“You’re completely full of it!”
Sandbar laughed along with everypony else at Scrubby’s heckling him, waiting for the mirth to die down before he continued. “No, I’m telling you! I was fighting off four of them all by myself at one point! Two of those fish-people, one of their big lobsters, and one of those little lobster-eel things. So there I was, just barely holding my own-”
“That part I remember,” interrupted Ocean Spray, triggering another round of laughter from the assembled ponies, more raucous than before.
“Keep it down, fellas,” admonished C. Shells gently. “Don’t forget that the doctors are still working on Lex and Thermal Draft.” Sandbar and the others looked properly chagrinned at that, and C. Shells couldn’t help but glance toward at the far end of the shelter, where several sheets blocked the view of their makeshift medical area.
They had come back inside after fighting off the monster army about two hours ago. The fact that they’d been able to do so was itself a minor miracle, since Lex had been slipping in and out of consciousness by then, barely managing to open the doors for them before passing out completely. At that point he and Drafty had been whisked away by several of the doctors, Sonata and Cloudbank following after them, while the rest of the ponies were left to recover from their ordeal.
A minor emergency had almost immediately struck, however, when the ponies that had been injured by that “aboleth” thing had begun to complain of severe discomfort less than fifteen minutes after coming back inside. Aria hadn’t known much about it, but a quick exam by some of the doctors had shown that they were suffering from severe dehydration despite having come in from the rain only a few a minutes prior. Utterly lost as to how to treat their condition, the only result anypony could come up with was to keep them moist while they tried to figure out what to do.
That had caused a mild panic, since Lex’s wards prevented them from going back outside where the rain and the harbor could have kept them from drying out. The situation had only been resolved when Cloudbank had come out to take up Severance and literally cut the doors apart, much to everypony’s chagrin; there would need to be another bout of repairs soon. Once that was done, the afflicted ponies had quickly rushed back out into the rain and almost immediately reported feeling better. Eventually, a few of the doctors – along with an assortment of other ponies, including Cozy and Aisle – had decided to stay out there with them, just to be safe.
Despite that, and the presumed severity of Lex and Drafty’s wounds, most everypony was in a state of giddy exhaustion. A few had flopped back down and fallen asleep, but most were gathering into groups and talking or playing games. Despite the apparent joviality in the air, C. Shells knew that they were trying to find ways to deal with the accumulated stress and fear of what they’d been through. Speaking of which…
“Ocean Spray,” she called, causing the ponies in her group to look at her as she stood up. “I need your help with something.”
“Hm?” A curious look on his face, Ocean Spray made his way over to her. “What is it, captain?”
Fully aware of the eyes on her, C. Shells had her response ready. “Our ship is a total loss, so we’re going to have to start coming up with plans to finance getting a new one.”
Ocean Spray blinked in confusion. He’d never once done anything with the ship’s finances; his special talent had always been to see to the rigging. “Well…I’m not sure how much I can help with that. And right now-”
“I just want to go over some options. Follow me.” She didn’t give him time to respond as she headed towards the door, intent on going out into the wider warehouse…where they’d have some semblance of privacy.
“Okay, but…OH!” Understanding blossomed on Ocean Spray’s face, followed instantly by a blush as he quickly trotted after her, grinning. The sound of the others giving knowing chuckles followed him as he left the shelter.
Just before he passed beyond the sound-dampening barrier of black mist, he heard a slightly petulant voice from inside. “She picked him? He doesn’t even have a cool scar!”
Cloudbank sat next to Sonata, silently waiting for the doctors to come out and tell them something about how Lex and Drafty were doing.
Unable to keep from fidgeting, Sonata glanced over at Cloudbank, who was staring into space without moving, Severance hovering several feet away from her. Except for when she’d gotten up to go cut open the doors so those ponies that had been drying out could go back outside, she hadn’t moved, let alone said anything, and the silence was driving Sonata crazy. Finally the urge became too great to bear, and she licked her lips, speaking up a moment later. “So, um, I’m totes sure that Lex is going to want to thank Drafty a lot when he wakes up. He’ll probably, like, give her a big medal or make a proclamation that today will be Drafty Day or something.”
Cloudbank made a sound that might have been a grunt of acknowledgment, or might have been her clearing her throat. Stewing in the non-response for a moment, Sonata glanced back towards the enclosed area where the doctors were seeing to each of their loved ones. “You know, this isn’t even really a big deal. Once Lex wakes up, he can just be all ‘here’s a healing spell’ and he and Drafty will be as good as new. Or even – you know what? – we can just have Cozy do it. I mean, it’ll be no big deal for Drafty, right? And if she does that to Lex before he wakes up then what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” She knew she was babbling, but she couldn’t help it. Anything was better than just sitting there and worrying!
She was going to keep talking, when the sheets partitioning off the end of the shelter parted and a familiar doctor – House Call, if she remembered right – exited, walking towards them. “I wanted to-”
“How are Lex and Drafty doing?!” Sonata shot to her hooves, almost bowling the doctor over as she rushed to him. Behind her, Cloudbank had stood up, and was silently fixing him with an intense look.
Letting out a slow breath, House Call tried to look as calm as he could manage. “Right now, both of them are in bad shape.”
“No…” Cloudbank’s voice was soft, her denial sounding more like a plea than a rejection of the bad news.
