"Twilight, are you sure this will work?"
"Its our best chance to save him, I'm doing it."
"I know you are... I'm asking you if you believe it will work, rather then a normal heart transplant..."
"...That only depends on if his body accepts it..."
*Beep....Beep...*
Dusk was finally starting to awaken after a coma-state of sleep. To the VERY annoying sounds of.... something familiar.
*Beep....Beep...Be-Beep...
Dusk groaned as he woke, knowing the sound NOW. It was a heartbeat monitor. That Half-Double Beep was him forcing his heart to abruptly stop for a second.
Or, that's the lie he wanted to believe.
He was really SURPRISED that he was alive, remembering he had taken a bullet, that had ripped his shoulder and got close to his heart.
He could feel, however, how sore his muscles were, and how he was very... in pain. He could feel his shoulder in a heavy bandaging, and... a soft hum of something. His chest also felt a bit heavier then what he was used to, even with armor.
Dusk finally opened his eyes. A blinding white light was what that shone for several moments, his eyes having a hard time adjusting. It took at least a minute, but he finally got used to it. He then lifted his head up, to take in his surroundings.
He was in a singular room. It was small, with a small bookshelf over in one corner, a window over on the other side, the bed he was in in the middle-back of the room.
What he was really surprised about was the... Lavender coated mare laying on his bed, at the foot of it, holding a clipboard, and holding a bit of wiring in her mouth, and a few... tech-y parts laying on her side.
Dusk's eyes drifted away from her, and down to himself. His chest burned like Tatarus, what was causing--
Now, Dusk's heart stopped again for a long moment, because of full blown surprise. IN his chest was a hoof-sized hole, big enough to let a mare's hoof enter it, but not his own for some reason. Inside seem to be a crystal precisely cut to fit in it. And cables were connected to it, that led to a Giant crystal battery that sat next to the bed.
Looking it over, he had not been aware the pause in his heart-beat was monitored, and had jolted the mare awake at this. His sacredness, or curiosity, woke her, at the expense of her getting fearful. Dusk was her... well, subject/patient. She was overlooking him, even if her jurisdiction didn't reach as far as a Princess'.
She gave a stretch first and a yawn, then she quickly sprang up but, misplacing a hind hoof, she scrambled and yelp out, before falling flat on her back, her several items taken with her as she tried to grab at the blanket.
Even though his body didnt wan't to agree, Dusk grunted as he moved t get a better look at her and what happened. HE was more confused then ever, at... well, how she acted. He was a soldier, disciplined and calm. But she was... well, one, freaking out probably. If he didnt have some of the best and worst training possible, well, he'd be freaking out as well.
He cleared his throat, and then made to speak.
"Erm... Ma'am, are you alright?"
The mare seemed to stop, before trying to get on her hooves in a more... "Calmer" manner, which still looked frantic to the stallion. She shook herself off, getting the blanket off her and piling up the random tech-scrap, before looking to him. Her eyes, a violet sunset of wonder. Dusk, in his head, thought these eyes of wonder...were, no lie, beautiful. It remind him of his mother.
She coughed slightly before standing up straight, then spoke.
"Well, I... See you are actually alive. I'm sorry, I've just been exhausted. I've been working nonstop to keep you alive and at the same time try to make an critically needed crystal heart with a build in repulse-magnet to keep the shrapnel in you from killing your heart."
Dusk just sat there and listened. So he still HAD his heart, but it was... guarded. For the first time, not by magic...
She looked at the clipboard, and picked it up, looking over the notes on it.
"Well, then again, I have every right to fear your death. Almost a month of work, and you were in a coma for most of it. Yet you were soundless, and... seem to be not a typical stallion. Well, typical means you are not normal, and thats obvious, due to what brainwaves I tried to study. I needed more time, but I also didnt want to lose you, no no. You are something else, with a soundless sleep and not one case of arousal from dreaming, which is seen in many stallions sometimes. Not all the time, no, that primal instinct has died down. Have to ask... Disciplined Soldier of sorts? I mean, you DID have a shared shoulder pad with a rank marking on it..."
