• Published 20th Jul 2012
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Fragile - RealBarenziah



Twilight enrolls in the exclusive Celestial Academy, but danger lurks in the shadows. DiscoLight.

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12
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Chapter 12 - Lullaby

Cool morning sunlight filtered through the tall windows of the infirmary, creating a soft sparkling cloud near the ceiling and softly illuminating rows of empty beds. Like everything else in the school, the infirmary was old. The old fashioned architecture crowned the ceiling with an arch and a mantle of large wooden rafters. It was a bothersome affair to keep them clean of dust, and Nurse Rosemary insisted that it be done. She would use her magic to clean the rafters herself sometimes. The room was a place of healing and had to be kept as clean as possible. Ancient architecture was no excuse for uncleanliness.
Consequently, the beds were pristine white if a bit worn in. The nurse was thankful that the beds in the infirmary were seldom occupied, but glad to have them just in case.

This morning, to Rosemary's dismay, one of the beds was sorely needed by one of the Academy's most promising students who had somehow attracted a great stroke of misfortune the night before.
Nurse Rosemary finished dressing a wound on Twilight's leg and gently tightened the bandage. Her face was full of almost motherly concern over the unconscious purple unicorn. She gazed down at the mare and frowned. Twilight was patched horn to hoof with bandages. There was more off-white gauze than lavender. Her mane was messy, and Rosemary tried to smooth it with little success. It was a pitiful sight.

"You must be losing touch," Discord said from his invisible perch above. "It took you forever to finish."
"It's not my fault," she snapped up at the draconequus. "Your spell may have stopped the bleeding, but I had to reopen every wound to restitch it properly."
"What can I say? Healing magic isn't my forte."
Rosemary scowled and inspected Twilight's face and forehead. "That's an understatement."

There was a moment of silence, and Rosemary's expression melted back into worry. She tapped her chin, in deep thought, but said nothing.
"What's wrong?" Discord said.
Rosemary was silent for a moment longer. She opened her mouth to speak, but she snapped it shut again and continued to inspect Twilight.

Luna's voice suddenly sounded from the doorway. "Rosemary," the nurse snapped to attention. "How is she?"
"I've done everything I can," the nurse said.
"Very well. Leave her for now, then." From over Luna's shoulder Discord spotted a few teachers in the hallway outside. "Come, there are things we must discuss. You as well, Discord."

Discord slithered out the door, but Rosemary hesitated, glancing nervously back at Twilight. Luna called her again and she hurried out the door and followed the group to the nearest meeting room. They filed inside and locked the doors. The group was small, consisting only of Luna, Discord, Rosemary, and three leading members of faculty.
"This is terrible," Rosemary began. "I always thought..." she trailed off and was silent.
"This isn't the first time this has happened," Luna said.
"That's right," the nurse said. "But I never thought it would become so...deadly. I always thought these incidents were just consequences of careless students. Like... hooligans who get drunk and accidentally injure themselves."
Luna bowed her head sympathetically. "Their lack of memory supports such a claim."

Rosemary nodded. "I know. Many of the ponies I treated this year were just too groggy to remember what had happened, and the injuries were minor. Naturally I came to the conclusion that they had simply been intoxicated." She shook her head. "But there was always something off about the cuts and bruises. The shapes were odd, and I was baffled as to what they could have fallen onto to produce such marks. Turns out, something's been attacking our students, and it's gotten much, much more violent."
"The night of the dance you treated a mare," Luna said. "Were her wounds the same as Twilight's?"
"Very similar, yes. But none of the wounds have ever been so deep or numerous. Whatever it was, it was trying to kill her," her last few words were spoken in a fearful whisper.

The room was silent, and Luna fell into deep thought.
Rosemary said, "I'll notify her parents. She needs to be sent home where-"
"No," Luna interrupted. "No one outside this room is to know about this incident."
Rosemary was aghast. "Princess! Twilight was nearly killed! We need to think about evacuating the school, sending everyone home-"
"No!" Luna commanded. "Were we to take that action, Celestial Academy would never reopen. It would attract far too much negative attention.
"But Princess," chimed one of the other teachers, an older unicorn named Jet Blaze who was head of the Classics division. He said, "We have to think about the well-being of the students. If there's something out there trying to harm them-"

"Then we'll dispose of it," Luna finished darkly. "We are taking matters into our own hooves. We'll track down this menace and destroy it before it can hurt anyone else. Discord, you were there. What can you tell us...Discord?"
"Huh?" He blinked to refocus his eyes.
"Have you even been paying attention!?" Luna yelled furiously, her voice echoing a little more than normal. Discord shrugged. He'd only been half listening, too lost in thought about the night before. "What can you tell us about the attack?" Luna asked again.

