//------------------------------// // Her Shining Star // Story: Her Shining Star // by Applespice03 //------------------------------// It was an ordinary day in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle, the bookish mare her friends knew was searching for a book on Flowers in Equestria. ‘Where is that book about Flowers in Equestria? I know I put in a shelf for nature books’, Twilight thought. She ran around the library looking for the book to help her specify the flowers she intended on getting from the everfree forest. ‘I can’t find it’, she thought out loud. “Spike! Can you help me find a book on Flowers in Equestria!?” Twilight shouted.“I need to leave in 10 minutes if I want to make it back here in time for my date with Rarity tonight!” She ran over to the next row of shelves, immediately scanning the titles of the books. But quickly became disappointed. ‘Ugh, it’s not here either!’ “Over here, Twilight!” said Spike, waving a book he was holding in his claw. “Is this it?” Twilight ran over to him and inspected the book, she flipped it over to look at the front cover. The words Flowers Of Equestria were written in cursive on the fancy leather cover. “Yes! Thank you, Spike,” she said, as she gave him a hug. Twilight ran to the door to grab her saddlebags that were resting on the floor. She shoved the book in her bags, then quickly went through her saddlebag to make sure she had everything she needed. “Where are you going again?” asked Spike, watching Twilight take everything out of her saddlebags, then putting her belongings back in. “I’m going to the Everfree Forest. I’m looking for these rare purple and white flowers that are only found in the deeper part of the forest. I’m getting them for my date with Rarity. I wanted to get special flowers because it’s our anniversary,” answered Twilight, with a big smile on her face. ‘And, I want to be the best marefriend ever,’ she thought. “Well happy anniversary. But why are you getting the flowers so early? Isn’t your date in like, 12 hours?” said Spike yawning, “It’s 6:00 in the morning.” “I don’t know where the flowers are. You’ve seen how big the Everfree Forest is, they could be anywhere”. “And I want to have plenty of time to get ready and look nice for Rarity.” She walked over to Spike and bent down, giving him a hug. Spike broke the hug. “Are you going with somepony?” “No, nopony was available,” said Twilight, rubbing the back of her head nervously. “And, I didn’t ask anypony. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are in Cloudsdale, Pinkie Pie went to a baking competition in Manehattan, and Applejack is busy with the harvest. I obviously can’t ask Rarity.” “I can come with you, why can’t I go?” said Spike, raising his eyebrow. “I don’t want you to get hurt,” said Twilight, rubbing his spikes. “You can get hurt too. What happens if you get hurt and nopony’s there to help you?” said Spike worriedly. Twilight frowned, the dragon did have a point. “Well, that’s true, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She waved it off with a hoof before walking towards the door, enveloping the doorknob in her magic. “I have to go, Spike. If you get hungry, there’s some leftovers in the fridge. I should be back in 6 hours.” “Alright,” said Spike. He ran into Twilight’s hooves giving her another hug. Spike gave her a worried look and asked her again.“You sure you’ll be fine?” Twilight hugged Spike back. “I’m sure.” She opened the door, and looked at Spike one last time before closing the door. Spike sighed, shaking his head. He had a bad feeling about this. ~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight huffed as she trotted along the dirt path leading to the Everfree Forest. ‘I really need to get out more, I can’t even trot for 10 minutes without taking a break,’ Twilight thought. When she got to the treeline, she stopped to take a moment to take in the scenery. She looked up at the trees towering over her. ‘I can see why Fluttershy loves nature so much, it really is beautiful,’. Twilight closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before lifting her hoof as she stepped further into the forest. ‘No turning back now,’ she thought. ‘Just remember Twilight, you’re an amazing marefriend for doing this. Rarity will be so happy when she sees the flowers.’ As Twilight walked, she felt multiple pairs of eyes watching her. She took a moment to look around for help. The purple mare hoped that one of Fluttershy’s animal friends would come to her aid. When she wasn’t looking, Twilight heard a branch snap behind her. She froze. ‘Oh no,’ she thought. Wincing as she turned around, she seemed scared of what she was going to find. She hoped it was nothing. Twilight sighed in relief when she saw that nothing was there. ‘I must be paranoid,’ she thought, shaking her head. Twilight turned back around and started walking again. Without realizing, she ran into something. She backed up to see what was in front of her. ‘Wood?’ Twilight thought. She looked up, scrunching up her nose from the rancid smell of the creature’s breath. It growled, baring its sharp wooden teeth. A timberwolf. Twilight froze, staring into the timberwolf’s yellow eyes. She knew she had two options; one, she could stay still and see if the timberwolf would leave; or two, she could run as fast as she could to try and escape the timberwolf. Both options would result in her either getting seriously injured or death. So she went with the option that had a greater chance of survival, which was to run. Twilight ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction of the timberwolf. She ran towards the low hanging branches of the trees, the branches scratching her face and body. She could hear the timberwolf’s paws pounding the earth as it ran after her. Twilight glanced behind her to see how far away the timberwolf was. Without watching, she tripped on a root jutting up from the ground. She hit the ground hard, sliding along in the dirt until she hit a tree. Her body slowly began to bleed. Twilight watched the timberwolf bend down, ready to pounce on its injured prey. Twilight shut her eyes, hoping to hold in her pain. But, it wasn’t enough. She screamed through her clenched teeth as tears came to her eyes. The timberwolf scratched her face and cut her with one swipe of it’s paw. It picked her up, it’s teeth sinking into her flesh. The timberwolf shook her around, it’s teeth sinking deeper into her with every swing. “EEEEERRRRRNNNNNNN!!!!!” came the sound of an airhorn. The noise frightened the timberwolf. It folded its ears back, dropping Twilight and scurrying away. Twilight fell to the ground in a heap, more red than purple on her fur. She felt a gentle, but urgent hoof touch her shoulder. Twilight looked up to see who was there, only seeing a blurry orange pony. “Twilight! It’s gonna be alright, I’ve got ya,” said the orange pony. “Applejack’s here.” Applejack dropped down beside Twilight, opening and rifling through a bag, looking for the first aid kit. Twilight barely heard what Applejack said over the ringing in her ears. She felt a cold liquid being poured on her, followed by a sharp pain. Twilight breathed in sharply and cried out, tears streaming down her face. “Ah know it hurts sugarcube, but it’s gonna help ya feel better later, ah promise,” said Applejack, grabbing a roll of bandages and wrapping it tightly around Twilight. Blood was already starting to seep through the white bandages. “Shoot,” said Applejack. “It’ll have to work for now, Ah need to get ya out of here.” Twilight felt Applejack’s strong hooves gently wrap around her and lift her up and onto her back. Once Twilight was on Applejack’s back, she started galloping as fast as she could out of the forest and to the hospital. Twilight laid on Applejack’s back, the only part of her body that was moving was her eyes, she was in so much pain. As she laid there, she thought about Rarity, how she would react finding out Twilight had died. She’d be devastated. Twilight looked around the forest with her tired eyes one last time before she fell unconscious. The last thing her eyes fell on were the purple and white coloured flowers she was looking for. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Applejack raced through Ponyville, her face was red as an apple. Sweat continued pouring down her face and back as the orange mare ran faster. Ponies gasped when they saw Twilight on Applejack’s back. “What happened to her?” the other ponies whispered. “Is she going to be okay?” Applejack heard the other ponies whispers, she looked at them and they looked right back, their faces filled with worry. She shook her head, put her head down and ran faster, she needed to focus and get Twilight to the hospital. “Don’t worry Twilight, we’re almost there, just hang on a little longer,” said Applejack, breathing heavily as she approached the hospital. Applejack burst through the hospital doors, ponies stepping back and out of her path when she came charging through. “Help! Ah need a doctor!” A nurse quickly rushed over, followed by a doctor with a tan coat. “What happened?” she asked. The other nurses lift Twilight off