Celestia held Twilight's hoof in hers as the night wore on. The doctors had managed to get her heart pumping again, but she was still comatose. Now that the incident was over, the hospital staff went into the room to check on Twilight's condition every hour. Her friends decided they would stay the night, and Celestia took the opportunity to go back to Canterlot Castle and speak with Luna. She was convinced that the reason Twilight went into cardiac arrest was because all of her friends left her alone and went to the roof to try and calm the Princess down. Celestia couldn't forgive herself for leaving Twilight alone like that, and before leaving for the castle, she made the ponies promise they wouldn't leave Twilight alone for a second.

"You can count on us, Princess." said Rainbow Dash.

The Princess flew over Canterlot, weary and drained from the days she'd been awake. She had neglected her body's need for food, water, and sleep while worrying over Twilight. Perhaps the incident had scared all the worry out of her system, or maybe she felt Twilight was safe surrounded by her friends, but she felt that she could leave Twilight for just a while to deal with any lingering royal affairs back at the castle.

The guards saluted her as she approached the castle and headed toward the balcony of her chambers. It had been just under a month since she last set hoof in her room, but to her it seemed like only a few days had passed. The maids had cleaned it for her as usual, and with a relieved sigh she lay down on her bed and let her weariness envelop her as she drifted off to sleep.

-

"Alright every pony, we're going to remove the bandages from Ms. Sparkle's horn. If it's healed, it should look good as new. However, if it wasn't able to reattach itself, we'll have no choice but to remove her magic support..." The doctor was addressing Twilight's friends and family.

The Princess felt a storm of emotions in her heart as the doctor delicately unwrapped Twilight's horn. She felt like she was about to explode with suspense and excitement if Twilight's horn had healed. But she also prepared herself, in case Twilight's horn hadn't healed. If that was the case, there was no hope for her. Celestia couldn't imagine what she would do...Twilight had to make it, she had to!

The doctor was now on the last layer of bandages. His face grew grim, dark and defeated as Twilight's horn became visible. He unwrapped it faster now, not bothering with delicacy on something that was clearly just a husk of bone. Twilight's horn had turned gray white, and it was filled with holes. Cracks decorated its rough, dusty surface.

"I'm sorry..." said the doctor.

The Princess's eyes widened as Twilight's horn cracked and fell from her head. Her world seemed to slow down as she watched it fall. Twilight didn't have a chance now. It was all over...

Crash!

-

Celestia opened her eyes to find herself staring at the canopy over her bed. Her heart was beating rapidly as she tried to calm herself down with deep breaths. She noticed she had been flailing around in her sleep and had knocked over the vase on the nightstand. It had all been a terrible dream...

She had only meant to sleep for a few minutes, but judging by her sweaty mane she could swear she'd slept for a few days! And even though she'd just woken up from a nightmare, she had the energy she needed to face the day. She felt confidence and determination building as she got in the shower, cleaned herself thoroughly, dried herself off and got ready to return to the hospital. But first, she had to speak with Luna.

"Good morning, Your Majesty." said the guards.

"Good morning, have either of you seen my sister?" she asked them.

They gave each other a questioning glance.

"Your Highness, Princess Luna has gone to Saddle Arabia to speak with the Llama leaders." said one guard.

"Saddle Arabia? That meeting isn't scheduled for another five days..." said Celestia.

"It's...been five days, Your Majesty." replied the other guard. "You returned from the castle five days ago and this is the first time we've seen you since."

Celestia's heart sank. She really had slept for days? On any other day, she would have laughed it off and rescheduled her appointments and meetings, but who knows how Twilight's condition might have changed in such a small amount of time! And so, she had no time to waste.

"Just tell Princess Luna that I will not leave Canterlot Hospital until Twilight Sparkle emerges from her coma." she ordered.

"Of course, Your Majesty."

-

The Princess returned to the hospital to find Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy in Twilight's room. Fluttershy was sitting in a chair on the right side of Twilight's bed. She was sleeping, resting her head on Twilight's shoulder. Pinkie Pie mirrored her on the other side of the bed, only snoring quite loudly. They had obviously both tried to stay up the entire night, and were now feeling the repercussions. The Princess walked over to Fluttershy and nudged her gently. The yellow pegasus woke up and stretched her legs and wings.

"Good morning Princess." said Fluttershy.

"Good morning my little pony." whispered the Princess. "I'm sorry I was away for so long, I got caught up at the castle. Thank you for staying with Twilight like I asked."

