Chapter 6a: The Fall From Grace: Part 2

WARNING: The ending of this chapter gets a little dark, just forewarning you.

Nurse Redheart is making her rounds to the different patients when she hears the doors fly open and shouting coming from the Reception area and walks swiftly out of the room to see what the problem is and enters to see Princess Twilight and Applejack carrying the patient called Bayott from before, looking in very rough shape and asks, "Please tell me what happened that caused him to be in such a state." she then calls to a nurse in the hall, "Bring me a stretcher quick, we must race him to Surgery once more! One of you come with to explain it on the way until we get to Surgery." The nurses then begin to remove his armor and weapons from his body and then set him on a stretcher and begin to rush him down the hall and around corners to the room where he will be operated on.

Shadowmere follows after the Nurse and tells her, "I don't know the entire story but the one that does know is too large for these halls, but we were going to the badlands to fight another dragon and he challenged her to a fight. To our surprise, there was no fight, but we were surprised by the unexpected arrival of another dragon named Alduin. They appeared to be extremely mad about something and then attacked Bayott, after using a shout to force Alduin to land, he fought and struck him with his weapon. Alduin then roared in pain and lashed out at him with a shout to push him back, then another to start roasting him alive with his fire breath. Bayott then somehow got close enough to stun him with his battle axe, then stopped fighting and used a shout that had a very dark aura to it. After Alduin was hit by it, he roared and writhed in pain. He then somehow ignored the pain enough to reach out and took hold of him in his jaws, bit down hard and then shook him even worse than Numinex did and threw him through the air. He hit the ground then bounced off of it, tumbling end over end a few times and skittered across it before coming to a stop before us barely conscious. I then asked the changelings to do something to control the bleeding so he would survive the trip here." She then sees the doors to Surgery and stops as the Head Nurse stops to look at her.

She stops and lets the nurses take him towards Surgery as she says to Shadowmere, "Thank you for telling me what happened, we will do what we can and where is this other dragon at? We cannot ask Lord Ember and Smolder to donate again, they are still recovering from the first donation. So we have to chase it down and take some blood from it for a transfusion if he requires it."

The Thestral chuckles and says, "Oh you mean Nahagliiv? She is just right outside the hospital, most likely a nervous wreck right now worrying about her mate."

Nurse Redheart's eyes shrink for a moment as she says, "Wait, there is a dragon outside the hospital! We need to clear the patients..." She then stops mid sentence and then says, "Uhmm, what do you mean by her mate?"

She giggles at the nurse's reaction and then says, "Yes, but that is a story for after you save his life. I will ask her to allow you or the nurses to draw her blood to give to Bayott." She then turns to go ask Nahagliiv to permit the nurses to draw the blood needed for future transfusions.

The Head Nurse then says to her, "When did he have the time to get those new tattoos. With that much ink used, it would take a few hours to complete them all. It makes him look rather handsome with his bright arctic blue eyes and black hair."

Shadowmere looks over her shoulder and says, "I didn't notice anthing when he was carefully placed inside of Nahagliiv's jaws, I will have to ask her if she knows anything about it." She then continues on her way towards Nahagliiv as Nurse Redheart goes inside of the Surgery room.

Dr. Fauna and Dr. Greymare begin working on the more serious wounds, deciding to handle setting the bones later with Dr. Greymare saying, "At least this time, the wounds were covered by the changelings cocoon material to control the bleeding so we might not need more than five pints of blood for the transfusion. Though it will still be awhile for us to fix the organs, blood vessels, and broken bones."

Nurse Redheart enters the room and says to Dr. Greymare, "I forgot to tell you that this patient has a spell that can knit itself back together, but isn't able to replenish the lost blood. The more that is set back together, makes it less work that the spell has to do to repair the body. Ensuring that it burns the least amount of required energy while healing, but it has a side effect of raising the body temperature during the healing process of the spell."

His eyes shoot up to the Head Nurse and says, "Thank you for telling us this now, we can save so much more time with getting things to the point where the bleeding is stopped and the spell can handle the rest. Perhaps he could teach that spell to a skilled unicorn for us to use to save time during operations."

Outside the hospital

Nahagliiv is laying on the ground when she sees the mare from earlier approach her with a confused look on her face and lifts her head off the ground as she asks her, "What is going on with my mate mare?"

Shadowmere looks up at her and says, "My name is Shadowmere, you can call me Shadow though. Here is what I know so far, the nurses will need to come out and draw some blood from you to possibly use to give Bayott a transfusion. That means he will get your blood through tubes to replace what he has lost, does the nursing staff have permission to draw blood from you?"

She thinks on it for a moment and says, "I don't like anyone using me for any purpose, but if it will save Bayott, I will allow them to take some of my blood. My name is Nahagliiv, you may call me Naha it is nice to meet you Shadow."

The Thestral looks to her in amazement and says, "Everyone has questions about what happened earlier and why you didn't fight him, you will have to tell that story when they all ask about it. I will go tell the nurses that you agreed to let them draw blood from you to give to Bayott, I will lead them here so they can draw your blood. Oh and when did he get those tattoos? One more thing, try not to eat any of them, it really tends to work against your friendly nature."

Nahagliiv cocks her head in confusion and says, "He has new tattoos, I don't know what those are? I will restrain my actions and be polite, I will be sure to inform them of what happened if they should ask."

She then looks to her and chuckles saying, "I am guessing these 'tattoos' are the black paint marks that have appeared on his face recently. I have confidence that Bayott will make it through this surgery." She then turns around and hurries back towards the nurses to ask them to inform Nurse Redheart of Nahagliiv's decision.

Back at Surgery

As Nurse Redheart trades places with a nurse, she heads out to check if Shadowmere came back with an answer to their request to draw some blood from the dragon outside. She arrives at the Reception Desk to see her standing there talking to one of the nurses and calls out to her, "Well, what is her decision to our request for her blood?"

