Author's Notes:

Just skip to chapter 11 if you're a weakling.

Celestia had wondered what the feeling was, but she had finally put a hoof on it. It was the feeling of complete resignation. She didn't want to be alive anymore; there wasn't any point. After her last escape attempt, she had realized that she would never be able to escape without the help of some kind of miracle.

Even if she did get out, what then? She had no idea where she was or how much distance was between her and the nearest village. Her current state of health would certainly restrain her from making it very far, and her health was only going to get worse. There had always been the thought in the back of her mind that this is how she would meet her end, being immortal meant she could never have a 'normal' death. No laying in a bed surrounded by loved ones, just laying on a cold, bloody, concrete floor while waiting for the end to come.

As it had done every day for the past week and a half that Celestia had been in the blood splotched cell, the wooden door at the top of the stairs opened. Normally she would yell profanities of some type at the three ponies, but in this moment she couldn't choke up any words for them.

The only thing her mind could focus on was the aching pain in all of her body and the burning hunger in her stomach, she had noticed that her ribs were visible and that her belly had started to shrink in size. Only having a single meal a day that consist of only rice and old bread took its toll very quickly. She had only eaten 6 times since her arrival, so hunger was more of a problem than the physical pain from her wounds.

The barred door of the cell opened, the small light hanging from the ceiling clicked on as they entered. She noticed instantly that the Light Blue Stallion was absent, but she couldn't care enough to ask the reason. She preferred his cause of absence to be his death, but she knew that she wasn't that lucky. The other two ponies were positioned as they usually were, the White Stallion at the center of the room with the pony with the glasses off to his side.

Floating in the White Stallion's magic was the usual plate of horrible victuals that she was forced to eat. The Pony with the Glasses still had a bandage wrapped around his torso from when she had stabbed him a few days ago. Even after Celestia had inflicted his wound the Pony with the Glasses had come back down and finished bandaging her wounds.

"Supper's on." The White Stallion said in a plain tone as he set the food down in front of Celestia.

She just stared at the food. Maybe if she didn't eat, even for one day, all of the pain would finally end.

"Just like rehearsal; you eat the food and we all go home." The White Stallion mocked.

Silence fell back over the room as Celestia continued to hold her silence.

"Do I have to cram the food down your throat, or are you gonna eat it?"

"I'll give you a place to cram the food," Celestia responded quietly.

The White Stallion walked over to Celestia, took her head with his magic and slammed her face into the plate of food, the plate shattering from the impact. He brought her head back up, blood was now dripping from several cuts on her mouth, face, and nose. A few pieces of rice were stuck to her face in several places.

"You keep getting dumber and dumber, don't you?"

He took a shard of broken glass off of the floor with his magic and stabbed it into Celestia's already severely damaged left leg, causing her to yelp in pain. The shard was then pulled down nearly half the length of her foreleg, Celestia let out a screech of pure pain as her leg was sliced open. The Stallion removed the shard of glass from the wound, dark red blood flowing from the foot-long cut. Celestia looked at the wound with a rather neutral expression, normally she had looked surprised or scared.

"I bet this thing hurt a lot more than the knife, didn't it?" He asked, looking at the blood-soaked shard of glass in his magic.

"D-do it again..." Celestia mumbled.

"What?"

"Y-you heard me, you idiot. Cut me again!" She yelled, hoping that the White Stallion would eventually inflict enough damage that she would finally pass.

The White Stallion didn't comply, he only looked at Celestia with a confused look.

Celestia laughed dryly.

"And now... you won't do it! You couldn't kill me if your life depended on it! Come on, stab me again!" She exclaimed.

The White Stallion's face went from confusion to concern. Celestia sat herself up a bit, despite the pain in her legs and the extreme pain from her new wound. She placed her right front leg on the concrete seat underneath the restraints on the wall and began to stand up, her muscles struggling to hold her weight. The only thing keeping her from sliding back to the floor was the idea of death.

"Come on, hurt me some more! You seem to like fighting, why won't you fight me now? Do you only care to fight when I'm laying on the damn floor?!" Celestia screamed, slowly pulling herself into a fully standing position.

He looked a little frightened, as did the Pony with the glasses. He had a right to fear her; she was more than twice his size (tall enough to warrant her to hold her head low to prevent her unusually long horn from scraping the ceiling) and, if not for her wounds, could easily overpower both of them; as well the Light blue Stallion if he had been present. The look on her face and the combination of her blackened eye and fresh cuts made her look as if she had lost her mind.

