Coin's Face

by Silent Quill


Recovery

I felt the world come back to me, feeling either a million percent better or the continued effects of some sort of anti-pain magic. Possibly both, though I was greatly hoping that I’d been healed. I groaned and shifted in the bed, feeling an urge to get up and sort through the coins within the halls but quickly remembering that I had finished this task already. I could hear hoofsteps outside the room in which I was lying, followed soon after by voices.

“Doctor,” One, a female with a motherly sounding voice started, “what can you tell us?”

The voice of the doctor who had spoken to me in the vault replied, “She had, has, a wound on her right foreleg, right down to her radius and nicking the bone, which had become infected and gangrenous and had begun to develop necrosis. Thankfully we didn’t have to perform any major debridement, though some was performed, as magic and antibiotics seem to be enough to fight the infection and necrotic spread. She’s lucky, though; had she been any other breed the infection would have been far worse, possibly to the point of amputation. We’ve sewn the wound closed and she appears to be responding well.

“From what we can tell, other than that injury and her malnutrition, she seems to be in perfectly good health for an Alicorn of her size. She probably picked the infection up from the banner she tore down, and up, to use as a bandage; it was dusty and old. She probably never even thought to remove and clean it either, given her cleanliness when she arrived. It’s also a good thing that the pipes for the bathroom in the Vault were not rusty or she might have picked something up from there.”

My mind tried to comprehend this. Infection from my makeshift bandage..? That actually sounded plausible, as I had no idea how long it had been hanging there undisturbed. My brain latched to the word ‘debridement’ for a little bit; I had no idea what this was, but it sounded unpleasant.
And what the hay is an Alicorn?

“She’s an Alicorn?” A second female asked.

The first female voice was quieter for her next words, but I could barely make them out. “I thought she might be…”

“’Thought’..? Sister, are you keeping things from us again?”

The first female replied with a disarming tone, “I’ll tell you when she wakes, until then it’s a non-issue I assure you.” I realized that they did not actually know that I was awake yet, and probably didn't think I could hear them.

“She’s probably awake now; the medication we were using to keep her under has likely worn off by now.” Doctor Steady stated. “If you’d like, I could introduce you, your majesties?”

There was a mutual affirmative from the two voices and, after a polite knock, the door was opened to allow both the doctor and they into the room. I looked up at my visitors quizzically as they approached the bed.

“Why does she shiver so?” Luna asked Doctor Steady in a whisper which I managed to overhear, actually becoming aware of my involuntary shivering.

“Her body is fighting off a blood infection, sepsis, from the gangrene she had. Her body had scabbed off the gangrenous tissue, but when Princess Sparkle tackled and attempted to physically restrain her, she unfortunately introduced the infection to her bloodstream. She’s on high-performance antibiotics and antivirals, not to mention a few powerful healing and curing spells. She should be alright within a few days.” He hissed back before stepping over to my bed. “Miss Coin? These are Princesses Celestia and her sister Luna; they’re our country’s rulers. Princesses, this is Miss Coin.” He said, waving a hoof at the princesses in turn as he spoke. He offered me a reassuring smile before moving to the door behind the Princesses. “I’ll let you talk in private.”

The two females of… rather impressive stature waited for the door to click shut before approaching the bed, each of them gazing down at me with what appeared to be genuine curiosity and concern. I only peeped back at them as if they were monsters. Something about them, especially the white one, made my fur stand on end.

Unfortunately, she was the one who spoke first. “Greetings, Miss Coin; as Doctor Steady has already stated I am Princess Celestia. My sister, Princess Luna, and I were alerted to your presence just after you arrived here in the medical wing. Please, tell me, how did you get into the vault?”

I whimpered as I shuddered, shaking my head before giving a mumbled reply, “I don’t know; I woke up there.”

“Do you happen to know what time or day?” Celestia asked, to which I shook my head again. Sadly she asked, “Do you know where you came from?”

I dwelled on her question, raking my own head for the answer to a question I had asked myself many times during my stint down in the vault. “… No.” I replied.

Celestia sighed. “I believe I do.” She said, before nudging her sister from her stunned stare. I was rather thankful for this, as she was making me somewhat self-conscious.
Why did she stare at me as if she’d never seen another living pony before?