Shadowmere shifts her gaze to the Head Nurse she was looking for and says, "She reluctantly will allow it for Bayott, I don't know if you will need a larger needle because of her thick hide. Sadly, she doesn't know anything about the tattoos, are you ready to go out and meet her?"

She stops in front of her and informs her, "Oh that is good news to hear, I will gather a few assistants to set up a temporary tent to keep the area clean for when we draw the blood so it stays sterile and uncontaminated. I will go grab what I need for it and be right back, please lead us to the dragon when we return so we can locate and sterilize an area to draw the blood from." She then tells the nurse at the desk to gather a few nurses to set up a temporary tent to draw blood in it, then goes on her way to retrieve the equipment she will need.

As she stands there for a few minutes while the nurses gather what they need, some nurses arrive carrying a tent and a few extention cords and power strips. She waits a little bit more as the Head Nurse shows up with a white duffel bag with a red cross on it and makes her way to them.

Nurse Redheart stops beside the group and says, "I think we are all ready, let's get going." She then follows Shadowmere as she leads them to the dragon.

Shadowmere exits the door and turns to the right, heading to where Nahagliiv is waiting and says to them, "Now when you see her, try not to panic because she is friendly now."

As the group of nurses rounds the corner, they are finally able to see the dragon and take a big breath as the Head Nurse steps before them and says, "Hello dragon, what is your name? We are here to set up a temporary tent to sterilize the area to keep the blood clean and uncontaminated by germs, bacteria, viruses, and such. After the tent is set up around the area we are going to extract the blood from, I will tell you what I am doing and when I will stick the needle inside of you. With you being different from other dragons, we are not all that familiar with your anatomy. So I will have to search for a suitable vein to use to draw the blood from, may we continue and begin searching your body with our hands for a suitable area to begin?"

WARNING: SKIP THIS PART IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE MENTION OF NEEDLES AND THE EXTRACTION OF BLOOD!

Nahagliiv looks to the nurse that spoke and responds, "My name is Nahagliiv, and you may proceed with your business. There is much that is different from the age I remember, perhaps a better area to begin would be around my neck. Due to its smaller size, would that make it the better choice to take the blood?"

Nurse Redheart smiles softly and says, "Thank you for allowing us to take some of your blood, it would be a wise choice indeed, but we need a secondary vein instead of an artery because if you poke a hole in an artery with a needle, they squirt blood out and make a mess until you get them closed up again. Before we start filling a few bags with your blood, I will take a few small samples and have them tested first as a precaution to ensure that your blood is safe to use to transfer to him." She then walks towards Nahagliiv and says to the other nurses, "Ok girls, lets work together to locate a suitable vein ok?" She then starts feeling around her body and underneath scales for a decent vein to use.

One of them finds a vein after a half hour of searching and says, "Here is one, I think it might be suitable. What do you think Nurse Redheart?" as one of them holds a few fingers on one of her muscular wings and waits for Nurse Redheart to come and double check.

The Head Nurse walks over to the nurse that thinks she found a usable vein and carefully feels along where her finger is before telling her to remove her hand then says to her, "Good find Nurse Craddy, lets get this area sterilized and ready to take some samples first." She then asks one of the nurses to hand her some swabs, alcohol and Idoine to clean the area and sterilize it with.

The nurses work on setting the tent up before she gets started on cleaning the area, pulling out poles and assemble them. Then they pull the fabric across her wing and attach it to a few of the spikes that are protruding from her back. As they push the fabric up with the poles, they get the peak formed and then work on fastening the other sides down before fully raising the peak.

When Nurse Redheart sees the tent fully raised at last, she gets started on cleaning the area with alcohol first. Then once satisfied with the results, she switches to the iodine to finish sanitizing the area. She then grabs a needle and looks at Nahagliiv, who wanted to watch the process and tells her, "Ok Nahagliiv, you will feel a sting as the needle pierces your outer layer as I search for the vein I found. So please don't hurt any of us, we are trying to draw a few samples to take to the Lab for them to analyze it to ensure it is safe to use for the transfusion."

Nahagliiv looks at her and answers, "Worry not, I will restrain myself from reacting from the needle piercing my thick skin." She then watches her prepare the needle and look back at her once more.

The Head Nurse looks back at her and says, "I wish I could use a piece of elastic tube to restrict the blood flow a bit to keep your skin clean, but there isn't a way due to the membrane connecting your wings. I will clean up any blood that leaks out, are you ready for me to begin?"

She sighs and says, "Thank you, and yes I am ready to begin." She inhales sharply as the needle pierces her skin and finds the vein.

Nurse Redheart begins filling three vials with her blood to take to the Lab for testing. After about a minute or two, she finishes the last one and removes the needle from her wing and puts a cotton ball underneath a adhesive band aid and then tells her, "I will run this to the lab and be back as soon as the results come in, I will return within an hour with an update on how he is doing." She then turns and takes the vials with her towards the Lab inside the hospital, and exits the tent.

THIS IS THE END OF THE MENTION OF NEEDLES AND BLOOD BEING DRAWN!

After a sample is taken, Nahagliiv waits nervously for the nurse to return and says to herself, "Oh Bayott, please survive their treatment."

She knocks on the door of the lab, then opens it and tells the hematologist to analyze and test the blood samples for any reason not to use it. She then hands them the blood samples and exits the room to head to surgery to get an update for Nahagliiv. She walks into the operating room and asks them, "What is the status on the patient Doc? I am drawing blood from the female dragon outside and would like to inform her of the progress on her mate."

