Moonlight Trails

I finally wake up to feel my entire body ache, slightly struggling to breathe. I look to see new bandages, stitches and scratches running along my body.

As my vision clears upI look around the room, I see Moonlight sleeping in a chair beside of the bed with Sunset asleep beside her as well.

I go to sit up, but feel something tug at the left side of my chest. I look to see a tube connected to me and inserted into my chest and running into some device hanging from my bed side.

As I lay back on the bed, I hear the door open as a nurse came in and looked at me, seeing that I was finally stirring. "Good morning, Mr. Trails." She said while carrying in multiple different syringes, some empty, some fill with different fluids.

I look over to hear, weakly waving. "Morning.." I groaned out, my arm plopping back down beside me.

"Why do I have this tube in my chest?" I ask, slightly confused at everything.

She looked at her stack of papers she was carrying, feathering through it. "Seems like your lung collapsed due to some shrapnel hitting and cutting into your chest cavity. The tube is connected to an air lock that will force any gases out of your chest cavity." She said before looking back at me.

I laid there for a moment, unsure of what to say. I look over at Moonlight who was still asleep, guilt flooding over me almost instantly.

"Is she ok?" I ask the nurse.

She nodded softly. "She did suffer some damage to her ears due to a shockwave, but she's perfectly fine." The nurse said, assuring me.

"Though we need to talk about what happened to you." She said, flipping my blanket over. "Your lung collapsing was just one of the things you came in with."

I look down, seeing my right leg gone from the knee down. "W-w-what happened? Where is my leg?!" I ask, panicking instantly upon noticing my limb missing.

"When you were brought in, your leg had taken such damage that there was no saving it. That's not including the fact that you now have several chunks of metal that's part of your anatomy." She went on to say.

I reach out at where my leg should be, trying my best to grab at it something that's now non-existent. The destruction replaying in my head.

I suddenly feel a soft touch on my shoulder, making me jump and pull away. I look over to see Moonlight, her eyes stained with tears. Sunset was awake as well, her own face riddled with worry.

"It's just me and mom, you're safe." She softly said, cradling my head against her chest.

The panic melted away, though this feeling of guilt remained. "I'm sorry." I choked out, trying to hold back everything.

She sat down, pulling me back into her as she combed through my hair. "You're fine. You didn't do anything wrong." She said, trying to assure me.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I do need to draw blood from you. As well as give you your medicine." The nurse said, going through her collection of syringes.

"I understand, do what you need to do." I said, before sitting up, letting the nurse do her thing.

As she finished up, she looked up at all of us "I just gave him a very powerful narcotic, so he may end up being extremely emotional here in a few. Though, it could also put him straight to sleep. I just want to let you know and give you two a heads up." She said, looking between Sunset and Moonlight.

Sunset nodded softly. "It's alright. She's got him taken care of, so I'll head back to help Twi and the others." She said while trying to stretch out.

"Wait, I need to go to." I say, trying to sit up, but was pulled back down by Moonlight. "They need me!"

"You're not going anywhere, Smokey Trails!" She demanded, her voice sharp and stern. I look at her, shocked at hearing my full name used.

I nodded softly, sitting there. Realizing that I couldn't do anything even if I went. "Yes, Moonlight." I sheepishly said, lowering my head.

She reached back up and pulled me back to her, my head resting on her chest again. "You can be terrifying when you want." I say with a chuckle. Slowly feeling my body sinking and my head feeling foggy.

I look back up to her to see her eyes meet mine. "You are so beautiful." I hum out, almost in disbelief.

She blushed and began to laugh. "Aww, look at you being sweet." She said, kissing the top of my head.

"But you are!" I whined out, the blush getting bigger. "And caring, and gentle, and beautiful." I stammer on, looking up at her.

"And you're eyes. And you're cute little freckles. An-" She interrupts me by covering my mouth, her face all shades of red.

"Ok! We get it!" She said with Sunset doing her best to refrain from laughing.

I reach up, gently grabbing her hand , bringing it to my lips, and kissed the top of it. "All I want to say is, I love you. With everything in me, I...love...yo...."

