//------------------------------//
// Et Vivere, Reservate - Chapter 5 
// Story: Insanity's Truth 
// by Caffeinated Pinkie 
//------------------------------//

June 19th, 1000 CP

    I slowly came to, blinking groggy eyes. A sharp, rhythmic beeping threatened to immediately drag me back to the realm of dreams. Pure-white walls wavered in my vision, momentarily blinding me. Wishing for nothing more than to simply close my eyes, I instead forced them wide, demanding they adjust. As they grudgingly complied, the unmistakable smell of antiseptic struck my nose. My mind briefly conjured images of long-passed hospital visits and countless medical dramas. Taste was next to arrive, bringing with it a bitter flavor lingering on my tongue. I longed for even a drop of water.

    In place of a sense of touch was a warm, pervasive numbness. It made it excessively difficult to focus, leading me to stare frequently off into space.. I pulled my attention away from the bland ceiling tiles, but not before nearly falling under again. My eyes landed on a surprisingly slim machine incessantly beeping away to my side. A number was displayed on the screen, wavering around eighty — beats per minute, I assumed. Each pulse on the monitor sent a deep bass through my head. Next to the machine was a simple metal stand with partially full bags of liquid hanging underneath. Wires ran between my left foreleg and it.

    My mind then wandered to how I got here. The previous night was a blur, but was broken up by a few less-vague recollections. I could recall waking up as a lavender unicorn as well as meeting four... No, five amiable mares. I knew they were there at my confrontation with Nightmare Moon, but before then was a mystery...

    Nightmare Moon.

    Countless feelings came rushing back with that name. Fear, anger, pain, and a few others I wasn’t entirely sure about. I could recount entering the forest in pursuit of her smoky form and when I first stood before her. In my mind, the magic rushed forth and brought with it a scalding fire. Afterwards though? Very little remained following that event, leaving me to wonder if that was what landed me in the hospital.

    From there, I let my thoughts drift as the minutes passed by. After some period of time, the door shot open. I nearly jumped at the sound. Through the opening came what I perceived as an average-sized stallion with a light brown coat and a dark mane. Both around his neck and as an image on his flank was a plain stethoscope. A small pair of glasses rested on his snout. That plus a well-fitting lab coat created a rather stereotypical image of a doctor, if doctors were horses. I giggled lightly at the absurdity of it, or at least what absurdity I saw at the time with my muddled thoughts. His ears perked immediately, and he glanced towards me.

    “Ah, fantastic!” he said. “I was hoping you’d be awake by now.” He stopped. “And I was right!” I stared at him and he coughed. “As I was saying, I’m glad you’re feeling better. You are feeling better, right?”

    “Uh—” I started, unsure how to respond.

    Undeterred, he zipped over to my bedside. “Quite the good heart rate! Very regular.” My mouth opened, but he spoke first. “Now then, let’s take some tests.” His horn glowed immediately and some nearby cabinets opened. From them came a few tools: another stethoscope, a thermometer, and a reflex hammer[1].


[1] Seriously. It’s literally called a reflex hammer. That’s what 10th Century Medicine says, at least.


The stethoscope was floated forward first, to which I gazed in wonderment. My right forelimb was raised, followed by both back legs. “Woo!” I rasped as I waved them as well as could be expected, given my condition. Admittedly, I may have enjoyed the magic show a bit too much. Regardless, my limbs fell back to the bed and a long stream of giggling began. The doctor raised an eyebrow and looked me over.

“Oh,” he said. I’m sure he said something more after that, but I was no longer listening. Instead, I was giggling at his name tag, which read ‘Doctor Horse’. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember why I found it funny, only that it was. Unphased, he shook his head and placed the stethoscope on my chest. I sluggishly complied with his requests to breathe in and out, smiling widely.

He pulled back with the instrument following. “I believe that’s as much information I can get out of you at the moment.” His head turned to the side. “Thank you for being, uh, cooperative.”

