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Castle of the Royal Sisters
579 RSR (Royal Sisters Reign, 1 year prior to the War of Moon and Sun and 34 years prior to the beginning of Celestia's Reign)
"Face me you coward!"
Her voice echoed off the bare stone walls that surrounded her. For a moment, she could hear only her shout bouncing off the rocks. Soon it faded into nothingness and left her in the darkness, alone. Alone. With a bestial cry, she lashed out with her hooves, striking an unseen barrier that sparked brilliantly in the darkness. She hissed in pain and shielded her eyes from the glare. The runes carved into the living stone glowed gently, a pulsing yellow glow that hurt almost as much as the radiance of before. The glow faded slowly into the stones.
She growled. A low and predatory sound that became a scream of frustration and anger. She pounded the barrier heedless of the flashing lights or the heat from her strikes. Her attacks useless against the powerful magics that trapped her, she turned her attention to the floor. She struck again and again, pounding into the unyielding stone. Where once she would have cracked flagstone and earth, her hooves left no mark. Infuriated, she doubled her efforts. She screamed and struck at everything that surrounded her. She raged.
Eventually her screams subsided and she collapsed, panting against the hot stone floor. For what seemed like years she lay there, her sides heaving with the effort of breathing. Eventually, her panting coalesced into a short sob of despair. The pulsing of the runes and barrier began to slow, though their light never fading fully from her eyes..
"Feeling better, sister?" Her voice. Her voice. Quickly scrambling to her hooves, the exhausted and wretched allicorn stood and faced the source of her misery and target of her hatred.
"Let me out of this prison and face me you bitch!" From the darkness, her sister's pristine white form appeared flanked by two of her pegasus guards. The guards sneered at Luna's disheveled form, her panting and sweating sides. She swore she saw more than distaste in those sneers but did not deign to return them. Instead, she focused on the one that had begun this foul treachery. Her sister exuded an air of control and near disinterest but while her face was a stern mask of calm, Luna swore she saw a slight smirk marring Celestia's otherwise impeccable features.
"Oh sister mine, no need to resort to vulgarities. Thy prison suits thee if that be thy manner of speech." Celestia nodded slightly to her guards. They exchanged looks, slight though they were, and retreated into the darkness once more. Luna caught one of them leering at her as he left. She felt tainted by it and returned his lust with a glare of sheer hatred. Celestia continued on, ignoring the exchange. "There we are, alone at last sister."
"Don't call me that. Never call me that, you harlot. I am no sister of yours." Luna shook her head and returned her attention to her jailor, watching as Celestia began to circle her prison. She kept pace with the movements, turning in place to always face her un-sister. As she circled, Celestia smiled. A false smile and any foal would see straight through.
"Luna, I am thy friend. Thy sister, for now and ever." Her voice was sickeningly sweet as it wormed it's way into Luna's head. It brought forth memories of moonlit nights of rest and joy as well as the noon sun with two sisters at play. For a brief moment, Luna almost believed her. She wanted to believe her so badly. Then she heard the condescending tone that lay just under the surface. The betrayal, the angry flight from their castle and the horrifying fight that followed. She would not be fooled again, never again. "Let me help thee. Let me cleanse thee of this taint and we can rejoin and rejoice once more."
"You will never take her from me!" Enraged once more, Luna slammed her forehooves on the barrier, sending a shower of sparks into the air. Celestia ignored them as they passed harmlessly through her shining coat. Her brow creased slightly at the display. Luna continued, emboldened by the cracks that were appearing in her sister's supposedly regal mask. "She is more a sister than you shall ever be!"
"So ye would abandon my ponies for this creature, this thing of magic and night? Ye would leave us for some unthinking beast? Ye would forsake thy duty and thy calling for this friend?" Celestia snorted, her mouth twisted into a sneer. "Thy duty is all that matters to this world. Be thee happy or not, it matters little. You shall preform, little pony."
