The New Recruit

Ace opened his eyes, then immediately shut them again. It was far too bright, and his pupils stung as light flooded in. He took a few breaths and tried to remember what had happened last night.

The first thing that came to mind was his obstacle course. He remembered the first time through, then the second, then the lightning. After that, Soarin left him in charge of cleaning up while he went to the library, and he'd just made it about halfway when the ponies that had harassed him at lunch showed up to berate him again. Then... something, and then he was here. He must have gone to bed at some point, right?

He raised his righthoof to shield his eyes from the light, but the pain that shot through his leg was worse than what had gone through his eyes. He tried moving slowly, but no change. He tried his other hoof, and that helped. His left hoof didn't feel pain at the elbow, and was fine until he started to move his shoulder, but by then, even through his eyelids, he could see that the light was dimmer.

He tried to open his eyes again, and he realised that he wasn't in his room. He wasn't in the infirmary, either. He was in a hospital. An actual hospital, or perhaps a perfect facsimile of one, not the academy infirmary. That is, there wasn't a cloud in sight.

What was clearly visible was a pair of armed guards just on the other side of the door with their backs to him. They wore the uniform of the lunar guard, were each armed with a spear and axe, and were keeping their heads on a swivel.

Then a young mare walked up to them, and their spears crossed to block her entrance. She held up her badge, one of them read it, and lifted his spear, causing the other to follow suit.

"Oh, I see," she said as she walked in. "That would explain it."

Ace groaned and tried to sit up, but the sudden shock to his back sent pain coursing through his body as the mare ran up to hold him down.

"No, no! Don't move. Just lie still. That's what's going to be best for you. Here, let me just..." she pressed a few buttons on a machine next to his bed, and he felt a bit less pain as it started to drain away. "Better?"

"Y-yeah," Ace managed to choke out. He was unable to move his jaw, but anything he could say without unclenching his teeth was fair game. "Where am I?"

"You're in Canterlot Castle, in the royal infirmary. You've sustained a lot of damage. Do you remember what happened?"

Ace recounted as best he could his most recent memories. As he was going, he remembered a few more details, like how the equipment storage door wasn't locked when it was supposed to be locked, he remembered the name of Eight Ball, the stallion that had approached him, and he remembered blocking a blow with his cloud generator, though he couldn't remember who exactly had struck him. Golden Pomade had come to see him, as well as Blitz Break, Poinsettia and Gentle Giant. There were also a few he didn't recognise.

When he finished, the mare nodded. "Anything else?"

"That'sh it."

"Okay. I'll alert your doctor."

"You're not my doctor?"

"Oh, no, honey, I'm just a nurse. I came in to check on your elevated heart rate."

She left the room and walked off. As soon as she was out of the room, Ace started checking his joints to see what would move. His left wrist and elbow, his right shoulder, his neck, his nose, his ears, his lips, his tongue, his left knee and his right ankle were fine. His eyes had adjusted to the light, and the nurse had actually dimmed it for him at his request, so he was able to look around as much as he could move his head and eyes. He could see that his right back leg was elevated, he managed to find the call button if he needed a nurse, and there was an analog clock above the door that read 3:47.

He also noted a small sitting area in the corner of the room. A Wonderbolts jacket with a lieutenant's insignia on the shoulder and Soarin's name above the pocket was draped over the back of one of the chairs. He'd been here. Probably.

In point of fact, he was still here, as a few moments later, he could hear his voice approaching. "--cusing their attention on him. If we can have even a tenth of the doctors focusing on him now as we had fans at our smallest show, he'd be able to walk again in no time."

"That's not how it works, and you know it," answered Rainbow Dash. Ace would recognise her voice anywhere. "Unfortunately, he's stuck in there until he can recover, and if he's anything like me, that bedrest is going to be absolute agony."

"Unfortunately, he's a lot like you," sighed Soarin as they rounded the corner. Soarin reached for his badge, but it was on his jacket, which was still in the room. He could see it through the window.

Rainbow could also see through the window. "He's awake." Flashing her own badge, she walked on through, tossing Soarin's jacket out to him so that he could come in.

"How do you feel?" asked Soarin as he stepped into the room.

"I'm in pain," answered Ace.

"That looks about right," chuckled Rainbow, then realising that it might not be the right time for jokes. "Sorry."

Ace waved it off with his good wrist. "I take it I failed the dizzitron tesht?" he asked, turning to Soarin.

"You were afforded a temporary exemption," answered Soarin. "Don't worry about that right now. You're not on the hook for that until you're fully recovered. Right now, what we need to know is what happened. What went on between the time that I left for the library, and when I came back?"

"Shkipping over the boring partsh and unimportant thingsh, right?" chuckled Ace.

"Yeah," smiled Rainbow, glad to know that there was still a bit of levity to be brought out. "We only have four hours left of nighttime."