Three small fillies stood in a row in front of Beating Heart. Luna stood beside Jax’ bed, glad that she was not getting yelled at as well. She had encouraged him to drink it after all, not believing that Zecora would give anything dangerous. She was actually happy that he had knocked himself out on the bedframe. His screams had cut deeply, she had almost used a pain reducing spell on him. She was happy she had kept herself from doing so. Last time anypony had used a spell on him while he was in pain, the pain had transferred. She did not mind taking it on herself but… She did not want it to hit any of the three fillies.
“… so, in short, do not, ever, give any of my patients medicine without my or a doctor’s consent. Do I make myself clear?” Beating Heart was finally finished with her charade. The fillies had taken the verbal reprimand with a remarkable grace.
“Crystal clear, ma’am.” Apple Bloom diplomatically answered for the group. “We were only trying to help.”
“Yeah, but you are right. We shouldn’t have done what we did, and we are sorry.” Sweetie Bell continued.
“And now that I think about it, we should probably have mentioned what Zecora said about rolling of dice and paying a price.” Scootaloo finished.
Steady Hooves was on the other side of the bed, checking up on Jax. “Well something is definitely happening, I can feel that, and he is certainly paying a price. Even while knocked out, he’s still in pain.” She looked down at Jax who was sweating profoundly, and moving around as if having a nightmare. It was not until he whimpered that Luna wanted to use a spell on him again. It took most of her self-control to keep herself from using the pain reducing spell. It would not end well if she did. Probably. Maybe. Who knew what would happen while he was unconscious? Anything could happen.
Twilight came into the room, having paid a visit to Zecora to make sure what was happening. She, like the nurse and the doctor, had been summoned by Jax’ screaming and was there when he knocked himself out.
“Alright, so apparently Zecora had given a fair warning that this cure always came with a price, not something she can foresee because of the use of poison joke in the potion. She says that she has never seen or heard of anypony being in intense pain though, but she is certain the potion will work nonetheless.” She turned towards the fillies. “Didn’t you understand her warning?”
All three of them looked down at the ground. “We understood that there was a chance that nothing would happen. We were kinda hoping for that.” Scootaloo said, the sadness and regret clear in her voice.
Twilight sighed before looking at Jax. “He will be in pain for three days, whether he’s sleeping or awake… or blacked out apparently. He will be better after that though. Still, 72 straight hours of pain…” She looked away sadly. “I think we should take turns being by his side, in case he’s aware enough to ask questions… or say anything. I’ll get the girls, and we can decide-“
“That will not be necessary Twilight. I will stay by his side for three days.” Luna said from Jax’ bedside, looking down at his suffering form. This much she could do.
“but…”
“I can stay awake for 72 hours without problems Twilight. You may not have experienced it yet, but the combined strength of all three species gives us alicorns an unparalleled endurance. I have stayed awake for an entire month at one point. I did use magic in the end to keep sleep at bay, but three days is no problem.” Her determination was clear. She was staying by his side.
“Are you completely sure Luna? You don’t have to-“
“You are right, Twilight. It is entirely my choice. I am certain.”
Twilight looked at her for a couple of seconds before giving in. “I’ll tell the girls what’s going on then. You three are coming with me.” She told three fillies who had almost made their way over to the open window. They groaned and complained, but Twilight didn’t let them go. It sounded like they would be grounded for a while. Luna felt a little bad for them, they were trying to help after all.
She looked down at Jax again. He looked so defenseless. She wanted to protect him from the pain and sadness. After all he had done for her… she wanted to do something in return.
Even if it was just staying with him.
***
The next couple of days went by slowly, and in a bit of a haze. Jax screamed at the top of his lungs when he woke up the first day, until he lost his voice. That had been terrible for Luna, but there was nothing she could do but whisper soothing words to him. She liked to imagine it helped a little. At one point when she crawled into his bed to put a wing over him, he latched onto her as if he was drowning and she was a lifesaver. She stayed like that for most of the rest of the time there, except when Beating came in so she could use the facilities. It was hard to leave him because he always whimpered when she untangled herself from his iron grip, which made her want to stay right there, but she told herself that she could only go so long without a shower and toilet break. She even raised and lowered the moon from her position on the bed.
It was weird to hear him whimper, he was always so… careful? He certainly did not show his emotional side much. She had not even seen him cry, even after everything he had been through… maybe that was why he had so many nightmares. He latched on instantly again when she returned. He still continued his silent screams from time to time, in too much pain to even understand what was going on around him. His grip hurt at those times, but not as much as watching him without being able to do anything.
