(P.O.V.: Luna)

I watch as Cross passes out. I can’t help but cry a little. There’s a chance he won’t survive this. But, now all we can do is wait.

“Are you gonna be okay, Princess?” Fluttershy asks me. I wipe my eyes and nod.

“I’ll be just fine. And so will he. Now, all we can do is wait.” I sit down in one of the waiting room chairs, watching as they slowly make a cut on his chest.

They open the wound and expose his ribcage. I can’t help but gasp, seeing the small, metal container inside his ribcage. I hear Fluttershy gag and run out of the room.

Chrysalis and I watch for hours as they tediously cut open his ribs and extract his heart. They wire his body up to an artificial heart while they prep his new heart. Twilight walks in just as they bring in the diamond-made heart.

“How’s he doing, Princess?”

“He seems to be hanging in there well. They’re about to implement the new heart.” We all jump as the heart monitor starts beating frantically. His heart rate suddenly plummets to zero.

“What’s happening?!” I shout, slamming my fist against the glass.

“His body’s adapting! We have to hurry!” The doctors put the new heart into his chest and heal the valves to his arteries. Everyone collectively sighs as his heartbeat returns to normal.

They take the large container of thaumoplasm and slowly pour it into the blood filter. We all watch with anticipation as his blood is eaten away and replaced with the liquid magic. I gasp in shock as his blue and orange fur slowly changes to dark green on its own. His hair darkens to jet black, and small, white dots cover them. His hair looks like the midnight sky.

“Twilight, what’s going on with him? Why did he change color?” I ask.

“It looks like the components that controlled his fur color were replaced by our magic….But other than that, I have no idea why he became those colors…”

The doctors replace his ribcage and sew him back up. I gasp softly, seeing the veins in his arms glow a dark blue.

“Twilight, I think he’s going to be okay. But it seems that our combined overwhelmingly strong magic may have damaged his genetic code for fur and hair color, and possibly even eye and magic color. We must test him extensively once he’s able to move on his own again.”

Twilight scribbles notes onto a scroll that I didn’t notice she had. Where was she keeping it? She doesn’t have her knapsack…

“This is amazing! Thaumoplasm seems to be a useable substitute to blood if a donor isn’t found! This could change everything!”

I turn back to Cross and tap on the glass, getting the doctor’s attention.

“Doctor, could you check his eye color?”

He nods and carefully opens his eyes. They weren’t green anymore. They were Purple, like Twilight’s.

“Oh my. This is going to be an interesting report to tell my sister…” I chuckle.

The doctors take Cross out of the room, and I leave the observation room. The nurse leads all four of us, including Fluttershy who is no longer ill, back to Recovery. We get into the room, and the doctor stops me.

“Princess, his condition seems to be stable, but his magic levels are fluctuating all over the place. We did a scan of his body, and we found the only other component of non-organics is a small square something in the abdula oblongata in his brain.”

“His magic center… Will he be able to cast spells still?”

“That’s just it. We think that he will, but there’s no telling what that piece in his brain does. It’s not a toxic metal, so it isn’t going to kill him. But until he wakes up, we won’t know what it does.”

“I understand. Thank you, Doctor.” He nods and leaves. Fluttershy had pulled a chair up to his bed and was playing with his long, black hair.

“It looks like yours, Princess….” She comments. I hadn't thought, but it does look like mine. Thankfully his doesn’t move.

“This is quite an odd development.” I comment, sitting beside her. I notice his hoof sticking out from the blanket, but it was black. I lift up the blanket, and see his body had a gradient from dark green to black on his feet.

“Most unusual…. Twilight, write to my sister and have her come at once. She’ll want to see this.” Twilight nods and quickly scribbles down a note and sends it.

Minutes later, a pop rings out as Celestia teleports into the room.

“Sister, we received Twilight’s letter and- Who is this?” She asks suddenly, leaning over Cross as he sleeps.

“This...is Cross. He just got out of surgery.”

“Impossible. His magic signature is completely different than Cross’.”

“It’s true, sister. He is Cross. We gave him our thaumoplasm to substitute his blood, and we think it may have damaged some of his genes.”

“We?” She looks over to the opposite side of the bed, and her eyes furrow into a furious glare as she lays eyes on Chrysalis.

“You...you DARE show your face here?”

“Sister, she’s not hostile. She brought Cross here with me. Well,she technically foalnapped him first, but that’s beside the point. Cross told me she was friendly before he went into his coma.”

“I trust her about as far as I can throw her.”

“Hey, there’s no need for that. I deserve every word you say. I did something horrible, but my subjects needed food, and I had thought that asking would lead us to be executed on the spot, so I did what I had to…”

Celestia glares at her. “I understand where you’re coming from, but I will not tolerate any scheming from you. If my sister or my prized student catch you doing anything nefarious, I will be sure to have you exiled on the Sun. Do I make myself clear?”

Chrysalis gulps. “C-Crystal….”

“Good. Now, I will be in Canterlot if you need me. So call if you do. And keep me informed of his state.” She vanishes.

Author's Note

I hope the new choice of design doesn't bother anyone too much. If anyone wants to draw him, plz do and send it over. I'd love to see!