There was beeping, gentle beeping. It was slow and steady, but it was also hastening, just slightly. Trixie perked an ear at it, and it hurt. She didn't understand why the side of her head started to hurt like that.

She opened her eyes, but it was dark. She had something on her face. Had she put on a mask to sleep? Had someone else? She reached up for it and her hand slid right off of it. What? She grasped for it again but her fingers refused to get a good grip on the thing on her face. Was it stuck?!

The beeping was getting faster, but Trixie was paying it no mind. Why was this mask stuck to her face? Why couldn't she get it off? A pained cry escaped her as a blind panic started to settle on her. It wasn't very logical, but her emotions at that moment didn't ask anyone's permission. She was trapped by the mask, and her fingers were broken, all of them. She couldn't curl them around the bands she felt.

Her hands weren't working and the pain whenever she tried to make them work was just getting worse. The beeping was sounding a little erratic, like her breath. She tried to writhe, but that only brought new pain across her body. Was every bone broken? She was in no state to check as panic deepened. "Help!" she suddenly cried. "For the love of every god, someone, anyone, help!" She flailed at the side of her head, half-punching herself in her manic and desperate need to get the mask off. "Someone..."

She heard a door open and hoofsteps approach rapidly. A female voice spoke, "Please, calm down."

"How can I be calm?!" demanded Trixie. "My fingers are broken!"

There was a moment of quiet. "What fingers?"

Trixie's mouth hung open, ready to shout and scream about her fingers when it started to click. She was a pony. Ponies had no fingers. She had a magic horn. She willed the mask off with an inarticulate wail and it flew across the room, flung free of her face in the grasp of her desperate magic.

She could see a small hospital room. She was on a basic flat bed, a thin blanket falling free of her from all of her struggling.

"Poor thing." The kindly nurse pony reached over and gently brushed away a few tears from Trixie's face. "Are you feeling any better?"

The beeping was starting to even out. Trixie took a shuddering breath, trying to regather herself. "No... sleeping masks, please..." She looked the nurse over, taking note of her beige fur and the cross the decorated her rump. Cute, she decided. "Why does everything hurt?"

The nurse pulled the blanket back into place in her teeth and her hooves gently smoothed it out. "You've taken a nasty spill. Fortunately, you made it. I'm no expert in unicorn magic, but I would say you bit off more than you can chew, ya know?" She circled around Trixie, tucking the blanket as she went. "You'll get better, but you need your rest."

Unicorn magic? Trixie swam backwards through the fog of her mind, trying to remember what got her in that spot. Loot horse... "Did... Don get my gift?"

The nurse smiled brightly. "Oh, he was one of the ponies that brought you here. He said to be sure you were given the best care. He must like you." She patted Trixie's swaddled chest gently. "One of the reasons we had a sleeping mask on you, to help you get your rest." She was inspecting a drip feed that was attached to Trixie. "Now, you're in no shape for solid foods right now. I'm honestly surprised you're up for a chat, but if it doesn't hurt--"

"--Everything hurts," interrupted Trixie. "Please don't go." Speaking was a pain, but when everything was a pain, she decided it was worth speaking. She didn't want to be alone. She could remember an overwhelming sense of solitude, as if she could have been forced into solitary for all eternity. She had avoided it... She wanted someone there.

The nurse was quiet a moment, her attention sliding to the machine that made all the beeps. "If any of your friends stop by, I'll be sure to let them in, provided they can be gentle. You're still in a very delicate situation..." She smiled thinly at Trixie. "As much as I would like to say I'll stay, you're one patient of many. They all want me at their side... I'm sorry." She suddenly approached and planted a kiss on Trixie's forehead so light she couldn't even be sure it happened. "Rest."

Trixie watched it happen, unable to do much to prevent it. She was alone. She could hear the beeps, gently noting that she was alive.

Sleep came for her.

"There she is!" Trixie woke with a start to see Don and Gold entering the room. How long had she been out, which of them had spoken? She wasn't sure of either, but it didn't hurt as much. She raised a wavering hoof at them.

Don took hold of that hoof only to set it right back on the bed. "Nothin' doing. No moving out of you until the docs say you're clear. You made quite the mess."

Gold Digger burst into a musical titter. "Surprised the whole floor with that, showering them with money and a body all at once like that."

"Hell of an entrance," agreed Don. "Don't do it again. Them tables ain't free, even if you made up for it. I gotta give some of that loot back to the ponies it got lifted from, patch things up with them, ya know? They get robbed by a thug, they sometimes get confused, think it was my ponies." He snorted with irritation. "As if I'd let that happen... Anywho, ya did great! Got the update from the rest of your team. Kicked them right in the tail and left them robbed, just like we planned, eh?"

