From everything I remembered over the past week, I could only comprehend so little. After all, what was a day in the eyes of time? A day only proves to be a mere quark in the fabric of time. He, she, whatever it is moves at it's own pace. It sits with some, it runs with others. And this past week, it felt so odd to say that I'm only thinking of yesterday...

...Yesterday happened six days ago.

And as predicted, I would only have three words to speak. "What all happened?"

"While you were out?" Melanie asked.

I tried to move my arms, but found it quite difficult to do so. It didn't leave me with much in the way of scratching any itches, that's for certain. "Sure. Six days for me means I probably missed an invasion or two."

"No, we didn't have anything crazy like that. But a lot of stuff did go down."

I wonder how much of it was good news at this rate. If anything, the damn politicians would be hellbent on shoving their asses in my face taunting me to kiss them just where the tail and the butt connects. "So I take it that the parliament didn't like my coming back that much?"

"Oh no, they loved it for a reason."

Now that answer did manage to wake me up a bit. "That being?"

"Well, your favorite conservative nutcase, Count DuMoneé, decided to disclose some rather interesting info about the haul you guys brought in. Apparently there were a total of ten wagons stacked with gold and shit."

While my facial muscles couldn't convey emotions very well for the time being, my brain was very capable of doing so. Must be all the drugs. "They didn't."

"They did. Sorry." She answered sheepishly.

A soft groan was all I could manage. "Did they at least give anything to the families of those lost in the first operation from five years back?"

She sighed before she answered my question. "There was an interesting discussion about that. Unfortunately, they were really wanting to drag you out of the hospital to call you out in summons."

I still had enough left in me to roll my eyes. "Oh great, that bullshit again."

She giggled at my weak, yet begrudging tone. "Yup, and they were going to try and use a memory read spell to see exactly what your intentions were and what all had happened up from the moment you were assigned to your mission, to the moment you passed out."

The corner of my mouth twitched as I brainstormed over the idea. "That's not legal, is it?"

"Well when it comes to, what Count emphatically described, interrogating guards for any possible signs of treason against the government, they've got all kinds of tricks and loopholes in place. It wasn't the only time they did this, they did it to Shining Armor after his tenure. Also a little fun-fact: Mrs. Velvet went to jail after physically assaulting a senator in charge of the interrogation."

Another tidbit of information that unlocked more of my natural tone of voice. "I don't blame her."

"No kidding. She told me that she did it because, in her exact words, 'They were treating him like a criminal when he was a victim of the very asinine bullshit, excuse my colors, they sent him to.' So she reportedly stabbed him in the leg with a quill three times before she was apprehended."

She was going for blood, Jesus. "Yikes, how'd she get off?"

"Her answer to that question was what you'd expect."

"Right." I deadpanned.

"But in all seriousness, the senator she assaulted dropped the charges and retired soon after the incident. His current whereabouts are unknown."

And for good reason. Imagine if those families went after him as bad as they went after Shining Armor. "Smart man. No point in standing in plain sight for other vengeful family members to gun you down."

After holding my hand for so long, she placed it on my chest and continued on. "But back to the summons situation. They motioned to send a telepathic communicator to you for the reason of finding any evidence since you had no lawyer, spouse, or next-of-kin at an age of consent to represent you. Twilight offered to do it, but there was one problem─"

And it's obvious. "We're not married."

"Exactly. I wanted to represent you, but I had to spend most of my time here tending to your recovery. But then Alex stepped up and... kinda told them that he was your older brother."

That bit of news alone probably jolted all of my facial features to life. The only thing that ran through my mind was that those politicians knew who they could go after if they couldn't get to me. "Oh no."

"Well he thought it was for the best. If they sent the guy over to probe around in your head, Shining would've been found out and accused for tampering. You would've been reprimanded more than you already were. And they would've found out that you were holding out regardless. So Alex went to bat for you that day. He held up pretty well."

I didn't have the strength to shrug, but I did manage to nod a little. "It's Alex, he could probably talk himself out of a murder if he wanted to."

"Well those politicians murdered any chance of your merry band of brethren going home with anything other than a shiny medal. And to add insult to your injuries, they demanded that your medal was to be withheld on the charges of attempted embezzlement."

To be honest, I knew that would've been the result had they found out. Guess I'll probably find some time to go back for more... nah. "Well that sucks."

"Oh, that's it for bad news. The good news is that all of the surplus and whatnot is considered as addition to the royal treasury instead of going to the politicians. Since that's what you were recovering, that's ultimately where it went."

That doesn't change the situation though. "Okay, and that's good and how?"

"Because Shining and Blueblood happen to have access to said treasury. It'll take some sneaking around the red tape, but you guys are still getting what you left with... I think."

Now that's a possibility I hadn't kept in consideration. This works out, actually. "Huh... I should've thought of that sooner. But that leads me to question how did Count find out about what we were holding back and what we were gonna dish out?"

"Who knows, politicians have spies everywhere."

Even in the arimaspi forest? Then again, it could've been that reported who snapped a picture of me nearly being mauled to death. "Interesting."

"Another bit of good news that came as a result of the bad: Since Rainbow Dash was critically wounded, Count Dumbass was the one to take the brunt of the public criticism. Because he drafted the list of the recommended guards to accompany you, he was looked at as reckless by many of his peers. There was even a kind young fellow from the center left side of the room that called him out on his blackmailing habits."

This is nothing new to me. I knew our coming back alive would look bad on him. "Oh, so he's getting a little chewing, big whoop."

"Actually yes, that is a big deal. Because of his gamble, most on the left labeled him as irresponsible and tactless. Even several news outlets called him out on his list. Turns out that Spike leaked the draft directly to Blueblood."

...My neck just got full range of motion from that. "Who did what now?" I asked, turning my head sharply to face her, causing her to become a little unsettled.

"Easy! You're still recovering!"

As I was reminded of that, a small jolt of pain ran through my stomach, causing me to wince. "Right, that's a thing still."

Melanie quickly huffed a breath of air out of the corner of her mouth and patted me on the head. "I think for now we can kinda put this conversation on hiatus. It's better if we did."

"But I still have so much to ask."

She moved a lock of my hair from off of my face, giving me a smile. "I know, and I think I told you way too much already. I gotta let you rest."

She started to walk out of the room when I called out to her. "Mel." She turned back before cracking the door open. "Thanks for letting me know what happened."

She held off on leaving for a second to respond. "Sure thing. I'll let the others know you woke up today."

"That's if Twilight didn't already beat you to the punch." I stated.

"Yeah." She sighed as she opened the door. "An assistant will be back later to give you your dinner."

"Thanks."

Melanie was right, just that bit of rediscovering my face and neck took a bit out of me. I didn't even know that was possible, for something so simple to become so indescribably taxing. I fell asleep for another hour for lunch before an assistant woke me out of my sleep to pump some saline in my arm. As the cool liquid was sent into my bloodstream, I felt it run up my arm, through my chest and into my head.

It was so potent that I tasted it, quite the experience.

The assistant then took my blood, ran my temperature, monitored my life-signs, read my blood pressure, everything they'd do to you to cause an inconvenience to your sleep schedule. And it wasn't made any better with the fact that I was laying on two hospital beds simultaneously. If a nurse bumped into the buttons of the lower bed, my lower half was made completely uncomfortable.

At the end of all of that trial and tribulation, I was granted the permission to rest once more. Just all of that rigmarole ended up making me tired again. Sleep was important, it gave me enough strength to bear with whatever came up next. So I closed my eyes and commenced to carrying out my rest.

A few moments later, I cracked my eyes open to the smell of something delicious. When the world came back into focus, I saw a mint green pegasus with a blond mane smacking away at a plate sitting on a service cart. While he was munching and chewing freely, distributing a fair share of crumbs all over the floor, I somehow felt like that was really meant for me.

Quietly, I confronted him on it. "You look like you're having fun."

The stallion snapped his head to look at me and spoke with a mouth full of food. "Oh, sup sleepy head? Heard you got hurt or something."

As he talked, I could see everything in his mouth being churned and slobbed over. More of the wet crumbs fell from his mouth, sticking to the floor. I cringed with disgust. "Oh...kay. Who are you?"

Oh thank God, he swallowed. "Aw, I'm just your typical cool colt taking a quick break. And I must say, you look positively gross." Who's talking now? "What kind of condition you've got there? Haven't seen a pony with these kinds of breaks ever. Poor thing, you might not even walk again."

I looked down to my feet with sarcasm and back towards him. "I walk on two legs."

"Oh okay. Is that a... umm... medical condition you were born with or something?"

...Medical condition... Holy hell, I could feel my arms tingling with a desire to choke him. But I know he's ignorant and should be somewhat patient with him. "Yes. And I am not a pony, I am a human."

"Human, hmm, Human... nope, never heard of ya, buddy."

...I've never met someone so oblivious. "Who are you again?"

"I'm just one of the new hires here. Awesome kind of gig I got set up with. I get to have long breaks, talk to some hot babes in the lobby, also rich, and they're so full of interesting stories."

'Hot babes'... I know what this is now. "Name one."

"Off the top of my head?" He asked nervously. "No way, Jose. They told me so many stories that I couldn't keep track of any of em. But I did hear of this one chick who was stationed here that I liked."

"Really now?" I was actually asking about the names of the nurses, but I'll take the obvious deflection and run with it.

"Oh yeah, and I mean she got the finest ass, OH!"

Inhale. Exhale. "Try not to get a little too anxious to cock your pistol there, cowboy."

Then he started to get really excited about this one girl he supposedly likes. "Can you blame me really? I mean I've known her for years and years, and she's totally got the worst case of the hots for me. Great flier, awesome style─not quite like me but hey she tries, bless her heart─she's got that cute voice that cracks every now and then, make you wanna see just how bad a case of the cracks she's got, if you know what I mean."

I have enough energy to cringe, let's do that. "Yeaaaaaahhh..."

"Oh and get this, she got hurt cause of some douchebag! Why if I saw who did it to her, I'd give him a good hoofing..." Wait for it. "And watch her melt all over me."

I don't know who this girl is, but I'm feeling pissed for her. "...I swear it's like watching a guy die of thirst."

"Oh and you won't believe this." He said, motioning me to come to him. I simply looked down at the beds and shot him a dumb look. "Oh right." He then walked over to me and whispered in my ear. "But imagine this: her alone, morning and night, everyday, complete nympho."

You know this is starting to feel very familiar. "Look dude, I don't know you."

"Yeah, that's right. I haven't given you my name."

"Sure." Not that I'd want to know it that much.

"Name's Zephyr Breeze. The fellas call me Z-dawg." God, make it stop. "Ladies call me Z-pain, cause that's what I give to em. Z-nasty cause they like it like that." OH FUCK'S SAKE STAHP! "And my friends call my Zeph. You, my maliciously mangled bud, can call me Zigs."

Euthanasia: because being in a veggie state won't allow for suicide. Just grab a buddy and unplug that monitor, you'll be good and sleepy soon enough! "...You're a virgin, aren't you?"

He stared at me for a second before giggling at me. "Pfft, nah! I had my fair share of mares, but none of them came close to that one awesome mare that stays stuck in my mind like a catchy chorus to a bad song."

