Celestia heard the roar of the Ursa and quickened her pace. She could hear her royal guard huffing alongside her. They were starting to get tired. Then she heard its screams of pain, and then the sonic rainboom. She’d have to apologize to her guards later, because the feeling of unease she was feeling was too great. She shot ahead at full speed, leaving them behind.

Well, she was right. Something terrible had happened. The scene she shot into was something she never thought she’d see something like again. There were two changelings crowded around Twilight and Rainbow Dash, who had been dragged next to each other. One of the changelings had a few bad scratches and one of his wings looked like it was barely attached to his back.

Dash was unconscious, though her signature rainboom was unmistakable. By the look of her legs they were both broken. Twilight was… Twilight was a mess. One of the changelings had laid her on her side, there were large puncture and crushing wounds all along her arms and midsection and the carapace on her back was almost completely destroyed. Her strange green-ish red blood was dribbling out of every crack and dripping or freely flowing out of the wounds.

She was about to ask what the hell just happened when she noticed the Ursa. The creature wasn’t moving, and judging by the way its head was jarred its neck must have been broken. She looked between them in shock just as Twilight’s friend, Fluttershy, flew into the clearing. Celestia had a feeling the girl would have fainted if she hadn’t realized her friends were hurt. She got out of her shock as well and landed next to the people on the ground alongside Fluttershy.

“Princess? Where’s Spike?” One of the changelings asked, surprised to see her. A loud grunt from not too far away alerted them to the purple dragon’s location. He was on his back in the middle of a shattered tree, but his reptilian thumbs-up assured them that he was ok. It was around then that her guard landed, huffing and puffing. They refrained from saying anything about being left behind, though, seeing the carnage.

“Fluttershy?” Celestia asked the shy girl, who was already cleaning wounds and setting splints. The girl looked up, tears running down her face, but she understood what Celestia was asking.

“Dash will be just fine with a splint and bedrest, and Twilight is Alive… She’s not in danger of dying anymore, the Ursa’s teeth didn’t go too far through the carapace…” The girl explained, keeping the tears from her voice. Celestia felt her own tears forming in her eyes, but she pushed them back when she heard Twilight would be alright. She was startled by a hand on her shoulder, it was the uninjured Changeling. But it wasn’t quite her.

“Will she live, Celestia?” Chrysalis’ voice asked from the changeling woman’s mouth. It was soft barely a whisper. And there were even tears running down the woman’s face in her queen’s stead. Celestia just nodded, taking a deep breath and standing from where she had knelt down beside the injured girls.

“Fluttershy, tell me when they are safe to be moved… If you need any assistance, all of my guard are trained medics… they will defer to your direction.” She said, looking to her guard and nodding her head towards the shy valkyrie. Getting the unspoken order the four men rushed over, offering their own medical supplies. Celestia walked the possessed changeling a few steps away.

“Chrysalis, do you know what happened?” She asked. The woman nodded.

“I was watching… The beast was enraged due to the loss of its cub, and it would not run away in fear. They tried to subdue it with magic and their toxin, but it was taking far too long. When Charon got hurt, they had Spike send the message I assume you received. Then he got knocked out of the air and Nel rushed to get Fluttershy.” Chrysalis started explaining. She was going to continue after stopping for breath, but Celestia cut her off.

“She left Twilight all alone?!” She almost yelled. The changeling shook her head.

“Rainbow Dash was still here. Since Twilight and Nel could use their connection to the hive mind to work in tandem much easier than with another, Twilight insisted Dash stay back so as not to get hurt. At that point, Nel was little more than a distraction to the thing so she decided that getting a medic would be the best thing for her to do… Then we all felt Twilight get hurt. Nel rushed back, leaving Fluttershy to gather her equipment. From Charon’s mind I saw the Valkyrie hit the thing with enough force to break its neck, as well as her own legs, and both hit the ground.” She continued, taking a deep breath. She wiped a few new tears that had formed from her eyes.

There was a bit of a long silence after that, broken occasionally by the soft voices of the medics working on the injured. Celestia seemed very conflicted. And she was. She was angry at Twilight for going on this hunt, angry at just about everyone for even letting her go. She was angry at herself because she didn’t get here fast enough and she was just generally angry. She was relieved that everyone was alright, or at least not in danger of dying. Her emotions were running rampant, but she forced it all down with a deep breath as she maintained her composure.

“Chrysalis, I expect you to be here by the end of the night. I wish to speak to you, in person. It’s about our… agreement.” Celestia finally said. Chrysalis nodded and the color returned to the woman’s eyes.