Dr. Greymare looks up and says, "This one is a mate to a dragon, how is that at all possible? We have the arteries back together, but unfortunately we will need at least four pints of blood if she can bear sparing it if he is going to survive this. He has a severed spine due to one of the teeth going through the middle of his body and shattering the spinal cord, but there is a chance for a miracle if that spell is able to mend the wounds to his body with that spell. If he uses the spell again, we will have to watch and monitor how it effects the body. Go inform her of the progress so far and come right back, we could use another set of hands for the work we are doing."

Nurse Redheart nods her head and exits the room and makes her way to the Lab for the results of the tests. As she reaches for the door to open it, she hears the knob begin to turn and steps to the side to allow them to open the door without hitting her.

The hematologist opens the door and is surprised to find Nurse Redheart and says to her, "I was just about to look for you, Nurse Redheart. It appears that the blood sample you brought me matches his and will work for the transfusion, if you excuse me, I have other duties to tend to right now. So I bid you a good day." They then turn back around and go back inside to return to the other tests waiting to be done.

She smiles and thanks the tired hematologist and heads down the hallway towards the front doors, making a right turn and heads for the dragon with a tent over part of her body as she sees her head turn towards her and waits for her arrival.

Nahagliiv watches anxiously as the nurse get close enough to her and asks, "I must know, what is the state of my mate?"

Nurse Redheart sighs and says, "The surgery is going well, the bleeding is coming under control. The bad news is that one of Alduin's teeth...have severed his spine and the spinal cord. I am sorry to tell you this but it will be a miracle if he can use the spell he cast before to mend his body, including his spine and cord and be able to walk again."

The dragoness hangs her head a little, then she removes her head from inside the tent and arches her head high into the sky shouting, "YOL TOOR SHUL!" breathing a gout of flame from her mouth. She calms down after a few seconds and says, "Tol munax firok, dii rax wah bormahro ruus!"

She stands a bit stiff after seeing her breathe fire and cocks her head at an angle then says, "I'm sorry, what did you say? I did not understand what you said."

Nahagliiv sighs, then pushes her head back into the tent and says to her, "All I said was, 'That cruel bastard, my teeth to father's neck!' I really do hope that the spell will work. Will my blood be suitable to use for the transfusion?"

Nurse Redheart relaxes her body and then tells her, "Yes it will be vital to use, let's get started shall we?"

The dragoness looks at her and then says, "Alright, lets get this out of the way so I can get back to worrying for my mate."

WARNING: SKIP THIS PART IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE MENTION OF NEEDLES OR BLOOD BEING DRAWN!

The head nurse then looks around for a blood donation kit and a small machine to keep the blood from clotting in the bag, finds one and sets it on a small white sturdy plastic table and calls for nurse Craddy to come and help her move the table near her wing where the blood bag will sit on the rocking machine as her blood is drawn.

Nurse Craddy comes and helps her move the table to where it will sit and then asks the dragoness, "Can you balance yourself ok on three limbs while one wing is laying in a relaxed state on a stand?"

She cranes her neck around and replies, "Yes I can, it is a bit tricky to do, but I think I can manage to balance myself while one wing rests. Is that necessary for the wing to be relaxed while the blood is drawn?"

Nurse Redheart then says to her, "Yes it is, it makes it a bit easier and less painful if your completely relaxed. I apologize if it is inconvenient for you."

The assistant nurse then thinks of something to use to rest her wing on and then turns to go check the storage rooms for anything suitable to use and says to the Head Nurse, "I am going to find something to use to rest her wing on, I will be back in a few minutes."

END OF THE MENTION OF NEEDLES!

Meanwhile, In Aetherius

Mara is lying on her bed curled up on her bed in her female form crying over how guilty she feels for striking her son and punishing him that harshly. She wrings her hands inside of a large bowl of water and stares at her forever stained fingernails, trying to get the blood off of her nails. Deciding that it is futile due to the harsh punishment she dealt her son by her own claw saying to herself, "How could I let my rage take over like that... It was only supposed to be just the three on his face. I hope he can forgive me for doing that to him someday, now I have to live with these blood stained nails and claws." She sighs and buries her head in her hands and continues to weep over how harsh she was on him.

Kynareth enters the room and walks towards her handmaiden, then runs a hand along her body saying, "There there Mara, I am positive that Ysmir has learned the lesson and will forgive you after some time passes. I am envious that you still have a living breathing son on Mundus, he sure has not had an easy life.

She sobs and says, "It is a wonder at how you survived the grave wounds you received during the fight with Molag Bal, I honestly thought you were going to die within a few days. It was a blessing that Harmony showed up when she did and did what she could to mend your wounds, she even said that it was not time for you to die yet as you still had a purpose to fulfill." She then sits up and throws her arms around Kyne and continues to weep at what she has done.

Back on Mundus

The assistant returns with a few antique cots and assembles them then stacks them under different places on her large wings to elevate them above the bag and asks, "Can you please raise and set your wing on top of the cots please? I will adjust them so they will make it more comfortable for you."

Nahagliiv raises her left wing and carefully extends it a little and rests it on top of the cots and says, "The position right now will work, I can relax it like that with ease and balance my body." She then balances herself so she doesn't tip the cots over on accident.

WARNING: THIS PART MENTIONS NEEDLES AND THE MENTION OF BLOOD BEING DRAWN!

Nurse Redheart feels around for the vein and marks it with washable marker, grabs a pair of latex gloves and puts them on, then takes an alcohol pad and tears open the package, then removes the pad and wipes down the area and uses Iodine and a swab to sanitize the area and takes a needle with a tube at the end of it and then holds it in the air near the vein and says, "Ok when I stick this larger needle in, you will feel a bit more of a sting as the needle first pierces your skin. Are you prepared for it?"

She turns her head back and watches her work and answers her, "Yes I am ready. This is my first time offering blood, so this will be interesting to watch."

