//------------------------------//
// Picking Up the Pieces 
// Story: Stars In The Day 
// by NightInk 
//------------------------------//

	I stayed sitting down for a little bit, looking at the quazi-frightened faces around me. After a moment, I began to chuckle. You know, trying not to be mean, but not exactly… succeeding. At all. I sounded like an ass. It would have been better if I had been breaking down, but this was much worse. And much better. I was rolling on the ground a couple seconds later, but giggling was so much more fun and effective. Luna kept watching with a worried look as I rolled in the dirt.
“Hahahahahaha! You should all see your faces! As soon as I said ‘Lord of Chaos’ you all started looking so funny!” I may have also not been in my right mind, either. The ‘chaos’ part of the ‘chaos magic’ was hitting, I think. Luckily, Pinkie was on my side. After a second of gaping at me, she snorted and began to laugh with me.
“Hehehe, your right! Look at all of us! Like you could really be a Lord of Chaos! Your way to nice and funny to be like Discord! Hehehehehehehehe!” We laughed for a while, but I guess it just wasn’t catching. No one else really joined in, so Pinkie and I just kept laughing until we laughed ourselves out. Or, rather, I laughed myself out. Pinkie could never laugh herself out.
“Um, dear,” Luna started. She didn’t look upset, just concerned. “Maybe you should… roll someplace cleaner? A hospital comes to mind.”
I could barely breathe at that moment, so I just pointed for a while, gasping. “Hoo… Just… Just… Haha… All righty… Yeah, let's do that. Hospital is good.” I picked myself back up again, wincing a little as I did. “But first we need to figure out where Celestia is. I mean, it would be a real shame if we saved Equestria and she didn’t get to enjoy ruling it again. I mean, I know she really enjoys… politics?” The others looked around like they really didn’t know why she liked Princess-ing either, and I took the time to start trying to magically suture myself, which was terribly unpleasant.
Spotting what I was trying to do, Ben held out his hand. “Uh, before you further mangle yourself in the hopes of appearing manly for your wife, Tia-Celestia! Celestia is down in the Crossroads. Down there, with the dead… you know…” If he didn’t have his hood up, and he did have skin, and blood veins, I think he would have been blushing at his slip of the tongue. Luckily it took the heat off of his jab at me.
“Tia is down in the Crossroads and you didn’t tell us?!” Luna was surprisingly calm about it, shouting included. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?! Isn’t that place dangerous?!”
“Princess, please calm down. I hid her because she was in danger up here, and she couldn’t really do a lot of good against Discord.” Ben looked like he was trying desperately to backpedal into a safe place, away from her anger. I knew I was right when he threw a pleading glance at me. I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled a bit. No sympathy from me. I never get any help, even from Tia.
While they argued, I went to try and calm my parents down before they passed out again. I walked slowly, like they might be easily spooked. “Hey, Mom. Dad. How you doin’?” They just stood and looked at me, so I went ahead and kept going. “So, yeah. Died twice. Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but I was worried about… this. I knew you guys would be really upset. Truth is, the skeletal arm is a direct result of that. When I came back to life the first time, the arm was like this. I know I told you that it was just blown up and reconstructed, but it was just an effect of the whole… being dead thing… Can I get a response? Please? Anything. Blink. It’s starting to get scary.”
Mom swallowed and wiped her face. “This is just a lot to take in… I mean… Sweetie, you should have told us!” she burst.
“Sweetie? What did my little Sweetie Bell do?! Oh, pleeeeeeeease tell me she isn‘t in any trouble!! That would be the worst! Possible! Thing!!” Rarity appeared between the three of us, looking frantic.
“No, no, no Rarity, Sweetie Bell didn’t do anything. That’s one of my mom's… Childhood nickname for me,” I muttered.
“Sweetie, who is this?”
