A Mare looked up into a very white room , or a bright one. She couldn’t quite tell, everything was blurry and she couldn’t make anything out. She could hear a faint call nearby that seemed to be directed towards her. Slowly as her vision began clearing she saw a purple form move into her vision.

The voice repeated herself, clearly this time, “Hello, are you doing well?”

The Mare was sure she'd heard that voice somewhere, but just couldn’t place it for the life of her.

“You may be a bit confused,” the voice continued, “but I assure you everything’s okay. Um, mostly. You’re in the Canterlot Hospital intensive care unit.”

As the Mare began to see things with a greater clarity she began to make out Princess Twilight in all of her Princessly glory. She stood there, hair done up in a bun, with a clipboard in her magic, giving the Mare a warm, but very concerned look. They were indeed in a hospital, but everything looked so clinical and untouched. The room was barren, other than the medical equipment she was hooked up to. What happened for her to end up here, she questioned? Did she not get any visitors? As if Twilight anticipated the Mare’s growing questions, continued.

“We don’t really have much time for questions, your w-hm husband doesn’t have much time left and I’m sure you want to be with him for the rest of it.” Twilight seemed to grimace and looked away from the mare.

The mare grew confused, she wasn’t really sure she remembered a husband. But at the same time, she couldn’t remember much else either right now. “My Husband...?”

“Yes, your husband," Twilight went on while looking at a clipboard in front of her, "you were in an accident with him, and while you’re doing marginally better than him, we do not have a donor heart for him. He’s getting progressively worse by the day.”

“How long have we been out, Pr- Twilight?”

Twilight looked towards the Mare and appeared somewhat surprised while mouthing something she couldn’t make out, before shaking her head and turning back to the clipboard in her magic.

“Well he woke up before you, but due to complications with his heart, he’s being kept in a magically induced coma so that we can keep his heart stabilized.” Twilight informed her.

The Mare doubted they’d put him into a coma unless he had a chance. “Is there- there’s gotta be something that can be done!”

“The accident was pretty severe, you may not live through your injuries.” Twilight paused for a moment as the Mare thought about what that could mean. She felt as if she had no legs, but had perfect control over them at the same time. She was not in pain, but her body just felt wrong, and she was not sure why she hadn’t noticed it before. "He will not live through his heart's injuries."

Twilight mentioned for the Mare to follow her, and she trailed behind slightly as they left the room and crossed a hallway into another very similar one. There was no sound made except for the soft taps of their hooves. Strangely there was nopony around that could be spotted, save for the stallion in the room they entered and them. A stallion that was supposed to be the Mare’s husband, but one that she had absolutely no memory of. The Mare was looking at a charcoal stallion with a wild dark purple mane that looked like it was styled at one point, but outgrew itself. What she could see of his neck was covered in a dressing of bandages. His brows seemed to be creased with an endless frustration. This poor stallion might die like this.

Looking to Twilight, the Mare proposed, “Could you maybe... use my heart?”

Twilight looked to the Mare with a start, “I- that’s- yes, they did the tests and there’s a very high chance that it would work?” A nervous look took her features.

“And that’s all he would need, he would live otherwise?”

Looking back at her clipboard, “Could live, but yes, everything else that happened to him is well on it’s way through the healing process.”

“And me, Princess Twilight, what’s wrong with me?”

Twilight began flipping through the pages on her clipboard, nervousness clear on her face.

“Your organs and bodily functions are slowly shutting down and there’s nothing they can do about it, but I definitely don’t recommend gi-”

“Ma’m, I’m not sure what is after this life, but if I’m headed there soon anyway, then I might as well help somepony on the way out,” the Mare interrupted.

The Mare turned back towards the bedridden stallion. “Well, that’s... if you’re sure. Feel free to sit by him while I prepare thing.”

She couldn’t help but get the feeling that Twilight might have been smiling as she said that.

As the Mare sat at his bedside and watched his sleeping face, something began to bother her. Something felt off and it made her feel uneasy. It was driving her absolutely... batty...

She looked to the window where there was- nothing. It wasn’t a void, but the best way it could be described was that if it was a pony they would be giving her a thousand yard stare. One that the Mare returned with wide eyes. It was as if she was looking into oblivion. She turned back to Twilight, a soft smile on her muzzle.

“I still agree, but I’m not sure I know this stallion, Twi.”

Twilight whipped her head around to look at the Mare like she had been caught in the shower on stage before she immediately vanished. Then there was nothing.

Princess Twilight Sparkle sat completely unmoving near a wall that had a long line of floating crystals above command consoles. She was leaning into one of the crystals, horn glowing, hair standing on end, and her eyes glowing a white with fierce power. The metal plate studded into the wall above the crystal read ‘#217 (***** ****)’

Nearby Cadence was pacing from the analyzing equipment to the wall of crystals and back again. The only sounds to be heard were her hoofsteps and the whirring of the active console. Worry knit between her brows like sewing circle. Heavy bags were present under her eyes, mirrored on Twilight. She kept glancing at the panel in front of Twilight to make sure the magic levels were under control.

