Exma woke up to the sound of voices outside her hospital room and was curious to what the voices were and who they belonged to. She sat up just as the door opened and six mares walked in. The four mares who found her yesterday were among them along with an orange earth pony with a blonde mane and tail with a ribbon tied near the end and a brown stetson on her head wearing a white and blue flannel shirt, and jeans that had 'Apple family, embroided along one pocket and a yellow pegasus with a pink mane that covered one of her cyan eyes while her yellow sundress stretched to her ankles. The cowpony and pegasus looked at Exma in shock making her giggle in silence.
"You weren't kidding when yah said that she was odd lookin Twi'." the orange cowpony said as she looked over Exma who smiled.
"Hello there," Exma said stretching her arms, "I am Exma Immortalius and may I ask who you six may be?"
"Oh where are our manners." the lavender unicorn said. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."
The remaining ponies introduced themselves as AppleJack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.
"It's nice to meet all of you," Exma said kindly.
"May I ask you a question Exma." Twilight asked and Exma nodded. "What are you?"
"Oh I knew that was going to be asked by the student of Celestia," she said with a giggle, "As you can see I am neither a pony, dragon, griffon, changeling, buffalo, donkey, or zebra. You may not believe this but I have been like this since the beginning of Equestria, since the beginning of all existance. There are even legends and fairy tales about me."
"S-So y-your.....?" Twilight stuttered.
"Yes, barer of the element of magic, I am the fabled 'Eternal Maiden'." Exma said with a toothy grin causing the girls to gasp.
"B-but the Eternal maiden's an old mare's tale," Rarity said shaking a bit.
"So was Nightmare Moon but you six know that she wasn't," Exma said, her ruby eyes sparkling, "So that would mean that since I am laying in this hospital bed before you now clearly not dead from blood loss as a sign that I am not a legend nor am I myth."
They all looked at her in shock and amazement with jaws agape. Exma giggled at the display they put on before looking at Twilight.
"Would you like me to prove it miss Sparkle?" she asked.
"O-Oh h-how?" the lavender unicorn asked.
"Scarlet Mareington's AutoBiography, page thirty two, paragraph three. 'Today I have met a creature unlike any I have seen in my travels of Equestria. It was concealed in a cloak the color of sand tattered along the bottom. The creature spoke to me, which i found out it was female, asking me about what immortality means to me. I spoke truthfully and told her that to me immortality is about being able to live for thousands of years. She just giggled and I asked her the same question. She told me that what it means to be immortal is to exprience the worlds pain from it's first pain to it's final breath as well as feel the pain yourself. I looked at this creature in awe and she laughed before disappearing into the night. It was then I thought that the creature, the maiden, was Eternal. I never saw this eternal maiden again after that.' That was during the final years of Celestia's parents reign." Exma said, reciting the book for every word causing Twilight to look at her horrified yet intrigued.
"I've read that book but there was no description of what the eternal maiden really looked like under the cloak only guesses." she said with intrigue.
"But now we know what's under the cloak." Rainbow said. "A female something older than the princesses."
Exma nodded and smiled at them. She noticed that Fluttershy hadn't said anything the entire time, in fact she didn't seem to be in the room anymore. She voiced her concern and the girls looked for her before finding her under the bed. With some words of ecouragement from the others she was pulled out from under the bed and stood in front of Exma. The eternal lizard woman waved at Fluttershy with a calm and caring smile receiving a nervous wave from her. Exma motioned for her to come closer which she did with slight reluctance.
"Why are you frightened of me Fluttershy?" Exma asked the shy pegasus.
"Y-You l-look like a dragon." she said hiding behind her mane causing Exma to chuckle.
"I can assure you I am nothing like those creatures." she said with a giggle "In fact I died at the claws of a couple of those brutes but you can guess the rest."
She looked at the immortal and gave a small smile to her. Exma was glad that she was starting to warm up to her when the doctor came in.
"It appears you can leave tomorrow morning miss Immortalius" he said.
"That is good to hear doctor." she said and got out of her bed stretching. "Mind if I wander the hospital?"
The doctor didn't mind and Exma started to wander with the barers walking with her. They asked Exma so many questions about Equestria's past and she gave her answers. Twilight asked about the Princesse's past and Exma laughed.
"Sorry Twilight can't say anything cause I don't wish to reveal anything about Celestia. Beleive it or not I was a major part of her life whether she knew it or not." she said with a smile as the walked into the main halls.
"How?" Twilight asked Exma and she looked down at the one thing she had done for Celestia.
"One thousand years ago." was all Exma said as a dark cloud hung above her head, a cloud filled with the pain she felt those thousand years ago.
"Y-you mean...." AppleJack said, trailing off as the lizard woman nodded.
"Three weeks prior to that day I had told Celestia while she slept that Luna was being corrupted by the jealousy of the ponies loving her days and shunning her night." Exma said, the dark cloud rumbling with the memories of that day. "I was even there when Luna became the wicked Nightmare Moon and when she was banished. I comforted Celestia from the shadows for those thousand years, even sent her a Hearth's Warming gift on her first Hearth's Warming without Luna. In a sense I've been like a mother to her without being seen."
The girls looked at Exma in awe as thousands of questions ran through their minds. Before they knew it the time had flown by them and visiting hours were over. They said their goodbyes to the immotal and left for home as Exma returned to her room for the last night. She looked out of the window and saw the setting of the sun and the rising of the moon, the same ritual she's seen for years. Luna's nights have always been beautiful and Exma yearned to tell her that but she could never bring herself to do so. She sighed and got into the hospital bed, pulling the sheets over herself. She felt the cloud over her thunder as she felt sleep overtake her and she felt the memory of that night flow through her mind and dreams.