Celestia had grown tired of the White Stallion not doing anything; without warning the bloodied Alicorn swung her left leg through the air as hard as she could and landed a powerful blow to the side of the White Stallion's head, causing him to fall over. A pain equivalent to having her leg broken shot though Celestia's nerves, but she was able to regain her balance and not fall over. The White Stallion quickly stood back up and equally as quickly swept Celestia's right leg out from under her. She hit the floor with a loud thud and moments after her impact the White Stallion had deployed the concealed blade from his shoe and made an advance on her.

Before he was able to inflict another wound to her collection, Celestia landed a hard kick to the White Stallion's chest with her back legs. He stumbled backward and gasped for air, it was evident that she had effectively knocked the wind out of him. An aurora of magic began to surround Celestia's back hooves, restraining them from further retaliation. Celestia burst out laughing, staring into the rage-filled eyes of the White Stallion.

"How does it feel to have the tables turned? Need your magic and knife to get the upper hoof on me?!" She taunted, a maniacal smile pasted on her lips.

Celestia's torso and front legs became surrounded by the White Stallion's magical aurora in addition to her rear legs, restraining her completely as he moved her body in order to attach the metal, wall-mounted shackles on her. After struggling for a second the White Stallion was able to sit Celestia down on the concrete seat and fully restrain her with the shackles. The metal restraints only accommodated Celestia's neck and front legs, her back legs still had total freedom to kick and flail all they wanted.

"Who's the idiot that designed this place without back leg restraints?" The White Stallion said after nearly being kicked in the face by Celestia.

"Maybe you should ask your 'Mother' Nightmare Moon, or your 'Glorious Leader' Luna! They might provide some insight!" Celestia cackled in response.

The White Stallion stood up on his hind legs and slammed his hoof into Celestia's stomach, a loud grunt escaping from her blood-covered lips.

"Keep talking, you're only making it harder for yourself." He spat in return.

"If only you were as handsome as you are stupid. Didn't it ever occur to you that I might want you to keep hurting me? Put 2 and 2 together... I don't want to live anymore!" She exclaimed.

"Maybe you should try putting 2 and 2 together. We don't want you to want to live. In fact, one of my goals was to make you want to die!" The Stallion said.

Celestia spat a mixture of blood and saliva onto the White Stallion's face; the Stallion standing a moment before he turned around and exited from the cell, walked up the stairs and left through the wooden door, leaving the Pony with the Glasses to stare wildly at Celestia.

"I think I made him mad." Spoke Celestia, her attention on the Doctor.

"You've gone mad..." Red Hoof returned.

The door at the top of the stairs flew open as the White Stallion entered, he had something floating in his magic. After trotting down the stairs, it became apparent that he was transporting a spoon and a small gas powered stove, one used for cooking cans of food on an open flame.

"Did you bring that to warm my dinner back up?" Celestia asked as she watched the White Stallion turn the burner on and hold the spoon over it with his magic.

"You seem to have a few open wounds. If I'm correct, we're running low on bandages. I think that melting your wounds shut might work just as well." The White Stallion responded, a malicious tone in his voice.

He watched as Celestia's face went from a grin to a concerned look. The White Stallion brought the spoon away from the flame and held it up, it was glowing a very dim red. He levitated the spoon up and stepped towards Celestia. Before she could say a single word in retaliation the red-hot spoon was stabbed directly into the foot-long gash along her leg.

Celestia's scream rang through the concrete cell, her voice beginning to crack from the constant strain put on her vocal cords. After what felt like an eternity of pain for Celestia, the Stallion finally pulled the spoon from her wound, the once glowing hot piece of metal leaving a bloody, dark red spot on the deep cut.

"There! Now that big cut of yours is all sealed up!" The Stallion exclaimed as he lowered the spoon back onto the flame.

"Come b-back over here... I'll kick... every tooth out of your stupid skull!"

The stallion's horn lit up and the three shackles holding Celestia to the wall unclicked. Her back legs slipped out from under her as she slid to the floor. She was left sitting, her back resting on the concrete seat. The Stallion quickly spun himself around and landed a violent kick at the center of Celestia's chest. The impact caused all of the air in her lungs to escape with a loud grunt.

The Stallion took Celestia's neck with his magic and violently flung her to the center of the cell. He stood over her, raising his hoof and bringing it down over and over again on her face, blood beginning to splatter on the floor and the White Stallion's chest. After hearing a loud crack, the Stallion stopped and lifted his hoof from Celestia's face. She was nearly beyond recognition, her jaw and nose now broke, blood pouring from both of her nostrils.

"That's enough! You're going to kill her!" Red Hoof exclaimed.

"G-good..." Celestia managed to say, her broken jaw barely allowing her to form the word.

