Chapter 22: Recovery
Cosma trotted down the hall with her husband by her side and wearing a smile. “Mom, I can walk you know, I feel fine now, really.” Dawn whined from his mother’s back.
“Oh no, you’re still weak, you just woke up and are recovering. You are not moving a muscle unless necessary until you are one hundred percent better.” Cosma stated. It was the day after Chrysalis administered the cure for the poison that had afflicted Dawn.
That morning, everypony at the castle had gathered at Dawn’s door with Celestia, Chrysalis, Crystal, Cosma and Solaris gathered around Dawn’s bed. Luna cancelled her spell that kept Dawn asleep to see if he would wake up on his own. Luna was the first to open her eyes and the others waited with anticipation. Dawn’s eyes slowly opened as he let out a small moan. Though he had been asleep for the whole ordeal, he still looked tired with bags under his eyes, but he woke up without cringing or yelping in pain. That was a good sign, it meant the antidote worked and Dawn would pull through.
Dawn’s eyes looked over everypony in the room and gave a weak smile. “Hey everyone.” He weakly said.
At this, Cosma’s eyes watered over in joy and quickly held her son in a loving embrace. The others cheered out in joy upon realizing Dawn would be fine.
After Cosma’s words that told Dawn to take it easy in her way, Solaris followed up. “She’s right son, you need to relax. You may be well enough to get out of bed, but you need to conserve your strength until you’ve fully recovered.” They were on the way to the dining hall with a bit of a crowd following them. Discord, Skript, Celestia and Luna, Blue Blood, Chrysalis, Crystal, and the six elements of harmony were following the king and queen with Dawn to the dining hall for breakfast.
“Ooh, I can’t wait to start planning a ‘congratulations on getting better let’s all celebrate that Dawn is okay now’ party!” Pinkie Pie cheered.
“That sounds like a fine idea Pinkie Pie.” Applejack said.
“We’re all so glad you’re okay now Dawn.” Fluttershy said with a soft smile.
Dawn looked back to his friends. “Thanks guys. I’m glad too. I really missed seeing you all while I was stuck being asleep.” Tooky gave a squawk as he flew alongside Cosma. “Yes Tooky, I missed you too.” Tooky gave a smile at that.
Crystal simply watched Dawn with a dreamy expression as she hovered along with the group next to her mother. She looked up to Chrysalis. “Mom, thank you for saving Dawn.”
Chrysalis gave a small smile to her daughter. “I’m just glad he’s all right now. I owe him for saving you from being lost in this city.” Chrysalis responded. She then grew a mischievous smile. “Besides, I’ve seen how you look at him like you are now, you really like him don’t you?”
Crystal blushed as she looked to the side. “That obvious huh?” She asked.
Chrysalis gave a chuckle.
“You kidding? We could see that blush a mile away.” Rainbow Dash suddenly said as she appeared next to Crystal.
“Awe, does Crystal have a crush on Dawn?” Twilight asked as she looked back.
Crystal’s blush intensified.
Celestia intervened. “All right little ponies, that’s enough, let’s not make her embarrassed.”
The group backed off from Crystal.
“Crush?” Dawn asked himself silently. He heard the conversation fully and was left to wonder. “Crystal has a crush on me? Gosh, am I supposed to do something about it? What do I do? I don’t know anything about this stuff.” He thought to himself.
The group soon entered the dining hall and every pony took a seat at the table. The king and Queen took a seat at the head with Cosma using her magic to set Dawn from off her back to sitting next to her with Luna next to him. Celestia sat across from Luna. The rest were spread out. Once the food was served, Dawn perked up with a question. “So when will my lessons with Twilight begin?”
“When you’re all better.” Solaris said.
“But I am better, I really want to get started on learning stuff with my cousin Twilight.” Dawn whined.
“Dawn.” Solaris said waringly. “You are still weak, you just woke up and you need to take it easy until you’re back at full strength. Once you have fully recovered, then you can prance about all you like, understood?” He finished with a stern gaze.
Dawn hung his head slightly and responded in a low sad tone. “Yes sir.”
Solaris gave a heavy sigh as he regretted sounding so harsh. He was about to say something when Cosma placed a hoof on his shoulder. They only need look at each other to know what was about to happen.
Cosma placed a wing over her son as she looked down at him. “Dawn, sweetie, we love you very much and we were very worried about you when you were sick. We just want to make sure you’ll be okay. I understand you’re anxious to start learning and have Twilight as your new teacher, but you need to relax and wait until you’re at full strength again. If you push yourself too much, you’ll just end up having to rest in bed again for a while. Do you understand?”
Dawn gave a small smile up at his mother. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Cosma leaned her head down and nuzzled Dawn’s cheek lovingly. “That’s my little prince. Now eat up so you can start getting better.”
Dawn’s plate had a bit more food on it than it usually did, there was a nice big stack of pancakes just for him. Without any hesitation, Dawn dug right in.