You are a bad song, who the fuck wrote you? "Look, we're both dudes here. Now you don't have to be afraid of telling the truth because we're talking about real stuff here. If you wanna know the truth, I couldn't lose my virginity until a month back. I'm 21, going to be 22 in the next two weeks."

While my honesty was laughed at, I couldn't help but to grow amused from his lie. "Seriously? I lost mine a LOOOONG time ago."

"With who?"

And as quickly as I asked the question, he proceeded to act like he was stuck on stupid. "Eeuuyaaahhh, you dunno her!"

"Figures." I said while rolling my eyes.

The stallion grew annoyed at how I dismissed him. "You're talking to me like you've got it down packed."

Once more, I gave him my honest perspective. "Maybe I do, maybe I do have it down packed somehow. But I also happen to have a lot of problems and baggage that comes with the new choices being presented. Maybe being 'the cool guy' doesn't add up to much but a lot of indecision, stress, pain, trust issues, you name it. You hurt others a lot when you try to be 'the cool guy'. Not quite something I'm keen on."

To which, he laughed at so carelessly, dismissing my testimony as simple mutterings. "You're thinking about it too much. You ever heard of herding? Just try that."

"Have YOU ever tried herding?" I inquired.

"No, but I would. Of course I have my número uno."

Back to this girl again. I couldn't help but to ask him for the sake of my understanding the dynamic's between him and her. "Is she even into you?"

"Of course, she just likes playing hard-to-get." He responded dismissively.

I shook my head and looked at him. "Maybe she's not that into you. Have you ever thought about that?"

"Nah. But I know you've got your sights on a girl though."

Though there's much I can say to disagree with him on any other issue, he's not wrong here. "...Don't know which one at this point. Sounds weird, but my species isn't too big on having more than one wife."

"Wife? No thank you, bub. I'm just going my own way. I'm an island, I don't need nothing to latch onto."

Although I can understand his mindset, especially since my younger brother says it so often, I remembered the words of my older brother. "Islands sinking without so much of a trace, I think that's a sad outcome."

"Whatevs. I'm going back to lunch." He said, completely writing off my comment.

I looked at the clock and read the time as 5:15. "Oh yeah, it's pretty late for you to be having lunch. You haven't eaten yet?"

"I had a snack like maybe two hours ago."

...Yeah, I forgot he's eating my food. I should bring some attention to that. "Hey, if you could, there's this red button behind me. I can't really use my arms too well, so can you press that for me?"

"Sure thing, pal." He answered. He did as I instructed and pressed the button and held it down as he spoke. "So who's the lucky nurse? Ever get one of em to give you a nice sponge bath, wiping the places where the sun doesn't shine?"

I gave him a stoic expression. "Well I can't answer that, I wouldn't know. Comatose."

In just a few seconds, the door swung open to reveal Nurse Redheart. "Can I help you, sir?"

I nodded my head in the direction of the stallion and calmly answered her question. "This guy ate my food."

"WHAT!?" She screamed, slamming the door behind her.

"Hey's it's not his lunch. I was given this plate not too long ago, and I was on my way to the cafeteria, but I decided that it would be better to chat it up with one of our esteemed patients." He said while trying to play up for sympathy by hugging me. I'm more insulted than the moment he called my being human as an odd medical condition.

"THIS IS THE THIRD TIME IN TWO DAYS!" She hollered.

He lifted up his hoof and revealed a silver watch. "Hey, his food was scheduled to come at exactly 5;00 p.m., it's currently 4;40."

The nurse grabbed his foreleg and scowled at him. "Your watch isn't even moving."

"My watch does move. Yours might be wrong."

She quickly countered that argument holding her watch to his face, followed by pointing him in the direction of the clock above the doorway. In seeing the two clocks synchronized with one another, he giggled sheepishly.

"Oh... My bad."

Those words sounded like the words of a guy who had lost his job. And then the nurse's anger seemed to reflect on my theory. "I cannot believe how many times this has happened with you!"

"Oh come on, it was just a little slip-up. I can fix it in no time, just let me finish lunch." While he said those words, the door swung open with a mighty gust, causing him to shiver a bit from the sudden breeze. "Hey, whoever's holding that door open, you're letting in a draft."

I looked to the door and saw a familiar face, but with an unfamiliar display of disapproval. She flapped her wings once more, sending in a more powerful gust to grab his attention.

"Hey, what's the big... i...deauhh..." His jaw was locked to the ground as he watched the yellow pegasus walk into the room.

"Excuse us for a moment." Fluttershy said as she reached out for the stallion's ear.

"OW! NO NOT THE EAR! PLEASE─AAAAHHHHGH!" He screamed as she dragged him along. Shoving him out of the room, she turned her attention to me.

"Um, it's really nice to know that you're awake, Nondis. Don't worry, we'll be back with your food soon enough." Said with a kind voice before looking back to the stallion with a very unfriendly tone. "Won't we?"

"But I haven't finished lunch─AAAAHHH!" He screamed as her hind leg kicked out at him, hitting him on his foreleg.

Where she turned to him with a grimace, she turned back to me with a nervous grin. "Please wait here, we'll be right back to feed you."

The door slammed behind the two of them, cutting off much of the volume of their argument in the hall. And from what I was hearing, she was absolutely CHEWING his shit. I've never heard her so angry. "This Zephyr Breeze guy... who screened him?"

The nurse proceeded to clean up after the stallion and put away the half-eaten plate of food. "His sister's urged us to fill a favor for her and give her little brother a job."

"He's not cut for this." I bluntly stated.

"As we're now finding out." She agreed.

"I've never seen Fluttershy so angry and assertive..."

In a confrontational way.

Nurse Redheart took a deep breath and sanitized the floor. "Well that's just how those two are. You know how it is, big sister knows best."

I wouldn't know anything about big-sister things, but I guess I could relate to that. Especially when Alex would chew me out over my doing some dome shit... Pause. "I could've sworn you just implied that Fluttershy was his sister."

"Well... yes." She confirmed with a nod.

My jaw dropped, my eyes expanded, and my brain was firing off as many pistons to calculate what the hell just happened. I was so stupefied that I had ended up placing my hand on my chin to think. "How... In God's name... did she come before THAT? How is it possible that she... and he... are..."

"Sir, your arms!" She pointed out.

"Oh. Apparently my brain farted out neural commands from the sheer absurdity of the situation. That's cool."

She blinked about three times before she shook herself out of it. "Let's get you fed and checked, shall we?"

While that whole ordeal woke me up from my sleep and nearly put me back in it, I still managed to keep awake for the next thirty minutes, which were spent reprimanding Zephyr Breeze and giving me a new dinner plate. Melanie did come around this time, and she came with company.

Before I knew it, the room a lot livelier than before, even considering all the yelling and ear-pulling that took place. Fluttershy made a return visit, Applejack accompanied her. And Pinkie Pie came by a few minutes after they did, bringing a huge bag of letters and get-well cards. She also filled the room with enough balloons to almost sent the whole castle floating.

At last, I was able to be comfortable and eat after the food was brought. Melanie walked through the door with a surprised expression. "I cannot believe some random guy just walked in here and ate your damn lunch. And you sat down and let him!"

"It took me a minute to figure that out, and then I had him call security."

"But why not stop him sooner?" Applejack questioned.

The image of him chewing with his mouth open was something that had my stomach churning. Eating seconds behind that guy was a death wish. "Because he already ate off of my plate. I should be accepting of that and let him finish before calling security."

"Needless to say that won't happen again." Applejack said with a smirk.

Fluttershy helped Mel place the food on the bed, uncovering my meal. "Here you go, I'm so sorry about earlier. But now you can eat up as much as you'd like."

"Thanks." I said, smelling what was being presented. Sitting before me was a cup of warm soup, a small slice of bread, some fruit, and some unsweetened tea. Not that I was complaining about the tea, I was just absurdly hungry. "Food, glorious food."

While I started to move my arms more and more overtime, I tried to remove the plastic covering the cutlery. Melanie grabbed the small sack as she spoke. "Hey now, you being able to move your arms doesn't mean your arms are fully functional."

As soon as she popped the bag open, she produced a plastic spoon. "Give me that spoon." I commanded. She didn't hesitate in obliging, only doing so to prove how stupid I was. When I had dug the spoon in the soup, I was reminded of the mass of IV tubes in my arm. Even moving one of those tubes caused not pain, but an awkward discomfort that made it far too difficult to accurately hold things in place. After a few seconds, I conceded my spoon to my nurse.

"A hard head makes for a soft ass?" Melanie asked mockingly.

While they sat me up, I groaned with displeasure. "That bastard nearly took me out, I can't believe I let myself get like this."

"If it was an assassin, then you're just fine. You should never blame yourself for something like this." Fluttershy suggested.

"The report said that you were attacked while on the mission." Pinkie stated as she started to go through the letters. "From my heart to yours, wishing you the best of a speedy and full recovery. Signed, Spitfire."

"Aw, I didn't think she'd send me something. I'm flattered." I said to Pinkie before jumping back into the conversation at hand. "Yeah, I got double teamed by the big boss of the arimaspi and what I assume to be his pet griffon."

"Now Ah saw what all you guys brought back, do ya think they paid him in order to get someone from the outside to do it?" Applejack questioned.

"No. I know they don't like outsiders walking in their place. And griffons are considered as their natural-born enemy." I stated.

While Melanie fed me, she brought up an interesting tidbit of information. "In speaking of which, they found the body of a griffon just outside of the MacIntosh Hills yesterday morning. Apparently he was caught stealing gold and was completely mutilated. The picture was so graphic that many of the outlets were ordered not to disclose it for the concern of the image being what they claimed as 'not press friendly'."

I mulled on that excuse and thought it to be contradictory of what the press would normally put out. If they could produce an image of me being close to mauled to death, then it would've been very possible that they would've shared the gruesome image of my body all over the country. And there was also one particular event that was more brutal that resulted in a photo being mass-produced. "Actually, they did one way worse about five years back."

"Oh dear. How bad was it?" Fluttershy inquired.

"Same area, same result, a lot more bodies." I answered, keeping the answer as generalized as possible for the sake of keeping my appetite.

"Maybe there were laws put in place to prevent something like that from happening again." Pinkie brought up.

"And then I'm reminded of the situation that happened last Thursday." I replied.

"You mean almost two weeks ago." Melanie said, correcting me.

"Right. Either way, the pictures they took of the changelings being hauled off on wagons, those were wagons filled with corpses. Kinda contradicts their reasoning here."

Fluttershy pondered the possibilities before she came out to ask. "What are you suggesting?"

Putting everything together, I said what was on my mind. "It's obvious, this is a spruce-op. They're trying to write a different story, I killed that griffon and watched him die, held him as he died, he stabbed me before he died."

"So what you're saying is that this situation was fabricated?" Melanie guessed.

"More than likely." I answered with a nod.

She groaned softly while she continued to feed me. "Well we're not going to go into investigations now. You need to chill out for a bit until we can get you walking again."

"You can get me walking today, let's go." I said, being eager and all-the-more foolish.

Showing a bit of anger, she put the spoon back in the soup and argued with me. "You're barely able to move your toes, you can't use your arm to carry your own weight, you're a wheelchair patient at best right now."