Twilight came to, utterly exhausted, and slumped over. Cadence rushed to her side, and helped her back to her hooves. She passed Twilight a cup of water, which she took with her hooves.

Cadence took some of Twilight’s mane into her hoof, “We’re going to the spa after this, especially with what this does to your hair.”

It was then Twilight remembered that she needed to tell Cadence the results quickly, so she downed the cup and called to her. “Cadence.”

Cadence continued on, ignoring her call and made a note on the logs. “Did you still want to do that second one? You seem pretty beat, and I know you said you would, but you don’t need to. I’d much rather you relax and keep going at the pace that we’ve been doing it at.”

“Cadence,” Twilight prodded her.

She continued on, “Anyway, where do I check her off for?”

“Cadence!”

“What, Twi, I’m right here,” she looked at Twilight with a smile.

Twilight shot her a dirty look before continuing. “Cadence, she passed.”

“What?”

“Cadence, she passed! Cadence, we have one that passed!” Twilight couldn’t help herself as she reared on her hind legs. While Cadence just stared at her, dumbfounded. Twilight fell back onto all fours and pulled Cadence into and embrace.

“We can save him, we can save Shining.” It was hardly a whisper, Twilight might not have heard it if her ear wasn’t right next to Cadence’s mouth. They broke the embrace.

“Well, we have a much better chance now that we’ve found a suitable pony to test the Phoenix project with again.”

“We can save your brother Twilight, this calls for a celebration!” This time it was the other mare’s turn to start dancing. Twilight couldn’t help but try to hold back a laugh as I turned around to put the console into hibernation. Snrrrk. Neither of them could dance very well.

There was a problem though. Or probably a problem. It was different and that’s what bothered Twilight. “Only thing is, Cadence. She remembered.”

She stopped hopping around and got very serious. “Twilight. None of them remember, Twilight.”

Twilight rephrased, “Not so much she remembered as she knew something was wrong. She remembered me.”

“Twilight, they all remember you, you’re a Princess.” The serious look stayed as Cadence planted her rear on the ground.

“But she remembered me for who I became to her, not what I am. She wasn’t as open to suggestion as the rest, Cadence. There were so many differences. They’re not supposed to retain semantic memories. Cadence, she knew I was lying. She knew I was lying and still agreed to the proposition.”

“Twilight, I’m sure even though she remembers experiences, she’s still a good fit. If anything she’s a better fit than we anticipated! We need to see if the memories carry over to her Pheonix, then find out why so we can do the same with Shining.”

“I just don’t know. Out of 217 possible Phoenixes, she was the only one to remember, and even if she passed when no pony else has, with flying colors at that, she remembers when no pony else does. If anything it feels like we caught too much of a break.”

“Come on Twilight. We’ve found our first break in two years, no matter what it would have felt big. We can think about it later, for now we need to tell Luna and Celestia. And probably start working on the Phoenix.”

I looked to her, she was right, if anything, this was a bigger step forward than anticipated. “All right Cadence, let’s go get hay burgers.”

She took a few steps towards the double doors that marked the exit. “Spa first, you look like a mess again. You should wear a headband next time you do this.”

“Hold on.” Twilight stopped to turn to the intercom on the door and spoke to my lab’s secretary. “Flourish, Cadence and I are done for the day, could you schedule a meeting for the Phoenix Project in 2 days? Thank you Flourish.”

“Yes ma’m, do you want me to give a reason?” Came the response.

“No, it’s a surprise and I’d like to be the one to tell them.”

“Alright, consider it scheduled and the time that everypony has available is 11 AM, would that do for you, Princess?”

“Yes it would, have a good day, Flourish.”

Twilight turned back to Cadence, who was patiently waiting for her on the other side of the doorway “I’m hungry Cadence, I was up late again last night and didn’t have time to catch breakfast this morning.”

“How about we get shakes on the way to the spa, then we get something better than hay burgers afterwards?” Cadence proposed while Twilight turned to wave goodbye to Flourished Note as we left the lobby. Cadence looked to her, “I still don’t know why you insist on using that intercom instead of just talking to her while we leave. We pass by her on the way out.”

Twilight gave her a pout. “I like using it, it’s new and I helped make it. And I’ll go to the spa first, but if my stomach yells at you it’s your fault.”

Twilight looked at Cadence’s back, it looked pretty inviting, “Can I re-”

“No, you can’t. I can feel you eyeing my back like it’s food.”

Author's Note

The world is what you perceive it to be.

I was going to make this into a comic, but I dunno what I was thinking, I can't really draw that well. I can sorta write though? Feel free to point out any and every mistake if and when you see them. Same goes for any criticism you have.
5/2/17 - Chapter updated to 3rd person.