"Oh we wouldn't dream of leaving Twilight alone after what happened." said Fluttershy.

"Well you can take Pinkie Pie and go home now, I'll take it from here." said Celestia.

"Thank you, Princess. We'll see you tomorrow." said Fluttershy. "Come on Pinkie..."

"Huh...sea pony's got my money..." mumbled Pinkie Pie, still half asleep.

It was mid morning, and the Princess pulled up a chair and sat at Twilight's bedside. The doctor had removed the bandages from her eyes, but the sight wasn't pretty. Celestia hadn't seen her student's eyes in so long, she couldn't resist the urge to look. Using her magic, she gently pried Twilight's eyelids apart. The crust that had formed at the edges shifted and split open, mucus covered Twilight's bloodshot eyes, and her irises were pale and lackluster. As she let go, Twilight's eye closed gently and slowly with no effort on her part. The Princess sighed and got comfortable, Twilight could take years to wake up.

Days passed by as Celestia waited for Twilight to wake up. Luna returned from Saddle Arabia and payed them a visit.

"You stay here as long as you need to, sister." said Luna.

"Thank you, Luna. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here." replied Celestia, hugging her sister. Luna looked over at Twilight.

"We'll be waiting for you, Twilight Spakle."

-

A week passed by slowly, and another...and another. Twilight's friends and family came and went, even though they all had business to attend to. Celestia reminisced with Twilight's parents about her years of teaching the talented purple pony. Shining Armor regularly visited when he wasn't on duty, and Cadence's foal was due any day. Whenever other ponies would come by, Celestia would take the chance to eat something or use the restroom. But at all other times she was right next to Twilight, holding her hoof and hoping she would wake up. The Princess's lustrous coat had dulled, her magnificent mane no longer flowed freely, but was instead a frizzy, tangled mess. Celestia's eyes even seemed to resemble her student's, tired and red with worry. She wished she could fall asleep right there next to Twilight, but every time she tried her ears would stay alert for the sound of Twilight's voice, and she couldn't sleep. She had stopped expecting any surprises until one day...

"Your Majesty!" called a nurse from the hallway. Celestia turned, surprised.

"What is it?" said the Princess.

"Princess Cadence is going into labor."

"What?" squawked Celestia.

"Would you like me to take you to the maternity ward?" asked the nurse. She knew the Princess didn't want to leave Twilight's side for a second, but nopony was around to keep her company.

Celestia looked at the nurse, then back to Twilight and back to the nurse, trying to decide what to do. What if she left Twilight alone and something happened? What if she went into cardiac arrest again? But her niece was about to give birth!

"I...I can't...!" Celestia stuttered.

"Your Highness, Twilight will be fine. What happened last time was a fluke, just coincidence! We'll take care of her while you're away." said the nurse.

Celestia looked at the nurse, her professionalism shining bright. She could trust the staff, they were experienced enough to take care of Twilight. That was the type of professionalism she taxed her subjects for, after all. Celestia turned to face Twilight and whispered in her ear.

"Twilight, I'm going to be away for a while, Cadence is going into labor. Please, hang on while I'm gone." said Celestia as she let go of Twilight's hoof and followed the nurse down the corridors.

-

"AAAAAAAAAAUUGH!!!" cried Princess Cadence as they wheeled her into the room she would give birth in. Celestia followed them into the room after she sent a guard to notify Shining Armor of the situation, but she knew he was on duty and wouldn't arrive for some time, even if he galloped as fast as he could.

"Aunt Tia, it hurts!" moaned Cadence after a contraction.

"It's alright sweetie, I'm here. Just breathe, it'll all be over soon." said Celestia, holding Cadence's hoof and stroking her mane.

Cadence yelled with pain as another contraction reared its ugly head. Celestia just held her hoof tight, her mind focused squarely on her niece. Twilight had momentarily left her thoughts.

"Let's go Princess, another big push." said the doctor as he popped his head up from between Cadence's thighs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGH!!!"

-

Shining Armor paced anxiously back and forth in the waiting room. He had just gotten there minutes before, but to him it felt like hours were passing by. No doubt Cadence was feeling the same minutes last even longer. The worst possible scenarios of how the birth could go kept running through his mind:

"What if it's not mine? What if our whole marriage is a lie? What if she was impregnated by a changeling disguised as me and it explodes out of her stomach and kills everyone?! What if it's a zebra?!?!"

