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Chris settled himself into the bath, feeling a little stressed and hoped it would unwined the carbon-fiber spring he felt like. His eyes closed and he blew out the hot air from his lungs. He rubbed his shoulder, which looked bent and was actually improperly healed. It hurt from the numerous times he body hit the hay bail barrier. In fact most of his body hurt, more than usual. Besides the strike points Shining Armor made on his unarmored body, his head hurt the most.

Faint whispers echoed in the back of his mind, thoughts and memories he didn't recognize at all. Cries for help, fears, many troubling echos made his inner paranoia soar to new heights. It hurt, hearing these voices, many of them pounded at his head. A headache grew, the bath turned to a not-so-relaxing bath real quick as he began to realize this castle wasn't safe from the undead. An annoyed grunt left his lips while he tried to calm himself. There was no need to be on edge, he was safe-

"I'm safe, I'm safe, I'm safe..." It had done nothing to aid him. His heart rate continued to rise and so did his paranoia. IHATEYOU!WHYDON'TYOUJUSTDIE!THECOURTDECLARESYOUGUILTYONALLCOUNTS! The echos flooded through his mind, flashes of memories not his own, he had no idea what was going on, but it made his head throb. His mind racing as fast as his heart, he struggled to calm himself.

"Chris!" A female voice cried out, causing his mind to snap back away from the echos. As they quieted down, he saw Celestia run across the bathroom to him as he laid in the tub. He was gasping, hand over chest, and his face was blood red. "Chris are you alright!"

"G-god....no...I-I..." He gasped for air.

Celestia removed her royal garbs and got into the tub with Chris. She wrapped her forelegs around his torso, and gave him a tight hug. "Hey, it's alright, I'm here."

He responded with a whimper and hugged her back. "F-fuck..."

"What happened? Why are you freaking out?"

"T-the voices....so much hate....I-I think my powers are getting stronger. Everything's not a faint whisper anymore..." He held her tighter, rubbing his head against her neck. "I-it hurts....so many voices now, they're all so loud, a-and when you came...they vanished."

Celestia didn't know what to say, unsure how to react. She's dealt with the guard, after the Lunar War and the Griffin Wars, many came back from the warfront with PTSD, or "war shock" as many preferred to call it. With this experience, all she had was an idea how to help Chris. PTSD had a very low recovery rate, and Chris had dealt with his abuse for all his life until he came to Equestria where the only major problem was with a Spirit. It was hard to help someone with PTSD, the first thing you had to be aware of was that you had to keep them calm, and know what sets them off. Celestia was pretty much the mother of all ponies in her kingdom, so was Luna, but Celestia had taken care of the ponies for a thousand years. She rubbed his back with a hoof, helping him settle down. She could feel his heart beat rapidly, it almost hurt her to see him like this. He was troubled, but he was not a trouble maker, trouble came to him like a magnate.

Chris' breathing was a small stutter, like how one would breath when they were cold. "You okay now?" Celestia asked.

"J-just hold me....p-please...." He nearly begged through a whimper. His voice was higher pitched. Celestia pulled her head back and looked at Chris in his naked form.

He was hairy, just a little bit anyways. Bits of hair covered his legs and arms, his pits were also a little hairy. His hair while wet was a little longer, nearly going past his shoulders. A bit of hair here and there on his chest and back, not to forget about the bush down where his crotch was. She knew humans shaved those areas most often, but he had seemed to leave himself natural, either that or he didn't trust himself with a blade near his ballsack. Celestia didn't blame him. His once lighter blue eyes were nearly black again. If it wasn't for her exceptional vision, she could barely see his pupils with how dark his irises were.

The two of them looked at one another before Chris' body went limp. His arms fell back to his sides, his whole size actually seemed to shrink.

"Y-you're....you're....too....too kind..." He said, his voice sounding a lot more lighter than his normally deep voice. "I trust you...you're like her, like the nice lady..."

Celestia tilted her head. "Chris?"

"I'm not Chris, I mean...I am, but..."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"I can trust you. You're nice, sweet." He smiled. "Chris is hurt, badly. You need to take him to the hospital and check his heart."

"Is he dying?"

"We'er all dying, it depends on how you look at it. Chris' heart is pumping for now, but he's dealt with so much sorrow and stress, his heartstrings are weak."

"Heartstrings? I don't believe I've heard of these."

"We discovered them. They are tiny fibers in the heart that helps keep its beat and makes the muscle more elastic. They grow weak and die, the heart becomes harder to pump." The other Chris said. "Abuse, the death of his mother, the death of his only close friends due to suicide, and years of feeling worthless. They add up over the years. Ever hear of someone dying of a broken heart?"

Luckily Celestia had read plenty of romance novels to understand what he was talking about. Many mares who loved their husbands dearly, seeing them die, had also put many of these mares into dark places. For Chris, this was all real. His heart was weak. "But we don't have human hearts for him, we don't know how to help him."

"Yes you do."

"But-"

He shook his head. "Come on Celestia...you have a foal on the way. He needs a pony father, and he knows it. A pony father to help whatever kind of troubles that would come his or her way."

"Does he really want to?" She asked him. "Become a pony I mean?"

"With a new heart, you can save his life, and add countless years back to his lifespan. So you have two choices: Keep him a human and risk his life, or, turn him into a pony and extend the time the two of you have together."

Celestia became quiet, somehow both of them were still in the tub, but her mind was racing, thinking of her options. She came to Chris when she felt like he was in danger. He needed to be healed, but Celestia wanted her foal to know who its father really was. Chris' body became limp again, this time she knew he was sleeping.

After taking care of Chris, putting him to bed a little early in the day, drained the tub, and still thought of her options. Wants and needs of the immortal were vastly more difficult to chose from, and now a life was on the line, Chris' life.

Author's Note

Yes, I know this chapter is short, but it's nearly a week before the wedding. An Intermission chapter like this was kinda needed I suppose, I may actually add onto this on a later date.

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