Nate was dead. He knew that for certain. There was no way he could have survived that explosion. Certainly the winged angel before him was a sign that he was dead. Though the more he looked at her the more he had to wonder. Yeah the wings were there, but something seemed off. He slowly blinked feeling as if time was slowing down. Looking up he saw a horn sticking out just below her hairline. Down at the floor he spied hooves instead of feet. And why was everything so damn hot.

Well if he did die looks like he figured out where he ended up. Though when his eyes locked on the eyes of the creature before him, maybe just maybe what he was thinking was wrong. He stood up straight and squared his shoulders. He watched as another creature stood up from the ground. This one too had a horn, but lacked wings like the obviously female one. A strange tingle at the back of his neck told him that the light coming from that creature's horn wasn't something he wanted to mess with.

"Hello," the female creature said as she took a step forward.

Seeing as how they didn't seem like they were going to attack him right away he thought maybe things weren't so bad. Still why was it so damn hot in this place. Taking a step forward and raising his hand Nate figured niceties wouldn't hurt. His vision suddenly going black Nate lost his footing. Well this is gonna hurt, he thought to to himself. Well that's what he thought anyway. He was expecting the hard floor he'd been standing on to rush up and meet him. Instead he felt something wrapping around his torso and his face pressed into something very soft. Before he could process anything else the blackness took over.

Celestia rushed forward as she saw the creature starting to fall. She caught it with it's head resting against her breasts. She could feel the heat radiating from the creature's body. She looked to Starswirl as he approached her.

"Quickly fetch Arclight," Celestia said before teleporting herself and the creature to the medical ward.

Soon after laying the creature on one of the table a flash indicated the arrival of Starswirl and Arclight. The disheveled doctor blinked in confusion.

"Princess?" he looked from her to the creature laying on the bed.

His instincts as pony of medicine took over and he rushed forward. Summoning magic into his horn he placed his hands on the creature. He blinked at what he felt there. So many things the same as themselves, and yet it felt so different.

"How did it get here?" He asked looking from his patient to the two powerful ponies.

"We don't know," Celestia answered honestly.

"My spell was for measuring not summoning," Starswirl said as he pulled a tome from within his cloak and began sifting through the pages. "I'm positive. Unless I miscalculated."

"Magically summoned?" Arclight spoke more to himself than the other two. It took him a moment before figuring out what was wrong.

"Professor," Arclight turned to face the older unicorn. "I need your assistance."

"Of course," Starswirl slid the tome back into his robes and moved forward.

"I need you to perform a siphoning spell," as his own horn glowed even brighter as he set his hands over the patient's chest. "I'll then direct the flow of magic through it and out of it's body."

Celestia watched as the horns of both unicorns glow with intense magic. Starswirl moved his hands over the creature's body writing symbols in the air. Arclight held his hands over the creature's face his eyes closed. As a magical aura formed around the body the same color manifested around Arclight's hands. As his eyes opened they were glowing the same color as the aura. The two unicorns looked to one another then nodded.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Celestia asked in earnest.

There was no answer to her question as the two before her worked. Arclight's hands moved over the body and raised in to the air. Celestia could not help but feel anxious as she watched them work. As time passed she could feel the magic filling the room as it left the body. She had studied magic for over a millennia, and yet this was the strangest magic she had ever felt. Though she couldn't help, but think that it felt somehow familiar.

"I think that does it," Arclight said as his eyes stopped glowing.

"I agree," Starswirl nodded.

Celestia looked down at the body. The redness was slowly beginning to fade. As she looked it over she could finally focus on the details. It wore clothing like they did, but it's skin seemed to be void of fur. Except for it's face. The fur was a dull brown the same color of it's mane. Though there was gray in both. It must be old for it's species. The sensation of a hand on her arm caused her to jerk slightly, bringing her to look away from it's face.

"What?" she asked looking to Starswirl who had come around the bed.

"Princess," Starswirl said as he looked into her eyes as if searching for something. "It's almost time to raise the sun."

"Oh, yes," Celestia stepped back glancing down at the creature again then back at Starswirl. "Of course. Arclight, notify me when the creature awakens."

"Of course, Princess," Arclight said with a nod before walking over to a cabinet pulling out a scroll of parchment, along with a quill and bottle of ink. "I'll continue my observations, and send anything I think will be of worth to you."

"Thank you," Celestia smiled softly and gave a slight nod of her head.

"I'll return to my lab," Starswirl said pulling his tome back out. "I have to figure out what happened."

"Of course," Celestia said slowly regaining her composure. "I expect to be kept up to date on your findings."

Celestia left the room, and made her way to her chambers. Upon her arrival the two guards straightened to attention. She smiled inwardly at their shocked expressions. She knew she shouldn't, but a small part of her always enjoyed teasing her personal guards every once in awhile. Upon entering she began to disrobe. Dropping her robe to the floor she began unlacing the front of her night gown. That too fell to the floor as she made her way to the balcony.

It had been a long time since she had last done this. Opening the doors she spread her wings out behind her. Seeing the glowing light fade from her sister's tower, she closed her eyes summoning the magic within her. Spreading her arms out before her she reached to greet the sun as she called it to the sky. A sigh escaped her lips as she felt the warmth touch her naked body, smiling as she opened her eyes.

-----------------passage of time----------------

Nate groaned softly. He hadn't felt like this since before he left the military. He couldn't remember why would he felt like this. A voice off to his left caught his attention.

"Huh?" was all he could come up with to say.

"I see you are awake," the voice spoke again.

"Yeah," Nate answered trying to open his eyes. "Though I wish I wasn't. Feels like I got hit by a bus."

"Well," the voice sounded closer this time. "I'm not quite sure what this bus thing is, but I will say you have been through quite a lot."

"Huh?"

Nate's vision was finally clearing, and when he saw the person talking it was understandable that he was a little freaked out. He went from feeling like he had been on a bender, to sober, to just plain what the hell. Standing by him was a tall thin man, or rather well he wasn't sure what it was. A curved horn was jutting from it's black hair just above the middle of his forehead. The skin or rather the fur on the skin was a silver blue.

"What are you?" Nate finally managed to get out of his mouth as he tried to sit up.

"Now, now," Arclight said with a slight smile on his lips. "Just calm down. My name is Arclight. I am a physician."

"A physician?" Nate blinked up at him. "What?"

"I understand that this may very well be quite unsettling," Arclight said in a soothing voice. "Let's take it slowly. What is your name?"

"Nate," Nate responded after doing his best to slow his racing heart.

Nate watched as Arclight wrote something using a quill of all things. Nate's attention was brought to the light from Arclight's horn as he rolled the scroll of paper up. He watched as a beam of light flew from the tip of the horn and encased the scroll. Then in a flash it was gone.

"What on earth?"

"Hmmm?" Arclight looked over at Nate. "Oh I sent a message to alert the princess that you had awakened."

"Princess?" Nate blinked at him.

"Yes," Arclight nodded. "She was the one that brought you here."

"A princess?" Nate scratched the back of his head. "Brought me here?"

Author's Note

Well that's it for this chapter. I'm not too happy with how it turned out though. For now I'm posting it, and may come back to fix it later. At least now the story can move forward. "Until the Next Chapter."