Just before Shining had a mental breakdown, the door opened and a nurse waved for him to come inside. His heart felt like it was doing double backflips trying to jump out of his chest as he walked in. Celestia looked over at him with a smile as warm as the Sun as she got out of the way, giving him a clear view of his wife holding a little bundled up blanket. Cadence gave him a sideways glance.

"Say hello to your daddy..." whispered Cadence before she handed the bundle to him.

Shining held it in his hooves and used his magic to pull the blanket back from his newborn daughter's face. The little filly's coat was a very light shade of pink, and her baby blue mane -with just a sliver of green running through it- lightly covered her fragile little horn.

"She's perfect..." said Shining Armor. "She's beautiful." He had never felt such a strong mix of pride and happiness, not even when he was promoted to Captain of the Royal Guard. The only other time he had ever even felt close to such elation was when Twilight was still around...

And then the realization hit Shining like a ton of bricks: the newborn filly in his hooves shared an eerie resembelance to another filly he had held when she was born.

"Cadence..." said Shining.

"What is it?" replied Cadence, thinking something might be wrong with the baby.

"She...looks just like Twilight..." said Shining, fighting hard -and failing- to keep his composure. He surrendered his filly to Cadence and wept silently for his comatose sister in another wing of the hospital.

"There there Shining, let it out." said Celestia, enveloping him in her wings. Though she'd just shared the miracle of foalbirth with her niece, grim reality brought their mood back down to earth as their thoughts drifted back to Twilight.

-

Celestia returned to Twilight's room and found no change in her condition. She felt her hope slowly dwindling as she looked upon her student. She pulled up a chair and resmed the position she'd held for the past two weeks. She looked out the window at the setting Sun and caught a glimpse of her reflection. She couldn't believe she looked to be in worse condition than Twilight and more tired than Cadence. But there was no point point in looking pretty now, especially if she was just waiting for Twilight to either wake up or drift away... The Princess held Twilight's hoof close as tears came to her eyes.

"Please Twilight...I lost Luna for a thousand years, but if you go I'll lose you forever! I can't bring you back, Twilight! Please, you have to wake up!"

As the Princess's tears fell on Twilight's cheek, she saw Twilight wince. Celestia's brain seemed to skip, thinking Twilight's movement was just her eyes playing tricks on her. Twilight's eyes fluttered apart wearily as her hoof felt Celestia's royal boots.

"Princess...?"

-

"TWILIGHT!" yelled Pinkie Pie as she ran into the room followed by all of Twilight's friends.

"Hello everypony..." said Twilight. She sounded like death with the worst cold in the world and her eyes were bloodshot, but she was noticably happy to see all her friends.

The entire day, Twilight was met with an unending line of crying ponies happy to see her alive. She went with her parents to the maternity ward to see Shining's newborn filly. Twilight sat in her wheelchair with her IV drip in tow, and pressed her hooves against the glass window into a room filled with foals. She finally spotted her niece near the middle of the room and her eyes seemed to gain a little more life as she stared at the little pink filly.

"She's beautiful Shining..." said Twilight, with wonder in her voice.

"Of course she is, and she has this handsome stallion to thank for that." said Shining, smugly pointing a hoof at himself.

"Of course." said Twilight as she rolled her eyes. Shining looked at her for a few seconds. "What?" she asked.

"Heh...just glad to have you back Twily." said Shining as he wrapped a hoof around his sister.

-

Twilight said her goodbyes to all her friends and family as they headed back home. Twilight had been asleep for a solid two months, but she still felt tired. Now that she was awake, her body would react differently to the treatment she was given. Over the week that followed, Twilight readjusted herself to walking around and eating solid food. Having spent so much time without moving a muscle, she was terribly weak and still required help from the nurses. But slowly, Twilight regained her independence. Her horn had reattached itself, and she spent time with the Princess trying to get back into practice. They were outside the hospital.

"Oh, I just remembered Princess! I learned a new spell!" said Twilight excitedly.

"A new spell? When did you have time to learn that?" asked Celestia.

"While I was asleep! I don't remember anything really, but I have a very clear image of a powerful spell that I'd like to try." said Twilight. Celestia couldn't say no to those eyes, not when they were so vivid with life.

"Alright my little pony, show me what you've learned." said the Princess.

Twilight got into position and looked straight at a tree, marking it as her target for the spell. The Princess watched as Twilight ran toward the tree, funneling magic into her horn as she went. As she approached the tree, she picked up speed. The Princess saw what looked to be a very fuzzy shield form in front of Twilight as she hit the tree face first, impaling it with her horn.

