Keep living for Friendship

by alejin


Chapter 22, Let’s save our friend together

PONYVILLE HOSPITAL

“Fast, he is burning, we need to control the heat, more wet towels right now or his fever will kill him, and where in Tartarus is the Antibiotic and the Antidote.”

“In a second doctor, right now we are looking for it, we are having trouble to find it, this is really a rare case, not many ponies got themselves poisoned by manticores every day, the last one was about 6 months ago”

“Really? I mean it REALLY nurse redheart??, Please go and look for it harder NOW!!”

“. . . . . Ok doctor, sorry”

Another nurse came to help

“How is he doing doctor”

“Not well Nurse Sweetheart, thanks to Mrs Twilight “antidote”, the poison hasn’t reach lethal levels, but if we don’t give him a more powerfull one soon, he will be dead if I have to say. . . . by night, we already are having troubles controlling the fever with Serum and antibiotics, horseapples, Where is that Antidote, we need it now for Celestia’s sake”

“Easy doctor, panic will not help right now, we just need to wait a little”

Then Nurse Redheart came, with a face like if somepony had just die

“Oh, Thank Celestia you are here Nurse Redheart, ok. . . .where is the antidote?”

“Well doctor. . . . we don’t have any left, the ones we have are. . . . already gone bad, it’s been months since we don’t ask Zecora for more, and besides, all of them were for pony dosis, they wouldn’t work anyway”

The doctor only stayed there, mouth agape, how. . . . unprepared they really were? Granted, It wasn’t a usual case, in fact it really was a reaaaaally rare case, but. . . how could it happen?, this creature was dying, and the only one who could really save him was not in town right now. They could try to sintetize a custom antidote, but they didn’t know how to make it for humans size, and they didn’t really have much experience making that kind of medicine, one wrong step and it could do more harm than good. . . .and any healing spell wasn’t gonna help this time, maybe just maybe delay the poison to spread, but without a proper antidote. . . the human was going to. . . HORSEAPPLES. The doctor knew what he had to do now, feeling defeated he proceded to go to the waiting room.

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All the main 6, Lyra and Spike were waiting, they were the only ones allowed to go into the hospital as Alex’s closest friends, there were mixed feelings. Rarity was consoling Fluttershy who was crying in her shoulder, Pinkie pie was just waiting there, her mane flat and staring at the floor, Applejack and Rainbow dash (the tough ones) were trying to stay strong, looking at the door for news, Spike and Lyra even sad were trying to confort Twilight who was reading a potion book and was whispering

“This is all my fault, this is all my fault, What. . . what I did wrong, I was really sure I made the antidote perfect, what could hav. . . . . Oh no!!!”

“What is it Twilight? You found something??

“Yes Spike, how could I be so stupid, I didn’t mess off with the ingredients,. . . . I made a dosis for Ponies, Alex obviously is higher than us, he needed a more powerfull one, the one I gave him wasn’t enough to counter the poison, only to hold it for some time, stupid, stupid, stupid me” Twilight said falling to the floor and started to sob for her mistake.

“Calm down Twilight, Spike said, It wasn’t your fault, at least you made one to give him more time, if it wasn’t for it, he would be dead right now, now we are here, everything will be alright, you’ll see”

At that moment, the doctor came, Everypony forgetting how they were feeling, proceeded to run to him, Lyra was the one to speak

“How is he?, How is he doctor?, please tell us!!”

“Easy Sugarcube, please let the doctor talk”

The doctor only stared to everypony and with a sigh he started

“Girls. . . .I’m sorry, but it seems, we don’t have antidote for Manticore Poison right now, our reserves are already spoiled and we can’t ask for Zecora for more by the time, I’m afraid. . . (he looked at the floor again, ashamed), there is nothing we can do, I’m. . . really sorry, we can. . . make him feel confortable, but according to our calculations, a this phase, he. . . .will not make it after the night.”