The White Stallion lifted her head off of the floor and slammed it back down as hard as he could. Her head was brought down on the floor once more, the end of the beating coming not from the White Stallion's mercy, but from him noticing her odd behavior. Celestia's body had tensed as her mind began to lose function. Her legs had begun a violent twitch, jaw chattering and eyelids fluttering as she convulsed on the floor. The White Stallion's face turned to an expression of confusion as he watched the ordeal, blood and saliva starting to foam from her mouth.

"She's having a damn seizure!" Red Hoof yelled as he ran for the cell door, his goal to retrieve his medical bag.

The White Stallion stepped off of Celestia, watching in slight horror as she convulsed violently, every muscle in her body tensed and shaking. The seizure had become worse, her back legs thrusting in a violent manner and her eyes were squeezed shut. Moments later the Pony with the glasses came running down the stairs with the large medical bag on his back. He quickly dropped the bag on the floor and dug around before taking out a small vial and a syringe.

Red Hoof stuck the needle into the vial and extracted a precise amount of the liquid despite his shaking hooves, with the medicine loaded into the syringe, he attempted to inject Celestia's relatively undamaged right back leg, but her sporadic kicking made such a task impossible,

"Hold her legs still!" He yelled, looking over to the White Stallion.

The Stallion's magic surrounded Celestia's hooves and allowed the Pony with the glasses to carefully stick the needle into her leg. With the plunger depressed and all of the liquid cleared from the cylinder, Red Hoof pulled the needle from Celestia's vain and threw it to the side. With the medicine taking its effect, the Pony with the Glasses turned back to his large medical bag, took out a clean cloth and wadded it into a ball. He used a hoof to hold Celestia's mouth open as he stuffed the cloth into her mouth.

"What's that supposed to help!?" Exclaimed the White Stallion with a perplexed look on his face.

"It'll keep her from biting her own tongue off!"

Celestia's convulsing had slowed as the medicine worked its way through her veins, the violent kicking of her legs slowing to a tremble as she finally began to regain control over her own body and mind. The Pony with the Glasses took the cloth from her mouth and threw it aside, lifting her head off the floor as he examined her one open eye to make sure she had in fact regained consciousness. Her breathing was extremely heavy and her eyes appeared to have no reaction to the light, something that was a cause of concern.

"Celestia, are you awake?" He asked, patting the side of her face with his hoof.

No movement came from the Alicorn, her chest still heaving up and down.

"Can you hear me?"

Celestia's eyes moved away from Red Hoof's face and moved around the room, the movement becoming frantic as her head moved side to side as if she was desperately looking for something.

"Uugh... I... I can-t...." She mumbled in a whisper.

"What?"

"I can't see." Celestia repeated, her voice becoming more worried and frantic.

"Is everything just blurry or can you really not see?"

"It's all black... e-everything." She mumbled in response, her voice shaky as tears began welling up in her eyes.

Red Hoof turned to look at the White Stallion with a deeply angered look.

"I don't think you realize exactly what you've caused here."

"How in the world would me hitting her head cause her to go blind!?" The White Stallion argued.

"You hit the back of her head, and you know what's back there? The occipital cortex, which you have obviously done serious damage to due to the fact that she can't see and the fact that she had a seizure!" Barked Red Hoof.

"Well, is there any way to fix it?"

"Time. We need to watch for blood coming from her ears and swelling, that would indicate bleeding from her brain."

He gave a sigh and looked over Celestia's beaten and bloodied body, her old wounds needed new dressings.

"I uh... I'm gonna tend to her wounds, these bandages need to be replaced to prevent infections."

"B-but I thought that... I thought you were low on bandages." Celestia whimpered, tears of pain and fear running down her cheeks.

Neither Red Hoof or White Dust responded.

It had taken another ten minutes for the Pony with the glasses to finish helping Celestia. He came out of the door that led to the basement and threw his medical bag into the corner, the bag creating a loud thud that echoed through the floorboards of the home. The Pony leaned himself against the wall of the hallway with his head low for a moment before looking up at the White Stallion, who was sitting with his head resting on his hoof in the living room.

"Alright... okay. You've officially taken it too far. I don't care what you think, but from now on, you will not hurt her anymore." He said firmly.

"Oh, what, do you feel sorry for her? She doe-"

"I don't care about her, I care about the fact that her body and mind are going to be the vessel we use to bring our Mother back into this world! You... you hit her head hard enough for her to have a damn seizure, and judging by how she can't remember a single thing from the past ten minutes, I'd say that you've caused minor brain damage!" The Pony explained.

"It's minor, so how d-"

"It doesn't matter if it's minor, it's brain damage, nothing about brain damage is minor! Star Yield's magic heals surface wounds, not brain damage! What if Nightmare Moon comes back and can't remember who she is and what she's supposed to be doing! If you want to be the idiot responsible for ruining everything we've all worked for, be my guest. I'm going to bed."

