When it came to making tough decisions, Jon was usually good at making logical choices, but even he had a hard time deciding whether or not he should head back home or stay in Equestria a little bit longer.
It had been only a few hours since Queen Chrysalis attacked him in his own office and, thanks to the help of his friends and the intervention of a mysterious Alicorn, he managed to survive. His wanting to know who that pony was that saved him was almost reason enough for him to stay, but at the same time, he needed to get back home to continue his show and to be with his family whom he had just risked his life to save.
In the end, he stayed in his hospital bed, located in Canterlot castle, a little bit longer at the behest of the pony nurse that was treating him. Even though his injuries had been remedied through healing magic, the attendant that was responsible for monitoring his condition insisted that he stay put. This was alright for Jon, partly because he wanted to know how he managed to survive his encounter with Queen Chrysalis, but also because he wanted to be with another member of his family, Trixie.
For the most part, Jon just found himself sleeping since the incident, but when he was awake, his body ached all over from the injuries to the point where the mere act of standing up turned into an arduous task. It’s for this reason that many wanted him to stay in Equestria.
Trixie on the other hand wasn’t so lucky. She was still hooked up to an unpleasant amount of machines, each of which were helping her stay alive. The only time the two spoke to each other was when they first arrived and she had willed herself conscious for a brief moment. At the present time, Jon was wide awake, but Trixie was still asleep, which was a good thing according to the doctors, but he hated to see her looking so vulnerable.
“You didn’t deserve this,” Jon said out loud.
Usually a doctor would show up every hour to check up on Jon and, on some occasions, scold him for trying to get out of bed, but since he had a good twenty minutes before her next inspection, he tried to see if he could manage standing his ground. He may have been healed, but his body felt like hell.
Slowly, he moved to a sitting position on the edge of his bed which was large yet, at the same time, low to the ground. With a deep breath, he hoisted himself up to a standing position, the cold ground felt uncomfortable on his exposed feet.
Because the medical team at Canterlot castle had no gowns that could even remotely fit him, they opted to leave his boxers on for the time being. This meant that with him now out from under his covers, he was freezing, but that didn’t concern him; he just wanted to be close to his friend. Still determined to move forward with his plan, he grabbed his blanket and draped it around him.
There was a chair just beside Trixie’s bed, but it was on the other side of the room. Their beds were already far apart as it is, so he forced himself to walk all the way around to her side. Every other step he took made him feel like his leg would give out at any moment, so he constantly had one hand against the bed frame to keep himself upright.
His incredibly sore body begged him to lay back down, but just like with the nurse, he ignored it and continued on his path. Eventually, he made it to his chair when his attention was seized by the sound of the door to the room opening and closing.
“Perfect... Just perfect.” Jon thought. He was fully prepared to get an earful from the nurse, but to his relief, it wasn’t a medical personnel coming early to check up on him, but rather another good friend of his. From behind the curtains that surrounded the beds emerged Celestia being escorted by two guards and no one else. She didn’t share Jon’s relieved look.
“Jon.” She began, “I...” Words escaped her as she quietly looked at the ground.
“Oh hey Celestia, it’s just you. For a second there, I thought you were that nurse again.” Jon sighed as he sat down in the chair. Much how one would expect from someone who was recovering from major injuries, he slowly lowered himself on the chair as delicately as possible. “Did you know the doctors here serve Jello as hospital food? You do know what that stuff’s made of, right?”
“Jon, I’m... I’m so sorry all of this happened to you... truly I am.” She finally uttered, “This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t foolishly brought Chrysalis into your world.”
At present, Jon was in no mood to be playing the blame game. He wanted to tell her not to beat herself up over this, but from the looks of it, she wasn’t even close to feeling better about what had happened.
“I can’t imagine the pain that I’ve caused here,” She went on, “So... if you have anything you want to say to me... please don’t hesitate.”
Celestia braced herself for an onslaught of yelling at her expense. Maybe some profane comments directed solely at her, but to her surprise, Jon only had one thing on his mind at the moment.
“Is she going to be alright?” Jon asked as she gently stroked Trixie’s Mane with his left hand.
A silence fell over the room, lasting for a good ten seconds. She was shocked to see that Jon wasn’t mad at her, or for that matter, that his first question regarding everything that had taken place would be about Trixie rather than his own well being. Even after knowing him this long, Celestia greatly underestimated Jon’s caring nature.
“For now... yes.” She answered, “The doctors say that she’ll most likely make a full recovery... we’re just keeping her for now to conduct some more tests.”
“And my family?” Jon continued, “Are they safe from Chrysalis.”
“Since the attack... I’m... I’m sorry to say that she has escaped us once again... but we are doing everything in our power to find her... I also used my magic to analyze your world for any hint of magic or creatures from our world being present,” Celestia explained, “And I found nothing... they are safe and I have made sure that no pony... no matter how strong, can get to your world without my permission."
Hearing all this caused Jon to slowly throw his head back in relief. He took a deep breath and expelled it upwards to the sky imitating a volcano. He stayed in this position without moving except for when he slowly moved his arm to the side to delicately grab ahold of Trixie’s hoof.
While the situation seemed to be better than expected, Jon was hesitant to write this off as a job well done. When Chrysalis first invaded his show, his first priority was getting her back to Equestria and out of his own world, and while that did happen, there was also another priority he had established early on... which was making sure that none of his loved ones got hurt.
For a brief moment, it seriously looked as if both he and Trixie would have died at the hooves of Queen Chrysalis. The only reason they both weren’t left for dead was because, at the last second, they were saved by a mysterious Alicorn.