I didn’t respond, just staring at him.

He looked around somewhat nervously before finally saying, “I think I’ll come back when you’re more lucid.” With that he opened the door and backed out. It swung shut behind him with a muffled thud. I didn’t move for a while after that, still feeling rather amused. Eventually, I felt my arm grow heavy and noticed it was still raised.

“Oops,” I spoke to no one, giggling at my own voice. I lowered my arm and I fell asleep soon after.





I awoke once more to the sound of the door creaking open. This time around, I felt far less drugged up, but didn’t think I would be the best judge of that. A young unicorn mare dressed similarly to Doctor Horse stepped in. Her coat was a buttery gold and her mane was strikingly silver. She seemed surprised that I was awake. The nametag on her lab coat read ‘Sunny Chaser’. Her blue eyes drifted upwards briefly.

    “Good morning,” she eventually said with a slight waver. I weakly waved a hoof at her. Once more, her gaze focused on the space just above my head. She didn’t make a single move. I coughed into a hoof.

    She nearly jumped before running from the room in a hurry. The sound of hoofsteps disappeared into the distance. I attempted to scratch my head, but found hooves to be less than ideal for the task. Grumbling, I looked around. The room was about what I’d expect from a room in a hospital: blindingly white with tiles in the floor and ceiling. To my left was a corner table that covered about half of the left wall and maybe a fourth of the wall behind me. In the space between the table and the bed was a grey, modern-looking heart rate monitor atop a grey cart. Even closer to me was a metal stand with three bags of semi-clear and clear liquid. To my right was a small table and an undecorated wall with a single small window in the center. It was opened slightly.

    The door creaked in the breeze. I could hear someone coming this way, the rhythmic sound of hooffalls combined with the beeping of the heart rate monitor threatening to drag me back to sleep. However, the door gently opening pulled me back to reality.

    “Hello? I brought... Um... I brought you some food,” Sunny said. She was steadily carrying a tray of various food items in her magic. Upon seeing me, her eyes widened. “Uh...” she trailed off, then looked between the tray and above my head a few times. Eventually, her magic cut off and it landed on her right hoof. She averted her eyes. The tray of food wobbled dangerously with each step, but made it unspilled to my bed where she placed it down. She seemed to sigh with relief.

    Then, far quicker than she made her way to my bed, she exited the room. I looked to the tray on my lap and considered how I would pick up any of the food. Now that I thought about it, this was my first meal since coming to this world. The thought was interrupted by another knock on the door. It was already open, so Doctor Horse walked right in. A tall glass of clear liquid floated behind him. If my mouth wasn’t parched it would have started watering.

    “Hello again,” he said, setting down the glass on the table to the right. “How’s the food?” Before I could answer, he went on. “Nevermind, let me grab that.” He magicked the tray away while grumbling something. I reached out a hoof to grab my stuff.

I wanted my stuff.

    “Tut tut, you’ll get to eat later. I need to run some tests on you now that the painkillers should have all but worn off.” The medical tools he left on the table floated up and over. I blinked and looked to my left forelimb. Sure enough, the IVs had been removed from my leg. The thought of those things being... Inside me gave me chills.

    While he proceeded to check my breathing, heart, and the such, I kept stealing glances to the delicious ichor a mere meter away. Not to mention the life-giving sustenance across the room. He most certainly noticed it as well, as he spoke up in the middle of testing my reflexes.

    “We’re almost done here, Miss. You’ll be able to get back to drinking and eating soon enough.” I nodded but felt a bit unsure. He paused. “Hmm, do you think you will need help with the glass?” he asked. I frowned at that, wanting to snap back at him, but held my tongue. I shook my head.