The nurse then begins pushing the needle towards the vein saying, "Ok here we go, just relax. You will feel a sting when the needle begins to pierce your skin." The needle pierces the skin right when she says that and slowly inserts the needle further into her trying to find the vein, but she doesn't feel the right sensation from the needle. She pulls the needle back and tries again and finds it, she then moves the stopper on the tube to allow the blood to flow into the bag and says, "Alright, now we just need to wait for the bag to fill before starting another. With your size, I think we can safely try to take four pints from you, five at the max."

Nahagliiv curiously watches the machine rock the bag back and forth as it fills up with blood. As the bag gets big enough, she hears a strange beeping noise and asks, "What does that noise mean?"

Nurse Redheart then gets a new bag hooked up and starts it again saying, "That sound means that the bag is full and needs to be exchanged for a new one. That is one down, three more to go."

An hour passes by when the last bag finishes filling, she moves the stopper to stop the blood flow and squeezes the remaining blood in the tube into the bag. She then pulls the needle out, disconnects the tube, puts the protective cap on the needle and separates it from the tube. She then tosses it into the biohazard waste bin for sharps and the tube into another bin. She takes a cotton ball and places it over the hole the needle was in and sticks a bandaid over it saying, "Thank you for donating so much blood, we hope you choose to donate again one day Nahagliiv. Now just relax that wing until the hole stops bleeding, the bandaid can be removed in about six hours. I'm sorry I can't stay longer, but I have to rush this blood to the lab and prep it for the doctors to use during the surgery. Have a good day, I will have a nurse come out and keep you informed on his status."

THIS IS THE LAST PART OF BLOOD BEING DRAWN FOR THIS CHAPTER!

After completing her task, she places the bag into a special cooler and takes off towards the lab to prep it for a transfusion. She passes through the entrance and tells the receptionist at the desk, "The tent needs to be taken down, cleaned and the equipment picked up and cleaned." She then makes her way down the hall towards the lab with the cooler in her hands to get it ready.

A half hour passes by as Dr. Greymare works on piecing the veins together so he can start working on the legs and says, "Where in Celestia is Nurse Redheart with that blood from that dragon, we need to start resupplying his body with blood soon or his heart is going to stop." Just then he hears the doors open and turns to briefly look at who it is and sees that it is Nurse Redheart and responds saying, "It's about time you got here, what took you so long? Did you decide to stop and chat for awhile? Hurry over here so we can get the transfusions started."

WARNING: NEEDLES AND BLOOD ARE MENTIONED BRIEFLY HERE!

Nurse Redheart walks over to him saying, "Sorry It took so long, we had to find a way to elevate her wing above the bag to draw blood. Then we had to take the blood to the lab to prep it for a transfusion." She stops and sets the chest down and opens it, pulling out one bag and hangs it up on a stand near the bed and says, "There, the bag is ready to start the transfusion. Just say when you want me to start it."

He glances over to her and says, "Better start it now, because I am almost done with this last vein here, and I'm about to start working on the punctured organs and then the bones."

She unwinds the tubing and connects it to the bag and then removes the air from it, then inserts the needle into his arm to start replenishing the blood that was lost after the fight.

Dr. Greymare finishes up sewing the vein back together and then helps out Dr. Fauna with a lacerated liver saying, "after we finish up these organs, do you want to start on getting the bones set back together and then wait for them to come to and cast that mending spell? You are doing great work so far, you really should consider becoming a surgeon part time."

Dr. Fauna blushes and continues stitching together Bayott's small intestines then says, "If he keeps getting this torn up in fights, I may have to take the proper training."

As they work on through the day sewing organs back together, they spend twenty hours getting his body to the point where it can heal itself. They close him up as Dr. Greymare says out loud, "I wish there was something we could do about his spinal cord and spine, but all we can do is hope that spell of his can repair the damage to it. Nurse Redheart, could you please close this patient and take him to recovery room 101? Thank you."

She replies, "There is nothing you or I could do, it is beyond our current ability and skill. So all we can do now is just pray and hope that this spell he has can repair his spine and spinal cord."

Nurse Redheart changes the bag over and closes for the doctor, then unhooks the wires from him and rolls him down the hall with an assisting nurse that was in the room assisting the two surgeons. As they roll him down the hall towards his recovery room she says, "That was a long and brutal session, I can't believe how complex his body is."

Nurse Craddy pushes the gurney down the hall with the Head Nurse and replies back, "Yep it sure was, twenty hours is a long time to be in surgery trying to save somepony's life. Especially with how odd his body is organized, the way everything is organized is so different to us ponies. I sure hope that he will be able to make a full recovery with that spell of his."

They arrive at the room where Bayott will be staying temporarily until he can cast the spell to heal himself, hoping that he will be able to walk again after he casts it. Nurse Redheart says to Nurse Craddy, "Hey Craddy, can you stay here and watch over him while I go inform the group in the waiting room that he is out of surgery?"

She turns to look at her and says, "Sure thing Red, I wonder when he will be waking up. I will be sure to ask him to wait until the doctors arrive to watch him cast the spell to see its effects."

The Head Nurse turns and helps her switch him over to the more comfortable hospital bed as two more nurses arrive to help move him over. With a count to three, they lift him together with a grunt and set him on the bed. Then they return the gurney to the operating room to clean it and prepare it for the next surgery.

As Nurse Redheart walks out of the room, Nurse Craddy waits for the patient to come to saying, "I wonder how long it will be until you wake up."

The group of girls wait in the waiting room for any new information on the status of Bayott's surgery when Shadowmere turns her head and looks at Pinkie and asks her, "How in Oblivion did you know what happened back there at the hive when even I didn't know that much detail about it!"

Pinkie beams a wide smile and says, "Well, my Pinkie sense told me about it. Here is how it works..." She then goes into how her 'Pinkie Sense' work and what the various signs mean.

