"Good moooorning Equestria! It's a lively morning here in Fillydelphia and hooo boy, have I got some tunes for you today! First up is Coloratura's new single 'The Batpony Who Loved Me', then we've got some new tracks from the up and coming band; the Pony Tones!"

"Mr. Resolution?"

"Can you hear me?"

"Jade!"

He jolted out of his music-induced stupor to see his nurse and a doctor standing at the door.

"Oh um, sorry," he mumbled, turning off the two radios beside him, flicking the switches with his muzzle. He had carefully positioned them one at each ear, which provided the effect of being live in the studio.

"Your family is here to see you Mr. Resolution," the doctor said stiffly.

"Would it kill you to call me Jade? Or even better, just Rez?"

"I prefer to stick with the formalities thank you," he turned and walked away, allowing Jade's parents and little brother to enter the ward.

"What a joy he is," Nurse Gentle Thread commented sarcastically.

"Yeah..." Jade sighed, already feeling rather lost without music in the background.

"How have you been Rez?" his mother asked.

"I've been...alright I guess. Same old."

"Any new trips come up yet?"

"No."

Nurse Thread's fading hoofsteps sounded like gunshots in the silence that followed. Weekly visits had drained the novelty away quickly, and they were now left with almost no discussion to work with.

Jade looked down, trying to avoid meeting their eyes.

"Have you...drawn anything new?" Jade's father attempted to reignite the conversation.

"Oh, yeah, it's over there," Jade nodded to his bedside table. His father picked up the topmost piece of parchment from the clutter of drawings and placed it on the bed covers for them all to see. It depicted a pegasus mare flying past the hospital window, carrying a package in her hooves. He could draw easily enough with just his mouth to move the quill around, but without wings or a horn he was very limited.

"Wow, this is really good Rez!" his little brother commented.

"Did you do this just from a glance when she was going by?"

"Yeah, but she was kinda going slow."

"But this is amazing! You could be a great artist if you did more like this!"

"Hah, real funny Dad," he replied dryly. "I'm not gonna get anywhere in life lying in hospital."

"No I mean it! Don't you lie there whining about your missing legs when you've got talent like this hidden in your noggin. Ask around! Get it out there!"

"Ask who Dad? How in Celestia am I supposed to 'get it out there' when I can't even get out of this rutting bed, never mind get out a door!" Jade snapped.

Silence once again permeated the room, and they could all hear Nurse Gentle Thread's quickly returning hoofsteps.

"Well...we had better be going. I need to get some groceries. I-it was good seeing you Rez," his mother tried to force a smile as they all began to file out of the room.

"Wait!" he called after a few seconds, and she looked back. "I do appreciate it you know...coming to visit me. It's nice to know that somebody cares enough...to do that at least."

"Oh Jade, you know we'll always love you," she quickly moved back to give him a warm hug, which he made his best efforts to reciprocate.

"I just wish....I could at least be at home."

"We do too sweetheart, we're just too-"

"-busy; I know. That's why it means so much when you guys visit."

"And do try to take your father's advice. He's just trying to help."

"Yeah I'll try..."

"Chin up, you can go back to listening to your radio show now," his mother smirked. "See you next week!".

"Bye."

As soon as they were out the door, he fell into deep thought, completely ignoring the nurse who was humming happily and pretending she hadn't heard the end of that conversation.

How could he take his father's advice if he really couldn't move on his own? Was there someone he could ask to take him out in a wheelchair so that he could enter an art competition of some kind? Maybe he could ask the next time one of those charity trips came along.

And for the next few hours, the radio show didn't even cross his mind.

Later that day, his nurse came back in to feed him lunch. He could easily eat some simple solid foods on his own, like carrots and other vegetables, but today they were serving soup and that meant he had to be spoon-fed like a child. To her credit, the nurse tried to make him feel as comfortable and in control as she could, only taking the spoon up to his mouth and allowing him to blow on it to cool it down before eating.

As he was swallowing another mouthful, a question came to mind.

"How does it feel to eat under your own power?"

"Pardon?" Nurse Thread asked.

"I mean...what's it like to be able to feed yourself? Use cutlery and make your own food?"

"Well it's...rather boring actually," she giggled, holding out another spoonful of soup. "When you do it for years it simply becomes a menial task, unless the meal is particularly good, or you have someone to share it with. Like you for example; I thoroughly enjoy our time together!"

"Huh, really? I thought it was just your job that required you to do that?"

"Oh no, being a nurse is much more than a job. You need to genuinely care about everyone who needs help, it's not just for money and good records. If you see a nurse unhappy in her job, she's probably picked the wrong profession," his nurse stage-whispered, making him laugh. "It's the same with teachers - they all care very much for their students and only want them to succeed."