    He smiled softly and nodded. “Well, I believe we are good for now and you can have your leg back.” He backed up and pulled out a clipboard from somewhere. “Now then, there’s just some general stuff to go over with you. Dos and don’ts, that sort of thing.” He paused as he read over the papers. “Oh, yes. Make sure you don’t use—” Before his thought could be finished, I had already started trying to reach out to the glass with my magic. It hadn’t even crossed my mind to use a hoof instead when a sharp pain stabbed into my temples. Though somewhat dull and distant, it was still enough to make me lose my tentative grip on the glass and send it shattering onto the ground. I gasped sharply, falling into a coughing fit. As the coughing subsided and I regained control of my breathing, I noticed the ache remained in my horn.

    “Oh, dear,” I heard Doctor Horse mumble. My ears flicked in response. “Are you alright?” he asked, entering my field of view. I nodded weakly, not entirely sure myself. He grunted and looked above me, already moving to the door. “I’ll get you an ice pack for that... And some water.” He fell silent.

    “More water, that is,” he continued. “Also, somepony to clean that mess up.” At this point, he devolved into incomprehensible mumbling. Doctor Horse nodded once and left the room. A few seconds later, he stuck his head back through the door. “Almost forgot: try not to use magic for the time being.” The door shut.

    Don’t use magic? What’s wrong with my horn? I wondered, trying to look up at my horn. A jolt ran down my spine, starting from there. I sighed and gave up. Wasn’t like I would have been able to see it anyway. Furthermore, I was still completely parched. Was it any wonder that my head hurt like hell?

    Another sigh escaped my lips. This would be a long wait.





Very long. A good descriptor for many things. A tall metal pool. A long creepy hallway. My— Let’s get back on track. After a suspiciously long time, a series of three knocks sounded on the door. While I was curious why these ponies were only now actually taking the time to knock, I refused to stoop down to their animalistic social norms by responding. Nor would my displeasure fail to show in my body language. Nay, never would I uncross my forelegs, lie back down, nor cease frowning.

    Ah, cramp! Ow, ow, ow! I mentally shouted and both uncrossed my forelegs and lay back down. My frown did not abate, however.

The door creaked open and a nurse poked her head in. “Ms. Sparkle?” a now familiar voice queried. I grunted non-committedly. Where be the water? The door opened fully and the voice continued, “Pardon my intrusion, but you have some visitors.”

My glared hardened. While I appeared quite certain in my conviction to an outsider, I felt deeply conflicted. It would be nice to talk with my... Friends again, but— My gaze shifted to the waterless nightstand to my right. I looked back to Sunny. As I suspected, she was dry as a horse, one that didn’t bring her patient water.

She must have realized her mistake, as her face morphed to one of embarrassment. I rolled my eyes and dismissively waved in a ‘Sure, why not’ gesture. Relief played across her face. Muffled conversation floated through the door, which opened to admit three ponies and a baby dragon. I almost giggled at the absurdity of the thought, but caught myself just in time[2]. I worked hard on this frown, dammit!


[2] Three ponies and a baby dragon walk into a bar. The eldest asks the bartender for a beer, with the others requesting various alcoholic drinks. The bartender turns to the dragon and asks, “And what’ll it be for the youngin’?” Rarity The youngest mare replies, “Honestly, he shouldn’t even be here.”


    However, I was adverse to making my newfound friends immediately uncomfortable around me, so I rapidly dropped the act. Pinkie bounced a bit closer, while Applejack and Rarity took their sweet time to look just above me. When they again reverted their gaze to me, they refused to meet my eyes. While the continued fascination with the spot just above my head threatened to upset my good mood, Spike acted much faster. He ran straight to where I lay down and jumped onto the mattress. Almost immediately, I was held in a tight embrace. I chuckled slightly with an only somewhat awkward smile, musing, That guy sure knows how to make a girl feel loved.

    Regardless of the awkward introduction, the room seemed to grow less tense. Spike sat down at the foot of my bed while I was just grateful for him breaking the ice, as it were. Applejack and Rarity walked up to stand next to me with caring smiles— only slightly strained. Pinkie hadn’t seemed fazed by a thing since I met her, always full of cheer. Speaking of, where did she— Pinkie was right on top of me. I would have likely been embarrassed by the compromising position and the way she straddled me, but I was far too busy yelping in fright.

