TFE October Event: Recovery

Brave Storm awakes with a jolt. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her limbs felt weak. Faint dream-like memories passed through her thoughts. An earthquake, screaming from her friend, being on the back of a pink pony. Each of these memories faded in and out, lasting only a couple of seconds before fading to the next one. 

She realizes she’s breathing heavily, hurriedly. Brave Storm swallows a deep breath and forces herself to calm down. She’s in a cot, it’s hard and uncomfortable. She’s surrounded by other ponies, most of them are also in cots. They have bandages and temporary casts on them. None of them looked like they were in a critical state. Brave Storm pats herself down. She seemed to have avoided physical injury herself. A luxury of being out in the open during the earthquake, she was sure. 

“You’re awake. You feel all right?” a pony Brave Storm somehow missed sitting next to her cotside. She was a dull pink-colored earth pony.

“Wh-who? Wh-where?” Brave Storm hardly choked out. Her head was a blur and putting thoughts into words wasn’t going to happen right now.

“You’re in a field hospital. Don’t worry, you’re only here because of how badly you fainted. They wanted to keep you here while you recovered.” the pink pony answered, resting a comforting hoof on Brave Storm. “And you can just call me Dusty.”

“Dusty…” Brave Storm repeated, feeling the fog in her head slowly disappear around a memory. “You were there. Just before the earthquake. Wait- Summer…?”

“He wanted to be here for you, but he said he needed to help recover buried ponies,” Dusty explained. “He asked if it was okay if I looked over you. Think you’ll be okay while I get somepony to look you over?”

Brave Storm nodded, and immediately regretted it. How long was that headache there? She felt Dusty pat her before hearing her trot away. Her vision stopped being blurry shortly afterward and she allowed herself to observe her surroundings a little more. She couldn’t help but notice that it felt like there was a disproportionate amount of earth ponies occupying these cots.

“She’s here. She woke up again not too long ago.” Dusty explained to a gray unicorn dressed in scrubs. “I didn’t see her hit her head when she initially fainted and she woke up about thirty or so seconds after passing out. But she was weak and passed out again, had to put her on my back to bring her here.”

“How do you feel right now? Any pain?” the nurse asked, not hesitating to poke and prod at Brave Storm.

“I feel better. Nowhere near as weak as before.” Brave Storm answered and flinched as the nurse lit their horn into Brave Storm’s eye with no warning. “Ow. Well my eyes hurt now, but I don’t feel pain anywhere else.”

“Do you have any pre-existing medical conditions that may have caused you to faint?”

“No, I was just scared during the earthquake.”

“Everything seems in order. You can leave. Rest for the rest of the day.” the nurse instructed. “You’re liable to faint again for up to twenty-four hours.”

“I can’t help with the rescues?” Brave Storm asked.

“If you feel okay to do so, you can tomorrow afternoon. No time earlier. If you feel bad or faint again, come back here.”

“Yes, nurse.” Brave Storm nodded despondently and hopped out of her cot as the nurse left.

“You want to stay with me?” Dusty offered. “I think I’d feel a lot better if I knew somepony was looking after you during this period.”

“If you don’t mind. I don’t want to be alone right now.”

 

“Here, you can lay on my couch for now,” Dusty insisted as she began to rearrange the pillows. Brave Storm graciously hopped on when prompted. It was a lovely plush-feeling couch with a soft texture. Dusty pulled a fleece blanket over her guest and hopped into a matching chair.

“Do you like radio?” Dusty asked, turning over to a device that rested on a lamp table between them. “Good thing about living in Canterlot is that with the heavy unicorn population, the technology is always up-to-date here.”

“Sure. That sounds nice.” Brave Storm smiled, thinking of the radio stories she would listen to back in Ponyville. She felt the sting of worry creep into her heart. Was Ponyville affected by the earthquake, too? Are all of her friends okay? 

Dusty flicked a switch on the radio and it cackled to life. Brave Storm pulled herself out of her thoughts. She wondered what sort of stuff her host liked. But it looked like she wouldn’t be learning that today as Dusty’s last station was a broadcast.

“I will ask of more, for those of you that can manage it-”

“Wait, is that Sword Dancer?” Brave Storm asked. Even with the odd crackling and muffling from the radio, she could hear the firm and oddly eloquent way of speaking.

