Chapter 15: Coma

Discord had already been rushed into Ponyville Hospital by the time the three Gators slid to a halt outside.

The humans and Equestrians piled off and headed for the front door. Inside, the atmosphere was tense as Fluttershy and Celestia greeted them in the lobby.

"He's in the ICU," Fluttershy said, her face taut with worry. "The doctors told us to wait out here."

Twilight sat next to Fluttershy. Hamilton sat next to her on the other side.

Time ticked by for a bit in silence. Fluttershy kept glancing at Twilight out of the corner of her eyes.

Finally she spoke. "Twilight?" Her voice was husky.

"Hey, Fluttershy. Are you okay?"

She looked up, her eyes moist again. "No, not really, and that's partly my own fault. Twilight, I'm really sorry about what I said to you in the clearing. I knew you were only trying to help, but I was so... I mean, It was a terrible thing to say. I don't hate you. I could never. Please forgive me."

Twilight reached out and gave Fluttershy a hug. "I know. It was a terrible moment for all of us. Especially for you. You're closer to Discord than any of us."

Fluttershy sniffled and touched her eye with her hoof. "Thank you Twilight. I just... I just hope he'll be okay."

"The hospital will do everything they can for him, and so will we."

Soon after, the doctor came out. "We have moved him to a bed. If you will follow me..." The lab-coated pony hesitated. "I may have to ask some of you to wait in the hallway. I don't know if there's enough room for all of you."

They stood quickly, and he led them through several hallways into a medium sized ward, noticeably empty of other patients.

"With Discord's powers and, uh, colorful history, we want to keep him separate if there is any possibility of his awakening in a disturbed mental state. We can find nothing wrong with him physically. We have taken X-rays of his head and neck region, but it appears normal, even given how little we know of his anatomy."

Celestia looked at Discord's still, pale form on the hospital bed. Fluttershy sat on a chair next to him, and gently placed her hoof on his motionless claw.

"It's hard to tell what's going on," the head doctor continued. "His vitals appear to be quite different from our own. We have never had a creature like him under our care before. We don't even know what is normal for him." The doctor gestured at the nurses in attendance. "Right now we've got him on a simple saline hydration IV. As for other drugs or treatments, well, we don't know if something might kill him outright. Look at this over here." He pointed at the EEG machine, its wire leads taped onto Discord's forehead. "According to the machine, he is conscious right now. But he is completely unresponsive, and his body is behaving as if he were comatose. This situation is beyond our scope. We need somepony who specializes in magic."

Zecora moved closer to Discord, reaching put a hoof to touch his forehead. She closed her eyes for a moment. After a few seconds, Celestia noticed they were breathing in unison, Zecora matching the slow, shallow rise and fall of his chest. After a moment she stepped back.

"Neither dragon nor pony resides within,
His chaotic spirit is trapped inside,
He cannot feel our presence,
Yet still his essence,
Awaits release to be united again."
Rainbow dash cocked her head. "Zecora? What does that mean?"
"Your quest you must complete,
Many horrors must you defeat.
Here I must remain,
His soul to sustain,
Else he will never be Discord again."

Celestia spoke to the others. "His body is stable, but his mind is injured. Zecora must remain and help him." With great effort she kept her face neutral, pangs of regret thrashing within her. It's your fault this happened. You asked him. He wouldn't refuse you. You should have known better.

Zecora nodded and put a hoof on Celestia's shoulder, pulling her aside and speaking into her ear in a low tone.

"Blame not yourself, he went willingly.
To protect his friends he took the opportunity.
Though he suffers much,
From evil's touch,
I'm sure, although he'd never say,
To protect you all, he'd give much more than he has today."

Celestia sniffed almost indiscernibly and swallowed at the lump in her throat. "Thank you, Zecora. Please help him." She turned to the doctor. "Zecora here has extensive knowledge of magically inflicted maladies and injuries. She will be your specialist."

The doctor looked at Zecora for a moment, then nodded his approval. "I've seen your work before, you have great skill in areas of medicine we do not often deal with. Very well. As this is a unique situation, we will... suspend standard protocol. We will give you laboratory space, and continue providing whatever assistance we can. If there is anything anything we can do to help, just say the word."

"Go Princess, I will do what I can,
But to bring him forth from madness edge,
You must depart soon, must drive a wedge,
Betwixt the dark abyss and the world of Man."

"Good fortune to you, Zecora," Celestia said. She stepped close to Discord's bed and whispered in his ear. "Discord. If you can hear me, we're going to find a way to help you. Zecora will stay here and take care of you for now. I'm so sorry for what happened to you."
She stood up and headed for the door. "We had best go immediately."

Zecora nodded, already absorbed in checking Discord's body and taking notes.

Fluttershy leaned over and gave Discord a kiss on his pale cheek, spoke indiscernible words quickly into his ear, then followed the rest of the group out of the hospital ward.

Outside the hospital, Celestia paused for a moment. "Are we ready to depart now?"

