”

He jolted awake; The same white nurse pony from earlier was standing in front of him. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up.
“Sir, you can see her now.”

She led him down the hallway, making a few turns here and there. Eventually they came to a wooden door and she turned around and stopped him.
“She hasn’t woken up yet, we’ve only just taken her off the anesthetic.” He nodded, and went to move around her when she stopped him again.

“Sir, you should know, the injuries she received to her head caused extensive damage, the muscles controlling her left eye were almost completely torn, she’ll have difficulty moving it, and may struggle with depth perception. She also sustained massive blunt force trauma, we’ve had a unicorn look her over, but even with magic it’s difficult to tell anything at this point.” She exhaled slightly before continuing. ”Sir, she may not remember you. She may not even remember the accident at all.”

His heart stopped cold at those words. She wouldn’t… remember him?
“How bad-” he started, struggling to summon up any words at all. His throat knotted up and his breathing became heavy and labored.
“How bad is it?” he asked “her memory loss, how bad is it? How much will she be able to remember?” The nurse placed a hoof on his shoulder.
”It’s impossible to say at this point in time, her injuries were pretty severe. Her memories may return to her in time, but for now we can only hope.”

At long last she opened the door and allowed him to enter. He walked in slowly, afraid to see her in this state, but he had to; she was his angel, he had to be there for her. She was sleeping soundly on the bed, the white hospital sheets covered most of her small body. Her head was bandaged to the point where he could only see parts of her face. He sat down on the chair in the corner of the room and stared across at his precious angel on the bed. She had to be okay, she had to.

Next Chapter: Remember Estimated time remaining: 26 Minutes