She feels a little dizzy as Pinkie explains how her Pinkie Sense works, then shakes her head, feeling very confused and says, "I'm sorry, what signs mean what again?"

Twilight giggles and puts a hand around Pinkie's mouth and says, "Don't worry Pinkie, I will hand her a copy of the small booklet I made to save everypony the hassle of memorizing them."

The party pony's smile gets wider and she nods as her way of saying thank you while her mouth is clamped shut.

She lets go of her friends mouth and then pulls a medium sized booklet out of her purse that she had on her shoulder and hands it to her and says, "That should make it easier to understand her Pinkie Sense a lot better."

Just then Luna watches as Nurse Redheart comes into the room and asks, "How is Bayott's surgery going? Is he going to live?"

Nurse Redheart raises her hands in the air and says, "He is out of surgery now and is in recovery room 101. The good news is that he will live, the bad news is that we are unsure if he will ever walk again due to his spinal cord being severed below his rib gage by a tooth. It would be miraculous if his spell manages to repair the damage that has been done to his body, the doctors have sewn many blood vessels, organs, muscles, and carefully pieced his broken bones back together. he will survive though if the spell fails to heal his spine, he is currently unconscious and may take a bit to wake up. If you excuse me, I have a few duties to perform, please ask him to wait for the doctors to come see him cast the spell and watch how it works." She then turns and leaves the room and goes to check on the patients looking over her shoulder to say, "When he wakes, please notify a nurse and tell her to come find me and I will come ask him a question or two."

They all turn to leave the waiting room and go check on him and make their way out and then down the hall towards the room where Bayott stayed last time as Shadowmere makes her way towards the exit to inform Nahagliiv of his status saying, "I will be right back girls, I am going to inform Nahagliiv of Bayott's current status."

Twilight turns and looks at her and says, "We will be waiting for you in his room Shadowmere."

Shadowmere exits the hospital and turns to go tell Nahagliiv Bayott's current status thinking, 'Oh I hope that she won't roast me alive or eat me for telling her this...'

Nahagliiv sleepily waits outside the hospital, wishing she was smaller so she could go in to see him when he is out of surgery when she spots the dark mare from earlier the other day and says, "How is my mate doing, is he out of surgery yet?"

She approaches the dragoness nervously and stops in front of her and says, "Yes he has finally gotten out of surgery and is inside room 101 right now, would you like to wait outside the window to his room? We are waiting for him to wake up after being in surgery for fifteen hours."

The dragoness narrows her eyes a little and says, "I would like that very much, thank you. You haven't answered my first question yet, how is my mate doing now that he is out of surgery?"

Shadowmere sighs and tells her, "Well the surgery went well, they weren't able to do anything for his severed spine. They are not sure if the spell he used to heal himself before will heal his severed spine or not, so currently...he is not able to walk. Shall we be on our way towards his room so you can wait for him to wake up?"

Nahagliiv smiles and says, "Lead the way Shadow, I am eager to see my mate after being here so long. I am beginning to get tired, so I need to find a place to rest once he wakes up."

She leads the way towards the room as the dragoness turns around and follows after her, each step making an audible sound due to her massive size.

A few passing ponies walk by on their way to various locations and watch in curiosity as the dragon passes by, following a pony and talk amongst themselves wondering why they are here until they part ways.

Shadowmere stops at Bayott's room window and looks at Nahagliiv and says, "This is the window to his room, I will open it when I get inside so you can speak to him once he is awake. I shall see you later Naha, I will go inside and wait for him to wake up."

The dragoness looks at the window that still has the curtains drawn shut and glances at Shadowmere and says, "Thank you for coming to tell me that he was out of surgery and for bringing me here Shadow."

She stops and looks over her shoulder to Nahagliiv and says, "You are welcome, I understand that there are others that worry for his fate as well. He is apparently mentioned in a prophecy from this age as well."

Nahagliiv raises her brow in curiosity and says, "There is a prophecy mentioning him? That is interesting to hear, that doesn't usually happen very often."

Shadowmere turns and faces forward and smiles saying back to her, "I'm sure it doesn't happen that often, he is in fact...the Last Dragonborn that will ever exist." She then starts heading back towards the entrance of the hospital to open up the window for Naha to be able to speak with her mate.

She makes her way through the entrance and down the halls to the room where Bayott is staying, she arrives a couple minutes later and walks into the room and makes her way through the slightly crowded room trying to get to the window to open it for Nahagliiv to talk to Bayott.

Twilight notices Bayott starting to stir and says, "Hey girls, he is starting to wake up! Don't rush him with all sorts of questions, give him time to answer."

Rainbow Dash turns her head to face Twilight and scoffs saying, "You're one to talk! Who is the one that always has a hundred questions going through her head at all times?"

She chuckles and says, "Ok ok, I may get a little carried away with trying to get answers. I will try hard to restrain myself so he doesn't get overwhelmed.

She squints suspiciously at her and says, "We shall see about that, we shall see..."

Shadowmere grumbles at them and softly says to the two, "Will you two shut up already, you are making too much noise."

The two girls smile sheepishly at each other and softly chuckle and wait for him to fully wake up.

Celestia quickly turns her head and looks at him, feeling really eager to know if he managed to win the fight against Alduin and quietly says to herself, "I hope you won against him, this world would be safe again with him gone."

Bayott slowly starts to wake up feeling a bit groggy and says, "I am guessing by how I feel that I somehow survived yet again?"

Celestia anxiously wrings her hands and is the first to speak up saying, "Did you manage to win your battle with Alduin when you faced him yesterday?"

He chuckles and sighs saying, "Sadly, it was a draw because I inflicted some damage to him and he inflicted a bit of damage to me."

While everyone's mouths hang open, she hangs her head in sadness and says, "I was hoping you would have said yes, but since you said no, I believe that you are going to need help in defeating him."

