Crash Ending, New Beginning
Author's Note
Hey there!
Just wanted to give a shoutout to Storybookandco for commissioning this story! It means a lot!
Thank you so much for reading!
Crash Ending, New Beginning
Happy Trails sighed and set down his book on the end table next to his hospital bed. This was his sixth time reading Stalliongrad 2033 in his life, but he never got tired of it. It was such a great read and being in the hospital for so long gave him the perfect opportunity to read it once more.
He sighed and looked down the bed at his bandaged hind legs and shook his head. They just needed to heal already so he could move on with life and get out of bed without the use of a wheelchair. He gave a stress test to one of them and attempted to lift it in the air. It moved, but not without a sharp pain shooting up his leg. He winced and quickly set it back down.
Definitely not quite there yet…
He had been sitting up to read his book, so he let himself slide back down into his pillows until he was staring at the ceiling. He sighed once more and let his mind drift back to what brought him there in the first place:
Happy stretched out his hooves as he stepped out of his room at the Ponyville motel. His dark brown coat and red mane shined in the sunlight save for the part covered by his trusty old backpack. He had been here for a few days already and was getting close to moving on with his travels, but one more day wouldn’t hurt. Especially considering he hadn’t gotten another chance to see his new friend, Ditzy.
Just thinking about her warm smile and colorful personality brought a smile to his face. He’d definitely need to say goodbye to her before he left. She deserved that much for sure.
He walked down the wooden steps leading to the entrance and found himself facing the cobblestone road. Happy Trails figured he’d start his day with a good breakfast at Curly Fry’s diner and then he’d do some shopping around town, gathering supplies for his upcoming traveling. Then, he’d make sure to find Ditzy and say hi, maybe grab dinner with her before getting an early night’s sleep. Then he could leave tomorrow.
Yeah, that was a good plan!
He was about to take his first steps into Ponyville for the day, but he was interrupted by a loud voice coming from above him. He looked upward and shielded his eyes from the sun to see the outline of a pony, a pegasus, flying in the sky, soaring down towards him.
“Hey Happy!”
It was Ditzy!
He waved back to her and smiled. “Hey Ditzy!”
As she was swinging down to the ground, about to make what was sure to be a crash landing, Happy’s ears were pierced by a pony screaming.
“LOOK OUT!”
He looked to his right from where the voice came and saw a large cart carrying what appeared to be packages hurtling down the cobblestone road. It must have had the break fail or something. Of course, at this exact time was when Ditzy decided to make her usual crash landing… right in the middle of the road.
“No! Ditzy!”
Without thinking, Happy ran into the road and slammed his body against hers, knocking her to the other side. He worried that he may have hurt her, but his final thoughts that morning were cut short by pure blackness a mere second later…
He hadn’t even realized he was drifting off so he quickly opened his eyes and was once more greeted by the cold, white ceiling. He didn’t know what exactly transpired when he was hit by the cart as he was knocked out cold, but that was three weeks ago and he was still stuck in his hospital bed. At least he was alive, though. For the first couple days, they weren’t sure if the concussion he suffered or the bleeding in his head would be deadly or not.
Luckily, it was not and he pulled through with two broken legs, a fractured skull, some broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Ultimately, he considered himself lucky. He lived to see another day and everything has been healing up just fine… if not for his legs just deciding to take forever to get back to walking shape. But according to the doctor they’d get there eventually.
He stretched out his body the best he could and realized he was getting rather tired. Healing took a lot out of you, apparently. That being said, he couldn’t take a nap. He looked at the clock on the wall just to verify the time and yep, it was just about four in the afternoon. That meant only one thing…
*Knock! Knock!*
“Come in!” Happy said.
Nurse Redheart cracked open the door and stuck her head in. “Are you decent?”
He chuckled and pointed at his body. “Eeyup. Couldn’t even make my way to the toilet if I wanted right now, heh.”
“I know, I know,” she replied with a grin. “Figured I’d just ask before invading your privacy, though. This room has kind of become your home. You've been here for so long.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Happy said, rubbing his hoof against his forehead. “No offense, you guys have been great. But I am so ready to get out on my own legs again.”
“Soon, dear, soon.” Redheart cleared her throat. “Anywho, you know why I’m here, hun. You’ve got a visitor! Am I okay to send her in?”
He smiled brightly at her. “Of course! Celestia knows I could use a reason to smile.”
Redheart smiled. “Of course. One moment and she’ll be in!” She shut the door behind her, leaving Happy by himself.
He sat up the best he could in his bed and continued to grin ear to ear. He also loved this time of day. He wanted to travel down memory lane a bit more, but had little time to do so. This was proven correct moments later as the door flew open.
Well, pushed open as a gray pegasus tumbled through would be the more accurate way of describing it.
The door swung shut behind her as Ditzy began to pick herself up off the floor. “Sorry! I just, you know, there was a chair… and it was in the way kind of… and yeah. But here I am!” She was fully on her hooves now and smiled brightly at him.
“Crash landings seem to be your specialty,” Happy said with a chortle. “But it’s great to see you, Ditzy.”
