Shame

As reality set in, Ruiz felt the dull ache of existence return to his body. His eyelids slid open to reveal a ceiling made to look like birch bark. He tried turning his head to look around, but the muscles in his neck cramped up as soon as he tried to move, and he let out a rather loud groan.

"Ruiz? Don't move." There was a sound of hooves against the wood floor. He could feel his bed shift as Meteor sat down next to him and came into view. "How are you doing?"

Ruiz tried to lift his head again, then let it fall back into the pillow as his muscles burned. "What happened?" he asked. "Is Maria...?"

"She's going to be fine," assured Meteor, resting a hoof on his chest. "She's asleep in the other bed. How do you feel?"

With no small amount of strain, Ruiz turned his head to the left. What he saw was a wall. He turned all the way to the right, pain pulsing through his whole body, and there she was, lying in a small bed on the other side of the room. She looked so peaceful, and her injuries seemed minor from here.

"How. Do. You. Feel?" repeated Meteor, a bit upset that he hadn't even tried to answer her question the first two times.

"Relieved," sighed Ruiz, smiling a bit. He let out a soft chuckle, but stopped when he realized how much it hurt to laugh.

"Are you in any pain?" Meteor clarified. "Where does it hurt?"

"I'll be fine," answered Ruiz.

"Don't move," commanded Meteor again. "I'll be right back."

As soon as she was out of the room, Ruiz did the opposite of what she requested, pushing the sheet covering him out of the way and trying to lift his head off of the pillow. His end goal here was to sit up and look around, perhaps even stand if he could. Through his efforts, after a full minute of grunting and straining, he managed to lift his head and shoulders, and prop himself up on his elbows before Meteor returned to the room.

"I told you not to move!" she scolded. "You're not supposed to be up!"

"It's alright," came the voice of a stallion. Ruiz had been keeping his eyes closed the whole way up due to the strain, but now stable, he opened them again. A dark brown stallion in a white shirt approached his bed and shifted the pillows so that Ruiz could maintain his more upright position, and even scooted him back so that he could be even further upright, in a mild recline. "You can be upright for this, though I would prefer that you lie down and rest as soon as we're done here."

Ruiz, finally upright for the most part, looked around the room. The walls were plain, covered in a tan wallpaper with minimalist brown flowers printed on in even intervals, and lined with landscape paintings. On the outside of the door were metal numbers pinned in place reading "204." Other than the two beds, there were two wooden chairs and one with cushions, as well as a small table, just big enough for two.

"I'm the doctor here in Oas-- er, Sweetwater. Or maybe the name change will stick, I don't know. We'll just have to see. Look this way, please?"

Ruiz kept his eyes on the doctor's pen as it moved around. "What happened?"

"Well, after all of that commotion, Meteor came into my office and told me to come help you and Diamond Dovetail. As soon as you were stable, she and Maria carried you both here to recover and rest. You were pretty torn up. I did what I could, but it's going to be awhile before you fully recover."

"Where's here?"

"The inn over the saloon. How's your neck? Can you move your head on your own?"

With a series of grunts and groans, Ruiz nodded slowly, only making small movements at a time.

"Well, we'll work on that. You lost a lot of blood, so you're undoubtedly pretty stiff. We'll keep an eye on that, but do try to stay hydrated. I'll bring you some orange juice before I leave, but I needed to verify that you'd be able to recover on your own. You seem to be alright, but if you have any problems, let me know. Any questions?"

Ruiz took a deep breath. "I can't pay for any of this."

"Maria told me to tell you to not worry about that," responded Meteor. "I thought she was just making a joke at the time, but I guess she knows you better than I do."

"Pretty sure everypony in town is willing to pay for your recovery, Ruiz," agreed the doctor. "If half of what Maria said is true, we kind of owe you. A lot more than a few nights at an inn, some emergency surgery and a few quarts of orange juice is worth, too."

Ruiz let out a sigh. He felt as though he didn't earn it, but if his dream had been any indication, he probably had. He'd removed the sheriff, which Maria's family regarded as a good thing. He'd also killed a large number of Ravens, regarded as being a pox on the town. If Maria could be trusted, and he felt that she could, their removal would free up the town and improve the lives of everypony who lived here before. Or rather, those that were still alive. Perhaps some of them shared his ideals, and felt that they owed him, and wanted to give him some kind of compensation.

He was given a pint of orange juice, much more than he could feasibly drink in a short time, and on the doctor's orders, lowered himself to the bed. He was already feeling a bit better, and even he knew that he couldn't do anything to set things right until he could stand up and walk around, and he wasn't ready to do that, yet. That would have to come later, when he was more completely recovered.

For now, what he needed was rest. Perhaps in the morning, he could do some damage control, and mitigate the amount of money he thought he owed, all the while watching to see how Maria recovered. She had been the reason he'd come to town, she'd been the reason he'd taken on the Ravens, and she was the reason he had come back to life. Whether that experience was actually real or not, his choice mattered, at least to him. He did want to be with her, and if she couldn't recover, then this was all for nothing.