February 1st seemed to be shaping up just like any other day for me.
It was a calm day, to be sure. That’s not to say it was quiet, not by any stretch of the imagination. It was, after all, Rainbow Dash’s birthaversary. Meaning, it’s both her birthday and the anniversary of when she moved to Ponyville. I smiled a bit at that thought.
Our community had benefited a lot from that full-spectrum bundle of energy. More so than would appear at first glance. Sure, there was the odd incident with randomly falling buildings, out of control carriages and one or the other attempted burglary because of Rainbow’s stubborn pride. But hey, this is Ponyville! Home to Equestria’s fastest flier, scene of spontaneous musical numbers, and sporadic epicenter of chaos. Really, it’s a wonder we’re all still kickin’.
But as I was saying, Rainbow was good for Ponyville. She was something the town had reason to be proud of, a shining light in the herd. There is of course the new Princess of Friendship, but that whole “Castle-growing-out-of-a-rainbow”- thing had not happened until sometime last year (after another villain devastated Ponyville, to nopony’s surprise).
… Well, maybe I am a bit biased.
Whatever the case, everypony was enjoying the festivities (I say festivities, but really, it was more of a “crowd gathers to cheer for Rainbow Dash and the apple family spreads around some of their famed apple products”). I could hear their calls through the open window: “Rah! Rah! Rainbow! Rah! Rah! Rainbow! Rah! Rah! Rainbow!”
Not wanting to miss out on a joined cheer for my friend, I did the same. “Rah! Rah! Rainbow!” … If only you had any idea how corny that sounds when there’s just one person in the room. But for Rainbow Dash, I didn’t mind. I kept a smile on my face, even as Nurse Redheart opened to door to see if everything was in alright. I didn’t want to spoil the mood. Today was a day for celebration, with an azure sky and the sun shining brightly overhead.
That being said, not everypony had a nice day.
Or should I say, not every hippogriff (what even is that?).
It was sometime around the afternoon when the door to my hospital room opened and the nurses pushed in another bed. That was to be expected, there are a surprisingly high amount of minor injuries in this town. … Alright, maybe not that surprising, given the general craziness happening in our day-to-day lives. As such, most rooms that had room for two beds were either occupied, or waiting to be occupied. My room had only contained one bed, since there had been a problem with the other one. So naturally, when there was a patient too injured to move, they were likely to stick ‘em with me.
I certainly didn’t mind the company, even though I was caught off guard by the state of the creature on the bed.
I was immediately sure that it was some type of griffin, yet its beak was completely bent out of shape. The features of a bird of prey that adorned every griffin’s face had been replaced by the frown of something that would at best resemble a pigeon. Additionally, all its limbs were in casts, its feathers dreadfully ruffled. I knew from my time with Rainbow Dash that wings were not supposed to look like that.
“Please, Doctor,” the strange creature croaked, “tell me the truth. Will I ever walk again?”
The doctor, who had entered behind the nurses, took a look over his clipboard and sighed deeply. “Yes, yes you will, Mr. Quill. I don’t know how, but after looking over your medical history, I’m inclined to believe that you will be up and about by the end of the day again.” He squinted at something and tilted the clipboard for better lighting. “How does one even survive that?” he mumbled in astonishment.
“I get that a lot,” the pigeon replied somewhat sourly. Though maybe sour isn’t the right expression. He didn’t seem distressed so much as he seemed bothered. Like his injuries were just really inconvenient, now that he knew he was not about to die.
“Nurse Redheart will be by to check on you again in a little while,” the doctor informed my new temporary room-mate. “If you need anything, just ring the bell next to your bed.”
Mr. Quill shot a glance at the thread that connected to the bell above him on the wall and frowned. “I don’t want to be too much of a bother,” he told the doctor, “but I can’t exactly move…”
“Oh, don’t worry!” I chimed in. “I can ring the bell for you!”
“Ah, thank you Mr. Slippers,” the doctor said, giving me a grateful smile. I received a similar one from Mr. Quill. “I’ll be on my way then. I’m sure there’s going to be more pon… creatures that’ll need my attention. Though I doubt any case will be as… interesting as this one was.” And with that he left to tend to the inevitable onslaught of splinters and sprained fetlocks.