“Mom, this is Rarity. She is a seamstress here in Equestria. Which is why you have never met her.” Yeah, I never took my parents to Equestria. For the same reason. They don’t do well with the idea of inter-dimensional travel. Nor will they ever. “This is… yeah, there’s a lot to explain here, and this is not the place to do it. Tell you what; we will have dinner, the five of us, you, me and Luna, and Celestia. Everything will be told, truthfully. But right now, Luna might be done tearing Ben a new one. Let’s go find her, ok?” They nodded absently and looked after Rarity as she trotted away.
Meanwhile, Luna was still trying to stop yelling, and Ben was trying to survive. “I mean, how could you-! What-! I-! I don’t know what to say!!”
Stepping in, I put my hands on her shoulders and gave them a quick squeeze. “Well, I’d say that’s a good thing, isn’t it! Ha, ha, yes! Silence is golden, after all.” I nodded quickly at Ben to help him catch on. He looked pretty blank, even for a hooded figure. I think I know why he’s single. “Well, while this lovely young woman is sputtering with rage, why don’t we all take a quick trip to the Crossroads, save her sister from no imminent danger, and then return the woodcarving that got stuck in Pinkie’s Party Cannon.”
That got to Ben. Finally. “Wait, which carving?! Pinkie, did you steal a carving?!”
While Pinkie was gasping and wondering if she did, I quickly kept talking. “No, no, it fell into the cannon as we left. Hand to Celestia. Who we still need to save. The monkey fell in. It’s ok, let's just go get it.”
Tossing my scrap of life into the air, I led Princess Luna, Nightmare Moon, Death incarnate, The Elements of Harmony, and my ancestors, ancient and direct back into the land of the dead.


…


Celestia was sitting on the bench where Ben usually sat, working on her bird. I’m actually pretty surprised. It turned out really well. She was just in the process of trying to detail feathers when we all got there. She didn’t look up from her work, but instead just looked more intently at it and the ground.
“If you tell me that he died again and you are carrying his body so he can repossess it or recreate it or complete some other ‘back to life’ scheme, just leave now.” It was a little insulting, honestly. Like I’ve died every time I’ve fought a major Equestrian villain. Wait…
“Wow. Really? Am I that big a loser, or is being mean just an unspoken part of your sister-in-law duties?” I stood in front of her with a big stupid grin and held my arms open for a hug.
Looking up, she realized that I wasn’t dead, which seemed to greatly improve her mood. She quickly put down the carving, stood, and wrapped a foreleg around my waist. She must not have noticed the gashes either, because she squeezed me with a great deal of her strength. “Oh, gods, I knew you would do it! Thank you so much! How did you defeat him?”
As soon as she let go, I doubled back over in pain, trying to hold my sides together. Luna stepped in to save me while I lay bleeding. “We don’t know that either, but he wouldn’t go to the hospital without knowing for sure you were ok. Can you please help us get him back to the castle while he’s in too much pain to protest?” The sad part is she wasn’t even kidding. She actually saw that as their best shot at getting me there.
Obviously that is unacceptable. I pulled myself up off the ground and tried to back myself up. “Oh, that’s not fair,” I groaned, bracing myself on John. ”But I’d still like to know why I can do this, the whole leaning on John thing, and the jumping into Discord’s psyche.”
“He did what?!” Celestia screamed at Ben. “How could you let him do that?! Not only is it a terrible idea, but it goes against the laws of all natural things!”
“Yes! Thank you!” Twilight and Luna’s responses were identical and simultaneous.
Groaning a little bit again, I leaned a little heavier on John. “Dude,” I started, pointing at Ben, “You are not having a good lady day.”
“Oh, shut up. You're bleeding out, so I’m going to let that pass,” he muttered. “Let’s go before I have to greet you down here again.”
Taking that as his cue, John swept me up in his big arms and started to carry me back into the still active portal. “Lad, we’re gonna go get you rested. Only after that are you allowed to make an ass of yourself.”
“Aw, dang, I’m so good at it too,” I slurred. “But yeah, I think that a doctor may be a half decent idea. God, I hope I’m wearing clean underwear…”


…


I woke back up in the hospital, very sore, very hurt, and a little cranky. The doctor was standing over me with a worried look. I smiled groggily at him and pointed at the IV needle sticking out of my arm.