The White Stallion sat silently as he watched the Pony with the glasses turn around and walk down the hallway. After staring blankly at the table in front of him the Stallion stood up and walked into the kitchen and began preparing Celestia a new meal, seeing as how the last meal she was presented had been destroyed. It took a little while longer, but after a few minutes, the Stallion had made a nice sandwich and a bowl of soup.

With the sandwich and soup was added a spoon and glass of water; subsequently, these four items were placed onto a carry tray as the White Stallion exited the kitchen on his way to the basement. Yellow light poured from the entrance once he had opened the door, the Pony with the Glasses had not turned off the light.

He walked down the steps and stopped in front of the metal barred door, Celestia was lying on her side facing towards the door, tears streaming down her cheeks, teeth clenched and eyes squeezed shut. As much as he disliked her, something about the look on her face caused his heart a little ache. White Dust unlocked the barred metal door and stepped in, his appearance causing no disturbance to Celestia.

"Brought you some food." He spoke, trying to get her attention.

"W-why?" Celestia exclaimed, her tears slurring her words.

"Because you need it?"

"N-no... Why w-wound my sister do this to me!? I-I've never done anything to her!!" She cried.

White Dust stood for a moment, trying to think of a good response.

"I... I've always loved her, I've loved her more than anything in the world, and t-this is what I get for that!?"

White instantly wanted to retort, giving her reasons for why she was where she was, but he didn't want to fan the flames. He was already annoyed with her sobbing and didn't need the extra layer of her screaming about how she had been nice to Luna for so long.

"Look, just shut up and try to eat something. This isn't the typical food, either. I made you some nice soup and a sandwich," White said as he set the plate down in front of Celestia.

She felt around in front of her for the plane, tears dripping from her cheeks to the floor and her breathing shaky from crying. Upon finding the plate, she lifted the bowl of soup from it with her shaky front hooves and brought it to her lips. The wonderful taste and sensation of the soup filled her mouth as the warm, comforting liquid flowed from the bowl. She tilted her head back and drank the soup in large gulps, the bowl empty within around 5 swallows.

"Have fun with rest of your meal," White mumbled as he turned and left for the door.

After waiting for what felt like 10 minutes, the White Stallion stood up from the couch in the living room and walked to the basement door, opening it and entering. After making it down the steps he saw Celestia lying on her side near the tray of food, he could hear her quietly groaning.

"Celestia?" He asked, starting to go down the stairs quicker.

She made several sounds that were supposed to be words. The White Stallion quickly moved into the cell and to Celestia's side, there was a puddle of vomit a short distance from where she was laying.

"Celestia!? What happen, are you okay?" He asked, beginning to panic.

"Guuh... J-juu... I-I ca-ca." She stuttered, her chest shuddering as she tried to speak. There was a small amount of saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth as she tried to speak.

"Why can't you talk? Hey, look at me! Can you understand me?" The Stallion said, kneeling down the Celestia.

She responded with several sounds that she had meant to be words.

The White Stallion stepped back and looked at Celestia in horror. What was happening to her? He looked around the room wildly trying to gather his thoughts. Red Hoof, the doc! He knew medical things, maybe he would know what was wrong with her, other than the fact that she was very seriously concussed. He ran from the cell and up the stairs, flinging the wooden door open as he galloped down the hallway of the home. The White Stallion reached a room at the end of the hall that he and Red Hoof shared, quickly entered as he went to the bed in which Red Hoof was sleeping, violently shaking him in order to wake him up.

"Get up! Something's wrong with Celestia!" Stammered White Dust.

"What!? What?! Wait... what's wrong with her?" The Pony with the Glasses asked as he stuttered awake, sitting up in bed.

"I... I don't know! I walked in and she couldn't talk correctly, and I think she threw up the food I gave her!"

"I knew this would happen, I knew that seizure wouldn't be good." The Pony with the Glasses said as he put his glasses on and quickly got out of bed.

"What are you talking about?"

"She had a brain hemorrhage from the sound of it. Hell, she probably had another seizure while we were gone!" He responded as he went to the living room and retrieved the medical bag, the Stallion following him.

The two quickly went down the stairs and into the cell, Celestia was still laying on her side. The White Stallion stopped at the door as he watched the Pony with the Glasses knelt down next to Celestia and set his bag down.

"Can you talk? Hey, Celestia! Listen! Can you talk?" He enunciated.

"Wh-wha?" Celestia stuttered in response.

"Can you hear me?" He asked, looking into her blank eyes.

She nodded.

"Okay... Okay, good." Red Hoof said, reaching into the medical bag and taking out a few things.