Meanwhile, I examined Mr. Quill more closely. Deeefinitely some type of griffin. “That… doesn’t look too comfortable,” I commented in order to initiate some semblance of conversation.
His wings twitched in what I suppose could be interpreted as a shrug. “Oh, it’s not so bad. I’m kind of used to it. I’m somewhat of a… regular patient.”
“You are?” That was puzzling. I did not remember ever seeing this creature before. “That’s odd… I’ve been here the last couple of years, and I’ve never even heard of you. Not to be rude,” I hastily added, “it’s just that I know next to everypony who’s here on a regular basis, yet I don’t even know well…” I hesitated. I really didn’t want to alienate Mr. Quill, so I had to choose my words carefully. “To be quite honest, I don’t even know what type of creature you are.”
“Oh, that’s unsurprising,” Mr. Quill laughed. “I’m a hippogriff. My kind is rather rare these days. But, where are my manners, I haven’t even introduced myself yet!” He made a pause for… dramatic effect, maybe? “I am Silver Quill, a sort of behavior analyst, news reporter and occasional political commentator. And you are…”
“Oh, I’m Fuzzy Slippers,” I cheerfully replied. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Quill.”
“Same here. I would shake your hoof, but…” he wriggled in his casts. “Well, you can clearly see my predicament. And I insist you call me Silver, all my friends do.”
I was almost about to tell him to call me “Fuzzy”, but then I remembered how weird that sounded without my surname, so I just left it at a well-mannered “As you wish, Silver.”
Our attention was drawn to the window, with the curtains moved by a gentle breeze. We could both hear the cheers and chants of the townsponies, and shortly after the characteristic sound of a sonic rainboom. A full spectrum of colors flashed over the sky. “Looks like Rainbow Dash managed to get away from Dusty Katt,” Silver Quill commented.
“Dusty Katt?”
“An overly enthusiastic fan,” he explained. “He’s somewhat of a colleague of mine, and he dragged Rainbow Dash off to lead the cheer parade some time ago.”
“Rainbow probably loved that,” I mused with a chuckle. “She always wanted her own parade. But she said she didn’t want to organize it for herself, she wanted to earn it.”
Silver Quill gave me an inquiring look. “That sounds like you know her pretty well.”
I laughed at that statement. “Well, yes, I do! She and I met about three and a half years ago, after she broke her wing.” I hesitated for a moment. “Speaking of, she healed up incredibly fast, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, that’s what the guys from the Rift Café would probably call a plot hole,” my roommate stated with a wry grin.
I was a bit taken aback by his foul language. I must’ve had misheard! “Sorry, they call it what now?”
“Oh, um, nothing. Just… thinking out loud.”
Strange. Moving on… “Anyway, when I first met her she tried to steal my slippers.”
“She did what?”
I grinned and quickly amended. “Well, she didn’t actually want my slippers, she wanted a book. You know Rainbow Dash, the proud hardcore athlete. Apparently admitting that she liked to read was going against her pride. She came by to apologize later.”
I remember it like it was just yesterday. It was in the late morning hours…
I had been robbed, not only of my sleep, but almost of my slippers as well! And by the famed Rainbow Dash of all ponies! What cruel injustice! What did I do to deserve all this?
I stared at the cyan pegasus awkwardly rubbing her left foreleg with her hoof. In the early afternoon light she didn’t seem like the thieving type. I had only heard tales of her, and sometimes caught a glimpse or two when she was on weather duty, but never before had I been face to face with her.
“So, um…” she awkwardly mumbled, eyes darting left and right, “I’m really really sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to wake you. I just really wanted that book.”
I stared for a couple more seconds, then shook my head. “Alright.”
Her head rose somewhat and she had this utterly hopeful look on her face. “So… We cool?”
“Yeah. Cool. Whatever,” I snorted and returned my attention to the blank piece of paper in my hooves. I was supposed to write something, but I just couldn’t come up with anything. My family and I had been out of contact for a while. No surprise, actually, who’d want to stick around somepony like me?
“So um… Yeah. Cool. Get well soon!” she exclaimed, before darting out the window.
