Skyfire's Story

Skyfire awoke drowsily, a tiny moan escaping her lips. Slowly but surely, the light blue mare blinked her eyes open, staring at the plain white ceiling for a few moments.

Then the memories returned. Then, Skyfire remembered.

"Oh my Celestia!" She shrieked, jumping out of the bed she was in and starting to instinctively flap, trying to hover in midair, but she tumbled instantly onto the linoleum floor. That's not right...

She stood and, for the first time, registered that this wasn't her room. The bed lacked a cloud mattress, and certainly didn't have any good hard floors. The sheets were plain. Monitors perched next to the bed, and a single window gave a stellar view of the brick wall next to her. Her eyes caught one last detail.

The mirror.

Slowly stepping towards it, she gulped and rised her eyes to the reflective surface. The young Pegasus was taken aback. Her mane had lost its buoyancy and now hung in flat, dull, and straight strands that flopped against her face. There were bags under her wild orange eyes, and her fur was in disarray. But that's not what she needed.

With a deep breath she began to spread her wings.

She only counted one.

"No." She choked. Skyfire could hardly hear it herself. "No. No. No. No... NO!" The last one became a scream, a call of defiance against fate, a call of anger, sadness, and confusion. "NO! NO NO NO!!!!!!" Sky slumped onto the floor once more, sobbing. She looked to her right side, wishing that she had only imagined it, but saw nothing but bandages. "NO! NO! THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!!!" She sobbed into the floor, her own tears soaking her own coat.

The door to her room swung open, revealing a doctor, a nurse, and Spitfire to the crying pegasus. "Skyfire!" The Wonderbolt cried out, jumping over the medical staff with assistance from her wings, galloping to her daughter and engulfing her in a hug. "It's okay, Fireball. It's alright." She whispered into her Skyfire's ear. Skyfire let her tears pour onto her mother's shoulder. Fireball. I haven't been called Fireball since I was a Filly.

The doctor stepped into the room, followed by the Nurse. "Hello, Miss. Skyfire. I'm Doctor Wingbeat, and this is Nurse Heart Scope. Please, return to your bed. Nurse Scope will connect you to your monitors once more." Skyfire looked up at the stallion and rose to her hooves. "Why?"

Doctor Wingbeat took a tiny step foward. "If you get into bed, Miss Skyfire, we can explain-"

"Why? Why, why, WHY?!" She was screaming once more. "WHY DID YOU CUT IT OFF?! I WAS SO CLOSE! SO CLOSE TO THE TEAM AND YOU RIPPED IT OUT OF MY HOOVES! YOU TOOK MY WING!! WHY?! Why..." She broke down once more, and Nurse Scope reached out with a hoof, perhaps to comfort her, but Sky swatted it away. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" She spat. The Nurse jumped back, her ears flattening. "But..." Nurse Scope stopped mid sentence and shook her head. Almost desperately, Doctor Wingbeat looked towards Spitfire. Understanding, the Wonderbolts captain placed a hoof of Skyfire's shoulder. "Honey, please. You need to cooperate."

Skyfire stared at her mother first, the Nurse Scope, and finally Doctor Wingbeat. Should she listen?

The mare glanced once more at where her wing used to be, blinking to see through her tears. She then realized that she wanted to know, she needed to know. After a moment's hesitation, Skyfire rose off of the floor and dragged her hooves back to bed, where she sat numbly and silently as Nurse Scope began to connect her to machines and take her vitals. The unicorn recorded them onto a clipboard before nodding to the ponies in the room and leaving, her silvery stethoscope cutie mark flashing. The door closed behind her.

Doctor Wingbeat folded his wings and stood across from Skyfire. "So, Skyfire, do you remember what happened?" Skyfire's response came, hoarse and almost inaudible.

"Yes."

The stallion cleared his throat. "Okay, so I'll begin explaining your treatment and recovery process right away. Firstly, the Lightning from a stray thundercloud struck you here." Wingbeat turned and pointed to the base of a wing on a diagram. "The destroyed tissue and muscle was far too great in amount, so we were forced to amputate. The surgery had no complications, so there's no further worry on the topic."

Skyfire remained silent, but a single tear trickled down her cheek as she listened to the orange pony. Was this really happening two her?

"In about one to two weeks, we'll remove the bandages; until then, you'll be taking pain medication, which you can pick up from our pharmacy upon your departure tomorrow." Spitfire broke in. "Why is she staying overnight?" Wingbeat consulted his clipboard. "Just to keep an eye on her." the pegasus answered. "According to our charts, we recommend therapy." Spitfire interrupted once more. "Physical, I'm assuming?" Wingbeat set down his clipboard and turned to look at Spitfire. "Physical and mental. Although we predicted a rough phase, due to her aspiring Wonderbolt career, I never thought her reaction would be so severe. Therefore, I've decided she'll be in physical rehab for one month and mental for two. We'll then discharge, unless more treatments are needed."

Skyfire finally spoke up, lifting her head to face the Doctor. "Mental rehab? Like I'm some kind of crazy pony?" Wingbeat muttered something under his breath, earning himself a swift kick from Spitfire. Narrowing her eyes at him, Spitfire moved next to her daughter and settled a wing onto her back. "You're not crazy, Sky." She told her soothingly, shooting another glare at Wingbeat. "It's just that this is a very big shock, especially for a younger pony. We need to be sure your mind has adjusted to this." Hearing her mother's words offered little comfort, but Skyfire nodded anyway. "Okay."

"So, that's about it. You can have guests come in, but short visits please. She needs rest." Wingbeat flicked his tail in farewell and trotted out the door, leaving the small family alone In peace. "So, champ, I'll leave you to rest, okay? Any idea of who you want to come visit?" Spitfire asked, nudging Skyfire into a laying position. The one-winged pony thought for a second. "Whoever wants to come, I guess." She muttered after a minute. Spitfire tucked the sheets around her. "Alright, Fireball. I'll be back." Skyfire's mother turned to leave, walking out of the door. "Mom?" Sky called weakly. The yellow-gold mare paused and turned back. "Yes, honey?"

"I... I love you."

"I love you, too. Hang in there, Skyfire. Just don't leave me. Not over this."