“A few of our knights were escorting a group of refugees when the earthquake hit.” Sword Dancer continued with her broadcast. “Last we heard of them they were nearing Ponyville, but now there is an unexplored canyon there-”

“Oh no! I-I live there!” Brave Storm exclaims, jolting to a standing position.

“Calm down.” Dusty requested in a gentle voice. “Ponyville ponies are sturdy. And their buildings are seldom bigger than a single story. I think they’re better off than we are.”

“-be separated or scattered. For those who can, we need help finding the missing knights and refugees.”

“Oh no, those poor ponies. They must have been right on top of the earthquake.” Dusty worries.

“If you wish to help in the search, make sure you take provisions and be careful.” Sword Dancer instructed through the radio broadcast. After she wrapped up her speech, a small tone was heard and a pony spoke in a cool voice, “This message will play on repeat.”

“It’s bad when Sword Dancer herself makes the speeches.” Dusty sighs as she flicks off the radio.

“Wait, do ponies casually know about the Knights?” Brave Storm asked. She felt like she’s heard a lot of talk among ponies about them and Sword Dancer since she came to Canterlot, but can’t recall hearing anything about them while in Ponyville.

“In Canterlot, we do.” Dusty answers. “And in Ponyville. Maybe you were thinking they and the Canterlot guard were the same.”

“M-maybe.” Brave Storm wonders. That sounds like that could have happened. “I, uh, Sword Dancer offered me to be a knight a few days ago.”

“Personally? What did you do?” Dusty asks, her ears perking up in interest. 

“Honestly, I think I was just doing my Guard test at the right time.” Brave Storm humbly answers. Her ears droop and her voice drops, “What if no one wants me now?”

“H-hey, don’t talk like that!” Dusty demands, standing off of her seat to sit at Brave Storm’s hooves. “Everypony was under a lot of stress. And it’s not like a whole natural disaster is something you can throw hooves with anyways.”

“But I could have done something if I wasn’t passed out. Maybe I could have prevented some ponies from being injured in the first place. O-”

“Or you could have been a hero, sure. But what happened is that you were reasonably stressed during an unexpected event and fainted.” Dusty interrupts and puts a hoof on Brave Storm’s hoof. “You’re a pony, like everypony else. And we all have limits and weaknesses, Brave Storm.”

“The Guard-” Brave Storm began to further protest.

“There are some guard members I know that were sitting in those very cots you woke up in.” Dusty disallowed. “And before you bring up the Knights, there’s a whole escorting team in a canyon. No matter if you’re a Knight, a Guard, or Jade Caster himself- you’re still a pony. Now stop getting yourself down, love, it’s not good for your health. And entirely unproductive to boot.”

Brave Storm took a deep breath and sighed, “No, you’re right. But I feel like I should be doing something right now.”

“Exactly- resting. All you need to do is rest.” Dusty comforted. “But if you really must do something this instant, I may have something. Follow me.”

Dusty led Brave Storm through her kitchen and opened her back door revealing a large indoor garden. The roof above had large windows that let in the sun and rows of blue crystals hung from the ceiling. Plenty of things, both in and out of season, looked ripe and ready for picking. 

“W-wow. I didn’t know you could have gardens like this in Canterlot.” Brave Storm said as she roamed the rows of plants, surprised at how healthy they all seemed to be despite being indoors.

“The Magic School had a few experiments running to help with food production, but I guess it required an earth pony’s special touch,” Dusty explained. “I take just as much care of these plants as any Ponyville farmer, just with some magical aides. Like the sprinklers-”

And like on a cue, the crystals showered the plants in water in a fine mist. 

“This is the dedication of all three of the common ponies coming together. It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” 

“It’s beautiful.”

“Glad you think so, too,” Dusty said, bringing over a large wicker basket. She was already saddled up with two across her back. “If you want to help other ponies, you can help today by picking some of these vegetables. Plenty of hungry ponies who lost their homes, and ponies working overtime like the doctors and nurses that could use a bite to eat.”

With a determined nod, Brave Storm set to work plucking the biggest and ripest vegetables she could find. She wanted to help, but she needs to help herself first. And every small job could mean the world of a difference to a pony out there. She paused as she looked at Dusty with a smile. Another great friend made and a valuable lesson learned in Canterlot.