of Applejack’s back and onto a gurney. “Ah was in the Everfree Forest when Ah heard a scream. Ah rushed over and saw a timberwolf carrying her in its mouth, so I scared it off with my air horn. The timberwolf dropped her and Ah wrapped her up quickly, threw her on my back, and rushed over here,” explained Applejack, out of breath. She watched the other doctors and nurses quickly rush Twilight into an ER. “Oh, I hope she’s alright,” said the nurse, a worried look on her face. She patted Applejack on the shoulder while her pager was vibrating. “I have to go,” she turned and started rushing away, “I hope your friend is okay!” she shouted back before she turned a corner, disappearing from sight. Applejack collapsed to the floor in exhaustion, “Oh Twilight, Ah hope you’re alright”. She buried her head in her forehooves, not noticing a nurse carrying a clipboard silently walking up to her. She placed a hoof on Applejack’s shoulder, making her jump. “Sorry ma’am, I didn’t mean to scare you,” said the nurse. “But I was wondering if you know anything about the mare you just brought in,” Applejack lifted her head up to look at the nurse. “You mean Twilight? Ah know her, she’s one of my best friends. What do you need to know, exactly?” “Just basic information. I need to know her first and last name, and her birthdate,” said the nurse. “Her name is Twilight Sparkle, and her birthdate is November 27, 1996,” answered Applejack. “Great,” said the nurse, writing down the information given. “Thank you,” she turns around and walks away. “Oh, one more thing,” said the nurse, turning back towards Applejack, “Would it be okay for me to notify Twilight’s family about her injuries?” “Twilight’s parents are in Canterlot, we could notify them. Or Ah could tell Spike. But, Ah also need to tell my other friends as well,” said Applejack, looking around at the few nurses running around the hospital. “Ah can let them know, you guys seem really busy.” “Really? Thank you so much!” said the nurse gratefully, looking around the hospital. “We are a bit understaffed today.” “Ah’ll go let them know now,” said Applejack, getting up.“Ah’ll see ya later,” “Alright then,” said the nurse, smiling and walking away. Applejack sighed, turning away and walking towards the doors of the hospital, exhausted. “Rarity’s not gonna be happy about this,” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rarity hummed while she sat in front of her mirror, putting in her golden hoop earrings. Just as she was about to reach for her powder, she heard a knock on the door. Rarity glanced at the clock hanging from her wall, it read 7:45. Rarity frowned slightly, ‘Twilight is a tad early, she was supposed to pick me up at 8. Oh well, it’s better than being late, I suppose.’ Rarity puckered her lips, looking herself over one last time in the mirror, making sure there were no loose hairs sticking out. Once she was satisfied with her appearance, she smiled and flipped her mane. “One minute!” Rarity shouted, getting out of her chair and walking towards her bedroom door. She trotted down the stairs and to the front door. She wrapped her purple and white scarf around her neck before she opened the door to greet Twilight. “Hello, Twilight-”. Rarity stopped herself upon seeing Applejack. “Oh! Hello darling, I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight. What brings you here?” Rarity looked Applejack up and down, noticing the deep redness to her face, her heavy and ragged breathing, and the sweat pouring down her face. “Is everything alright dear? You look like you just ran two marathons in a row! Do you want to come inside and get a drink?” Rarity asked worriedly, stepping to the side and opening the door wider to allow Applejack to come in. Applejack shifted on her hooves, “Thanks for the offer Rarity, but Ah can’t stay. Ah came to tell ya some bad news” “Oh?” said Rarity surprised. “What ever is the matter dear?” Applejack sighed. “It, it’s about Twilight” “Twilight?” a look of confusion crossing Rarity’s face, “What happened? Is she okay?” questioned Rarity. Applejack wouldn’t meet Rarity’s eyes. “Applejack?” said Rarity, putting a hoof on her shoulder, “What’s wrong?” Applejack looked up at Rarity, tears welling in her eyes, “It’s really b-bad Rarity, A-Ah-”. Applejack burst into tears. This surprised Rarity, she knew her friend too well, Applejack never cried in front of anypony. This was her first time seeing her friend cry right before her eyes. Rarity knew something was terribly wrong. “Applejack…” said Rarity, enveloping Applejack into a warm hug. Worry was