Ponies came and went. Twilight was there a lot, but Rainbow only came once shortly before flying off and not returning. Pinkie Pie came by a lot, but thankfully she was not overly cheerful like usual. She was still positive about the whole thing, but she had toned down a bit. She even managed to make Luna smile with her comment about how caring she looked in her position on the bed. Rarity came by once a day with Fluttershy. Applejack did not come at all.
At night nopony but Luna stayed. The last night, he was in as much pain as usual. He whimpered, shivered, and tried to scream, but nothing came out. She had her wing over him a usual. She wished she could do more for him, but all she could do was tighten her wing around him, just as he tightened his grip on her. She looked down at him when he relaxed his grip on her. It had been like that a lot. Sometimes he would grip on to her tighter, probably because the pain intensified, then he would relax a bit, but still obviously in pain. Normally he kept his eyes closed though, so she was surprised when she saw his green eyes look back at her. They were not entirely filled with pain either. He was breathing heavily, and sweating a lot, though Luna had gotten used that by now. Beating washed him with a cloth every day, but with how much he was sweating, it was unavoidable. He opened his mouth and tried to say something to her, but he had lost his voice long ago. She quickly hushed him, and started to speak soothingly to him, as she had done many times in the last 67 hours. Meaningless sentences like ‘it is going to be okay’ and ‘everything will be fine.’ And different variations thereof. It was not much, but it was the least she could do. He put a shaking hand on her muzzle, prompting her to stop. He looked at her with pain and fear… all she wanted was to see those green eyes full of happiness again.
He put his forehead against hers, right under her horn. They stayed like that for a while until he started convulsing again. He grabbed her firmly, and she started to soothe him again.
“It will be over soon, Jax. Only 5 more hours. We can get through this, and you will be completely healed, and you will be able to walk around and have fun instead of lying in a bed all day.” She did not believe Jax could hear her over his pain. She took a deep breath, thinking what else she could do for him. He was trying to scream again, but no sound came out.
She did the only thing she could think of. She started singing. She started out slowly, barely audible. When she noticed that it seemed to calm him down a bit, she started singing with more conviction. It was an old lullaby, one she had not thought about for a long time.
After he fell into a restless sleep, she cuddled up closer to him, ready to wait out the rest of the time.
***
Three days of pain. Jax couldn’t even begin to describe how hellish that had felt like. The pain was sometimes almost unbearable, sometimes he could just handle it, but it was always there. Even sleep wasn’t an escape. He just blacked out for an undefined amount of time, before being awoken by the pain again.
Luckily, Luna had proven to be a huge comfort. In those precious few moments where he wasn’t sleeping and wasn’t in too much pain to feel anything else, he could feel her there beside him, like a giant, warm comforting plush he had to hold onto or lose himself in the pain. She would often speak soft words that he couldn’t remember afterwards, and at one point even sing a beautiful lullaby.
All this added up to, that when he woke up on his third day, Jax was:
1. Holding Luna like she was the most important thing in the universe,
2. Relieved like hell to wake up without being in pain,
3. Tired as fuck after so many restless nights,
4. Relieved to be pain free… Yeah, twice relieved.
He looked at Luna whom he was still embracing tightly. She smiled down at him. “Good morning Jax.” She sounded almost as relieved as he felt.
He tried to answer, but no sound came out of his mouth.
“I am afraid you will not be able to talk for a while. Steady Hooves has already prepared some medicine for you, if you let go of me you can take it now.” She smiled at him, some amusement making its way into her voice. Her beautiful voice. He could still remember the lullaby she sang for him. He wanted to hear it again.
He realized that several ponies were waiting for him to let go of Luna so they could move on, but he found himself unwilling to do so. She was comforting, she was warm, she was soothing to hold onto, and she would keep him safe.
He did something he never thought he would hear himself do. He whimpered and held on tighter. He knew that wasn’t very much like him, he knew that he should let go, but he didn’t want to. He couldn’t. He needed to hold onto Luna.
“Oh… my…” Rarity said from somewhere behind Luna. He didn’t care what they thought.
“He was in constant pain for three days. The only comfort he had was Princess Luna. I don’t think this should be a surprising outcome.” Steady Hooves said as she came up on the other side of the bed.