Still insisting to be stubborn, I wanted out of the hospital room. "Well wheel me outta here and let's get moving."

"Yeah we will, in maybe one or two days. This place obviously doesn't have a wheelchair for you to use."

"I need one so I can get in on this. The sooner we expose this for what it is, the more likely we can get an investigation going."

Being firm, she raised her voice and stared me down. "You need to stay in this bed, doctor's orders. I'd much rather not move around so much after everything you've been through."

"Yeah, getting stabbed is kinda painful to deal with, but I think I can manage for... twenty minutes. This can't stay in the room." I urged.

"Well we'll be sure to put in a word to one of the outlets and get your perspective out there." Melanie said before grabbing my hand again. "Nondis, I'm going to be very straight forward with you."

As I looked around the room, I could see everyone's faces darken. Frowns and shows of concern replaced what was to be a jubilant environment. It was a dissonance of atmosphere that caused me to become a bit uneasy. "Okay what's the deal? Why is my moving around such a bad idea."

Melanie took a deep breath as she clenched my hand tightly. From the look on her face, I could already assume it was bad news. "Because while you were out, we found a heavy concentration of blood thinners in your system, followed by several other toxins. So we had to run you through dialysis, which flushes all the bad stuff out of you manually, then we had to perform a few blood transfusions in order to keep you alive, the first time was before we found out you had all those blood thinners. Then there was the brief period of when your body rejected Stanton's blood─"

"Okay, time out." After I interrupted her, I took a breather on what had already seemed to be a lengthy list of issues. I felt distressed over hearing about everything that occurred. "What all happened to me again?"

But to my misfortune, she wasn't done. "We had to feed you through a tube, keep you on a ventilator to keep the oxygen flowing through your brain, remove two feet of your intestines because of significant tissue damage, and then we had to revive you after you flatlined for approximately thirty-seven seconds. Under most circumstances, that's relatively short, but we're talking about acute blood loss, which drastically shortened our time frame from around twenty minutes to forty-five seconds due to hypothermia."

"...Woah..." At that moment, I was facing the very real issue of my mortality. It wasn't as if I thought I couldn't die, but it was like there was a drive in me somewhere that told me I wasn't going to be so easily brought down. I was running off of the high of hovering my foot over the brink and taking it away that I didn't think about the time that I'd actually fall in. Now we're talking alterations to my body that have changed my life, possibly for the worse.

I instinctively pulled up my shirt and saw a large scar on my abdomen, covered in stitches. I lost my breath at the sight of that.

"By traditional merits, you shouldn't even be here, but you are. That's why I refuse to move you, because a nagging princess begged us to keep you alive by any means necessary. I broke so many protocols and did some things that even compromised your dignity while you were out. We did all of this to keep you here, and we're more astounded that the damage to your brain was so minimal. So yes, you're going to have problems moving and you're not getting around anytime soon until we can verify you are healthy enough to do so."

The others looked away while my scar was exposed. Deciding I had seen enough, I covered the wound and resigned to a period of disbelief. "...Did all of that really happen?"

"Well yes, but your intestines have healed and you're ready to eat like normal, aside from the soup we're giving you."

To be frank, I didn't want to finish that soup anymore. "Oh... okay."

"That's right, invincibility isn't one of your traits." A voice called out from the doorway. I looked over to see Rainbow Dash walking into the room. "You finally understand what I've been saying to you?"

In what felt like a dark hour for me ended up becoming significantly brighter. I felt relief for the first time since waking up, it was an answer to a question that ran through my mind on occasion. "Rainbow, you're alright."

"Yup, I'm a lot better than you. I healed up pretty fast." I can see she's still herself.

"You had an arrow in your lung, how are you walking around like nothing happened?" I asked incredulously.

Rainbow snickered as she pointed to herself. "Well, we element bearers have a healing factor, so our vitals are often easy to heal with the aid of magic. But you, from what I heard, had it pretty rough."

"Apparently so." I said as my hand slightly ran over the row of stitches on my stomach. "I missed out on a lot."

Melanie, realizing that I wasn't going to get fed with all of the distractions, politely announced to the entire room. "Okay everyone, I think it's time to leave our patient to finish his dinner. After that, he can take a moment's rest and we can come back─"

"No." I interrupted once more. "You already told me everything to get my attention, you might as well give me the whole story."

Again, she showed extreme concern for my well-being. "I don't think that's a good idea."

While my hand lightly traced the outline of my new stitches, I felt confidence in my condition. I held a personal belief that my willpower would be greater than earlier. I wasn't just rested, but I have a little bit of food in my system to give me energy. I may not be able to walk out of this room, but I can stay awake long enough to hold a conversation for another thirty minutes. "I think I can handle this. If I can hold death off a bit longer, then I can handle a story."

Melanie grasped my hand, moving it away from my scar. "A lot has happened."

Pinkie smiled gently as she grabbed my other hand. "Well keep it short, Nonnie."

Canterlot Royal Medical Facility
Six days ago...

In the lobby of the medical center, two guards stood at attention by the door. Just outside of it were waves upon waves of reporters who wanted their questions answered or just to get the inside scoop on what had happened to the gravely-wounded Captain of the Royal Guard.

At the center of the room was the party belonging to the patient in question. Applejack hugged her hat tightly as she watched Pinkie fall on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Rarity quietly stroked the pink pony's flattened mane while Twilight rocked back and forth in her brother's hooves. Cadance and Fluttershy looked out the window, seeing a crowd gathering just outside of the castle walls.

Multitudes of ponies all stood in the streets, holding up improvised signs while chanting ad infinity 'I believe that he will win'. Cadance felt the passion of the citizens reaching up to the room she looked from, but felt uncertain that their words, their spirits, would reach to the one they chanted for.

The humans, on the other hand, were a completely different display. Only Stanton, Alex, Rickey, and Cliff stood around. Cliff sat on the ground with his head bowed and his face covered. Rickey held a bible in his hand, he quietly chanted the Lord's Prayer in Spanish while rocking back and forth. Alex paced back and forth impatiently, seeming as if he couldn't bring himself to hold still.

Stanton appeared to be in the worst shape. The white warm-up shirt he wore for football practices remained balled up in his hands as he cried into it. Stained in the blood of his older brother, he lamented the thought of having to lose him after doing so much to get him to treatment. After carrying him on his back, he was left in shambles psychologically.

A bell suddenly rang from within the lobby, a set of doors opening with two nurses walking through. One nurse was brought in from Ponyville, another made a nurse by an emergency royal decree. Cliff didn't bother standing up as he and the others prepared themselves for the worst.

Alex was the first to speak, stopping dead in his tracks. "Mel, what does he look like?" He asked quietly.

Stanton screamed into the blood-stained shirt as he pleaded with her. "I don't wanna hear it! I don't wanna hear it, please!"

"Stanton, shut the fuck up!" Alex screamed, feeling on-edge about the situation. He then proceeded to pace back and forth again.

Cadance walked up to the bloodied human, calmly asking her. "What's his status?"

"He's in critical condition." Melanie said, her voice slightly trembling and worn. "As of the moment he is questionable on whether or not he'll make it through the night. For now we've placed him in a magically induced coma to keep him as stable as possible. If it weren't for magic, he'd be gone."

Cliff drove his fist into his leg with anxiety weighing heavily on him. "So what do we do now? We just wait?"

"We pray... for both of their sake." Melanie responded.

"Dashie's gonna be okay." Fluttershy muttered from the other side of the room. "She'll be okay, you'll see."

"You think so? You really think that's the case right now?" Rickey asked, snapping himself out of his prayer.

"We know how strong she is, darling." Rarity replied confidently. "If anypony's going to pull through out of this situation, it's definitely her."

Stanton beat his fist into the wall, shaking his head. "Yeah, I wish I had that kind of comfort. My older brother in there, possibly sitting on his death bed."

"Stanton, shut up!" Alex commanded again.

The younger sibling broke into full hysterics, kneading his fingers into the stained shirt. "Oh God, how the hell are we gonna tell mom? How the─how are we─what do we do─"

"Stanton!" Alex called out, grabbing his younger brother by the shoulder, shaking him. "Sit down. Shut the fuck up. Stop panicking because that's not gonna do anything worth a damn."

Still feeling terrified from what all happened, an emotionally-charged Stanton shoved his arm away from him. "YOU TELL ME HOW THE FUCK WE'RE GONNA DO THIS, ALEX!" He screamed to the top of his voice. "Can you imagine dad's face when he sees him like this, HERE of all places!? You're. Not. Fucking. Getting it. Through your head! Our brother is DYING!"

While the two were in each other's faces, Alex pointed at the door Melanie walked through. "You don't think I know that? I'm more terrified than you are. I'm in shock. I'm responsible for both of you and he's on the verge of clocking out. I've got his blood on my hands."

Stanton then shook the shirt in his brother's face. "Well I literally got his blood on me, I carried him off of that train."

"None of this is on you." Cadance used her magic to divide the two, holding them both back as she stepped between them. "This is something that was the result of an external influence. We will be doing what we can to investigate this situation."

One of the pony surgeons barged through the door, urgently grabbing the attention of Melanie. "Madam nurse, we have a situation occurring with your patient."

Visually distressed, Melanie felt herself looking her composure again. "Excuse me, I'll be right back." She said before storming through the doors and disappearing down the hall.

Shining continued to hold on to his little sister, petting her, nuzzling her, doing whatever he could to keep her calm. "You okay, Twily?"

"I'm going to faint." She announced weakly, "I'm gonna faint."

The stallion then kissed his little sister on her forehead, holding her close as he whispered to her. "We'll be here for you, kiddo."

Canterlot Parliamentary Chamber
Five days ago...

One guard who donned a ceremonial uniform as opposed to the usual armor ensemble, stood at the center of the chamber to defend the position of his injured captain. Azure Sword, who stood to represent his unit, vehemently argued against them, but to no avail.

"But with all due respect─"

"It doesn't matter what you say, sir. What matters is what was going to be done, what's already done, and what shall happen. Your regiment was reportedly taking the surplus of what you were assigned to recover and divide it amongst yourselves. And that bit of attempted embezzlement is what's up for debate. Your names are cleared and we will hold those weights against the leader who took all responsibility over you."

"But what about the families of those─"

Count DuMoneé interrupted the guard once more. "Reparations have long since been offered. And if a lawsuit were to come about from either of those families, then we'd merely bring about the statue of limitations and end that discussion there."

"You speak as if a flag and an urn of ashes is the only reparations necessary!"

"And giving them gold is going to bring back their loved ones?" Count argued, gaining the support of his party. "So their lives have monetary value, that's it? So you're saying that if you give them gold, justice is served? Their lives were nothing more than a liquid asset? I'm so interested in hearing you'd treat your fallen as such."

The young stallion grimaced as he elevated his tone of voice. "I don't. They deserve more respect than that. Which is why─"

"Which is why all of what you recovered will be confiscated and reviewed by the parliamentary committee. Once the investigation on your captain has been concluded, the items will be sent to the treasury. That is all, you are dismissed."

Knowing that there wasn't much he could do from there, Azure gave a salute with a scowl on his face and marched out of the room.

Twilight and Blueblood, who would stand in for both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for the next three days, watched as the doors closed behind him. Twilight, noticing the proud smiles on some of the politicians faces, already knew what was to come from their confiscating the gold. And she would call them out on it.