Bayott grinned widely and said, "I did leave him a nasty little present though, not sure how long it will last but I hope it lasts a long time." He tries to sit up but finds that he isn't able to move anything past his hips and gets a little worried and says, "Umm I can't feel or move my legs, that can't be good. Can someone go get the nurse or the doctor and tell me what is going on here?"

Fluttershy makes her way to the door and says, "I will go get Nurse Redheart, please remain calm. I will be right back."

Nahagliiv lays down outside of her mate's room and hears him talking and moves her eye to the window and looks inside and sees that he is indeed awake and says, "My mate you live and are awake, I am so happy to discover this!"

He turns his head to the side and sees Nahagliiv right outside and says, "You must have caused a bit of a panic when you first got here with me in your mouth. Alduin will have to try harder than that if he wants to kill me, I sure hope that no dragons attack anywhere recently because I could do with some time to relax and get to know everypony a bit as well as help rebuild the town."

Twilight cocks her head and looks at Bayott and says, "I do not know of any other ruins that were found with a seal like the one at Ustengrav. I will have to ask around to find out, maybe Star Swirl might know something about this."

Across town, Star Swirl is catching up with A.K Yearling on recent events and discoveries as she tells him, "A few days ago, the crew unearthed a large circle involving two dragons with an arrow in the middle of them. Do you know anything about that? They tried to open the doors but they won't budge an inch."

He looks at her and smiles saying, "That is most unusual indeed, sorry but I don't know anything about that. Maybe the Dragonborn would know something about this, the group I was with came across a magical seal that had 9 cutie marks on it that needed to be activated in a certain order. Once we got past that, we ventured inside after listening to a song translated by a being known as Akatosh to discover several corpses laying on the floor in various places. After passing through a few dangerous traps, we found a tomb at the far back of the ruin with a corpse sitting inside of an alcove. Then a being known as Mara took control of Celestia's body and used a song as well as gathering the magic that was in the air to break the complex spell that was apparently keeping things asleep. Some time after the spell was broken, the creature woke up. After some time passed, we learned his name was Bayott after he saved Fluttershy's life when she was bitten in the previous room by a starving spider." He then recounted the rest of the tale to A.K. Yearling, who was listening intently to his story.

A.K. Yearling listens to the last bit of the story and says, "That is some tale, I look forward to meeting this Bayott. Let's get going, and what happened after getting out of the ruin?"

Star Swirl tells her the story of how they restored his look and how that led to the fight to save the town and then said, "Follow me, let's go find out if Bayott is back yet." He then turns and tries to locate one of the ponies that were in the group that went into the ruin with him and discovered Bayott's place of slumber.

They walk down the street, not finding anypony of the group as Star Swirl says, "I wonder where they all are at?" Just then he asks a pony that is helping clear rubble around a collapsed home, "Excuse me, do you know where Princess Celestia or Princess Twilight might be?"

The pony holds a piece of a charred beam in her hands and says, "Oh, hello sir Star Swirl. Yes they are in the hospital visiting somepony that Applejack and Twilight rushed in seeking medical attention."

He stops and said to her, "Thank you kindly miss, have a good day." He then left and made his way towards the hospital to ask the princesses where Bayott was so they could ask him about the strange symbol.

The Doctors arrive outside the room along with Nurse Redheart when she enters the room and walks up to him, looking into his eyes then lays a hand on his shoulder with a sigh and says, "I am sorry to have to tell you this, but you received a severe wound to your spinal cord. The surgeons were not able to do anything about your severe injury, but we are still hopeful that the spell you cast earlier can repair the damage to it. We would like to know how you cast that spell and would like to learn it for ourselves to use to save a life when a pony has received a fatal injury that would kill them within moments, can you show it to us please?"

Bayott chuckles and says, "I guess I have to give that a shot to see if it will work at all, please watch closely and see if you can learn how this spell works."

Twilight is about to speak when Star Swirl enters the room and says, "So this is where you were Princess Celestia, who is it that you are..." His words are cut off as he spots who is in the hospital bed and sees that it is Bayott that is laying on the bed with several bandages around his midsection, arms, and legs and says, "What in Tartarus happened to you that leaves you in such a state Dragonborn?"

He laughs and scratches his face and says, "Well it happened like this. I cast a spell I created when I was lying in this very same bed after I fought and killed Numinex who apparently attacked Brayville and the campsite outside of Ustengrav that burned up most of my magic and energy, as well as causing my body temperature to increase several degrees while it healed me completely. After that spell healed my wounds, I explained to a few of you that were here to see that, that it does not restore blood that was lost from the time the injury was inflicted until the bleeding was brought under control. I then heard from a changeling that I caught right outside of town that their hive is under attack by a dragon called Naha something and I went to go aid them. When I arrived, I told my companion Shadowmere to get the survivors and wounded to safety while I got Nahagliiv's attention. When I saw a green beam shoot out of a massive hole in the top I shouted the dragon's name to challenge it to a fight." He then looks over to his mate Naha and says to her, "It's your turn to tell them what happened in the other half of the story dear."

Nahagliiv chuckles at hearing him say that and says, "I heard my name being called and with me being a female dovah, I naturally thought I was being challenged for the right to mate. When I felt the presence of only one dovah, I looked around for the one who challenged me and saw only a puny human standing all alone on a field. I decided to humor his challenge to mate and after talking for a little bit, I learned that he did not realize he was requesting to be my mate and the embarrassment that was on his face was amusing. I then told him a few more things about our kind and informed him that since he issued the challenge already, that he had no choice but to wait for my decision. After the ritual ceremony was over, my father Alduin showed up and he was not happy...at all about my choice for a mate. Bayott, my new mate then asked me to stay out of battle and said that if he needed me, he would call for aid. He fought bravely against Alduin's flaming rock shout and landed a couple heavy blows to him, but then he created a new cursed shout that should not exist and used it on him, causing my father to writhe and scream in pain. He then fought through the pain just enough to grab him in his jaws and shook him terribly and threw him back at me across the ground, bouncing along like a ragdoll and stopped just in front of a group of curious creatures as he told him he hopes the pain lasts forever and if he dies while it is in effect, he stays dead. After that, his wounds were treated temporarily and was placed in my mouth to rush to get treatment at this town."