Sonata, on the other hoof, refused to let her worry overcome her. “How bad?”
“We don’t think that Thermal Draft’s injury is life-threatening, but we’re not working with a fully-equipped hospital here. Apparently the, er, healing spell she received undid a lot of the damage, but from what we can tell one of her lungs is still punctured. We’re making sure it doesn’t collapse, and that it doesn’t fill up with blood, but we think we’ll need to perform surgery to repair the laceration.” House Call didn’t mention the fact that he and his medical team were all in far from ideal shape to carry out such a procedure. That was simply the circumstances that they had to work with, and he felt absolutely confident that everypony would do their best.
Cloudbank’s reaction to the news was to put her face in her hooves, taking deep breaths in an apparent effort to keep from breaking into tears. Sonata gave her a worried look, but turned her attention back to the doctor. “What about Lex?”
House Call’s expression turned grim. “He was in bad shape before, and it’s worse now. The strain he placed himself under-”
“Excuse me, doctor.” Another pony, a mare in a nurse’s uniform, came out from behind the makeshift curtains. “The patient’s awake, and is asking for Miss Cloudbank.”
Hearing her name, Cloudbank’s head snapped up. “Drafty’s awake?!”
The nurse shook her head. “No. Mr. Legis. He wants to see you.”
Matching frowns of confusion appeared on both mares’ faces. “He wants to see her?!” gaped Sonata disbelievingly. She glanced back at Cloudbank to see if she had any idea why, but saw only the same mystified look that she knew she was wearing. After a moment, she shook it off. “Go.”
“Huh? No, I’m sure he meant to ask for you.” Cloudbank shook her head, an uncomfortable look on her face. “He’s probably confused after everything that happened, and-”
“No.” Sonata stomped a hoof, cutting Cloudbank off with a glare. “This is Lex we’re talking about. He never does anything without a plan. If he wants to see you, then there’s a good reason for it. So get going.”
For a moment, Cloudbank looked like she was going to argue, but the look on Sonata’s face convinced her otherwise. “Alright.” Hesitating for another moment, Cloudbank slowly walked towards the medical area, the nurse lifting aside the sheet to let her enter. Behind her, she could hear Sonata demanding that Dr. House Call finish what he’d been saying about Lex’s condition.
The medical area wasn’t that large, and Cloudbank spotted Lex immediately, slowly making her way over to him. Drafty was nearby, and Cloudbank slowed as she spotted her, starting to change direction. But then her eyes took in the tubes running to the bloody bandages around her chest, and the pony in a lab coat working a small pump in rhythmic motions that matched the rise and fall of Drafty’s chest, and she couldn’t bring herself to go any closer, her eyes filling with tears. Fighting down the urge to sob, she made her way over to Lex.
He wasn’t in much better shape, but as Cloudbank moved closer to him she saw that his eyes were open, and were locked onto her. Suddenly nervous for some reason, she gulped as she settled down next to him, momentarily feeling like she was a filly that had been called to the principal’s office out of nowhere. “Lex?” she called softly. “You wanted to see me?”
His lips moved, but he didn’t answer that Cloudbank could hear, and it took her a moment to realize that he was whispering. Lowering her head, she put her ear next to his mouth and listened closely.
Sonata had given up on trying not to fidget, shifting between positions for what had to be the thousandth time since Cloudbank had been called back. That had been a while ago – it had to have been at least an hour by now! – and she still wasn’t back yet. The tension and curiosity had been almost unbearable for Sonata, especially since there was nobody else right there to help take her mind off of it. What was Cloudbank doing back there?!
Her patience had just about reached the breaking point when all of a sudden there was a clamor behind the curtains. Voices were raised in surprise, and Sonata could hear rapid movement going on. It was more than she could take, and aware of how everyone else in the shelter had directed their attention towards the medical area, she rushed forward and yanked the sheets aside, looking inside to see-
Drafty, sitting up and stroking Cloudbank’s mane as the two of them embraced.
Confused by Drafty looking so much better than what House Call had told her, Sonata put that aside as she searched for Lex, finding him a moment later. He was also sitting up, looking at the pair with an expression that was almost a smile. The sight made Sonata’s heart leap, and she practically flew towards him. “Lex!”
He turned his attention towards her just as she tackled him, and he winced in pain as she threw her forelegs around him tightly. “Easy! I’m not fully healed!” he protested.
Sonata ignored him, continuing to squeeze him tightly for a few seconds until she was able to get herself under control. Easing up on her grip, she smiled as she looked at him. “You’re alright!” she exclaimed joyfully. “But how?”
“The Night Mare’s healing magic,” he replied simply. “A single spell wasn’t enough to completely repair my injuries, but it did help with the worst of them.” His eyes slid over to the two mares still holding each other close. Around them the doctors and nurses were clearly still struggling to deal with seeing healing magic up close. “Given that Thermal Draft’s wounds were comparatively less severe than my own, she should be out of danger as well.”
“Hang on. I thought you were all out of healing spells?” Sonata frowned, her brow furrowing.
“I am,” replied Lex. “But she prayed for some just now.”
“Huh? Who?”
Lex was still looking at the two mares – or rather, one mare in particular – as he answered.
“Cloudbank. The Night Mare’s new acolyte.”