Shooting Star let out a heavy sigh as he paced back and forth in the waiting room of the Ponyville clinic. It had been two hours since they had taken the unconscious Twilight Sparkle inside. Two long agonising hours without any news, or company. Autumn still hadn’t returned from her talk with the guards, so he was left there alone with his thoughts. Thoughts that obviously went towards the worst possible outcome.

The door finally opened to reveal a mare with a dark pink coat and a long, pink wavy mane held in a loose ponytail. She wore a simple white doctor’s gown that covered her cutie mark her amethyst eyes regarded him while a small, but kind smile graced her muzzle. She was very quickly followed by a much taller mare with a silver coat and a braided blond and platinum mane. The taller mare looked lost in thought as her eyes scanned across a clipboard floating in her silver magic.

“H-how is she?” Star asked, nervously. The fact that Twilight had needed two doctors worried him even more than the fact it had taken over two hours.

“Miss Sparkle will be fine.” The pink mare said with her soft maternal voice. “She is suffering from magical burnout and a sprained hoof.” She continued after peaking at the chart for a moment. “She won’t be waking up today, and maybe not tomorrow. My estimate is two days but it could be more. Her magic was drained more than is recommended, she is a very lucky mare. Anymore and she would have risked losing her magic all together.” Shooting Star couldn’t quite place the tone the mare was using, both worried and scolding at the same time.

“Yes. Normally… I would be required to report this to the guards, there is a reason magic duels have been outlawed.” The taller mare, Dr. Starsong according to her ID-card spoke up with a tone that sounded much less pleasant. But, miss Delight already informed me that she would be talking to the guards and I am inclined to believe she will be truthful.” The mare cast a glance over her shoulder and then back to the worried looking Star. “I doubt she will get in trouble over it, but I insist on having a talk with her when she wakes up.”

Shooting star nodded very slowly. “I… will tell her. May I go see her?” he asked, unsure if he was even allowed to see her for the moment.

“You may, but I must insist that you do not try to wake her up. If you can manage that you can stay the night.” The pink mare said, sharing a look with the much taller mare.

“Yes, as Doctor Heart said, you can stay at her side, it might do her well to see a familiar face when she wakes up.” The mare named Starsong said with a small smile. “If you will excuse us, we have some other patients to check up on.” She said slowly nudging Chosen Heart along with her.

Shooting Star nodded slowly and as the two turned around he rushed into the room, making a mad dash for Twilight’s side. She looked so peaceful as she lay there, snuggled up on the large fluffy pillow in her bed, she had a IV attached to one of her hooves and overhead hung a healing talisman that seemed to very specifically point a beam of healing magic at her horn. The beam seemed to follow her horn even as she moved.

Sighing deeply Star sat down in the chair besides the bed, scooting closer and taking Twilight’s hoof in his. “I’m sorry, Twi.”

*~*~*(4 days later)*~*~*

Twilight’s eyes shot open wide as she screamed in shock, darting up right in her bed. Her eyes darting around the empty, sterile room. The more logical part of her mind instantly recognised it as a hospital room. The worry of being killed gone but it was quickly replaced by the realisation that she was entirely alone in the room. Her friends weren’t there, spike wasn’t there… Star wasn’t there. That last one hurt the most. Spotting a calendar on the wall she noticed that four days had passed since the afternoon of her magic duel. The last thing she could remember was watching Starry approaching her and then darkness…

The clock on the wall over the calendar told her that it was almost one in the morning, it made sense. Her friends were at home sleeping, but Star. Had he left her for starry? Had she taken him away from her in the aftermath of the duel when she lay there on the ground, unconscious? The questions just kept coming, going from bad to worse as she spiralled into thinking about the most horrible scenarios imaginable. Maybe her friends weren’t there because they hated her for what had happened. She had done something illegal, she had broken the law. What would Celestia think!?

Her breathing quickened considerably as all the horrible outcomes and scenarios played through her mind. Would she be arrested the moment she was deemed fit to leave the hospital? What would Celestia do? Lock her up? Banish her from Equestria? Lock her up in the place she was banished to!? There was a part of her mind that knew that was silly, Celestia would never do that… that part was being drowned out by her internal screaming.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she grabbed the pillow pulling it tightly against her chest, screaming out her self-inflicted anguish. She sobbed pathetically into her pillow.

In that moment the door swung open and Star almost literally came crashing in. He tripped, rolled three times and crashed right beside her bed with loud panting. Without even a word he leapt up and wrapped his hooves around her, slowly stroking through her mane, softly shushing her whispering sweet words to her. Things like “I’m here, I’ve always been here. Shhh it’s alright, Twi. You’re safe.” His hoof slowly brushed her mane out of her face as he smiled.