Star Swirl then caresses his chin with two fingers and says, "That is an interesting tale indeed, disappointing that it ended in such a way. On the bright side, hopefully we will have a bit more time to prepare for the next time you encounter him. I am curious as well about this spell you created, perhaps if Twilight and I can study and analyze you as the spell is being cast, we can learn it and improve it's efficiency. There is also a ruin that my friend A.K. Yearling discovered that has a strange symbol involving two dragons and an arrow in front of the entrance. The workers tried to open it but discovered that they refused to even budge, do you happen to have any knowledge about that?"

He arched his eyebrows in curiosity and said, "I think that may be an ancient Akiviri seal, but I don't know who could have placed it there because the last of The Blades died at the siege of The Imperial City in Cyrodil. Once the town is back in order once more, let's go check it out because I am curious as to what might be inside of it. Alright, I am going to start the spell. Anyone who is going to try to learn it watch closely."

The ponies move back while the ponies with horns move forward to watch carefully as Twilight and Star Swirl watch his every move intently, not wanting to miss a single thing when Twilight brings out a couple notebooks to write notes in. She casts an auto note taking spell that writes down her thoughts saying, "Ok, I think we are all ready to watch and try to learn this spell Bayott."

Bayott sighs and grumbles, "I hope that this works, because I do not want to go through life not being able to move." He brings his right hand up and looks to the others and says, "Ok I am going to prepare to cast the spell, watch closely." He watches as they nod their heads, indicating that they are ready.

Twilight gets into scientific mode and watches as he raises his hand up as a light begins to appear in it, taking notes on everything he does. She watches as the magic levels in his body begin to drop as the spell charges in his hand as it begins to vibrate from the amount of magic that is stored there. She continues to take notes when he thrusts is hand into the air and casts the spell, sending the ball up into the air then slowly begins to fall back towards him and strikes him. A glow rapidly engulfs his body in a golden aura and begins to work on repairing his body as Twilight fills page after page with information while watching the spell proceed to heal his body. She feverishly fills the first notebook and switches to the other as he hisses while breathing in air from the spell raising his body temperature. As the spell winds down, she continues to take notes until he is breathing hard from the effect of the spell.

Concern is all over her face as Nurse Redheart walks up to his side and asks, "How are you feeling now, Bayott? Did that spell work at all by chance?"

Cautiously, he tries to move one of his toes then looks at Nurse Redheart and says, "Can you see one of my toes moving Nurse Redheart?"

She lifts and pulls the blanket covering his feet back to look and to her shock, sees a big toe wiggling and says, "I'm amazed...it worked!" She pulls the blanket further back and lays it down to show the others as well as his mate that is looking through the open window eagerly and steps back so they can see.

Every pony and Nahagliiv release a breath they did not know they were holding as they then look at each other then begin to hug each other, feeling glad that he will be able to walk again.

Star Swirl smiles as Twilight hugs Nurse Redheart and says, "That spell is crudely crafted and works, but it does need to be improved to be more efficient. Me and Twilight will have to run a few tests as we work on making it better, we will try to teach you the spell when it is finished. I have a few tasks that I need to take care of before we go to that ruin that was found. I bid everypony a good day, and congratulations on a healthy recovery Bayott."

Twilight separates from the hug with Nurse Redheart as she sees the black marks on his face and asks, "I don't mean to be rude, but what are those marks on your face from? When you used that spell the last time, your wounds healed and left scar tissue behind. To what I have seen, your scars match your skin roughly, but they don't turn black like that."

Bayott's face turns to look at the wall as he remembers what happened in Sovngarde, then sighs and looks back to Twilight with a frown on his face and says, "These marks you see were given to me by my mother Mara in her dragon form. Apparently, the shout I used caused quite a bit of mayhem up there, making quite a mess out of everything. She and the other divines were not happy at all that I created a new forbidden shout as dark as that one I used on Alduin. Dragonrend is dark as well but nowhere near as dark and cruel as that one, I think I shall call it Curse of Mortality. Well Nurse Redheart, shall we begin the exam that you wanted to do the first time but didn't have the time to the first time I was here?"

Twilight and the others gasp in shock at hearing that and look anywhere but at him as they all tell him how they will be there for him if he ever needs to talk about it. Twilight moves in for a hug, wrapping her arms around him and then steps back saying, "I am sorry for wanting to know about those marks on your face, I didn't mean to force you to suffer the pain of remembering how you got those."

She smiles at him and says, "Oh good you remembered, yes let's get that out of the way. Don't worry, it will only take about an hour once we get started. Follow me to Exam Room 1 please." She then leads the way down the corridor and waits patiently right outside of his room for him to catch up to her.

He slowly pushes himself into a sitting position and looks at Twilight and says, "Don't worry about it, I am already past it. I have just gotten a warning is all, but it isn't just those three on my face that I received. I received three more across my back as well." He then looks over at Nahagliiv and says to her, I am going to be fine Naha. I will go through this exam and come out to continue talking with you, I would like to know more about the culture of ancient dragons. Since I did not know anything when I found myself mated to a female dovah. I seriously wonder if we would be able to produce children due to our obvious difference in size."

Naha blushes and stammers as she tries to say, "Y-You sh-shouldn't have been s-so ignorant and eager to kill dragons then and just asked them about it, I-I am s-sure that one of them would have told you what you wanted to know."