"I already have somepony watching my animals," Fluttershy said. "I'm ready."

"Starlight Glimmer should be set for now with Spike helping her," Twilight added.

"She's really cute," Hamilton said quietly, seemingly to himself.

McAllister, who was close enough to hear, grinned mischievously and opened his mouth, then thought better of it and pretended to cough into his hand instead.

"We should get moving." Rainbow Dash waved her hoof at the sky. "The day won't wait for us!"

Chris and Emmy swung into the front seat of their Gator. "Lets ride."

Celestia and Marky got into the back seat, sitting next to each other. Chris spun the wheel and led the two other vehicles in a convoy back towards the Oblivion Gate.

As the rocks kicked up behind them, Celestia spoke. "Marky?"

He stiffened slightly. "Yes Princess?"

"Call me Celestia, please. And relax, I'm not going to bite you."

"Sure thing, Prin- uh, Celestia, ma'am."

"Drop the ma'am please. Do you mind if I ask you some personal questions?"

"Um, no, not at all. Ask away."

"Are you a Prince?"

Marky cocked his head. "What? Why would I be a prince?"

"You are an Alicorn. Alicorns are rather uncommon. Gifted by special circumstances, if you will."

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean by 'special circumstances'."

"Well, I am, after all, a Princess of Equestria. Every Alicorn is a Princess in Equestria."

Marky blinked. "Well, where I come from, there are a lot of Alicorns, and not much special about the most of them."

"A lot?" Celestia squinted slightly.

"Yeah. Most everyone is an Alicorn, in fact. It's... ordinary. I mean, you stay after school and there are Alicorn janitors cleaning up the halls. Go to to Pattymelt King for lunch, and it's Alicorns cooking up your food. Alicorns jumping off the garbage truck to pick up your trash cans in the morning. Alicorns everywhere. Everyone is an Alicorn."

It was Celestia's turn to look surprised. "If everypony is an Alicorn, your society must be possessed of a very powerful magic!"

Marky shook his head and chuckled. "Not where I come from. Alicorns are the weakest in magic."

Celestia's confusion grew. "How can that be?"

"Well, as an Alicorn, the small amount of magic inside us is split between telekinesis and flight. It is spread thin, and as a result we are not especially strong in any one area. On the rare occasions that a foal is born lacking a horn or wings, the magic is concentrated into the one remaining skill. For instance, a Unicorn may not be strong or able to fly, but her magic is incredibly powerful compared to an ordinary Alicorn, while the weakest Pegasus can seriously outperform even the most powerful Alicorn fliers."

Celestia openly gaped at him, her royal bearing unable to cover her amazement.

Marky continued. "All the most successful ponies are single-skill. If you are born with just a horn or wings, you pretty much have a guaranteed career of your choosing, educational scholarships, the works. Everyone wants your powers working for them. And if you're lucky enough to be born with the rarest skill of all, an Earth Pony, you're an unstoppable juggernaut with immense strength and endurance that nobody else can compare to. Something about the magic being pent up in the body with no outlet, or something. I wasn't the best in biomagical science." He paused.

Celestia pointed at his upper thigh, covered by his Glock holster. "Do you conceal your cutie mark on purpose?"

Marky glanced down, thrown off by the abrupt change in subject. "My what?"

She poked her hoof at the image of the sun emblazoned upon her own creamy flank. "Your cutie mark?"

"Oh, a Brand?" He shook his head ruefully. "Only the rare Unicorns, Pegasus, or Earth ponies are Branded where I come from. Alicorns don't have sufficient magical energy to develop a Brand."

"You mean..."

"I have no mark at all. I'm not particularly special at all. I have always... OOF!"

Pinkie Pie had suddenly latched onto him, and hugged him until his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"I think you're special!" she squealed. "You're the only pathetically weak, cute boy Alicorn I've ever seen!"

"Urk! urk, urk."

She released him.

"Thank you," he gasped. "I think." He shook himself a little. "Actually, that felt kind of nice, maybe if I took a deep breath beforehand? And hey, how did you even get in this car with us? Weren't you in the car behind us?"

"Oh, I have my ways!" Pinkie Pie smiled deviously. "Teeheehee! See you soon, Marky!"

She leapt backwards out of the rapidly moving vehicle. Marky leaned out in a sudden fright, expecting to see her laying injured on the road. Instead, he saw her waving from the back seat of the Gator behind.

"How does she DO that stuff?" Marky asked, once he regained control of his hanging lower jaw. "She just appears places."

"She is special," Celestia replied. "Nopony really knows exactly how she does it. We simply accept her for who she is, as our dear, unpredictable friend."

Marky looked back at Pinkie Pie waving wildly from behind and shrugged. "Eh. Whatever." He waved back at her, and could see her toothy smile even from where he sat. He turned back to Celestia and smirked good-naturedly. "Works for me."

Chris turned his head from the front seat, where he had been chatting with Emmy while he drove. "Sorry to intrude, but we're almost to the Gate!"