“Maaan, ish sooo nice of youse tah give dis to meeee…”
The worried expression on his face relaxed a little bit. “Stop that, you know that it’s long since stopped effecting you, you in here so much. It’s just a formality.”
“Yes, in his body, but it’s permanently ingrained itself onto his personality,” Said a comforting voice from the far side of the room.
“Well, excuse me for trying to get cranky old Doc Scalpel to smile,” I muttered for real. “He never grins. Even when describing all the cool stuff he did in surgery or what he pulled out of my wounds!”
That old man finally cracked a smile when I mentioned taking stuff out of my body. “Actually this time was truly quite interesting. There were pieces of bottles, meat, condiments, half an alarm clock, a few twigs, bits of aluminum, all sorts of things. As per your standing request, I have saved the things I removed from you for you to look through.” he magically lifted a surprisingly large tray of crap out from under the bed. “I would strongly suggest you don’t get into a skirmish of such magnitude with Discord again,” he warned. “You were lucky to survive this time.”
Gesturing carelessly, I just laughed. “You say that every time I’m in here!”
Allowing himself a slight chuckle, he turned to walk away. “That’s because it’s always true.”
Setting the bedpan on my lap, I gestured to Luna to come help me browse. “Yeah, but I always heal quickly!” I called after him. While noting the fact that he didn’t leave, Luna and I began to look through all the stuff that had been inside me. “Ooh, a license plate!”
Luna just laughed as she walked up. “Honey, do you really have to admire everything that Doctor Scalpel removes from you? Wait, is that a bottle opener?”
Laughing, I picked up the item in question and tried to hand it to her. “Yes it is. Though I’m more concerned about the license plate. Where did that even fit?”
The doctor chuckled some more and shook his head. “That was stuck in the upper layers of skin on your chest. That’s the scar running between your clavicles.”
“Oh. I don’t remember that much pain. Honey, how shocky did I look?”
Giving me a sorry look, she tried to smile. “Dear, it was incredibly bad. You really shouldn’t be alive. I mean it.” Her face got all serious again. “And I am saying this next thing in all seriousness, with the good Doctor as my witness because your parents might pass out again if I said it in their company. So listen closely and do not make any jokes. Am I clear?” Something in her voice and her eyes told me she really meant it, so I just nodded, silently knowing I couldn’t promise no jokes.
“I still want to have kids with you. We can’t do that when you are dead. Stop dying, or I will destroy your spirit along with your body, and then not speak to you for a month.”
“Well. All right then. I will remember that. What if I just get depossessed again?” I went back to digging through the pile of stuff in my lap. “I mean, I wasn’t actually dead. Not for realzies.” I didn’t really know what to say after that, so I made childish faces at her until she finally broke.
“I am including any form of death, depossession, decapitation, anything. Stop walking around in spiritual form without a choice.” She was clearly trying not to laugh. “Anyways, I think we should let the others in.”
I put down the bloody GameBoy Color, quietly hoping that it would work, and gave her a look. “‘Others‘? How-how many others are there? Not a lot?” I asked hopefully.
“Well, there’s just Tia, Ben, John. Your parents, Nightmare Moon, The Elements of Harmony, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The girls really wanted to thank you for showing them how to dig through a mountain, or something like that. Oh, and a little grey mail mare brought you a thundercloud. And broke a window. But, yeah, everyone who was there plus some.” I groaned and slumped back into my pillow. Pinkie was not somepony I wanted to deal with right now. It might actually kill me.
First was the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Those three fillies are just as cute in real life as they are on the show. They picked up right where they left off when they were taken out, all oohing and aahing at the stuff on the tray. As I looked at the bottle opener Luna had pointed out earlier, little Apple Bloom looked up at me with those big eyes and asked, “How did you do something so brave?”