tracing over her voice. “Tell me what’s wrong.” Applejack pulled away from Rarity, wiping her tears away with a hoof, “Twilight, Twilight got in an accident, a really bad one,” “Do you know what happened?” asked Rarity, frowning “Ah was in the everfree forest getting some wildflowers for Applebloom when Ah heard a scream. Ah ran towards the area where Ah heard the scream and saw Twilight.” Applejack gulped. “In a timberwolf’s mouth”. Rarity gasped and put a hoof over her mouth., “Ah scared it off,” continued Applejack. “And got Twilight to the hospital.” “Twilight’s in the hospital?! Let’s go now, I need to see her! I need to know if she’s going to be okay,” said Rarity, as tears formed in her eyes. “You go on ahead, Ah’ll meet ya there. I’m gonna go get Spike.” said Applejack. “Poor Spike. I’ll see the both of you later then,” said Rarity. “See ya later, sugarcube. Now go see your girl,” replied Applejack, walking away towards Twilight’s castle. Rarity watched Applejack walk away until she was merely a dot on the horizon. She took a deep breath, turned in the direction of the hospital, and started galloping. As she galloped by, she noticed a lot of purple and white chairs together. Each seat held white pillows for a more comfortable seating. Purple, white striped umbrellas were included. ‘How strange,’ thought Rarity. ‘Maybe it’s a sign of some sort, it might mean that Twilight and I are meant for each other, and that she’ll be okay.’ Rarity opened the door to the hospital, her white cheeks painted red from running. She walked up to the front desk, a nurse with a white cap was sitting behind it doing paperwork. Rarity cleared her throat to get the nurse’s attention. The nurse looked up, and smiled, “What can I do for you today?” “I would like to visit somepony very dear to me that was admitted into the hospital earlier today.” said Rarity. “May I have his or her name?” asked the nurse. “Twilight Sparkle,” replied Rarity, shifting on her hooves nervously. “Twilight Sparkle…” the nurse trailed off, looking through the files for her name. “Ah, here it is.” The nurse pulled out the file and opened it up, “Twilight Sparkle was admitted into the hospital at 7:45 this morning. She was admitted because she got attacked by a timberwolf, and the latest update in here says that she just got out of surgery… 10 minutes ago.” “Could I see her?” Rarity asked, eyes pleading. “There is one rule that you cannot break if I let you see her,” said the nurse. “I’d do almost anything to see Twilight, I love her. What’s the rule?” said Rarity, “You can’t touch any parts of her body,” said the nurse. “She just got out of surgery, she shouldn’t be touched by anypony other than the doctors and nurses. Her wounds and stitches are still fresh. But, would you still like to see Twilight?” Rarity winced inwardly, ‘This is going to be very difficult for me, now that I won’t be able to touch her.’ “I agree to those terms and would still like to see Twilight,” answered Rarity. The nurse smiled, “Follow me then.” The two started walking towards Twilight’s room. When they got there, the nurse stopped Rarity before she entered the room. “Be prepared to see her injuries. I wouldn’t go in to see her if you can’t handle blood,” said the nurse. “I can handle it,” said Rarity. The nurse stepped back. “Alright then,” she said, and walked away. Rarity took a deep breath as she enveloped the door knob with her magic. She turned it and quietly pushed the door open. Her eyes landed on Twilight, who was laying on the bed silently. Rarity put a hoof over her mouth, “Oh Twilight, you poor thing.” She walked over to the side of Twilight’s bed, looking her over. She had bite marks all over her back, on her sides and chest, along with a big gash across her face that ran from her right eyebrow to her chin. On one of her hooves, she also had big, dark bruises, and several cuts on her other hooves. Rarity stood there in silence for a couple minutes, the only sounds she can hear in the room was the beeping from Twilight’s heart monitor. Twilight then takes in a painful breath, her face contorting in pain. Twilight moans in pain as her eyes slowly fluttered open. “W...What...where am I?” said Twilight, looking around the room. Her eyes then fall on Rarity. “R...Rarity?” said Twilight. “Hello, darling,” said Rarity, her eyes going soft. “How are you feeling?” “My whole body hurts, but what are you doing here? What am I doing here?” questioned Twilight. “What happened?” “You were in an accident, Twilight. You were badly hurt, you’re lucky Applejack found you when she