    “Pinkie!” I shouted, immediately regretting how it murdered my already raw throat. Rarity cleared her throat and levitated my attacker to the floor. Pinkie held the same position, only resuming her bouncing when her hooves touched the ground. After doing so, her eyes flickered once more above me, before looking away. Applejack looked between Spike and I, seemingly deep in thought.

    “Um, hi,” I meekly said. I coughed quietly. The greeting was exchanged enthusiastically, doubly so by Pinkie.

    “We—” Rarity and I both began at the same time. “Uh,” we tried again with the same results. We both giggled in tandem.

    Applejack restarted our conversation. “How’re you doing there, sugarcube?” she asked. I shrugged non-committally.

    “I’m doing alright,” I stated in a way of an explanation, “just a little tired and sore. And my horn is in a bit of pain.” I thought for a moment. “Oh, also I could really use some water!” I shouted out the open door and into the hallway. I liked to think that so-called Doctor Horse heard me, but found it doubtful. I sighed.

    Applejack and Spike looked at me strangely, possibly for different reasons, while Rarity gave a quiet titter. Pinkie kept doing her own thing; I didn’t look. “Oh, that Doctor Horse is always forgetting things,” she said mirthfully.

    “Seems like a bad quality for a physician to have,” I commented.

    She nodded and sidled up to me. “Remind me to tell you about the pincushion incident,” she whispered pseudo-secretly. I gave a breathy laugh and a nod, promising myself to bring this up at a future vocation[3].


[3] And you better believe I did. Remind me to tell you about the pincushion incident. It’s a riot.


    Applejack rolled her eyes, coincidentally sneaking a peak above me— again. I found it to be rather rude, all things considered. However, she did actually address it this time around.

    “Say, what’s the deal with your horn?” she asked warily. I again attempted to look at it before mentally slapping myself.

    She looked confused and shook her head. “No, I...” she trailed off, glancing at the others for help.

    Pinkie came to her rescue. “Oh! You mean how it’s like totally broken?” As she spoke, her body twisted in ungodly ways, ending up next to me. She poked lightly at the base of my horn. I couldn’t move fast enough and a searing burn stabbed through my forehead as she made contact. I forced my teeth to clench and breathed in sharply, lest I make a sound. God forbid I began yelling at her, however much I wanted to.

    During those precious few seconds of Pinkie’s hoof making contact with my various appendages, a palpable silence had settled over the room. Rarity was the first to break free, unceremoniously ripping the then frozen Pinkie from my side with but a thought. I couldn’t help but notice the familiar sound of velcro ripping apart as she came free. A wave of relief quenched the fire in my nerves, but couldn’t entirely dull the pain. By the time I came to, Rarity was berating a shameful pink pony.

    “—an injured horn is extremely sensitive!” I caught her saying, followed with, “Particularly inside the hardened alicorn. Exactly the part you assaulted with that wayward hoof of yours!” The last part was not quite shouted, but likely carried as far as if it was. Pinkie briefly glanced down at her hooves, newly dubbed as wayward, before sending a deeply apologetic look my way. While I remained rather peeved, she seemed entirely sincere and so I replied by mouthing an “It’s fine.” A scathing retort was just barely bit back.

    Regardless, I shuddered at the idea of someone touching my insides in any manner — if Rarity was to be believed — however far from a part of myself I considered that horn to be. Spike brought me back to the present when he placed a diminutive hand — or claw — on my right shoulder. I had nearly forgotten he was there.

    “Hey, don’t worry Twilight. We’ll get through this and you’ll be back to normal before you know it!” he assured, entirely mistaking my expression for grief over the loss of my magic. For obvious reasons, I didn’t believe the latter part of his statement, but the sentiment was nonetheless appreciated. I considered what the real Twilight might say in the situation, but had nothing to really go on. A gentle smile and a grateful nod would have to do.

