Don't Play With Fire

Chapter 2: Fighting the Guilt

Ponyville Hospital. The sterile white walls and cold tiled floors of the ICU made Babs think she was in some kind of jail, only disguised as a hospital. She sat alone outside room 106, the nursing staff quickly rushing past her into and out of the room, stacks of bandages, fresh or old, were being moved around in an attempt to deal with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Babs looked up at the sound of frantic hoof steps and saw a group of ponies running towards the room. Applejack, Big Mac, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were running towards the room, being led by Doctor Monitor.

"They're just in here" Doctor Monitor said as the group came to stop in front of Babs. Big Mac saw her sitting there, a look of guilt upon her face as she looked at each of the worried ponies, their eyes meeting when she got to him. They looked at each other for a few moments until Applejack called to him.

"You coming in or not?" Applejack asked sadly, her eyes already filling with tears from the horrid stench that hung inside the room.

"Eenope, I'll be there in a minute" Big Mac said slowly, shooting a glance at Babs to let Applejack know what he was doing. She nodded and closed the door, just in time too as one of the others started crying loudly, sounding almost like a wounded timberwolf. Babs watched as Big Mac sat next to her, looking at her once he was comfortable.

"What happened?" Big Mac asked sweetly, catching Babs off guard. With her history of bullying the Crusaders she thought that everypony was going to blame her, but Big Mac just smiled at her. Not a normal smile of course, it seemed to be one of pity, or maybe even concern?

"Your not mad at me?" Babs asked, her voice cracking due to her guilt. She looked to see Big Mac's smile was gone, now his face had a look of sadness on it.

"Of course I'm not mad Babs" Big Mac said calmly, "I'm just happy that you're okay, and I want to know what happened out there" Babs couldn't look at him anymore, his calm attitude was starting to piss her off. How could he be so calm about this, his little sister was in the room behind them, clinging onto her life along with her best friends. She started to choke up as she thought about what happened, what she caused...

"When they left the camp..." Babs started, her voice cracking again as she tried to hold back her tears. She told Big Mac the entire story, leaving out the biggest part of it. When she finished talking she was on the verge of a completely breakdown, but she was pulled back from the edge when Big Mac wrapped a leg around her, pulling her into a hug. When she felt him shake slightly she was thrown over the edge, and the two of them cried together for a long while.

"Babs, are you going to be okay?" Applejack asked as she sat down, her and Big Mac switching out so he could go see Applebloom. Babs didn't answer her, which only made her want to find out what was wrong even more than before.

"Did something happen out there?" Applejack asked quietly, her big green eyes looking straight into Babs'. She shook her head quickly and curled up into a ball, and Applejack got the hint. She went back into the room, only to be rushed out as one of the machines started beeping loudly, calling every member of the nursing staff to the room immediately. For a few minutes there was a large amount of banging coming from inside the room as the ponies attempted to maneuver around each other. Big Mac eventually came out, with Rarity and Rainbow Dash right behind him, having used him as a shield so they could get out. The girls talked quickly and decided that they would leave Big Mac here to watch the Crusaders conditions, only leaving if things took a drastic turn for the worst.

"Babs, do you want to watch them with Big Mac?" Applejack asked from the group, making Babs look at her in confusion. Did she know that Babs caused this, and wanted her to suffer for it? Babs shook her head quickly, and much to her surprise the girls were okay with it.

"Can you make sure to get their schoolwork for them Babs?" Big Mac asked, knowing full well that they could be in the hospital for well over a month due to the severity of their injuries. Babs shook her head eagerly, happy to find an excuse to get out of the hospital. With a quick smile she was off, running full speed out of the building and towards the school house. On the way she saw a few colts from the school playing tag, and she moved to join in before being interrupted by Diamond Tiara.

"Well, well, if it isn't our good friend Babs Seed" Diamond Tiara said happily, an evil smile on her face.

"What do you want?" Babs snarled, already having an idea what Tiara was smiling about.

"We heard a rumor there was a fire, and the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' were hurt" Tiara said, making a face when she said the group's name, "and that you were the only one to get out without a scratch"

"Yeah, what of it?" Babs asked, stepping forwards to threaten her, but it went unnoticed.

"Well, I wanted to congratulate you on getting rid of them for a while, they were really starting to annoy me with their whining" Tiara said, giving Babs a sly smile before she bounced away, being followed closely by Silver Spoon. Babs spat in their direction before running off towards the school house, arriving just as Cheerilee was about to leave.

"Cheerilee!" Babs shouted from the edge of the schoolyard, catching Cheerilee's attention as she went to lock the door.

"Oh, hello Babs, what brings you here?" Cheerilee asked sweetly, giving her a smile to match.

"I'm here to get schoolwork for Applebloom and her friends" Babs said sadly, her guilt coming back to her as she thought about showing up here everyday to get the work they were missing because of her.

"Oh, that's so kind of you" Cheerilee said happily before heading back inside, coming out with a large stack of papers sitting on her flank, "I'll come with you, I would like to see how they're doing"

"Uh, okay, I guess" Babs said slowly before turning around, waiting patiently while Cheerilee tried to put the papers into her saddlebags. After a few minutes of struggling they were off, heading back to the hospital in silence. Cheerilee tried to start a conversation a few times, but Babs just grunted back everytime, and she eventually got the hint that she didn't want to talk to her. As the hospital came into view the two of them picked up the pace, and were outside of the room in no time at all.

"Do you want to come in Babs?" Cheerilee asked when she saw Babs sit next to the door like she had been doing before. She shook her head quickly, and Cheerilee went inside alone, leaving Babs all alone outside. As Babs sat there she could hear crying from inside, coming from Cheerilee as she looked at each of her students. Eventually the sobbing made Babs breakdown from the guilt, and knowing that all of this sadness was because of her own mistake...