I felt myself floating, like I was in an ocean, but I couldn’t see anything. I tried to look around in the black. I raised my hooves. I could see them. That meant I wasn’t blind. But...where was I?

Shade

What was that? Who was that?

“Hello?”

My voice sounded soft. Almost a whisper. What was going on?!

Shade

“I’m here!”

Shade!

I knew that voice!

“Luna!!”

Keep talking!

“Where are you? I can’t see anything!”

I’m almost there!

“Luna!”

I felt myself sinking into the blackness.

“Luna!!”

I was suffocating. I took one last breath.

“LUNA!!!”

My voice was back at its normal volume. My scream echoed through the abyss.

And then a hoof grabbed hold of me.

“I’ve got you.”

I felt Luna pull up and the darkness disappeared. It faded away and turned into Luna’s meadow. I looked around.

“Wha- What happened?”

“You don’t remember?”

I looked at her for a second. Remember what? I thought hard. When had I even fallen asleep? The last thing I remember was...

“Celestia!”

I jumped forward, as if to run to the gazebo and find her. Luna caught me and held me down.

“Stop! Shade, she’s going to be okay.”

I stopped struggling.

“She’s..alive?”

“We’re a lot tougher than you think. It takes a bit more than a rogue discharge to kill an alicorn.”

“Did I hurt her?”

“Of course you did! You blasted her with raw magic!”

I lowered my head.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t control it.”

Luna sighed.

“I understand. I’m still upset, but I understand you didn’t do this intentionally. Celestia told me everything.”

“How is she?”

“Bruises. A broken leg. A few ribs too. She’ll be on bed rest for a few more days.”

I looked up at her.

“A few more days?”

“You’ve been asleep for four days Shade. You’re at the hospital.”

“My head..”

I reached up to touch it, but felt nothing different. Luna shook her head.

“You can’t tell here. You blew open a bit-sized hole in the front of your skull.”

“And I’m still alive?”

“The doctor had you in an induced coma while they performed a couple surgeries. You were moved to post-op this afternoon, so I thought I’d try to visit you. Pulling a pony out of a coma isn’t an easy task. I’m grateful you heard me.”

“A couple surgeries.. Everything went alright?”

“The first surgery was to fix the initial break in your skull. With that much raw magic coursing through your head, you’re lucky there’s not more damage.”

“More damage?”

She paused for a few moments. I glared at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Honestly? Nopony knows for sure. The discharge over-saturated your brain. But we’ve no way to judge if there will be any side effects. Nopony has ever had magic just sitting in them like this.”

“So I have no idea what I’m waking up to?”

“Unfortunately.”

My head fell, pointing towards the ground. Luna continued.

“The second surgery was to...remove your magic reserve.”

My head shot back up.

“What?!”

Luna held up a hoof to silence me.

“Before you say anything, you will listen.”

I closed my mouth and nodded. Luna continued.

“I monitored your magic every day. Unfortunately all you did when you discharged was expell the excess magic.”

“That was only the excess?!”

“While they were fixing the initial wound your reserve was beginning to overflow again. Celestia and I made the decision to have it removed to halt the overflow. It was an experimental procedure, but successful. We saved your life.”

I sat down and stared at the ground.

“What does that mean for me?”

“Nothing. Everything should stay the same. Though Celestia did mention your..concerns.”

I looked at her expectantly.

“And?”

“Twilight agreed to look at some blood samples. She’s comparing yours to some from Celestia and myself. That was two days ago. Hopefully we’ll know soon.”

I nodded. If anypony could figure it out, it was Twilight.

“It seems like you’ve got everything under control.”

“As controlled as it can be. The fact that I’ve got you in a dream state is good news. It means you’ll wake up soon.”

“Four days... Rarity.”

“She’s sitting with you right now. I was just there an hour ago. She’s happy that you’re going to pull through.”

“Thank you. I hope I didn’t mess up her fashion show.”

“She didn’t know about you until yesterday. I’m sure nothing was spoiled.”

“Thanks for pulling me out Luna.”

I pulled her into a hug. She put a hoof around me.

“I would do anything for you my friend. But right now, I think you need another mare’s help. It’s time to-“

——————————

-wake up..