The room became silent, even the nurses and other patients who were there didn’t dare to say anything, that wasn’t true right?, It was just a sick joke, their friend wasn’t going to die. . . right?, Rainbow was the first one to talk

“hee hee, nice prank doctor. . . . No, I’m not serious, I don’t apreciate this kind of tasteless humor, now please, tell us the truth and say he is gonna be fine, cmon, say it, SAY IT!!”

She was stopped by Applejack grabing her tail

“RAINBOWDASH STOP!!, I. . . really, really want to believe he is lying but. . . (she started to share some tears). . he is not. . . he’s not” (she covered her eyes and continuing sobing on the floor).

“UNACEPTABLE!!!, just Unaceptable!!, Now!!, go in there again and save my Friend life right NOW!!, Rarity said in tears and frustration.

“I’m. . . sorry, I really am, but as you may know, healing magic cannot heal this kind of things, that’s why we have medicines and antidotes for, but please try to understand, this is really a rare case, I know it’s no excuse to be so unprepared, but. . . unfortanely we are, I’m really sorry.”

Fluttershy didn’t say anything, no longer being able to help herself, she fainted, the pain was so much to bear. Pinkie pie and Lyra didn’t say anything, they just embrace each other, trying to forget with no success they had a human friend just to escape the pain. Twilight was also using Spike little shoulder to cry, she already had let the book fell, not like she cared, she failed, it was her fault (she thought).

Spike only watched everypony, he was sad, but. . . . most of all, he was pissed, they just accepted it. . . and that’s it?, helping Twilight to compose herself, he climbed to a chair where everypony could see him, and started to say, SCREAMING

“SNAP OUT OF GIRLS!!!, WHY ARE YOU KILLING OUR FRIEND SINCE NOW, Twilight. . . is there a way for you to sintetize a new Antidote before the night??”

“I. . . I. . . “

“YES OR NO, ANSWER ME!!”

“No. . . I mean Yes, it takes its time, but I think if you all help me finding and mixing different ingredients, we. . . can do it, but Spike, If we make it in a hurry, It might be lethal instead of helpfull, so I don’t think. . . . ”

“So What?, as far as I see, he is as good as dead now right?, Twilight, we. . . need you, granted Zecora is the best of the bests, but she is not here, we need you Twilight, Alex needs you, please help us to save our friend, and even if we fail, at least we could step in front of him and tell him we try with all our will and he will understand, he knew his chances of survival were almost null, but he choose to fight anyway, he choose to trust in you, he still is trusting you, I’m pretty sure he is right now waiting for you to do your best to save him, please don’t disapoint him.”

Twilight stayed there, staring to her number one assistant, he always managed to help her when she felt scared or confused, at that moment was not exception, she felt ashamed, they did right? they really took their friend death for granted, she wasn’t like that, none of them were, maybe it was because this was the very first time they had to deal with something like this, every single time they thought all hope was lost. . . some kind of miracle would happen and would save the day, but this wasn’t the case, some or better say, many times you have to make your own miracles, with her hope regained, she stood up and looked at her friend, surprisingly, they also had that confidence back in their faces, even Fluttershy who managed to hear almost all Spike’s speech.

“Ok girls, please come with me, we have an Antidote to sintetize, we don’t have much time, but let’s give it a shot, show our friend what we can do, when we work TOGETHER”

“YEAH!!” Everypony scramed


Spike and Lyra decided to stay in the Hospital waiting for more news about Alex condition, meanwhile, back in the library, Twilight made a check list and passed it to her friends.

“Ok girls, we are going to need all this herbs and flowers, you can find them In the Everfree forest, and this ones, you will find them at Zecora’s hut, here is the Key she left me in case I needed something in her absence, Everypony Except Rainbow and Fluttershy can collect these ingredients, now go!”

Pinkie pie, Rarity and Applejack noded and proceeded to go for the ingredients as fast as they could

“Ok, finally Fluttershy and Rainbow, I need you to go and look for a Manticore, (they both gasped), better said, the new king, your friend Fluttershy” we need some Manticore Poison, I have some here, but considering Alex condition right now, we need it as fresh as we can get it, Fluttershy I know you are really scar. . . “

“Ok Twilight! no problem, just wait here, we’ll be back soon, let’s go Rainbow dash”

Twilight and Rainbow dash only let their jaws fell to the floor, they never saw Fluttershy not complaining about going to the Everfree forest, she really, really, really wanted to save Alex, after fixing their jaws, they both looked to each other and chuckled.

