19-Examining the Flames
Waking up for the second time now I felt instantly much much better than the first time round. There was no pain, there was no earth-shattering headache threatening to make my head explode. Well… there was a little headache but it was nowhere near as bad as before.
Opening my eyes was easier and just overall I felt better. I could feel some sort of weird energy flowing into me as well as the low hum of magic that permeated the room. It didn‘t take much to put 1 and 1 together to realize that the magic being used was probably what was making me feel better.
So of course I was curious what type of magical drug they were shooting me up with. Turning my head slowly to the side I saw that white doctor's coat again. When I checked the other side however and found the smiling face of Celestia looking down at me. I also found a weak smile growing on my face. Her horn was glowing golden as some sort of magical tendril connected it to a machine with a large gem next to me.
"Hi…” My voice was hoarse and weak causing my face to scrunch up. "Do I look as bad as I sound?” I barely managed to get out with a smirk. I may have been in real bad shape but if there was a way to lighten the mood I would always take it. Helps keep your spirits up when all seems lost. Got that from my sister actually. Anyway, Celestia did smile slightly wider at probably seeming me awake again after well… that. Plus the last time she did see me I’m pretty sure I was dying and going boom.
"It's good to see you awake once again, Jolyne.”
Being the curious little fire child I was, I found my slitted eyes drawn to her horn and the magic that was emanating from it.
"What… are you doing?” I asked slightly stronger that time.
"There is no need to worry Jolyne. Your Mother here is just donating her magic to help you heal from your mana exhaustion. And I must say that was quite a surge you had there. Certainly the worst I‘ve ever seen.”
He must have seen my face take on a worried expression as he quickly added.
"There is no need to worry. This sort of thing happens all the time you’re not the first and not the last that will end up here for the same reason." he finished that reassurance with a smile as he saw me begin to relax once more. Seriously, me and my child brain back then and its inability to properly handle emotions. I know I‘d been told worse than that before back home and handled it just fine.
It also took several seconds more for me to process information. Like the fact, he had just referred to Celestia as my ‘Mother’. I did what could be called the world's slowest double-take, as my muscles screamed in protest at any faster than a snail's pace.
Celestia seemed to have noticed this comically slow reaction and giggled very slightly before speaking.
"Don‘t look that surprised, Jolyne."
She was right, I really shouldn‘t have been. In fact, how hadn‘t I have seen it sooner?! It was so obvious in hindsight. I mean c'mon I am The Daybreaker! The literal Nightmare Moon of Celestia.
I was going to speak but after Celestia‘s words and the dots being connected in my mind I just clicked my tongue and closed my eyes.
"Yep… Seeing it now." I finish in exasperation. Before looking back at the doctor to ask him my most pressing question. "So… exactly how bad am I now, doc?"
He cringed at my question, glancing at nodding Celestia, he answered albeit hesitantly. I could understand him, nobody wants to tell a child just exactly how bad they are hurt. And you know even if I was still an adult just in a child's body and was perfectly capable of taking such bad news. Again I looked like an 11-year-old then. A really weak and injured 11-year-old Alicorn… who also couldn‘t walk… or use magic… or fly. I just looked incredibly goddam sad and someone you definitely wouldn't want to tell bad news to.
But with the approval of Celestia, he told me exactly how bad of a shape I was in, and yeah I can understand now why he wouldn‘t want to tell me. Y‘know sans the aforementioned reasons. My horn was cracked and, at the time, was still not fully healed meaning that if the spell surrounding it would fail I would most certainly die. Great! Just flipping great. Then there were the other things such as small fractures along my wings meaning I wouldn't be flying until they healed. My spine… well it was healing its damage but that surge set it back to square negative one meaning it would take even longer to heal than before. Finally, sprinkle in some very low mana reserves to just weaken every bodily function until it's restored, and you‘ve got yourself one weak, injured, scared, and depressed 11-year-old Alicorn.
Great.
Well, at least to lighten the mood I was told that the steps my ‘Mother’ had taken were helping speed up my recovery from sometime next century to an actually manageable timeframe. The doctor did crack a nice joke that the scars on my horn would look badass to lighten the mood. It did help as I chuckled after hearing that.