Through her tear stained eyes she could see three other ponies standing in the open door. She recognised one of them as Autumn. The other two looked like doctors, both of who seemed to almost radiate a gentle maternal affection as they watched for a long moment. She could hear the tallest one whispering something like ‘Let’s give them some time.’ The door closed, and she was left there the pillow discarded in favour of holding Shooting Star. Holding him as if she was terrified of letting him go, as if letting him go was going to be the end of the world, and she had to admit that it felt like letting go would be the end of the world to her.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered softly to her slowly crawling in bed with her to cradle her close to himself. “I had to step out for a moment, I… Doctor Heart pulled me aside to get me to eat.” He whispered with a look of utter embarrassment. He nuzzled her cheek happy that that made her giggle somewhat.

“You should take care of yourself.” She said sticking out her tongue. “I can’t make breakfast every time.” She sighed softly and snuggles closer to him, turning to bury her muzzle in the crook of his neck. “Did my friend…”

“They visited every day. But only one pony could stay overnight.” Shooting Star finished before she could even suggest something negative. “They’re going to be visiting tomorrow, all of them.” He informed her smiling ever so gently at her. Slowly he placed his hoof on her cheek to guide her into a gentle and chaste kiss. Holding her close to himself he felt relieved as she slowly followed in the kiss and ultimately melted into it enough to drag it on for a full minute. As they parted from the kiss both simply smiled at each other for a long moment, taking the time to simply gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes in companionable silence.

“Thank you.” Twilight whispered softly, finally breaking the silence. “For staying with me.”

“Hey… no need to thank me, what else is a coltfriend for?” He asked with a teasing little smile playing on his muzzle. “How are you feeling?” He asked, a little worried about the answer.

“Like I got run over by an adult dragon.” She said with a small pained smile. “What… happened after I, you know.”

“Well it’s a bit of a long story, are you sure you want to hear it now?” Shooting Star asked a little nervously, unsure how she would take being told about the incident after only just waking up. “You only just woke up.”

“I want to know, I… I think I heard things? I’m not sure If I really did though. I need to know, Star.” Twilight whispered softly, and quite desperately. “I… I don’t think I could sleep without actually knowing what happened, without knowing Starry won’t be a problem.”

Star nodded with a soft sigh. “Alright, Twilight.” He pecked a gentle kiss on her lips. “Just don't tell doctor Starsong that I, and I quote, troubled you with it.” He smirked a little.

“Oh? Did she order you not to stress me?” She asked with the hints of a coy smile to her voice.

“She did, but if you’re sure that it will help you relax and feel better I can disregard her standing orders.” He said with that small grin that suggested he was never really planning on following that order if Twilight had asked about what happened.

Shooting Star sighed softly as he watched Twilight nuzzling into his chest. “When you fell to the ground and Autumn’s spell collapsed we both rushed to your side. Autumn took her place in between us and Starry. I told starry that I would never be with her, especially not after what she did to you.” He sighed deeply. “She wasn’t happy with that, she actually tried to attack me, if it hadn’t been for Autumn I might be sharing this room with you.”

“You should have seen her, I think you might have been impressed. Autumn doesn’t like to show off her magic very often, but she did to protect you. To protect us.” He grinned for a moment and shook his head. “None of us really know just how much magic she knows even her little display was restrained. Well… restrained for Autumn Delight.” He watched the confused look on Twilight’s face for a moment. “She told you she is one of the candidates for the position of arch mage, right?”

“She did yes.” Twilight answered with a raised eyebrow. “But that can’t be right, I mean she is far too young to be skilled enough.”

Shooting Star chuckled softly. “Too young yes but… where I could only stand there and block you from Starry’s line of sight… Autumn spent a few seconds duelling her, countering her spells and then, when she was well and utterly tired of the mare’s nonsense she turned herself into a large silver dragon.” He watched Twilight open her mouth to protest, he simply placed his hoof on her mouth. “Shh I am not done.” He whispered.

“Yes, she can turn into a dragon. And she did. Using a paralysing breath weapon on Starry to prevent her from doing anything else. And then she told Starry that is she ever heard about her coming back to Ponyville she would make sure that she couldn’t ever return. And that she was going to tell the guards everything.” He sighed gently “Then she opened a portal, I am not sure where to, but I think it was Canterlot throwing her through it.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “I… should thank Autumn.” She whispered softly.

“We both owe her, but for the moment you need to rest, my love.

“Will you, hold me?”

“Shhh… I’m never letting go of you, my beloved.” He whispered softly in her ear holding her pressed close against him, her back against his chest. “Sleep my beloved little Twilight, you need your rest.” His voice was soft and gentle, barely above a whisper. There was no need to really speak up as he whispered into her ear giving her cheek a loving nuzzles after. Holding her protectively.

Feeling Safe Twilight simply smiled mumbling a soft, tired “I love you.” Before allowing her fatigue to finally take her away from the present and into a dreamless sleep, feeling safe in Star’s hooves.

Author's Note

This story was commissioned by Shooting Star1234.

I hope you all enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it, quite honestly this is my first brush with a romance adventure (with some Slice of life) kind of story. If you have and feed back or even critisism then please feel free to leave a comment below.

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