After breakfast was had, Dawn shared a goodbye hug with Twilight, Spike and their five friends before they left the castle for home. Crystal gave Dawn a goodbye hug as well as she and Chrysalis needed to return back to their hive. Now it was just Dawn with his family and three friends at the castle, Skript, Discord, and Tooky.
A couple days flew by as Dawn recovered and was soon back at full strength. It was nearing his first day of being tutored by Twilight. It was arranged so he would go to Ponyville by carriage so Twilight could teach him there where she would have all the necessary items she might need instead of her having to lug a bunch of things back and forth.
Dawn was eagerly awaiting when it was time to leave for his first lessons with Twilight as he bounded for the carriage port of the castle. His sisters and parents followed along to bid him a fun day. “Now you be a good colt for Twilight and do as she says Dawn.” Solaris said.
“Don’t worry dad, when have I ever misbehaved?” Dawn asked back.
Solaris gave a small chuckle. “Hm hm, good point.”
Cosma nuzzled Dawn’s cheek. “Ooh, I’m going to miss my little colt. I hope you have a good first day of lessons.”
Dawn smiled with a giggle. “Heh heh, thanks mom, with my cousin Twilight as my teacher, I’m sure to have a good time.”
They soon arrived at the port and two Pegasus guards were hitched up to an open carriage waiting for Dawn. “We wish you a fine day little brother.” Luna said.
“We’ll be waiting for you to return in the afternoon.” Celestia added.
Dawn hopped into the carriage and waved his family goodbye. “Bye every pony, see you this afternoon.” The pegasi took that as the signal to take off. The spread their wings, galloped forward, and flew into the air.
Twilight Sparkle was in a bit of a rush as she was getting things ready for her first day as Dawn’s teacher and mentor. “Oh, I hope I have everything. Let’s see, chalk board, check. Desk, check. Books, check. Anything else?”
“Twilight calm down, I know this is your first time as a teacher, but you’re really smart. You’ll do fine.” Spike tried to assure.
Twilight paused her running about to look at the little drake. She took in a breath and managed to relax. “You’re right Spike, this is Dawn Light we’re talking about. I’m sure everything will be just fine.”
A few moments later, the library door opened and Dawn Light stepped in. “Hello cousin Twilight, I’m ready for my first day of learning.” He cheered.
“Hello Dawn Light, glad to hear it. Just take a seat at the desk there and we can get started.” Twilight said. Next thing she knew, she was in a hug Dawn had initiated. Her eyes widened in surprise at first, she then looked down at Dawn with a smile and hugged back.
After a moment, Dawn released the hug and went to the desk at the center of the room. “Ready, so what am I going to learn first today?”
“Well, I figured for the first part of your class, I’ll be teaching you history, followed by math, then science, and finish it off with a bit of magic lessons.” Twilight stated.
“Great.” Dawn cheered. And so the lessons began. Spike did what he could to help every once in a while as he tended to the library. Twilight provided Dawn with a few books that would cover the subjects she was teaching him and a couple notebooks to take down notes. The day wore on as Dawn did his best to learn the lessons. He was enjoying the history lesson as he learned about the things he missed out on. Science proved to be quit the interesting subject, but it would take him a while to get the hang of it. When it came time for math, that was where he hit a snag.
Twilight tried to start off simple for Dawn but it was proving rather difficult for him. He already knew how to add and subtract numbers. But multiplication was a whole new area for him. Twilight gave a sigh as she tried again. “Okay, one more time. Two times four is eight. When you multiply, you take the bottom number in the problem and add it as many times as the top number. So two times four is the same as four plus four. Do you get it now?” She asked.
Dawn gave a curious look as he thought about it for a moment. “Then…why not just say that instead?”
Twilight’s face fell to her podium with a thud followed by a groan.
Dawn frowned upon seeing his new mentor’s reaction. “I’m sorry Twilight, I am trying, really.”
Twilight lifted her head from the podium and looked to Dawn. “It’s okay Dawn, not everypony can get everything the first time. This will just be one of those things for you.” She gave a smile as she continued. “You’ll get it, and I’ll do my best to help you.”
Dawn gave a small smile of his own. “Thanks Twilight, and I promise to try harder.”
“Don’t try too hard or you’ll get a headache.” Spike commented with a snicker.
Twilight shot him a disapproving glare.
“What?” Spike asked cluelessly.
Twilight gave another sigh. “Nothing, let’s just get back to the lesson, okay?”
“Okay.” Dawn responded with a nod. And so the lessons continued. With Dawn Light now having a teacher and pretty much a school day, this would at least give Dawn something to do for the day instead of having to find ways to entertain himself when Skript couldn’t be there or his sisters, or Discord. Blue Blood was nice at least now, but he wasn’t exactly good at coming up with fun things to do. Plus, with him being a prince as well, he was usually too busy to play anyway.
The days went on and Dawn began to learn like he did when Star Swirl the bearded was his teacher. Winter was coming to a close and Winter Wrap Up was just around the corner, which also meant the newly created holiday named after Dawn to celebrate his return to Equestria and his family would not be far behind.