"Get out! Get out!" Luna slammed her side into the barrier, ignoring the pain as it burned her ever so slightly. "Get out, you monster! Just leave me alone!"
Celestia backed into the darkness, her face no longer holding anything but contempt and hatred for the alicorn that seethed in front of her.
"You shall be broken, un-sister. And thy will or thy powers shall be mine."
Luna screamed after her, slamming her hooves on the barrier. She continued long after Celestia had left, her voice slowly slurring into wordless howls of rage and hurt, anger and sorrow. Even after her breath left her gasping and soundless, she still banged her bleeding hooves on the golden wall that separated her from freedom.
In a room not far from where Luna frothed and raged, Celestia gazed into a crystal ball, her tear-streaked face a battlefield of emotion. She had watched the entire display, each scream from her sister tearing at her heart in ways she had never dreamed possible. When it became obvious the form the unseen demon-thing that plagued her sister had taken, Celestia could only choke out a slight sob and lower her head in misery.
After a short while of silent tears, she raised it once more and regarded the ponies she had assembled. The most powerful archmagisters, physicians and thaumatologists she could find inside her principality or out. While the scrying had torn at her heart, it had been necessary. The honored ones needed to see what had been kept hidden ever since that fateful day her sister had been dragged back to the palace screaming and foaming.
"Is there naught we can do? She rages and screams at things none can see. Surely there is some known form of this malady?" Celestia looked up, desperately searching the faces of those around her for any shred of hope.
"My Lady, we've never seen such a thing as this before." One of the braver mages stepped forward, his traditional pointed hat slumping in the dim light of the scrying chamber. He appeared disheveled and one of his hooves pawed nervously at the floor. His voice, however, remained strong. "It was all we could do to fashion thee a prison to contain her. Thy sister is beyond all our ken. Indeed, until this eve none knew one such as you," Celestia winced at those words that set her so far apart from her beloved subjects, "or thy sister could ever become mindsick."
Celestia's eyes suddenly flared at his words and she slammed her hooves into the table, causing all the assembled to jump and whinny in fear. The once-brave magister before her crouched low, prostate before his Princess and her sudden wrath, his ears laid back against his skull in terror.
"My sister be not mindsick!" Celestia scowled down at the quivering form before her. For a moment, there was naught but silence. None dared to even breath lest her anger be turned on them. Everypony present feared for the one that lay before their ruler but none wished to draw her wrath instead. Time itself held it's breath. Then, as suddenly as she had been enraged, Celestia slumped back into her cushions. She heaved a great sigh. "I apologize, good stallion. I did not mean to make thee fearful." She raised her head, her sorrowful gaze regarding the still shaking form that lay before her. "Be at ease, We shall not harm thee."
"But We must do whatever be in Our power to return the Moon Goddess to her rightful place at Our side. We charge thee, make haste. Find a cure for this foul curse. Our treasury shall be open to ye for all ye require and every tome that was ever writ by pony mouth or magic shall be at thy disposal." Celestia wavered at saying more but, after no more words came to her, simply waved a hoof at the gathered ponies. Slowly, they trickled out one by one until she was alone once more. With a tired eye, she gazed into her scrying ball, watching as an exhausted Luna lay in fitful sleep on the hard stone floor of her prison.
"Anything within Our power, dear sister. Or without." Gently, the Sun Goddess stroked the scrying ball where the sleeping image of her sister was.
Border of the Everfree Forest and Ponyville
1005 CR
Crashing through the forest, Twilight and Fluttershy raced as fast as their legs could carry them. The filly had screamed only twice but the snarls of the manticore drew them onward. Each yowl drove an ice pick of fear into their hearts and pushed them to eke out ever more strength from their tired limbs. Though their pace left them with no breath for speech, they both silently hoped that they were not too late. It took them only a few minutes to find the source of the angry roars but it felt as though they were losing precious time. Hurdling over the last of the underbrush that separated them from their goal, they landed - gasping for air - directly opposite a crouched manticore.