     Given that Spike was the only one around who was in any way familiar with Twilight — I hoped — I would need to exercise utmost caution in my conversations with him in particular. One slip-up could spell disaster. I made a mental note to dig up and study some of Twilight’s old correspondences at the earliest opportunity. Perhaps doing so could fill me in on some of her past and possibly even how I came to be here.

    Although... I turned my head to look at the young drake now hugging my side and couldn’t stop a small smile from forming. There was always the option for me to tell him as soon at the earliest opportunity instead. If I spun it right, there would be no need for such secrecy and subterfuge. I shook my head. It was a momentous decision for a later date. That was not the time or place.

    Looking up, it seemed that nobody had noticed my distractedness. Probably for the best. Rarity was just ending her tirade against Pinkie, except she had wandered completely off-track during the process and was now venting about finances or something like that. Spike was still leaning on my side. Pinkie looked more confused than upset by that point. Applejack appeared to want to be literally anywhere but here. And Doctor Horse had just stepped into the room, looking for all the world like he’d stepped into a battlefield. In a sense, he sort of did.

    My day instantly grew several shades brighter. That is, until I noticed he was, once more, sans water. I was probably mere moments away from starting my own shouting match with the fiend, when the next visitor saved his metaphorical ass. She, a midnight blue pony, walked through the door-frame. Her hair flowed in an invisible wind, though weakly, and a long spiralled horn jutted from her forehead. A dark crown sat atop her head and a matching lunula[4] adorned her chest.


[4] A point of order here. At the time, I had referred to the aforementioned chest piece as a ‘peytral’. However, it really didn’t cover much surface area, certainly not enough to be at all considered armor. Plus, I would later learn from Luna that it was made of a black gold alloy that allowed for more flexibility than a standard piece of armor. When I initially described it as a ‘peytral’ in the first draft of this entry, she made it a point to correct it to ‘lunula’; she apparently created the word some thousands of years ago.


    She, Princess Luna, also wore impressively shiny black hoof covers on all four legs. With her flowing tail, crescent moon... Butt-mark, and fierce cyan eyes, she practically demanded the prostration of everyone in the room. I at least found it extremely respectable and perhaps a small bit frightening. Unfortunately, from my position in the hospital bed, I was unable to do much more than bow my head slightly. The others didn’t have any such excuse and made to very publicly prostrate themselves in a manner that would have made me blush were they human.

    All that aside, she almost immediately took to glaring simultaneously at every being in the room except me. The premises were predictably vacated rapidly within the next few moments. The door shut, leaving just us alone. I’m not afraid to admit I was a tad intimidated. Okay, nearly pants-wetting intimidated. However, with the others gone, her posture and attitude took a one-eighty. Her gently cascading hair morphed into more limp, static strands of light blue. Her head slumped and she sat down hard, breathing heavily. Concerned, I attempted to reach out to her, but found my new arms sorely lacking in length.

    “Luna? Princess Luna?” I tried.

    She didn’t look up, instead allowing her mane to fall down her face. “Prithee, spare us a moment’s rest.” I obliged the request and sat back, frowning slightly. Eventually, her head lifted and she met my gaze. I was taken aback at how submissive she only then appeared, in contrast to her usually imposing presence.

    “Are you alright?” I asked. If there was any water nearby, I would surely have offered it to her. I said as much to her.

    “Forgive our fatigue, dame Twilight,” she said, shaking her head. “Our recovery has but just started, yet we wished to thank thee in pony. Admittedly, the burden of recovery is only worsened by the façade we must maintain before our subjects.” She sighed at the end and slumped a little. Meanwhile, I was unused to such sincere and freely given gratitude. I was certain it showed[5].


[5] Luna confirmed I was blushing furiously.


