Pain.
That’s all I remember after slipping my hooves into those boots. Excruciating, soul ripping, identity bending, sanity destroying pain. I’m vaguely aware that I’m moving, but it’s muddled. Oh, Celestia, make it end. This agony will kill me. Make it end.
(XoX)
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
My eyes crack open slowly and a throbbing headache fills my mind. Slowly, so very slowly, my vision comes back into vision. I’m in a white room, and I’m alone. There’s something around my leg, and it’s connected to a beeping machine. With a small, jumping line….
A door slams open, and I cry out. Loud. So very loud. A pony in a white uniform walks over to me and gasps. “Mister Diamond, you’re awake!” she practically yells at me.
I groan softly. “Quieth….” I manage to get out, slurring my speech.
The pony cringes. “Sorry,” she whispers. “I’m Nurse Careheart. I’m afraid you had an accident. We need you to stay still for about an hour, you may have some bleeding in your….”
I feel consciousness slipping away from me. I fight my mind, trying to stay awake. I need to hear. An accident? Where? When? Where am I? Tell me more….
(-.-)
Beep.
“Sure he’s going to….”
Beep.
“He hit….”
Beep.
“Please wake up, Double.”
Beep.
Light. Noise. Ponies.
PAIN.
I throw my hooves over my ears, and whimper as it sends a new spike of agony through my head. The voices stop, and then they resume, but their speech is directed at me.
“Double! I’m so glad you’re okay!”
“Ah, you’re awake. We need to discuss what happened.”
“Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay!”
“Miss Glider, please leave the room for a moment. We need to talk about what happened. You already know, but he doesn’t, and I feel it would be best if you weren’t here. You are very loud, and he doesn’t need noise now.”
I like this guy! He understands me.
“Of course, doctor.”
I hear the door open and close. I dare to open my eyes, and I see a cream coloured stallion with a clipboard and a stethoscope standing by me. I’m lying on a bed with a rather thin mattress, and it’s uncomfortable. There’s something on my face, but it seems to be obstructing my vision. I’m down with that. The light hurts my eyes.
“Double Diamond, I’m sure you’re confused about why you’re here,” the cream stallion says.
You have no idea. “Yeah….” I croaked.
The doctor’s eyes widened. “Coherent speech?” he asked, dumbstruck. “Maybe it isn’t as bad as we thought.”
“What?”
The doctor looked up. “Ah, sorry,” he said. “I forgot that you’re probably discombobulated at the moment. My name’s Doctor Cortex, and I’m here to tell you what happened. I’m a neurologist. I need to ask you some questions before I can make a final diagnostic. First: what do you remember?”
A neurowhatnow? “Remember ski lift,” I stammer. Speech hurts. Let’s try to keep this to as few words as possible. “Get off at top. Put on skis. Then pain. Lots of pain. Still painful.”
Cortex scribbles something on his clipboard. “You just answered both my questions,” he said. He looks up and sighs. “From what your companion told us, you were practicing for an alpine skiing competition on a steep black diamond slope. From what she saw, which wasn’t much, a colt cut you off, and you lost control of your skis. You swerved into the trees at high speeds.”
I nod, taking it in. I was practicing for that competition. And I…. crashed?
The doctor clears his throat. “I was saying…. We think you started spinning, and first, you slammed into a tree with your side. After that, you rebounded and smashed headfirst into another tree.”
I nodded. “How hurt?” I whisper. Please not bad. I need to compete.
“You were practicing for an alpine competition, and a prestigious one too,” the doctor said. “I’m guessing that you were skiing in excess of eighty miles per hour. Although you lost momentum while spinning, you hit the trees hard. You cracked all of the ribs on your left side, some on your right, your pelvis, and one of your legs. You slammed into the second tree at a much lower velocity, but you still got a grade three concussion. You won’t be skiing anytime soon, I’m afraid.”
The air rushes out of my lungs, and now I feel that pain. Tears well up in my eyes. This was my chance. My one chance to get into the Equestria Games. And now it’s gone.
The doctor reaches out a hoof to comfort me. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I can tell you how to heal quickly, though, so you can be back on the slopes next season.”
I nod, but my mood plummets. Next season is too long. “Tell please,” I whimper.
“We can’t heal your bones here, but if you have a good hospital where you live, they can,” Cortex says. I sink into the hospital bed. We don’t have a hospital in our town. Cortex points a hoof at my head. “For the concussion, rest, rest, rest, rest! You’re sensitive to light and sound, so being secluded and wearing sunglasses like you are now will help. It’ll take a while to heal, but rest should heal it nicely. Check in with another neurologist often.” He stands, grabbing his clipboard. “I’ll let Miss Glider in now. I’ve told her everything I told you and more, so she’ll help you with this.” He walks towards the door. “I’m so sorry,” he says. And then he was gone.
I begin to weep. I’m not going to be in the Equestria Games. I used to be so good at skiing too, but that was before Starlight took my cutie mark. Oh no, did that have side effects? I’m never going to be go-
“Hey.”
Her voice cuts through my sorrow like a ray of light into a nightmare. I look over to Night Glider. “I heard what happened,” she whispered. “Double, I’m so sorry!” She trembles, on the verge of tears.
I reach out a hoof to her. “Not fault,” I say. Then I frown. “Speech painful. Few words.”
She nods. “I just…. This was so important to you!” she whispered. “And now you’re like this….”
I nod. “I used to be good,” I whisper. “So good. Did Starlight take it?” I whimper, crying. “I’ll never be good again!” I wail, despite the pain it causes.
Night Glider takes my hoof in hers, a common thing. “Don’t say that,” she says. “Bad things happen to the best of us.” She pauses. “Would you like to hear a story?” she asks.
“Sure,” I say. Anything to distract me.
“I told you what my cutie mark means, right?” she says. “After all, you did spend a fair amount of time staring at it.”
A blush finds its way onto my face. “Cruel,” I say, giggling.
“That aside, it means I can always find my way in day or night, when in flight,” she says. “Almost always. Once, before I found Starlight, I was flying away from my parents. I got completely lost, and I had my cutie mark. I spent a week, wandering aimlessly. Eventually, I looked to the stars and used them to get home. I recovered. And so will you.”
I nod and smile. “Thanks,” I say, smiling.
She leans in and kisses my cheek. “Get some rest,” she said. “The doctor said you’d tire easily.”
I nod and lean back onto the bed. She’s right, I’m tired. But now I have some hope.
I recovered. And so will you.
END
Author's Note
Well, this was a thing.