Lightning Blossom

Chapter 7: Recovery

Rainbow slowly opened her eyes, a sharp pain in her back as she tried to sit up. Looking around she saw that she was in a hospital room, a place she was used to waking up in after a serious crash, but this time, something was different. On her lap was a big red stallion, and the blanket under him looked to be slightly wet, as if he had been crying. Last thing she could remember before now was fighting with him, flying away, and then...

"My wings!" Rainbow said quickly as she turned around to see her fears were true. Her majestic blue wings were gone, and the only sign that she had them in the first place were the bandages they had wrapped around her to prevent excessive bleeding. There weren't even any nubs where her wings used to be, they were completely gone. She sat in shock for a long while until Big Mac moved, having woken himself with his own snoring.

"Dashie..." Big Mac asked slowly as he started to wake up, still not quite aware of his surroundings. Rainbow didn't answer, she was still in shock, but she did turn her head to look down at him, his big and caring eyes filled with worry. He sat up fully and put his hoof on hers, helping to get rid of the shock just by being there.

"My wings are gone..." Rainbow said slowly, no emotion in her voice at all.

"Yeah, they are..." Big Mac replied slowly, not having the slightest clue how to explain everything to Rainbow. The doctors told him that they had to amputate her wings, other wise the pieces of bone that had broken off into her back would slowly kill her over time. Once they really got in there they found that the shoulder blades had nearly shattered into a million pieces, so they used the bone from her wings to help heal them. According to the head surgeon an operation like this has never been done before, and helped advance the knowledge of wing injury.

"Why did they have to take my wings?" Rainbow said angrily, tears forming in the corners of her eyes, "Why didn't they just..." Big Mac knew she was about to say why didn't they just let her die, but her eyes had settled on the number one reason why she should still be alive. The unborn foal that was inside her stomach, part of the reason why they had even fought in the first place, was still there, and was now the center of Rainbow's attention.

"Is the foal alright?!" Rainbow asked quickly as she started to shake Big Mac by his shoulders, nearly shaking him to pieces. His somber face made her start to worry, so she let him go so that she could touch her stomach.

"The doctors said that she's fine..." Big Mac said, making Rainbow look at him worriedly, "But they want to have a check up every week to make sure nothing happened to her that they can't see as of yet" Rainbow wasn't stupid, she knew that the doctors were afraid that the crash was going to cause birth defects, like mutated wings, or a inverted horn if it was a Unicorn, heck, it could even have some sort of mental retardation now.

"They found out the gender?" Rainbow asked, knowing full well that there could be other things she could ask, but she wanted to ask the easiest question first.

"Yeah, and the race" Big Mac said sadly, his mood lifted slightly now that they were talking about something somewhat happy, "The foal is going to be a filly, and a Pegasus, like... you..." An awkward silence filled the room as once again the fact that Rainbow was no longer a true Pegasus came to their minds, but Rainbow quickly worked to fix it.

"Maybe Fluttershy can teach her how to fly, or Spitfire, if I can ask her" Rainbow said with a sad smile on her face, "Maybe she'll become a Wonderbolt like I had hoped to" Big Mac returned her sad, yet hopeful, smile with one of his own, and soon after a nurse looked into the room, quickly running off to get a doctor. When she returned she had Doctor Monitor at her side, and he looked extremely pleased.

"It's good to see that you're awake Rainbow" he said as he picked up her chart, quickly scribbling something down onto it, "Now, could you please try to sit up so I can take a look" Doctor Monitor obviously assumed that Big Mac was going to tell her what had happened, and what they did, which seemed a little odd to Big Mac. Of course, despite the suspicion Rainbow sat up and turned slightly towards Big Mac, allowing Doctor Monitor to poke and prod the area they had operated on.

"Looks like everything's doing well back there, now Rainbow, could you try to stand?" Doctor Monitor asked, and Rainbow nodded slowly, unsure of why she would have to stand right now. When she started to climb off the bed she stumbled, so Big Mac ran up to support her, noticing why she was asked to stand.

"Rainbow, your cutie mark..." Big Mac said slowly, his eyes wide open, and transfixed on the area were Rainbow's cutie mark should be. When she looked she gasped loud enough to rival Pinkie or Rarity. Her cutie mark was completely gone, no trace of it whatsoever.

"How is that even possible?!" Rainbow shouted angrily, obviously confused and upset by the missing cutie mark. She looked up to Doctor Monitor to see him smiling sadly.

"When a pony like you, who's cutie mark was based off something they had on their body, loses that thing, there is a chance they will lose their cutie mark" Doctor Monitor explained, "Because your cutie mark was because you could perform the sonic rainboom, because of your amazing wing speed, losing your wings..." There was a deadly silence hanging in the room now that he had finished talking. The one thing that made Rainbow her, save for her hair, was now gone, and she would never get it back. After waiting for a few minutes to see if she or Big Mac had any other questions Doctor Monitor and the nurse left, somber expressions on their faces.

"Rainbow..." Big Mac said slowly as she climbed back into the bed, laying down on her side so her back was to him. She didn't respond and instead stared straight ahead of her. Knowing that there was nothing he could say that would make things right Big Mac pulled up a chair to the side of the bed and laid his head on her side, making her turn to lay on her back. She just stared into his eyes, no emotions being displayed on her face, but he could see, deep in her eyes, that she was broken to the core.