Awakenings

[multaekappae]

Her first clue that she was still alive came in the form of mumbling voices, the sounds of people trying to be quiet in the inefficient manner of whispering, and then whispering louder because nobody can tell what the feather you are saying.

"...therapy has advanced a great deal recently, but this is still remarkable progress." The voice was unknown to her, a mare certainly, but unknown.

"Then is she fully recovered?" this voice was familiar, and Ako's eyes itched. '...Scribble?'

"Ah, yes, well ... you see, recovery is a process. She is well enough that it's likely your friend will be able to walk again." The first voice spoke again, hesitance and prevarication telling the gryphon all that was needed about her condition. "Really, that in itself is remarkable."

"But..." the rumbling and yet slightly whiny tone could only be Cain's, "Gryphons function as flyers, will her 'recovery' eventually restore such function?"

There was a pause of several seconds, likely the speaker was – as Ako had had to do – parsing the sentence for meaning. "Ah, no. I'm afraid it is highly unlikely miss Swiftwing will ever regain full wing function. I am truly sor–"

"What!?" Ako Swiftwing cried, lunging upright in the hospital bed. After the fact she cringed, expecting the paralyzing pain of her broken and dislocated bones to slice her body afresh. And yet... there was almost no pain, only a lingering sense of stiffness and the tight feeling of bandages and healing skin.

Everyone stared at the excited gryphon, mouths open. The unknown mare, marked by the white garb ponyfolk favored for their healers, took several steps back in a moment of instinctive panic in the face of an angered apex predator. She caught herself and forcibly stepped back up to the bed. "Ah, finally awake, I see."

Ako frowned, she wasn't simply stiff, she felt ... restrained. She shifted on the bed, trying to see if she was tied down anywhere. 'No... I can move my torso, my legs my...' the medical pony's words came back to her. "My wings." She stared t the two huge plaster-cast oblongs that hung on her back, gently strapped to her back and chest.

---

"Damnit, wake up you featherbrained air-breather!" the voice echoed through Sharp Wit's head. Click click click, his mind caught gear as it went through its normal waking routine. 'Legs? Four, all joints feel alright, hooves ok. Hearing?' His ears twitched, then swiveled as the Kelpie let out a sigh of relief. Opening his eyes confirmed the seapony's identity, but left him with further questions.

"There are at least four in this area." Came a voice that make the pegasus stifle the retort he was preparing for Riptide.

'So Primeval is still behaving mechanically... I don't know what else I could have expected.' He sighed, "Four whats, praytell?" he asked the room at large... considering the 'room'. In matter of fact it was an alley, walls of pale polished stone, the air was crisp, clean and rare, though not as rare as Cloudsdale or Los Pegasus.

"Four of your buddies from back in ponyville, with your favorite little barking weapon-things... looks like Twilight didn't put her hoof down hard enough." Riptide remarked, muzzle wrinkling in distaste.

"Wait, Ponyville? Who, what gro..." but he knew.

He knew before Primeval responded, but she did, and he'd not the heart to interrupt. "Torchwhoof." The single word leaving an ashy taste on all their tongues.

There were a number of things Sharp could have said, but he settled for "Oh bloody tartarus."