At his feet was a small, huddled form. It wasn't moving. The blood ...
"How dare you." Fluttershy's voice was almost a whisper, slipping out between heaving breaths. Caring for creatures was her special talent, her life. She cared for them when they could not. Fed them, bandaged their wounds, gave them all she could. They lived as they had to and she had never felt anything but joy in them. And yet here, as the manticore snarled at the two intruders to his foal-feast, she felt something she had never thought she would feel again. Anger. And hatred.
"How dare you!?" With a shout, Fluttershy charged forward, heedless of the danger. She did not notice her eyes tearing or her snarl of anger. She did not notice her friend reach to stop her, unable to speak for lack of air. All she saw was the foal and the beast that attacked it. And yet, it wasn't a dusty colored purple foal that lay there. In her mind's eye, it was a butter yellow pegasus surrounded by other angry and taunting foals.
The manticore, confused at the sudden appearance of the mares and the aggression of the Forest Keeper, tried to swipe at the charging pegasus. He struck nothing save for a few of her tail hairs as she leapt into the air above him. She spread her wings to give herself more control and twisted in her flight to land next to him, interposing herself between the manitcore and his meal. As he began to turn to face this unexpected opponent, she bucked, aiming for his exposed side.
He howled. The mare was deceptively strong. Fueled by adrenaline and her anger, her kick snapped ribs and shoved the giant beast over onto his side with a loud crash. He slid slightly across the leaves and dirt of the forest floor with a snarl but not far enough to escape Fluttershy's wrath. Wasting no time, she turned and scrambled on top of him, dodging his lashing scorpion tail with an odd practice. With hoof and mouth, she climbed over his now-thrashing form, easily dodging his weak and confused attacks. He tried to claw her off but with her on his wounded side, his flailing limbs were not as useful as they might have been. Growling and snarling, he could only twist ineffectively as the angry mare climbed up his side and towards his head. With a yank, she brought him around to face her, unleashing the angriest Stare she could muster. The beast stopped moving, stopped flailing as the full force of her rage was forced into his mind.
"How dare you hurt that poor, innocent foal!? You big dumb meanie, he's only a little thing! He's not even a proper snack!" The beast whimpered under the intensity of the mare's power. He couldn't close his eyes, he couldn't move his head. All he could do was stare back, deep into those turquoise wells of anger. "You are going to limp to my cottage, you are going to lay down in the back and you are not going to move another inch until I say so, is that clear?"
The manticore, whimpering from the pain and the angry eyes that seemed to bore a hole into his soul, nodded quickly. He could not break her gaze no matter how fast his head moved. Fluttershy continued to stare at him as she backed off of his side, content with his answer. Yelping - and with more speed than he thought possible with broken ribs - the manticore stumbled to his feet and dashed off, his scorpion tail dragging between his legs as he fled towards the cottage of the Forest Keeper.
Huffing with exertion and anger, Fluttershy stared after the manticore for a moment until a gasp from Twilight brought her mind back to the present. She whipped her head around to find her friend crouched over the prone foal - a filly Fluttershy noticed - her horn glowing as she tried to stifle the depressingly slow bleeding of her wounds. Sweat beaded Twilight's brow and Fluttershy had to squint into the glare from her horn.
"Fluttershy, I need your help!" At Twilight's shout, Fluttershy scrambled over to the small form, her earlier anger forgotten. "She's lost a lot of blood and I think one of her lungs is punctured. She's broken, oh Celestia, at least four ribs and probably a lot more."
Fluttershy glanced down at the sad figure, her mind racing. Ponyville General would be able to help but they're on the other side of town. Oh Celestia, please stay with us. A quieter part hoped she hadn't been too rough with the manticore but it was drowned out by the inferno of anger that seethed whenever she thought of the creature that had done this, this horrible thing.
"Twilight? Can you teleport her to Ponyville General?"
