The Wolf and the Unicorn

“Have you ever wondered what language they speak in Limbo?”― Lee T. Gallup

I was standing in a vaguely familiar darkness as a voice I faintly remembered echoed through the room.

"You again?  I told you, when your past is complete and you have entered Judgement, we would meet again.  This is not the time.  Begone mortal."

What was going on now?  The last thing I remembered was ripping the heart out of that thrice damned lizard.  Where was I, and why do I feel like I am forgetting something?

The black seems to stretch on forever in every direction.

Wait, was that a flicker of light in the distance?

Why is there a gentle wind in here?  Wherever here is.

A brighter flash of pinkish red light.

"Hex..."

What?  Am I going crazy?

Nearer, pulsing light.

"Hex you need to wake up."

Blinding light strobed above my head.

"Hex, you need to wake up.  You are in a coma."

What the fuck do you mean I am in a coma?

The entire room rippled with pink light as the feminine voice spoke again.

"He's waking up.  His eyes moved.  Keep talking everypony!"

Light began flooding the room from small cracks that slowly grew larger.

"Hex, wake up.  WAKE UP!"

Pain.  Why the hell am I feeling pain?  I'm alone in here minus some crazy voice and it felt like someone slapped me.

"WAKE UP YOU BASTARD!"

Agony flooded my being as my eyes shot open and the colors flowed into the blurry figures of ponies surrounding me.

"wha?  whs thrre?"

Why the fuck isn't my tongue working?  It feels like I have a mouth full of sawdust and eyes full of grit.

"Hold still.  This will probably hurt... a lot."

A colored haze covered my vision, not that I could tell what color it was.  It could have been pleenkue I guess.

Pain streamed through me, coursing through every fiber of my being as I arched my back and screamed.

The black took me again.

When I woke up, my eyes actually worked.  I could see the smiling figures of the Princesses, Twilight, Spike, and several other ponies crowded around me.  It looked like I was in some kind of bed.  A hospital would be my guess as there were lots of balloons with Pinkie's face on them floating around get better soon signs.

"Hex, we are all glad you are..."  Princess Celestia started softly.

"Yeah Hex, we're all glad you are better!  I brought you balloons to cheer you up.  Did you feel the cheer in your coma?"

Of course it was Pinkie.  Wait, COMA?!

So it turns out that I was in a coma for nearly two weeks.  It took them three days to be able to get me out of the flaming crater I killed the basilisk in.  My magic burned so hot for so long that nothing remained of the creature other then a few greasy ashes.  The stones in the town square were melted where I had stepped.  The Princesses visited me as often as possible, and the girls were in pretty much all day every day.  The voices I heard trying to wake me up were them.  Luna spent several nights by my bed after I saved her life.  Celestia checked in several times herself.

Apparently all of Ponyville was busy while I was sleeping though.  With their usual speed, they designed, voted and built a surprise for me, to be dedicated when I was able to get out of the hospital.  The curiosity was killing me, but according to Nurse Redheart, if I didn't stay in bed a few more days, my injuries would kill me, as she gestured at my bandaged hands.  There was supposedly some lasting effects of the magic I had used.  Twilight tried to explain, but it got technical fast.

Thankfully, Celestia and Luna were present to speak normal for me.  I might be smart otherwise, but magic is all new to me.  In common speak, other then my injuries sustained by the basilisk, I was suffering from extreme magic depletion.  The one Twilight was really interested in was what had happened to the crystals in my hands and why my eyes hurt so badly.

Nopony wanted to say anything when I asked what was going on.  They just fidgeted and looked at each other or down.  Finally, of all people...erm...ponies, the quiet one was the pony to break the silence.  I finally get to meet Fluttershy huh.

"Um, what Twilight is trying to say, if you don't mind, was the magical fire was so hot that the crystals, um, spread.  You were naked when we finally got you out of the hole"

"What the fuck do you mean they spread?!  I was naked AGAIN?!" I yelled hoarsly.

Immediately I felt bad, as the timid Pegasus hid behind her friends with a quiet "meep."

"Fluttershy, I'm sorry for yelling.  I just wish someone, I mean somepony, would tell me what is going on."

All I got out of her was a soft nod, which made me feel no better.  Thankfully, common sense overruled the rest of the ponies as Celestia began to speak, her horn blazing to life.

"Hex, what they meant by spread was just that."  I could feel her magic tugging at the bandages on my hands, slowly unraveling them.

"When your magic burned that hot, the only way it could spare your life was to spread.  Look at your hands please."

As I looked down, I could see small green and gold lines tracing on my skin next to the veins.  Where my nails used to be were smooth slabs of hard emerald crystal.  Before I could speak, a magical mirror flashed to life in front of my face.  My eyes, eyes that I prided myself on my whole life, were...different.  My left eye was the same shade as the green gems, where as my right was a burning gold.  Looking closer, I could see small jagged shapes where the normal swirls and twists would be.