"M-my head..." She mumbled.

"Where exactly does it hurt the most?"

Celestia motioned to the back of her head with a hoof.

Red Hoof made a small sound of acknowledgment and retrieved what looked like a morphine injector. He took the cap off and stuck the needle into Celestia's leg, causing her to flinch. After the injector was empty he threw it to the side and took out a stethoscope, he put the earpieces in his ears and lifted Celestia's head off of the ground before placing the listening end of the stethoscope on the back of her head, he listened carefully for a moment before putting the stethoscope back.

"Well... she is certainly bleeding from her brain, no doubt about that. The only way she's going to live through this is if I do surgery." He concluded, a troubled look on his face.

"But you're a field medic, not a damn brain surgeon! How in the world are you going to perform a surgery on her?!"

"I need to relieve the pressure on her brain and release the blood that's causing the pressure. I'm gonna have to drill a hole into her skull."

"But..."

"No; shut up. I can do this, I've done it before. We need to take her upstairs, I don't want to work down here, too much risk of infection. You can pick her up, right?"

The Stallion's horn began to glow, a blue aurora of magic surrounded Celestia as she slowly lifted off the floor. The Stallion was visibly straining from trying to keep her aloft.

"I'll hold the doors, you carry her." Red Hoof said as he moved to the cell door, holding it open as the Stallion stepped through with Celestia.

He quickly went to the top of the stairs and opened the wooden door, the Stallion carefully maneuvered Celestia through the doorway and down the hall into the living room. The Pony ran down into the cell and retrieved his bag, coming back up the stairs and into the living room where the Stallion had laid Celestia on the floor, her face held an expression of confusion mixed with fear.

"I-I ca... I can't see." Celestia spoke, reinstating something that was already known.

"I know, but listen. You can't see because your head was hit really hard, and I'm going to have to do an operation, alright?"

Celestia nodded.

"I gave you an injection a while ago, how on a scale of 1 to 10 how much pain are you in?" The Pony asked while he took things from his bag.

"Six. M-my head feels funny." She responded.

"Do you feel like vomiting again?"

"Y-yes."

"White Dust, go find get a bucket or something. I don't want her vomiting all over the floor."

The Stallion hurried to the kitchen and into the pantry.

"Celestia, White Dust is going to come back with something for you. If you need to vomit, do it in the bucket." He explained.

Celestia nodded.

The Stallion came back into the living room with a metal bucket floating in his magic, he set it down beside Celestia.

"Keep you hoof on the bucket so you know where it is." The Pony with the Glasses stated, helping Celestia to position her hoof on the bucket.

After a second the Pony let out a sigh, he looked rather troubled.

"You alright?" The Stallion asked.

"I'm fine, I just need a moment to gather my thoughts."

He stared at the couch across the room before speaking back up.

"Get a cushion off the couch so that we can keep her head up."

The Stallion levitated one of the seat cushions over the Pony who took the cushion and slid it under Celestia's head. The Pony began to remove items from his bag, one of the objects looked more like a torture device than a medical instrument. It was similar to a woodworking tool used for drilling holes without the use of an electrical tool, but the clean, stainless steel construction and the unusually shaped bit suggested it was for drilling through bone.

All of a sudden Celestia quickly pulled the bucket towards herself and sat up, vomiting a very putrid liquid into the bucket. Both Red Hoof and White Dust looked away in disgust. After several more volleys of heaving, Celestia leaned back, coughing from the horrible taste in her mouth. Red Hoof quickly took a bottle of water from his bag and gave it to Celestia, who took a mouthful of water and spit it into the bucket. She slowly lowered herself back down onto the floor, her breath heavy from vomiting.

"S-sorry." She said, sniffling.

"It's okay." Red Hoof assured her.

Without being told to do so, the Stallion levitated the bucket off the floor and took it to the bathroom, all the while holding it a ways distance from himself. Red Hoof went back to finding all of the supplies he needed.

"Did you hear me when I was explaining to White Dust what I'm going to be doing?" He asked, not looking up from the bag.

"No. I...I could hear you talking... but I couldn't understand it." Celestia responded.

"Okay... So first off, you can't see because the occipital cortex of your brain is severely bruised, and there's a lot of pressure on that area because of a brain hemorrhage you had after the first seizure. Now, this is going to sound terrifying, but I'm going to drill a small hole in the back of your head in order to release the blood and relieve some of the pressure on your brain."

Celestia's face went pale from fear. She looked like she was going to throw up again.

"Oh, and, uh... did you have a second seizure after I left?" Red Hoof asked.

"I think so. All I remember was n-not being able to think or move."