“Princess Celestia… I do not know of this agreement, but if you must blame or punish a changeling for this then let it be me rather than my Queen… I-” Nel started as soon as she recovered from the possession. Celestia stopped her with a hand on the shoulder.

“Nobody is getting punished… and you did the right thing going to get Fluttershy. Her expertise far exceeds any field medic training my guard have received.” The princess said, calming down as Fluttershy walked over. Nel gave a relieved sigh and the Valkyrie bowed slightly to the Princess.

“Princess Celestia, thank you so much for coming in person and bringing those medics, we were able to perform the needed preparations to move them in no time at all. Twilight is perfectly stable and a lot of her bleeding has stopped. Nothing internal is too severe as far as I can tell from the field examination, we’ll have to confirm it back at the hospital but she isn’t showing any symptoms so far. She’s currently in a comatose state due to magic exhaustion, though knowing her she’ll be conscious by tomorrow.” The valkyrie explained. Celestia nodded and they all walked over. The guards had produced gurneys that they now carried with the two unconscious people on them. Charon was bandaged and his gossamer wing held together by a splint for regeneration. Spike had managed to peel himself from the tree trunk he was implanted in and was fighting a losing battle with one of the medics carrying Twilight to let him carry her.

“I had planned on teleportation…” Celestia said, trying to stop the argument that had formed.

“In her condition, teleportation would be a little risky and I don’t think you’d want to take any added risks.” One of her guards told her, to which Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

“Since we don’t know the extent of internal damage, if there is any, we don’t want to risk aggravating them.” Fluttershy said. Celestia nodded with a sigh, though she stopped all further argument by snapping and lifting both of the gurneys with her magic. While she had perfect confidence in her guards not to drop them, she wanted to make the ride as smooth as possible.

A few hours saw Fluttershy and the other doctors of Ponyville sitting with Celestia in the waiting room.

“They’re both alright now. There’s some strange magic at work with Twilight that we’re unfamiliar with, we assume it’s something to do with the whole Changeling thing. The good thing is that it seems to be helping her, repairing what’s been damaged. At this rate, she should be fit to return to her house by nightfall. She could even attend the tournament if she wished, though definitely somewhere covered.” The head doctor explained. Celestia nodded through it, just relieved that there was no extreme damage to her student. It certainly looked a lot worse than it was.

“Thank you, Doctor. All of you as well, I couldn’t have asked for a quicker response and treatment - because I most certainly would have.” She said with a bit of a weak chuckle. They all smiled and stood.

“She’s alright if you want to go in now, by the way.” Fluttershy said, standing as well. “I have to head home and clean up, um… thanks for all of your help too… It um… certainly made the trip easier and quicker.” She continued. Celestia smiled and nodded, standing last and heading towards Twilight’s room. She gave a small wave to Fluttershy as the shy girl made to leave the hospital before entering and closing the door.

She let out another hefty sigh, this time dropping her composure in full. She was still flustered about the situation, and she had a feeling that would last until Twilight woke up. She quickly walked over to the chair next to the bed, between the two beds actually. It would appear they put Twilight and Dash in the same room to recover, which made sense. She sat as she looked at the sleeping girl. It really did look like she was sleeping now, not just unconscious. She had the slightest smile on her face and her breathing was soft and unhampered. Celestia smiled and put her hand over the girl’s, sitting there for a while.

“Princess? You came here yourself?” She heard the other girl’s voice groan. She turned to smile at Dash, who looked like she was just waking up from a deep sleep.

“Of course I did. An Ursa, even a minor, is a serious problem to be rampaging around a town like Ponyville. When I heard that you and Twilight were part of the hunt I had to come myself, especially when the message said there were injuries…” She replied, looking back to Twilight.

“So… so that wasn’t just a dream then… shit… God damnit…” Dash started saying, her voice getting angry. She was pushing her hands into her face, like a frustrated child. “If only I had acted sooner… She wouldn’t have even gotten hurt… It’s my fault!”. She continued. Celestia was a little surprised by the sudden change to self anger.

“Rainbow Dash, this is definitely not your fault… it’s nobody’s fault…” She started with a sigh. Look at what she’s saying, even though she’s still having trouble not blaming anyone for this herself.

“She told you to stay back so you didn’t get seriously hurt. She probably would have had it if the thing wasn’t so deep in rage. I got the story from your changeling friends, and it’s very impressive. From both of you. Yourself, a point blank sonic rainboom? And your legs didn’t disintegrate?” She explained, trying to play up to Dash’s ego a bit. It worked, at least a little, as Dash smirked slightly.

“I mean, damn right it was impressive. It was an Ursa MAJOR. We were HUNTING it. People don’t just do that and settle for mediocrity.” Dash explained. This earned a bit of a chuckle from the princess, which she really needed.