"I...I... what the hell?"

The ponies (and Princesses) stayed by my bed for a few hours trying to comfort me and help me understand what was going on.  I was thankful for that.

When night fell, a tingling sensation crossed the back of my neck.  Something was going to happen.

With a soft rustle, Princess Luna appeared in my room.  Curious that I felt this before she appeared, but I'll have to ask Twilight to explain it later.

"Hex, we...I...I am glad you are out of your coma and feeling much better.  My sister and I used as much magic as we could spare to try to heal your injuries.  I do hope they do not pain you."

After spending so much time in each others company, I still didn't understand why she spoke like that.

"I'm feeling a lot better now that I am awake.  There is some loss of sensation, but I'm guessing thats from having gems where there didn't used to be gems."  I had to chuckle at that one.  I just hoped there wasn't a gem in my brain or something crazy.

"Nobo...Nopony actually told me what happened in any detail after I sort of blacked out.  They just looked around awkwardly.  I don't suppose you can fill me in any?  Everyone looked so uncomfortable while you all were here earlier."

She just sighed and looked at me.  Strange, but whatever.

"Hex, lean forward please.  There are a few other things you should know."

That grabbed my attention, and I quickly bent forward, only to feel a hoof running down my shoulder blades.  The hoof suddenly stopped when there was a scraping noise.

"Luna, why is my back making a noise like that?  Also why can I only kind of feel the touch of your hoof there?"

She sighed again, "they didn't have the heart to tell you that you have crystals imbedded in your shoulders now.  I think thats related to what happened though.  When your weapon was tossed away, we recovered it by the way, but that is a different subject, you flew into a rage.  Around the same time, I was pinned under that creature, but I could still see what was happening as my guards tried to push it away.  You burst into magical flame, like everypony already said.  What they left out was pretty important though.  Black tendrils similar to your tattoos snaked through the flame, you had glowing claws that seemed to cut through the basilisk with ease.  The ones that they wanted to share later are what I think are what you need to know.  Your eyes were radiant gold and green until you cut into the beast.  Then they changed.  They changed to the color of blood as you tore into it.  Thats not even getting into your wings."

The last bit didn't click.  I can get the rest, but wings?

"One more time on the last bit there please Luna?"

"You had wings.  Not feathered ones like mine, but they were manifested of the same magic you were killing the creature with.  They were more like waves of energy flowing out from your shoulders, exactly where those crystals are."

She just had to emphasize that by tapping my back with a hoof and only getting a small click noise from the contact.

What the fuck.

Luna left some time later after talking about anything that came to mind.  I think all the serious talk and me being in a coma wore her out.  She looked downright exhausted.  Thankfully, sleep came to me pretty quickly after she left.

The following few days were pretty boring.  Me begging Redheart to let me out, the girls coming by to say hi and check in, horrible hospital food and the like.

Checkout day was certainly a doozie though.  I was still feeling pretty weak, but as usual the ponies had thought ahead to that and conjured up something looking similar to a wheelchair.  Twilight pushed it along as she walked, hardly more then a gesture to herself.  When the doors leading out of the hospital opened, that was something I was not expecting.

The ponies of Ponyville had lined up outside the doors to welcome me home with cheering and more Pinkie shaped balloons.  I guess by killing a rampaging monster one gets accepted pretty fast.  As I was pushed along, the crowd slowly formed behind us, gently nudging toward the center of town.

"Hex, when we get close, Pinkie wants me to blindfold you for your surprise, okay."

So long as Twilight gave me warning, I couldn't care less.  I just shrugged.

Sooner then I thought, I could feel a tingle in my neck, and then the soft caress of fabric slipping over my eyes as the world went dark.  We rounded a corner, and stopped.  I could tell we were here.  You could still smell the faint scent of smoke and pain.

"Everypony, quiet please."  The Mayor started, " Hex, in thanks for you saving our own of Ponyville, we would like to dedicate this to you and your heroism."

The fabric slid away and my jaw dropped.  Where a massive flaming crater used to be was a large inset fountain.  A fountain that had a statue of a wolf very reminiscent of myself standing in the center of the pool.  The cracked stones where I had stepped were replaced with a small aqueduct that trailed toward the pool.  Something made my hair stand on end.  It was a feeling that was starting to get associated with magic use.

Streams of golden tinted water burst out of the emerald pool, showering the statue in cascading showers of golds and reds.  I really had no idea what to say, but before anything came to mind, Twilight whispered in my ear.

"That's not everything for the fountain.  We'll have to bring you back at night so you can see what the magic powering it does then."

I can't believe the damn ponies built a fountain of me.  What the hell.  Kind of awesome though.