“Once upon a time there was a vicious and cruel mare known as Nightmare Moon. After a battle that destroyed an entire city and caused entire swathes of the countryside to become uninhabitable, I banished her to the moon for a thousand years. Recently she returned and, after being struck by the power of the Elements of Harmony, she was turned back into the mare she was before the Nightmare took hold of her mind.

“Because the Elements of Harmony cannot destroy, they could not kill the evil that was Nightmare Moon, instead separating her power and negative emotions, the very living essence of Nightmare Moon, from the mare that she inhabited and sealed them into shards of armour that she had worn. We captured these shards and placed them within the Royal Vault within the castle. When we searched through the vault and checked each item off on our list we found a few things;

“Firstly we found that the artefacts within the vault had been neatly rearranged about the halls, something I’ve been meaning to have done for a while. Secondly we found one of the podiums within the washroom with our oldest platinum platter upon it, streaked with blood; this has been dutifully cleaned by our housekeep thankfully, that platter is over two thousand years old after all. Thirdly we discovered that the Bits within the vault had been stacked neatly opposite the gemstones from within the same vault; I assume that this was your handiwork?”

I nodded nervously, these ponies worked fast. Either that or I had been asleep longer than I thought I had. “Y-yes…”

Celestia nodded. “Finally, we discovered that the shards are missing.” She stated flatly. “While normally this would be a cause for great alarm, I believe that I already know where they are,” she lifted a hoof and placed it on my shoulder, “they’re right here.”

“Sister, are you saying that she has them on her pony somewhere?” Luna asked sharply, “Where on Equestria would she hide them?”

Celestia only smiled back at Luna. “No, no, Miss Coin does not have the shards; she is the shards. Sister, surely you would have sensed their presence if she had them, that much magic is easy to detect even to foals, and I know that you have noticed her eyes.”

Luna stared at her sister with wide eyes and her jaw hung. “Sister, you mean to tell us that she is that witch!?” She almost shouted her words, turning an angry and accusing glare on me to which I shrunk down into the covers. This… Luna was good at angry.

Celestia draped a wing over her sister’s back to calm her. “Luna, you know that is impossible; Nightmare Moon was but a figment of your imagination gone wild, an imaginary friend who took control. Without your mind to reside within, Nightmare Moon all but died. All that remained within those shards of mithril was power and potential. I told you as much when we discussed their entombment within the vault.” She sighed heavily and looked back down at me. “Now we need to figure out what to do with her.”

She seemed to relent, her stance shrinking a little to be less threatening and a sheepish look spread across her face. I was thankful for the change, at least a little bit, and withdrew from my blankets a little.

“I… I’m a problem..?” I asked nervously. Truth be told, I had a million questions I wanted to ask, but this one was somewhat pressing on my mind. “I don’t… I don’t want to be banished to the moon, whatever that is! Please, I’ll go back to the vault and never leave! I’ll hide better this time; nopony will know I’m there!”

“You cannot stay within the vault indefinitely, Miss Coin,” Celestia said calmly, “you were already starting to atrophy from malnutrition, literally wasting away. If you hadn’t been discovered when you were, the doctors have said that you would probably have only lasted another day before starvation began to deteriorate your internal organs. Your body is being drip-fed nutrients until you’re able to eat actual food which may not be for another day for how low your nutrition became. At the moment we are unsure what to do with you. Tell me, do you remember anything before waking up in the vault?”

I shook my head, of course I couldn’t remember anything before the vault; I’d been there for, well, my whole life!

“I wasn’t sure there was anything beyond the vault to be honest…” I mumbled. “I thought it was simply abandoned and forgotten, unknown to anypony, or perhaps those that did know just didn’t care, or even that it was the only thing in the whole world.” I chuckled sarcastically for a moment. “If it weren’t for those mares, I’d probably have lived and died as an unknown within its walls, never having tried to leave.”

“Probably just as well,” Luna said bluntly, “if you’d managed to exit the vault, Clue and Query would likely have ripped you to shreds.”

Lulu!” Celestia snapped at her sister in a reprimanding tone.

Luna shrugged. “What? ‘Tis true.”

“You know what to not say, Lulu.”

My eyes flicked between the two mares, eyeing their little spat as if it were a strange and rare formation of crystal. “Who are Clue and Query..?”