That was a hell of a question. And I didn’t know how to answer. Luna smiled a little from my bedside, waiting for my answer. “Well, Apple Bloom, I didn’t really do anything brave, I don’t think. Really, everything I did out there was just really stupid. I mean, I really shouldn’t have tried to beat Discord in a chaos-off. And I shouldn’t have tried to burrow through that mountain. So, I’m not a brave man. I just do stuff without thinking.”
“Yeah, but it all turns out so radical!” Scootaloo shouted, bouncing a little on my chest out of excitement.
“Yeah, Scoots, except it doesn’t. Things being radical would mean that Discord had been defeated without my having to die one and a half times. Again. Radical would be everyone being safe and happy without anyone getting hurt or scared.”
“Well, were you scared?” Sweetie Bell asked, squeaking a little bit. I had to laugh, even though it hurt.
“Oh, you bet. I’m scared all the time. I’m scared for you girls, for the Princesses, and all the others. And myself, yeah. I don’t like ending up here, despite how often I’m here. Though I’ll tell you a little secret.” I leaned in close and whispered. “Hospital food isn’t that great.”
The girls giggled a little bit and we kept talking for a while, making little jokes about hospitals and talking about what it was like in the Crossroads. My parents came in while I was making a face, depicting how I thought Ben looked underneath his cowl. Seeing them, I quickly straightened my face out and gave each of the girls a pat on the head. “Hey, I need to talk to them, all right?” They all sighed in disappointment but got off the bed without a fuss. “Hey, come on. I promise we’ll go through all the rest of this stuff later, and then we’ll all go to Sugarcube Corner.” That cheered them right up and they all ran out the door cheering. Mom and Dad couldn’t help but smile at the girls as they ran happily past them. They may have been uncomfortable, but they weren’t stone.
“So, who were they?” my mom dared to ask.
“The little yellow filly was AppleBloom, AppleJacks sister. Sweetie Bell, white coat, purple and pinkish mane, is Rarity’s sister. You remember Rarity, the drama queen from the field? Heart of gold, made my wedding tux for a discount, wing holes and all. And the orange girl, Scootaloo, is sort of Rainbow Dash’s adopted sister.”
She nodded slowly. “Ah. I understand.”
I laughed from my place on the bed. “Yeah, I’m sure you do. Except they aren’t things to understand, they’re people. With hooves.”
She nodded slowly. “Yeah, pumpkin. I know. But I’m still not used to it. I mean, you married a… You know, pony. We still have some troubles with it.”
I put a hand to my face and fell back into my pillow, sighing. “Seriously? We have to do this now? Number one, the point isn’t that I married somepony or somebody you love or approve of, I married somepony I love. I. And she loves me. Debatably. I think.” I looked at her sideways through the gap between my radial and ulnar bones.
She smiled at me and put a hoof softly on my shoulder. “Of course I do. Though I wish you would stop getting killed.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a point we should address too,” my dad piped in. “In fact, bring in… Celestial, isn’t it? I think we should just talk about this now, not wait until you get out if the hospital and we can all have dinner.”
Luna and I looked at each other and nodded. Her horn glowed just the slightest little bit and Celestia came in slowly, awkwardly brushing by my parents and moving off to the side, making an awkward triangle between us. We all waited for someone to say something, until finally Celestia spoke up. “So, why was I called? Or are we going to stand here awkwardly?”
I shrugged. “I had us penciled in for five minutes of awkward, then a half hour of making fun of the doc.” He glowered over his newspaper from his chair in the corner. “Then a half hour of mocking death, then we finish off with seeing who can land the sweetest dive of the balcony. Sound like a plan?”
Luna and Celestia each gave an awkward chuckle, but my parents just looked at me like they wondered if I was kidding. Luna stood, walked over to them, and held out her hoof in friendship. “Please. Let’s all talk about this like rational adults. And Adam.” That finally got them to crack a smile. Celestia used her magic to pull the couches and chairs in the room over to the bed and everyone sat down while I propped myself up.