"It's too far." Twilight risked a squinting glance at her friend as the butter yellow pegasus felt for a pulse. Fluttershy sighed with relief. The filly had a pulse. It was weak but there. She was also breathing, though even from a distance you could hear the wet bubbling sound of blood in her lungs. It seemed odd, though. Jerky and unnatural.
Her friend's spell wasn't just holding some wounds closed, Fluttershy realized. With every breath the filly took, Twilight's horn glowed brighter. Twilight was breathing for the filly by sheer magical strength. Fluttershy gasped in surprise. She didn't think such a thing possible.
"Fluttershy, If I stop concentrating, she'll drown in her own blood. Can you fly to Rainbow's house and get her? She could-" Twilight's friend shook her head. Looking at the small form, Fluttershy hadn't felt so helpless in such a long time. Not since Junior Flight Camp.
"I, I don't think I can." Fluttershy's ears pressed down against her head. Images of fillies and colts laughing at her as she tried desperately to fly filled her mind. Clutzershy, Clutzershy ... The small form at her hooves gave a wet cough, blood splattering the ground beneath her muzzle. Fluttershy gasped as she was shocked out of her memories. The filly writhed and groaned, a low and tortured sound. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh ..."
"Fluttershy! Ugh," Twilight groaned as her horn began to spark, "I can't hold on forever. You have to be strong. You have to at least try."
Taking one last look at the sad form, Fluttershy took a deep and calming breath. Screwing her eyes tightly shut, she forcibly willed the images that swam through her mind away.
"You're right." Fluttershy spread her wings and jumped into the air, flapping hard. "I'll be back as soon as I can, Twilight." She banked in the air as she cleared the tangled branches that made the Everfree such a dangerous place for pegasi. Glancing down one last time to make sure she could still see the shine of Twilight's horn and confident she could describe the place once more with that marker, Fluttershy flew off towards Rainbow Dash's house. She strained every muscle, fighting against the ever present images of teenage trauma, and hoped against hope that she would be fast enough. Just this once.
Pain.
She was lost on a sea of pain, her mind caught between consciousness and unconsciousness. Each breath hurt, a burning pain in her chest. She had tried to stop but something was forcing her lungs to move. Something warm and uncomfortable. Sounds, barely heard above the pounding of blood through her head, told her that the attack was over. They sounded like voices but the words and meaning were lost. She wondered if this was why the beast had stopped before she was its meal. She tried to speak but only managed to cough, the taste of iron - blood - was her reward.
Time passed and the sounds returned. They sounded ... comforting. But underneath was an edge of fear and exhaustion. The warm feeling continued but it was getting weaker. It was as if a hand gripped her diaphragm and was moving it around, filling her lungs for her. Every movement hurt and she tried to stop it but it kept moving and it hurt and she tasted blood and why did she hurt momma? Why couldn't she go to sleep momma?
Suddenly, she was lifted harshly. She cried out, a wordless sound of pain. She felt spit and blood dribbling out of her mouth. Voices again, louder and harsh. She whimpered slightly through the blood that seemed to fill her chest. The movements slowed and she was hefted onto something warm. Warm and with a soft pelt. Something that was wet with the sweat of exertion. that breathed heavily. For a moment, she was not there. She was in the arms of something that had no pelt, that cradled her and made soothing sounds. She was in the arms of something that had scales, that stroked her cranial fins and cooed. She was safe.
As the wind and the sense of speed began, she finally slipped into unconsciousness. Her mind rejected the pain of the waking world and instead filled with the warm embrace of 'mother.'
Dr. Horse had been a pediatrician for a long time. He had treated everything from broken wings to upset tummies. He loved his job and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. To see the smiles of the foals as they got better and to know he had a hoof in their recovery, it always made the long hours and low pay worth it. Yet times like these ...