Get well soon. Of course she would say that. I folded up the empty sheet into a paper plane and threw it out the same way she’d left. It sailed for a while, shakily, before dropping and hitting the wall right below the window. Like a bird with broken wings, it fell. A situation all too familiar to me.
I sighed and rested my head against the back end of my bed. Why was I even still alive?
Something must’ve had happened after that. Either Rainbow Dash was still sorry about the whole “slippers”-thing, or she had asked the doctors about my condition. Normally these kinds of things are private, though I wouldn’t put it past Ponyville Hospital to be a bit lax in that department. Nevertheless, I didn’t expect the slipper-thief to be back after just a day.
But there she was, sitting right beside my bed.
“What do you want?” I asked her, not feeling up for a conversation.
“I just remembered I didn’t catch your name,” she explained with that smile I now know to be her signature RD-smile. You know the one, where she looks sheepish without actually admitting that something was her fault? Like not asking me in the first place and then bolting out the window.
“It’s Fuzzy Slippers,” I grumbled.
“Nice to meet’cha!” she exclaimed. “I’m Rainbow Dash! … But you probably already knew that…” Again with that smile. I quirked an eyebrow at her. She made an “oh” as if she’d just remembered something and bent down to pick up the knapsack she’d brought with her. “I brought you something. To pass the time, y’know?”
It was a book. One of those Daring Do adventure novels young folks these days enjoy so much. I gave it a brief look over and looked back out the window. After a few moments I heard Rainbow Dash place it on the bedside table next to me.
“Listen,” she said with that crackly voice of hers (somehow like orange sandstone, though the comparison might be a bit subjective), “I gotta bolt, but I’d like to come back and visit sometime later this week. If you’re cool with that.”
“Sure,” I huffed, just wanting her to leave. I didn’t expect her to even remember me after she left the room. That’s how most ponies cope. Out of sight, out of mind.
But Rainbow Dash came back.
No matter how long it took, she always came back.
“Oh,” Silver Quill said after I finished my little story. “I’m sorry.”
“Nah, don’t be!” I replied. “If there’s anything I’ve learned by watching her, it’s to not let things like this get you down.”
“You are indeed surprisingly cheerful, and I’d really like to know the mentality behind that approach, if you’d be fine with discussing it,” the hippogriff told me with that scholarly interest I observed from him a couple of times now.
I smiled. “Sitting around moping isn’t gonna do anything. It’s just going to make me feel worse.”
There was a sound from in front of our window. I didn’t even have to turn my head to know who it was. I did it anyway, of course, examining the rainbow-maned pegasus illuminated by the evening light that had given way to softer shades of red and orange. “Hey,” she said with that confident smirk and familiar crackly voice of hers. “How’re you holding up, Fuzz?”
I couldn’t suppress a smirk at the sound of her nickname for me. Nor did I want to. “Just peachy. Been a while, hasn’t it?”
It had indeed. Now that Rainbow Dash had joined the Wonderbolt reserves, she didn’t have as much time to spend with a fatally ill pony she’d met when making an attempt at burglary. From the looks of it the skinny filly I’d known had filled out nicely, gained some muscle thanks to the rigorous training of a star athlete. I was happy to see her well and healthy.
“How about you, Silver?” she asked, stepping to the injured hippogriff’s side, her face taking on a somewhat compassionate look. “You gonna be alright?”
“I’ll live,” he answered, “by some recurring miracle…”
“In that case…” She turned back to me. “So, how about it?” She made a motion with her head towards the wheelchair next to my bed.
I nodded and carefully slid out of bed and onto the contraption, careful not to get stuck somewhere with my hospital gown. “I’d love to get out some.” Noticing Silver Quill’s concerned gaze I said with a smile: “Don’t worry about it, it’s completely fine. And even if it wasn’t, I’d rather have a short and enjoyable life, than to spend my years bound to a hospital bed.”
“You’re not gonna die from some fresh air,” Rainbow jokingly assured me as she began to push me towards the door. As she did so, her wing moved over my chest and she dropped an envelope onto my lap. “From Derpy. It’s addressed to you, so she asked if I’d like to take it to ya.”