She giggled and ran over to him, wrapping him up in a hug. It was just a tad tight around his body, though, causing him to gasp as quietly as he could in pain. Ditzy immediately released him and took a few steps back.
“Ooh, my bad! Did I make it worse?” She put a hoof over her mouth.
He waved a hoof. “Nah, uh, don’t even worry about it. I’m still in one piece.”
“Good,” she replied, her smile returning in full force. “I’m so glad. Are you feeling any better?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m getting there. There’s not an exact timetable on when I can get out of here, but the doctor’s are hoping it might just be another week or two!”
“Oh…” Ditzy’s eyes quickly travelled to the ground before coming back up with a bright smile. “That’s great!”
“Yeah, I’m just ready to get out of here and get back to life, you know?” He grimaced. “A life where I can use my legs.”
“I can only imagine,” Ditzy said.
She walked over to the bed and gently sat on the foot of the bed next to him, taking care not to sit on his legs. She used her hoof to gently rub his leg. “Well, I’m just glad that you’re going to get better.”
“Thanks.” Happy smiled at her. “I’ll be okay, I promise.” He leaned back a bit. “So, how were the mail routes today. I hope nothing crazy happened?”
“Oh, you wouldn’t believe it!” Ditzy rolled her eyes. “First, I get to work this morning and there’s a huge pile of mail, just waiting to be delivered. Packages, letters, those big yellow envelopes, the whole kit n’ caboodle! I completely forgot that today was Monday and all that mail had time to build up over yesterday! It was an oof of a start to the day, honestly.”
“Aye, that does sound like a rough start.”
“Yeah, well, you know me.” She laughed and gave him her best serious glare. “I never back down from a challenge. So, I stuffed as much as I could for my route in my bag and I took off, ready to roll!” She hopped off the bed and extended her wings for dramatic effect. “I zoomed off through the sky, ready to make my first stop! And…”
“What happened?”
“Well,” she folded her wings back up again. “I tried to do a barrel roll to get my energy out and my mail fell everywhere.” She kicked at the ground for a second but immediately perked up again. “So, I picked it all up and finished my route!” She shrugged, “It was kinda a rough start, but it got better and everything worked out okay!” She hopped back on the bed, once again making sure not to hurt him. “Anyway, how was your day?”
He had gotten used to these kinds of conversations at this point, bouncing around from point to point. “Well, I woke up late per usual and read some of my book.” He pointed to the book on the nightstand. “Then, I read for awhile and now you’re here. Same as usual! The doctors came in and ran a few tests here and there, but that’s about it!”
She chuckled a bit to herself and gently laid a hoof on him. “So you just wake up and wait for me to get here. Is that it?”
Happy blushed. “I, uh, I guess so, haha.”
Ditzy nodded and averted her eyes, her gaze traveling back to the floor. “So, I know that I say this every time, but thanks again for saving me. I… I don’t think I would’ve survived a hit from that cart. Without you there, I just—“
“You don’t have to thank me,” Happy Trails said. “Like I said yesterday and the day before, you’re my closest friend. Heck, you’re one of the only ponies that ever got me to stick around one place for more than a few days. I would do that a hundred more times for you if I had to. I’ll never regret it, no matter what.”
A stray tear made its way down Ditzy’s cheek. “Thanks. I just… I feel so bad. You’re in here while I’m still out there getting to have a life. I can never repay that!”
“You don’t need to!” He replied. “You don’t owe me anything for that. Nothing at all. Honestly…” He gulped, knowing what he was about to say was on the verge of being risky, to say the least. “Honestly, seeing you here, your smile, and getting your visits is thanks enough. I love seeing you every day.”
“Really?” Ditzy looked up at him and smiled. “I, uh, I love getting to see you, too. You know, when I first started coming, it was just, like… I dunno. You were my friend and I felt so bad so I wanted to make sure you were okay. But now, I come because, well, I wanna see you. Sorry if that sounds kind of weird.”
He leaned forward the best he could and took her hoof in his his .”Look. I, uh, I feel the same way, alright? Seeing you is kinda the highlight of my day.”
“You do?” Ditzy watched him nod in response and sighed. “Then maybe you do understand.”
“Understand what?”
“Understand why I’m so sad that you’re just gonna leave again when you’re out of here.” Ditzy sniffled a few times but this time made eye contact the whole way through.
“Well, I guess I do understand.”
He felt a slight pang in his chest as thought about leaving her behind. He couldn’t lie to himself. Their bond had definitely become stronger since the accident. He really enjoyed her company. At his heart, he was a traveler, going from one town to the next. But, ultimately, what was the point of traveling if you never found something worth traveling for?
Maybe he had?
“Look,” Happy spoke up, finally getting out of his head again. “Maybe… Maybe I could stick around. For awhile. I mean, even when I”m released, I’m gonna have to take it easy, right? Ponyville’s as nice a place as any to do that.” He chuckled a little bit as Ditzy’s smile began to light up. “You think Ponyville has enough room for one more?”
She forwent a traditional answer and verbiage for instead wrapping him up in yet another tight hug and planting a small kiss on his cheek.
“I’ll make room if I have to!”