“So, I suppose you’re all wondering why I gathered you here today,” I began, stroking my chin. The joke didn’t land, so I kept talking. “Ok, really, I’d just like to say that mom and dad, you haven’t really tried to get to know Luna or Celestia, and you certainly haven’t tried to take an interest in Equestria as a whole. I would have thought that you two would have enjoyed learning about a whole new world.”
Luna nodded a little, and I caught it out of the corner of my eye. “You don’t get off scott free either, sweet pea,” I continued. “In the same manner, you haven’t talked much to my parents. I will take some responsibility, since I wanted to have the wedding broken into two parts it did make it a little less romantic when we went to earth and got married as humans. But the point remains that we should all try a little harder to know and appreciate each other. Savvy?”
Everyone nodded. “Why did I have to come in, and why did you say ‘savvy’?” Celestia looked confused.
“Because it was my damn speech. Now, is everyone satisfied? Everyone loves everyone, we’re all one big happy family?”
Everyone nodded, but mom still looked concerned. “But, I think your father also wanted to talk about you dying…”
I nodded suddenly, remembering. “Oh, right. Yeah, that may be a bit of a long talk, but I’ll give you a few of the details if you want. The real story, not what I gave you over dinner the first time I came home like this.” I wiped my face and tried to consider how I should word all of what I was about to say. “You know how sometimes you wake up from a really bad dream, but it feels like your still in the dream?” They nodded. “This is nothing like that, bad example. Ummm… Well, my dying… really just made me magically powerful enough to defeat Nightmare Moon, who happens to be standing in the hall. She’s a good guy now. But if I hadn’t been killed, I wouldn’t have gotten everything together and in turn I wouldn’t have been able to help as much as I did. I mean, the girls did more than I did, but still.”
Neither looked convinced, but mom looked like she was kind of understanding, though she didn’t like it. “So, what did you do this time that killed you?”
Luna and I looked at each other. “Uhh, well, see… I kind of didn’t all the way die this time. It was more like my soul was magically torn from my body as I used enchanted hammers to dig a tunnel through a magically produced mountain. Or something like that.”
Their faces paled. “W-What?” dad sputtered.
I shrugged. They took it better than I thought they would. “Yep. And so I had to go through some kind of olden ritual so that I could reseal my spirit and body back together. Just a heads up, I wouldn’t do that unless you really had to.” They nodded once, but didn’t say anything. “All right, that wasn’t what you wanted to hear, but it’s what happened. And things are all taken care of now, and we can move on. OK?” They nodded. “All right, so while you guys think about that, I think I have other guests. You guys should probably go take a rest, ok?”
They nodded one more time and Celestia led them out, the dead walking through them as they did. They were quiet and respective, and moved around me quickly. “So, how are y’all feelin?” John asked, looking a little bit concerned.
I just blew a raspberry. “I’ve been better. But look at all this cool stuff!” I held the tray up proudly and smiled like a child.
He and Nightmare Moon each laughed and began to look at the objects with me. I had to move most of the stuff for them since they couldn’t touch them, but we had a good time. Celestia left for a while as we dug through, but they soon left and Celestia came back in. Apparently she had done some pretty heavy thinking, because her eyes were red and her muzzle was runny.
She sniffled once and asked quietly, “So, how are you feeling?”
“I’m good,” I answered absently, pushing a few things aside on the tray. “Found my wallet. Apparently, it got impacted in my ass. I have no idea how that happened, but it’s kind of awesome. Like having a built in back pocket.”
Luna smiled and moved the tray back to its place under the bed. "Yes, but remember, you are never allowed to shoot yourself out of a maniacs consciousness again."
Celestia shifted her weight from hoof to hoof, like she was trying to think of how to begin a difficult conversation. "Well, that's actually what I wanted to ask you about. What actually went on in there? What did you see or learn?"
Shivering a little at the memory of the initial darkness, I leaned forward as best I could. "Yeah, I haven't actually explained that yet, have I? Of course, I don't know how I got in there in the first place."