“Of course. He must have been psychologically vulnerable while in so much pain, and the only source of calm came from hugging Luna… I can understand why he’s unwilling to let go. How long do you think until he will be able to, Doctor Steady Hooves?” Twilight mused, from somewhere out of sight. He didn’t care that they were talking about him like he wasn’t there. He buried his face deeper in her soft fur. She smelled like the conditioner they had in the hospital. She must have bathed there… now that he thought about it, bathing must be a big deal for ponies. Do they use shampoo for their entire bodies? What about their manes? Ah whatever, the ponies were talking.
“… not a psychologist, but I don’t think we should force them apart at least. Because of Jax’ loss of voice, a psychologist will have their work cut out for them as well. Still, I need to check his wounds, and I need to give him this medicine for his throat.” Steady Hooves held up a bottle.
“Sweetie?” Beating Heart came into his field of view. “If we promise that Princess Luna will be right there next to you, and you can hug her again afterwards, will you let go of her for a short while? We just need to check up on your health.” She gave him a sweet smile. She was talking to him like he was a kid who didn’t want to let go of his mom… she probably had a lot of experience with that now that he thought about it. He knew that he would have to let go eventually, he couldn’t hold on to her forever, but he still hesitated. Despite himself he shook his head. Beating still wore her smile. “I promise it won’t take long and she will be right there beside you. You’ll even get a lollipop when you’re done.”
He had to roll his eyes at that. He had his Bag o’ Candy under the bed, he couldn’t be bribed by sweets. Instead he reached out and took the bottle in Steady’s hooves, taking a big sip of it, and even swallowing it despite the bad taste. Then, after giving the bottle back, he started loosening the bandages with one hand, the other still firmly around Luna’s neck. That was as far as he felt he could go at the moment. It was a bit embarrassing to be unable to let go of her, especially after their embarrassing talk before all this, but… he just couldn’t let go. Not yet anyway. No use complaining, he just had to work around it until he could do something about it.
“Alright, this will work as well. Everypony, please leave while I check his wounds. I will come out afterwards.” Steady Hooves told all the ponies present.
He didn’t know exactly how many ponies were present, it sounded like a lot when they exited.
Steady Hooves helped him with the last of the bandages on his upper body. All the burns had been replaced by perfectly healed scars, some places the scars from his burns even overlapped his previous scars. He was practically one big scar now. He didn’t care much about that, he was just happy that it had worked. At least all that pain wasn’t for nothing.
“Alright, it seems like it has healed nicely. Now for the other part.” She looked at him expectedly. He rolled his eyes at her. He wanted to tell her that she just liked seeing him naked, and that if the upper part was healed, the lower part would obviously be better as well. He couldn’t, of course. He looked at Luna, who was looking on curiously, then back at Steady Hooves. She got the hint at least.
“I apologize Your Majesty, but Jax is a bit touchy about exposing his lower half to anypony. If you would be so kind as to look away?”
“Oh, of course!” She turned away instantly, a slight blush visible on her cheeks.
He had slept in his pants, the ones that weren’t encrusted with emeralds. They were pleasant to wear, and they fit him, unlike the gown they gave him when he first got to the hospital. Taking off pants with one arm was a challenge, but far from impossible. He swallowed his embarrassment and did it, well aware that Steady was watching closely, and that Luna was nearby... 'nearby' being the understatement of the century.
After asking him to change position a couple of times so she could have a good view of everything, Steady Hooves finally nodded in satisfaction. “It seems like the potion worked at least. That’s a relief, I was a bit afraid that it was all for nothing. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” She left, most likely to tell the good news to the others.
Taking on pants with one hand is much harder than taking them off, but still doable. After that he buried himself deep in Luna’s side again, sighing in relief as she wrapped him in a wing, perhaps out of habit. It felt incredibly good to hug her now, much better than before. He felt completely safe and warm under that wing. He was so tired as well… he just wanted to sleep. Exhausted might have been a better word for it. He looked up right into Luna’s cyan eyes. She looked worried. He couldn’t really blame her, she was stuck with him now whether she wanted to or not. He was not looking forward to problems like how the hell they would use the bathroom.
“Jax, I am so relieved that you are alright.” He could hear the sincerity in her voice. He was a little surprised when she repositioned herself so she had her hooves around his neck, but he didn’t complain, or at least he wouldn’t if he could. It felt good, being hugged like that. “I am sorry that it resulted in us being stuck together, but… if I had a chance to redo it, I probably would not have changed anything. It will be fine. We shall get through this together.” He pulled back to look her in the eyes, seeing the sincerity there, all he could do was show his appreciation by smiling at her. It wasn’t enough for him. If she hadn’t been there for him, he might have gone insane from the pain. At least he was afraid he would. It felt like he would.