“Clue and Query are the Sphinx mates who have been entrusted with guarding the entrance to the Royal Vault. In turn we provide them with a place to live away from the less than friendly home of their kin.” Luna said blankly. “For some reason they see being allied to two of the most powerful beings on the planet reprehensible to the point of wanting them dead. Frankly they’re the best guardians we’ve had for the Vault and they are unlikely to be replaced any time soon.”

I blinked at the freely provided information, digesting it before shifting in the bed. Even though I was here being more or less interviewed by these two mares, I still felt an urge to return to the Vault. As I thought to myself, the princesses returned to bickering amongst themselves in a most… un-princess-like way, though I’d managed to tune them out.

“What am I going to do now..?” I wondered aloud while the two princesses argued between one another over who had said something inappropriate. The pair stopped bickering and gave me a curious look.

“How do you mean?” Celestia asked.

“I already finished counting and stacking the coinage in the Vault, all five million, two hundred and fifty seven thousand of them. I… didn’t really have anything planned after that when I was in there, and now that I’m out and know just how much is out there, I… I’m a bit daunted in coming up with anything.” I laughed a mirthless little laugh for a moment. “Maybe I should have counted them slower.”

“I’m certain that we can figure something out.” Celestia assured calmly. “It might be fortuitous that you happened to be discovered when you did; our old treasurer, Sure Bet, has grown somewhat… lax as his years have advanced.”

“He lost the ledger the week after we returned, creating a recession in three towns and a financial crisis in Canterlot which has yet to be resolved.” Luna hissed sidelong. “If not for your support of him, sister, we would have replaced then and there. His bumbling has left swathes of Equestria in debt.”

“I know, sister, I know. I have seen the slums. With the Royal Fund unknown for so long, I too am impressed that we have managed to stay as prosperous a nation as we have. If not for the fact that our gemstone quarries are kept as abundant as they are through magic, the whole of Equestria could have been ruined.”

“Yes, well, you should find it fortunate that we were the one who handled those funds and not Sure Bet. Keeping them separate from the Royal Fund is what ensured we had anything to spend publically at all.”

“Miss Coin,” Celestia announced rather forcefully, as if using her voice to move stone, “tell me, would you feel confident in your ability to manage the vault’s funds?”

I blinked up at her. “… How do you mean? What’s involved?”

She lifted a hoof and waved it a little nonchalantly. “It will mostly involve keeping record of what goes in and comes out of the vault, informing the senate, myself, and my sister of goings on such as excess spending, surplus, or potential abuse of Equestrian funds. In turn, you will be kept informed on public projects which require funding, and taught those who are and are not allowed access to the account. We will also be responsible for providing you with living arrangements, your own income, and other benefits.

“On top of this, we will be providing extra educational services to you, due to your… circumstances. These will include history, economics, social interaction, possibly language depending on your reading and writing abilities, and of course advanced mathematics. Because of your species, you will also be given magic tutoring and some flight lessons.”

Again I blinked, before looking back at my wings and shifting them about. “But I already know how to fly. It was my only reliable way to move around the Vault after I couldn’t put weight on my leg.”

“Flying within the Vault is different to flight outside. Within the Vault the air is calm and still, giving you complete control. Outside there are currents, eddies, thermal updrafts, all of which must be managed if you wish to fly effectively, particularly within city limits.” Luna said in an oddly authoritative way. “While many of these things are best learned with experience, you will not know about them unless you are taught.” She turned her otherwise steely gaze away from me and onto her sister. “Who did you have in mind?”

Celestia hummed to herself thoughtfully. “I am sure I can manage to persuade one of the Wonderbolts to tutor; though if not, I suppose that Twilight’s friend, Rainbow Dash, could provide the assistance we require.” She gave a pleased smile at her sister. “As for magic tutoring-“

“We suppose we’ll have to take her ‘under our wing,’ as you say.” Luna said; puffing up her chest as if she’d won a medal.

Celestia and I blinked at her sister incredulously. “Luna, are you certain you want to take a pupil into your tutelage? It’s a lot of work, and I know how much the Nobles harangue you...”

“If Miss Coin’s origins are as you say, her magic is under our domain. While we know that your knowledge into the uses of Night Magic have been extended since our… departure, she would benefit better from somepony who has mastered its use, no?” She then gave a dismissive snort. “And we know the Nobles think we are a weak ruler due to our short time returned to the throne; we shall see how weak they think us when they are enjoying a humility lesson from the recycling plant.”