Since Jon’s awakening from his ordeal, he had replayed the events of the last 24 hours in his head over and over again. He thought about what went wrong, what he could have done differently, and what sacrifices needed to be made in the process. All of it would have been for not had that Alicorn not intervened... it was a thought that regularly went through Jon’s head.
“While you were unconscious... I’ve had my finest officers look into the matter of... what happened.” Celestia continued with Jon still staring at the ceiling, “I’ve been briefed constantly on their findings, and I now have a clear understanding of the situation. I’m sure you’re still trying to process all of this, so... if there is there anything else you wish to know... now would be the time to ask before I am called away.”
Slowly Jon lowered his gaze back to her direction.
“Actually, there is one thing... at one point during the attack, Chrysalis had me pinned down, and she almost blew my head off.” Jon said, his description making Celestia wince with pain, “But before she could... I was saved... by an Alicorn that looked a lot like you... except she was dark and she spoke like she had a megaphone stuck in her throat.”
His facetious attitude for what was going on and his humorous slant on the description of his savior caused Celestia to chuckle for a brief second.
“Who... who was that?” He asked.
“That would be Princess Luna.” She answered, “...my dearest sister.”
“You have a sister?” Jon asked.
“Indeed I do... while I was away, she occupied the castle, and well... according to her, she felt like something was wrong so she investigated.” She explained, “And that’s when she found you.”
“She... she saved my life.” Jon acknowledged.
“Yes, that certainly seems to be the case.” Celestia said.
This was definitely a first for Jon. In his life, he’s experienced many things: love, loss, mid-life crisis, but never had he been through a near death experience. He was still trying to make sense of it all.
There were still some issues left to be resolved, but for the time being, Jon was perfectly content with the information provided for him up until then. So much so that he slumped in his chair with a face that looked like it had never experienced sleep.
“Jon... again I am sorry for this.” Celestia reiterated, “If there’s... anything I can do to help... and I mean any--”
The sound of the door opening caused both her and Jon to look off to the side. Emerging from around the corner was the nurse that had been attending to both him and Trixie. She made her way up to Celestia while weaving in and out of the guards that accompanied her.
“Your majesty... you’re wanted down stairs.” She urged while at the same time noticing that Jon was out of his bed. She gave him a disappointed look before she continued to explain herself. “There’s... some issues that need your attention.”
“I see... In that case, I’m afraid we’ll have to pick up on our debriefing at a later date.” She said to Jon as she turned to leave. Before exiting the room, she leaned in to whisper something in the nurse’s ear. “Do go easy on him.”
Both Celestia and her entourage of guards disappeared behind the curtains leaving Jon alone with the nurse who was glaring at him angrily for once again disobeying her orders.
“Soooo...” Jon cooed with an innocent face as the nurse walked up to him, “Has the ship sailed on that sponge-bath I requested?” Unlike college, his brother’s wedding, and that one time he got pulled over by a state trooper on the New Jersey turnpike, this was one situation he couldn’t joke his way out of.
“I thought I told you to stay in bed!” The nurse scolded as she manually hoisted Jon out of his seat, “You’ll have all the time in the world to be up and about once we know for sure that you’re safe.”
Jon tried his best to fight the doctor’s forceful shoving, but in his current state, he was too weak to put up much of a resistance. The only thing keeping Jon even remotely anchored to his present location was his refusal to let go of Trixie. Eventually, the nurse’s pushing and shoving in the opposite direction caused Jon’s hand to slowly lose grip of Trixie’s hoof.
“C’mon doc!” He begged, “I feel fine!”
“I’m sorry? Did you go to Equestrian medical school?” She asked while pushing him back in his own bed, “Didn’t think so! Now stay put or I’ll be forced to relocate you to another room!”
After reluctantly agreeing, Jon slid back under his covers while simultaneously making plans to disobey her once again.
“I realize you seem fine now, but we’re still waiting on some other tests to get back.” She explained. “Not to mention that if you don’t take it easy right now, there is a good chance that you’ll suffer from...”
As the nurse began to lecture Jon on the dangers of not getting enough rest after an ordeal like his, he looked to the side, unable to stop staring at Trixie who was still sleeping and partly connected to the wall. She still appeared to be in a horrible condition, and he hated how he couldn’t help her.
The sound of the nurse’s lecture to him just sounded like white noise with the only thing audible to him being the sound of the machines keeping Trixie alive, working in rhythm with his own heartbeat. If he had his way, he’d walk over to her, hold her tight, and never let go.
The doctor noticed that his attention was no longer on her so, to help, she closed the curtain between the two patients.
“Now then,” She said, “I advise you to stay in bed from here on out... You may be the Princess’ friend, but for now, you’re my patient.” and with that, the nurse left Jon’s field of vision and exited the room with an audible thud of the door closing. Jon barely waited a few seconds before throwing the covers off of him and swinging his legs to a sitting position on the edge of his bed.
Before getting up, however, the sound of the door opening caught his attention.
“Damn.” Jon moaned, but rather than the nurse once again catching him in the act, he heard a very familiar gentle voice.
“Oh... and Jon... one more thing. I realize that all of this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t offered you my services to begin with.” Celestia explained from behind the curtain, “So... if you want... I’d... I’d understand if, after this, you never want to see us again.”
After that, the room fell silent with no one saying anything. The only sound that followed was the door closing as Celestia left the room leaving Jon alone once more.