When Winter Wrap Up came around, Dawn wanted to do something to help, but he was too young to really do anything. So instead, he anxiously waited for Winter Wrap up to end so Dawn’s Day could begin. He and his sisters were going to go to Ponyville to celebrate it with Dawn’s friends. As soon as Winter Wrap Up finished, Pinkie Pie wasted no time in decorating Ponyville for the new holiday which she was anxiously waiting for as well when she heard the news of a new holiday. No specifics were given as to what kind of decorations should be used if any, so Pinkie Pie came up with her own idea. She decided to use decorations that looked similar to Dawn’s cutie Mark.
Pinkie Pie ran about the town in a pink blur putting up streamers, tying balloons to lamp posts and houses while the residence got ready for the outside celebration by cooking up a variety of goods to place on the tables being set outside along the streets. It was actually set to occur two days after Winter Wrap Up later so Ponies could rest a bit before they had to start getting ready for the holiday. Regardless, many ponies were happy about this new holiday and started getting things ready for it.
Ponyville was now decked out with many decorations. Four ropes were tied to the top of town hall and came down to the tops of four other houses with colorful flags on them. A carriage was spotted on approach with Celestia, Luna, and Dawn Light between them coming in for a landing in Ponyville. The citizens cheered as it came to a landing to greet Dawn Light. Mayor Mare was the first to step up to them and greet them with a bow. “Your majesties, thank you for gracing our town with your presence to celebrate this new holiday, Dawn’s Day.” The crowd cheered again.
Celestia gave a warm smile to the mayor. “Thank you for such a warm welcome. We look forward to enjoying this day with all of you.”
“Indeed, we’ve been looking forward to this for some time now since its inception.” Luna added.
Dawn cocked a brow at the unfamiliar word. “What’s inception mean?”
Celestia looked down at Dawn as she answered. “It’s just another word to say thought up.”
Dawn responded with a simple. “Oh.”
“Little brother, why don’t you do the honors and start the festivities.” Luna suggested with a smile.
Dawn Light looked up to Luna with a smile. “Okay.” He took a couple steps forward and cleared his throat before speaking officially. “*Aheam* Citizens of Ponyville, it is with great pleasure that I hereby declare the first day of Dawn’s day to….BEGIN!” Dawn hovered up on the last word and flared out his forehooves. With that, the crowd cheered again and began the party. With the celebration now underway, Dawn was greeted by his fellow CMC friends. “Hey girls.”
“Hey there Dawn, congratulations on havin a holiday named after ya.” Apple Bloom said.
“Yeah, but I can’t help but wonder why Rainbow Dash doesn’t have a day named after her.” Scootaloo asked. “She’s just so awesome.”
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at the comment and ignored it. “So Dawn, what do you want to do?”
Dawn Light thought a moment. “I don’t know, what kind of games or stuff do you have set up here?”
“Oh we got all kinds.” Pinkie said suddenly appearing with a smile. “We got one of my personal favorites, pin the tail on the pony. We also got a dunk tank, twister, relay races, eight legged races, and all kind of fun things. Come on!” She cheered as she picked Dawn up and placed him on her back. She then galloped off with the CMC following close behind.
Celestia and Luna smiled and chuckled at the scene as their little brother was swept away by Pinkie Pie.
“Our first stop on the fun train is bobbing for apples!” Pinkie exclaimed as she stopped at a large bucket with water and apples floating around. Applejack was next to it supervising the thing. “Hey there Applejack, look who came to party with us.”
“Well hey there sugar cube, welcome to the party.” Applejack greeted.
Dawn jumped down from Pinkie’s back and greeted Applejack with a smile. “Hi there Applejack, can I give this a try?”
“Sure, go right ahead.” Applejack said as she gestured with a hoof to the apple bobbing game.
After Dawn went off to have fun, Celestia and Luna took the opportunity to talk to Twilight and found her enjoying a few treats with Rarity and Fluttershy at a table. “Excuse me Twilight, might we have a word with you for a moment?” Celestia asked.
Twilight turned with a smile. “Of course pincess, what is it?”
Luna began. “You see, Dawn has grown a bit more curious about the Crystal Empire Cadence now watches over. He has been asking when he might be able to go.”
Celestia continued where Luna left off. “We were wondering if it wouldn’t be too much trouble for you if you were to accompany him and watch over him with Cadence and Shining Armor. We figured it would be a good chance for you to spend some time with him and Cadence as well.”
“Really?” Twilight questioned. “Sure, I won’t mind. I would love to.” She said happily.
“Thank you Twilight, we’ll let you make plans for when you’ll be able to go, then we’ll tell Dawn as a kind of surprise.” Celestia responded with a smile.
“I’m sure he’ll be very surprised and pleased.” Twilight said back.
With that matter out of the way, Celestia and Luna joined the celebration brought on for their little brother and Dawn continued having a blast with the games and food made for this day.