(Flashback) Celestia’s POV

After a long day of attending to my royal duties, including a public park declaration in Fillydelphia, a legal dispute in Manehattan, and judging a bake-off in Appleloosa, I was exhausted. I was flying back to Canterlot for the night in my aerial carriage, but as we flew over Tumblestone Canyon, my lieutenant, Speed Freak, was forced to make an emergency landing.

“Are you alright?” I asked him after we landed shakily but safely.

“Please forgive me, Your Highness,” he replied with a pained wince, “but I think I pulled something in my wing. Flying is no longer an option, but if we hurry, we can have you at your castle before the clock tower strikes twelve.”

“Accidents happen, Lieutenant.” I said, smiling warmly, “If you are injured, you needn’t strain yourself. I can see Canterlot in the distance, and it’s a lovely autumn evening tonight. I don’t mind taking the scenic route.”

“As you wish, Princess.” he replied before turning to his fellow guards. “Let’s move, boys! We have a schedule to keep!”

As we continued down the dirt path, I overheard my guards’ conversation begin to change.

“Does anypony else smell that?” one guard asked curiously. I sniffed the air and immediately detected a foul aroma. I covered my face with a pillow to stop myself from vomiting.

“Yeah. It’s bad. Let’s hustle back to the city before the Princess is put in danger.”

“I think I just stepped in something.” another said, lifting his hoof, “Sweet Celestia…is that what I think it is?” he asked nervously.

“Look!” replied the third guard, pointing a hoof down the path. “There’s a trail of it!”

The royal carriage stopped instantaneously.

“What has stopped us this time?” I asked, opening the door and stepping down from the carriage.

“Princess, please go back inside!” my lieutenant warned. “We’ll take care of this. You! Rookie!” he pointed a hoof at the newest recruit into the Royal Guard. “Find out where this trail leads.”

“Yes, sir!” he disconnected himself from his harness and darted off down the trail.

I looked to the ground and noticed splotches of red amongst the brown earth. “Is this blood, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, Your Highness, I believe so, and a great deal of blood, unfortunately.” he admits with a bow, “The trail extends for a great distance in both directions. Judging by the direction, Your Majesty, an injured pony is attempting to seek aid in Canterlot.”

“So I see…” I replied, hoping the owner of this spilt blood receives the medical attention they so desperately need.

“LIEUTENANT! OVER HERE!” the rookie called from up ahead. “PONY DOWN!”

With my guards surrounding me in a box formation, we galloped toward the noise, the scent of blood in the air growing stronger with every step, until we reached the stallion who signaled for help.

As we crested the hill, I felt my various samplings from the Appleloosa Bake-Off begin to rise in my throat…

“Dear Equestria…” I gasped in horror.

Beneath a pair of blood-soaked saddlebags, a silver filly lay on the edge of the path, unconscious in a pool of red. As I stepped closer, I discovered the youngling was an alicorn like me, except her left foreleg and left wing had been tied off with makeshift tourniquets, brutally amputated, and covered with crude bandages, now thoroughly soaked with her crimson essence.

“She’s lost a lot of blood, Your Highness. I fear we’re too late…”

Avoiding the spilt blood, I gingerly placed a hoof upon her chest…

Thump…thump…

A heartbeat?

Thump…thump…

It’s weak, but it’s there…

“She’s still alive? SHE’S STILL ALIVE!” I screamed.

“Should I alert the medics, Princess?”

“There’s no time for that, Lieutenant!” I shouted as I draped her across my back. “I’ll take her to the hospital myself! You three! Alert the authorities! Lieutenant, stay here until they arrive and follow this blood trail back to its source! Something terrible happened to this filly, and I want answers! GO!”

“Yes, Princess!” the four guards stated, carrying out their orders without question.

“I can’t fly, Princess,” Speed Freak replied, “but I can walk and run just fine. I shall inform the authorities of your location when they arrive. Go!”

I nodded and took off into the sky, looking back for a brief second as they ran for the nearest shrubs and vigorously emptied their stomach contents.

Poor dears. They held out for as long as they could…

As I touched down and raced into Canterlot Hospital, dozens of ponies stopped in their tracks to pay their respects to their beloved Sun Princess.