"I do not feel that is ethical."

Count looked at her with a quirked brow and a coy smirk. "My esteemed ladyship, Princess Twilight Sparkle, I figure you would hold some grievance on this matter as your family is one of the families who would benefit from the guard's proposed method of dispersal. However, being you and your brother, who is a victim, are royals, then it would make sense to hypothetically say you'd seek these benefits for yourself."

Feeling her character was being questioned, the young princess barked back at the conniving politician. "That is not true! How dare you accuse me of being so tactless! That is an inflammatory statement made against me whereas I have no means to perform such deeds!"

"Oh I'm sure you've done your share of covering up, your regalness. Of course those sins aren't to be made public, lest the image of the Princess of Friendship takes a downward turn." He said, giving her a wink. This infuriated the young princess further as he continued. "In speaking of which, I trust your fiance has had better days. I am told he has yet to wake from his coma."

"You are sick, demented─"

Blueblood held a hoof to the purple princess muzzle before he cut in. "Ad hominems are not to be made, presiding Princess Twilight. You know better." She knocked his hoof away, much to her chagrin. The blond-haired prince then brought his focus to the politician who challenged her. "And as for you, senator, you seem to have forgotten the name of that treasury."

The senator, at last, lost much of his bravado as he tried to slyly answer the prince. "The Equestrian Treasu─"

"Ah!" Blueblood immediately cut him down. "You've missed something. The account is legally registered under the Equestrian Royal Treasury. This means it came from our account. And surely the purpose of this mission was to return the amount and whatever surplus obtained was to be sent directly to that account."

Feeling his plan was falling out of shape, he called out to the prince loudly, gaining the support of some of his peers. "THAT'S EMBEZZLEMENT!"

"Ah, but note that an unauthorized third party intervention into that treasury account is often seen as... Well I sure don't want to say treasonous, but it does cross that line by just a hair or two."

A rain of boos started to cascade down towards the floor. One politician beside Count called out to Blueblood. "It is a proper investigation─"

"One not of your jurisdiction since it was withheld from this particular account. What is returned shall be returned. And the liquidation of the surplus assets shall be made by the owners of that account. I am to understand you'd have no qualms on this."

The boos got louder, chanting out 'shame' as more politicians screamed and yelled at the prince. "Greedy, disgusting royals. The citizens will hear of this!"

With not a care for their concern, Blueblood banged the gavel just once. "I'm sure they will. Next order of business."

After the lengthy session, Twilight gathered her many papers and files and went about her way. As she walked through the hall, a number of politicians called her out for being silent on what they considered as 'royal greed'. Her face soured as she started to speed up her pace, causing a few of them to follow her out of spite. When they really started to get under her skin, she simply teleported to the other side of the hall. She turned down another corridor and marched past less and less of her opposition and eventually encountered only a few guards who stood at attention.

From there, she could brood in peace. "Princess Troublemaker." That was until Blueblood galloped from behind to catch up to her.

She knew he often called her that regardless of her situation, and she was always annoyed with that moniker. But she felt that today was such a day where it even stirred some thoughts of violence within her. "Ugh. Leave me alone, Blueblood."

"Young little Twily, you are so incredulous to this political grandstanding thing, aren't you? It's funny cause your fiance seems to be a natural at it."

Another thing that made her angry was that he'd call her the nickname her brother would often call her. "Leave me alone." She said, shoving a wing into his face.

The blonde-maned prince chuckled as he trotted beside her. "You really fail to understand how much power you have, don't you? With a stretch of your wings, the crowds of citizens would be at your beck and call. You and your friends saved this country a number of times, you could make a difference if you decided to put aside this pristine, picture-perfect pony persona."

Her wings flared open as she raised her voice at him. "That's not what I was taught! I didn't get in my position by forcing an issue on others and playing dirty."

He rolled his eyes and moaned with disgust. "See, that's what I'm talking about. You, Celestia, and Mi Amore are all so goody-goody that you don't even bother to stand up when they come batting against you. It's a sign of weakness."

"Well as Celestia's student, I was taught differently." She said, pointing towards herself.

"And as a former protege of hers, I can say that not all of her methods are tried and true." He responded by placing a hoof on his own chest.

"Yeah, that's probably why you don't have wings." She said harshly, flapping her wings once before storming off again.

Feeling a bit hurt from her statement, he continued to pursue her. "See, that animosity against me, use that on them. Even Celestia's sure to show the cracks of her facade when somepony pesters her enough."

"Playing by the rules, not by my emotions." The princess proclaimed as she sped up her pace.

"So did you play by the rules when it came to Nondis?" He asked, causing her to come to a complete stop. Staring at him with a menacing glare while he smiled back at her. "My point exactly."

She walked up to him, her ears folded back as she scowled at him. Hissing under her breath, she strongly displayed her anger. "Meaning we both hold power doesn't mean that I'd want anything to do with you. And as far as I'm concerned, your teacher and my teacher are two separate ponies."

He calmly whispered back. "The difference between us two is that I've lived long enough to see where that naivete leads."

Seething with rage, she spat at the alabaster prince. "Resign yourself from speaking to me. I'm leaving to the medical wing."

As she walked off, Blueblood rubbed his hoof on his chest and inspected himself for any dirt. "It's sad your brother can see more than you can."

Canterlot Royal Medical Facility
Four days ago...

Melanie sat across the table, facing Alex as they talked over a boxed lunch from the royal cafeteria. The white boxes were torn apart to make them into a paper tray for them to spread their selections on. Though the cucumber sandwiches were completely deprived of meat, they found them satisfactory for the time being, even if it was more of a salad between two slices of bread. Plastic miniature jugs of milk and unopen bags of haychips sat just beside their meals as they talked.

"So wait, she's getting cleared for checkout, tomorrow?" Alex inquired.

"I don't get it either. From what I was told, the 'element bearers' are actually so irradiated with magic that their bodies heal five-times faster than other ponies under similar treatment. From what I saw today, she's perfectly fine." Melanie explained.

Alex lifted the top slice of bread from his sandwich and looked inside for anything that he didn't like. "It makes me wonder if there's any kind of magic that would help Nondis."

Melanie took a bite of hers, chewed and swallowed before speaking again. "Oh don't get me wrong. His shit is weird as hell too. I don't think I've seen a human heal up so quickly after surgery, but then again, I've never seen magic applied to the human body. And it isn't like what you see in some stupid Final Fantasy game where you just cast 'heal' on them and watch all of their wounds completely disappear. It's a lot like watching paint dry, but with the added morbid nature of watching the wound slowly close in on itself."

Alex finished pulling the tomatoes out of his sandwich before he finally bit into his. "So what was the surgery procedure?"

Reaching over her own food, she appropriated the discarded tomatoes and placed them on her sandwich instead. "Small bowel resection. Some areas were so terrible, it looked like someone just jiggled the knife inside of him real bad. Had to remove a total of two feet of his... stuffing. Guess that's why I'm completely cool with not having meat today."

As a few strands of hair fell onto Melanie's face, covering her eye, she took a few seconds to fix her hair. Alex watched as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail again before resuming her meal. "Mel, I dunno how you do it."

Opening the bag of haychips, she pulled one out to taste-test. "They have you practice on cadavers in med school. So I'm no stranger to dead bodies that are well put together. It's the 'living person' thing that gives me the shakes... and also the 'best friend' part to boot."

"And the blood?" Alex asked while Melanie munched on the chip. As soon as her face lit up with surprise, she grabbed yet another to taste.

"I got that out the way when we first got him. Human body carries eight pints, so it's gonna be messy."

Seeing how she was enjoying the exotic snack, Alex opened his bag and tried one for himself. He was pleased with the results. "These are actually kinda good."

"No shit." She replied grabbing a handful. "Let me know if you don't want yours."

"Nah, I'm good." He said as he also grabbed a handful of the salty snacks. "And how about the other doctors? I know that cutting open a human was new grounds for them."

"So much they had a scholar on hoof..." Realizing what she had said, she facepalmed out of embarrassment. "Shit."

Alex snickered as he chewed. "I get it, pony stuff, happens when you're around them for so long."

"Well I can certainly say I've gotten to know your brother very well." She said, seeming to be put off by the situation.

"No kidding."

Melanie soon found the bottom of her bag of chips, audibly showing despair over the moment. "So how did that situation go?"

For a while, Alex felt like he had missed a part of something she said. But it hit him after some thought. "Oh yeah. I just told them that Nondis got hurt on the job. I also let them know he's recovering." He said, pertaining to his parents.

"Well you're not really lying, are you?" She asked sarcastically.

"Stanton wanted to tell them more about it, but he reserved better judgement when it came to dad. Mom may be a little more understanding, but she's prone to telling dad stuff when we're not looking. She's always been the buffer between us and him." He said as he also reached the bottom of his bag.

Melanie watched as Alex widened the mouth of the bag and poured the remaining contents into his mouth. "I know. I just wish we could bring them here to understand once and for all what's going on. But as I'm quite sure─"

"That's not gonna happen anytime soon." He said, finishing her sentence.

She sighed with disgust, lamenting her past experience with Twilight. "If my initial reaction to this is anything to go by, then I can say that idea is as productive as handcuffing a pedophile to a preschool bathroom stall."

Alex erupted into laughter as he spoke. "You're a trip, Mel."

While the two shared a brief laugh, it was soon brought to an awkward silence between them. Her frown found her face again as she looked to the double doors that lead to the medical wing. "Three days of dialysis, blood transfusions, shoving tubes in strange places, and surgeries. We can finally wait it out."

He looked at her with a sense of admiration. His smile became soft and inviting as he watched the young woman stand to her feet. He felt her stand with a strong sense of determination. Her chest stood outward as she started to make her way towards the trashcan with her trash. He spoke to her. "You're awesome, you know that?"

"I try my best." She said, returning the smile he offered.

Suddenly, the doors to the medical wing opened, revealing Shining Armor and Twilight. She still appeared to be a bit shaken as her brother comforted her. The two walked out of the lobby and back into the halls of the castle. Alex scratched his head as he mumbled. "...I wonder."

"What?" Melanie asked quizzically.

He shook his head. "Nothing, it's nothing."

Canterlot Parliamentary Chamber
Three Days Ago...

The session of this day was a lot less emotionally charged. The disdain for the royals were still apparent but not nearly as verbal as it once was two days prior. Instead, the usual group of politicians had cooked up a ploy to get their revenge against a failed attempt to appropriate some funding for their various desires. Twilight was left with rage as the situation unfolded before her.

Alex stood beside her and loudly questioned them. "What do you mean you're sending a druid council for Nondis, what does that mean?"

"It means that your friend is under investigation. He's being accused in meddling in the royal treasury." Count DuMoneé proclaimed with a snobbish demeanor.

"I can assure you, Nondis hasn't done anything like that." Alex refuted, coming to the defense of his unconscious brother.

"Oh I'm quite sure he has. One of my spies managed to overhear a discussion in Appleloosa saying their motive was to collect what was to be given to the royals and to retain the rest. That is not only in the realm of grand theft, but treason as well." Count replied.

"He's comatose, so whatever you wanna get out of him is not gonna happen anytime soon."

