Downburst had absolutely had it with the hospital. She was tired of the bland food, of the never-ending nurses checking in and poking and prodding. Feeling like she hardly had any time to herself, even in a room of her own, Downy’s patience had been as thin as it had ever been. She knew her mom and sister would be visiting today, while dad was going to come tomorrow since he had to help run drills at the Wonderbolts Academy. He didn’t tell her that exactly, per se, but nowadays it seemed no one would say anything like “Wonderbolt” or “headquarters” or “cadets”, and god forbid if anyone said the big one: “flying”.

By the time that the morning nurses had finished up checking in on her, Rainbow Dash and Autumn Storm had made their way into her room. Like always, not even a minute of silence to herself before ponies came in to see her. Rainbow Dash, sporting a large pregnant belly, waddled in with her first daughter close behind.

“Hey there, bud. How ya doing today?” Dash asked, taking a moment of struggling and a few deep breaths before managing to sit down beside Downburst’s bed, with Autumn Storm lending a hoof for her mom before doing the same.

“Fine, I guess.” Downy huffed, noting how her mother, just like every time she visited, had “forgotten” to wear her Wonderbolts jacket, which in any other situation would be glued to her body like a badge of pride. She tried to shake it off and look past it, instead motioning to her mom’s belly. “How’s the Baby Apple doing?”

Dash patted her stomach, wincing as it seemed the baby kicked right back at the movement. “Oh y’know, growing up to be just as strong and awesome as possible. Ready to be out, probably as ready as I am. But it’s not all about me, Autumn told me you’ve been having a visitor come in every day?”

Her mother’s obvious eyebrow waggle made Downburst turn to Autumn Storm with a look only a sister could give. Autumn shrugged, looking happily in on the joke.

“She’s just a friend, Mom.”

“Friends don’t usually quit the team to spend every minute of visiting hours with you, and ask the nurse to sleep over.” Storm winked, obviously thinking that what her sister needed right now was a good teasing.

She was wrong. Downburst got red in the face, looking rather put off by the conversation. Doing her best to compose herself, she changed the subject and kept it off Easy Breezy’s visits. Dash hardly seem to notice, but Autumn clearly noticed she poked a little too much. Before Downy could realize how much time had passed, Easy Breezy had happily pranced into the room, coloring books tucked under her wing.

“Downy, hi! I brought some more fun stuff to do, what do you think of friendship bracelets and coloring?” She grinned, pausing when she spotted Rainbow Dash and Autumn Storm. “Oh, sorry! I didn’t realize you’d have other visitors today! I can come back later, if you like.”

Dash smiled at Downburst, giving another joking eyebrow raise, before slowly rising from her sitting position. “Nah, I’m sure we’ve talked her ear off enough. I’ve heard about you. Easy Breezy, right? Nice of ya to keep Downburst company, I’m sure she wouldn’t know what to do with herself if you didn’t pop in every day.”

“Downburst is right here…!” The pegasus muttered, frustrated that her mom was talking about her as if she wasn’t even in the room.

Easy Breezy, simply happy to be in the same room as the Captain of the Wonderbolts, nodded quickly. “Of course, ma’am! I’m more than happy to help out, we’ve become great friends!”

“So I’ve heard.” Dash chuckled, further showing by her tone of voice that she didn’t buy the ‘just friends’ claim that her daughter made earlier. “Anyway, we’ll leave you two to your coloring. Enjoy!”

Her family gave a quick wave, closing the door behind them as they made their way into the hallway. Breezy didn’t seem to notice Downburst’s sour mood and started to empty out the space under her wings, where she was holding more crafting supplies than seemed possible. “Okay, so! We’ve got these coloring books, and I brought crayons and markers because I didn’t know which ones you preferred. I also have beads and yarn for bracelets, and I snuck in some dried pineapple rings because you told me you haven’t ever tried them–”

The longer she went on, the more Downburst could feel her temple throbbing. Between her family teasing, the lack of even a minute to herself, and the inability to travel any further than her hospital room, the bandaged pegasus snapped.

“Don’t you have ANYTHING better to do?!”

Breezy hesitated, her smile faltering slowly. At first, she didn’t realize that Downburst had been addressing her. When she did, she just seemed confused. “What do you mean?”

Unable to stand the feeling of being in a bed any longer, Downburst climbed out rather clumsily, rubbing her forehead in an attempt to soothe her flaring headache. “Why are you always here?! Isn’t there something else you could be doing, something you’d rather do than this?!”

“W-Well… not really. I like being here, Downy. It gives us a chance to h-hang out.” Breezy did her best to stay positive, struggling to look at anything but the crafts she had brought from home. “I-Is it okay for you to be out of bed…?”

Downburst took a step forward, her leg cast making it rather clunky, ears flattening in anger. “Just…stop! This isn’t us ‘hanging out’! This is you feeling bad that I’m in the hospital! Do you have ANY idea what it’s like to be stuck in a room every day, having to deal with ponies coming in whenever they want to pity you or poke you or ask how you’re doing?! I am so tired of being treated like I’m some fragile baby!”

“I was just trying to help…” Easy Breezy took a step back in shock, tears starting to roll down her face. “I thought my l-luckiness would help you be lucky too…if I stayed close to you.”

Seeing the mare begin to cry made Downburst tear up, although she would have claimed it was the discomfort of standing in her injured state. She felt too angry and too far into the damage to go back now. “Well, it’s not! Any ‘luckiness’ that you have clearly isn’t working! If it was, my wing would be getting better, but it’s not! Just go fly around outside like a normal pegasus and leave me alone!”

“Right, I’ll go… I’m sorry.” Breezy choked back a sob, hurrying out of the room. The door shut loudly behind her, leaving Downburst alone. Finally.

And she immediately started to hate it.

Downburst didn’t make it back to her bed, she just flopped down and started crying. The tears fell for what seemed like hours, with only the cold tile floor keeping her company. Once she managed to get ahold of herself, she did her best to stand and shuffle back to bed, where she spotted all of the stuff Easy Breezy had left behind, still strewn across on top of the covers. Downy thought she had cried as much as she could, but seeing everything that Breezy had picked out just for her stopped her right in her tracks, and she started to sob again.
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For those wondering, Dash is carrying AJ and Autumn Blaze’s second kid, they’ll be debuted soon!