Discord was silent for a moment. He recalled driving the creature away and turning to find Twilight gone, a trail of red leading around the corner. He remembered following it. He remembered seeing Twilight laying in pool of her own blood, dying, yet still managing to drag herself away before collapsing. It had always been obvious that she wasn't an average unicorn. Of that, her scholarship was proof enough. But this was something else entirely.

He knew he only had a few moments before blood loss would take her. The curse prevented him from using his own magic, but he had some knowledge about how to use weaker spells that drew magic from elsewhere.
The healing spell was ancient and could only be guided by music. He didn't know any songs that would work, so he made do with a simple impromptu hum. It was like a lullaby. The blood she lost was drawn back into her body and sealed itself behind her skin. The result was sloppy; it looked like more of it had matted itself in her coat than returning to her veins, and it wouldn't last long. He had to get her to Rosemary before her shallow breathing stopped altogether.
He remembered how it felt to carry her. How cold she had been. How still. It was like holding a block of ice.

"Discord?" Luna drew him suddenly from his thoughts.
"It was dark," he said. "I was able to drive it away but I didn't get a good look at it." Luna sighed in frustration.
Twilight is the first one to be attacked so violently, he thought. Why? What makes her so different from the others?
"Perhaps Twilight can tell us something useful when she wakes," Luna said.
Rosemary shook her head. "I'm afraid Twilight won't be able to tell us much at all." Every pair of eyes turned to look at Rosemary. "She has suffered severe physical trauma, as well as magical depletion. It's likely she'll be asleep for quite some time."
"How long?" Luna asked.

Rosemary sighed. "I'm... I am afraid I was putting it delicately. Her magical depletion is severe. She might never wake up.
Twilight is in a coma."


He stood at the entrance of the infirmary, looking in. The meeting had dispersed soon after Rosemary's declaration of Twilight's condition. They were to reconvene later that day. It was dimmer in the room now that the sun was no longer on the horizon, streaming directly through the windows. It was noon now, and Discord should have been hungry, but he had no desire to eat.
The infirmary was empty except for Twilight. Her form was limp in the bed, in the exact position in which they left her. Rosemary scurried past him and to her desk where she retrieved a stethoscope. She began inspecting Twilight, pressing the stethoscope against her chest in several places and recording her findings. Discord watched as she struck Twilight's front left elbow with a little rubber hammer. No response. She was dead as a doornail.

He lit into the air and ventured a bit farther into the room as Rosemary made her final notes. She glanced up at him.
"Back again?" Her tone was melancholy, but kind.
"We're meeting again in a few hours. There are no classes on Sunday and I don't really have much else to do-"
"Thank you Discord."
Discord snapped his mouth shut. He was a bit taken aback at the sudden remark. He frowned raised his eyebrow at her.
"For saving her," Rosemary explained. He crossed his arms and sat back a little in the air. "No one has thanked you yet. If she were awake, she'd tell you herself."
He looked at the bedpost and didn't respond. It was made of metal and polished to such a high degree that Discord could see the gray of his head reflected in it, as well as a splotch of lavender.

Discord shifted his gaze to Twilight's pitiful form. She was limp and lifeless. Only the slight rise and fall of her chest indicated she was still alive. Rosemary gently repositioned Twilight so she lay on her side in a more comfortable position. She covered her with the blanket and looked at Discord from the corner of her eye.
"I know I scolded you before," she said. "But your healing spell saved her life. Without it she wouldn't have lasted long enough for me to help her."
He looked away. "She's comatose," he grumbled.
"Not because of the physical trauma. She pushed her magic too far and her body reacted. There have been cases like this before. Sometimes the effect is physical, sometimes it's mental. Unicorns have gone insane from pushing themselves too far." Her voice fell. "And I'm afraid that the effects are oftentimes permanent. We can't hide this from her family forever. If she doesn't wake up, they will have to be notified."

Discord shook his head. "She didn't cast any spells. I would've seen the glow."
"She must have. Her magic is severely depleted. She had to have spent it herself."
Discord shook his head again. He felt a hoof prodding him in the chest and looked quizzically at Rosemary.

Her stethoscope was hovering in front of him in an orb of turquoise magic. She was looking back and forth at different points on his chest.
"Where is your heart?" He raised and eyebrow at her, and she stood up tall. "What? Everything else about you is backwards!"
He shrugged. "A fair point, but why do you want to know?"
"You need a checkup." She leaned closer to him.
"I'm fine."
"I need to make sure that creature, whatever it is, didn't harm you-"
He pushed her away. "I said I'm fine. You wouldn't know what to look out for anyway. My insides are different from any pony's."
She sighed. "Can I at least check your heartbeat?"

He rolled his eyes and shrugged again. He pointed a claw at the right side of his chest. Rosemary pressed the stethoscope against it and smirked. "Right side. What did I say? Backwards."
He shrugged again as Rosemary listened to his heart, a strange expression spreading across her face. She drew away after a minute to put the stethoscope away.
"Your heart beats twice as fast as any pony's. I also heard a few things in there I couldn't even begin to place."
Discord smirked and stuck his nose in the air. "Sorry, Rosemary. No dissections today."
"Oh, of course not. You could just tell me what your systems are like. They must be unlike anything I've seen before."

Discord laughed and floated higher into the air above her head. "But what fun would that be?"
"But, Discord!" He began doing backstrokes towards the door. "Think of how science and medicine could benefit from learning about you!" She chased him. "I-I could just cast an x-ray spell. Discord!"
He laughed at her from the ceiling. "Sorry, Rosemary." He draped an arm around his eyes dramatically. "I promised my mother I'd never go back to selling myself."
"Well...what if I discover something about you that could help Twilight? A cure or something?"

Discord coughed and any laughter left in him evaporated. He cleared his throat and lowered himself towards the ground.
"I doubt you would find anything of the like," he said. "What's her heartbeat like?"
"A bit slow, but healthy otherwise. It'll keep her blood pumping. I'm more worried about bedsores and malnutrition." Rosemary walked back to Twilight's part of the room. "I can keep her full of the necessary nutrition for a while, but the body can only survive so long on IVs and the like. And if she's in that bed for too long the circulation in her limbs will degrade. Ponies have lost limbs to this condition simply because they couldn't move for so long."

Discord fought the urge to cringe when he remembered how he threatened Twilight with limb removal a few hours ago. "She's going to lose her legs?"
"I'll do my best to keep the blood flowing by repositioning her and stretching her limbs out, but I can't make any promises. Let's just hope she wakes up before then." She suddenly placed a hoof on Discord's arm. "It means a lot that you're concerned, Discord. But you should go back to your room and rest. There's nothing more you can do for her here."

Discord drew away. "Concerned? Whoever said I was concerned?"
Rosemary smiled and shook her head at him. "You've had a long night Discord. Go and rest."
He floated there a moment, then grumbled and slithered away.

Rosemary adjusted Twilight's blanket.
"It's not like the poor dear will sleep anyway," she said. "When I first got here, Twilight, it was obvious to me that he had trouble sleeping, but he wouldn't take anything I offered him. I even tried to sneak some chamomile in his drink once and-" she suddenly went silent. A small smile crept its way across her face. "Twilight...what were you doing in the courtyard in the first place?"


Discord went to his room and flopped down on his bed. He remembered how nice it was to sleep on clouds. It had been centuries since he had that luxury.
"I have Celestia to thank for that," he grumbled, folding his talon and paw behind his head. He stared at the ceiling, not entirely sure what he should be doing. He certainly wasn't going to sleep, but he had a few hours to kill before the meeting reconvened.

He had nothing else to do, so to his dismay, he was forced to think. He remembered the healing spell he used and thought about what other spells he could cast. He knew very few that used magic that didn't come from the caster, and none of the ones he did know would do him any good. None of them were powerful enough to break free of his curse. He held up his talon and saw the little rune that had become so familiar to him. In some ways he was grateful it was there. It was a reminder that no matter how long he was there, no matter how kind the princesses were to him, he was still a prisoner. They were still his enemies.

He sighed. "Now how did that tune go?" He tried to remember the song he made up to guide the spell, and he found himself humming out the notes. He closed his eyes and made up a new verse. When he opened them again, an hour had passed.
He sat up and stared at the clock. Had he fallen asleep? He didn't feel any more rested, but the clock didn't have the cognitive ability to lie. Sure, Discord had reversed the hands and scrambled the numbers but he knew how to read it. An hour had passed, just like that.
"Huh," he grunted, rising in the air. "Curious."
He slithered out the door and closed it behind him with his tail.


Luna slammed a bundle of files down on the desk. "Is everypony here? Good." The doors closed in a puff of blue magic.
"Where's Nurse Rosemary?" Jet said.
"She will not be needed in this," Luna responded. "Her role will be to look after Twilight, nothing more." She tapped her hoof on the table."Is everypony ready?" They all nodded, except for Discord, who remained silent. "Then let us begin."