Count pointed around the room as he answered Alex. "Nopony is here to stand in for him. So the summons shall carry over to that venue."

Alex grunted out of frustration and turned to Twilight. "Princess, with all due respect, can't you do something about this?"

"She cannot." Count called out. "She's engaged to the human, that much is true. But she does not retain spousal rights, nor does she have the legal rights to call up a representative in his defense. Therefore we shall bypass that and enact the Articles of Charter v. Druid: Any party to withhold information critical to the operations of the nation, treasury to say the least, shall be investigated regardless of physical, mental, psychological, or mortal state."

"On what grounds!?" Alex shouted to the senator.

"Funding any sort of criminal movement against the parliament and/or royal establishment." He simply stated, earning a few calls of approval from his peers.

Knocking away a few papers, Alex shouted to the senator. "That's bullshit!"

"If it pertains to the security of our very nation, then I find the reason to be invasive is nothing short of justified." Said another senator, cosigning with Count.

While calls of 'hear hear' rung throughout half of the room, Alex looked to Blueblood and spoke. "So what you're saying is that you take spouses, right?"

"Correct." Count called out.

"So how about next of kin?"

Blueblood nodded, knowing what was to take place. "Those's parameters are acceptable."

Alex held up a finger as he dismissed himself from the room for a few seconds, only to show back up on the floor of the room. The room started to fill with mutters and whispers as the human stood at the center of the room. "I'm gonna be royally honest with you then, that's my brother in the hospital." Those whispers then turned into gasps, the murmurs increasing in volume. He pulled out his wallet, yanking out his state ID and proudly showing it to the whole room. "Alexander Martin Haines, three years senior to Nondis Patricia Haines, son of Harold Luther Haines and Martha Abigail Dixon-Haines. Now that's out of the way..." He then threw the ID onto the table on the floor's center, slapped his chest twice and pointed to Count. "Lawyer me."

"An older sibling!? He was in our faces this entire time!" One voice called out from the left side of the room.

"Completely absurd. He's just now coming about with this?" Another called out from the the right side of the room.

"How do we know you're not doing this to stand up for your friend?" One senator asked, from the center area of the room.

Alex grabbed his ID card and politely tucked it back into his wallet while he was speaking. "Because my brother's an idiot who couldn't even learn how to fight for himself until recent times. Thanks for throwing him into the army, it at least taught him how to fight his battles without having to call on me all the time, like my senior year back in high school. Though I'll make an exception this go around because of, well, you know."

"How oddly specific." One politician from the middle of the room responded. "Tell me, are you aware of an incident where he was mugged in a back alley by a pony prior to his service?"

Alex shrugged. "Not surprised, he had worse when he was in middle school, and I was often suspended for fighting for him. But stories aside, let's talk about now. I want my lawyer."

The group surrounding Count encircled around the senator to discuss their next course of action. After some time of deliberation, they pulled back with Count taking the lead. "Actually, you'll do fine."

Alex blinked, pursed his lips, held up a finger, slowly turned to Blueblood and chuckled. "He's trying... to fuck me. He's trying to fuck me, right?"

Blueblood saw the expression on the humans face and became amused himself. "That appears to be so."

Alex then threw his hand to the air and turned back to the prosecuting party. "They don't know me. And I'm so glad they don't."

Count produced a chuckle of his own, standing tall amongst his party. "I'm glad to see you're so confident in defending your brother. This makes it all the more easier for us to completely dismantle any narrative in your brother's favor."

From there, Alex placed on his best salesman smile and presented his best impression of Bob Barker. "How would you like to play a game?"

Count's smile gradually faded as he started to find himself in a familiar situation. "Is it similar to the one your brother did?"

"So you know the rules already? Good, let's get started."

Two Days Ago...

Twilight, Shining, Cadance, Alex, and Melanie waited outside of the chamber, gathering their ideas on how they were going to go about defending their incapacitated ally. Though the session of yesterday was mostly successful, there was still much to be discussed.

However, today's session appeared to have positive reinforcement. Alex had gone blow for blow against Count in all of his accusations, presenting arguments and bluffs that could trip up anyone who wasn't careful to not watch where they stepped. A web of arguments and hypothetical ended up becoming the undoing of the very individual who initiated the scheme.

Count DuMoneé was now in question over whether or not he was the one who drafted the list, as opposed to the standing Council of the E.U.P., an offense to be taken as an example of tampering. But with no hard evidence, there wasn't a way to pursue it other than letting the situation unfold.

Other than that, the mood for the day was mostly optimistic. "So what's on the menu for today?" Melanie asked.

"More of this guys mouth. My dick's feasting today." Alex answered before catching himself, looking to a blushing Cadance. His cheeks quickly turned a rosy color from the embarrassment. "Sorry for the crude language."

The pink princess shook her head. "No, it's just... different not hearing Nondis do it. It's like you're kinda like him in areas but not in others."

"You'd be surprised." He muttered.

Cadance continued to look at the human, squinting her eyes as if she had seen something that grabbed her attention. "Your heart is filled with conflict. Is something wrong?"

"Cadance, isn't that a little invasive?" Twilight questioned.

Alex dismissed the pink princess. "Yeah, I don't think I have any concerns right now other than going against this guy again."

Shining walked up to him to give him a hoof bump. "But you've done so well yesterday. All the bluffs, and even the insults, I've never seen him so angry."

"Then you've missed a truly stellar performance." Called out a familiar voice.

The group turned around to see the two high royals standing next to each other, being escorted by a pair of guards. "Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, welcome back!" Twilight called out, bowing to them both.

The two then bowed back as a show of respect towards their own. "Yes, the Scholar's Summit in Zebrabwe was something to behold. Discoveries from all around the world and new scientific findings were all but spared. For us, we received a lot of questions relating to humans and their interactions with equinekind." Luna stated.

"In mention of that, we were also alerted to his health upon his return. We hadn't received word of his state until the next morning. How is he?" Celestia asked, walking up towards Alex, who pointed to Melanie to answer them.

"He's stable. I had to a lot of work to get him there, but he's carrying on smoothly. Tomorrow we're going to start removing some of the devices attached to him so he can be a little more independent, and comfortable for whenever he wakes up."

Celestia placed a hoof on her chest, showing her relief. "That's wonderful to hear. I wouldn't hear the end of it if my dear captain were to expire just before he officially took office."

"We will be by there to visit." Luna offered.

Before Melanie could respond, they all looked around as some music started to play.

♫If I could walk five hundred miles, then I would walk five hundred more, to be the man that walks─♪

Before anyone else could say anything, Alex had already pulled out his phone, read the caller, and swiped the call to ignore. He then turned his phone to vibrate. Melanie was quick to identify the ringtone and it's purpose. "Phone call from Vanessa?"

Alex then put the phone back into his pocket. "Obviously concerned. I managed to tell her the truth about Nondis, but not quite everything about here. She thought I was crazy... at least until I showed her the pictures of where we were and what happened."

"You took pictures of him?" She asked, seemingly disturbed by the thought.

Alex quickly clarified the situation. "Post-op, not pre. I'm not keeping those images around for me to lose sleep over."

Melanie slowly nodded as she grew to understand the logic. "Well in the circumstance of your parents, photographic evidence is a good foundation for your case."

"Yup..."

Cadance stared at the human one more time, seeing something else that grabbed her attention. "The conflict grows."

"Cadance!" Twilight chided.

The pink princess acted before Twilight could stop her. "Something about this 'Vanessa' seems to worry you."

Alex then took out his phone again, going to the photo album and pulling up a newlywed photo. He handed the phone to Cadance for her to see. "Of course, she's my beautiful wife."

Shining, Twilight, Celestia, and Luna quickly circled around the device, seeing him dressed in an elegant tuxedo and a fresh haircut. Vanessa stood smiling next to him as she held onto his shoulders, kissing him on the cheek. She wore a white dress with a diamond tiara. The others cooed sweetly while Cadance's attention was directed to Alex. "I didn't know you were─"

"Yeah, she's on my ass about my disappearing so often. She thought I was cheating on her."

Cadance then bowed her head out of respect to the human. "I am so sorry."

He waved it off, taking his phone and placing it back into his pocket. "Why? It's good to have discerning folks around you, they can tell you what you don't wanna hear and they can tell what's wrong with you. Those are your real friends right there."

Unsure of how to respond to his leniency, the pink princess was left dumbfounded. "I suppose."

Another voice then called out for much further down the hall. "Sir Alex!"

The man turned around to see a pony galloping in his direction. If there was anything that was rarely seen amongst even the royals, it was Blueblood engaging in a physical activity that exerted a lot of energy. As he approached, he held a manila envelope in his magic. "Prince Blueblood, how's it been?"

"Wonderful. And a high greetings to all of you." He said with a slight bow. He then turned to Twilight with a smirk. "Good afternoon Princess Twilight."

"Afternoon to you." She said coldly.

"Oh don't be so icy, my dear." Blueblood said with a lighthearted laugh. But he placed teasing the young royal aside to give him the envelope he held in his possession. "Alex, I know a certain name attached to this little leak of information is someone you don't find fond. But you should really take a read of what Spike mailed in."

Alex's eyes shot open as he held the envelope. "Spike?"

While he opened the package and pulled out the material to read through, Melanie wasn't too thrilled to hear the name of the young drake. "What's that miserable little pervert want now?"

Alex quickly silenced her as he read the contents. He looked at Blueblood with amazement. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

A jubilant chuckle was produced from the alabaster prince. "I knew I'd get that look from you."

Alex placed the material back into the envelope, he followed up with an enthusiastic fist pump. "Oh hell yes. This is great."

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Remember my bluff from yesterday, saying how I thought he was the one that sent in a memo to change the list of guards, to purposefully include Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight recalled the moment she saw the list and showed it to her fiance. "Her name alone caused Nondis to stay up another three hours studying and practicing."

Alex quickly explained what he saw as Melanie took a turn to read through the material. "He sent the names. All of them. From an element bearer, to inexperienced guards, recruits fresh out of boot camp, to even a family member of one of the victims from five years ago! He sent them all, these are the draft notes, there are even the post-it stickers to place in the names and connections so that they'd get the main head of the guards to sign on it. This is beyond great, this is hard evidence of tampering and blackmail!"

Melanie ooh'd with a childish tone, indicating that there was trouble ahead. "All of this shit in failure's perspective would've made it a PR nightmare for Nondis. Oh, little dragon went in!"

Blueblood had a triumphant smirk on his face as he talked to Alex. "You're gonna make him squirm, are you?"

Marching to the door, he responded. "Sir, my dick's in his ass now, and I don't have lube. This will be the best case of rug burn I ever get!"

Bursting through the doors, he marched forward in front. As he approached the center of the room, Celestia and Luna stood at the top of the judicial's desk. A guard stammered at first, but quickly got himself composed to announce to the room. "Hear ye, hear ye! This summons is now in session! The honorable Princess Celestia now presides."

While she sat in her seat, Count called out to her in a mocking tone. "Back from your trip, I see. I trust that her highness has been well rested from her excursion."

Few laughed at the senator's words this time. Celestia looked down to the human on the floor and banged the gavel. "Alex, please don't waste our time."

That he didn't.