"Yeah... you had a second one," The Pony rubbed his face with a hoof. "Why did he hit your head so many times and so hard? He didn't accomplish anything!" He exclaimed.

The Stallion returned with the bucket, which was clean now. Celestia put her hoof atop the bucket after the Stallion set it down beside her.

"White, can you go get your shaving razor? I don't have one." Red Hoof asked.

The Stallion's horn lit up, the shaving razor teleporting into existence. He levitated it to Red Hoof, who held out his hoof and took the razor.

"What do you need a razor for?"

"I need to make a clean area where I can drill the hole." Red Hoof said, scooting himself behind Celestia's head.

He parted her hair where he needed to make the hole and carefully began to cut away her hair from the root. Once he had made a large area with no hair he set the razor down on the ground, the White Stallion took it back with his magic. Red Hoof moved back to his position beside the medical bag, he took a small vial and syringe in his hoof.

"I'm going to give you an anesthetic injection, you'll feel a little weird at first, but within 10 seconds you'll be out like a light." He explained to Celestia.

The terrified look on her face was enough of a response. Red Hoof took the syringe and stuck the needle into her leg. He slowly depressed the plunger, watching carefully as the dose of anesthetic medicine left the cylinder. After releasing some of the medicine he removed the needle from her leg and set it down.

"W-wha... I-I ugh..." Celestia mumbled as her eyes began to flutter.

After a few more seconds her entire body went limp as she fell into a state of unconsciousness.

Celestia slowly began to regain consciousness, her world appearing in a distorted and dark fashion. Silence accompanied the eerie distortion of the objects around her, she was still trying to decide if her brain injury was causing the odd shapes and colors. It felt as if her brain was some kind of a machine powering up, all of the different components slowly clicked on. She realized that she was not laying on the cold floor of the cell, but that she was laying on a soft couch, most of her body wrapped in a blanket. A bit of squirming seemed to activate her nerves, Celestia's body beginning to ache from her injuries, the most painful of them all being her head injury. Holding still made the aching a bit more bearable.

A thought clicked into her mind. If she was in the living room of the home, at least she assumed she was, it would be easy to find the front door. Celestia denounced the thought. It would be utterly idiotic to attempt an escape at this stage. Despite her want for life to end, it wasn't a want great enough for her to pass in such a way. Her inability to see and walk spelled out a frozen and lonely death if she was to venture out into the snowy forest that lay beyond the home.

That was the one thing frightening Celestia the most, blindness. It created a new feeling of vulnerability, one more overwhelming than the one she already hosted. Previously she had been able to defend herself somewhat, now it appeared that a small brick possessed more defensive capability than she did. Defending herself against the White Stallion normally resulted in more pain, anyway.

Where were the White Stallion and the Pony with the Glasses? She remembered hearing their voices when they had first brought her upstairs. The option that the group had gone to sleep was the most likely out of the several she thought of. Celestia wondered if the Light blue Stallion had been there when the Pony with the Glasses had been helping her. She didn't remember hearing his voice or any of the other two giving him directions. He typically strayed away from all of the action. The thought looped back around to the question of where the two ponies had gone. She looked around the room, but all her vision provided was the same, blurry, distorted images it had before.

"Hello?" Celestia asked quietly.

Silence was the only one to respond.

All of a sudden a certain feeling returned to her stomach and throat. She felt like throwing up again, something she didn't particularly want to do. Celestia felt around the edge of the couch for the bucket that the White Stallion had gotten, but it didn't appear to be anywhere near her. How could she find her way to the bathroom? She had absolutely no idea where the bathroom was, a fact that would only add to the difficulty of the situation. She couldn't walk, couldn't see, and didn't know the location of her goal. Celestia slowly sat upright on the couch, the blanket slipping off of her as she moved. Instantly she felt the effects of both blood loss and severe brain injury, extreme dizziness took over her mind. The already distorted world she saw began turning in odd ways, which only amplified her need to vomit.

In a clumsy and unsteady manner, Celestia was able to stand up off of the couch, her legs wobbling beneath her as she struggled to stay upright. She took a step forward, the act causing a bolt of pain to shoot up her left leg. It took all of her willpower to keep going, one painful step at a time. After around five paces Celestia bumped into a wall. She turned and leaned herself against it, slowly walking along the wall until she found the entrance to the hallway. Now she just had to find the bathroom.

She turned down the hall and carefully proceeded, each step drew a loud creak from the floorboards. She had found the first door of the hallway, it seemed logical that the first door should be the bathroom. A few seconds of fumbling Celestia was able to turn the door knob and carefully push open the door. She hoped that she hadn't opened the door to the White Stallion's room. One careful step inside revealed that the floor was comprised of tiles. The feeling in her stomach and throat became more pressing, she was glad that she had found the bathroom.

