//------------------------------// // Slumber: Alternate Ending // Story: Amicitia // by Impurity //------------------------------// “Every action has consequences, whether they are positive or negative depends on certain factors.” 6 months later “Hello princess.” One of the nurses said, giving her a sympathetic smile. “Hello nurse Redheart, have there been any changes to her status?” Princess Celestia asked, hoping for a different answer. “I’m sorry but she’s been in the same condition since the beginning. No improvements but no complications either. You can go and see her if you’d like.” Redheart went back to work after explaining the situation. “I see. Thank you.” She started walking towards the room where her student laid. A-3 was where she had been resting since the incident. Within a minute she made it to the set of white double doors that stood between them. Please Twilight. She prayed silently to herself, even though she knew it was a lost cause. Celestia slowly opened both doors to reveal the contents of the room. *Beep* In front of the princess laid the purple mare, most of her body covered by the white sheet. Connected into her right foreleg was a simple needle, inserting the necessary fluids she needed to stay alive from the half empty iv bag that stood beside her. The Electrocardiograph machine (or ECG for short) was also connected to her chest using five separate wires to measure her heart rate. At the moment her bpm sat at a proper 43, which was an average resting rate for a mare her age. Just like the nurse said, no changes had happened since she had last visited. *Beep* Celestia merely stood at the door and stared at her for a good 30 seconds, unsure of what she should do. After that, she decided to stop acting like a scared foal and just go into the room, letting the doors close on themselves, leaving her and Twilight completely alone. *Beep* Princess Celestia approached Twilight and sat beside the bed. With one hoof she reached over and ran her hoof down the right side of her face, past her cheek. She returned her hoof back onto the floor before speaking. *Beep* “Hello there Twilight.” Princess Celestia said in a depressing tone. “It’s been six months now since you used the spell.” *Beep* “The doctors expected you to wake up within the first month, with you staying in the hospital to recover for another. Your horn was a complicated problem, but was a problem even the most basic of doctors know how to fix, but not without leaving a faint scar on it. It’s easily noticeable and sadly decreases your ability to cast magic. It’s better than nothing though.” *Beep* “They didn’t know how to treat you fully though, no doctor in the entire land has ever seen the problem you had. Magic depletion is something rare, something that has only happened once in the entire span of my life that i’d heard about. If it had only been magic loss it would have easily came back to you after a few short days of rest, but depletion is the permanent loss of magic and even worse, it takes away from your life force as well. I should have studied more before even thinking about telling you about the spell. The only other unicorn i’ve seen or heard that had such a problem was my mentor, and he disappeared after that. He told me that he need to go somewhere and that he wasn’t going to come back again. I assumed he died but there was no real way to confirm it or not, my sister thought he merely disappeared and was going to return soon.” *Beep* “We never saw him after that day and soon forgot about him. He taught us to never hold a bond between him and us, only as student learning from a teacher, nothing more and nothing less. When he left I was gloomy for a few days but was back to my normal self. Luna however made the mistake of treating him like a second father and mourned for months.” *Beep* “After my parents died, and my mentor disappeared the only one who I had any attachment whatsoever to was my sister and it stayed like that for over a thousands years. But when I met you for the first time, I knew you were special. So I took you as my personal student. *Beep* “At first I thought of us as nothing more but teacher and student, you were under my tutelage and learned more advanced studies than the other foals your age. It was a one on one class where you received extra help so you could advance yourself to the place you are- I mean were not too long ago.” *Beep* “Overtime however I learned more about you, on a more social level and we evolved our small relationship into a more personal one. Soon we became somewhat like friends. Whenever you had a bad dream, or had something on your mind that you needed help with I was there almost always whenever you needed me. When I had frustration problems and became stressed from all the whining and complaining of the nobles, you came to me and helped me through them. Telling me many things that cheered me up and lifted my terrible attitude. I remember that sometimes I had a snappy attitude with you, becoming angry at you because you wanted to brighten up my day.” *Beep* “After a few more years of our studies we became even more than just friends. We were like family, inseparable, had complete trust in one another and loved each other greatly. You were the only one other than my sister to got so close to me. You are the daughter I never, but wish, I had. You were the closest thing I could have to a daughter as I feared marrying and bearing foals. I didn’t want to deal with the emotional suffering that came afterwards when I outlived them.” *Beep* “Like the suffering i’m feeling right now. This is exactly what I feared would happen, not like this or at this time, but you would be in a state like this or even worse such as death. Luna has been saying that I haven’t been myself for the past couple of months. She said that I should take time off and properly deal with this, but I feel as if she’s wrong and that work is the best thing for me right now. But enough about me.” *Beep* “I’m sorry to say that your friends haven’t been doing much better than me. Rainbow Dash hasn’t talked much about herself, only about you, from what i’ve heard about. All she talks about is how you’re going to make it okay and life is going to be like before. Always hoping that the next day you will wake up and the past could remain the past and all of you could go back to your normal lives.” *Beep* “Applejack is having a tough time dealing with this but out of all of them is giving the best reaction. She has been slightly more glum than usual and tends to get angry when she’s alone. She still blames herself for what happened to you, she’s angry at herself that she let herself do that to you.” *Beep* “Pinkie has been trying to live life like normal, still partying and making everypony happy. But deep down everypony knew that the usual cheeriness she held wasn't there. Some say that she’s pushing herself too hard and that she’s doing it as if being forced to. The regular happiness her smiles always had is missing, i’ve seen it myself.” *Beep* “Sadly I haven’t heard much from Spike, Rarity, or Fluttershy. After the first month nopony had heard from Fluttershy, the only times they would see her would be once a week at the marketplace, buying a small amount of food each time. Her place looks so desolate, so empty, lonely. I think the animals have all left her there, that’s why it looks so void of life. Some ponies tried to see her, Miss Cheerilee was one who tried again and again, only to receive no reply at the door.” *Beep* “Spike had little to no injuries, just a few minor cuts and scratches which healed quickly, him being a dragon and all. Once he was fine he sat at your side, not moving for anything for a full month. When Rarity recovered in a week she took it upon herself to take care of him and she has been doing so properly, but neither of them aren’t responding much to others.” *Beep* “I’m sorry Twilight. All of this has been my fault. If only I hadn’t taught you that spell, none of this would have happened if I didn’t let you learn it. Without it you would have found a different way to escape your assailants, which we sadly could not find or identify. We asked your friends but all they said was that the nightmare versions of the Wonderbolts, the Shadowbolts, had attacked you and them. At first I thought they were delirious as the Shadowbolts were only parts of the Nightmare Moon’s existence and when my sister was cleansed they became figments of her imagination. But Rarity told me everything, how exactly you were all hurt without leaving any excruciating details out and a few times she needed a short break before continuing on.” *Beep* “Her voice held so much fear that made me believe that they were in fact not imagining things. In all honesty I was slightly scared that beings like them could exist at the same time be that powerful. A pegasus beating an earth pony, much less Applejack, unconscious in one blow is unheard of. Whomever or whatever recreated them must be someone powerful.” *Beep* "If you could see me you'd probably wonder why i'm here, talking to you, even though I know you're unresponsive. My answer to that is that I guess it gives me some solace knowing that even though you're in this state, you're still alive." *Beep* “When you wake up I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” *Beep* “How ever long that takes.” The princess made her way to the door, stopping right before exiting. *Beep* “Good bye Twilight.” Celestia left the room, leaving the still unconscious mare alone to herself. *Beep* *Beep*