As the sisters began a new debate between the pair of themselves, a feeling that I was used to feeling on occasion made itself known and I began to fidget in the bed to try and hold it off. The elder, Celestia, seemed to notice my discomfort and took a brief pause in the argument to speak to me.

“Miss Coin, are you alright?”

Nervously I blushed and shook my head. “I… oh, this is embarrassing… I need the bathroom.” I said sheepishly, still fidgeting uncomfortably.

Celestia nodded and turned her head to the door with a smile. Her horn gave a short burst of golden magic as she opened the door and let the doctor back in to see me; he seemed surprised that she knew he was still there.

“Doctor Steady, I believe you’ll be needed in here with a nurse. My sister and I shall see ourselves out to further discuss your patient in private.” Her soft gaze then returned to me and she dipped her head faintly with a smile. “Rest well, Coin Counter; we shall see you again soon.” And with that she turned and left.

Princess Luna dipped her head to me before following her sister out into the corridor beyond my room, allowing Doctor Steady and a nurse to enter.

“What seems to be the trouble miss?” Steady asked patiently.

With a blush I replied. “I… I need the bathroom.”

He gave me a warm smile and a silent nod. “Of course, miss. Nurse Wildheart, if you could?”

“Of course doctor.” The mint green, chocolate-maned mare with a small white nurse cap atop her brow replied before moving over to the bed and placing one of her hooves on my left shoulder and another on my forearm.

“We’re going to help you out of bed, and then Nurse Wildheart is going to slowly walk you to the bathroom, alright? You cannot use your right foreleg until the injury has healed, so for now we’re going to help you to walk without putting any weight on it.”

“I could fly to the bathroom and spare my legs altogether?” I mumbled, giving my wings a stretch as they lifted me to a sitting position before folding them back at my sides. To be honest, if they’d simply told me where the bathroom was, I’d have flown there in a heartbeat; I suppose they’re meant to be following their procedures or some such, but I still found it tedious.

“I suppose you can on future trips, but for this first trip we’d like to walk you there. It’s only across the room, so you’ve not far to go.” Steady said before shooting his attention across the bed at Nurse Wildheart. “Ready, Nurse? She’s going to be dismounting the bed on that side with her drip, alright? On three; one, two, three!”

I shifted my weight as they moved me around the bed, being caught by the nurse as I almost slid out of the bed and onto the linoleum floor. With skilled hooves she managed to marehandle me back onto using the bed to prop myself up until I could get my left forehoof onto the floor to hold myself up. I found that I was surprised at how little strength my legs had.

It was a struggle to stand, and I found myself leaning into the Nurse’s strong figure to keep myself upright. Had I always been this weak, or was this something else?

“Why… why do I feel so weak? There’s nothing wrong with the rest of my legs..?” I asked across at the doctor.

He moved around the bed and grabbed the drip stand, pulling it along to stand beside the nurse and me. “There’s no physical damage to your other legs, but your whole body is fighting off an infection and you feel weaker as a result. If at any point you feel woozy, let us know; this includes when we are not in the room with you. There’s a call nurse button alongside the bed, and there is also a bowl on the bedside cabinet in case we do not get here on time. You’ll need that in the coming days, I’m sure; your body is also fighting to cope with the influx of nutrients that we’ve got you on, and you’re likely to purge them once or twice in the next week.”

I nodded in understanding; the last thing I wanted to do was, well, throw up on myself. Hopefully I’d be able to avoid such an… unpleasant situation. It was nice to know that they’d seen this coming and had prepared for me. For now I simply nodded and let the pair walk me across the room to the en-suite bathroom. With a burst of magic from the doctor’s horn, the bathroom door opened to allow me entrance. The nurse took the drip stand from Doctor and wheeled it in alongside me. She helped me sit before dipping her head politely and stepping out.

The bathroom was fully furnished with everything I’d known from the Vault; a toilet and a sink nearby. A large porcelain, uh, thing sat off on one side of the room, and a small part of my mind told me that this was a bathtub. This one seemed to come with a hose shower head and wall-mounted soap dispenser. It appeared… larger than the thoughts in my head told me it needed to be as well. I supposed it was just a perk of being under the care of the princesses orders.