At the well of the chamber, the place where the votes would be gathered, he slammed the incriminating evidence onto the table, producing a loud sound that echoed throughout what felt like the entire castle. The sound was deemed as satisfying to many of the royals as it indicated a turn in their ally's fortune. For Alex, it was the beginning of an epic means of getting his revenge. And for Count, it was the beginning of a change he failed to see coming.

With a glare that could be described as a hunter looking through his scope to snipe his prey, Alex pointed at the senator and spoke with a slow and aggressive tone.

"On the behalf of my brother, whom you tried to undermine... I have tons of questions for you."

Present day...

As they finished the story, I couldn't help but to feel a proud smile possess my face. I couldn't do much of a fist pump or any physical celebration other than lightly give a thumbs up. "That son of a bitch." I said, referring to the embattled senator.

"Oh yeah, Alex got him good that day. He creamed Count DuMoneé at his own game!" Rainbow reported.

Melanie went on to gush about her satisfaction in seeing the senator being so out of comfort. She spoke so vividly that I felt myself wishing I was around to see it. "It was like we saw someone completely different up there. He was so defensive, and then he started rambling on about a whole bunch of things that didn't involve anything with what was up front. He fumbled a few of his words, tried to change the subject, pass the blame on someone else, but none of that worked."

"So what happened?" I asked.

"His name is out there in a bad way right now. Granted it will take some time before they pay some press outlet to write him out of trouble." Said Melanie.

"Hey, don't even give them a chance. Push this story until the wheels fall off." I responded.

Almost as if the timing had been perfect, Twilight opened the door and walked into the room. Everyone turned around to watch as the purple pony entered. The room grew silent with the exception of the EKG monitor by my bed. The only one to speak was Fluttershy.

"Oh Twilight, Nondis was finishing his food."

"I'm glad." She said quietly, walking up to me. She used her magic to grab my hand and held it to her face, much like Melanie did earlier. "You're okay."

"Yup. Nearly took a siesta there." I joked with a chuckle. Unfortunately, she didn't laugh with me. Even Mel, who's usually the one who would laugh at something like that, chose not to. The mood of the room shifted once more, becoming a lot more serious. I felt like I did something wrong there. "...Sorry. I shouldn't have joked about that."

The young princess didn't say anything to me, she just smiled. I started to feel a little concerned over her lack of response to me other than a kind smile on her face. "Twilight?" Fluttershy called out, snapping the purple mare out of her trance.

Twilight looked around the room and whispered softly. "Could everypony leave us for a moment? Nondis and I need to talk alone."

And just like that, everyone didn't complain or give any kind of argument. They simply stood up, packed whatever they brought with them and filed out of the room. Rainbow Dash was the last to leave, Melanie held the door open as she looked back at us. Rainbow appeared to have a scowl on her face before she turned around and left.

I wonder what that was all about.

The sound of the door clicking closed was the very trigger she used to break the awkward silence. "So..."

Her single-word statement only lead to a period of more silence as she started to play with my fingers. I turned my head towards the window and hummed. "Yup..."

"I'm glad you're okay." She said quietly.

"Thanks."

She looked down to the empty cup of soup and the partially consumed slice of toast laying before me. "How's the food?"

"Could use a little more flavor, this place's food is so... bland." I answered honestly.

"They said not to give you anything too spicy because of your, um... newly configured system." She said, politely bringing up the matter of my condition.

"Yeah, but a little more salt can't kill me."

For a few more seconds, we sat in silence. She turned her head to the door. "So, I take it they told you everything?"

"Pretty much."

She hummed softly before she let go of my hand, walking to the window. "Did you know there was a large group of ponies outside of the castle walls cheering you on?"

"Really now?"

"Mhmm." She answered, turning back to me with a soft smile. "They were all waiting for you to pull through. They cheered you on. It looked to be over half of the city outside of the gates with signs and stuff. Looks like you're pretty famous now."

I knew that in many ways, I was going to have some sort of support base. But never have I imagined that there would be a crowd, not to mention half of the nation's capital. It was humbling to say at the very least. "Well I guess I should draft up a thank you speech."

"I think that would be nice." She responded.

"Thanking all the doctors and whatnot."

"Of course, can't forget about them."

As the silence resumed for a few more seconds, I noticed there wasn't any cheering going on or anything. For something that's supposedly grabbed the attention of half the city, I should be hearing something other than the EKG monitor. Maybe they've been made aware of my condition, maybe not. Still, I was curious. "I'm wondering if they even know if I'm okay."

"Outside of you not being dead, that's about it."

Well that's some good news, it's much better than having my face on the newspaper saying that I was dead like the last time. "I missed out on so much. I feel like I'm gonna be so behind on everything."

Twilight walked back up to me, this time with a frown on her face. She looked away, folding her ears back with a feeling of uncertainty.

"...I've been thinking..."

Canterlot Royal Medical Facility
Yesterday...

Alex stood quietly over Melanie as he watched the young lady slowly and cautiously pull a small tube from out of the patient's nose. As the final inch was removed, she whispered to him. "Okay, there you go buddy."

Alex, who stood mildly disgusted, covered his nose and mouth as he cringed. "That just looked extremely uncomfortable."

She placed the tube on a blue mat, covered it up and sent one of the other nurses to dispose of it. "Well that's just the breaks of what we do. We don't like it, but it saves lives. Either we did that or we send one though his stomach, which wasn't going to be in his best interest due to his job."

"Oh." Alex said with a slow nod. "I can accept that,"

After cleaning up after the procedures, wiping the patient's face, and taking another blood sample, she looked at the unconscious man feeling proud of her strenuous work.

"Come in." She called out.

A group of six ponies walked into the room, following them was Stanton. Pinkie ran over to see the human, but was held back from touching him by Melanie. So the pink party pony was left to stare at the patient, her friend. All over his arms were the markings and indentures of several scars and wounds. Though they were still in the process of healing, the top layer of tissue was still partially visible. One such scar reached from his ear to his cheek. The patient was softly breathing while he appeared to be somewhat peaceful.

Pinkie looked to the human with pity. "Wowwie, Nonz. You look like you've had better days."

Rarity covered her muzzle as she tried her best to keep from opening the well of emotions within her. "I can't bear to see him like this."

"If you think it's bad now, you should've seen him on the operating table when they brought him in." Melanie said proudly. "He's come a long way."

"You tended to all of his wounds?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yup. A lot of stuff happened. But we got him fixed now."

"Well that's good news." Applejack responded. "Just the other day, we were already thinking of the worst."

Stanton walked up to his older brother, being preemptively held back by Alex. "Nondis... *sigh* It's so good to see you man."

"As long as that thing keeps beeping, we're good, right?" Alex said to his younger sibling.

"I'm just glad he's okay." Fluttershy said to Melanie.

"Don't we all?" She answered.

Twilight teleported past everyone, reappearing beside the unresponsive human. She reached out with a hoof, before hesitantly pulling back. "...Can I... hold him?"

Melanie stepped between her and him, pushing her back a bit. "It wouldn't be wise to do so. His wounds are still closing right now. Just moving him around could dissipate the magic field around him, reopening some of those wounds."

"I'm so happy he's alive. I'm just so happy he's okay..." She said quietly. Looking at her fiance, the young princess found herself pushing against Melanie out of instinct. While she was being held back, she would try to ignite her magic for another teleportation spell. Alex, remembering something his younger brother did, reached out and tapped the alicorn's horn, dissipating the spell completely. When she tried again, Melanie learned from his example and held the mare's horn. After a few seconds of weak resistance, the mare appeared crestfallen. Her head falling as she whispered. "...It's too cruel."

"What do you mean?" Rarity questioned.

Melanie held on to the princess as she placed a hoof on the arm that barred her from going any further. She closed her eyes, trying to hold back tears. "It's times like this where I wish I could hold him, be there for him... but I can't even touch him."

"It is what it is. I'm sorry." Melanie stated, giving the mare a hug.

"Don't be." Said Rainbow, standing in the doorway still. She stood in place with a defiant pout, her head turned away from the emotional display. "Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't say anything wrong. So just leave it alone."

Everyone seemed unnerved to see the cyan pegasus act so coldly. Some even felt slightly offended while Stanton looked at her and asked. "Rainbow, you okay? Is there something wrong?"

"Nnngh..." The mare said with a grunt. After a minute or so of silence, her emotions finally crested over, she finally erupted at the group. "Fine, yes! There's a lot wrong! And I'm gonna say it! Applejack, I know you're the element of honesty, but I need to take your title for a second."

Unsure of what to think about her friend, Applejack cautiously answered her. "Sure thing, surgarcube."

Rainbow trotted up to the purple princess standing beside her and Melanie as she spoke. "You're crying, moping around about how you think it's unfair that you can't touch him. But you couldn't even wake up in the morning and see him off. You woke up, left the castle early to greet me off before going back home, but you weren't at the train station to see us off. Why is that?"

Breaking out of the hug, Twilight tried to explain herself to her friend. "...I was angry at him. I was─"

"Yeah, you already said it!" Rainbow yelled bitterly. "You were so mad that you didn't even bother to say goodbye to somepony who stuck it through for you! I looked at his face on that train, no matter how mad at him I was. And even I felt sorry for him when he realized the one he did all of this for wasn't anywhere to be seen. And the worst part of it is that I know what's gonna happen when it's all done. I already know, and it's pissing me off!"

After trying to hold back her tears for so long, she became so emotionally charged that she let them go. "I know. I made a stupid mistake because of my feelings. And I shouldn't have been so petty."

Rainbow moved Melanie aside as she stood muzzle to muzzle with the princess. "Twilight, don't you get it!? The last moment you two had with each other was an argument!"

"You don't have to point that out to me!" Twilight screamed.

Melanie jumped between the two, holding each of them apart. "Ladies, I understand that you're a little heated. But either both of you can quiet down or step outside."

Rainbow, in a display of bitterness and contempt, walked away from her friend, standing by the bedside of the unconscious human. Her own emotions started to boil over, her eyes watered as she stood firmly by the human. "Well I'm here. I've been around for the entire time, from when he found us in the forest, to when he was passed out in a chair, shivering like he had a cold. I was hurt, but I saw all of it. And I'm crying in my hospital bed knowing damn well how I thought my friend wouldn't make it through the night."

Feeling insulted, the princess spat back. "You don't think I feel anything? How dare you! I'm just as sad as you are─"

Rainbow exploded once more. "Why are you even here, Twilight!? YOU'VE BEEN FUCKING HURTING HIM SINCE THE GODDAMN MOMENT YOU TWO GOT CAUGHT THE FIRST TIME!" At those words, Alex looked down to the princess and stared as Rainbow's rant continued. "Everything he's done... I'm sorry to sound cruel to you, but you don't deserve him after this. He wakes up, you two are done!"

"...You know what... I felt like that too." Twilight said, wiping away her tears for a moment. "But don't think I haven't been hurt from anything that's happened, I'm hurting too! I'm sorry you had to look at us from an outsider's perspective, but if you even understood just a fraction of how much I love him and what we've been through, you'd probably be no different than me." At last, the princess' words started to break as she spoke. "My own friend... how dare you."

Twilight stormed out of the room, leaving behind a place filled with confusion and questions. As the door slammed shut, Melanie dropped her head and rested it on two of her finger and her thumb. "Ugh... my brain."