Bayott gets up off the bed carefully, testing to make sure that his legs will take his full weight before getting off the bed completely and says, "These robes are really drafty back there you know? Someone needs to make a better robe that actually keeps you somewhat warm and doesn't leave your ass hanging out in the breeze? I will see you in a bit love, I'm gonna go have fun getting probed and prodded by Nurse Redheart."

She narrows her eye in a glare as she stares at his turned face and yells at him, "YOU BETTER BEHAVE YOURSELF OR I WILL HAVE YOU FOR DINNER!"

He laughs and starts walking away saying, "I know, I will my darling. I love you too." He blows a kiss to her and follows the nurse out of the room.

With Bayott up and moving about, the ponies in the room exit it as well and head off to resume the effort of rebuilding the town. Celestia looks to Luna and Twilight and asks, "What can we do to improve the town of Ponyville so it will fare better during the next dragon's attack?"

Luna and Twilight then think of how the ruin they were in was built and both say in unison, "Build it from stone and wood, with stone on the outside to resist the flames with wood on the inside to function as support for the stone."

Several hours ago...Just outside of The Badlands

Alduin pants from fighting through the pain, hoping to make it to Skuldafn without having to stop for a breath and thinks to himself, 'I sure hope that this stupid effect wears off soon, I am really going to enjoy killing that damn Dovahkiin that did this to me when I get my strength back." He then roars out in rage, pain and frustration as he is forced to land on top of a mountain to catch his breath.

Ashara wakes rudely as something shakes her out of her slumber, going out to look at what caused it and grumbles angrily to herself as she storms out of the cave she was in saying, "If I find out whoever or whatever woke me up, I am gonna..." Her rant is cut off abruptly when she looks up to see a large black dragon twice her size but only having two legs and wings that also function as a set of front legs with beady red eyes staring right back at her. She instantly remembers that she always began her cycle after the other females laid theirs and tries to crawl backwards back into her cave and says, "Keep away from me! Wh-Who a-are you a-and wh-why do you disturb me!?" She nervously keeps stepping backward as her tail twitches side to side as if it is a male.

A strange smell fills his nostrils and ignores it as he stares down at the strange female dragon with four legs, having long, sharp horns sticking out the back of her head with a wicked spiral twist to them, a hide of red scales with an alabaster white underbody and pale violet slitted eyes and continues to stare down at her. He guesses that she is about half his size and then says, "Dii faan los Alduin, Zu'u los faal Lein Naakin. Nid filok dii zokoraav miin, ahrk Zu'u los diist kiin do Bormah. Zu'u los zok lov nahlii hi fen alun ofaal koraav nahl rah. (My name is Alduin, I am the World Eater. Nothing escapes my watchful eyes, and I am the first born of Akatosh. I am the nearest being you will ever get to seeing a living god, and you will serve me)" He continues to watch her, enjoying the fear that he can sense from her.

She continues to walk backwards into her cave not understanding what he is saying, trying to keep away from the male that is currently terrifying her. Trying to force her tail to stop swaying side to side in arousal, she looks back to look for another way out and doesn't see one. With no other choice, she turns back around and says to the other dragon, "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you just said. Can you speak plain Equish?"

Alduin scowls at her trying to escape him and repeats what he said earlier in the Human's tongue and says, "You refusing to serve me irritates me greatly, you will make a fine servant once I force you to." He leaps forth and lands on the ground, making her lose her balance from the impact. He then stalks towards her and takes her throat into his jaws, as he increases the pressure he punishes her for denying him and jerks his head to the side.

Ashara hears him speak and tears roll down her face as she is flung against the wall, eliciting a shrill cry of pain from her jaws as she smashes through a stalactite hanging down from the ceiling. She slowly gets to her feet and says, "Why do you want me to serve you, you are not the Dragon Lord!"

As he hears what she says, he roars at her and shouts, "YOL TOOR SHUL!" After breathing fire at her causing a few scales to crack and fall from her hide, he grabs her by the neck once more and threatens to bite through her neck, intent on making her serve him to keep his mind off the pain.

She tries to break free of his jaws but is unable to as she is flung against the other wall, crashing through another stalactite and cries out in pain saying, "I have never seen another dragon like you before, are you a hybrid or something?"

Alduin pauses for a moment and growls deeply and reluctantly answers her question saying, "THERE ARE NO OTHERS THAT ARE FIT TO RULE OTHER THAN ME! THE RIGHT TO RULE IS MINE BY RIGHT, WHO DARES TO CALL THEMSELVES THE LEADER OF YOU ALL!? I DEMAND TO KNOW THEIR NAME, I SHALL PUNISH THEM FOR TRYING TO TAKE MY PLACE! First though, I shall break you and force you to serve me. I despise informing you that a great deal of time has passed from the time that dov ruled over Mundus or whatever you now call this realm. All other dovah were similar to me and served me as I ruled over all that lived on this realm, I intend to make it so again and will continue to punish you until you serve me!" He approaches her then then grabs her by the neck again and remembers how his daughter defied him and bites through her scales, sending them to the floor in pieces. He then bites down harder and pierces her hide and twists his head and hurls her into the back of her cave, crashing through a column of stone and causes the cave to shake in warning.

Ashara slowly struggles to get to her feet after being thrown that viciously she gives in saying, "I-I yield... I-I yield..." She hangs her head and looks down at the ground defeated.

He looks down at her triumphantly and says, "I YIELD...WHAT?"

Tears continue to make their way down her face as she stares at the ground and says, "I yield, My Lord."

Alduin narrows his eyes at her and says, "Now tell me this other lord's name or I will kill you in frustration."

Ashara lets out a sob and says, "Her name is Dragon Lord Ember and she has a cave in the Dragon Lands."