I woke up to find myself once again in the hospital bed, this time tied down at my wrists and ankles, and saw what looked like a nurse standing guard at the doorway.
“Wh-what happened?” I asked aloud, tripping over the words and unable to properly focus on the world around me. Is this what it’s like to be on morphine? I thought through my haze. I don’t like it.

The nurse ignored me, so I was left to examine my new appearance once again. I was still human for the most part, save for my arm that had miraculously become a foreleg, my ears, horn, mane-like hairstyle, and single wing. Suddenly getting an idea, I shifted around so I could get a good look at my thigh, and could just barely see a strange, ice-blue shape; I assumed this was supposed to be my cutie mark.
Too bad I can’t see the damn thing, I thought grumpily. Then again, it’s too bad I can’t see anything!

About a half an hour later, I heard familiar voices just outside the door.
“But you have to let us in!” I heard Pinkie shout angrily, “we’re his friends!”
“And family!” I heard my “father” add sternly.
The nurse spoke in a steady tone. “I’m sorry, but we cannot let you see him. He is not stable enough to have any visitors!

Just then, there was a loud boom, like a crack of thunder, and the lights in the room flickered.
“YOU WILL LET US SEE ALLEN, OR YOU WILL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!” Luna shouted in the Royal Canterlot Voice.

The nurse whimpered a little, then stepped aside so my visitors could enter. I smiled as Twilight magically untied my restraints, and they all hugged me warmly while my father stood awkwardly by the door.
“Allen, are you alright?” Luna asked worriedly as I sat up.

I laughed lightheartedly as I sat up, rubbing my arms. “Well, considering I woke up with a wing, a horn, and a pony foreleg, I’d say I’m doing pretty well,” I said, yawning, “I just have one question.”
Cadence stepped from behind the group. “I suppose you want to know what happened to you?” she asked guiltily.

I nodded. “As far as I know, when you get a smashed arm and a stab to the back, you don’t turn into a freakish combination of a human and an alicorn,” I said, whatever drug I was on keeping me from flipping out.
“Well, do you remember what you were told about healing magic?” she inquired.

I nodded. “Yeah, you can use it to heal minor cuts and scrapes, but not damage to bones and organs,” I said, remembering the multiple times Twilight had patched me up during my first visit.

“Well,” Cadence said slowly, “with limited options, we used a powerful spell that would turn you into one of us; after all, our magic can work in full force if you aren’t a human,” she explained.
I waved my one human hand and wiggled my fingers. “Obviously I’m still a little human, though. What’s with that?” I asked.

Twilight stepped forward. “We didn’t want you to have to deal with getting used to a whole new body, so we only used the spell on the parts that were injured. Your arm was the worst, so it was the only thing that was completely changed. Your wing is there because of the stab wound in your back, and the horn, ears and mane are just part of the natural conversion process,” she said quickly.

I nodded, and looked down at my thigh now that my vision was cleared up a little more, and I could feel the sedative effects wearing off. Now I could clearly see what the shape plastered to my thigh was, and it was actually pretty fitting: a crystal sword with the blade pointed downwards, just like the one given to me by Celestia upon my first arrival in Equestria.
I heard someone clearing their throat, and looked up to see my “father” shuffling his feet near the doorway. “Um, could I have a word with my son?” he asked quietly, and the others, to my disappointment, obliged. He closed the door behind them, and pulled a chair over by the bed.

“What do you want?” I grumbled at the man, annoyed that he wouldn’t accept the fact that I was still pissed at him.
He looked up at me sadly. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m here for you to talk to, if you would need someone to do that. This whole experience must be very stressful for you. I know it has been for me; hell, I almost had to watch my own son die before my eyes,” he said honestly.

My expression softened a bit. I could understand where he was coming from. Even though I had never experienced it firsthand, I knew watching a loved one die and being unable to stop it had to be the worst feeling ever.
I suddenly regained my glare. “If you care so much about me, then why did you leave?” I demanded. He smiled sadly and looked down.

“I left because I care about you, and your mother. Didn’t you notice you were able to live such a good life even though she was the only one working?” he asked.
I raised an eyebrow. “Some distant, rich relative gave us a fortune in monthly payments after he died. Mom didn’t even have to work,” I said cautiously, suddenly realizing how stupid that whole situation sounded.

He laughed. “That was me. I made quite a bit of money at my job, and I was able to work out a way to send a large amount of it to you and your mother. How is she, by the way?” he asked hopefully.
I looked off to the side, studying the posters on the wall. “She was fine last time I saw her. She seems to have gotten over everything, but I can’t be too sure,” I said, surprised I was having a legitimate conversation with this man that I hated so much.
He nodded. “I was planning on coming home when Project G.E.M. was finished, you know. I was finally going to be able to become the father I wanted to be twelve years ago,” he said wistfully.

I tried to keep an angry look, but I couldn’t help but feel touched by the sincerity in his words. I almost felt guilty for being so cruel to him before.

We sat there in silence for a little while, until my father suddenly sat up. “Well, I had better let your friends talk to you some more. It was nice talking to you, son,” he said quietly as he slipped out the door.
I stared after him, then looked down at my newly changed arm.