“Do NOT kneel in my presence this night, my subjects!” I shouted breathlessly in my Royal Canterlot Voice, “Not when a life is on the line!”

“Princess Celestia…” the receptionist said in shock, “You’re…bleeding…” She pressed a button on her desk. “All available staff, report to the lobby!” she cried, “The princess has been injured! I repeat! The princess has been injured! Requesting immediate assistance!”

Two colts raced toward me with a stretcher, followed by at least two dozen more ponies dressed in medical garb.

“Not me…” I said, lowering my wings to reveal the injured filly on my back. “Her.” Everypony gasped and a few ponies fainted.

“What happened? Who in Equestria would do this?” one mortified mare asked.

“I don’t know, but I felt a heartbeat.” I explained as quickly as I could without slurring my words. “She’s barely alive, and she needs help. NOW.”

A teal unicorn in a doctor’s uniform magically lifted the filly onto the stretcher. “She’ll need a blood transfusion, Princess. Do you know her blood type?”

“No.” I replied regretfully, “I don’t know anything about her. One of my guards found her on the edge of Canterlot and I raced over here.”

“My…blood…type…?” a voice croaked weakly. My heart leapt into my throat. Everypony turned to see the silver filly open her eyes a crack. “A…B…positive…” was all she managed to say before slipping back into unconsciousness.

“You heard her! AB positive!” the teal unicorn shouted, “Get her to the OR, stat! LET’S MOVE!”

The crowd of doctors and nurses rushed back through the double doors, taking the filly with her.

The teal unicorn doubled back. “Please follow me, Princess…we may need your assistance.”

With a sense of impending doom creeping into my heart, I followed the doctor through the white double doors, noting how similar they looked to the gates of the afterlife I’d read about in many of my books.

“Princess, I must ask you a question.”

“Please ask away.”

“From what I have seen tonight, even with a transfusion, there’s a very high likelihood that she won’t live to see the sunrise.”

“What are you implying?” I asked.

“If her blood type is AB positive,” she rambled, “that means her body can safely accept blood of any type, positive or negative. However, she’s an alicorn, so I fear common pony blood won’t be enough to…to…”

“OUT WITH IT, DOCTOR!” I screeched.

“A transfusion of alicorn blood might give her a better chance!” she squealed. “Is there any way you would be willing to donate some of yours?”

“If my blood is what you require to save her life, Doctor, then yes, I shall provide what I can.”

“Follow me, Your Highness.” a gray colt orderly informed me, “We’ll draw what we need, and then you can clean this blood from your coat. There’s a shower in the on-call room.”

“A wise decision.” I replied, “Lead the way.”

The kind gray colt led me to an examination room. I eased down gently upon the bed and he sterilized the injection site with an iodine solution. I cringed slightly as he procured the needle.

“I hate needles…” I whimpered, “Always have. Always will.”

“Everypony does, Princess.” he responds, “Ready?”

“Ready.” I closed my eyes.

“On the count of three.” he warned, “One…two…three…”

I winced in slight pain as he gently drove the needle into my foreleg and connected the other end to some sort of medical apparatus. After that, I watched as the clear plastic bag inside slowly filled with red liquid. It’s actually quite a strange sensation, feeling your blood leave your body and seeing where it ends up. After ten minutes, it was filled, so he disconnected it and replaced it with a second one.

After the second blood bag was filled, he removed the needle and bandaged my leg. A green pegasus nurse provided a pitcher of water and several apples so I could regain my strength. I quietly devoured them before the same gray colt led me to a shower, where the proper toiletries had been ever-so-kindly laid out for me, then left me to my own devices.

I quietly disrobed myself and stepped into the soothing stream of warm water. My mind began to wander, lost between the mixed sensations of pleasure and apprehension. As I scrubbed the red splotches away, I realized exactly how much of her essence had stained me. I watched them swirl down the drain and shuddered at the sensation. I felt like a stand-in for Janet Neigh, living out her Equestria-famous bathroom scene from that one Alfred Hitchcolt movie. As red faded to pink and pink gave way to white, all I could think about was her. What caused her to end up like that, and why? I steeled my nerves as I thought back to what I had seen back in the forest. The young filly had severed her leg and her wing, which meant she either has a powerful survival instinct, a very high tolerance for pain, or possibly both. Most likely both. The improvised medical techniques she used showed that she knew what she was doing. She seemed intelligent, yet extremely cautious and methodical. The expression on her face was powerful and determined, but also stricken with misery and desperation. She experienced a great triumph tonight, and conversely suffered an incredible loss as well.