“When you are done, we’ll see about giving you a bath. Press the Call Nurse button beside your bed when you’re ready, alright?” Nurse Wildheart said with a calm and understanding tone.

I gave her a nod and she smiled and closed the door behind her to give me some privacy.

*

After finishing my, err, business, I limped out of the bathroom and over to the bed, using the drip stand to prop myself up as I hobbled about the room. Figuring they’d take a little while to get to my room, I returned to the bathroom and sat beside the pearly white tub after pressing the button to call the nurses back. I heard the nurses enter my room and search for me before one of the pair, Nurse Wildheart, found me waiting in the bathroom. She took a moment to call her co-worker in, another mare with a cap atop her head, though was not a nurse’s. Her coat was a pale blue with her mane and tail being dual coloured of an almost silvery blue and another blue hue that was slightly lighter than her coat.

Wordlessly Nurse Wildheart stepped over to me and flicked the tub’s faucets on before she beckoned the other mare over.

“Alright, Miss Coin, this is one of our intern orderlies, we’re a little short-hooved for this task at the moment so we’ve had to make do, is this alright?”

I nodded wordlessly and gave what I hoped was a trusting smile. In turn, she smiled warmly back and held a hoof out to the orderly. I honestly had no idea what she was talking about. It took two ponies to get a third clean?

“This is Miss Trixie Lulamoon; she’ll be helping me give you a bath. I understand it may be strange to have others bathe you, but it is all part of the procedures for care that the Princesses have you under. Miss Lulamoon will be assisting me in place of another nurse as we cannot allow for a male nurse to assist in the bathing of a mare.” She paused as her magic flicked off the faucets. “I need to warn you that this may be more… invasive, than you may feel comfortable. Please feel free to speak up when you feel uncomfortable, alright?”

Again I nodded, not quite sure how she meant that it would be uncomfortable, and she looked over at the orderly. Trixie, was it?

“Miss Lulamoon, do you have any questions about this procedure?” Wildheart asked.

She shook her head. “It seems simple enough to Tri- to me.” She replied, cutting herself off as she spoke.

“You’re doing better with that, by the way; you catch yourself now.” Wildheart said warmly. “Alright, before we get her into the water we need to remove her bandages and give her a local anaesthetic for her leg. You get started with her bandages and I’ll just measure up the dose.”

Trixie nodded before stepping closer, her horn lighting up and her pale blue magic surrounding the gauze on my right foreleg. After a few tentative moments, including one where I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the pain I had felt when my wound had first been unwrapped, the bandages were removed and placed into a plastic baggie which was then placed into her white saddlebags. I opened my eyes tentatively before looking down at the hole in my leg.

It looked… better. It certainly wasn’t looking as badly as it had before, with what appeared to be string holding it closed. As I stared down at it I came to several realizations.

First I realized that I was still shivering like a leaf in a gale, most likely what Doctor Steady had suggested was true any it was my body fighting off the infection that made me feel weak; and secondly that my stomach felt like it wanted to leave. The look on my face as this dawned on me must have translated to those in the room with me.

With a push of her magic, the orderly slid me across the floor and over to the toilet, where she dutifully held my mane back as my stomach vented into the bowl. Oh by the air I breathe the taste! I don’t know how to describe it other than ‘how about no?’! My mouth and throat burned so badly, and the smell was wretched. After I was sure I had finished voiding the contents of my stomach I spat the bile that still resided in my mouth into the bowl, gave a wretched groan and pulled my head back up, gingerly flushed the toilet after regaining my balance.

“Thank you, Miss Lulamoon.” I huffed.

“You’re welcome.” She replied quietly before she helped me to the sink to wash out my mouth. I groaned once again after having removed most of the taste from my mouth.

“Ugh, I am not looking forward to doing that again.”

The orderly gave a giggle. “Most ponies don’t, Miss,” She said, “and it never gets easier when we do.”

“Alright, here we go.” Wildheart chimed as she wielded a filled syringe about. “This may sting a little, Miss Coin; please try and hold still.”

The needle pushed into my skin near where my leg was sewn shut hurt, especially when the syringe’s contents were pushed into my system. Once the needle was removed, Wildheart shifted me over to the bathtub and looked down at her pocket-watch.