did, you might not have made it,” answered Rarity. “You were in the Everfree Forest when you were attacked by a timberwolf. What were you doing in the Everfree Forest by yourself?” “I...I was looking for these rare purple and white flowers for our date… that we’re not going on now, I assume. I’m sorry, Rarity, I know how much you were looking forward to it.” said Twilight apologetically. “Rare flowers, hmm? Well, don’t go in that forest ever again by yourself, you hear me?” said Rarity scoldingly. “Loud and clear,” said Twilight giggling. “And as for the date, don’t worry about it. There will be plenty of other dates we will go on, and who said the date was cancelled?” said Rarity, quirking her eyebrow. “What do you mean? We can’t go to the restaurant, I’m in the hospital,” said Twilight. “Well, what if we had the date here?” said Rarity “A hospital date? What’s the main course going to be, oatmeal? The dinner won’t exactly be a 5 star, Rarity.” said Twilight, “A date isn’t all about the food, it’s about talking to your pony of interest. Maybe learning new things about them?” said Rarity “Ehehe,” Twilight laughed nervously. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rarity just shook her head, a smile creeping on her face. “I’ll be right back.” Rarity exited the room and walked up to the front desk, “Excuse me, but when will the next meal be coming?” “There will be no more meals tonight, the last dinner meal was served an hour ago.” said the nurse. “Could you make an exception? Me and my marefriend were supposed to go on a date tonight. But a timberwolf attacked her and she was severely injured. She missed the dinner meal because she just got out of her surgery 10 minutes ago,” said Rarity. “So, I was wondering if you could give us two dinner meals so we could have the date here instead?” The nurse furrowed her brow. “Well...alright,” the nurse said begrudgingly, after a slight hesitation. “I’ll get you two dinner meals, please wait one moment.” Rarity watched the nurse get out of her chair and walk down the hall, disappearing when she turned a corner. Rarity turned back towards the desk, which happened to have purple and white flowers in a vase. “Here you are,” said the nurse, holding out two dinner meals for Rarity. “Thank you so much, darling” said Rarity, eyeing the flowers. “I don’t mean to cause you anymore trouble, but would you mind if I took some of those flowers?” The nurse looked at the vase holding the flowers, “Those flowers? Take them all, just please remember to put the vase back when you’re done.” “Thank you so much, and I will return the vase when I’m done.” said Rarity gratefully, levitating the flowers off of the desk. “Have a good night.” “You too,” said the nurse, sitting back down at her desk. Rarity walked back over to Twilight’s room, arranging the flowers in the vase to her satisfaction. She put the prettiest flower, a purple and white petaled flower in the center, before opening the door and walking into the room. “Guess what I managed to get?” said Rarity, smiling at Twilight. “Wow, they actually gave you two meals?” said Twilight, surprised. “Not just meals,” said Rarity, placing the two meals and the vase filled with flowers on Twilight’s little counter. Twilight just laughed, shaking her head. “Shall we?” said Rarity, pulling a chair closer to Twilight’s bed, sitting down. “We shall,” said Twilight, opening the top of the container. The meal consisted of a salad with chopped up carrots and tomatoes, with ranch dressing on the side, and some blue jello for dessert. “Hmm, not a bad dinner for a hospital,” said Rarity, observing the food. “So… I assume you’ll be in the hospital for a while.” “At least a week,” said Twilight, “Based on my injuries, I don’t think the doctors will let me walk around for a while, and I don’t think I can.” “That’s kind of a good thing,” said Rarity, “W-What? Why is me not being able to walk a good thing?” sputtered Twilight. “I didn’t mean it like that, of course -I want you to be able to walk!- but now you’ll get some time off of doing your work, which means you’ll get to talk and see me all day, and I know just how much you love looking at me,” answered Rarity, fluttering her eyelashes. Twilight blushed, “I couldn’t help myself! You were just so pretty in that dress, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.” Rarity blushed a little herself, “Oh, why thank you, Twilight.” She leaned in a bit closer to Twilight. “You know, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you that night either, and I still can’t take my eyes off of you now.” “Please, you think I look pretty in a hospital gown?” said Twilight, looking down at herself. “Absolutely stunning,” said Rarity, her eyes sparkling. Rarity leaned in closer, close enough that Twilight could feel Rarity’s breath on her face, “Hey, Twilight?” “Yeah?” answered Twilight. “I love you.” Rarity pecked Twilight on the lips. “I love you too,” said Twilight, smiling. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next morning… “Twilight!” “W-What happened?” said Twilight dazed, as she heard a voice yelling her name. It woke the mare up instantly. A purple and green figure rushed over to her. “It’s Spike! Oh, I knew I had a bad feeling of you going into the Everfree Forest. Are you okay? What happened to you?” “Settle down there, Spike. Not so many questions at once,” said Applejack, stepping into the room and closing the door. “And Ah thought Ah told ya to be quiet before we came in.” “Sorry,” said Spike, rubbing the back of his head with his claw. “I’m just so worried about Twilight, and I wanted to know if she was okay. Sorry for waking you up, Twilight.” “Come here,” said Twilight, moving over on the bed and motioning Spike with a hoof. Spike climbed up on the bed, nuzzling on to Twilight. “Ouch, not so rough Spike.” “Sorry,” said Spike apologetically. “How are ya feeling, Twilight?” said Applejack, sitting down in a chair close to Twilight’s bed. “My body still hurts, but I’m feeling slightly better than I did yesterday, and I should be asking you the same thing, you look exhausted.” answered Twilight. “Well, Ah am mighty tired from running, but Ah’ll be fine. It sure was a workout running across town with an extra one hundred and thirty pounds on your back.” said Applejack, chuckling. “Hey! I only weigh one hundred and twenty!” Twilight laughed, “But I should thank you, you saved my life, and I will forever be grateful,” “Anypony would do the same, but yer welcome,” said Applejack, tipping her hat towards Twilight. “Not a lot of ponies can carry another full grown pony, especially a mare,” pointed out Twilight. “Well that’s true, Ah guess yer lucky Ah was there,” said Applejack. “Very,” said Twilight. The door opened and Rarity walked into the room, carrying a coffee and a muffin in her magic. “I see you got some visitors while I was out,” said Rarity, smiling. “Ah told ya Ah was going to meet ya here,” said Applejack, looking between Rarity and Twilight. “Is now a bad time?” “Not at all, I’m actually glad you came,” said Twilight, looking at Applejack and then down at Spike. There was a knock on the door, followed by a doctor coming into the room. “Ah, Twilight, you’re awake,” said the doctor, walking over to Twilight’s bed. “I’m just here to do a check up.” The doctor turned to face Rarity, Applejack, and Spike, “Could you three please step out of the room for a moment?” “Of course,” said Rarity. Spike gave Twilight another hug before he jumped off the bed and ran to the door, opening it and going into the hallway, followed by Rarity and Applejack. The doctor turned to Twilight, “How are you feeling?” “My body hurts, especially my stomach, but other than that I’m good,” answered Twilight. The doctor nodded, “That’s normal, would you like some medicine? The medicine we gave you should be wearing off around now.” “That would be nice, thank you,” Twilight agreed. “I’ll get a nurse to administer it to you,” said the doctor, he walked over to the machines Twilight was hooked up to and checked her vitals. “You’re vitals seem to be good. I just have to check your stitches and I should be out of your mane.” The doctor grabbed a pair of gloves and pulled them over his forehooves. He pulled back Twilight’s blanket, and peeled back her bandages. He frowned. “What? What’s wrong?” said Twilight, worriedly The doctor didn’t answer, and instead gently pushed on Twilight’s stomach. “Damn.” “What is it?” Twilight asked, worried. “You have fluid building in your stomach,” said the doctor, “You need to go into surgery, now.” The doctor rushed over to the door and opened it, “I need some help in here!” he shouted, “She has developed ascites!” Two other doctors and three nurses rushed over, “Do you know the cause?” one of the doctors inquired. “Probably from infection, It needs to be drained immediately,” answered the doctor. All of them rushed over to Twilight, detaching the bed from the wall. “Will I be okay?” asked Twilight, scared. The doctor sighed, “I don’t know, I-”. Twilight started shaking uncontrollably, the doctor rushed over and shoved a pillow behind her head. “She’s seizing!” shouted the doctor. “We need to go to the operation room now!” The doctors and nurses started rolling Twilight out of the room. They rushed down the hall, their white coats flying behind them. Rarity, Spike and Applejack’s mouths all hung open, in shock from what they just witnessed. “Is Twilight okay?” said Spike, “Why was she shaking like that?” “I-I don’t know,” said Rarity. She looked over at Applejack, who looked right back at her with the same shocked expression. ‘Do you think she’ll be alright?’ Rarity tried to say with her eyes to Applejack. ‘Hard to say, Ah hope so,’ replied Applejack. She moved closer to Rarity and hugged her. “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens, and hope fer the best.” ~~~~~~~~~~~ In the Operating Room… The doctors stood around Twilight, each one had a mask of concentration on their face. “How long is this going to take, doctor?” asked one of the nurses. “We have to get all of the fluid out, which can take a long time,” answered the doctor, One of the nurses walked over to get a closer look of the procedure, but bumped into the doctor’s hoof, causing it to move and poke Twilight’s stomach. Blood started pouring out. “Look what you’ve done! Back up from the operating table!” the doctor yelled. Blood started to form inside of Twilight, which started to slowly drip down her sides, onto the table and on the floor. Beep beep beep beep beep beeeeeeeeeep. A chorus of urgent beeps filled the room. “She’s flatlining!” a nurse said urgently. “We need to stop her from bleeding out,” said the doctor. “Suction.” The doctors got to work, trying to get Twilight’s bleeding under control. The line on the heart monitor was still flat. “Get the defibrillator, and start CPR,” said the doctor. One of the doctors started doing CPR, while another got the defibrillator, placing the 2 pads on Twilight’s chest. “Charge 150,” everypony backed up. “Clear.” Twilight’s body lifted off of the table. The doctor’s looked at the heart monitor, a straight horizontal line still running across it. “Charge to 150 again. Clear.” Twilight’s body lifted off of the table again, still flatlining. The doctor looked at the clock, then looked back at Twilight. “Keep charging, she is not going to die on my table,” said the doctor. The doctor’s kept working on Twilight, sweat dripping down all of their faces. After 5 minutes, the doctors stopped what they were doing. The loud beep of the heart monitor continued to fill the room. ~~~~~~~~~ Rarity sat in a chair in the waiting room, her head resting on Applejack’s shoulder. She was trying to fight off sleep, but it was a battle she was losing. As soon as her eyelids slid shut, the doctors in charge of Twilight’s surgery pushed through the doors leading to the operating rooms. One of the doctor’s walked over to Rarity, his face tired. “So?” said Rarity, yawning. “How did the surgery go?” The doctor sighed, “The surgery was… a success.” Rarity sighed in relief, “Thank goodness.” “But,” the doctor continued, “She gave us a scare, she started bleeding out and was flatlining. We performed CPR for 10 minutes, and just about when we were going to give up and accept that she was gone, we got a heartbeat. We stopped the bleeding and drained the fluid in her stomach.” “That’s Twilight fer ya, she never gives up,” said Applejack. “It’s a relief that she’s alright.” “I’d like to keep her here for a few more days, to make sure she’s healing right and that the fluid in her stomach is completely gone” said the doctor. “You guys have a good night.” “Thank you doctor,” said Rarity, grabbing the doctor’s hoof and shaking it., “Thank you.” The doctor nodded his head. “You’re welcome.” And walked away. Rarity looked at Applejack. “Why was Twilight in the Everfree Forest, alone? To get flowers?” “Ah think so,” said Applejack. “Oh Twilight, this all could’ve been prevented if you just got flowers from Roseluck’s cart. Do you know why she wanted to get these specific flowers?” asked Rarity. “The flowers she wanted to get were rare,” said Spike, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “She only accepts the best for you, she loves you. She says you’re her shining star.” “Aww, she does? That’s so sweet!” said Rarity. Just then, 4 nurses entered the hallway, wheeling out an unconscious Twilight laying on the bed. Rarity, Applejack and Spike followed the nurses to Twilight’s room, and watched as they hooked Twilight’s bed back up to the wall. “Ah’m gonna go take Spike to get something to eat, so you can have some alone time with her,” said Applejack. “Come on, Spike, are ya hungry?” “I’m