“I guess you’re right. By the way, if Twilight wakes up beforehand would you like to come to the tournament with us? If she wants to go that is. The doctors said she’s stable enough to go by then, and if memory serves you have a particular fondness of the Wonderbolts correct?” Celestia asked after a thought. She regretted it almost immediately. Dash’s expression fell, and she gave another frustrated groan and plopped back down in her hospital bed.

“Fondness? They’re basically my life! Damnit, I almost forgot that was tonight… I guess she didn’t tell you, I was supposed to compete.” The Valkyrie explained. Celestia looked surprised for a moment, but then immediately understood. Even if the tournament was nothing but flying, the Wonderbolts need to be in peak athletic ability in all forms. Not only is it easier to do daring stunts and maneuvers if you’re physically strong, they use their legs almost like a tail to help direct them and shift their weight around.

“Oh… There’s always the next one, I suppose…” Celestia started, but then remembered the frequency of these tournaments.

“Pfft, of course there’s the next one. But who knows when that’ll be, the last one was four years ago. They only hold these tournaments when they need members, or an ace takes interest in taking an apprentice. I heard Spitfire herself wanted to take an apprentice. I legit almost feinted the one time she let me take a picture with her, but if I could study under her? I think I might actually squeal like Fluttershy did the first time she saw Spike.” Dash rambled. Celestia understood perfectly why Twilight had her stay away from the Ursa now. She didn’t want her friend getting hurt and missing the tournament.

It was at about that point when Celestia noticed that the hand she had been holding was holding back, and it was now gently squeezing. She looked at Twilight to find the girl silently watching Dash, tears forming in her eyes.

“I’m… I-I’m so sorry Dash… I let you get hurt, on today of all days… I knew I should have asked you to stay home.” Twilight said softly. Dash snapped upright at Twilight’s voice. Her expression went very quickly from relieved to angry again.

“Twilight, are you serious? Like, really serious? You let ME get hurt? I hurt MYSELF trying to help you. And do NOT take that as me blaming you for it. You bet your ass I’m glad I came with you. You almost died, I just broke my legs. I mean yeah I’m pretty pissed I’ll miss my chance with the Wonderbolts here, but do you know how terrible I would have felt if I heard you had gotten hurt and I stayed home for some stupid gig?” The girl practically yelled. She huffed, sighed and calmed down. Celestia was a little taken by surprise by the outburst. It seemed Twilight was as well, but the changeling girl eventually snapped out of it and smiled as he tried to sit up.

“Yeah, I guess you would have just laughed if I told you to stay anyways.” She started, to which Dash laughed and nodded in response. “What was it you were saying about the tournament though, Princess?” She continued, looking to the woman at her bedside. Celestia looked between the two, who were now looking at her. She was still surprised by the outburst, but she quickly snapped out of it.

“Oh, right… Your doctors and Fluttershy said that you’d both be in good enough condition to take home by the time you woke up, Twilight. They also mentioned that, if you were interested, you would be safe to bring along if we sat you in a covered seat.” Celestia explained. Twilight nodded and turned to Dash.

“Well, Dash? I know you can’t really compete anymore, but you still love going.” She offered. Dash just crossed her arms and smiled.

“I mean, for the pure wing ones I’ll compete. Just to show that I can still function, hope I’m not buried by the eternity of time that passes by the time the next tournament rolls around.” The Valkyrie replied. Twilight rolled her eyes, knowing that trying to convince the girl otherwise would be more hassle than it was worth.

“Then it’s settled, we’ll get you a wheelchair so nobody has to carry you.” Twilight said with a happy smile. Dash grinned and nodded.

Celestia was surprised again. It wasn’t completely by their interaction, at least not what they were saying. She does admittedly see them all together very rarely. No, she was surprised by the fact that Twilight was seemingly unphased by the fact that she very well could have died there. She decided now wasn’t the time to ask her about it, though, so she just stood and recomposed herself.

“Well then, the VIP box is a given. If we want the good seats near the glass we should head out soon, though. I saw people camping out on the grounds when we were flying over.” She said, just happy things were alright for now.

“Oh yeah, I forgot we were with the Princess! Woo, free VIP box!” Dash said, pumping her fist. Twilight and Celestia giggled.

“We’ll have to grab lunch on the way though, magical exhaustion makes me hungry.” Twilight said. They all nodded.

Well, this day has certainly been a roller coaster of emotions.

Author's Notes:

This one was a little off due to recovering form alcohol poisoning, and being written in more than one session, but it needed to be done to get through the plot.
Enjoy