//------------------------------//
// Chapter 23. 
// Story: Pony of a Different Color 
// by Sparky Brony 
//------------------------------//

***Moonshine***

I'm at Ponyville General Hospital. I've been healing ponies all evening. Even the soldiers. I directed groups of orderlies to get wounded through the gateways. The pony under my hooves shudders in my healing weaves. The soldier pony wakes up suddenly.

“Hush, hush, you are okay. I just healed you. You need to go with the orderly there.” I gesture with my hoof. “And he will take you to the protected wing. You will not be harmed, and we will return you to your world.” The dazed soldier gets off the table. I indicate to the triage nurse for another pony. While I'm waiting, I close my eyes and place my head on the table. I'm so tired. I've been weaving for hours. Just five minutes I think as I start to nod off.

“Where is Moonshine?” I hear a howl. It starts me from being nearly asleep. That tone of voice chills me to the bone, I recognize the voice. It's Rainbow Dash. And she sounds like her life is ending. I stick my head past the privacy curtain. 

“I'm here” I shout. In moments I see her, and Twilight. They are flapping their wings together as they carry a limp body. For a moment I'm confused. That body looks familiar. Oh no. Dad. I flap my wings and gesture for them to come to me. They gently place my father on the table in front of me. He has a huge wound to his chest, and his stomach, he's nearly been eviscerated. One of his wings is gone. I embrace Saidar and run a delving over him. I spare some attention for them. 

“What happened?”

Rainbow Dash is beyond talking, she's sobbing so hard she can't speak. Twilight pipes up. “He saved us, he saved Luna. But that animal La Rouche stabbed him with a huge knife.” More tears roll down her cheeks, “I couldn't do anything, the damage is too much. I'm not a healer. You are a healer Moonshine. Please save him.”

I look back at my dad. He's barely breathing. My delve has shown me what I need to know. I withdraw my power. I step back, I trip over an IV stand and fall heavily on my back. “I can't save him.” I whisper.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You have to save him, you saved Celestia.” Twilight bawls.

I get to my hooves. “I'm sorry Twilight, he's injured far worse than Celestia was. I'm very good with healing, but this is far beyond my abilities. I don't know any healer in the history of adepts that could have ever fixed this much.”

“What if we can combine the magic of Equestria, with your source?” An ethereal voice says. Celestia enters the room, along with Luna. Cadence joins in as well. We push the privacy curtains back so we have enough room for every pony.

“I don't know if it will make any difference, but for my Dad, we can certainly try. Twilight, will you link with me?”

The sobbing alicorn nods her head. In moments we are adrift in the infinite currents of the source. I focus my power. The strongest healing weave I know springs into existence. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence light up their horns. I see Celestia focus her magic into Sparky. 

I murmur quietly. “Just focus on keeping him alive, I'll start by repairing his lungs and heart.”

She nods as he glows around his chest and head. I feel the damage with my magic. His heart is pumping so weakly. In several moments, it's healed, and then I focus on his lungs, one is okay, the other... well. I slowly weave the lung together.

I look up at one of the doctors who was attracted by the commotion. “I need ten units of blood right now. I can't focus on growing new blood while I'm trying to heal him. Push it, fast. We need to replace blood.” The unicorn nods and gallops off. A nurse comes pushes up to us. She pushes the needle into a vein on his forehoof. I focus on his ruined gut. I clean out the blood. I gently start rearranging his organs. His body squirms, this is a huge amount of pain, he's reacting even though he's unconscious. I yell at one of the unicorn doctors. 

“Hold him down. He can't move while I'm doing this.” A new glow surrounds his body as he is immobilized. The nurse comes back with blood and hangs it on the stand. She squeezes the bag for the blood to rush into his body. I order some morphine, thank Celestia they have that powerful drug here in Equestria. In moments his body relaxes and I can continue to heal him. I glance at the clock, I've been working on him for over half an hour. And I'm not even close to done. I work down his body, healing each organ as I reattach the connective tissue setting each organ in its proper place. After another hour, I'm almost done, I'm healing up the skin wounds. I look at the Princesses, they all have tears down their faces.

“How are you holding up?”

Luna answers. “We can feel the pain he does. But whatever it takes to heal Sparky. We will do. He nearly died to save me, to save us all.”

In moments I'm done. I let Twilight out of the ring. I'm done. I can't do any more. Saidar slips from me as I fall over. Rainbow Dash catches me.

“We need to get you into bed Moonshine.” She says as she draws me away from the bed. I push her away.

“In a minute. I need to give instructions.” I turn to the head nurse. “Nurse Redheart. My dad is mostly healed. I can't do any more. The rest his body will have to do on its own. Keep the IV drip to keep him hydrated. It will be touch and go for the rest of the night. He needs to be in intensive care. Twenty four hour watch, understood?” I continue relaying instructions.