“Ok Fluttershy, then. . . . what are we waiting for?, let’s go”

Rainbow dash and Fluttershy then proceded to fly to their destination, with Fluttershy using at least 5.0 of wing power speed. . . she really was impresing Rainbow dash and Twilight this day.”

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ZECORA’S HUT

“Ok girls, thanks to Twilight list we almost have every ingredient we need, (Rarity said), the only thing left to find is.. . . . . Heart spores, hmmmm, where could they be?”

“Ah dunno sugarcube, there are a lot of jars here, this is gonna take a little while, better start now”

“FOUND THEM!!!”

“What??, but Pinkie darling, how you knew where it was?”

“It was in the H sección” she said smiling

Applejack and Rarity only facehoof, how in Tartarus she does that?? The answer was always the same. . . . PINKIE BEING PINKIE.

“Ok, now let’s go, I hope Fluttershy and Rainbowdash managed to find whatever Twilight sent them to get”

Applejack and Pinkie pie only noded and alongside with Rarity proceeded to go back Golden Oaks library

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EVERFREE FOREST

For Fluttershy and Rainbowdash, it wasn’t that hard to find the manticores, After all, only a few hours passed since they were in Ponyville, in fact, all of them were gathered at the plain área of the Everfree, they were burying their fallen brother, it appeared that by the time they got there, the funeral was already over.

With no much time at their side, they trusted their chances and showed themselves, everymanticore just stared at them, some of them with desbelieving eyes, these ponies had to be crazy some thought, some of them were already preparing to attack but were inmediatily stopped by the new king that gave them a stare that could really kill, turning to his friend, he said

“Hello Fluttershy, what brings you here so soon, it’s only been a few hours since we left Ponyville. . . . Something wrong?”

Fluttershy, remembering her friend predicament, was close to tears, but this wasn’t the time for that, determinated she proceded to say

“Actually. . . yes, you see our friend. . . your friend Alex. . . he is dying, the antidote he took wasn’t enough powerfull to counter your fallen subject poison, we need to make another one, please. . . we need some of your poison to make it. . . will you help us??”

After processing everything Fluttershy said, the King was really surprised, the previous king was dying?, of course he would help him, he own him one after all

“Of course Fluttershy, I will help you saving our friend, cmon, do you have something to store the poison?”

At that moment Fluttershy and Rainbow dash took out from their saddlebags some glass containers where the Manticores poured their venom in to, once the containers were full, they covered it, then Fluttershy hugged her friend who hugged her back.

“Yay. . . . Thank you so much. . . this means a lot to me, to be honest. . . . I thought it would be a lot harder to get. . . sorry”

“Don’t be Fluttershy, I know how our reputation is, but remember this, you and Alex are always welcome here, never forget that, now go, save our friend”

“Yes. . . we will” then they proceded to go back to the library.

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When Everypony arrived the Library they found everything set to make the mixing, they also found Twilight but she seemed. . . very stressed, a huge scroll and feather showed she was working in something involving . . . “fancy mathematics”, when she saw everypony, she inmediatily troted to them and said.

“Ok girls, first of all, thank you very much, but know this, mixing everything will be harder than it seems, we need to be very carefull, we cannot add to much or too little of everything, my last potion failed because I made it for Pony size, Alex is taller than us, the potion wasn’t enought powerfull for him and glady not too powerfull to . . . . . kill him”

“So Twili. . . (Pinkie said), all we have to do is do it for a larger species and that’s all right?, I propose we use a Minotaurus size one, they a lot taller than Alex, it definitelly has to work on him”

“Ugh (Rarity responded)Pinkie pie dear, didn’t you listen anything Twilight said??, if we do that, we are practically killing Alex, the potion will be too much for his body to handle, right Twilight?”

