Patriots of Equestria, Part 1

Against the advice of the doctors and nurses of Canterlot hospital, Discord gingerly got out of his bed and was led towards Fluttershy's room. He was still in great pain from his injuries, but that didn't matter at all. All that mattered was seeing his friend again.

"Here is her room, Discord," said a nurse pony as she motioned for him to enter the room. "Be advised that she might not recognize you right away."

"That's doesn't matter," replied Discord, given her a cold stare while talking in an intimidating voice. "All I want is to be by her side right now."

The nurse silently nodded and backed away as Discord entered Fluttershy's room. Almost immediately, he felt nothing more than sympathy for his friend, seeing her in this condition that she was now in. Approaching the bed, Discord placed his lion's paw on her right front hoof, stroking it gently.

"Where…where…?" Fluttershy started to whisper as she struggled to open her eyes.

"Hush now," whispered Discord. "You're safe now, Fluttershy. You're in the hospital being taken care of."

Fluttershy didn't know what to make of this and certainly couldn't feel about it, for she was in complete pain all over her body.

"You're…you're hurt, Discord," remarked Fluttershy, weakly noticing the injury on Discord's chest. "What…what happened to you?"

"It's a long story," sighed Discord as he continued stroking her hoof. "But that doesn't matter now. All that matters is we are together again and the Changelings who did this have been dealt with."

Hearing that it was Changelings who did this made Fluttershy cringe deep down inside herself. Yes, she was hurt very badly, but could still have emotions of fear.

"You're lucky to be alive," Discord said quietly as he felt more pain in his chest. "What these monsters did to you was even worse than before, Fluttershy."

Discord moaned slightly as the pain in his chest continued to grow. Nevertheless, he continued to fight it, but it wasn't going to be long before he would give in. His groans were not being heard quietly as a doctor walked into the room along with a nurse.

"Aren't you supposed to be in your bed?" asked the doctor concernedly as he looked at Discord. "You are hurt, you know."

"This is my friend and I am going to be here for her," Discord cried sharply while looking back at the doctor. "Now, tell me if she is going to be okay."

The doctor knew that the weak, but intimidating Discord was going to do everything in his power to be at Fluttershy's side.

"Fluttershy will be fine, but it will be a long road to recovery," answered the doctor as Fluttershy let out a small but shrill cry of pain as she felt pain from inside her body. "We placed her in a coma because she suffered significant internal injuries in the blast. But, that pain you are feeling is the medicine working to repair the damaged organs in your body."

"What organs?" asked Discord, who wanted to snap his fingers and produce an organ, but was too weak to do so.

"Well, it's hard to say at this point," answered the doctor as he motioned for a nurse to prepare a syringe to place into Fluttershy. "We couldn't find any particular organs that were damaged, so we are treating them all with great care. Now, you were placed into a coma Fluttershy out of an abundance of caution."

Fluttershy weakly nodded at this, but Discord couldn't help but feel conflicted on whether to be sad or angry that his only true friend was deliberately put to sleep. Yes, they were trying to help her, but this, in Discord's mind, was nothing but torture for Fluttershy.

"As a matter of fact, sighed the doctor. "You are very lucky to be alive given the circumstances of what we have been dealing with. Several ponies who were injured have to have parts of their bodies amputated."

Discord felt a sudden cringe upon hearing this. Yes, Fluttershy was lucky, but he had every reason for dreading the fact that Fluttershy would have had to had part of her body taken away from her. Then, he felt another cringe, but it was within his own body.

"I think we should get you back to your bed," suggested the doctor in a worried voice as Discord felt a sharp in his chest again.

"No, I need to be here," cried Discord, feeling the pain grow more and more in his chest. "I need to be here for Fluttershy."

The pain in chest was growing so great that he was now falling over onto the floor. As Discord moaned in pain, the doctor darted outside and looked out into the hallways.

"I NEED HELP IN ROOM 2014!" he shouted and his shouts caught the attention of several nurses who darted into the room. "GET A STRETCHER AND MORPHINE! POST HASTE!"

Carefully using whatever parts of their body they could use, the nurses and the doctor pony carefully placed Discord on the stretcher and took him back to his room.

"I'll be with you, Fluttershy," cried Discord weakly. "Just hang in there!"

Fluttershy couldn't speak, but feel tears forming in her eyes upon seeing Discord in this manner. In her mind, she could wish that Discord would just snap his lion paw or eagle claw and make her feel better again, but he couldn't.

Once he had been wheeled out of Fluttershy's room, Discord was brought back to his assigned room and for the next few minutes upon being returned, it was nothing more than living, breathing chaos as they hooked Discord back up.

"What's going on?" cried Starlight as she and her uninjured friends watched what was happening.

"Something must have happened to him," added Sunset. "Do you think it could have been from being out of bed?"

Starlight didn't know what to say, but nevertheless, they all watched as the doctors and nurses worked on Discord for the next 10 minutes. Finally, the chaos came to a stop and Discord was given the space needed again. His entire body was once again covered in IV's and everything else medical wise besides the kitchen sink.

"Fluttershy," whispered Discord, letting out sharp gasps as he stared up at the ceiling of the room. "Fluttershy! FLUTTERSHY!"

The sharp cries Discord was making sent chills down the spines of Starlight and Sunset who felt powerless to help both Discord and Fluttershy recover from their injuries.

"I'm afraid we need to let the doctors and nurses do their job," advised Moon Dancer, who was also feeling the pain that Discord was letting out. "There's nothing we can do but wait."

…

Meanwhile, Thorax had learned of Hopper's capture and was on his way to Ponyville hospital to let him know how he felt of his actions…