Nurse Redheart puts her hoof on my shoulder, “Moonshine, we will handle it.” Rainbow Dash helps me to a waiting room with a couch. I collapse into it.

***Rainbow Dash***

I trot from the waiting room I left Moonshine in. She's asleep on the couch before I even got to the door. As I get back to Sparky, he's being wheeled to a room. I simply follow him. I wait in the corner of the room while the orderlies move him into the bed and get him set in his room. I don't even think they notice me as they go about their work. Normally that is not something I like, not being noticed. But there is somepony far more important in this room. They eventually leave and I'm all alone with him. I move over to the bed. I hear all the monitoring equipment beeping and humming, making sure his vital statistics stay where they are supposed to be. I lean my head against the bed.

“Sparky. You had better pull through.” I sigh. “My whole life, it's all been about me being the best, it's all been about living my life on the edge. I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria. I carried the flag for Cloudsdale in the Equestria games. I won the best young fliers competition. I completed training at the Wonderbolt Academy. I've done things no pony has ever done. But most of all.” I stop for a moment. Tears run down my face. I can't control them. I rub my nose. “I found a pony that makes my life complete. I need you Sparky. I need you in my life. Please don't go.” Sparky doesn't move. I squeeze my hoof on his. I move up and kiss his eyelids. “Please. I need you.” I put my head down once again on the bed. If he dies, my heart will die with him.

I don't know how long I'm lying there when a hoof touches my shoulder. I turn to face the pony. It's nurse Redheart. “You really shouldn't be here Rainbow Dash. When a pony is in ICU, his visitors are limited to family.

I look at her, I plead with every bit of strength. “He's my fiancée, we should have been married in just a few days. Please. Let me stay.”

Her face softens. “I do remember something about you guys getting married. I think I can make an exception for you. But I think your friends are worried about you. Moonshine is still asleep. Maybe you'll want to let them know what's going on. They have had no news so far.”

I nod and get up. We navigate the maze of corridors that Sparky has built with his power. In moments we are in the waiting room. I'm mobbed the moment I get in there. All of my friends are here, except for Twilight.

A chorus of “How is he?” resounds from multiple throats. I indicate for them to get comfortable.

“Moonshine said he was stable before she finally passed out. She is so tired. But it's very touchy, he could die tonight. She was able to heal him, but the nerve damage was extensive, and the lack of blood could have damaged his brain. We won't know for certain until he wakes up. That is. If, he wakes up.” 

The rest of the night, and all morning is taken up by us talking, Pinkie Pie tries to keep the subject light. But every time she starts with “Do you remember the time Sparky...” she would always trail off, and there would new tears. Sometime after sunrise Moonshine pushes into the waiting room. She comes up to us.

“I just checked on Dad. There is no change.” I feel tears starting to well up in my eyes, she quickly adds, “and that is a good thing. He hasn't slid backwards. I placed a weave on him when I was just in there. After I woke up, I did some reading. To help with neural damage, this weave allows a dreamless and pain free sleep. The best for the body to recover. I think I'm going to keep it on him for the next twenty four hours. You girls can get some sleep at home, and come back tomorrow.”

Moonshine gets hugs from all my friends. One by one, they take their leave, leaving Moonshine and I in the waiting room. She looks at me. “That means you too, Rainbow Dash. You have slept less than anypony here. You need your rest. Please go home. There is nothing you can do right now.”

I look at her. “I am not going anywhere Moonshine, you should know me by know. My home isn't that cloud house, my home is in that room. Wherever he is, that is home. If you insist, I'll sleep out here, on a cushion. But I would rather be in the room with him. Please?”

Moonshine chuckles. “Even without the element, you are still the embodiment of loyalty Rainbow Dash. Nurse Redheart already talked to me. You are cleared to go back to the room. He cannot wake up right now. I know he needs you as much as you need him, but if you want, I'll have a second bed brought in for you to sleep in. But I want you to get some sleep yourself. If I check on you and you are awake, I'll put the same weave on you, and you both will be in an enforced sleep. You understand?”

I smile. “Thank you, Moonshine.” I give her a huge hug, and a kiss on the cheek. “Remember, I'm going to be your step mom soon.”

She smiles at me. “Don't remind me. I'm going to have a step mom nearly thirty years my junior.” She laughs as she heads back to the main emergency admitting area. Some place where her skills as a healer will be useful. I, on the other hoof, head back into the ICU unit of the hospital. In moments, I've curled up, with my hooves around Sparky's prone body, careful not to get entangled with his IV's or the leads for the electronic equipment connected to him. I fall asleep in moments. This is going to be a long recovery.