Celestia hurried to enter the room fully, but her horn caught the door frame, jerking her head back. She regained her balance and tried again, lowering her head so that she would fit into the room. Once inside, a little feeling around revealed that a counter and sink sat directly in front of her. She felt to her left, which revealed the position of the shower. Finally, to her right, was the toilet. Celestia carefully knelt down in front of the object, positioning her head over the bowl. All of a sudden there was a click, the pitch black image her eyes presented her turned to a blurry, splotchy grayish picture. Celestia panicked, quickly turning her head towards the door. All she was able to see was an extremely blurry white spot.

"How did you get in here?" Asked the White Stallion's voice. He sounded as if he had just woken up.

"I-I... uh... I walked." Celestia managed, fearful that the White Stallion would react in his usual violent way.

"You're not going to do a very good job of throwing up if you leave the seat down." White Dust said tiredly.

There was a clack of the seat raising, the sound accompanied by the squeak and then thud of the door shutting. The White Stallion listened to the wretched, painful heaves Celestia made as she vomited, the sounds were unaccompanied by the splash of water. After opening the door the Stallion realized that the only thing Celestia had thrown up was a bit of water and foam. The oddest thing about her appearance was the position of her eyes. Normally hate burned through them when her stare was fixed on him, but now her eyes looked lamely in the direction her head was pointing.

"Feel better?" White Dust asked.

"N-no..." Celestia mumbled, her breathing heavy.

"Do you want me to go get that blanket you had? You look a little cold." The Stallion inquired.

Celestia nodded.

The Stallion walked away from the doorway, his hoof-steps faded down the hall towards the living room. Celestia moved away from the toilet and laid down on the bathroom floor, her body barely fit in the small room. She had begun to wonder how long it would be until her end finally came. She felt weak-minded for wanting to die so badly, but when one's existence is constant physical pain, vomiting, hunger, nightmares, and blindness, it should make sense for said individual to want an end. The sound of hoof steps returned as did the blurry figure of the White Stallion.

"C-can you... do one more thing for me?" Celestia mumbled, a few tears dripping from her cheeks to the floor.

"Ugh, what do you want?"

Celestia began pulling herself towards the White Stallion, her right hoof extending as she felt around. Upon finding one of the White Stallion's front legs, Celestia weakly lifted his hoof from the tile bathroom floor and placed it between her eyes.

"Just h-hit me right here... as many times as you can... p-please." Celestia spoke through her tears.

The White Stallion didn't respond, his eyes locked on to those of Celestia's as he failed to produce any sort of response.

"P-please... I-I don't want to feel all this p-pain and fear anymore... please!"

"You're supposed to feel pain and fear, you moron."

The White Stallion pulled his hoof away from Celestia's temple, stepping back as he looked at the sad, broken Alicorn that lay before him, the word 'please' being repeated several times over through her sobs.

"Okay, do you feel like throwing up again?" The White Stallion asked awkwardly.

"P-please... j-just get it over with... Please!" Celestia cried once more, seemingly ignoring the White Stallion's statement.

"Well, I'll take you back into the living room so you can lie down and rest."

Celestia continued to repeat herself, causing the White Stallion to simply ignore her and levitate her large figure from the floor, Celestia's legs bumping the door frame as the Stallion struggled to maneuver her body out of the bathroom. With the Alicorn's body free from the bathroom, the Stallion stepped down the hallway and lowered Celestia down onto the couch of the living room, her legs hanging off the edge by a large amount. Luckily, halfway down the hall, Celestia had finally stopped repeating herself, though her broken sobs remained, tears rolling from her cheeks onto the couch arm. The White Stallion looked on for a few moments before deciding to say anything.

"Do you think you could keep some water down?" He asked, remembering how little Celestia had to drink.

"I-I don't know..." The Alicorn whined.

The Stallion gave an annoyed sigh, leaving the living room and stepping into the kitchen as he opened one of the many cupboards with the assistance of his magic. A glass was taken from one of the shelves, said glass lowered to the water faucet to be filled with water. The White Stallion turned from the sink and walked back into the living room, tapping Celestia's lips with the rim of the glass to signal her. Celestia opened her mouth to accept the water, White Dust slowly tilting the glass to allow her a drink. In a few large gulps the entire glass had been emptied of water, the White Stallion setting the glass down as he stepped away from Celestia.

"I'll go get you that bucket just in case."

The Stallion's hoof steps went down the direction of the hall. Celestia had been able to get a slight grip on her emotions, her sobs slowing to a sniffle. She had genuinely wished that the Stallion had driven her head into the floor a few more times, it would have been painful, but it would have finally brought an end to everything. The White Stallion returned, a moment later the clank of metal sounded in front of Celestia. She listened as he moved into the kitchen and began clanking things around, she assumed he was making himself something to eat.

