A Fallen Angel

"It's not that bad..." Criss said with what he hoped sounded like enthusiasm.

"Don't lie, you hate it." Krystal said, her voice already taking on a dissapointed tone.

"I...yeah, I do hate it." Better to just agree, right?

Marshall scowled. "Oh, buck up. It's just hospital food."

The three of the ponies had been sitting around Criss's bed while he tried to drink lunch. His jaw had lost quite a few teeth, and although he could talk, It'd be a while till his adult teeth grew in. Another couple of weeks, actually. So it was a liquid diet until then.

"C'mon, Crissy." Did Marshall call me "Crissy"? He was looking to get bit. Teeth or no. "Tell ya what, you eat this, and don't complain," That last part had been said looking into Criss eyes. The trust here kills me. "...and I'll buy you a coffee. One of those cappuccino's you like."

"Deal." Criss put shame on world record eaters. Lunch lasted mere milliseconds infront of him. He loved those cappucino's.

Marshall slowly picked his jaw off the floor. "Um... wow. Guess I'll be right back then."

A silence slowly fell over the room as Criss tried to find something to talk about.

"Y'know what sucks?" Criss asked.

"Vacuums?"

"Wow, y'know, you should get a comedians Cutie Mark." Criss's voice was so slathered in sarcasm a deaf pony could have heard it.

"Ok, ok..." She struck up an Equipean accent "Do be a good sport and tell, Criss. What, exactly, do you think, in particular, 'sucks?'"

Wow, she is laying it on thick. Criss rolled his eyes "Anyway...Not being able to go anywhere. Like, even if I could walk around the hospital." Criss let out a huge sigh. "But I can't, till I heal, and when I heal then..." his voice trailed off.

"...I never thought of that. That does suck." Krystal actually sounded like she was being serious. For once.

"Yeah, if on-" the rest of his sentance got cut off as Marshall came back into the room. How'd he do that so fast? "'Kay, so all they got was the crudy decaf stuff, but I figured your probably not in it for the caffeine, and I got you one too, sis."

"Cool" Criss said, reaching out for his coffee.

"Thanks, Marsh." The one nickname Marshall would kill Criss for saying. He might even kill him for thinking it.

"Sir. I know I'm a lower rank than you, but you have to listen."

"You have five minutes, Corporal. During that time you can speak freely. Starting now."

"Yes, General. I think you should let him heal completely before letting him out of the hospital."

"Why's that?"

"I think that if we gave him a chance to walk around a bit before taking him, he may get a sense of closure. If we take him than he'll want to come back to find those things he wanted to say goodbye to."

"You think too much, and yet too little, Corporal. If he doesn't get a sense of closure, he'll run. And although he doesn't have anywhere to go, he will have nothing to lose. We can't afford to lose him, Corporal. We've searched too long."

"Yes sir." Another sigh "I suppose he'll be taken clean away from his friends, then, too?"

"He won't even know his name."

"I know. It just seems cruel to-"

"Listen, Corporal. If you keep thinking about him as a pony, you're going to screw this up. He's an it. A means to an end. Think of him as an it, not a pony. If it helps, think of him as your enemy. We're doing this for the princess."

"....Ok."

"That's 'Yes, Sir.'; Your five minutes is up."

"Yes, Sir."

"I mean, even a room with a window'd be better." Criss said.

"Well, your last serious surgury was last week..." Marshall trailed off. "I'll be right back."

They had just finished explaining the conversation they had while he was gone.

Criss winced as the door shut: it seemed louder than it was supposed to. "Did I make him mad?"

"No, that just meant the pony he wanted to talk to was outside. It's a sort of a nice and not rude way to gain somepony's attention. One of his odd habits."

An awkward silence filled the room as Criss looked for something to talk about.

"So, what am I missing in school?"

Oh, Celestia, take back my words. "Oh, it's really cool stuff. We're learning new maths! Like, we're learning Pegathoryean's theorum; it's a neat way to help figure out the hypoteneuse side of the legs of a triangle, although the theorum can be manipulated to find the sides of one of the other legs by reversing the theorum, and subtracting instead of adding. We're also learning about history and, more specifically, the Lunar Revolution, and which clans helped Luna and who helped Celestia. Did you know the first clan to join Luna was a clan called Killer clan? They sound pretty cool. And the Dash clan joined Celestia first, too. Guess that's why Rainbow got the element of loyalty, huh? And then, in equine studies..."

Best to just tune her out, right?

Marshall came back, accompanied by a pair of nurses, one of them a stallion (A stallion nurse? What?) and a...a... "What is that?" Criss asked.

"It's called a gurney" Marshall said. "They use it to transfer handicapped ponies from one bed to the other, and because you don't need intensive care anymore, we can move you to a room with a window.

"...I...you..." Damnit, why am I choking up? The answer was blatantly obvious, making it all the more irritating to Criss. He swallowed, trying to get the newfound lump out of his throat. "You did that for me?"

Marshall chuckled dryly. "No, I did it for the other handicapped pony in the one bed intensive care unit." He swallowed his sarcasm. "Of course I did it for you. I don't want you to regret not getting to do anything before you leave."

"Wow... I....Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem. Now let's get you moved to this new room."