“Well”, I stuttered slightly, “I was just in the right place, right time. You know?” I paused, trying to collect my thoughts. “And, I wasn’t alone. My friends were there too—” Her words caught up to me and I stopped short. “...Dame Twilight?” I questioned, squinting at her.

The Princess frowned. “Ah, our dearest sister intended to surprise thee and thy friends, methinks.” She tapped a chin, but didn’t really look all that apologetic. “No matter,” she continued before I could get a word in, “the ceremony wouldst most certainly be deferred what with thy resettlement in the Ponyville hamlet.”

    My brain broke, probably. “I— what? Resettlement?” I stared blankly as the corner of her lips almost imperceptibly curved upwards. There was a lot of information coming at me at once and I was not in the mood to puzzle things out.

    “Ah,” she intoned once more, “that was most certainly a surprise as well.” My gaze snapped to her carefully constructed expression, nary a hint of mirth nor deceit to be seen.

    I narrowed my eyes. My mouth opened for a second before closing again. “Be that as it may, shouldn’t you also be thanking my friends as well?” It was only fair they receive the same level of praise as I. Surprisingly, Luna refrained from responding immediately, instead electing to shift on her hooves and stare at the ceiling. I leaned forward as far as I could, to which she took a step back. Wait a second...

    “Are— are you nervous?” I asked.

    Her head whipped down to stare me in the eyes, anger flickering across her face. “Thou darest accuse us of such cowardice‽ Why, we—” She snorted and looked away. A sigh wafted from her lips. I kept my stupid mouth shut. However, the door burst open just then to allow The Great Deceiver entry.

    Doctor Horse ran in, already rambling. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Sparkle!” Your water’s ri—“ In the middle of his sentence, he finally took notice of the alicorn just before him. I heard an audible gulp, a second round of apologies no doubt lingering on his tongue as he took a hasty bow. The tantalizingly full glass of water in his magic dropped out of his grip in his haste to appease royalty. Before I could blink, dark blue magic surrounded it, halting the glass’ momentum entirely without spilling a drop.

    I glanced at the source, only to be taken aback. In-between the interruption, Princess Luna had resumed her infallible air of regality. So flawless was her act, that I would have trouble believing it was fake, had I not seen her true emotions just moments before. She floated the water to my nightstand as I stared. As her back was to the doctor, only I could see the slight smile she flashed my way.

    “We do believe this is yours?” she uptalked subtly and winked. Forced to respond, I merely blushed and nodded with a wider smile.

    “Tha—” I coughed. “Thanks.” Remembering to forgo magic, I leaned towards the glass she set down and wrapped my left fetlock around it. Somewhat shakily, I managed to take a few gulps before setting it down, leaving a half empty glass behind.

    It won’t be so bad, I thought, to be stuck without magic for awhile. Advantageous even. While it made some logical sense given that I didn’t know a single thing about the subject, the statement left an uneasy weight in my chest.

    In the time it took my mind to restart from the delicious liquid, I noticed Doctor Horse had left, though Luna remained serious. I could hear voices in the hall. My friends from before walked in then and I gave Luna a hard look. Her shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly.

    Looking at the current company, a question occurred to me. “Where are Fluttershy and Rainbow?”

    Spike answered quickly, “Rainbow is still in bed from your fight. I think Fluttershy is with her.”

    That surprised me. While my memory of the night remained spotty, I couldn’t recall Fluttershy receiving any serious wounds. “Is Fluttershy fine?”

    Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Rainbow is getting better.”

    I winced.

    Rarity waved a hoof in the air dismissively. “Ah, the darling simply refused to leave Rainbow Dash’s side.” She sighed almost dreamily, gaining a far away look. “Those two are so cute...” she murmured. I furrowed a brow and Applejack jabbed her with a leg. The farmer looked at Rarity, shaking her head disapprovingly. Rarity looked around and tittered nervously[6].


[6] Rarity has quite the range of titters. I’ve been meaning to catalogue them, actually.


    “Anyway, seems them Elements didn’t totally patch us all up,” Applejack continued.