He buried himself in her neck, feeling her tense up underneath him before slowly relaxing again. His eyes slowly began to close as Luna’s starry, ethereal mane moved around him. It was nice to look at, a little substitute starscape, right there in front of him. It reminded him of calm nights in Everfree, after not-so-calm days. Just as his eyes were about to close entirely, the door opened again, revealing all the elements of harmony. They each gave their greeting, and he noticed that Rainbow Dash looked a bit down. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but… being mute kinda sucked. He wondered how good the medicine he swallowed was.
“Hello Jax. So doctor Steady Hooves says that beside your throat, you are completely healed.” Twilight started.
“Yes, I’m happy that it worked at least. I do have to apologize for my sister Jax, that was simply very irresponsible of her and her friends. I hope you can forgive them in time.” Rarity put in, regret visible on her face. He just gave her a small smile. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the three kids right now.
“Steady Hooves says that there is no need to keep you in the hospital anymore!” Pinkie burst out, suddenly appearing right in front of him. He got a bit of shock, having forgotten that she does that from time to time. “Isn’t that great? Now you can finally come to Sugarcube Corner and have a muffin. Or a brownie if you prefer. Uuuuuuh maybe some cake!”
He smiled at her. He would enjoy that.
Beating Heart came in with a tray on her back, reminding him of how hungry he actually was. It looked like she had pulled some strings, or the higher ups finally gave in. It was twice the size of his other meals, and amongst all the fruit and vegetables was a lasagna. Probably vegetarian, but he wasn’t going to complain. He gave her a huge smile, and instantly drank the entire cup of water she had with her. It was probably rude to eat in front of all these ponies. On the other hand, he was hungry as fuck. He looked at the only pony who would probably mind.
“Oh, go on ahead darling. You must be famished.” Rarity said when she realized why he was looking at her. Now… How did he eat it without letting go of Luna? He sighed.
“I can cut it out for you if you want. That should make it easier.” Luna, sensing his problem, came to the rescue. He nodded happily. With the meal cut out with Luna’s magic, all he had to do was stab it with his fork and guide it towards his mouth. Of course, this being lasagna, it didn’t work perfectly. Still, he didn’t care much at the moment. Three days of hardly eating anything does that to you. and yet he only felt a little faint, not starved. He briefly wondered how they had been giving him nutrients, but quickly realized he didn’t care enough.
After the meal he smiled happily to Beating. He was sure she done something to get him such a fine, good tasting meal.
It’s weird, being unable to speak. He had to show his appreciation through smiling. At least Beating seemed to understand, giving a happy smile in return.
“So, Jax, are you ready to go? I have your medicine, all we need to do now is go down and sign you out.” Twilight asked him.
He looked at Luna. They couldn’t even communicate properly. This was going to be a chore until they figured everything out.
“Uhm… maybe you can ride on my back? I do not see how else we can travel very easily.” Luna suggested. He gave a silent laugh and then pointed to her, then his back, to which she laughed as well.
“Well I guess that is a possibility. I think we shall save that for another day though.” She spread her wings enough for there to be place for his legs. He decided that maybe her riding him was a bit of a stretch when he was the one who couldn’t let go of her. He got up on her back, never letting go of her neck. She got up on all four, swaying wildly with the motion. For a moment, Jax was afraid they were going to fall down on the floor, but she regained her balance in time.
“I apologize, I’ve been laying down for a long time.” She quickly apologized before jumping down from the bed, which almost made him fall off. “I am… well, not used to having anypony on my back. I am certain it will be better once I get used to it.” She gave him an apologetic smile. He gave her a nervous smile back. He couldn’t really blame for not being instantly good at having him on her back, he just hope he didn’t fall off at some point.
He motioned at his clothes that were folded nicely and placed nearby together with the book he got from Twilight, then when he had awkwardly taken on the shirt without the emeralds, he motioned for the bed. Of course she didn’t understand that he needed stuff from under the bed. He had to get off her and crouch down, but when she saw his stuff she understood and got it with her magic. He tied his Bag o’ Candy to the end of his Stick of Awesome to easier transport them.
After that, they were ready to go. He had all his earthly possessions with him. At the door he looked back at the room he had spent more than a week in. Honestly, it hadn’t been that bad. Still… he wasn’t going to miss it.