Celestia nodded a little bit. "I believe I can answer that. A creature's consciousness is like their spirit, in a way. Or at least, they act similarly. That means that since you are able to interact with both spiritual and physical objects, you were also able to jump directly into the mind of Discord. Why he allowed you to, I don't know. Which is where you start explaining."
I nodded and patted on the bed so that she would sit down. The two princesses looked at me with concern, like I was in danger of turning into Discord myself. "Have you ever had a bad dream?"
Luna gave me a sideways look. "Dear, I don't know what that has to do with-"
"Just answer the question," I cut her off. Both princesses nodded. "Think of the worst nightmare you have. I mean, the very worst. No holds barred, end of all worlds kind of thing. Now imagine that it was reality. That would be child's play compare to what went on in those first layers of darkness inside Discord's mind."
Celestia put her hoof to her mouth and simply whispered, "Oh, gods..."
Before she could start crying, I put up a hand. "But, that isn't all. There was more. Much more."
Luna put a comforting hoof on my shoulder. "What greater darkness could there have been?"
I took her hoof in my hand and gave it a slight squeeze. "I didn't say a greater darkness. I said there was more to him. After I went in, yes, there was a special level of hell to experience, and while that will haunt me for the rest of eternity, it was brief. There was a peace in his mind. At the center, there was a grassy area. At least, that's what his consciousness manifested as. An endless, perfect green field with a tree. We sat underneath that tree and talked. That's all we did. We talked, and he confided in me. He told me what was bothering him. Any guesses as to what it was?"
Celestia put her hoof down, but continued to speak very softly. "He was lonely."
Patting her hoof, I nodded. "Exactly. He was lonely and misunderstood. So he lashed out with one of the greatest powers imaginable. He was sad, and he was lonely. So he acted childishly. Like many ponies do. I mean, I don't myself, but you know, others do." I squeezed Luna's hoof again with a slight smile. She smiled a little bit, but Celestia continued to stare off into space absently, looking horrified.
"I did this," she whispered. "It's all my fault. Oh, gods..." She fell into a heap on my lap and abdomen, sobbing. I fell back into the pillows in extraordinary pain, but composed myself enough to move her head to my less tender chest and softly stroke her mane like a child.
"Now, Tia, listen to me." I spoke softly, doing my best to sound soothing. "This is not your fault. You weren't ready or interested in a relationship with him. You couldn't have seen that it was going to send him into a spiraling pit of madness that would threaten to destroy Equestria and all pony life as we know it."
Now Luna's confused look was directed at her sister. "You and Discord were a thing?"
Celestia sniffled, but didn't move her head from my chest. "No. He wanted to be, and I turned him away. That was when he began to truly go mad, and apparently why we had to seal him away with the Elements of Harmony the first time."
I kept stroking her mane, since it seemed to help, and kept talking. "Tia, even though that's all true, what isn't true is that it is your fault. You are a very good princess. There's a reason all of your subjects listen to you. You have their respect. You protect them. And I think I really helped him settle some of his conflict. When I left he was much happier, and the trip wasn't as emotionally scarring. And if you don't believe all that, I have something to show you. Hey, Doc!" The sudden change in my voice made both girls jump, but the doctor just looked up from his crossword. "Is there any chance I could get just a teeny tiny favor from you?"


...


"Adam, I really must again protest the... Err, logic behind this plan." Doctor Scalpel was following closely, making sure my IV stayed upright. Celestia was levitating my bed, since I couldn't stand or push a wheelchair myself, and Luna made sure I was stable.
"Doctor, one thing you've been a little slow on the uptake of is that he doesn't think things through, and when he decides to do something, he is very difficult to stop." Luna laughed a bit and gave me a pat on the arm.
I laughed myself and winked at her. "Yeah, that's true enough. Though I'm surprised you let me race that airplane."
She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "At least if you had been sucked into an engine your funeral would have been covered. You would be thrown everywhere."
Celestia, who was feeling better with the walk and the work, smiled just in the slightest and looked at us. "How do you two joke about death so easily? I'd be terrified if my husband was so reckless!"