"Damn it, where is that catheter?!" Nurse Red Heart barreled passed him as the small filly began to thrash slightly in her unconsciousness. She held the filly's head still with her hooves and adjusted the tracheal tube with her mouth, the tiny thing's strength ebbing away by the moment. While the medical profession frowned on using the mouth for any type of use, needs must as the Nightmare drives. Vigilance, one of their security stallions, held one of her twitching hooves down as Nurse Tender Heart maneuvered an IV into her arm. "And can we get another orderly in here?!"
The sound of staccato beeping caused his head to jerk up. The heart monitor. Her heart was beating too fast. Given the amount of blood she had lost, it was a wonder it beat at all. That pegasus that delivered her had told them of her friend actually using magic to force the poor thing to breathe. If it had been any other time, he would have some choice words for such an irresponsible action but it probably saved her life. He just hoped that the trauma to the organs was slight and there was no magical burn. That would complicate things.
"I need a drip of, uh, morphine. No, hydromorphone. 5 cc's to start." Nurse Tender Heart looked at him, confused. "We need to get her heart rate down and her pain down and her breathing down ... we'll get some nerve blocks going once we can roll her onto her side without killing her and then we'll stop the narcotics. Damn it, nurse where's that catheter!?" The clop of hooves on tile told him that something had arrived. A quick look showed him it was the catheter he had asked for minutes ago. "About time! Shave her chest, we need to drain the air that's trapped."
"Doctor?! We don't know her parents yet and..." Nurse Cold Heart withered under his quick glare.
"Emergency life-saving procedures. This is flail chest and I will NOT loose this filly. Now get her shaved and we'll get that damn intercostal catheter in!" As his team leapt to obey, he gave himself a quick moment to breathe. Once they removed that air pocket and stitched those ... lacerations closed, she'd be in better shape. "We need plasma, a laceration kit and ..."
He hesitated. He was no surgeon but any first year student knew there was little you could do with rib fractures. He needed magical support.
"Get me Doctor Stable. We'll prep her for magi-surgery." Needs must as the Nightmare drives indeed.
Fluttershy gasped for breath as she galloped into the Emergency Room waiting area. After Rainbow Dash had taken off, she had made a beeline for the hospital and still had been the last to arrive. She shuddered with exertion and barely repressed fear. If she had been the only one to find that filly ...
"Fluttershy!"
"Rarity?" Fluttershy looked up, confused at the sound. In one of the brightly lit corners of the waiting room, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Twilight all waved her over. As she cantered over, questions began to spill out in between gasps for air. "Oh my goodness, is she alright? Is she awake? Is she -" Rarity put a hoof on her mouth and drew her into a strong hug. For a moment, Fluttershy just stood there, her mind still trying to sort through what was happening. Then, as if that one hug had burst a damn inside her, she began to sob. Gently, her friends pulled her over to one of the plush benches.
"Bruising of the diaphragm, bruising of the spleen, one of her kidney's is pretty toasted ... how is she still alive?" Dr. Stable shook his head at the tiny covered form in front of him. The steady rhythm of the heart rate monitor and the mechanical sound of the positive pressure respirator almost drowned out the soft and pitiful moaning coming from the far-too-young filly. Returning his attention to the magi-ray sheet in front of him with a huff, he continued. "Ahh, let's see. Three detached ribs - one of them puncturing the right lung - and her blood oxygen levels are extremely low. And that's not counting blood loss and other lacerations due to ... animal attack?"
Dr. Horse nodded and sighed, removing his glasses and rubbing his muzzle bridge with his fetlock. "Everfree." Both doctors frowned. Animal attacks were very rare in Equestria but with the town being so close to the wild forest, they were not unheard of here. It had been decades since the last attack, however, and the number of wounds on this filly were a strange occurrence. "We need to manually remove the - what was it, the 5th rib - from the lung and try to reattach them all to her abdominal cavity. I think you'll agree that we can do little for the rest of it."
"You had her on hydromorphone?" Dr. Stable frowned, the patient sheet joining the magi-ray sheet in the air. "That's not good for a lung injury."