Trixie quirked a smile, it was the best she could do without her face reminding her that it too could feel pain. "Did you get their leader?" She could remember him, looming over her with palpable menace. "He..." She trailed off. Admitting she had been scared, or what of, was too much. "Did you?"

"Mmm?" Don raised a brow.

Gold shrugged. "We weren't there, remember? We just heard the good news, they were sent packing." She leaned on the bed suddenly, making it tip a bit and Trixie could feel things settling with little jolts of renewed pain. "They had their boss wit' em?"

Don casually nudged Gold off the bed, though that made it move again. "They didn't mention that none."

Was that pony their boss? Trixie couldn't be certain. "Nevermind. I got their things."

"That you did," easily agreed Don. "Yer gettin' way better at this; worth every bit." He turned to Gold. "Hey, go get us some drinks." Gold arched a brow at him in silent question. "I saw a vendin' machine on the way in, toots, go." He shooed her from the room.

As soon as she was gone, he turned back to Trixie. "Hey, sorry ya got roughed up somethin' fierce. Ain't ever fun when one of my people gets bashed." He walked to her side of the bed, a look of concern on his face. "The way I heard it, you were rolled twice, but the first time didn't keep you down. Thanks fer not crying about it."

Trixie could suddenly feel the tears that still clung messily to her face from when she had panicked. "I wanted to get the job done," she rushed out, trying to sound professional.

"And you did, so I'm thankin' ya." He patted her chest once. "Once you're back at a hundred, we'll get you back on a job more your speed, with less goons involved." Trixie must have made quite a face, since his expression shifted almost immediately. "Hey, don't worry 'bout it. For now, rest. I won't toss you back right away." He turned for the door an instant before it opened.

Gold Digger hurried in with a tray balanced on her back, three cans on it. "I don't know what yer mare likes, so I got her some cola. She alright with that?"

Cola sounded... really good just then. Trixie smiled.

That was cue enough for Gold, who trotted up and slid the tray off herself. She kissed the top of the can and using her teeth or tongue, she had it open with a pop. She dropped a straw in it, also having been in her mouth, and slid it over to Trixie.

Trixie could cry again. The soda was so close, but she wasn't ready to sit up and enjoy it. She could feel its coolness radiating from beside her face, maddeningly close, but it might as well been in Ponyville for how accessible it was.

Gold noticed her mistake and plucked up the can. "Ah right." She went over to her drip and casually poured the can into the saline bag.

Trixie was... certain that was not how saline bags worked. Was she going to die? She could see the darkened fluid of the soda/saline mix flow down and crash into her. A wave of refreshing fizziness poured through her veins. Cartoon logic, was she going to argue it? No. No, she was going to enjoy the fact that she was drinking soda by an IV drip when it should have been killing her. "Thank you."

Gold lifted a can that was stuck to the end of a hoof. "Hey, no problem. If I ever get busted up, you owe me one, eh?"

The two eventually wandered off to take care of other criminal needs. It was like needing to go to the bathroom, but with more laws broken along the way. Trixie closed her eyes, though she could still see the bright lights of the hospital shining in through her lids. Oh, if only she had a sleeping mask... "No," she said to herself, leaving the mask where it had been thrown to the ground.

Recovery came for her. She had no grasp of the time, with no calendar, or even a window to the outside world. She slept, then ate, and healed. It was with great joy that she was allowed to slip carefully from the bed, half-falling to all fours. All of her legs complained about being told to get back to work, but with her weight spread across them evenly, it wasn't so bad.

She began wandering the hospital, her IV bag rolling along with her. It would have been a pain to push it, or let it tug at her with its injection point. Fortunately, she had magic, and she kept an arcane grip on it, pulling it along as she explored. Seeing the sun was a wonderful thing. They didn't let her out the front, but the roof had a little park built into it, and she sank to her haunches in the grass there, gazing up at the blue sky and the clouds that dotted it.

A sudden intense urge to flee swept over her. She could blink away, go home to her big comfy bed in her big comfy apartment. Maybe she'd order one of those vegetarian deluxe pizzas and watch some television. A dopey smile spread on her face, but she didn't vanish. As tempting as it was, she decided against it. She was still injured and hurting. The ponies there were tending to her, and she would be a good pony for them.

Instead, she could put on a little show for the other patients. Surely they could use a Great and Powerful distraction from their own aches and pains. She turned to see a few other patients sitting there, looking bored. Yes, at least she could do something... "I hope you are all prepared."

Author's Note

A moment of intense body horror. I could really imagine that being a real freak out moment.

Want this story updated faster? Want to get your own story written? Want to just support the author in his writing? Join the atreon!

Join my discord to chat!