This filly was truly a rare breed, and not just because she was an alicorn like me.

I dried off, redressed, and returned to the waiting room. The lack of information was unbearable. Eventually, I noticed the time on a nearby clock and willed the sun to rise. As morning began to creep its way across the skies of Equestria, and after six hours of pacing around the waiting room like a caged animal, a blue law enforcement unicorn entered the hospital and approached me. My four carriage-pullers accompanied him, including my lieutenant, whose injured wing was now lightly bound in a sling.

“Well, what have you discovered?” I asked, sick with worry. Speed Freak spoke first.

“We followed the blood trail, Your Majesty, and regretfully, it originated from Tumblestone Canyon, which recently endured an unanticipated rockslide.”

“Tumblestone Canyon!?” I cringed, “Oh dear…”

“This is Sergeant Siren.” He pointed to the unicorn in uniform. “He can better explain the situation.”

“Upon arriving at the scene, Princess,” the unicorn explained, “rescue pegasi sifted through the debris and discovered a wagon amongst the rubble. They recovered the bodies of a stallion and mare, and a forensic unicorn also uncovered the severed leg and wing of a silver pegasus, each crushed beneath a large boulder.”

“Have the remains been identified?”

“A picture of the family was recovered.” he admitted as he presented me a picture inside a clear evidence pouch. “The bodies are those of Sledge Hammer and Acrylic Paint, residents of Silicanter Valley. They were husband and wife, but they were killed instantly. The severed limbs belong to their daughter, Impact Hammer, who is currently presumed missing.

“Daughter? Oh no…” I groaned miserably. I stared at the picture and immediately recognized the smiling face of the filly that nearly died beneath my hooves. “She’s not missing.” I choked, “I brought her here. My guards and I found her unconscious. She’s in surgery as we speak.” I paused for a moment. “What about her…limbs? Can they be reattached?”

“I’m sorry, Princess, they were crushed beyond repair, and even if they could be saved, she’d never fly or walk again. They will be buried alongside her parents in the nearest cemetery, which I believe lies on the outer limits of a town called Ponyville.” He scribbled some notes in his notepad then looked up. “She made it from Tumblestone to Canterlot on three hooves? Without magic?” he asked skeptically, “Interesting…” He scribbled in his notepad some more.

“You can’t possibly suspect her for their deaths, do you?” I pondered, slightly angered.

“Not at all!” the officer assured me, “We just need to ask her some questions about the incident. A hatchet was found at the scene, with her blood on the blade and a magical residue on the handle.”

“Who would be so heartless as to dismember an innocent filly?” I wondered aloud.

“That’s why we want to question her. Hopefully she can tell us who committed this atrocity.”

Suddenly, the double doors of the lobby burst open and the teal unicorn doctor emerged.

“Princess?” she called quietly, “The surgery was a success. Your little friend is safe. Please follow me.”

“How is she?” I asked, relieved but still very worried.

“It took four pints of blood, including the two you so graciously donated, but she’s stable.” the doctor explained as she led me down a hospital corridor, “Her injuries were quite extensive, but her ingenuity and perseverance may have saved her life. She tied those tourniquets exactly how a paramedic would, as if she got the knowledge straight out of a book. After some post-op testing, she should be cleared to leave before the end of the week. Well, here we are.” she said as we stopped outside the room where Impact was recovering, “The anesthesia is wearing off, so she should wake up any minute now.”

As I carefully steeped into the room, I was torn between grief and relief as I beheld the filly on the hospital bed. She was now a fraction of the pony she once was, the remains of her left foreleg and wing wrapped in bandages. I could see the pain in the twisted grimace on her face as she awakened.

“Book...” she mumbled, her eyes still closed, “Where’s…my…book…”

“Book?” I asked curiously.

“It’s a…library book…I’m not…finished…with it…”

“We found a book in her saddlebag.” Officer Siren said, “Let me get it.”

