Frostpony: Of Hounds & Horses

Riley stood in front of a large, modern building.

Large stone bricks held together via cement, coated with white paint held up its lofty structure. Numerous windows lined its first and second stories, with a pair of very clean looking entrance gates on opposite sides. Chimies bellowed stacks of black and white smoke high into the skies, and the second floor balconies meant for pegasi drawn ambulance carts now remained firmly shut.

Above, a large, brightly lit sign displayed the establishment’s name.

Cherrywoodwoof General Hospital!

Why they replaced the whole word with a crudely drawn wooden sign instead of only replacing a single letter was beyond her.

Riley shrugged and made her way inside, patting her chest to ensure Gale’s gift was still there.

Thankfully Riley had never had to visit the hospital often. A few times as a result of an accident she didn’t have the time or patience to treat herself, but for the most part she was largely fine without it. Until it opened a couple years ago the town mostly had its own doctors.

However, things didn’t quite feel right.

Gone were the colourful murals meant to calm children, gone were the friendly reminders from nurses to take flu shots, and gone was any sight, sound or even smell of Equestrian staff. In place of all that were snack machines, pharmaceutical advertisements and directions to the nearest cafe.

“Was it like this before, or after they arrived?”

Pushing that thought from her mind Riley met with the receptionist, a sandy blonde pug having to stand on her chair to reach the papers. The two locked eyes and Riley rested a paw on the desk.

“Hello? Riley Burrows, here to visit Brambles Ballbaring.”

“No problem, miss, that’ll be ten Jewels.”

Riley recoiled briefly. “I’m sorry what?”

The receptionist pulled out a folder and from it, a bill of some kind. “Economic reforms, a few of them are quite recent.”

With the paw she had rested, Riley covered her face in annoyance and groaned. “I swear, these dogs are gonna bleed me of all the money they gave me and then some.”

She reached for her wallet and paid the receptionist, before being given a numbered ticket and a room location. Riley stormed off without another word and breathed deeply, passing by doctors, nurses and the occasional patient. All Diamidian of course, not once did she hear the twinkle of magic, nor the flap of a wing.

The few times she had come here, it was usually filled with ponies. Now it felt…empty.

Just like the streets outside…

Riley entered Brambles’ room and lost her breath, nearly tripping over herself in sheer shock.

The Terrier was clad in a full body cast partially suspended in the air, with all manner of medical apparatus attached to his form. The only two parts of him that saw the light of day were his eyes and mouth, but otherwise he was a few wads of tape short of being mummified.

She covered her mouth and backed up into the wall, eyes wide as moons and limbs shaky as windswept frames. Riley hadn’t even noticed the retriever to her side asking if she was alright, such was her heavy heartbeat.

All she heard was noise until a chair suddenly shifted under her, and she fell into it. Woken from her gaze into the abyss, she turned towards the nurse smiling at her.

“I take it you weren’t expecting this?”

Riley tried to muster words but her voice fell short, nodding instead.

“Family? Or a friend?”

“Friend.” She mouthed the word. A glance at her tag identified her as Goldy Roselock, and Riley took the chance to lay back a moment simply to breathe.

Sensing her shock, Goldy mirrored her movement and drew her own seat, patiently waiting for her voice to recover.

It wasn’t long before Riley’s heart settled, longer than she’d like by no means enough to read a book over.

“What happened?” She muttered, watching as the nurse reached for a clipboard at the foot of the bed.

“In short? He broke nearly every bone in his body. Except the tail.”

As if on queue, Riley turned to see Bramble’s spiked tail wagging back and forth excitedly.

“Well, at least he has that going for him.” Riley felt a slight bit of relief.

“When he arrived he was in a really bad way,” Goldy stated, sounding not too bothered. “Ribs had pierced his lungs leading him to cough up blood, internal bleeding like no tomorrow, and with all the muscular bruising and soft tissue damage we really doubted he’d survive surgery…”

“So that’s exactly what we did!” She smiled.

A very short, concerned whine escaped Riley as she glanced at Brambles, still wagging.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?”

“Maybe, the fact he survived surgery at all is a miracle. Larger breeds are known for their toughness but he’s no mastiff sooo…luck I guess?”

Riley kept her eyes on the entombed Terrier. “Luck’s got nothing to do with this…”

The nurse continued, reading from the clipboard. “We expected his recovery period to be a few months. If he’ll still be able to walk however is still up in the air. Too early to tell.”

“Right.” She replied, again rubbing her pocket, looking to the doctor. “What about the medical bill? Let’s say he somehow stood up and walked right out, what would it look like?”

Goldy flipped through a few pages before arriving where she wanted, squinting her eyes she tried mouthing the words, practising, her own eyes holding a mix of pity and stock.

“Oh that’s not good.”

“Uh…this number?” Goldy presented the clipboard to her, the number easily visible in large black letters.

Three-thousand, seven-hundred and fifty-three point ninety-nine Jewels!

Riley’s jaw dropped as she clutched the wooden frame. Almost forgetting to breathe as she slowly looked up at her. “You're serious? For just the surgery and a couple days stay?”

“I think that’s the projected cost of his treatment and months of recovery? I don’t make these prices, the medical director does.”

“Who’s the medical director?” Riley asked, her voice hushed, trying not to shoot the proverbial messenger.