My eyes opened slowly. I was in a hospital bed. The first thing I did was to check my head. I reached up and felt bandages all across my forehead. The top of my head had been wrapped like a mummy. And it seemed to cover the back of my head as well. Made sense if they’d done a surgery on each end. I turned my head and found Rarity asleep in a chair. Her mane was all over the place and she was snoring. My lips slowly curled into a smile. The voice that came out of me was scratchy.

“Afternoon, beautiful.”

She jerked awake in her chair. She looked around for a second before her eyes landed on me. I tried to wave, but it was more of a pitiful twitch. Her eyes flew open all the way.

“Shade!”

She ran to me and gave me a hug. I winced, realizing just how sore my body was. Rarity pulled away.

“Oh! I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I can take it.”

“Celestia told me what happened.”

“How is she?”

“She’s fine. Already reviewing paperwork from her bed. I swear she’s as bad as Twilight.”

I chuckled.

“I’m not surprised.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about your chest pains?”

“I didn’t realize until I was on the train. I would have told you otherwise.”

“So your magic?”

“My head is saturated, but my reserve is gone now. No more discharges for me.”

“You could have died..”

“I’m sorry to put you through that again so soon. I swear I’m not doing it on purpose.”

“I know. It’s not your fault.”

A small smile formed on her face.

“Entirely.”

I smiled back and tried to sit up. Rarity reached for a remote and adjusted the bed into a sitting position. I sighed.

“Thanks. I hope I can move on my own soon.”

“I’m sure you will. They’ll just want to be certain that you regain your strength first. You’ve been asleep a long time.”

“Just don’t let them send me out in a wheelchair. I want to walk out of here if possible.”

“Don’t you two know that wheelchairs are more fun?”

We turned to the door. Celestia was wheeling herself in. There were bruises along her right side, including one near her eye. One of her back legs was in a cast, propped up in the air in front of her. And her entire torso was bandaged. I felt the tears coming. I couldn’t help it. I started to cry. Rarity grabbed some tissues and tried to dry my eyes. Celestia wheeled closer.

“I’m okay Shade.”

“No you’re not! Look what I did to you!”

“It’s just a few broken bones and bruises. It won’t take me long to recover. Besides, if we’re comparing injuries, I think you win. Two holes in your head. That’s tough to beat.”

I laughed. It hurt, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t killed her. Here she was joking with me like nothing had happened.

“You know I couldn’t let you win that contest. It’s my job to one up you.”

Rarity looked between the two of us.

“You two have a morbid sense of humor.”

—————————

Rarity sat with me the rest of the day. It turned out she didn’t show her line. I was shocked! Something had come up at the Manehattan shop and she’d left early.

“You’re kidding right? Fluttershy?”

“I swear to you. Ask any of the girls. It was quite a spectacle.”

We had a good laugh over the weird events. The more I laughed, the less it was hurting.
I had kept tabs on my behaviors and movements all day. So far I hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary that could signal brain damage. Maybe it was a fluke, maybe a miracle. As long as I could walk out of here on my own legs and still snap back at Celestia’s jokes, I was content.
The rest of the gang came in one at a time throughout the day. Rainbow Dash kept saying how cool my scars were going to look. Rarity didn’t like that. Pinkie tried to cheer me up with balloon animals. Too squeaky for my ears. Applejack and Fluttershy both kept it simple and just talked with me. Twilight brought me a teddy bear from the gift shop that had ‘Get Well Soon’ embroidered on its stomach.

“Thanks Twilight. Dare I ask?”

“Oh! Um...should this wait?”

She nodded to Rarity. She’d fallen asleep again. I shook my head.

“It’s okay. I want to know.”

“I’ve been comparing the samples for three days. There were two similarities between your blood and alicorn blood.”

“Hit me.”

“The immortality gene had barely begun to form. The most that will happen is that you never get sick and maybe live an extra twenty years. Give or take a decade.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive. The gene forms an extra cellular wall that prevents decay. An alicorn’s is thick, but yours was barely there. It’s like..a pencil to a strand of hair.”

“So not too bad.”

“No. You’ll live a long, healthy life. But not forever.”

“Good.”