“Let’s see… two minutes.” She mumbled, and then put a hoof into the bathtub. “Yes, it should be cool enough by then. Miss Lulamoon, what do you have scheduled after this? Something with Princess Sparkle isn’t it?”

The orderly looked sheepish and gave a little blush. “Y-yes; Princess Sparkle is teaching Tri-, me some magic to help me improve my skills. I’m a… a little unskilled on anything beyond levitation or manipulation.”

Wildheart blinked at her. “But if you’re studying under Princess Sparkle, why do you work here?”

Trixie sighed. “Trix- I was a wandering show-mare, and while that sort of thing managed to get some bits out in rural towns where showy magic is less common, in Canterlot there are more skilled unicorns than me on every corner. You probably have more skill or at least more variety in your magic than I do. I need a job where I can practice my magic and actually get paid.”

“I would have thought that you’d get a stipend since you’re one of the Princesses pupils.” Wildheart commented, only for Trixie to shake her head.

“Princess Sparkle doesn’t have a tutelage fund organized yet, though she has said that she’s working on it. For now, I’m content to stay here until I’m either no longer needed or I’m given a permanent position.” She gave an amused yet derogative huff. “For somepony who used to call herself the ‘Great and Powerful’ to be working as an orderly at a hospital… I swallowed a lot of self-pride when Princess Sparkle put me here.”

Wildheart’s eyes narrowed. “You mean to say that you’re not a trained orderly in any sense?”

“Princess Sparkle had me read through what I will be required to do and then some when she first told me that I had been put into a position here. If not for the fact that my magic is… less than great and powerful, I might even be able to take up an intern position as a Nurse should the Princess throw enough books at me, such is her way of helping me absorb knowledge as she can.” She gave the Nurse what I could only call a rather pitiful look. “I’m here for my own good, really. I recall Princess Sparkle saying something about a ‘humility lesson’ as well, perhaps this position is it.”

The ornery looking nurse gave her a withering gaze for a few moments before she spoke out again. “If that’s the case, you’d better stick to me like glue.” She said. “We could always do with an extra hoof, and if you’re talented with showy magic like you suggest, I’m sure we could use your talents in the foal’s wards down in Canterlot Central, they could use somepony who can entertain.” She took another look at her pocket-watch and tucked it back into her mane where she had hidden it originally. “If you could climb into the tub Miss Coin, we can begin.”

I mumbled quietly and began to gingerly climb into the tub. The water was warm and felt pleasant on my coat and skin, and I gave a gentle and comfortable sigh as it warmed my feeble frame. Once I was standing in the shoulder deep water with my right foreleg held above the surface, Wildheart put her hoof on mine and began to lower it down into the warm water, to which I kept my eyes shut tight the whole time, expecting it to hurt. I was surprised at the lack of pain I felt as the water moved up over my cut.

I was more than a little worried at the lack of any feeling in my leg altogether.

“That injection before has temporarily put your leg to sleep so we can bathe you without too much pain.” Wildheart said when I gave her a worried look. “At the same time, it’s given us a timer- you’ll find that you feel drowsy in about five or six minutes and we can’t have you falling asleep in the tub.”

What came next was both the most awkward and yet comfortable four minutes of my life so far. The pair worked rather methodically as they cleaned my coat, mane and tail –pausing only when I gave a squeak in shock when their ministrations with a sponge got a little less than welcome, and I let them know. Thankfully the nurse didn’t linger on that one location for any longer than was absolutely necessary. Wildheart was right though, by the end of the bath I was leaning against the side of the tub to stay standing as my body tried to go to sleep. They wordlessly helped me out from the tub and dried me off with a towel before helping me sluggishly walk back to my bed and slip under the covers.

I smiled at Wildheart as she pulled the sheets up to my shoulders. “Thank you, Nurse.” I drawled tiredly.

She smiled back before ushering Trixie out of the room. “Any time, Miss. If you need us we’re but a button’s press away. Have a pleasant sleep.”

I nodded feebly in response before she turned off the light and closed the door. Gingerly I let my head hit the pillow and closed my eyes. I felt so comfortable here, far more than when I had slept on the banner down in the Vault. Is this what all beds are like? Oh, I am so getting one of these.

I was asleep almost as soon as the world went dark.