"How long was I asleep?" Celestia asked, a little more composed than before.

"8 hours... I think. We all went to sleep a little after the doc finished up." He responded from the kitchen.

The sound of hoof steps echoed from the hallway, whoever was creating the sound had clearly just woken up.

"Good morning." The White Stallion said to the pony that had entered from the hallway.

"Hello."

His hoof steps got closer to the couch, a second later Celestia felt her head being lifted up by his hoof.

"Can you see at all?" Red Hoof said, moving her head around a little. Celestia figured that he was either examining her eyes or the wound on the back of her head.

"All I see is blurry shapes." She responded.

"So you aren't able to actually make out anything?"

"No."

Red Hoof lifted her head even further, Celestia felt the large bandage around her head being removed.

"I need to replace this bandage, can you hold your head there for a moment?"

Celestia complied. After a moment's more unwrapping the bandage was completely off, she listened as Red Hoof went to a part of the room and got his bag. He returned and began to wrap a clean new bandage around the wound left from her operation.

"Alright, you can put your head back down." He said once he had finished up with the new bandage.

Celestia complied once more.

"Coffee's in the pot. I'm going to go brush my teeth." The White Stallion said to Red Hoof, who made a sound of acknowledgment.

He shuffled tiredly from the kitchen into the bathroom and clicked on the light as he entered, the sudden brightness required him to squint. The White Stallion pulled open one of the drawers and got out his toothbrush and toothpaste. Just as he was about to begin cleaning his teeth White Dust noticed something was missing.

His shaving razor was not in the drawer. He remembered returning it to the drawer, so where had it gone? He closed the drawer with a hoof and opened the one below it, searching around only to find that the drawer also did not contain his razor. A realization struck White Dust. Celestia had been in the bathroom not that long ago, and he had no idea how long she had been in the bathroom for. She must have overheard when Red Hoof had asked for the razor, and now she had gotten a hold of it.

It seemed unlikely that somepony who couldn't see should be able to find a razor without knowing its location, but Celestia was no ordinary pony. She would do anything to escape, and she had proven that she intended fully to kill all three of them in order to do so. White Dust, feeling a little more awake, quickly left the bathroom and went down the hall to the living room.

Celestia felt something embrace all four of her legs and violently throw her off the couch and onto the floor, the impact causing a superfluous amount of pain.

"White! What in the world are you doing?" She heard Red Hoof exclaim.

"Where's the razor?! I know you took it!" White Dust yelled in Celestia's face, his magic still holding her legs.

"W-what are you talking about!?" She stammered.

Stinging pain split through Celestia's nerves as the White Stallion threw his hoof across her face.

"Don't play dumb with me! My shaving razor! I put it back last night and this morning I wake up to find you in the bathroom, and guess what; that razor isn't where I put it!" White Dust yelled.

He stood up and began taking the cushions off of the couch in search of the hidden razor.

"How could she have taken your razor!? She can barely see!" Red Hoof said from the kitchen.

"You seem to forget who we're dealing with." The White Stallion answered back, his voice holding a deep tone.

The Pony with the Glasses didn't say anything further. After tearing all of the cushions from the couch to discover his razor was not present, The White Stallion stepped back over to Celestia and stomped his hoof down on her throat.

"Last chance. Where. Is. The. Razor?"

"I-I... don't ha... have it..." She choked, tears beginning to drip from her eyes and down her cheeks.

"White, she doesn't have the damn razor! Let her go, before you hurt her again!" Red Hoof yelled.

"The only reason we're here is to hurt her!" Responded White Dust in an angry tone.

"I... don't h-have it... please." Celestia managed, her front hoofs pushing on the White Stallion's leg in a weak attempt to free herself.

After several long seconds White Dust took his hoof away from Celestia's throat, a dark red spot left where his hoof had been. He watched while she gasped for air on the floor. White Dust looked up at a very angry Red Hoof.

"How do you know you haven't misplaced your razor?" He asked, stepping over to Celestia.

"I couldn't have, I remember putting it in the drawer and when I checked just now it wasn't there!"

"Can you still breathe alright?" Red Hoof asked Celestia, the only response she could manage through her heavy breathing and tears was a small nod.

White Dust turned away and walked back into the bathroom, opening the top drawer with his magic. The razor was still missing. He shuffled through the contents of the drawer, moving several things out of the way only to find that the razor had been hidden under a package of cotton balls. He let out a sigh of frustration as he overheard Celestia cry "I don't want to die here." from the other room.