“And the second change..”

“What?”

“You’re going to grow wings and a horn.”

“What?!”

She giggled.

“No! You grew an inch during the discharge.”

“Wait. Really?”

“Yes. An inch and a quarter if we’re being exact.”

“Well that explains why my legs are so sore.”

“Are you sure that wasn’t me dear?”

I smiled. How had I known she was awake? I looked over at Rarity, her eyes open. She smiled back. Honestly, I couldn’t decide what was funnier; Rarity’s comment, or Twilight blushing because of the comment.

“I’ll leave you two alone.”

She began to walk away. I cleared my throat.

“Hey Twilight?”

She looked over her shoulder. I smiled.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Get back to Ponyville as soon as you can.”

With that, she was gone. I turned to Rarity.

“Did you know?”

“No. Though I thought Celestia was holding something back in her description of the event. I just didn’t know for sure.”

“I’m sorry. I should have said something.”

“It’s alright. You were trying to protect my feelings.”

“That obvious?”

She nodded.

“Just so you know, I wouldn’t have cared.”

“Really? You wouldn’t have cared that I would stay young forever?”

“As long as I have you to myself until I’m gone.”

“Well that’s the plan anyways. You really think a hole in my head is going to keep me from you?”

“I’d hope not.”

She stood up and kissed me.

“Plus, I like taller stallions. Very sexy.”

“Shut up.”

——————————

I woke up to find Rarity gone. She’d left a note saying she was running a few errands and would be back later.
I decided to try and sit up on my own. It was difficult, but doable. I slowly began moving my legs around to the edge of the bed.

“Do you really think you’re ready for that?”

I looked at the door to find Celestia. She was on her feet now, her cast slightly to the side of her body.

“That doesn’t look comfortable for walking.”

“I’ll manage. Why are you trying to get up so soon?”

“I’ve been in this bed for five days. Why else?”

“Do you want help?”

“I want to try it on my own.”

She stood by and watched as I slowly inched to the edge of the bed. I tapped my hooves against the floor. I felt a tingling sensation through them. I began to put my weight on them. A jolt went up both legs.

“Ahhhhhh!”

“You okay?”

I flipped over so my stomach was against the bed. My hooves were on the floor, supporting half of me.

“Yeah. It’s just...taking a moment.”

I slowly allowed more weight onto my back end. All in all it took me fifteen minutes to stand on four legs.

“See! I told you I could do it.”

“That’s great Shade. Now walk.”

“What? You think I can’t?”

Her brow arched. I frowned at her, raising a hoof to take a step. And that’s when all four knees gave out. I fell to the floor like a limp rag.

“Damn!”

Celestia covered her mouth to keep from laughing. I glared up at her.

“You think you’re so smart.”

“I do.”

Of course that’s when Rarity returned. She looked at me on the floor, and then at Celestia.

“Honestly. I leave you alone for an hour and you’re on the floor. And don’t think I didn’t hear you cursing from down the hall!”

Celestia hobbled forward to help me up. The two of them lifted me back to the bed.

“But I can stand.”

Rarity shook her head.

“Walking is a lot more involved. I’m glad you can stand on your own four legs, but please don’t try anything too extreme without me here.”

“Okay.”

She kissed my cheek.

“You’re getting stronger already. I’m proud of you for trying.”

“Thanks Rare.”

Celestia moved over to a chair and sat down. I looked at her again and noticed she looked different.

“Your bruises are healing already!”

“I told you I’d be on the mend.”

“What about your leg? Your ribs?”

“Broken bones take a bit longer. But maybe in a week.”

“I wish I’d heal that fast..”

“Twilight gave you her results?”

I nodded.

“Everything’s going to be okay now.”

“I’m sure it will be. Especially with Rarity taking care of you. You’re in good hooves.”

Rarity smiled at the compliment. I noticed she had a book on the stand next to her.

“Can I see that?”

I pointed to the book and she passed it to me.

“Are you sure you should try reading with your head injury?”

“I just need to find something out.”

I opened to the first page and began reading.

“I thought that might happen.”

Rarity looked concerned.

“Can you not read as fast?”

“I’ve slowed down. It took me a whole two seconds to read this one page.”