Dusk had planed to interrupt her to speak, but she was spot on it. She had talked fast and seemed way into her thoughts. Where had he seen this before? Well, then again, he wouldnt really care, but he did. Sure, she was strange, but also efficient.
"...Well, why would I have to explain myself? You seem to know what I would tell."
She scoffed, and looked Dusk in the eyes. A small spit of anger, which he noticed was actually a soft, and concerned madness (her face looking otherwise), was shone in the violet orbs.
"I WANT to know about you. You... I pulled you from your own home. I am not sure if it was a good or bad thing, but, well... I feel bad for it. And I want to get to understand you, so I can find a way to make it up to you."
Dusk saw her sincerity in this, even if her face didnt give it off. What he offered was a nod, and a smile. A small one, but a smile none the less.
"Well... Getting shot by an illegal type of... say, 'Perpetually Harmful Projectile', since... looking at this, I dont think you know technology widely enough to get what really injured me, and nearly dying... I'm considered dead home. Might as well get comfortable"
The lavender mare seemed to beam happily at this, and bounce around some. She sure was happy, thats for sure. She then stopped, and looked to him.
"Wait, whats so powerful to rip through bone and flesh to almost get to your heart?"
Celestia stood upon the balcony to her room. She enjoyed her views of the city from here, a calming and relaxing sight. But, her eyes, and a bit of magic were focused upon the Medical Wing. She knew that this day would come. She kept close ties with a old friend, the gender opposite of herself. But, had not heard from him in some time. But, where one would think she was worried, she was crying in joy. She now knew what was happening within Solaris' world. War. A war that his prized pupil and soldier survived.
She had already cried what tears of joy she could spare into a hour ago, and was now sitting and observing, for reasons she kept to herself. But, her main concern was, how long could she hide this? It was going to go public sooner or later, and she didnt want Equestria to know that the stallion version of her own prized pupil existed. Not till he was needed.
Then an idea struck her. Ponyville and Luna.
Dusk sat awake as he looked out the window of his room, in the hospital. The night sky... a sight he long for. Most nights, in his world, the sky was dark and gloomy. Nights came and went, spent in bunkers or out on the field. But this moment, it was something else.
He was also slightly tired. He had spent the last few hours trying to tell his story to Twilight. All the questions she asked, it hurt his head trying to remember WHAT she asked. It seemed like there was no such thing as guns here, and it was all... Medieval weaponry. He heard of crossbows and swords, which look to be the same from 1200 years ago. He was surprised... but more importantly impressed. They have had no need because magic had accelerated as the weapons they needed in this Universe.
Dusk had of-course, get the story of how he came here. He was shocked, but already confirmed with Twilight, which he finally learned her full name was Twilight Sky Sparkle (Which he said was cutely ironic), that they were the same, but not. Well, by the same, he meant the same pony in general. Just opposite gender and apparently mane and tail styles. But that was a naturally occurring thing.
Due to how late it was, though, Twilight had needed sleep since she had gone nearly 48 hours without any kind of rest, she had fallen asleep right there and then. Sitting next to Dusk, her head had found rest on his shoulder (Since she sat on his right), and calmly drifted to dream. He had no argument, he'd do the same thing with so little sleep.
He looked to the calm night sky, the moon shining down, and the stars in the sky. He knew of Princess Luna and Celestia, and he had to admit, the Lunar mare knew her stuff. The night sky could never be as beautiful.
He looked to the large crystal powering his magnet heart, and then looked back. He saw the area of which Twilight used as her work area on his heart. He squinted a bit, not able to read what was on the various blueprints. He then noticed... he had no contacts in.
The ONE THING, that was a little problem, made to halt his progress. He wanted to know what she had planed, and if he could do anything to get him out of this hospital faster.
But, his line of thought was interrupted. He magically felt Luna nearby. But for what purpose?
Well, that'd be soon answered. She flew past his window, with almost no wind trail. She was heading the way over the city and down the mountain. HE was curious... He wished to find out, but, alas, he couldn't do anything. Not with his condition.
As for the Elements of Harmony in Ponyville, they were all gathered in the Library, waiting for Luna to arrive. For they were all given letters to meet up, for a secret task...