I picked it up, taking a look at the writing. I knew that address well. Gently, I placed the envelope back down on my lap, deciding to open it later. As we moved through the halls of the hospital, I couldn’t help but marvel at how quickly time had passed. Only four years ago, I had entered a place like this only to hear that I might never leave it to lead an ordinary life again. The first five months had passed painfully slowly in Canterlot General Hospital, until a transfer to Ponyville was arranged, since the local doctor specialized in treatments of illnesses such as mine. Also, the country air was supposed to be healthier for sick ponies that Canterlot air.
Yeah, I don’t get it either.
And then I’d met her, and everything had changed.
Rainbow Dash, a pony who didn’t need to take any pity on others, had lifted me up. She had everything I didn’t. Her full life ahead of her, a healthy body, friends to keep her company. But she hadn’t abandoned me, not even once.
“I read your latest book,” she suddenly said while pushing the wheelchair out the front door and towards the hospital gardens. Her words brought me back to the here and now, and I smiled gently.
“Did you like it?”
“I liked the part about the kick-ass spy duo, but I could’ve done with a little less mushiness and lovey dovey,” she remarked.
“How old are you, five?” I teased. “You’re gonna fall in love sooner or later, and if that escalates on the same scale your reading attempts did, then we might as well tear the village down ourselves right now.”
“Nah, don’t worry. I’m not one for mushy romancey stuff,” she insisted, which made me laugh.
“I seem to remember you saying something similar about reading!”
She didn’t reply and when I turned my head to look at her I could see the beginnings of a blush creep onto her cheeks. Her pale coat didn’t help her to hide that at all. I chuckled to myself. “Well, you got me started on the whole writing-business, so now you’re going to have to deal with the occasional romance novel!”
She made a retching sound, but I could hear her trying to stifle a snicker before. Still smiling I picked up the envelope and tore it open with my teeth. Setting it aside I looked over the contents, which warmed my heart even more. “It’s from Claire!”
“Your sister? The one working in the Canterlot University for Arcane Medical Treatments?”
“Yup! She seems to be doing well. And she’s writing that she and Dawn are going to come visit me soon!” I shot Rainbow a brief glance. “Can I get you to pick them up from the train station? I bet Dawn’d love that.”
“Well, I am awesome, so go figure,” Rainbow chuckled. “You can count on me.”
Leave it to Rainbow to say yes without even thinking for a second. But I knew she’d follow through on her promise, no matter what. “Thanks. She’s been dying to meet you ever since I wrote to her about you. She’s basically a miniature you.”
“So your older sister’s a unicorn, and your younger one’s a pegasus. Remind me again how that works?”
“You know, I’m not so sure about that myself…”
We stopped beneath an old oak tree. From here, we could watch the sun set over Ponyville in a sea of red and orange, while we spent some time in companionable silence. I felt calm, and at peace with myself. To me, the blazing crimson and scarlet red that adorned the sky was like a promise, that no matter what, life goes on. For you, and the ponies you care about.
Finally, as all things must come to an end, the last rays of light vanished behind the horizon and Rainbow gently nudged my side with a wing.
“We should probably head back…”
I took a deep breath and turned to smile at her. “Yeah, we should.”
And while Rainbow Dash, my savior, my full-spectrum angel turned my wheelchair for me, only one question came to my mind: “So what exactly is a hippogriff?”
Yes, that’s right. My name is Fuzzy Slippers, and I was diagnosed with a terminal disease four years ago. I spent my days lamenting in silence, closing myself off from any- and everypony. And if it hadn’t been for Rainbow Dash, I would probably never have found the joy in living again. This is why I write, why I paint, why I greet everypony I meet with a warm smile.
Because I can never repay her for the kindness she’s shown me in caring for me, the loyalty of returning to my side, time and time again, the laughter she shared, her honesty towards me when I opened up about my situation, and her generosity in comforting me when I needed a shoulder to cry on.
So the least I can do is live my life to the fullest and try to follow her example. To spread this magic that is the simplest thing in the world with others. At least that’s how I chose to live, and I’d say it’s going to be a good life, however short it may be.
Don’t you think so, too?
Author's Note
Reaction to Silver Quill's Rah! Rah! Rainbow!
Silver Quill OC by MLP-Silver-Quill
Courtesies of TheRainbowCall.