He pulled the book from his satchel and passed it to the doctor. She took one look at the cover and started chuckling.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“It’s just like I told you, Princess.” she said as she passed it to me, “Straight out of a book.”

I couldn’t resist cracking a smile as I read the title: Emergency First-Aid: Treating Twenty-Two Types of Trauma.

“Your name is Impact Hammer, correct?” I asked the awakening filly.

“Yes…” she replied, eyes still shut.

“Here you go, dear.” I said with a smile as I passed the book to her. “It seems a little advanced for a filly your age, but it sounds like a fascinating book.”

“It is…Thank you…” she replied politely as her eyes opened, widening as they adjusted to the light of the room. “…Princess…Celestia!?!?” she spluttered, gasping for breath, “I-I-I…”

She tried to climb out of her bed, obviously in an attempt to kneel out of respect for my presence. I stopped her by pressing a hoof to her chest.

“Please don’t strain yourself, young one, just rest. The joy and relief of knowing you’re still alive is the only honor you need present me.”

“Where…am…I?” she asked, gradually calming down.

“Canterlot Hospital. You’ve been in a terrible accident. Your left foreleg and your left wing were brutally amputated.”

“Oh…” she said, looking at where her left foreleg once was. “I know that…”

“Impact, try to remember. Can you describe exactly who or what did this to you?”

She paused, unsure how to respond, as if whatever answer she gave would be the wrong one.

“I did this...” she gasped.

“What did you say?” I shouted incredulously.

“My limbs were…broken…pinned by rocks…I used my hatchet…to cut myself free…”

“But…why?”

“I screamed…and screamed…but nopony came…to rescue me…so I rescued…myself.”

Impact proceeded to describe for us the unfortunate chain of events that had led to her current condition. In extreme detail…

After she finished speaking, I retreated into the hall with the doctor and the police unicorn behind me. I was very happy that Impact was alive, but trying to mentally process her vividly graphic description of her torturous ordeal had left me physically ill.

Royal protocol, my flanks, I thought to myself as I raced to the nearest garbage bin and vomited furiously into it. That was by far the most disturbing story I’d heard in millennia, and I’d read Cupcakes, Rocket to Insanity, and Rainbow Factory without breaking so much as a sweat. Those were fiction, albeit highly disturbing fiction, but this was absolutely real. I couldn’t just close the cover on this nightmare…

“Princess!? Are you alright?” the doctor asked.

“Yes. Just ate a bad apple…” I groaned, spouting a little white lie as I wiped the foul-tasting residue from my lips, “It could’ve happened to anypony… What more can you tell me about her? Will she ever walk again? Will she ever fly again?”

“We attempted a radical new procedure known as osseointegration. A single titanium bolt was embedded into the bone at the end of each amputation site. Over the course of months and eventually years, the metal and bone will fuse together, creating a permanent anchor point for any future prosthetics. Walking will be possible, even without prosthetics, but I highly doubt that she’ll ever fly again, even with them.”

“Is there any sadder sight than a one-winged pegasus, permanently grounded in the prime of her life?” I said mournfully as I looked at Impact through the window of her room, “What’s going to happen to her now? Does she have somepony out there who can care for her?”

“According to her family history,” the doctor explained while looking at Impact’s medical history, “her parents were her only living relatives. No aunts or uncles, no living grandparents, nopony at all. She’s an orphan now, and on top of that, she’s an alicorn! As far as Equestria is concerned, she’s not even supposed to exist! I can’t imagine the hardship she’s going to go through at Mrs. Carewell’s orphanage. It could take a long time before she meets an appropriate guardian…if she’s ever adopted at all…”

“I’ll do it.” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

“No disrespect, Your Majesty, but do you realize what you’re saying?” the officer asked in disbelief.

“Yes. She has nopony left in her life: nopony to shelter her, nopony to protect her, and nopony to love her, so I shall fill that role.”

“Are you sure? Adopting a filly is a serious responsibility.”

“I have raised and lowered the sun and moon every single day for a thousand years, Officer.” I reply firmly, my spirits lifting as a wave of happiness drenches me, “Responsibility is not an issue for me. Besides, my blood now runs in her veins, and she reminds me of myself when I was a filly.”