“Yes Rarity, and that's the problem, in my books. . . . there are instructions to make the antidote for every known species in Equestria, even. . . . changelings, but. . . .I’m afraid to say. . . . . “

Rarity deducted it “Obviously there is no record for a human size one, right?”

“Right Rarity, I’m sorry, but. . . I don’t know what to do. . . . if we use any of them, we will defintelly kill him, and if we use pony size again, that will not do, I’m so sorry, I think I going to fail Alex. . . . again” (twilight just stayed there, her head looking to the floor), Applejack then noticed the scrolls and ink in the table, many of them had some numbers and very tricky math problems, It looked like if Twilight wasn’t only preparing the mixing área in their absent, then she said

“But Twilight ah can see you been working in something involving Fancy mathematics, if ah have to bet, ah’d say you been calculating the right amount for him. . . right?”

“Yes Applejack. . . . I made some calculations based in his, Pony and Minotaurus sizes, but. . . I can’t be sure if it will work. . . sorry girls, I made it the best I could”

Twilight kept staring at the floor, until Rainbow dash came and with her hoof in Twilight shoulder she said

“Cmon Twilight, don’t sweat it, I’m. . . . We are pretty sure it will work, you are the smarter unicorn we know, remember what you said to Alex before his fight, you have to believe, believe in your self, as we believe in you, as Alex believes in you, what you say Twilight.?

Twilight dried her tears and smiled at their friends “Thanks Rainbow, Everypony, ok, let’s do this, we don’t have much time.

“YEAH!!”

Everypony started to smash and mix every ingredient following very carefully every isntruction from Twilight, there was no room for any mistake, the antidote had to be as perfect as possible, after a couple of hours of intense work, they finally have it, everypony was exhausted, even Twilight, after all, this time it wasn’t just a test, a life was in danger and she wasn’t gonna fail. . . not again, only one thing left, give it to him and expect the better.

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It was almost 6:00 PM when the girls arrived at the hospital, when they found Lyra and Spike at the waiting room, they could notice they looked even sadder than before, with worried faces they aproached them, then Twilight asked

“What is going on Spike, something happened?”

“Well you see Twilight, there were complications, when you left. . . we inmediatily told the doctor that you would arrive soon with a new more powerfull antidote, and. . . he . . . .told us”

“Oh NO!!, please don’t tell me it is too late, please Spike, tell me we are on time!!!” Everypony looked at Spike with expecting eyes

“No no no, If an antidote is giving him before night, it could still work, if it is powerfull enough of course”

Everypony sigh in relief, but couldn’t help notice Lyra wasn’t as relieved as them, that was definetily not a good signal

“The problem is, the poison have already corrupted great part of his remaining blood, even if the antidote works, he would need. . . . a transfusión”

“I’m sorry Spike, but I really fail to see the problem there” Twilight said

Spike sigh, “The Problem Twilight is. . . . his blood type is. . . AB negative”

Everypony except Twilight and Fluttershy looked at Spike with confusión eyes, Applejack finally asked to Twilight

“Twilight. . . . is that a. . . . bad thing?” Applejack asked

Twilight only stayed there, not believing what she just heard, like if time itself had just stopped, Fluttershy by her part, crouched, covered her head with her mane and hooves and started to sob and cry.

“Ok. . . . .?, can please anypony could explain to me what is going on with this. . . . AB negative stuff”

Lyra was the one to answer

“You see Applejack, there are many types of blood, A, B, O, negative or positive, even though, A and O are really common, the B one is really rare, only 25% in all Equestria shares this type of blood”

“Ok. . . . , and what about this AB negative one”

Lyra started to share some tears “The. . . the. . . .AB negative is the most rare blood in all Equestria, even in all other kingdoms, only. . . only. . . 2% in all Equestria have this kind of blood, we already searched in the warehouse, it was obvious they don’t have any, in your absence, Spike and I asked everypony in Ponyville their blood type, no pony have it, in fact, in all Canterlot, the only ponies registered with this type of blood are. . . believe it or not. . . . The princesses”

Everypony gasped, they did’t want to believe it, after all the work, it wasn’t enough, how.?, do their friend really was that unlucky, was he really destined to die that day, no pony or dragon dared to say anything, they couldn’t, then Twilight remembered something

“Wait Lyra, you said you asked everypony in our absence right??” she noded, “Then. . . . well I already know I’m O positive, Girls please tell me your blood types, now??”