I must have conveyed the confusion I felt, as Rarity took it upon herself to elaborate. “After those fabulous gems defeated Nightmare Moon, they healed the worst of our injuries.” She looked away and mumbled, “Apparently, the nest my mane turned into didn’t make the cut.” I stifled a giggle.

Luna cleared her throat, abruptly reminding me she was still here. She shifted slightly on her hooves before swallowing. It was one of the most adorable things I had ever seen up to that point. “We wish to— well—” She stuttered to a stop and Applejack and Rarity exchanged glances. Pinkie was missing[7].


[7] Never a good thing. When it comes to Pinkie, I’ve found tracking spells to partially mitigate the issue, but even those tend to be unreliable with her. Upon questioning her after a particularly long period of such spells not working, she informed me she had “gone through a tunnel.” Any further experiments have since been indefinitely postponed. However, a leash is still on the table.


    The Princess once more let slip the mask and slumped. I had to wonder if she had back problems. Perhaps having no gravity on the moon messed her up, I figured before shaking my head.

    “We would like to... Thank you,” Luna managed, “for saving us and for saving Equestria.” She nodded then hung her head. I believe Rarity was far redder than I’ve ever been at that point.

    Shouting came from the hall and we all looked towards the door. The commotion grew closer until it sounded like it was just outside the room. The shouts became audible by then.

    “Unhoof me, foul da—“ The door burst open suddenly with Pinkie slowly walking in. On her back was one Doctor Horse, who — upon spotting where he now was — instantly shut up. Still upside down, he attempted a casual wave towards our group. “Ah, greetings Princess! Good day Twilight,” he added, “and friends.” Rarity harrumphed and turned her nose up.

    I gingerly reached up and put a hoof on my face. “Pinkie... Why did you kidnap the doctor?” I shook my head and slowly looked to her smiling face.

    She bounced once, sending the doctor into the air. He somehow landed on his hooves, just as surprised as me. “Silly filly!” Pinkie laughed, “I didn’t kidnap him, I foalnapped him!” I realized then my folly.

    Shit.

    Thankfully, Luna came to my rescue for some unknown reason. “We do recall ‘kidnap’ as originating during the later years of Sister’s Reign.” I didn’t know if that was true at all, but praised my new goddess all the same.

    Rarity seemed impressed at the very least. She was undoubtedly going to add it to her ‘Poetic Vintage Terms She Wants to Use but Can’t Fit into Casual Conversation’ list[8].


[8] Yes, this list does exist, except I made it, not Rarity. TM.


    “I demand you release Twilight at once!” Pinkie continued, unabated.

    Doctor Horse stared back. “What?”

    Pinkie quieted a little and had the decency to look embarrassed. “You know, a clean bill of health. Do your doctor magic thing and heal her!”

    He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Well, we were probably going to discharge her today anyway.” He looked at the other beings present. “Go on, get!” he exclaimed, ushering everyone but me out of the room. He didn’t even seem to care that he was bossing around Princess Luna. They begrudgingly complied and Doctor Horse began the physical.





Blood drawn, reflexes tested, and breathing heard, I was deemed a healthy-ish individual and sent on my merry way. The only notes boiled down to essentially “don’t use magic” and “rest up.” I figured that was easily doable, considering I was a magicless human my entire life[9] and I also felt immensely exhausted.


[9] Having fingers helped too.


    Applejack, Luna, Pinkie, Rarity, Spike, and I all trotted towards the trauma ward, where any thusly injured pegasi resided. The few stumbles I suffered from were conveniently written off as symptoms of my tiredness. Turning a corner, Rainbow was immediately visible. A number of bandages covered various areas of her body. She was lying on a hospital bed, attached to a blood bag and another bag filled with clear fluid. Both were connected to her left foreleg. A nurse was holding some large pill capsules and a glass of water at the side of her bed.

