A Forgotten Trooper

by SonicTeam34

Chapter 32: Out Cold

Fluttershy sat in silence on a chair in the Ponyville Hospital's lobby. She glanced up at the Nurse managing the desk a few times before returning to looking at the tiled floor.

Fluttershy wasn't sure how long she sat there but it felt like forever. Eventually, Nurse Redheart emerged from a set of double doors and trotted over to her.

"Miss Shy?" said Nurse Redheart, stopping next to Fluttershy.

"Is Strider gonna be ok?" Fluttershy asked, looking up into Nurse Redhearts eyes.

Nurse Redheart looked unsure about something, but she tried to hide it.

"We've tried as much as we could do, but Strider isn't like anything we've seen before. Most of our machines aren't able to work with his biology. However, we were able to get some scans. I could show you them if you want." Nurse Redheart stated.

"Um, if it isn't to much trouble." Fluttershy answered.

"Follow me." Nurse Redheart instructed, beginning to trot towards a different set of double doors than the ones she had gone through to enter.

Fluttershy followed the earth pony as they went deeper into the hospital. Most of the hallways had the same look to them, giving off the illusion of stretching forever. It didn't take to long before Nurse Redheart stopped at another set of double doors and opened them.

Inside was what seemed to be a hospital room that had several machines scattered around. Several wires appeared to be hooked up to a single monitor that was next to a hospital bed. On said bed was Strider, his armor off to the side.

Fluttershy's eyes widened as she noticed some tubes connected directly to Strider's head, each one having some sort of liquid pumping through them.

"What's going on?" Fluttershy asked, staring at the several machines hooked up to her friend.

"Well, from what we have discovered, something went wrong in Strider's brain, causing several nerve systems to get blocked off. This included some vital organs which is why those machines are hooked up to him." Nurse Redheart exclaimed.

"What caused his brain to be blocked off?" Fluttershy questioned.

"We did a scan of his brain and due to it being almost identical to a typical pony brain, we believe that a tumor of some sorts has erupted in his brain." Nurse Redheart stated.

"A tumor? H-How bad?"

"Worse than any normal Tumor. This one had put so much pressure on his brain that several important functions had been completely cut off from the rest of the body. The only other example of a tumor this bad was a rare tumor that could numb or even block off the connection to magic from the horn in a unicorn. But even that didn't end up causing any vital organs to slow down to a life threatening level." Nurse Redheart said, trotting over to a desk.

Nurse Redheart picked up what seemed to be X-ray scans, before bringing them over to Fluttershy for her to see.

"This scan shows the tumor and what is happening to his brain." Nurse Redheart explained.

Fluttershy looked over the X-ray scans, identifying the area where the tumor appeared to be. It didn't look good at all.

"Is there anything you can do to help him?" Fluttershy asked, her tone full of concern.

"The only thing we were able to do without the danger of damaging his brain is use those machines to keep his vital organs working. Other than that, all we can do is keep giving him our anti-tumor medication and wait for his brain to heal. Nurse Redheart claimed.

Fluttershy looked over at the unconscious Strider, then to the machines hooked up to him. How badly must Strider be feeling right now? It must be horrible...

Strider opened his eyes, noticing that he was laying in a snow white void that stretched out for what seemed like miles in each direction.

"Where in the force am I?" Strider questioned out loud, looking around the area.

Strider stood up, barely able to make out his armor from the landscape. He glanced to the left, not spotting anything different.

For some reason, he felt, strange. Strider couldn't put his finger on it, but something wasn't right. Still, he wasn't doing anything useful just standing around in the middle of nowhere.

"Might as well start walking." Strider said to himself, walking off towards the direction he had picked out.

Fluttershy trotted over to the bed where Strider was resting. Fluttershy watched as a machine pushed oxygen into a tube that was strapped to Strider's mouth and nose.

"How long to you think he'll need to recover?" Fluttershy asked.

"At least four weeks. His whole nervous system needs to reboot. I wouldn't be shocked if he needed to be here until fall." Nurse Redheart claimed.

"Oh, poor Strider. He was so close to finishing his ship as well." Fluttershy said.

"Even if Strider gets out before fall, he's gonna need to take things slow until his mind can return to its normal pace." Nurse Redheart stated.

"I understand, thanks for all the help your giving him." Fluttershy exclaimed.

"It's what we do at the Hospital." Nurse Redheart said.

Fluttershy nodded, before taking one last look at Strider, before exiting the room.

As Fluttershy was trotting back towards her cottage, she spotted Twilight Sparkle checking a scroll with Spike next to her on a bench.

Twilight quickly spotted the pegasus and smiled, before waving her over.

"Hey Fluttershy! How are you doing today?" Twilight asked.

"Not very good." Fluttershy stated as she approached the bench.

"What's wrong?" Spike questioned.

"Last night, Strider seemed to be angry about something. So I went over to see what had gotten him so angry. But instead, he ended up falling to the ground. I rushed him to the hospital and Nurse Redheart said that he has a tumor in his brain." Fluttershy explained.

"A tumor? How bad?" Twilight asked, her smile gone.

"Very bad, Strider's brain can't sent the right signals to keep some of his organs working. A lot of machines are hooked up to him right now and he might be stuck there until fall." Fluttershy said.

Twilight and Spike both exchanged glances, before looking back at Fluttershy.

"I hope he gets better, he was working so hard on that ship for so long." Spike stated.

"Yeah, I was actually checking over a report to Princess Celestia about Strider. If anypony would know about his species and how to help him get better." Twilight exclaimed.

"That's a good idea! If Princess Celestia offers to help then Strider will get back to work in no time." Fluttershy said.

With those words in the air, Twilight quickly got to work on rewriting the report. It didn't take long before she was done and wrapped the scroll in a royal seal and levitating it over to Spike.

"Alright Spike, send the letter." Twilight instructed.

Spike nodded, before raising up the scroll and blowing a gust of green fire which quickly engulfed the scroll. The scroll instantly formed into sparkling mist, before flying away towards Canterlot.