Trying not to over-balance, I looked around the gardens. "Well, see, that's one of the benefits of having a husband who's already gotten himself killed once and a wife who's so impossibly amazing and understanding. On my part, I realize that it's an inevitability and ignore it. Plus, I already know that I'm going to go to someplace nice when I die. Kind of takes the scariness out of it, you know?"
Celestia gave Luna a look, but she just shrugged. She knew I was right. While the doctor muttered something more about this being a bad idea, we came to where we were headed. Celestia set me down in front of Discord's new statue, right next to the old one. With Luna's help, I propped myself up and pointed at his face. "Ok, now look at his face. Look at the emotion. Compare it to the old one. What do you see?"
All three looked closely until they saw what I had seen in the final moment: happiness, and maybe some kind of peace. I knew when Celestia knew, because she gave a little gasp.
"Why would he have any kind of joy at being sealed away again? Isn't this state rather torturous?"
"Not so much right now. He has a lot to think about now. And now that he know how to brave his own thoughts, he can start to work through it. Maybe someday, he can be trusted to be a good guy again. So yeah, there's peace there, but there's hope too. Finally, and maybe most importantly, was his final act. His taking the magical blast."
All of them looked back to me like I had lost my mind. "What are you talking about?" Luna demanded. "He shot you out of his head and was weak. That's all that happened."
I shook my head as firmly as I could without it falling off. "No. He took that blast. He faced the consequences, and at the hands of his own magic. He could have dodged it. I know."
"How? Show do you know that? I mean, you were gravely injured. You were barely able to finish it the way you did."
"At that time, I was doing just fine. I didn't even notice everything that was wrong, remember? And I know he could have gotten away because I could have. He had honor in that second. The same thing that brought me back this time is what had opened the door back for him."
Celestia turned back to the statue. She looked at it for a while, then began to smile. She lowered her head and chuckled a soft, low chuckle. "I knew you could do it," she whispered. She reached out and touched his face once, then drew back and turned back to the rest of us. "We should really get back to the room. You've had a very long day."
Ignoring the doctor as he muttered something again, I laid back and made myself as comfortable as I could. "I don't know, I think you have too. I'm thinking... Ice cream!"
"No!!" cried Scalpel. "Absolutely not! You've risked enough infection by coming out here! I won't allow it!"
Making an ineffectual sad face, I craned my neck to look at him. "But doctooor, we always go get ice cream when we beat a super villain. It's a tradition!"
"You've only beaten one before now." The doctor looked like he was going to pop a vein, he was so angry.
"Well, traditions have to start somewhere."
He sighed and shook his head, a bit of greying hair falling in front of his face. "I wonder if I can just refuse to treat you."
I laughed as Celestia lifted my mattress back into the air. "You could, but then you'd only make about half as much money."
Finally seeing some of my reason, he nodded and kept quiet. No one spoke until we were back in the room and the bed was whole again. Celestia clearly felt better, but was still in deep thought. She sat on my bedside again, looking as if she might break down crying again at any moment. Her eyes were still puffy from last time, but she turned her head so I couldn't see very well. "So, you really think he's going to be ok?" She still spoke in a whisper. It seemed like every time we were in this room she refused to speak very loud.
I leaned forward, putting my hand to my chest in the hopes it would stop the searing pain. It didn't. "Well, 'ok' is a relative term for Discord. But yeah, he'll be all right. As far as I could tell, he was feeling better and was willing to spend some time in serious deep thought. And we both know how good I am at reading people."
For the first time in a while, Celestia snorted in laughter. "Which is why when we first met you figured it was a good idea to further enrage me by calling Luna hot and mocking my star pupil?"
Relishing the fact that she was finally showing that she felt better, I scratched the top of my head and smiled a bit. "Well, I've gotten better since then."
Luna chuckled and ran a hoof through my moderately singed hair. "Well, 'better' is a relative term with you dear."


We laughed at that until I passed out again.