"Oh. Well thank you...for being a nurse I guess," he replied sincerely, and she simply laughed.

Over the next two days, Jade focused completely on his drawings and began to request more items that would help; the most important of which was a set of watercolour paints and a book on how to use them. He made a sketch of Nurse Gentle Thread - which wasn't difficult since he saw her for most of the day - and one of the city outside, dozens of random ponies flying, walking or commuting back and forward.

The time began to fly by, and whilst he did have his radios on in the background, much of the time he didn't even register the music and voices that were coming out of them. After around a week he had a folder for all his rough drawings, and another for his finished work. Despite having little to look at outside of his room and window, he always found something interesting around. Once, he saw several police ponies running after a brown unicorn - what he had done to deserve their attention he did not know however.

When his family made another visit the next week he had an easel set up at the end of his bed with a large sheet of expensive white paper. He was recreating an extremely detailed picture of what he could see from his bed - a bigger project than anything he'd done before.

Needless to say they were very pleased with his progress, and glad that he had taken the advice given to him.

But that wasn't even the best part of his day, oh no. Something much bigger came in to visit that fateful morning that would change his life forever.

The doctor once again appeared at his door, though looking thoroughly more flustered than before.

"The, ah....P-Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight are here to see you!"

"We can let ourselves in, thank you doctor," a calm voice came from behind him, and Jade almost dropped the paintbrush that was in his mouth. His eyes stretched as wide as they could go as the respective royal ponies stepped into the room, one considerably taller than the other.

"H-h-hi...." he stuttered, putting the his brush down in a glass of water.

"Hello Jade," Princess Celestia said gently. "We've come to talk about your...disability."

It was extremely rare to see a Princess visit a pony if they weren't involved in some royal business already, but to have two princesses visit him? It was safe to say that not many words were coming out of Jade's mouth at this point.

"We became aware of your situation only a few moons ago when you were taken into hospital due to your family's...business accomplishments. I understand they didn't have the time required to care for your needs?"

"Y-y-yeah....they visit though..."

"That's good to hear. But Twilight believes she may have a temporary solution to your problem; a very particular spell that she performed years ago, and yet was the first among unicorns not to have fallen unconscious for several days after casting it. Would you like to explain Twilight?"

"Right. I discovered a spell that could grant wings to a pony for 24 hours. Afterwards, I began researching into different uses and alterations for the spell, but when I became an alicorn I sorta...forgot about it. There was so much to deal with, it didn't even cross my mind. And then Princess Celestia told me about your impairment and I realized all the theories I had come up with could be useful! The reason we're here today is because...I developed a spell that could grant a pony temporary legs."

Jade's full attention was on Princess Twilight now, all nervousness forgotten and the implications of what she was saying were only just beginning to sink in.

"It's not completed yet, I still need to reinforce the matrices so that they don't dissolve when under strong pressure and increase the amount of time they last for but-"

"Thank you," Jade said, his voice breaking up and tears of gratitude running down his cheeks. "Thank you so much! I-I can't even begin to...to..." He dissolved into fresh tears, burying his head in the covers of his bed, not wanting royalty to see him like this. But he looked up in surprise when he felt a soft wing lay itself tenderly over his barrel.

"I can't imagine what this must be like for you, but you're very welcome," Twilight smiled.

"B-b-but...couldn't you do it Princess Celestia? Aren't you the most powerful being in Equestria?" Jade half-blubbered, trying to clear his eyes.

"Well, that depends on the definition of powerful, but I imagine I must be somewhere near the top yes. Don't tell anypony, but I don't actually know very many spells," she whispered conspiratorially. "I might be powerful, but my skill only matches that of a normal unicorn. Twilight could beat me in battle easily if she so wanted to."

"Princess!" Twilight protested. "Don't say things like that!"

She was met with only tittering laughter, and Jade thought it very surreal seeing the rulers of Equestria acting like this.

"Anyway," Twilight sighed, drawing her wing back to her side. "The spell should be finished in maybe a week so long as nothing comes up, and then I'll be able to come back and cast it on you. How does that sound?"

"...amazing," Jade breathed. "Thank you so much..."

"I'm sure you're looking forward to our next meeting just as much as I am, if not a lot more," Twilight giggled. "It was great meeting you Jade, and I'm so glad I'm able to help."

"I hope to see you someday in Canterlot if all goes well," Celestia added.

"It's amazing to think that you both did all this for me...thank you. Again," Jade let out a nervous laugh.

"Farewell Jade."

Author's Note

Alright, so this was a kind of 2 AM idea that came to me when I woke up in the middle of the night. There will be a second chapter, and then that'll probably be it finished. Comments and criticism is very much appreciated, so tell me what you think! I found I had real trouble ending conversations, and making the Princesses sound like Princesses, so if they're awful then tell me :P