“Nice talking to you too… dad,” I said quietly.

~-~-~-~-~

Sanguis returned to his tomb, which he had established as his base of operations. He stared at his reflection in a thick sheet of ice, scowling at his appearance. He was spilt into two equal parts: one trapped in his ancient, decrypt state, while the other was as healthy and youthful as the days of the war. Well, almost; he had a large burn mark around his mouth and nose from where one of those ponies had struck him with a magical blast, and there was a long scar on his chest from when that boy had cut him.

I will need something much stronger to defeat them, he thought as he stalked back out onto the icy plane. Many battles had been fought in this area, and as a result, many soldiers from both sides lay entombed in the thick ice beneath his feet.

He raised his arms into the air as they became shrouded in black smoke, and then slammed his fists downward, creating a massive crack in the ground below as the energy shot to the numerous corpses buried within. Just then, the ancient bodies began to stir, and they clawed their way from their frozen prison excitedly.

“How may we serve you, my lord?” a skeletal human asked humbly as it approached, and Sanguis stared at it commandingly.
“Assign commanders to help with the training. In one week, we attack the Crystal Empire,” he growled. The skeleton nodded, and started to walk away until Sanguis grabbed its shoulder forcefully.

“Also,” he added slowly, “get me information on other powerful beings in this world. I have some new, formidable enemies that make it necessary for me to gather more power.”

He quickly released his grip, and the skeleton clattered away, eager to complete its task.

~-~-~-~-~

Despite the protesting of the nurses, I was released the next day under an order received from Celestia. I walked out of the hospital as several of the citizens of the Crystal Empire eyed me curiously. I figured it wasn't every day they saw a human-pony hybrid walking down the street. Then again, it probably wasn't every day they saw a human walking down the street.

“Well, now what?” I asked Cadence and Luna as we walked towards the palace, “that thing is out there somewhere, probably planning to attack us again. I need to train in order to beat him!” I said, pulling my sword from its sheath and twirling it expertly in my fingers.

Luna chuckled. “Well, since you are part unicorn now, we could train you to use magic,” she said as she smiled at me.
My face lit up. “Magic?” I asked excitedly, “awesome!” Then I raised an eyebrow. “Unicorn? But I have wings- er, a wing. Wouldn’t that make me an alicorn?” I inquired.

Luna shook her head. “You may have wings and a horn, but you are not a pure alicorn. You are more like… a winged unicorn. You can use magic and fly, but you are not as powerful as myself or my fellow princesses,” she explained.
Cadence spoke up. “There is one problem, however: because you are originally human, it will be difficult for you to master many spells. But, because of your part-unicorn state, you should still be able to try a few things,” she explained.
I nodded. “Let’s get started, then!”

When we reached the palace, Cadence led me and my friends to the throne room, where several guards had set up some practice targets. Twilight stepped forward and stood next to one.
“We’ll start with a basic Bolt spell,” she explained, and gestured to the target. “Just focus on hitting the target, and you’ll use the spell.”

I planted one foot forward and aimed my horn at the target, focusing as hard as I could on firing a Bolt. I sat there, holding my breath and urging something to happen, but ended up collapsing to my knees with an annoying headache.
“I suck!” I cried angrily, crossing my arms and glaring at the target. Luna patted my shoulder.
“It’s alright, Allen; nopony gets anything right on their first try,” she said reassuringly.

The others nodded in agreement, but I wasn’t convinced. “That may be true, but the fate of Equestria relies on me getting this right! Otherwise that guy will come back, and the Crystal Empire will be defenseless!” I shouted angrily, and absentmindedly swung my sword in the direction of the target. Just then, it unleashed a wave of white energy, which tore the target in half and almost destroyed the wall behind it.

The others stared at me as I grinned. “That’s more like it,” I said as I studied my sword appreciatively.

There was a long silence as my friends studied the results of my attack, until Cadence spoke up. “Strange bursts of energy aside, I don’t think you will have to worry about any attacks for a while, Allen; the Crystal Fair is in one week, and the barrier shielding the empire is going to be stronger than ever,” she said happily.

I smiled broadly; I remembered how fun the Crystal Fair looked on the show, so I figured it would be a good time.
“Well, what are we going to do?” I asked, looking at my friends one by one.
Twilight smiled. “We’ll all work on our usual tasks at the fair, and Allen can help us each day!” she said happily.
I nodded eagerly. “That sounds great!” I cried, and suddenly noticed there was something in my pocket. I reached in and pulled out the gold ring I got back in Ponyville; I almost forgot I even had it!

I quickly hid it, but Luna noticed I was hiding something. “What is that you have, Allen?” she asked curiously.
I looked around nonchalantly. “Huh? Nothing, I don’t have anything!” I lied. Applejack glared at me, being able to always tell when I was lying, but said nothing. “Anyways, it’s getting late; why don’t we all turn in?” I suggested, changing the subject.
Cadence nodded. “Everypony follow me, and I’ll lead you to the bedrooms!” she said as she led us off. I couldn’t wait to finally get some sleep; as you could guess, I had a very long, tiring, and slightly disturbing day.