Rarity was the first one to talk “Darlings, my type of blood is B positive, sorry”

Rainbow dash “Mine is O positive as Twilight’s”

Applejack “Ah really like to say mine is AB negative, but is B negative, dang it!!”

Fluttershy still sobbing managed to say “Mine is. . . is. . . A positive. . . (hic)”

Lyra and Spike, both were A negative, with almost all her hope crushed, Twilight finally aproached Pinkie pie, and asked her

“I. . . I don’t know, remember I used to live in a rock farm, the only one who had the family records was dad, he told me once, but I only can remember it started with A, and that’s all, sorry girls, Sorry Ali”

Twilight eyes widened to imposible levels and as fast as she could, she grabed Pinkie pie with her magic and started to troth to the examination room alongside with the nurses.

“Twily?, what are you doing??” Pinkie asked

“Pinkie, we need to know your type of blood, I really can’t believe you forgot yours”

“But what good would it be, as Applejack, I really don’t know much about fancy mathematics as she says, but tell me, is there really a posibility for me to have it?, please Twilight, even good luck have his limits”

“Ugh, Pinkie pie, you want to save. . . Ali or not?

Pinkie in tears only screamed “YES!!! I want to, ok Twili, let’s check it out”

After taking some samples from her hoof (Pinkie hated needles as bad as Alex), the nurses and the doctor proceded to study it, after 15 minutes, the doctor finally got out to the waiting room, everypony after noticing him, inmediatily surrounded him with expecting eyes, the doctor.

The doctor was looking at the floor, with his head hanged didn’t say anything, the girls only and dragon didn’t take it as a good signal, they were about to lost it, Rarity and Fluttershy were about to faint, but the doctor inmediatily raised his head with an smile in his muzzle, this inmediatily took everypony attention and look at him again, waiting for what he had to say.

“It’s. . . . AB negative, Mrs Pinkie pie type blood is. . . AB NEGATIVE!!!”

Everypony just stared at the doctor, Twilight inmediatily asked to her friend

“Applejack, he is not lying right??, please tell me he is not Lying”

Applejack with a huge grinn said “No Sugarcube, he isn’t”

At that very moment everypony and dragon made a hug group, Lyra, Pinkie and Fluttershy crying of joy in the process, Unfortunatelly one pony had to remember them. . they only had won the half of the battle, and that pony was Twilight.

“Ok Girls, I’m really glad how everything turned at the end, but remember we still have to try this antidote on him, and Pinkie pie please go with the nurses so they can take some of your blood for the transfusión,”

Everypony noded, Twilight then gave the Antidote to the doctor and Pinkie pie entered to the transfusion room, some minutes later, Pinkie pie exited the room, a little weak, but still bouncing, her happiness and joy for helping saving her friend was bigger than her lack of blood.

After that, everypony and dragon just waited, Pinkie pie eating some cupcakes and drinking Applejuice to regain her strenght, After a couple of hours, A nurse finally came out, looking at everypony, she finally said

“Girls, already had administrated the antidote to him and. . . . it seems. . . .”

“It seems what darling please, don’t stop”

“It seems. . . it’s working fine, his fever is decreasing, and thanks to the blood from Mrs Pinkie pie, he is in stable conditions again, but we must tell you, he is not entirelly out of danger yet, we still need to check if the antidote eradicates the poison completely, he will be sedated for at least one week, please go to your homes, we promise if anything happens, we will contact you, tomorrow, you can visit him, now please go and get some rest, I promise you he is in good hooves.”

Reluctant, everypony and dragon noded, it was true, that day was really hard, The manticores “invasión”, their friend predicament with the poison, making the antidote, the thought of not having the blood to save him, yep this was really a long and tired day, thanking the nurse, everypony proceded to leave, praying to Celestia for their friend safety.