Plus, I mean, they do look pretty cool, dontcha think? Well yes… your readers won't be able to see it but they can imagine it. I wonder if it‘ll become a fashion trend… ehhh probably not. But that wouldn‘t be surprising if it did considering how princesses are like the ultimate role models. But seriously, any kids reading this don‘t look up to me. I hold no power whatsoever and that ‘princess’ title I have in front of my name is about as useful as a wet paper towel. It's purely there out of necessity as apparently, all alicorns must hold a royal title. I am not someone who deserves to be a princess nor someone to look up to. My sister reserves that right, however.
You bet I voiced my displeasure quite loudly to Celestia about that, but she said it was out of her metaphorical hooves as it's an ancient law from when the sisters first took power and that it could not be repealed.
Anyhoo I believe I‘m getting off track, let's get back to your regularly scheduled trainwreck in slow-motion. So after getting told exactly how bad my injuries were, we all stood, well lay for me, in relative silence as the doctor got back to work, Celestia concentrated back on the gem she was magicking, her gaze avoided making eye contact with me.
This went on for another 10 minutes before the doctor spoke up once again.
"Alright that should do Princess, you can stop channeling now.” Celestia did as he asked whilst the doctor scribbled something down on the chart he held. "Good. Now I will be back later to check up on how you're doing alright?" He smiled and I nodded in confirmation. He then made his way to the door, leaving me alone with Celestia.
"So" I began my voice beginning to sound normal again as my strength began to return. "How long was I out exactly?"
"Too long I‘m afraid." Began Celestia with a sigh as my eyes widened slightly. *Dear God, don't tell me it's been several years!* was the manic thought that went through my head in the moments between Celestia‘s answer. "Over a week has passed since your surge. And a day since you first reawakened."
"Oh thank god," I say out loud in relief, confusing the solar Alicorn.
"Am I missing something?"
"No, I just thought you would say I had been out for months or maybe even years! Oh, thank christ it was just a week."
"Ah, my apologies for scaring you. But yes a week has passed since we last spoke." Suddenly Celestia‘s horn lit up for a second before dimming once again. "Ah, I am afraid something has come up and that I must take my leave for now." She moved to stand up but before she could fully leave my reach a gently grabbed her hand and asked.
"Before you leave, can you tell me how the search on finding me a way home is going?"
Celestia hesitated for a moment before responding. "The search is progressing, although quite slowly. Rest assured Jolyne, progress is being made."
"Oh…Alright!" Hey, some progress was better than no progress! Plus making sure my little flame of hope was well fueled does wonders on one's mental health. So with a warm smile on my face, I released my weak grip from her hand and let my arm fall back to the bed.
Celestia‘s trademark motherly smile returned to her face. "I will be back again tomorrow but until then I believe there are some other ponies that wish to see you today." Her smile did falter ever so slightly by the end of her answer but before I could ask about that she was already gone leaving me alone in the hospital room.
The loneliness did not last for long however as the doctor from before re-entered the room, a nurse in tow as well as several other things on a chart they had brought with them.
What followed would be an extremely uncomfortable and confusing examination as they checked, reapplied, and added several bandages as well as tested reflexes I didn‘t know I had. The checking of my wings was especially bad as they removed the bandages covering them and checked what felt like every single goddamn feather for problems, it hurt.
I know they were probably making sure that those fractures were healing correctly and that there was no permanent damage to the wings’ structure but, Jesus Christ, it was not comfortable and incredibly confusing. The wing maintenance part doubly so. Having broken feathers removed whilst my wing felt like a small breeze could rip them off was not very calming. No matter how much dopamine the nerves sent to my brain after each damaged feather was removed. It was like eating your favorite sweet whilst you were balancing off the side of a cliff.
You want to feel good because you're enjoying your sweets but every time you take a bite you risk losing your balance. It was also quite embarrassing when they asked me to try and spread my wings for them only for it to barely make it to the halfway point, shaking from exertion the whole time. They said it was nothing to worry about and that it was actually pretty good that I was able to make it that far with the damage my wings had sustained. It did help elevate my mood from the previous pokes and prods.
