//------------------------------// // Resurrection // Story: A New Moon Is Rising // by Jinxed //------------------------------// When she awoke, her first instinct was to get away from the Gryphon. But he was nowhere to be seen as she sharply bolted upright off of what she’d been laying on, her feet making contact with the hard floor of the room she was in. Trying not to panic as she ripped out a needle in her arm, two things were at the forefront of her mind right now as her eyes darted around. Where was she? And why wasn’t she in any pain? Twilight breathed in, not inhaling smoke or ash from her destroyed library, but untainted air that was tinged with a gentle soothing magic. It was quickly calming her nerves, and she knew of only two places where such an aura tended to be cast; the Royal Palace’s throne room, or drastically expensive hospitals. Given the lack of any golden splendor on the walls and instead an abundance of sterile white tiles everywhere, she’d concluded it was indeed the latter. She felt silly as she took in her surroundings, noting the clean floor tiles and the hospital bed she’d jumped away from, and the IV drip that’d been administering fluids. As for the pain... not even an ache or burning sensation along her side where only minutes ago there’d been a massive shard of timber, nor the greatly excruciating drilling into her shoulder from the weapon the Gryphon had. She curiously lifted the hospital gown with a small blush at her nudity underneath it, eliciting an equally awed and distraught gasp. Where the large laceration in her left side had been, there was now a thick pale scar just to the front left and below her ribs roughly twenty centimetres in length. The fibrous connective tissue was easily a centimetre or three wide, and quite rough under her fingers as she traced it from start to end, curving down slightly towards her middle. Checking her leg and shoulder revealed the same much to her dismay, a small knot of scar tissue on both sides of her calf where the chunk of wood had pierced all the way through, and above her sizable left breast below the collarbone where she’d been struck, although that mark had scarred much less on the front, she could feel and just manage to see a larger surface area of raised pale skin on the other side. Other than these new markings, she oddly seemed no worse for wear than before all this had happened. For the moment she sat back down. Another question came to mind: How long had she been here? It felt like she’d just been in Ponyville’s burning remains, and while there weren’t any pangs of discomfort from her healed injuries, it still felt like she had something forcing itself around inside her as if she was still impaled, almost like a phantom pain. Despite that, she was well rested and actually rather full of energy. To test her condition -at least magically- she wrapped her aura around the IV bag, closing her eyes and concentrating. A quick analysis showed it wasn’t anything untoward, but simply a mixture of water, nutrients, and morphine, which might actually explain her lack of any hurting. At the very least, given she could use her magic and move without any pain, she considered herself very fortunate, unlike her friends and local residents of the town she’d come to call home. This brought a final question to mind. What exactly had happened? The obvious answer was war of course, but who had orchestrated the attack on Ponyville and the why of it were more pressing issues. This war was the result of two powerful leaders coming to blows while enlisting outside their nations. Twilight would never want to believe that Lady Luna would do such a thing having strove for peace after her succession from the throne, and to even have the thought it could possibly be the Princess was simply unthinkable to her; She would never attack Her own subjects for any reason. No, this had to be the work of another nation or one either sisters allies working to shoehorn their way into the war without getting fully involved, otherwise it’d have been all over the papers. Twilight blinked, finally noticing a doctor patiently standing in the corner of her vision who seemed quite content to let her stay lost in her thoughts. How long had he been there? “Good afternoon, Miss Sparkle.” The Unicorn smiled with warmth, smartly placing his hands behind his back. “Very glad to see you up and about at last, I trust you’re feeling better?” “Yes…” She nodded, getting up again to face him directly. “Doctor…?” “Stalwart Lance, Miss.” “Doctor Lance.” She gave a small nod to confirm. “I’d like to ask where I am.” “Ah yes, certainly.” Lance moved over to her, briefly stepping past and picking up the IV needle again. “You’re in Canterlot Royal Infirmary, Miss. Your arm, please? This is keeping you from feeling a great deal of pain, you still haven’t fully recovered.” Oh, wow. R.C.I. was the Princess’s most prestigious hospital within Canterlot, and Equestria. Nobles and