//------------------------------// // 1 // Story: Seven Lights // by Fresnor //------------------------------// Doctor Urgent Care was working through her end of day reports of the Ponyville General Hospital. The day had been relatively quiet, which wasn’t unusual for such a small town, but with how many new ponies had been moving in she knew that she would need to expand the facilities in the near future. She had already sent out requests for another doctor or two to be sent out to help, as well as for a few nurses as well. She brought her hooves up to rub at her eyes to try and clear some of the blurriness from them. “I really hope that things stay calm until some help gets out here. I’m actually surprised that I haven’t been overrun with injuries yet, especially with the Everfree being so close.” As she started to get back to filling out more paperwork she heard a commotion from out in the hall before one of her nurses burst into the room. “Doctor! We need you right now; a filly was just brought in that was involved in a timberwolf attack! We have her in OR 2 but she needs help now!” Silently cursing the timing the doctor quickly got up and rushed to the preparation area while the nurse filled her in on what she was dealing with. “Ma’am from what I could see she has significant tearing of her front left and rear right leg, multiple claw marks across her barrel and stomach, and significant damage to her throat. Not only that but the two guard members that brought them in mentioned that she was also suffering from a pretty high level magical surge by the time they found her.” The doctor’s eyes widened when this information was brought to her and she picked up the pace of her preparations. When she arrived in the room she was surprised that the filly was still alive due to the amount of blood, but on a closer look she noticed that one of the nurses had already set up a blood transfusion. Miraculously none of the major arteries were hit either which would explain why she was still alive. The doctor let out a sigh of relief before she gave a serious look over at her nurses. “Right, it is a miracle that she lasted this long, but I think we can save her. Fortunately nothing major has been hit so let’s do this.” Calling for the first tool she started to get to work. <><><><><><><> Out in the reception room the two ponies that had brought the filly in were speaking with the one nurse not involved in the emergency. “That’s all we know about her. We’ve already sent word through the town hall to see if anypony in the surrounding areas have reported a missing filly but so far there has been no word.” The nurse nods to the stallion as she heads back to file the information and relay it to the doctor. The two took a seat in the waiting room as they quietly spoke to each other about what had happened. The mare tugged at the collar of her uniform before speaking. “Ugh, I hate having to wear this thing. I really hope that she is going to be all right in there, she didn’t look so good and the bites from those creatures could make things even worse.” The stallion nods to her as he flutters his wings. “Well it could be worse. We could have to put on the full kit that those useless nobles in Canterlot seem to think is necessary for everything. Still, even though she looked pretty bad I have a good feeling that she will turn out fine. You unicorns always seem to bounce back pretty well, especially after powerful surges like that.” The orange unicorn sighs as she lies down across multiple seats. “You may be right about that, but there are still always consequences. You saw what kind of surge she had; you know that no matter what happens now she is going to have to be watched carefully. Usually a surge is more chaotic and harmless than this for somepony as young as her. It’s only after a lot of training and maturing that a surge ends up being this violent.” Shaking her head the mare looks towards the room the filly was taken through earlier. “The crown is going to require that somepony keeps an eye on her for the rest of her life. She’s never going to have a chance at a normal life now.” She sighs as she leans her head against the bat-winged stallion while thinking about the poor filly. <><><><><><><> The doctor dunked her head under the faucet to cool off after finishing up with the operation. The filly was stable now after the long hours operating on her, but even with her magic assisting with the healing it would take weeks for her to recover. She wasn’t sure just how well she would recover though as some of the injuries, especially the one to her throat, were pretty severe. Finishing off with her cleaning, she slowly made her way to speak with the guards that had found her. Entering the reception area she looked around to find the guards she saw them sitting in a corner of the room. She made her way over to them and took a seat nearby as the watched her expectantly. “She’s over the worst of it now, though she still has a few weeks of recovery to look forward to after this. It really was a miracle though; all that damage and nothing major was hit, but we’ll have to wait to see if there are any long term problems after she wakes up.” The two nod to her before looking towards each other once more. After a quick silent conversation between each other the stallion finally speaks up. “We’ll be by to check on her again later, but for now we’ll focus on trying to find out where she is from. There has to be somepony out there that is looking for her and they need to know what happened.” Standing up they both nod to the doctor and head out of the hospital to find out