Overall they gave me one complete look over from head to hoof. By the end, they still said I had a long recovery period in front of me but that nothing was healing wrong and that the mana my ‘Mother’ had given me was a huge help when it came to my general condition.
Then after the second most embarrassing bathroom visit of all time, I looked almost as good as new. Just ignore all of the bandages and the golden glow around my horn. The nurse was extremely nice to me with her saying she was jealous of my mane and tail since they seemed to glow a warming orange. But seriously no matter what situation I was in it was getting annoying constantly having to be taken care of. Yes, I was in a hospital and should give them a pass but still! My pride as a former self-sufficient college student hated being treated as a helpless child. Even if that's exactly what I was.
But when all was set and done and I found myself back in bed as the doctor noted everything down and the nurse cleaned up. I also realized I had nothing to do and that I was feeling extremely hungry after this whole ordeal. My stomach in response growled loudly alerting my two visitors/caretakers/doctors to my plight. The nurse giggled as my cheeks went beet red once again before the doctor spoke with a small chuckle.
"I can imagine you're quite hungry after this whole ordeal. I‘ll make sure that somepony comes and brings you something to eat." He then made his way to the exit as the nurse finished returning everything to the cart they had brought in. Before they left however I had realized something. I would have nothing to do when I was alone. There were no books, no magazines in arms reach as well as no Tv in the corner of the room.
"Um, nurse?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Can you maybe bring me something to read to pass the time?"
"Of course, but you should check the drawer first. Your dragon friend always leaves with less than he enters with each time he visits you.“
My curiosity ignited. I checked the drawer on the stand next to me and found it full of comics; the comics I knew Spike loved so much as I recognized it as the same he had shown and explained to me, with great enthusiasm and love might I add, before my first… encounter… with Luna. In other words, Spike had left his favorite comics here.
This meant two things. First off it meant he had been visiting me regularly enough to be noticed by the nurse which was naturally a really sweet thing for him to do. Secondly, it leads to one of two possible reasons for his leaving of his favorite comic issues here. Either A: He simply forgot them whenever he visited me which didn‘t make any sense. Or B: He had left them here on purpose for me to read when I woke up. B did hold more water so to say as I know I saw some sort of purple figure in the room when I first woke up.
But that leads to another thing. The nurse implied that he had visited me multiple times before. Had Spike been reading these to me whilst I was unconscious? That was the question that came to my mind. I had no way to be sure at the time but if he did read those comics to me when I was out. Well… the sweetness of the action in my mind would make pinkie pie go into shock from that much sugar.
So with something to read to pass the time with thanks to Spike, lunch or at least what I think was lunch for me… could have been breakfast as I had no idea what time it was, arrived quickly in the form of a sandwich and salad with a side of hospital brand Jell-O. Seriously people say the only two universal constants in life are death and taxes but you should add hospital Jell-O to that list as well. I swear it looked and tasted identical to the last time I had it with my sister.
The nurse also came back with another book for me to read. It was, naturally, a children’s or well a foals book about myths and legends. I didn’t pay much attention to it since how much information could a children's book give me. I just skimmed it when I needed a break from reading comics. The illustrations were good but if they are consumed too fast and in too high a quantity, one needs to give your brain a break from so much processing.
I was just in the middle of that post-reading binge daze, just staring at the window with scenes being replayed in my head. Feeling my eyes began to droop when I heard the door opening. I could hear two sets of hoofsteps making their way towards me.
A distinct pink and white couple soon came into view, one of them looking at me with slight worry and the other in what could only be described as a maternal concern after she laid her eyes upon me. The Couple of Love, the rulers of the Crystal Empire, my favorite relationship in the entire show had just walked into my room. Cadence’s face began to soften as she slowly made her way next to my bed, her husband sticking to her side warily watching me. Then she spoke in the softest voice I had ever heard.
“Hello. My name’s Cadence, what’s yours?”