rich ponies would pay top bit to get privately treated here by its best medical staff even though it would care for all if need be. Even so, she found herself hesitating and she wasn’t sure as to why. Maybe it was the invisible price-tag that was now hovering above her head each second she stood on the hospital grounds... Hesitantly, she held out her arm for him, sucking in a breath as he carefully placed the needle back where it had previously been embedded. “There we are. If you’ll please lie down, I shall write a letter to the Princess informing her that you’re awake.” With a small chuckle he clapped his hands. “I hear dragonfire is the fastest way to send a message, maybe I can politely ask your friend.” That widened her eyes. “Spike!” She cried out, instantly alert for answers. “Is he alright?! He was injured badly and I couldn’t get to-” “Please, Miss Sparkle!” Doctor Lance lifted his hands placatingly, gently placing one on her good shoulder and motioning for her to sit. “Your friend is fine but you are not, you’re still quite fragile at this stage. Please lie down and rest, I must insist. He recovered well and is waiting in the hospital visitors accommodation. I’ve already told him he could see you once you were awake.” She nodded, suddenly feeling immensely guilty that her first thought upon waking up hadn’t been her assistant. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she rested her hands in her lap, much too attentive to want to rest properly. “I’ll be right back. Please stay here.” He asked her. Once she nodded, he quietly left. Pushing past her guilt, she was overwhelmed with relief at Spike’s safety, feeling tears well up, and a lump begin to form in her throat. With a shaky laugh she dabbed at her eyes and swallowed, shifting back into the bed covers and wrapping up warm. She threw them off and jumped forward much to Doctor Lance’s annoyance as he came back in with Spike several minutes later, sighing as he stepped aside to let the two crash into a loving hug. Despite his patients ill-advised actions, he couldn’t help but smile. “Twilight…” Spike mumbled into her breast as he hugged around her middle. “I was so worried about you. I was in town when everything happened, it all went by so fast.” She happily squeezed her arms around the slightly smaller drake, softly shushing him and just telling him she was alright, simply concerned solely for his well-being. Pressing her lips to his forehead in a quick kiss when he looked up at her, she knelt down and used her thumb to wipe his tears away. “I’m O.K now, Spike.” She smiled at him. “They healed me really well here.” “Yeah…” The dragon sniffed, pressing his hand to a small scar on his chest, currently hidden under his shirt. “Same here, but I was so afraid when I woke up. They told me you were in critical condition, a-and that… I might have to face the possibility you might not live.” Twilight looked up at Doctor Lance with a hint of anger in her eyes, but it fizzled out when logic came to bear. He might have still been young, but he was a young adult, he probably felt much better having been told the truth than some sort of explanation given to a child. “Indeed, Miss Sparkle.” Lance nodded in confirmation of Spike’s statement. “Your condition when you were brought in was… dire, to say the least. We weren’t sure if you would survive theatre given the extent of your wounds, but we operated at the Princess’s request.” “As I said, the nature of your injuries was so severe that we weren’t certain we could safely administer a sufficient amount of morphine without causing your heart to stop pumping blood properly and sending you into cardiac arrest, and administering too little might have meant operating would send your system into fatal shock from the pain. I’m sorry to inform you that your heart did stop for roughly nine seconds, thus we performed a defibrillation spell to revive you while repairing any damage.” He paused, clearing his throat. “My apologies, Miss Sparkle.” He said cordially. “The Princess informed me you’d likely wish to know the intricacies of the operation, but I should have asked your friend to leave, I don’t think he’d want to hear this next part.” Spike simply nestled further into Twilights chest. “I’m not going anywhere right now.” Spike said, quite adamant. “Very well.” Lance gave a nod after Twilight asked him to continue. “We needed to perform the spell after the removal of the large piece of timber that was impaling your chest. Where it had pierced, four of your ribs had been broken, and several large shards of both wood and bone had moved in and around the tissues of your vital organs. To be quite frank it is a miracle all of your walking around before being brought here hadn’t resulted in your death.” “It was removing the wood that regrettably caused a shard of bone to puncture the wall of the right ventricle of your heart, which stopped your heart beating properly. The bleeding from that coupled