"Twilight!" yelled the Princess worriedly. Twilight's horn had just finished healing, and she was worried Twilight had just broken it off again.

"Oww..." said the purple unicorn as she rubbed her horn. She looked disappointedly at the tree. "It didn't work..." she groaned.

"Come on, let's go inside. We'll try again later." said Celestia as she led Twilight back into the hospital.

As they walked away, the Princess looked back at the tree Twilight had just headbutted. She saw Twilight's horn mark surrounded by a large number of small cuts, and she also felt the life drain out of the tree. Whatever spell Twilight had learned in her sleep, even as a failure it was dangerous. She was afraid to see this spell performed perfectly, and even more afraid of knowing what Twilight had to go through to concoct something so dangerous...

After a few days, Twilight was finally released from Canterlot Hospital. She spent that night at the castle, catching up with Princess Luna on all the royal business she had attended to in Celestia's absence. Twilight was upset that the Princess had neglected her duties just to watch over her, but Celestia didn't care. She was just happy to have Twilight back. The next morning, Twilght prepared herself for the return to Ponyville.

"Princess you don't have to send an escort, I'll be fine." said Twilight.

"That's what I thought the last time you left here Twilight. I won't make the same mistake twice." replied the Princess.

"Well alright...I'll be back next week so we can get my magic skills back into shape." said Twilight. Her horn was still weak, and she could hardly levitate objects.

"Of course. Take care of yourself, be safe." said Celestia. It pained her to see Twilight go, but this entire ordeal had taught her that Twilight was incredibly strong. She may still be her student, but she wasn't a filly anymore. She had her whole life to live now, and Celestia had to let her go and live it.

"Hurry now, Twilight! Pinkie Pie has organized a great big party for your return and I have a dress for you that is just dazzling!" said Rarity.

"Goodbye Princess!" yelled Twilight from the window of the train.

"...goodbye, my little pony." Celestia said softly.

-

"Hey, didja hear? Twilight Sparkle woke up from her coma." said one guard to another as he did his rounds at Canterlot Mare's Correctional Institute.

"Really? You think we should tell The Great and Powerful Prisoner Number 28463?"

"Haha, hahahahaha!" the two guards chortled as they walked down the halls.

"...so, Twilight Sparkle is alive and well?" Trixie whipsered to herself as she continued to crawl through the prison's drain system. "It looks like we have some unfinished business."

Trixie had spent weeks carefully planning her escape and if her calculations were correct, she had precious minutes to crawl out of the prison's sewer system into the sweet freedom of the world outside these concrete walls, just like in one of her favorite movies, The Flaw Flank Redemption.

"Just you wait, Twilight Sparkle..." she said as she crawled through weeks of her fellow inmates' collective filth. "No pony can rival my magic skill! The next time we meet, we will have a duel to the death!"

She finally emerged out of a large pipe and landed in a wretched-smelling puddle. Unlike in the movie, there was no rain to wash her off. But at least now she was free.

"She may have protected her town from an Ursa Major and come back from a coma, but she will never have the incredible prison-escaping abilities of The Great and Powerful -"

"HALT! ESCAPED PRISONER!"

"Dwaaooh!" squawked Trixie, as the prison guards chased her into the night.

-

Twilight returned to her library that night with a very tired baby dragon on her back. Her welcome back party had been the biggest of Pinkie Pie's party that she'd been to, and she was also worn out from all the fun. She let Spike down gently into his bed and tucked him in. Suddenly, he burped out a message from the Princess. Twilight wasn't expecting a letter at that time of night, so thought it might be urgent. As she opened it and started reading, she felt Princess Celestia's warmth radiate from the words she'd so lovingly written to her.

Twilight,

Ever since you went to my school and became my personal apprentice, I've watched you grow and learn at a phenomenal rate. Sometimes I feel like our time has come and gone too quickly, and I wish I could relive those times. But you've grown, you have your own business to attend to. Someday soon you'll find a nice stallion and settle down, have a family, and you and I will drift apart. But I want you to know that I will cherish every second I have with you until you go your own way. Of all the students I've taken under my wing, you are without a doubt the most talented and special one I've ever had the pleasure of teaching, and you've taught me more than I could ever teach you. I love you like a daughter, and my life will never be better for knowing you.

My pride, my joy, my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle...