Chapter 37: Recovery
Ember paced back and forth while I fidgeted in my seat. We were both scared. Our best friend was at death's door and we could do nothing.
Our wounds had already been tended. I had to get a few stitches and Ember had to get her broken wing set and put in a cast, but neither took long.
"When I find whatever did this to her, I'm going to skin them alive," Ember growled. "I'm not going to do it all at once, though. No, I'm going to draw it out, use magic to keep them alive."
I didn't need my aura sense to see how scared she was. I was scared too. Though, where her fear came out as anger, mine just stayed fear.
I kept trying to extend my aura sense, but the room was warded against any kind of outside magical interference, even aura.
That just made things worse. I hated not knowing.
I was about to start pestering the nurses for information they had no way of knowing or getting when a doctor came through the doors.
"Your highnesses, I'm Doctor Scalpel. I have good news," he said and I felt like the world fell from my shoulders. "Your friends will make a full recovery."
Ember must have felt the same as she just collapsed into a cushion.
"I must say, whatever healing spell you used really saved her. If not for that there might have been some permanent damage," he said. "Though the damage to her reproductive organs is extensive. I would recommend any plans of having offspring with her be delayed for a while."
I didn't have the energy to correct whatever misconception he had about the nature of our relationship. "What about the male?"
"The male is a little worse off, over all. He's suffering from severe mana deprivation," he explained. "Several organs have begun to fail. Luckily, you dragons are a resilient lot. We're maintaining his organs until his magic can recover, but unfortunately we're estimating several moons before he recovers enough to be able to survive on his own and another month or two before he recovers fully."
Meaning about two years, Earth time. I sighed. "He won't be happy about that."
"Tough. He's alive and that's what matters," Ember said. "When can we see Smolder?"
"That's up to her."
We were guided by a guard to a room near the throne room, one most likely used for diplomatic meetings.
Celestia and Luna were awaiting us inside, alone with Shining Armor.
"Thank you for coming," Celestia began. "First off, I would like to extend my condolences. I had hoped our next meeting would have been under better circumstances."
"They're alive, and your doctors say they'll recover. That's all that matters," Ember replied.
Celestia gave a soft sigh and nodded. "Still, I wish to discuss what happened. I understand you were set to hunt a dingonek that had been causing problems, but that couldn't be the cause of the kind of injuries your friends sustained."
"Because it wasn't a dingonek," I said. "I'm not sure what happened to the dingonek, but we were attacked by strange pony-like creatures and what I believe were summons, based on what Leo told me about them."
"What do you mean, 'pony-like'?" Luna inquired.
"I mean, they were like some kind of mutant pony, maybe altered by magic."
Ember and I talked about this. While I was fairly certain that they were changelings, I wasn't sure. I only ever saw fan art and OCs of changelings, so I didn't want to assume. After all, they never shapeshifted, so they could just be something similar.
"The most notable thing I could say about them is that I can't sense them."
"So, we're dealing with pony-like creatures or ponies that have been changed," Shining Armor summed up. "What about the summons? What were they?"
"I don't know the names, but one was a giant praying mantis with blades for forearms and the other was a black cat with large claws and ice powers," I said.
"Sounds like Sutoraiku and Nyula," Celestia said, thoughtfully.
"The one I fought kept just saying something about food," Ember said.
"Foodin?" Celestia guessed.
Ember nodded. "Yeah, that's it."
"And you defeated it?" Luna said, impressed. "Quite the accomplishment."
"As is summoning one," Celestia added, a bit more worried than her sister.
"Is there anything else you can tell us about these pony creatures?" Shining Armor asked.
"Not really," Ember said. "We only actually saw one. After that they stayed hidden and only attacked from out of sight. We never saw any at the cave."
Celestia sighed. "We shall have to wait for Smolder to wake, it seems."
Ember glared at the princess. "You aren't going to interrogate her as soon as she wakes up. I don't care who you are, you'll wait until she's ready to talk."
Shining Armor looked like he was about to say something he might have regretted, but lucky for him, Celestia spoke first.
"Of course. We would never cause her more stress than she has already endured," she said. "But it is still important that we speak to her. We shall let you broach the topic and let her know that we would like to speak of her experiences. Then we shall await her convenience."
"There is one other topic, we must discuss," Luna said, irritation coloring her aura. "That rift you tore open took my sister and I three hours to stabilize. Were you both not told of the dangers of dimensional magic?"
Ember looked a little abashed. "Uh... maybe? Look, I panicked, okay! My best friend was dying, and I remembered what Moon Dancer said about the types of magical movement. I needed a gate, but I wasn't sure how. That's why I opened it in the throne room. Because I knew you'd be able to fix anything I broke."
"And what if we weren't there?" Luna asked, sternly.
"Would you not do the same for Abes, if he were dying and you didn't know how to safely open a gate?" I asked, directing it only to Luna.
Luna sighed and replied. "Yes... I suppose I would."
Shining and Ember looked confused, but Celestia just had a knowing smirk. Of course she would know about their relationship.
"What did you say?" Ember inquired.
"Sorry, it involves a secret that isn't mine to tell," I said to everyone.
Celestia chuckled. "Speaking with one's mind certainly has its perks, wouldn't you agree, sister?"
"Back to the matter at hoof," Luna said, pointedly. "Seeing as you still don't understand the dangers of the higher levels of magic, while you await your friend's recovery, I shall be instructing you in magic safety."
Celestia quickly added, "Before you feel as if this is some punishment, please understand that this is for your own benefit. Magic can be incredibly dangerous, and there are some universal rules that one must understand, unless you want to destroy an entire mountain and the city on it when a rift collapses."
Ember's eyes widened in shock. "That could have happened?"
"If I wasn't there? Yes," Celestia said, plainly.
"And that is why you will have lessons with me," Luna said.
"For now, I'm sure you're tired," Celestia said, moving things along. "You shall be staying in the same room. We've enchanted the linens just for you."
"Yes, we don't want our housekeepers to be driven off by you," Luna said.
"I don't know," Shining added. "Cadence was actually rather impressed."
The next couple days were slow and uninteresting. We didn't much feel like doing anything, so I just trained with the guard while Ember had her own lessons.
Abes stopped by every night, at least for a few minutes. We didn't talk about much, though. It had only been about four days, after all.
He did start teaching me to read the pony language, though. I had to admit, it wasn't quite as hard as I thought. They had more letters, but they didn't have a dozen different sounds for each like English. That meant no stupid, pointless rules or exceptions to rules. I just learned what symbol made what sound and that was it.
I was in the middle of practicing some exercises Abes made for me when Ember barged in.
"She's awake!" was all she said before we were both rushing down the hall.
We had to dodge a few maids along the way, but I couldn't bring myself to care. A couple guards yelled at us, too, but like the maids, they were ignored.
We skidded to a halt in front of the infirmary. Even we had enough sense to walk there.
We approached Celestia where she waited for us.
"Ah, I'm glad you got here so quickly," Celestia said. "The doctor said Smolder has been asking for all three of us."
"She asked for you, as well?" I asked.
"She did," Celestia replied.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Ember said, hurrying through the door.
Celestia and I followed, quickly being met by the doctor.
"Your highnesses," he said, bowing to us. "The patient requested the presence of Princess Ember and Prince Luke, first."
Celestia nodded. "Then I shall wait here. Go, speak to your friend."
We nodded and entered the room.
Smolder was hooked up to numerous machines I didn't even know existed in this world. There was even an IV in her arm.
She looked at us, as if she just woke up before she was ready to.
"Hey," she said, her voice rough.
"How are you feeling?" Ember asked as we came up beside the bed.
"I honestly don't know any words that can describe how bad I feel," she replied.
"Crap-tastic?"
"That'll work." Smolder laughed, weakly. "Thanks for coming for me."
"Was there any doubt?" I said with a chuckle.
Smolder didn't laugh.
"I'm just glad we got there in time to save both you and Garble," Ember said.
Smolder did laugh at that. "He's not going to feel the same when he wakes up. Doc said he's gonna have to stay in Canterlot for at least six moons, maybe a month."
"It might do him some good to live with ponies," I said. "He might even grow to like them."
Smolder laughed. "'Like' might be asking too much. I think 'tolerate' is more reasonable."
"I don't know, for all we know, he'll come home with a pony and be like, 'this is... Twinkle Sprinkle, my wife'."
"'Twinkle Sprinkle'?" Ember joked, to which I just shrugged.
We shared another laugh before Smolder got a serious look in her eye. "As much as I want to do this all day, I need to talk to you and the princess."
I nodded and 'shouted' "You can come in, now."
The door opened and Celestia walked in. "I am glad to see you are recovering."
"Thanks," Smolder said. She took a breath to steel her nerves. "Okay, so while those guys were mostly jerks, I actually managed to make a friend. I know, it's dumb, but Occelus was actually really cool. She was only there because, apparently, their queen is going to do something that'll hurt them in the long run.
"See, these guys are changelings, and they kinda feed off happy feelings and stuff, but they're ugly as all tartarus... anyway, their queen is planning on attacking Equestria.
"I don't know how or when, only that if they do, all the happy feelings they need to survive will dry up and they'll die.
"That's why some of them decided to stop her. But to do that, they went to some guy named Nergal."
I felt a sense of recognition from Celestia.
"So, this guy doesn't have a body of his own, so he's got to possess others. He was the dingonek, and has been since it attacked you guys. He took my brother because he needed another body. I think the dingonek died or something.
"He took me because he needed a body made just for him... he...." she faltered. "I think he possessed my egg. I think he thinks that if he possesses an egg, it'll make him a body, or something." She finally finished, panting for breath after her long rant as the rest of us processing what we heard.
"Princess, you recognize the name Nergal," I stated.
Ceelestia thought for a moment. "Yes, but I'm not entirely sure from where. I shall look into it, though."
"Any other insight on what she said?" I asked.
"Nothing at the moment. I will have to research this. Both 'Nergal' and 'changelings' are familiar, though I cannot say from where," she replied. "For now, I must bring this information to my sister. Perhaps she knows something I do not."
Smolder let out a yawn. "You guys do that. I'm gonna rest my eyes."
Celestia smiled. "Yes, get as much rest as possible. You need to regain your strength."
"Me and Luke aren't going anywhere until you can, too," Ember said. "And we'll visit every day."
"Sounds good," Smolder said as she drifted off.
As we left, Celestia said, "I will speak with my sister as soon as possible, and let you know if we find anything. Until then, try to enjoy your stay."
"We will try, your highness," I said with a short bow.
Stats
Page generated in 1.101 seconds
Total duration
868 users online
1,391,918 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
great chapter
I am sad for garble though!
10486415
Sad that he's alive or sad that he has to live with ponies for a while?
I'm happy there Smolder and Garble are I 1 hope they are Abel to get Nergal out of the baby without killing it and 2 that it's Luke and Smolders egg. I also hope it's girl and Ember's egg is a boy .
Damn, how long do things live on pony world if every pony world year is like 24 earth ones?
10486494
Sad that he got hurt and that he’ll have to recover.
Really dude (shining armour not the author
Oof, almost made a magical nuke there Ember. At least she learned in a semi-safe manner not to do that again.
Also, a complaint. At the end there, Luke learned they were indeed changelings. Yet he didn't mention that he knew they were shapeshifters. That could be a BIG oversight. Though there is still the chance of one of the Eevee gang informing the Princesses. If it's mentioned to them anyway.
I wonder what Torch has to say to this...
Great chapter. Nice lore/worldbuilding for your story.
I feel sorry for Chrysalis... Two reality bending dragons will be a pain to consider... I wonder if we have a good mother Chrysalis or a blant evil one
HOLD IT! What even is this timescale? Six moons? One month? Weeks, days? Explain or revise, please.
10486684
Not an oversight, just doesn't know. Remember, he only got a few episodes into season 2, so he hasn't seen the Canterlot Wedding episode.
10486776
Well, lucky for her, it was a faction of changeling rebels not under her command, so she's safe from their wrath... for now.
10486783
Exactly
10486817
10486611
There are 28 days in a moon, 12 moons in a month, and 4 months in a year.
I know, it's weird. Blame Symphonicdysonince. He's the one that decided on that measurement. Just remember moons are months and months are years (sort of). Weeks are the same.
10486817
Yeah, the show makes enough of an imprecisely mess about that kind of thing all by itself, without any help from the rest of us.
10486837
That's still 4 years per pony world year. How long do these pricks live, damn.
10486498
The egg was infertile
10486863
3.68 years to be exact.
10486895
Not infertile, unfertilized. Infertile means it can't be fertilized.
10486895
Damm can he make one her in the future?
10487053
They aren't mates. They're just friends with benefits.
10487062
No I mean in the far future.
10486980
I used the wrong term, thanks for the correction
LMAO
in a odd way i feel bad for garble yes he is a bit of a ass but dragons just don't know any better. he did not deserve to be beaten like this.
and agene i am totally impressed with this story.
10488553
I got the feeling when I read the chapter. Props to you Tora
this is going to be interesting
I am happy Garbel is alive
10488825
It was Symphonicdysonince's idea.
10489472
Great Idea all the same
10486863
it DOES somewhat explain the show timeline in canon though...despite being completely fan made
This line almost made me pass out i laughed so hard
The original death of a thousand cuts. Ember has good taste in horrifically painful execution methods.
10486783
It gets worse. And click the blue words, because I can guarantee you that you're underestimating how much worse it gets. (If they're purple instead, you're awesome and you should feel awesome)
Pardon, maybe describe what exactly you saw? 'cause what description they gave could be interpreted in a hundred different ways. -_-
Not that it's really necessary considering they have a better witness, but they had to wait a few more days to know changelings were involved.
🤣 i love that
Candence just outside their room with her ear against the door