starving! Can we get something to eat?” asked Spike. “Let’s go to the cafeteria and see what they’re cooking,” answered Applejack. Rarity mouthed a ‘thank you’ to Applejack before she and Spike left to go to the cafeteria. Rarity walked into Twilight’s room, and grabbed Twilight’s hoof once she was beside her. “You must love scaring ponies, because you sure scared me a lot the past few days.” sighed Rarity. “I’m going to get you back one day, Twilight.” “I’ll take your word for it,” said Twilight, weakly. “You’re awake already? How are you feeling?” asked Rarity, surprised Twilight was already awake. “Better in the sense that my stomach doesn’t feel like a stallion is sitting on it, but my whole body still hurts,” answered Twilight. “That’s good, I guess.” said Rarity. Twilight weakly lifted up her forehooves. “Come here.” Rarity walked into Twilight’s open hooves, sighing. “I know I scared you Rarity, and I’m sorry. I know it was silly of me to go into the everfree forest alone to retrieve the rare colored flowers. But I just wanted our date to be perfect, or as close to perfect as possible,” said Twilight, coughing. “I agree. That was silly of you to go into the Everfree Forest, please don’t go in there again. At least not alone,” said Rarity, tears welling in her eyes. “I was so scared.” “I know,” said Twilight, stroking Rarity’s mane. “Twilight?” “Yes?” Rarity sniffed. “I love you.” “I love you too.” Twilight hugged Rarity closer, the two hugging each other for a while. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ One week later… Rarity wheeled a blindfolded Twilight out of the hospital. “Why do I have to wear this again?” asked Twilight, “Because..” said Rarity. “Where I’m taking you is a surprise.” “Can’t you just tell me where we’re going?” said Twilight “No, because then it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?” Rarity smiled. “We’ll be there in a minute.” Twilight crossed her forehooves, she made a frown. “Fine.” Rarity pushed Twilight’s wheelchair for a few more minutes before stopping. “We’re here, darling!” She pulled off Twilight’s blindfold. “You brought me to where we were supposed to have our date?” said Twilight, smiling. “Rarity! You shouldn’t have”. “Well, I thought we could have our make up date now, since we’ll have all day to talk. We could’ve just went to the boutique and had dinner there, but I thought since you’ve been cooped up in a hospital all week, you could use some fresh air,” explained Rarity. “But if you’d rather eat dinner at the boutique, we can leave.” “No, let’s stay,” said Twilight. “I was really looking forward to this date, and this restaurant’s hayburger, it looked and sounded delicious.” Rarity laughed. “Alright.” she walked over to the hostess. “Table for two, please?” “Right this way,” said the hostess, walking Rarity and Twilight to a table. “Your waiter will be with you in a moment.” the hostess smiled and walked away. As soon as the hostess left Rarity and Twilight, they started talking. They sat and talked for hours, eating some of their meals in between. They talked about their thoughts, about the whole situation of Twilight being attacked and other things couples talk about. By the time they left, it was 9:00pm. “Wow, that was one of the best days I’ve had in awhile, Rarity. Thanks for taking me out, I enjoyed spending the day with you,” said Twilight. “I enjoyed spending the day with you too, Twilight. And since I have to take care of you until you get better, we’ll be spending a lot of time with each other, which I think will be good for both of us. Just the two of us relaxing and talking to each other.” said Rarity, smiling. Twilight smiled, “I can’t wait.” ~~~~~~~~~~ Rarity and Twilight laid in bed facing each other, gazing into each other’s eyes. They were together for their anniversary at last. Twilight yawned. “Well, as much as I’d love to look at you all day, I’m tired, so I think I’m going to go to sleep. Goodnight Rarity.” “Goodnight Twilight, and if you need anything during the night, just wake me up, okay?” said Rarity. “Okay,” said Twilight tiredly. “I’ll probably wake you up due to the pain killer’s side effects. When I was in the hospital the first day, I woke up in the middle of the night when the effects of the medicine wore off. I ended up screaming in pain after that”. “Don’t worry about it, darling,” said Rarity, who was yawning herself. “I don’t mind.” Twilight snuggled up to Rarity, leaning her head on her chest. “I love you.” Rarity looked down at Twilight and smiled, turning off the light with her magic. “I love you too.”