with ventricular fibrillation is what caused your arrest, which again, I’m truly sorry we only caught it once the piece was clear and we could see things properly.” “I’m alive, Doctor.” Twilight gave him an honest smile. “Am I right in saying you were present for the surgery? Because if so I’d say you’ve got nothing to be sorry for.” With a small chuckle he glanced down to his shoes for the moment before meeting her eyes again. “Be that as it may, I always regret any surgery that isn’t perfect.” “Ah, yes, so after the removal of all wood and bone fragments, we began to repair damaged tissue and reconstruct your ribs. That thankfully passed without issue, as did the removal of the remaining shards from whatever pierced both sections of the gastrocnemius in your leg, the calf muscles as they are, and their repair went smoothly as well.” “The shoulder was tricky, but again we managed. That one was a firearm injury and those are never pretty affairs. I’ve only ever treated two such wounds and both times I’ve had to remove the limbs in question from the sheer destruction of what the projectile barrels through. We removed the fragments of the ball and then began the reconstruction of your scapula, clavicle, and the first few ribs where the ball had penetrated, as well as the tissues surrounding it.” “After that we focused on the smaller injuries. Small shards of wood or burns or such, which were easily treated within minutes. And as such, you were sent to postoperative observation for your recovery. Now, here we are.” All that said and done, he cleared his throat and placed his hands behind his back again, just as there was a small knock upon the door. With a polite nod to Twilight he turned and opened it a tad to see who it was, before immediately pushing the door open and bowing as the Princess herself gracefully trotted in. Twilight felt herself gaze at the mighty ruler. Princess Celestia, her mentor and sovereign, was clad entirely head to hoof in ornate battle armour. Golden and radiant like the dawn itself, it shone brilliantly whenever it so much as caught the light. Every piece of armour was a work of art, inlaid with patterns made of ruby filigree that twinkled fiercely. The breastplate that surrounded her chest was emblazoned with her cutie mark at its apex below the neck, with intricate patterns that looked like the soft vines that crept down the walls of the palace gardens. The rest of her plate armour was no less impressive, from the helm, pauldrons, bracers, and greaves, even the smaller pieces such as the couters or poleyns were striking, and all were gorgeously engraved and inscribed with stunning amounts of detail. All this, and the entire set looked no heavier than if the Princess were wearing pillows. “My dearest student, if you’re not careful, a bird will make its nest in your mouth.” Twilight hadn’t realised she’d been gawking. Quickly taking hold of her senses she came before the Princess and bowed for a few moments, then rising and giving her a loving smile, she was glad the Princess was keeping her usual demeanour. “I must apologise for my current dress: In wartime I must always don my armour no matter the situation, that I am not within my inner sanctum.” She spoke softly to all present, turning her head to the Doctor. “May I have a few moments with my student?” “Of course, your Grace.” Lance nodded, bowing again and going to leave. “If you have need of me, I’ll just be in the next room over.” When the door clicked shut, the Princess removed her helm, setting it on an end table and allowing her flowing mane free of its confines. Twilight made a note to ask how she kept it all in there, before walking over towards her. By now the Princess knew her well enough, and carefully wrapped her arms around her student with the most motherly smile. She somberly hummed as Twilight began to weep against her armour. Spike came over and held onto the Unicorn as well, comforting her. “Princess…” She sobbed. “My friends, the library… Ponyville. It’s all gone.” “I know, Twilight, I know.” She hushed, gently running a mailed hand across the smaller pony’s head. “It is a great tragedy I wish I could have prevented.” “Do you know who was responsible for the attack?” Twilight asked, looking up into the Princess’s eyes. “I remember a Gryphon.” “Yes… the Gryphons.” The great Alicorn whispered, her voice morose. When her eyes met Twilight’s, she felt the Unicorn shrink ever so slightly under her grasp at the intensity of her stare, her voice taking on a severely cold edge alongside her usual motherly tone. “King Idris betrayed me, and for that he will pay dearly.” “G-good.” Twilight replied. “After what he’s done, he needs to answer for his crimes.” “But, Twilight, let us move from such matters if for the moment.” Celestia said, glancing down at her student in her hospital gown. “Are you well? I made sure they would spare no expense on your recovery.” Blushing at the scrutiny of her mentors eyes, she