Rainbow tried her best not to display anything of what she personally considered as 'soppy', but an understanding Fluttershy stood by her and brought her in for a much-needed embrace. From there, the rainbow-maned pony softly sobbed to her best friend. Fluttershy petted her mane while Rainbow dug her face deeper into her chest. The two carried on while Alex's attention was designated towards the one who left the room.

"If I could be excused for a moment."

Walking through the halls at a brisk pace, Alex continued to ask guards posted at various areas of the castle if they had seen hair or feather of the young princess. A few chose not to answer out of respect for their leader, others have been distracted with other things to notice, but one was polite enough to point towards the direction of the castle chapel. After getting an escort to guide him to the area, the guard quickly left out of fear of being reprimanded for leaving his post.

Alex took a quick breather, cleared his throat and opened the door. Walking down the corridor, he saw an elevated platform sitting before a barren alter. Twilight stood motionless, staring at the scenic view of the city. Her ears folded back and her head held low, she remained quiet up until the moment Alex called for her. "Princess. Princess Twilight."

She turned around, her ears perking up for a second before she showed her disappointment. "Oh, it's you... You sounded like him for a second."

"I get that a lot more often than you think. It happens." He answered nonchalantly.

She turned away from him, falling back into her sulking mood. "I'm sorry. I've been trying to make things right. I just couldn't ever talk with him."

He walked over to her and sat down beside her. He started to say something, but he felt it was better to be honest. "I'm not gonna say that I'm not upset for my brother."

"I know. Rainbow practically said it all, didn't she?" Twilight agreed.

He scratched his neck as he spoke. "I gotta say I'm kinda floored by all of this. If you would've asked me how the two of you were, I would've said 'inseparable'. But now that all of this came up, I'm really looking at the two of you and wondering what was real and what wasn't."

Twilight jumped up at his words and quickly defended herself. "All of it was real! I just made so many mistakes and I know that I get mad at him for looking at other mares. And I feel like I'm always blamed for whatever bad happens to him! From the media, to even my closest friends."

"From what I'm gathering, it sounds like the two of you ran into an obstacle." Alex noted. "Did Nondis ever do anything stupid. cheat on you, hurt you, whatever?"

The mare gave a long sigh before speaking. "I can't even say that he did. We're separated right now."

Acknowledging that she didn't outright deny anything, he immediately took in the possibility that something had happened and it made her upset at him. He dug further into the matter. "Did he kiss someone else other than you?"

The mare proceeded to play with one of her wings. "Rarity... and Melanie."

Alex blinked as the answer caught him by surprise. He continued to dig for more. "Did you talk to him about it?"

"He talked to all of us. He's says he's trying to do the best for us, that he's trying to find where his heart is. But it's like we're the ones getting hurt too, you know?"

Alex leaned back to lay on his hands, propping a knee up as he took a moment to think about everything she told him, He laughed a little before he patted himself on the chest. "...Yeah, I'll take responsibility for that."

"What do you mean?" Twilight questioned.

"When I was younger, I wasn't so... honest. I was running game with like three other girls, just like he is now. I let him see that, and I let him see that I wasn't interested in playing fair. That was when I was in high school, I was the playboy who could talk to the cute girls, say a few things I didn't mean, and get what I wanted for whatever time. Stanton saw a bit of that too, going into middle school."

She giggled lightly as she responded. "Young minds at an impressionable age. But that kind of stuff is normal."

"Yeah, it is. But it wasn't something that I needed to show them... or brag about, because that was one of my biggest things. And of course, Nondis and Stanton both tried to see what they can do and who they could pull. Eventually, it turned into something serious, an entire competition for who essentially had the biggest ego. One of us wasn't as fit as the others were, and a lot of girls didn't really fall for that. They toyed with him, taking advantage of him, making him do whatever they wanted for the empty promise of a date."

Already having an idea of who he was referring to, Twilight shook her head. "That sounds terrible."

"It was, until he found a girl he fell head-over-heels for. And I mean he fell HARD."

"I know that feeling." She confessed. "Seeking out something that was never there."

Alex quickly corrected her. "Well, you can't say that. She did like him, after he decided to veer off from our path into the 'high school sweetheart' route. All those other girls that played with him, he just stopped talking to and devoted all of his attention to her... He was a bit clingy."

She gasped with surprise and followed it up with a light giggle. "That's funny. I would've never thought he'd be clingy like that."

"Yeah. He opened his mind up to an emotional investment he was not mentally ready for. So he stuck it out for her, going strong for two years before going to prom with her. And then he made the one mistake every dude makes in high school."

"What, what did he do?" She asked, feeling a bit invested into the story.

"He said the 'L' word. The girl he liked was happy, but realized that she was happier with the way things were in standing. She never questioned his affections, but she did give him an answer. It hurt him pretty bad. Yeah, that whole week leading up to that situation was terrible. They say bad things sometimes happens in threes."

The ominous statement he gave had her reflecting on his words, and also the possibilities. "Oh... Well that's something I never heard of."

"It's like that sometimes. But it was like a three-strike system. The following Sunday after prom night, our grandfather passed away."

Her suspicions were correct, his words were ominous, causing her to feel a little upset. "That's terrible."

"Her confession took place on Tuesday. And she had a dude that really was attached to her. He saw her getting upset over everything that happened, but he didn't realize she was fighting with herself. So ol' dude confronted my brother, and my younger brother got involved. The result: The one that got involved got suspended."

"Was there a fight?" She inquired.

"Yeah. The brother that got suspended was also on the football team, and it threatened his chances at a college scholarship. He had the eyes of a few recruits because of his speed, but that whole fiasco flipped that script real quick. So you can easily say our dad was beyond pissed."

"That doesn't sound like a good evening." She muttered.

Alex continued his story. "To keep it short: Nondis and dad fought, and Nondis was beat on really bad. He tried to throw a few punches back, but one of the blows ended up hitting mom, who tried to break them both up. She jumped in at a bad time."

"Ouch."

Alex pulled out his phone and read the time. He then sat back up and checked his text messages, many of whom belonged to his wife. "That was strike three for him."

Concerned, she turned to Alex and asked. "Strike three for what?"

"All of this happened in the course of four days, the passing of a loved one, the rejection of someone he thought he loved but was too mentally immature to handle it, and physically fighting his parents. All of those things made him implode. Him and dad were already at odds because of his introverted behavior, but this was something that erupted into a very ugly scene. Next thing I get is a phone call from mom panicking, telling me to come back home. When I arrive, my mom's staring at a hole in the wall and a gun on the floor, telling me that my brother tried to kill himself."

The young mare felt a metaphorical punch to the stomach as her heart dropped from her chest to her abdomen. Her eyes widened significantly, her face showing an uncomfortable frown. "That's... that's heavy."

Alex finished texting his wife and stood back up to take in the beautiful view of the Canterlot skyline. "Yeah. So he had to spend a night with his closest friend, the one that rejected him earlier in the week. Mel did her best to calm him down, and he eventually did."

At that moment, the pain started to swell within her. What once felt like a punch started to feel more like a knife being slowly turned inside of her. She grasped at her chest, trying to make sure her heart was still in place. "She was there for him the whole time."

"And she's doing for him even now. It's like my family had already decided a while back that if she wasn't around him, Nondis would be so far gone. And it showed that day he drove his car into the gulf. Now was that suicide, I'm not gonna answer that because I can't tell you if he was thinking that at the time. But we came to a consensus that she'd be the fit in our family to keep him on track."

The pain started to overwhelm her, leaving her to crumple up as she spoke. "I mean, why isn't she? She's human, I guess she's pretty for human standards. She's blunt at times, supportive, caring, concerned, knowing... protective..." Her words cracked as her voice started to lose much of it's foundation. "It's like I'm constantly asking myself where do I compete? Rarity's pretty and she cooks him meals, she makes his clothes, she does his hair, she gives him a bed to sleep in, and she makes him smile. Pinkie does whatever she can to keep him happy and stands by him when he's looking somewhere else, her parents and sisters all love him for what he did for her. She's so supportive, no matter how much he hurts her..."

Seeing the mare come apart before him made him uncomfortable, he tried to do the best he could to care for her. "Hey now─"

But she had already crossed the threshold, letting her emotions override her senses. "And what am I known for? Throwing up on his shirt when I got drunk? My older brother choking him before I could get a chance to sleep with him the first time? His getting hurt all the time? This stupid law? These politicians trying to kill him? Sex? He regretted us having sex because of me. And I screamed at him, I even slapped him more than once. I threatened to do something horrible to him in a fit of rage. And because of my anger, I chose to be petty and argue when it could have been the last time we saw each other." "What am I even worth to him, when he has so much around him?"

At last, the mare completely broke down sobbing. Her tears pooled just before her, her hooves desperately trying to clear her face, which was quickly stained with more tears than before. Her body shook with regret, sadness, and self-loathing. She collapsed to the ground as he went in to pat her on the back. "...That's a lot of weight you're carrying there."

She hysterically cried out to him. "My mom walked in on me giving him a blowjob!"

He was quickly shocked into covering her mouth for a second. "Oh-kay, um..." He then used his hands to politely cup her chin and face him. "Look at me."

She returned his generousness and removed his hands from her face. "He called me special out of pity, because the one pony I liked turned out to not like me back. I was drunk, I was pathetic. I'm a princess and I can't even perform the basic functions of maintaining a trusting relationship with somepony. I can't cook, I can't make clothes, I'm nothing. He's everything and I can't be there for somepony who's so..."

For a few seconds, she lost the ability to speak coherently. Alex, who tried his best to comfort her, grabbed her attention once more. "I think you're giving yourself too little credit here."

"How!?"

Using his thumbs to wipe the tears off of her face, he started to inform her of everything she did. "Well for starters, you kept him going for nine months straight in a world he's never even heard of before. If I recall, you were initially made out to be his caretaker, right?"

"Yeah." She said between sniffles.

"And you were responsible for his health and well-being while he was here, right?"

Once more, she downplayed herself over the achievements of his best friend. "That's nothing compared to what Melanie's doing for him!"

"She learned that stuff to save other people's lives, he just happens to be someone who needed help." He explained.

"But she even told me that she tried to look for him!"

"Excuse me, princess, can I get your full attention for a moment?" He said as he picked her off of the ground, planting her back onto her hooves. "I'm not gonna lie and say that Mel hasn't earned my vote, because she's won it long before you showed up. But what I will say is this: She defers to you, his fiancee. If there's anything to be said, you've got her vote. I mean she could argue to Nondis up and down from Austin and back over how much she deserves to be with him, how she has a right to be with him, and that won't matter."

"How?" She questioned shyly.

"Because he's already bearing a cross for you..." He took a moment to think about his statement and tried to clarify himself. "Not to be overtly religious, more of metaphorical. With you, he's trying to introduce you to our mom and dad. He's been talking about you and your family to us, his own family. And what makes matters worse is that he's going to get crucified when mom and dad finds out you're a pony. Dad might even try to kill him, but he'll go to bat for you."

Still perplexed, she sniffled as she spoke. "I don't understand. Why me?"