I glanced at her. Her face reflected her annoyance. I grinned at her.

“What? That is slow for me.”

Celestia began to laugh.

“I’m sorry Rarity. I’ve been a bad influence on his humor.”

“Oh that’s alright Celestia. He can keep his sense of humor. It’s just going to cost him his bedroom privileges.”

My grin disappeared.

“I’m done. Honest.”

This made Celestia laugh even harder.

——————————

“There you go darling! One more step!”

I slowly stepped forward, my knees wobbling slightly.

“Two days of walking practice and my knees still act like they're eighty.”

“It just takes time. One more!”

“You said that with the last step.”

“One more than that.”

“Do you want my legs to fall off?”

“You’re doing marvelous.”

“Would you come help me?”

“You need to do it on your own.”

“I walk better with you. I promise I won’t put all my weight on you this time.”

“Alright. But I swear if you try to land on top of me again..”

I smiled.

“Can you blame me?”

She walked back and stood side by side with me. I began taking more steps, feeling more confident with her next to me.

“I told you.”

“Well I won’t always be next to you. You’ll have to practice alone at some point.”

“I will. I just want to get to the cafeteria before they run out of pizza.”

“I could have gone and gotten us some.”

“I need a challenge. And pizza will be my reward!”

She giggled.

“Okay! Let’s get going then.”

She continued to match my steps. We moved down the hall- Wait. Was she picking up the pace? She was a full step ahead.. Maybe I was slowing down. I picked up my pace to match her. There we go!
We were about halfway- Again?! I picked up my pace. I couldn’t wait- Seriously?! Two steps now! I began speeding up, but so did Rarity. I looked at her and she had this gleam in her eyes. She was doing it on purpose!

“That’s not fair.”

“Why not?”

“...I don’t know.”

She began trotting ahead.

“Hey! Don’t leave me back here.”

She looked over her shoulder.

“Isn’t there something you want more than pizza?”

Her rump swayed slightly side to side as she walked forward.

“Don’t tempt me lady. You know I’m not that strong yet.”

“Just imagine your goal.”

She continued trotting away, still swaying. Wow that was sexy! I took a step forward. And another. And another. I picked up my pace until I was walking at a normal speed.

“I’m doing it! Rarity! I’m walking!”

She came trotting back.

“I knew you could do it! Ready for that pizza?”

“Definitely!”

——————————

I stepped off the train. The girls were waiting with a banner for me.

“Welcome home Shade!!”

I smiled.

“Thanks guys. You didn’t have to.”

Applejack chimed in.

“You were stuck in a hospital for a week. Why wouldn’t we celebrate yer comin’ home?”

“Well..if you insist.”

Rarity stepped off the train.

“Hello everypony!”

The girls all gathered around us. Hugs were given. Baggage was taken voluntarily. Rainbow Dash was carrying two suitcases on her own.

“So how long do you have to wait to take the bandages off?”

I looked up at her, floating above everypony.

“Another week or so. They want to keep my stitches covered still.”

Fluttershy stepped forward.

“Does your head hurt?”

“Not so much. The doctor did a pretty good job of closing my skull.”

“Oh my.”

She was so timid. Was this really the pony that caused trouble in Manehattan?
Rarity stood next to me.

“Ready to head home?”

“Yeah.”

Rainbow and Applejack looked at us.

“Home? Y’all are livin’ together?”

“Since when?”

It hadn’t occurred to me that the others were still in the dark about some of the aspects of our relationship. I looked at Rarity and she shrugged. I turned back to the two mares.

“Since two weeks ago?”

“And we’re just now hearing this?! Did anypony else know?”

“I did!”

Everypony looked at Twilight. She became less excited with her answer.

“Uh...never mind.”

I chuckled.

“I didn’t think it was such a big deal. We’re grown ponies after all.”

They all shrugged it off and offered to help us to the boutique. I took them up on the offer since there was a total of four suitcases. And only one was mine.
We began the walk home. I felt my right eye twitch suddenly. It only lasted a moment, but it still made me pause.

“Shade? Is something wrong?”

I turned my head to her. Concern filled her eyes. I shook my head and smiled.

“Nothing at all. Let’s go home.”

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