Princess Luna opened the files and spread out a few pages in front of her. Each one bore a small portrait of a student.
"I have reviewed the files of every student that has been attacked. There doesn't seem to be any connection between them."
"They're all unicorns," offered Zelda, a light brown unicorn with green mane and glasses. "And they might all take the same class."
"Coincidental," Luna said. "There is not one class they all share, and most of the students here are unicorns. The only thing they share is the unfortunate habit of sneaking out past curfew."
"So this creature is attacking whoever it can find," said Jet. "What does that tell us?"

"It tells us that it has chosen the campus as its hunting ground, and as such its dwelling is nearby," Luna tucked the files back into their folders. Discord noticed that Twilight's was significantly larger than the others. "And it shouldn't be too hard to track it down," Luna finished. "Until it is caught I will patrol the courtyards after I have completed my work in the sky. I need a you all to assist me. You will need to take turns every other night so you can stay rested. The campus will be on watch every night. If it shows itself again, we will be there to catch it."
"And what of Twilight Sparkle's condition?" Jet inquired.
"What of it?" Luna replied. "There is little to be done about magical depletion. All we can do is trust Rosemary to take care of her."
Zelda leaned forward and said, "But surely you or Princess Celestia could find a way to heal her?"

Luna shook her head. "My sister and I can do a great many things, but I'm afraid our abilities aren't boundless. All we can do it wait, and hope."
But her magic can't be depleted, Discord thought. She didn't cast any spells. I would have seen it. How does Rosemary even know it's magical depletion? He resolved to ask her about it once the meeting was over, and glanced up to check the status of the group. They were all staring at him.
"Huh?" He grunted nonchalantly. "What?"
"Discord," Luna said with an exasperated sigh. "I asked you if you understood."
"Understood what?"

Luna sighed at looked around the room at the other teachers.
"You all understand your duties. You may go. Discord, a word?"
All the teachers filed out of the room until Luna and Discord were alone. Her horn was glowing, and Discord saw that she was raising the moon. He patiently waited until it was set on its course and Luna returned her attention to him.

"Discord. This is a very serious matter. It's important you pay attention in meetings like these." He shrugged, and Luna gave him a disapproving look. "I'm serious, Discord."
"You asked me if I understand what now?"
"I asked you if you understood that you are to forget this event ever happened. You are to continue your teachings and daily routines as if you never saved Twilight from that creature. Or better yet, if you had never met Twilight at all."
"Now hold on-" Discord caught himself mid-protest.
"You are not to assist in this hunt in any way. Am I clear?" Luna looked at him intently.

"No we are not. Why am I being given the cold shoulder?" Discord crossed his arms indignantly.
Luna opened her mouth to answer when the window began to glow.
The princess sighed, "It wasn't my decision."

A ball of light passed through the glass and grew in size. It then faded away to nothing, leaving behind a tall, white figure. The last of the glow dissipated, and room now had a third occupant.
"It was mine," she said.
"Celestia," Discord greeted with little to no actual respect.

The normally warm and welcoming princess of the sun was now cold and unsmiling. She looked at her sister and thawed slightly.
"Luna," she said.
"Celestia," Luna replied. "I thought you would get here sooner."
"I apologize. There were many things I had to attend to."

"Why are you here?" Discord said.
"Why?" Celestia scowled at him. "My subjects are in peril. My most faithful student has been injured," she took a sharp step towards him. "I'm doing my duty. I can't do much directly, or without calling attention to the school, but I can at least reinforce the wards protecting it."
"Oh, I could do that in a snap," Discord said. "You just gotta lift this curse and-"
"This is no time for your banter, Discord!" Celestia cut him off. "You are not to assist in any of this."
"And why is that?"

"Because you're a suspect." Celestia advanced on him threateningly. "How do we know it wasn't you who did this to her?"
Luna tried to pull her back. "Sister..."
Celesta continued, "The others don't know you like we do. They don't know that you were a king of suffering. I made a mistake; I was merciful. I should have turned you to stone all those years ago. It was stupid of me to think you could ever change."
"Celestia," Luna pulled her sister away. "If he did it, why would he bring her to the infirmary?"
"I don't know. I've never been able to understand the things he does."

"It wasn't me." The sisters turned to look at the draconequus. He continued, "I didn't to it. Have you seen her? My claws would literally be stained red, but they aren't. See?" He held up his claws. "There's only a little on my arm from when I picked her up."
Celestia peered at him, searching for the tiniest hint of deception.
"I healed her as best I could," he continued. "If I wanted to kill Twilight, I wouldn't have brought her back."

Luna's expression softened. Celestia seemed to tense up even more, but her anger was cooling down.
She said, "I'll be watching you, Discord. Stay out of this." He shrugged in reply. Celestia scowled. "I mean it," She turned to Luna. "We should start on the wards."

The pair left the room and Discord found himself alone. Without much else to do, he started to hum.