"Because you were the first to openly show him you." He answered. "He could've left his heart back with Melanie, to ultimately build on something that could've ended one way or another, but you were the first to go to bat for him."

"I didn't do anything special." She said.

"Didn't you say your brother was going to choke him out, or something? Wasn't it just because he got up with you?"

"That was because of sex and that stupid law. Our relationship was pretty much based around that." She confessed pitifully.

"If you don't mind me reverting to my crude self, why is he fighting so damn hard for a piece of ass he's already taken?"

Unfazed by his statement, she gave her blunt assessment. "To defend himself, what else?"

Alex took a moment to think about himself and his brother. He knew that other than their strengths and weaknesses in social interaction, much of their thoughts would run the same. So he spoke from his own perspective, projecting himself as he did his best to convey on behalf of Nondis. "...My brother's an idiot. He's going through his growing pains and more than likely he'll pop right out of them. It's the main reason why I don't take Stanton so seriously when he says he'll never get into something serious, because I said the same shit when I was a few years younger. I'm twenty-five, married to a beautiful wife. My words for now are 'I'm not having kids anytime soon' but that too could change."

"What does that have to do with me?" She asked.

"It means you're growing too. I think this might be your first serious relationship, but the stress of things might be getting to the both of you. You're letting things distract you from whatever brought you two together."

"And what is it that really brought us together?" Twilight asked, knowing the answer for herself.

"Can't say. I'm not him, nor am I you. But the sex wasn't something that just pop up between the two of you, it had to have came from something else. You gotta find what that something is before everything is said and done. And if you can't find it right now, then take your time to do so."

She took a while to ponder over what he said. Feeling that her crying phase had cleared her, she stood a little sturdier. "So what do I do?"

"I wanna give you an exercise." He said, kneeling towards her. "I want you to push yourself away from him, and then get to know yourself. You've been on break without even being on break, you've been on-and-off and you're getting confused on what you want, what you don't like, all that good jazz."

Coming to the sorrowful conclusion of his statement, she swallowed her fear and finally said the words she dreaded to speak for a lengthy period of time. "So you're saying we should... break up?"

He nodded quietly, causing her to become depressed. "...Even pretending to go on is going to give you a lot of scars. If you're genuine in saying that you're not so sure if you're the right one and you can't find any reason for coming together other than sex, then I think that it would be for the best. No playing around for public appearances or anything. Just cap it and be done with it for now."

The purple mare then pleaded with him. "If we do that, we'll never be together again."

Alex, being knowledgeable of the law, winced a little in thought. "It's a pretty big risk, but at the same time there's a reward in place if he does wish to get back with you, for keeps this time." He held the mare by her hooves, smiling at her. "If he's serious about this relationship, or your friendship and wants to be that anchor in your life, you let him do that without distraction. If he finds his way back to you, you'd know it."

"What if I don't wanna do that?" She asked, fearing that their separation would only lead to the finalization of their relationship.

Alex then gave her a grim warning. "Then you go on as usual. He does his thing, you get free, and he breaks up with you after a tumultuous period of enduring pain and hurt. The friendship you had will never be the same. He'll get depressed and lonely, you'll do the same. Neither of you will be able to feel like you can move on because there'll be so much that's left unresolved."

"Do I have to let go?" She quietly asked herself.

"What I'm saying to you is the honest truth. You let him go, he'll be okay."

"But what if I hurt him?" She asked guiltily.

"I'll talk to him. I'll even give him a good talking to for being an insufferable, indecisive jackass, but I'll talk to him."

"I'm scared if it'll get worse before it gets better." She said, expressing her concern.

"I would rather you both trust each other and come back when you're ready. If he really wants you, he'll know what to do to get you back."

"How do you know that for certain?" She asked, starting to let her thoughts play out into the worst possible scenario. He quickly stopped her and pulled up a text message that was sent to him by his younger brother. As he looked at the message, he whispered to the princess,

"Can I tell you a secret?"

Present Day...

"Twilight?"

"Huh?" She snapped her head towards me as she came back from her trance.

"Yeah, you just went blank for a minute."

She smirked a little as she blushed. "Sorry. I guess I let my mind do all the talking without saying anything to you at all."

"Eeyup." I deadpanned.

"I want you to be honest with me." She said quietly, once more grabbing my hand with her hooves. "We're still friends, right?"

"Yeah."

"And friends still do for one another, correct?"

"I don't think there's been much of a change in that department."

"Hypothetically speaking, if something were to happen, anything at all... would you still... fight for us?"

Her questioned confused me. It was because of what she said, but rather how she said it. "...Yeah, I would."

"How far would you go?" She asked quietly.

I looked down at myself and remembered how close I was to death. I gave her an honest answer. "I don't think I can go much further than this. Sorry."

"No." She said, nuzzling my hand again. "You're wonderful... too wonderful."

"...I see..."

"I never really got a chance to say how amazing you are."

Okay, I know where this is going. She always did something like this just before she brings up one topic in particular. "...Yeah, I'm still gonna keep your promise."

"No, it's fine." She said, placing my hand back on my chest. "I decided that I wasn't going to put you through that."

For the first time in a while, I felt like I was greeted with something unexpected yet incredible. Something inside of me felt like I could do whatever I could to get myself to sit up for her. Under my own strength, I ended up sitting up to look at her. It took much effort, but I felt myself becoming emboldened to do so. "So we're together?"

She wrapped her forelegs and her wings around my body, holding me tightly while she whispered. "...You're so sweet to me."

"You didn't quite answer me." I said with disbelief, feeling a bit excited over what was being said to me.

"Every morning I woke up to the sight of you, the smell of your hair in my nose. Often you'd use my shampoo, so the familiar scent of lavender would greet me when I stirred. Each moment you touched me was with the taste of honey, milk, and chamomile. My dreams would be filled with you, I made them so that I wouldn't miss you as I slept. The slender length of your fingers always spoke of several stories, none of them I've ever gotten the chance to hear. Your mind could construct the greatest tapestries, showing me a culture unlike my own."

I tried to interject. "Twilight─"

But she ran through me. "Every time you went to bed, you'd sometimes get a little hair over your eyes. I'd brush them off to watch you sleep. The sight of your chest rising and falling as I laid on it, the rhythmic waltz of your beating heart would rock me to sleep. You muttered many things in your rest, I remember each of them, each vowel and consonant. I first found it funny how you almost spoke like Applejack often, but then I got so used to it that I found myself talking like you. We had many conversations, several of which led to an uprising of sorts."

She let me go, smiling at me with a face full of tears. Beneath my hands was a scroll of parchment. Upon further inspection, I realized it was the very scroll I signed before Twilight and I were legally engaged. But instead of the wax seal remaining in one piece, it was broken. And it quickly added up to what this meant for me.

My heart felt like something icy had gone through it, the smile on my face completely wiped away. "What did I do wrong?"

She kissed me on the forehead, whispering into my ear. "I could get lost in you, so much that I've lost myself. All these things I loved about you ended up changing me, and I think it's so wonderful that you showed me a world beyond the boundaries of friendship. You've showed me the stigma and wealth of being emotionally jealous. And you've guided me into adulthood, leading me gently along the way. If I could ever tell you what you did wrong, it's that you spoiled me too much. No stallion or human will ever give me what you gave to me, and it will hurt me forever."

She proceeded to walk away, walking towards the door to leave me alone. With every step she took, I felt like something inside of me trembled terribly. I felt like I had lost something of irredeemable value, and pain was the only thing that filled the void that remained. "Violet." I called to her, immediately grabbing her attention. "I'm sorry."

"No more pretending. Let's be ourselves, like we once were." She said with a bittersweet smile on her face.

I tried to speak my heart, pleading with her over this. "I lo─"

She stopped me cold, not even giving me a chance to say it. "Don't make that mistake again." She said with a tender voice. "You give that to me when the time is right."

Feeling more of an ache all over my body, I tried to reach out for her. "But we won't be able to─"

Her magic engulfed my hand, placing it back on my lap. "No... not now. But that depends on you."

"I can't function without you." I begged.

Almost with a twist of the cruelest irony, she gave me probably the biggest smile I've ever seen her wear. "You made it this far, don't give up yet." She said, her voice betraying the mask she wore.

I finally understood what was taking place. It was something she didn't want to do, yet she committing herself to pulling it through. But I couldn't help but to be selfish in the moment. "...Violet, you're really cruel to me."

"I could say the same thing... Patricia." She said while turning away from me. She dropped her head slightly before she perked back up and kept her head up high. "We'll start your rehab tomorrow. Stay springy for us."

The moment that door closed behind her, everything just hit me all at once. It was like I was slapped with fatigue sledgehammer, sending most of my muscles into a semi shut-down state. The grief of realizing what was in my hands and why it was there completely threw my heart into a downward spiral. And it came after she spoke sweetly of me, such words that I'd only hear in what would be a wedding vow, and my heart fluttered like a butterfly in the mild spring breeze. My mind was filled with colorful pictures of flowers and sweet scents, the image of her staring at me with a heavenly gleam.

Now that it's all gray again, it felt like breathing was almost pointless.

Melanie slowly opened the door a few seconds later. She poked her head inside. "You okay, champ?"

Realizing I was far too tired to move under my own will, I felt my torso grow heavy. I fell back, slamming into the bed, bumping my head against the headrest. The pain registered quite vividly, but I remained stoic. "Do we have any extra pillows?"

"No, not today." She answered kindly, walking into the room.

"Oh, that's too bad." I muttered. Looking down, I noticed my right arm was carelessly slung over the side of the bed. I tried to move it back, but soon realized that it was a futile endeavor. "I can't move my arms anymore."

Melanie sighed as she sat next to me."C'mere you big baby." She lifted my arm and placed it in her lap. Clearing the little bit of hair from my face, she rubbed my forehead gingerly.

The pulling of my heart didn't stop as I felt her do her best to console me. Instead, I felt the twang in my body that caused me to react with watery eyes. "You gotta stop treating me like this."

"Nope." She said laying me down, straightening up my bed and pillows.

"Figures you'd say that."

Too tired to function, too tired to ponder more on the present, too tired to cry about it, I closed my eyes and wished for the present to cede to the hours ahead. I felt the breathing device being placed over my face as I drifted out one more time. Melanie rubbed my face, cleaning the tears that streamed down my cheeks. With a tone that sounded so inviting, so motherly, she whispered in my ear.

"It's gonna be okay."

It was those words that hurt me the most.

Theme of this chapter:

Well, 16 days between chapters? I didn't think that was possible. Guess I got on a roll. Then again, I used to be able to do this in the period of 2 days. But life happens. It's a lot smoother this go around, probably because my June wasn't booked to hell.

Ah, the moment has come, and sooner than expected to many. But why did it come, well of course there's a legitimate reason for everything, isn't there? I will only say that it will be explained in a chapter or two.

Obviously this was a rundown chapter, stating what all happened and setting the stage for the next series of events to take place. And I know I'll get some comments on Rainbow Dash, so I highly encourage you to PM me and I'll give you my answer for my explanation of why this happened.

I will do my best to keep things interesting and not too out there like for the past few chapters have been. Things are on the slow down for now until the next event, but I'm not saying what it is. I can only thank you with words on a webpage, but know I'm sincerely humbled by the continued following.

Stay tuned, there's more to build on.