“Very well.” the police unicorn replied.

“Princess Celestia?” I heard Impact call from behind me. I turn around to look at her in her hospital bed, but she’s not there. I look down…and she has knelt before me, her horn touching the floor, her freshly stitched wounds weeping blood through their bandages.

“Thank you for saving me.” she said as her wheezing faded and she began to speak in complete sentences, “I don’t deserve your kindness…”

“What are you doing, little one?” I gasped in horror, “You should be resting in bed! You’ve been through quite a traumatic experience.”

“It hurts. Oh Celestia, it hurts…”

“What hurts, my dear? Your leg? Your wing?”

“My heart…”

“Why does your heart hurt?”

“My parents never made it out of the canyon, did they? They’re dead, aren’t they?”

“I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“I guess my birthday wish didn’t come true this year…” she sighed, lowering her head despondently.

“Birthday wish?” I wondered.

“Yesterday, Your Majesty. November 17th.”

“What did you wish for?” I asked nervously.

“I wished…for a safe journey home…” she whimpered, “Now I’m hoofcapped, my parents are dead and it’s my fault!”

My heart stopped. This little filly lost everypony she ever loved… and survived an experience that most ponies would not have lived through…on her birthday!

“I wanted to stay by their side.” she continued as she looked at me, trembling with cold and shuddering with fear. “I wanted to be with them until the end, but they told me to run. Do they blame me for not trying to help them? Are they mad at me because I ran away? Are they dead because of me?” Tears began welling up in her eyes.

“Oh, not at all!” I said softly, lowering my gaze even with hers. “You should be more grateful that you’re still alive! The hooves of fate work in mysterious ways, little Impact, but I believe that your parents will always smile down upon you from the heavens.”

“I know…but this was just one day!” she moaned, “How can I survive without my parents for the rest of my life? I’m just a filly, but now I'm all alone!” She leapt toward me, pressing her head against my neck, and broke down crying. “I’m all alone…”

“No, you’re not." I declared with a stomp of my hoof, "Not anymore. Once the doctors say you can leave the hospital, you’re coming to Canterlot to stay in the Royal Palace with me.”

“Really?” she gasped in disbelief.

“Absolutely!” I replied with a smile, “You’re an alicorn with nopony to take care of you; I’m an alicorn with nopony to take care of. Who better to protect you than another of your own kind?”

“Thank you so…” she started to say before she toppled over. Luckily, I caught her before she did any damage. One of the doctors checked for injuries.

“It’s alright, Princess. She’s just a little dizzy from the anesthesia. Just don’t let her stumps touch anything and she should be fine.”

“But…why me?” Impact groaned as the nurses lifted her back into her bed. “I’m no princess…”

“But you are now, child.” I said, showing her my bandaged leg, “The doctors took some of my blood and put it inside you. So in a way, you have royal blood in your veins, which makes you a princess after all, and I promise I will always be there for you.”

"Will you still be here when I wake up?" the filly asked.

"Yes. Yes I will." Celestia responded sweetly.

“OK, Mama,” she mumbled in her delirium as she fell back asleep, “I trust you.”

As the sun continued rising outside the window and everypony left the room, I pulled up a chair and watched her as she slept. I felt a single tear of joy roll down my cheek as I ran my hoof through her mane.

My prayers had finally been answered…

I wasn’t alone anymore…

(End Flashback)

“Wow…That was a beautiful story, Princess.” Twilight said, wiping a tear from her eye with her hoof. “You…adopted her?”

“Thank you, Twilight.” Celestia replied. “Yes, I did, but we had to keep her alicorn heritage a secret from all of Equestria.”

“A secret?”

“For the first six months after my surgery, I was forbidden by royal and medical decree to leave the castle so my stitches could heal and I could relearn how to walk.” Impact explained, “I finished perfecting my first set of prosthetics a year after my surgery, and the doctors said my implants had fused far enough into my bones to safely use them. I was free to go outside under supervision, but Celestia warned me to keep my wings covered at all times, especially in public places with her.”

“Sound like she kept ya on a purdy tight leash.” Applejack mentioned.

“I guess you could say that, but I never really cared. I knew my safety was always her first priority.”

“How long did that last?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

“We spent six years together,” the silver alicorn continued, “Until about three months before the Summer Sun Celebration. I told her that I was leaving Canterlot, and I didn’t know when I was coming back, if I ever would at all. She vehemently refused at first, and we had a massive argument. Words were hurled around, spells were cast, and many things were destroyed, but I eventually told her that I needed to find myself, and I needed to do it alone. We said our tearful goodbyes, and we never saw or spoke to each other again… until today.”

“SO TRAGIC…” Fluttershy bawled.

“YET SO BEAUTIFUL!” Rarity mumbled as she sobbed.

“I KNOW, RIGHT?” Pinkie Pie blubbered as she hugged her two friends tightly.

“There’s one thing I still need to know, Princess.” Impact said quietly, “I mean no disrespect, but I must ask…Why do so much just for me?”

“Because of who you are,” the princess sighed sweetly, “and because of what you are.”

“What’s that gotta do with it?” Applejack wondered.

“After I was forced to banish my sister to the moon,” Celestia continued somberly, “I was devastated, but I put on a brave face for the sake of Equestria. However, when I returned to my castle at night, I was inconsolably miserable. My servants tried their best to comfort me, but nothing ever worked.”

A wave of sadness swept across the room as Celestia continued.

“I had thousands of faithful followers: earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns alike, among other creatures. However, as the centuries passed, one thing was always the same; the only time I saw another alicorn was when I looked at the moon or in the mirror. I had everything a pony could ever ask for, but I still felt empty inside. Until the day I found you, Impact Hammer. That’s when everything changed.”

“What do you mean, Princess?” Impact queried.

“When my royal escort first discovered you, Impact, your silver coat stained crimson, I was worried, and as I caught my first glimpse of your mangled, unconscious body, I was terrified, but what truly mortified me most was the fact that from the moment I placed my hoof upon your chest, felt that single heartbeat, and realized you were still alive…all I could see was my dear sister Luna.”

“Me?” Luna said incredulously.

“Yes.” Celestia replied, turning to her sister. “In my mind, dear sister, you were lying on the ground before me, screaming in agony as your life force drained away before my very eyes. I’m the strongest creature in Equestria, but in that moment, I truly felt powerless. It made me hate myself even more for banishing you. I thought that by saving Impact, I could somehow redeem myself for what I did to you.”

“Whoa.” Luna gasped.

“That’s pretty deep.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Impact,” Celestia said, turning her attention back to the silver alicorn, “your presence in my life may have been my most closely-guarded secret, but it filled a hole in my heart I never thought I could close, so for that I sincerely thank you.”

“You’re absolutely welcome, Princess,” replied a stunned Impact, “but I completely understand how you feel.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Celestia replied, thoroughly confused.

“When I first woke up in the hospital after the surgery, I thought I saw my mother standing at my bedside, but as my eyes focused, I realized it wasn’t her. It was you.”

“Oh…” Celestia said, averting her eyes from the alicorn, “I was just trying to make sure that…”

“Little did I realize at the time, but that’s exactly who you became.”

Everypony gasped as the Sun Princess whirled back around.

“What?” she asked, now thoroughly shocked.

“Think about it.” the alicorn continued, “You personally carried me to a hospital when I was wounded and waited by my bedside until I recovered. You invited me into your home and nursed me back to health. You took me under your wing, taught me the ways of the world, and tucked me into bed at night every chance you could, all without order or obligation.”

Celestia’s gaze softened as her heart began to melt. The silver alicorn moved forward to look the elder princess of Equestria straight in the face.

“Everypony acknowledges you by your title, most can address you by name, and a select few have special monikers only they can use,” she nudged in the directions of Luna and Twilight, “but your love and compassion made me the only pony in Equestria who can truly call you…”

As the clock on the wall struck midnight, Impact leapt forward, pressed her head against the princess’ neck, and broke down crying, just like she did a decade ago on this very day.

“…Mother.”

With that one word, the heart of the strongest pony in Equestria shattered, and the mare whose blood it pumped became an emotional wreck. She wrapped her wings around the sobbing pony, clutched her to her chest, and cried. They cried wordlessly for several minutes. Nopony else wanted to say anything. What could be said at a moment like this?