After a rough night's slumber, Princess Celestia awoke, believing she had the craziest dream, but as soon as she remembered Twilight, the sudden realization of the previous night's events came rushing back to her memory like a tidal wave of emotion. She fought back tears as she trotted wearily into her bathroom and clambered into the bathtub to take a shower. As she turned the water on, she just sat in the tub, letting the water rush right over her, wishing the weight of the incident with the Ursa Major would follow it down the drain. Minutes pass before a frantic knocking came from the door.
"Sister, please hurry up," Princess Luna called from the other side, "You're not the only pony who needs to use the lavatory, you know!" Princess Celestia turned the water off and stepped out of the tub; curling her mane into a towel, she trotted out of the bathroom soaking wet. "Celestia, I understand you're worried about Twilight," Luna said consolingly before trotting into the bathroom, "but acting like a dejected orphan is not the proper way to handle the situation. We all need to just carry on with our days and hope for the best outcome."
Princess Celestia was not so sure about Luna's advice, but she tried to act like nothing was wrong for the day. As she began with her monotonous meetings with various delegates coming to her with their problems or proposing new laws, however, her mind constantly went back to Twilight and how difficult it had to be to fend off the Ursa Major. Simply thinking about her faithful student nearly brought fresh tears to Celestia's eyes, and her heightened emotional state prevented her from making appropriate judgments.
"CELESTIA!!" Princess Luna barged into Celestia's study in the afternoon shortly after she sent out several signed bills. "I know you're upset about Twilight, but that certainly does not give you the right to legalize the poaching of GRIFFONS!!"
"Oh, dear me!" Celestia exclaimed surprised, like she just awoke from some sort of stupor, "I didn't know that was in there. Did I really sign that?"
"Yes, you did!" Princess Luna shouted as she held up the document, "You're lucky one of these guards was smart enough to check this in with me! Listen, why don't you just go and visit Twilight, and let me take care of affairs here before you start a freaking WAR?!"
Princess Celestia could not argue with that, so she notified one of her guards to ready her carriage when suddenly, a scroll appeared in green smoke in front of Celestia, surprising her. Before she left Ponyville, she had asked Spike to notify her of any updates to Twilight's condition, but she certainly hadn't expected anything so soon. She opened it and it simply read, "Twilight being moved to Canterlot Hospital, transport team should be here this afternoon"
Princess Celestia gave a small sigh of relief; the hospital facility in Canterlot was more advanced than the one in Ponyville, as it possessed more technologically-advanced equipment, monitors, and specializes in unicorn injuries. Ponyville Hospital was a very good facility, but she knew Twilight would be receiving the best care possible at Canterlot Hospital. Added to that, they also had highly-appraised transportation services, who took the best of care in moving patients in or out of the hospital. She bade her sister farewell and good luck as she made her way over to the Canterlot Hospital.
When Celestia arrived, she went to the receptionist to ask for Twilight Sparkle's whereabouts. She gave the regal figure the location of Twilight's room and Celestia promptly followed her directions to find Twilight's room. When she eventually found it, she was met with several members of Twilight's family; her parents, Twilight Velvet and Night Light, Shining Armor and his wife, Princess Cadence, who looked almost ready to pop any day now.
"Your Highness!" Night Light exclaimed in shock as Celestia approached. He and his wife bent down on their knees, which Shining Armor and Cadence simply bowed their heads in respect.
"Greetings, Twilight Velvet and Night Light," Princess Celestia greeted them warmly, "I didn't expect to see you here today, though I am certainly not disappointed."
"The doctors are only letting her family visit her while they run a couple of more tests," Twilight Velvet replied, "They said we can go in when they are finished." Celestia noticed that Twilight Velvet and Cadence's eyes were bloodshot and red, no doubt overworked with tears from mourning over Twilight's condition.
"When can we see her?" Shining Armor asked when one of the doctors stepped out of the room.
"Not much longer now, just taking some blood for examination," she replied as she trotted away, leaving the group to wait for a little bit longer.
Finally, another doctor exited out of the room to greet the waiting family members and Princess Celestia. "Okay," he said, "you can go in now, but I would like to warn you - she's not a pretty sight."
"Thank you, doctor," Princess Cadence said as they piled into the room and surrounded the lone bed in the room that contained their beloved friend and family member. One of the doctors walked over to them and prepared to lift the sheet covering her body.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked apprehensively, to which everypony nodded earnestly. "Alright," she responded and lifted the sheet to unveil Twilight. Everypony gasped in angst at the sight that lay before their eyes. Twilight Velvet fell into Night Light's hooves, sobbing uncontrollably; Princess Cadence cried silently and leaned against Shining Armor for support, while he stood rooted to his spot, eventually turning his head away from the bed and closing his eyes. Princess Celestia could only look upon the bed in anguish as she saw Twilight in a completely different light; bandages heavily covering her face and horn, held together by clips, and suction cups attached to various places on her head and forelegs that were connected to a heart-rate monitor.
What in Equestria have I done to deserve this? is all Celestia could think as she gazed upon the limp body of her best student and friend.