"I know, I needed to get her heart rate down and pain management was the quickest way. She's not on it now, we gave her a steroid nerve block. We couldn't get to her intercostal nerves until we could move her without collapsing her entire chest cavity." Dr. Horse blushed slightly and flattened his ears at the raised eyebrow his fellow presented to him. "Sorry, I'm being defensive. I usually don't see these types of injuries on my patients and it was all I could think of at the time."
"Well, she's still breathing and it wasn't that long until you got in the nerve block. I would have left the heart rate a little high myself but ... " Dr. Stable sat heavily, still floating the magi-ray sheet in front of him. His eyes were closed, however, and a deep frowned stayed planted on his muzzle. He did not mention the fact his fellow doctor probably couldn't stand to see such a young foal in pain. "I concur with your assessment here, Doctor. We need to operate or she'll die. I'm putting her in surgical suite four in ten minutes. I'd like you to join me."
She heard voices.
The filly moaned slightly and twisted in pain. She hurt still. A deep hurt, all over her chest. She wanted it to stop, she wanted it to go away and let her sleep in peace. Something wouldn't let her, something tugging at the faint strands of consciousness that remained.
Suddenly, the voices rose in intensity. A hundred, a thousand, a million voices all screaming and roaring. A million languages, all babbling. Pain and war, death and destruction. Noble causes and the most vile of atrocities. Memories that were not hers echoed in her mind, thoughts that were not hers clamored for attention. She grunted the ceaseless roar grew until it drowned out even her own terrified whimpering.
These aren't mine! These aren't mine! Make it stop! Stop it, stop it, stop it! She tried to thrash, tried to clutch at her skull as waves of pounding thoughts threatened to overwhelm her but her limbs were dead weights, twitching spasmodically no matter how hard she tried to get them to move.
Be still. A thought-that-was-not filled her mind from some distant place. It was a sensation without form, a feeling without words. A pulse of forceful calming that brooked no argument. And as it went the voices calmed, the thoughts subsided. The filly was left alone, blessedly alone.
Who are you? The filly, her mind suddenly quite, struggled against the need for rest.
A feeling of cold affection filled her - like some watchmaker looking at his latest creation - as the thought-that-was-not answered. Mother.
Fluttershy's eyes hurt. It had been almost four hours since Rainbow Dash had brought the tiny filly in and they had heard no word as to her fate. She had been crying on and off for that entire time, her friends Rarity and Twilight holding her as needed. Even Rainbow Dash on occasion. She felt so helpless, so weak. As much as it felt somehow wrong with that small filly in agony, she felt better knowing her friends were there for her. Rarity had even taken the rest of the day off from her designs once she had seen Twilight rush into the hospital covered in mud and blood.
The brightly lit and painted waiting room almost seemed to be trying to cheer her up but Fluttershy's heart didn't want empty comfort. She wanted to know hat young filly was alright, she wanted to know she had done the right thing. She wanted to know everything really was going to be okay. But bright paint and large windows for sunlight just couldn't tell her that.
The long-suffering receptionist had assured them she would tell them everything she knew once the doctors had finished their work. Occasionally, she would offer them tea or refreshments but Fluttershy barely heard her. The only thing in her mind was that still form laying in a pool of blood with a hulking cat-beast towering over it and the poor sounds of whimpering as they had lifted the small foal onto Rainbow's back.
Despite the receptionist's assurances, Rainbow kept charging up to the desk every ten minutes to ask another round of questions. These rarely strayed from demands to know how the filly was or what the doctors were doing. She was currently giving the receptionist a sour look after undoubtedly being told for the thirteenth time that they would be the first to know if anything changed. With an irritated flap, she almost launched into the air after receiving the same answers to her hurried questions again. A stern look from the receptionist kept her grounded, however, and she trotted angrily across the cherry room to where her friends were sitting.