what they could. <><><><><><><> Over the next few days they came in to the hospital to check up on the filly’s progress but through it all she didn’t wake. By the end of the first week there was absolutely no information about the filly anywhere. It was as if she had never existed at all before. While it wasn’t unusual for a pony to disappear into the cracks, it wasn’t often that a foal was able to live this long and remain as healthy as she had. The two were in the filly’s room talking about what the future may hold for the filly if nothing was found. “If her family can’t be found then there really isn’t any other choice. She can’t go to an orphanage after what happened; they won’t be able to handle her if she has another surge. This really is the only way.” The stallion shakes his head at the unicorn but doesn’t argue too hard. “I’m not arguing with you about that, but why do you think that it has to be us doing it? I’m sure that the princess could easily find somepony else to take care of her easily enough.” The mare sighs as she lays her head over his neck. “I’m just so tired of this life. I want to actually give something to life instead of having to take it all the time. We’ve been at this so long that I’ve almost forgotten what it was like just sit with you and watch the day pass quietly. This may be our only chance to finally have something of a normal life. Somepony needs to keep an eye on her anyways and we could deal exclusively with the Everfree instead of traveling all over the place so we would still be available if we are really needed.” With a sigh the stallion drapes a wing over her and looks towards the filly. “I guess we can at least check with the princess to see if she’ll agree to it. It would be nice to have a bit of a break. We have been at it for over twenty years now and I can’t even remember the last vacation we’ve had.” The unicorn wrapped her forelegs around him as she kissed the back of his head in thanks. They sit like that for a while until the end of visiting time before they leave for another day. <><><><><><><> It took a couple days but they got a response back from the princess approving their request. It was all contingent on the family not being found, but as it was looking there was little chance of any being found. They were able to acquire a home on the outer edge of town on the Everfree side and already had the essentials moved in. They only needed one last thing before they could truly move in. “I’m starting to worry about her. It’s been ten days now and she still hasn’t woken up. I know the doctor says that sometimes this happens but it still makes me worry.” The stallion wraps his wings around her as they huddle closer together. He leans down and is about to kiss her when a small squeak interrupts him. It didn’t register right away but his head soon shot up to look over at the filly to find her eyes looking right at him. He nudges the unicorn slightly to get her attention and nods towards the bed. Looking up the unicorn caught sight of the young filly and bounced out of his grasp. Unfortunately her sudden movement startled the filly and she reacted instinctively with her magic, throwing up a magical barrier around her. Looking a bit apologetic at the filly the unicorn settles down a bit. “Oh I’m so sorry about that; I didn’t mean to startle you. You’ve been asleep for days now and I was starting to get worried.” She looks through the yellow-flecked orange barrier at the filly and settles down outside of it calmly. Looking at the two figures in the room with her the filly soon calms her breathing and figures out how to drop the barrier. She watches the two cautiously as the slowly move closer, though she keeps a closer eye on the darker one. She tries to say something but a sharp pain in her throat causes her to start coughing painfully. The stallion passes over a glass of water with his wing which she gratefully accepts and drains down. “Don’t try to talk; your throat was hurt pretty badly. You can just nod or shake your head if you want to.” The filly nods at him in reply as she leans back into her pillow while keeping a cautious eye on them. “Well after what happened I guess the first question would be if you know who you are?” The filly pauses for a moment before she surprises him by shaking her head at him causing the two older ponies to look at each other wide eyed before the mare turned back. “What about your family?” After another headshake she continues. “Why you were out there?” Another shake. “Anything?” The filly starts to tear up as she shakes her head again before she squeaks after being drawn into a hug by the orange mare. The unicorn glances over to the stallion to see him nodding at her as she comforts the filly. “Oh, you poor thing. Don’t worry, we’ll do everything that we can to help you and take care of you now.” She pats the crying filly on the back as a small and sad smile crosses her face. “My name is Bella Donna, and this is my husband Vanator. Helping you find a name for yourself will be the first thing that we can do for you.” She whispers to her husband for a moment before he points a wing to her covered flank causing her to nod. “While we may not know your old name, I think we can come up with something that fits with your new cutie mark. How would you feel about the name Aegis Flare?” The filly doesn’t react to the name at first but they could tell she was thinking it over. When she started sobbing even harder and nodded into her chest they knew that they made the right choice as the both hug the filly that they agreed to take care of while she let all her feelings flow.