[Moonlight Perspective]

He finally passed back out, still holding onto my hand, nuzzling into it. I couldn't help but to laugh, my free hand combing through his hair.

"There is absolutely no denying it, this stallion is absolutely in love with you." I hear mom say with a big smile. "Just the way you two look at each other. I'm sorry, it's just adorable seeing it from the outside." She said with a soft laugh.

I couldn't help but blush, hearing her. "I love him, Mom. No one has ever meant so much to me, and the fact that he's laid up in a hospital bed, connected to several machines to keep him alive..." I say, my throat getting tighter with each passing word. "It terrifies me." I choked out, looking up at her, tears flowing from my eyes.

Mom walked over to the side of the bed and sat back down. "Moonlight, I do understand what you're feeling right now." She admitted.

"Mother was laid up in the hospital bed like he is?" I asked, shocked to hear this new chapter of their lives.

She nodded softly. "It was the last battle that we had with Tirek. He managed to steal all the magic throughout the world. It was down to Twilight, her friends, Discord, and myself." She admitted, sorrow quickly filling her eyes.

"Everyone was down, only leaving me and Twilight. I was trying to heal everyone as Twilight fought him off. Suddenly there was a huge blast of magic that went on for miles, destroying everything in it's path. I look at the center to see Twilight falling from the sky." She went on, tears forming in her eyes now.

"When I found her, she was barely clinging to life. She suffered several broken bones, her lungs didn't collapse, but were were damaged from the explosion. She also suffered from a severe concussion." She said, the tears now flowing freely.

"When everyone else began to wake up, I was already doing what I can to heal her. She was dying and there was nothing I could do, except prolong it." She was trembling at this point.

"As everyone came up, I call out to Discord to teleport us to the hospital only to find out, he 'only has enough juice for one." Mom said, mocking Discord's voice at end.

"I do not sound like that!" Discord chimed in, appearing from behind the door with a doctor's jacket on. "Though everything else you're describing is spot on." He admitted, snapping his fingers the jacket disappearing.

"As I was saying, before being interrupted." She said, glaring at Discord. "I asked him to take her and immediately see to it that she's taken care of. He did as asked thankfully without any sass." She said, still glaring at him.

He responded by sticking his tongue out at her before rolling his eyes. Mom smirked and shook her head.

"Well, when we finally got back into Canterlot, the first thing I see is Twilight on a breathing machine, IV after IV coming from her just to keep her alive. A week went by without no response coming from her. After we hit a week and a half, I began to fear the worst." She said, her voice getting shaky again.

"I was told that if she was to pass, I'd be the successor to the throne. I didn't care. The only reason I came back to Equestria was to be with her. I told them that they can shove the crown and the throne up their ass. If Twilight wasn't the Queen, then they won't have a queen so either heal her or do without." She added on.

"Oof, Celestia was not happy with that." Discord said as he inspected his claws.

"No, but I insured that Twilight was ok." Mom said, looking back up at Discord. "The point is, don't stress over something you can't help. You're doing what you can by being here and nurturing him." Mom said with a gentle smile.

I nodded softly, returning the smile. "Thanks, mom." I say before lowering my head to Smokey's, nuzzling into his hair.

"Oh, right, before I forget the whole reason I'm back." Discord chimed back in, floating in front of Mom. "Twilight will be back soon. We've recovered everyone that we could and buried the dead. We were surprised that with the amount of damage there was, there weren't more casualties."

"How many passed?" Mom asked.

"A total of five. Only off thing would be their rituals for the dead that they wanted us to follow thoroughly." He said, shaking off a shiver.

Mom looked at him, an eyebrow rose in curiosity. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, instead of a graveyard, they have an open burial ground that they leave their dead, open to the elements. Their reason for this was to allow their souls to return to the spirit of the skies." He added on.

Shock appeared on Mom's face upon hearing this. "That's disturbing, but slightly interesting." She said, before walking out of the room, not saying another word.

I look up at Discord, slightly confused. "Where is she going?" I ask, only to see him shrug.