"Stupid no-flying rule." Fluttershy reached out and gripped Rainbow's shoulder with a fetlock, smiling reassuringly. She received a half-smile in return before her pegasus friend began pacing again. Rarity rolled her eyes at her 'energetic' friend. Suddenly, Rainbow sat with a groan, running her hooves across her face in an exagerated display of irritation. "Argh, I hate waiting! I want to do something, I need to do something. Are you sure I can't kick that manticore's flank?" Rainbow turned hopefully to Fluttershy.
"He's learning his lesson right now, Rainbow. Actually, maybe I should go check up on him. Oh, I can't believe I kicked that poor," stupid, mean, nasty, "manticore." Fluttershy went to stand, shaking her head to clear those awful thoughts, but was pulled back down by both Twilight and Rarity.
"He just has a cracked rib and there's little you can do about that, dear." Rarity stroked her worried friend's mane. "The brute needs to be taught not to attack defenseless fillies and that small pain will do more than anything you could say to him I think."
"Well, we don't all need to stay," Twilight sheepishly grinned as both Rainbow Dash and Rarity glared at her, "b-but I think you need to see she's alright."
Fluttershy sighed. She hated to think of even that poor awful manticore in pain but what he did ... she hated to think of what she would have done if that poor filly died. Would she chase him away? Would she hurt him more? Soon, fresh tears began to flow down her face and she felt three sets of hooves hold her shaking withers. For a moment, the only sounds in the waiting room were the soft sobs of a heart broken pegasus and the quiet ticking of a wall-mounted clock.
"Rainbow Dash and friends?" The receptionist stood nearby with a tired smile on her face. "The doctor is ready to see you."
"We can't divulge many details to non-relatives, you understand. The filly deserves her privacy." The three mares in front of him nodded, eager to hear anything about the fate of that foal they had brought in. Dr. Horse smiled back. They sat in the middle of his cramped office, the few chairs heaped as they were with paperwork. He almost grimaced when they had entered, his 'spring cleaning day' of three years ago having barely touched the stacks of paper spread out across every available surface. But their minds were on other, more important things and they didn't seem to mind his clutter.
He put a hoof to his chin as a vague sort of memory surfaced. He recognized them, some story about heroism and the like. Seems like the stories were true and he was glad they had been nearby when that animal had attacked. He shook his head to clear the competing thoughts. There were more important things to think about.
"But we can say she's alive and recovering fairly well, for what she's been through." All three mares almost collapsed in relief. Dr. Horse let them relax for a moment. Before he could continue, however, Fluttershy stepped forward delicately.
"Uhm, I'm sorry if this is improper, but, well..." The pediatrician leaned closer almost on instinct, the butter yellow pegasus' voice almost too low to hear. She raised her head, giving him the most soul-wrenching look he thought possible. "I-is she awake?"
"Oh, uhm, well ... no. No, she's sleeping off the effects of -" Dr. Horse stopped, mentally chiding himself for almost breaching confidence. With a reassuring smile, he tried again. "Well, she's sleeping. Actually, is that mare who used magic on her present?" The purple unicorn, Twilight he believed her name was, blushed and lowered her face.
"I know, doctor. I shouldn't have used magic on her. I'm sorry, it was all I could think of after she ... she stopped breathing." Twilight absentmindedly began pawing at the floor with her hoof. Dr. Horse sighed, grimacing at the crestfallen mare.
"Normally, I would agree with you. It was very irresponsible and there was some magic damage because of it." Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, tears brimming at her eyelids and berating herself under her breath for even trying something so risky. Rainbow Dash stared at him in shock, his words taking a moment to sink in. As soon as they did, she almost leapt to her hooves and the defense of her friend. Before she could, however, Rarity put a hoof on her shoulder. She shook her head slightly.
Ignoring the mini-drama behind the dejected purple mare, Dr. Horse lifted Twilight's face to his, now smiling. "But! It probably did save that filly's life. There wasn't nearly as much damage as if some barely-trained and panicked parent had tried to do the same. Just don't make a habit of it, hmm?"
With a smile, she nodded. Her relief was almost palpable.
"Now, does anypony here know her parents?"