gently laughed. “Yes, Princess, I’m feeling much better than yesterday evening, that’s for certain.” A small hum came from her teacher, she looked up again to see her face. While she smiled, it looked pained, the expression spoke of many years experience of this moment and others like it that had come to pass. She felt Spike’s hands squeeze her tighter. “Twilight, your injuries were extremely daunting.” She spoke lightly. “You were brought here in a powerful stasis spell that barely managed to save your life, you were already so far gone.” That didn’t sound good. “Of course I oversaw your operations, I wouldn’t allow my best doctors to fail you, nor would I allow myself to let you die.” She whispered. “But that meant utmost vigilance at every second of your surgeries. Each time a problem was encountered, I had them put you in stasis so we could find the best solution. Each time they repaired the damage to your skeleton or your body I tried to make sure nothing could go wrong. And yes, you did die for a few brief moments. I must tell you I don’t think I’ve ever been so shocked or distraught. I fear as if it might have been the most intense seven weeks of my entire life.” …Oh. Twilight didn’t speak for the time being, she just held onto the Princess all the more, taking that information and letting it sink in properly. She’d been indisposed for seven weeks during her operations? How long had she been recovering from after all the surgery, surely it couldn’t have been much longer? “Almost three months… That’s...” Twilight uttered into the metal of Celestia’s armour. “How long was I healing after all the procedures?” “I was able to speed that up.” The Princess smiled. “Thankfully you’ve only been in this ward for a week or so.” “So pretty much three months.” She confirmed with a sigh. “All that time, just gone in what feels like less than a day.” “I do sincerely apologise, Twilight.” She smiled sadly to the Unicorn. “Stasis spells were a must to keep you alive, but they impact the perception of time, and you spent none of it awake. If I hadn’t helped the process along, or aided in reconstruction of your bones, and just allowed the doctors to let things heal at their own pace, you would have been here for far longer on the mend, and no matter that they’re the best doctors around, they’d still have wanted to amputate your arm because of the damage to your shoulder.” Twilight nodded her understanding. “It’s alright, Princess.” She spoke up at her teacher. “I’m alive. You and the doctors saved me and Spike. We can live on and bring King Idris and all those responsible for this to justice, or at least we can prepare for it until after the war.” “Not sure how useful I’ll be on that front.” Spike couldn’t help but joke, poking Twilight on her good side. “But I’ll happily take down notes.” She smiled, but the talk of war, it begged another question now. “Princess, do you know what happened to the girls?” Twilight asked, hoping things would be better than she expected. “I spoke to Applejack the day before the attack, but that was it.” The Alicorn sighed, looking away for a moment. Twilight felt dread build in her chest to the action. If one of her friends was as badly injured as she was, or no longer with them, she wasn’t sure she’d have the willpower to even stand at that moment. “I’m afraid that two of your friends have joined my sister.” Celestia whispered, looking quite regretful about it. “Applejack was upset about my wish to use Sweet Apple Acres, and dear Fluttershy simply took her animal friends beyond the borders of my Empire into enemy territory, as Luna promised there was safe passage and sanctuary beyond the Smokey Mountains.” “I don’t blame them or hold it against them.” She assured Twilight. “Thankfully your friends Rainbow Dash and Rarity are at the castle. As for Pinkie Pie, I don’t know where she’s gone, although I suspect she’s returned to her family’s farm near Ghastly Gorge.” “I see.” Twilight nodded, something else coming to mind. “And… what do you plan to do with Lady Luna after the war is done?” “I don’t know, Twilight.” The Princess shook her head. “I don’t think banishment is the solution, she isn’t possessed like before. Either way, if I am victorious she will be given a fair trial, of that you can be assured.” Nodding, Twilight went back over and sat down on the bed. Spike sat beside her, his lithe form wrapping around her for comfort. Celestia smiled at them, poking her head out the door and calling back Doctor Lance, who came almost immediately. “Your Grace?” He smiled. “I believe I am done here for now. Please continue your work, doctor. Once my student has fully recovered, you may send her to me.” Celestia told him kindly, before looking back at Twilight. “There’s a long road ahead of us, Twilight. We won’t want to tread it, but we’ll need to in order to survive, and to do so efficiently I’d like you by my side.” Twilight nodded eagerly. The sooner this was all over the better.