    As we drew closer, I could begin to make out an argument brewing. Rainbow was clearly tired, but was refusing to back down from whatever it was she was debating.

    “I don’t have any other patients. I can do this all day,” the nurse said, obviously irritated.

    Rainbow crossed a leg, slightly wincing. “Well, too bad. I—” Fluttershy, who was in a chair to the side of Rainbow, put a hoof on her shoulder. Her hair was impressively dishevelled and heavy bags showed under her eyes. She said something too quiet for me to hear and Rainbow took the pills.

    The nursed waved us over when she saw us and swiftly departed with a slight look of fear. I figured it was mostly a result of Luna’s presence. We stopped a short distance from Rainbow’s bed to take in her injuries. As mentioned before, she had a number of bandages around her body, likely hiding the worst. What was visible was the multitude of cuts and bruises on her everywhere. Apart from a cut on her cheek and forehead, her face had been spared anything serious. Thank goodness for small favors.

    Her displeasure visibly lessened with us there. Fluttershy sent a small wave our way but retreated behind her mane nonetheless.

    “Oh, darling, how are you feeling?” Rarity asked.

    Rainbow shrugged nonchalantly. “A little tired, but I’ll be out of here before you know it!” She grinned boastfully. I raised an eyebrow and looked questioningly at Fluttershy.

    She eventually clarified after a bout of nervous shifting. “Um, Rainbow is mostly alright, but...” she trailed off before quietly finishing, “she’s not supposed to, um, use her wings or exercise for a while.” She looked down, ears folded.

    Rainbow went wide eyed and shook her head. “Well, sure, the doctor said that, but what do they know? By this time tomorrow I’ll be doing loops around them!” She grinned. “A bit of pain isn’t gonna stop me.”

    Fluttershy didn’t waste a second before jumping up from her chair and hovering above Rainbow, glaring down at the prismatic pegasus. “It’s not the pain they’re worried about! If you exacerbate the injuries you could scar, or worse, get a serious infection!”

    Rainbow looked surprisingly meek as she stared back at her friend. “But—“

    Fluttershy shook her head. “No ifs or buts about it, missy. You are going to take your medicine and follow the doctor’s orders if I have anything to say about it!” she finished triumphantly as Rainbow covered her face with a fetlock. Then she seemed to recall that we were still here, turning bright red and stuttering frightfully. She retreated back to her chair and shrank behind her hair.

    After a few moments of silence, conversation sprung up amongst my new friends. I wasn’t entirely paying attention as I noticed then that Luna had lagged woefully behind, awkwardly avoiding my gaze. She must have felt extremely out of time and place, having been gone so long. I guess I could relate to an extent. Regardless, I waited for her to notice me staring at her before nodding my head towards Rainbow and Flutters. She sent me a pleading look, but I wasn’t about to take no for an answer. She eventually relented, sighing in defeat.

    Luna stepped forward and cleared her throat. All conversation halted, everypony looking towards her expectantly. She gulped.

    “We wish to thank you,” she somewhat confidently began, “for services rendered unto both us and Equestria.” Fluttershy took to imitating a broken record at the praise, blushing deeply. Rainbow, on the other hand, seemed to swell from both surprise and pride, as if subsisting off of attention alone[10].


[10] Given some of the things I’ve seen since coming to Equestria, I have to wonder if this is possible. I’ll have to run some experiments at a later date.


    Spike and the rest of the girls were smiling from the sidelines, even as the Princess looked about ready to disappear. For my part, I was just glad we all made it through the Nightmare Moon ordeal in one piece. Even more so for the friends I had since made.

There was certainly something magical about this place, where even after something so harrowing, laughter and happiness could still prevail. I smiled in thought. Before these past few days, I could never have imagined anything quite so frightening as fighting Nightmare Moon nor something quite so heartwarming as seeing all seven of my new friends here today just... Talking. Surviving and growing as people or ponies.

But, once I was out of this hospital, the long search for the real Twilight could begin.