“I don’t know, some new dog. The old one stepped down a couple days ago.

Riley’s eye twitched. “You’ve gotta be kidding.”

“Well of course we don’t expect him to pay it all off at once. We’ll be taking payments over time.”

“Okay but to ask again, what if he somehow recovered in the next ten minutes? How much would he pay?”

“I dunno!” Goldy squeaked, recoiling away from her. “I’m here to look after a patient’s emotional wellbeing, not do maths.”

Riley grumbled to herself and rubbed her forehead.

“Alright, can you leave me alone for a minute? I wanna have a talk with him.”

With a quick nod Goldy left the room, prompting Riley to stand and walk over to Brambles’ side.

She let off a quiet sigh as she looked over him, his eyes shut despite his wagging tail. “Perhaps an unconscious habit? Some dogs do wag in their sleep.” Riley opened her coat and reached for a flash, its metal shell concealing the medicinal contents within.

“How much did Rini say? Half a bottle right? But didn’t she measure it when giving me the flask?” Riley glanced between him and the bottle, unscrewing the lid with a thumb. “Should I be safe and just give him the whole thing? Rini did mention side effects…”

A nearby clock ticked as Riley swirled the bottle around, becoming increasingly frustrated by her own indecision.

She sighed as she put the lid away, levelling the flask over his mouth and lifting his head with her other paw. “Screw it, I ain’t gonna half-ass this. Besides, not like it can heal him too much right?” Riley poured the potion into his open mouth, slowly and carefully so as to not cause a convulsion or make him cough.

Bit by bit, the bottle got lighter and lighter. The fact the nurse didn’t return even after what felt like a full five plus minutes gave Riley cause for both concern and thankfulness.

If she got caught doing this, who knows what could happen.

Miraculously, Brambles hadn’t once coughed throughout the process, allowing Riley to feed him every last drop of the bottle. Once emptied she stood back, twisting the cap on whilst keeping an eye on him.

“Brambles? Hey Bram Bram? Can ya hear me?”

There was quiet within the room, only broken by the ticking of a clock.

“Did it work? Or does it need time-”

His eyes suddenly shot open, cracks formed along the lengths of the casts as he attempted to shoot upright. Plaster peeling off in chunks as his arm tore itself free from its confines, and grasped the side of his caged face. His claws dug in and with a strong yank, the whole front section of plaster was ripped off.

And he was smiling.

“Brambles? How do you feel?”

“I drink aftershave!”

Riley looked at him with concern, turning to the bottle as if it were to shrug back. “I’d forgotten just how unusually high his voice was.”

An audio gallery similar to what one might hear when cooking popcorn was present as Brambles moved to sit up. His joints popped and cracked in all sorts of semi-sickening ways as the plaster broke off. A veritable mess of debris gathered around him and the more he did so, the more Riley found herself glancing at the room’s door.

“How much do I wanna bet they’ll still throw a bill big enough to choke a dragon at him? A bill in the hundreds is still far too big for either of us to pay off.”

She then turned to look at the window, unlocked and unopened. “Unless…”

Riley wasn’t typically one to break the rules, but with everything that had been going on, and the indenturement they were about to inflict upon Brambles, the window suddenly became very apparent to her, appealing even.

The newly healed mutt began pulling himself free of the medical apparatus he’d been attached to. Needles that had fed bottles of liquid into his body scattered to the side, yet no blood was spilled in the process. Fresh scar tissue sealing over the punctures before fresh fur sprouted up.

It was almost surreal seeing him rise up like this. Granted, Riley’d heard tales of his toughness, but to go from deathbed to doorstep within a minute’s notice was something else.

He sat up, medical grabbing his collar from the bedside before turning to her with a giddy grin. “Hi Riley!”

“Hey,” She gently waved, holding the clipboard, “So uh, you’ll probably hate what I’ve got to say next.”

Riley passed it over to him to look, and Brambles gave it a skim before turning back to her. “Is this another story? Where’s all the pictures?”

“Huh?” Riley starred at him for a moment before memory came knocking. “Oh right. It’s your medical bill Brambles, and right now it’s in the thousands.”

Brambles bought a paw up and began counting digits. Riley gave an eyeroll and batted his paw aside. “It’s a bill for your hospital stay. It’s too much for either of us to pay.”

“Ohhhhhhh” Bramble nodded while taking another glance. “So…whaddya we do?”

“Well, I was thinking you could leave through that window-”

Before Riley had finished her sentence, the alchemically stimulated mutt dashed past her. She turned to grab him but failed and barked in panic as he smashed through the second story window. Somehow forming a hole near perfectly shaped to his outline.

There was a mighty crash as he hit the ground, and Riley rushed over to view the damage.

“Brambles?! Say something!”

“Hospitals suck!”

She breathed a sigh of relief, seeing him move in no less health. “The potion must still be active, thank Eudora.”

With no more reason to stay, Riley stepped back and made note of the mess. Pitying the poor janitor that’d have to clean up the surreal sight. Her first thought was to try making a rope using the bed sheet but Bramble had beat her to it.

Goldy was waiting within the hall outside, leaning against a wall with a newspaper in paw. Riley quickly closed the door behind her before she could catch a glimpse of the carnage.

“Hi miss! How’d it go?”

Riley smirked. “It went well, even if I did drop in on him…”