//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Do you believe in magic? // by gcsmith //------------------------------// Twilight and Applejack were waiting in the corridor for any news of Celestia - Twilight pacing up and down the corridor which was starting to look more and more worn with each passing second, her hair stood chaotically in tufts, which one would find strange if you found out she had only been pacing for five minutes. Applejack on the other hoof was a picture of serene calm, sitting on one of the uncomfortable, cheap plastic hospital chairs drinking some of the cheap plastic hospital coffee. The taste of the stuff revolted her, but it kept her busy and stopped her losing her mind like Twilight was. "Twilight, would ya stop ya gosh darn pacing already, ya wearing a grove in the floor and making me all dizzy." Twilight looked at her friend with a forced, sheepish smile and quickly sat down beside Applejack. "Sorry," she said as she started playing with her hooves, the clopping sound causing Applejack's ear to twitch. "I'm just no good at dealing with stress. You know." "Ah sure do, ya know Big Mac still has that doll from that one time." Twilight almost perked up for a second. "So that's where Smarty Pants got to, I thought she had got lost in all the confusion." "Nah, ma big softy of a brother took it, not that he knows ah know he has it. Ah can get it back for ya if ya want?" "Maybe some other time, I'm sure Smarty Pants is in good hooves with your brother." "Yeah, he's such a big softie." The two mares started smiling as they both imagined the rather large stallion snuggling up with Twilight's fillyhood companion. For a moment, they both forgot the terrible situation they were both in and just sat there with blissful smiles on their faces. The moment was however unfortunately broken by Luna's sudden appearance through a door at the far end of the corridor. "Princess?" both of the mares asked, both worried what the presence of Celestia's sister meant. Especially since she was up during the day. Luna nodded to them, "Miss Twilight, Miss Applejack, I see you've been waiting here patiently. Any news on my sisters condition?" "Last thing we heard, Princess, was that she was out cold. None of the medical staff have left since then." Luna let out a sigh, a sigh filled with all the stress and worry the situation was causing. "She's still not awake?" Twilight and Applejack shook their heads. "As far as we know, she's still out cold." "This is not good news, not good at all. Both me and my sister possess a healing factor far greater than the average pony. If she's still asleep, something must be very wrong." "I'm sure she'll be alright, Princess, I mean maybe she's just sleeping?" "That is possible, but that still doesn't help us answer the bigger question behind this entire event." "You mean why did Princess Celestia, a talented flyer and sorceress, fall off her balcony and make no effort to stop her descent?" asked Twilight. "Exactly, there's no point dealing with the fact that my sister is passed out, if we don't consider that this is just a consequence of the actual problem. And that problem is whatever caused her fall. Sure it could be an accident, and we have nothing to worry about. But until we have more symptoms to work with, we can't diagnose her, and I can't help but feel we might be able to identify more symptoms were she awake." "That don't sound no good." "It isn't AJ, I mean, if there's nothing wrong with the Princess, then everything will be okay. But, if are symptoms we are missing because she is out cold, if she has something wrong with her, the disease could get worse before the doctors have any clue what they are dealing with." "Exactly, Twilight, and that's not including the problems of identifying the disease from any symptoms we have. After all, there is very little evidence on how common illnesses affect a pony with the traits of all three species - wings, magic and the natural traits of an earth pony." "Well, what do we do?" "What do we do? Wait, nothing else we can do apart from that, Miss Applejack. I know I'm not experienced at medicine, and I doubt you have much in the way of medical training. No, nothing we can do except wait. Twilight on the other hoof, there is something you can do." "What is it, Princess?" Luna sighed, she knew what she was about to ask would not sit right with Twilight, that her sister's prize student would probably refuse. However, she knew this was something she would probably have to do, after all, her sisters life could quite possibly be at stake, and their own doctors were struggling to know what to do. "Before I tell you, Twilight, you have to promise you'll do this, for Celestia's sake." Twilight swallowed hard, if she was being made to promise before she was told what it was, it must be something she probably wouldn't agree to normally. For a moment she thought about declining, a thought she chastised herself for. This was Luna, the Princess wouldn't ask her to do anything that wasn't necessary. "Alright I'll do it." "Do you promise?" "Yes, I promise. Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." As she went through the motions of the Pinkie Promise, Luna looked at her somewhat bemused. Still, despite the absurdity of it, the Princess managed to understand what Twilight meant. "Good. Now don't worry, I'm not asking you to do anything too difficult. I just want you to lend your, what I assume is considerable, knowledge on pony anatomy and assist them with their medical investigation." Twilight looked at the Princess confused. "Me, assist a doctor? You have to be kidding me, I can't help any of your trained doctors. The doctors that work here are the finest in Equestria, no way I can help them." Luna sighed, "This doctor... Is from out of town," she tried to word her sentence carefully, she needed Twilight to be fully committed to this before the mare found out who she would be assisting. "He isn't really an expert in pony physiology, but given the circumstances, I thought it best to get every medical mind around involved, just in case." Twilight brought her hoof to her chin in concentration, 'It does make sense,' she thought to herself. 'If their is a chance the Princesses life could be at risk, getting anyone you can offer any help might be worth it. Besides, it sounds like they're a gryphon or a zebra, maybe they'll have some experience in these matters.' "Alright, I'll help. Anything to help Celestia." A small smile appeared upon Luna's face, causing her eyes to soften and look like she was relieved of some small amount of her burdens. "Now I have to warn you, you might not get along with them to begin with. But if you give it some time, I'm sure you'll become the best of friends." Twilight nodded, "Yeah, sure, best of friends." Her voice sounded empty and unsure. "So where is this doctor?" Luna turned towards the door at the end of the corridor, the same door she had entered by. "Follow me." The princess set of quickly down the corridor, clearly in no mood to waste any time. Twilight moved to follow, but quickly turned to talk to Applejack before she left. "Wait here AJ, and let me know if anything changes." "Sure thing Twi, just make sure ya do ya best to help this fellow now. With the way everypony is in a stir, sounds like they may need the help." "Cheers AJ, see you soon." "You too, Twi, ah Know ya can do it." Applejack placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. Twilight tried her best to return it, but the smile faltered on her face. Applejack pulled Twilight into a tight but quick hug, before pushing her away. Twilight understood the sign and quickly followed after Luna, who had already disappeared through the doors and out of sight. Twilight sighed, she hoped the Princess hadn't got too far ahead.