Having ran all the way back to the castle, Tempest called for the guards to bring a stretcher for Cadance. Immediately, the medical team came out of the door and put the stretcher down before hoisting the queen on there. They ran into the infirmary and immediately locked the doors, leaving Flurry Heart, Apple Bloom. Starlight, Sunset, and Tempest outside. Outside, they waited for a good half-hour until the doors finally opened.

“Princess…?” the doctor said in a nervous tone.

“Yes, doctor?” Flurry Heart responded, already starting to feel worried.

“I need to speak with your caretakers for a bit. Would you mind waiting over in that corner over there?” the doctor said, pointing towards the playing area.

“But what about mommy? And daddy. Are they okay?” Flurry Heart asked, trying to get answers.

“Don’t worry, Your Highness. We will call you over when we’re done.” the doctor said, doing what he can to keep Flurry Heart from knowing the truth.

“C’mon, Your Highness. Why don’t we play with some of those toys over there?” Apple Bloom suggested.

“Okay…” Flurry Heart said, reluctantly going on with the Apple pony’s suggestion.

After watching them walk away into a fair distance, the doctor brung the trio closer to him and said,

“We were able to stabilize the Queen, but the damage done to her is far from reparable. Nothing that years of tending to the dying soldiers back in the Abyssal Invasion won’t fix.”

“What do you mean?” Tempest asked.

“The Queen is in a coma. We did all we could to wake her up, but she won’t move a muscle.”

“What…? Do you know when she’ll come back? She is the Queen of New Equestria and she’s the princess’s mother. We can’t just throw all the responsibility on her.” Sunset said.

“Judging by the damage done to her, she’ll most likely remain like this for many moons to come. If we’re lucky, it’ll be 2-3 decades until she can wake up.” the doctor said in a defeated tone.

“2-3 decades?! The princess will have been a grown mare by the time she has woken up! We can’t keep this deadline from her!” Starlight whispered in a furious tone.

“I have the same grievances as much as the three of you do. But only the Queen can recover. As of right now, her recovery is out of my hooves and all we can do is monitor the Queen until she can make a full recovery. But as for the Captain, he’s resting and it’ll be a while until he can recover, but he is okay. Visiting hours will be permitted when he has awakened.” the doctor said.

The unicorns were relieved to hear that Shining Armor will make it, but they were clearly distressed when they just learned that Cadance won’t be back until she has recovered from her coma. In all likelihood to their knowledge, coma recoveries were slim to none and it only served to amplify the guilt they had felt for arriving too late to stop Cozy Glow from draining the Queen’s magic, let alone whatever Ooze was left inside Spike’s body. And to add insult to injury, the sinister young pegasus was still out there and they had no idea where she ran off to after the ceremony. But deciding to table that discussion for now, the trio decided to walk over to Flurry Heart and Apple Bloom.

“Hey. How are you enjoying the toy?” Tempest asked, trying to ease her way into the discussion.

“They’re okay. Nothing really to brag over though.” Flurry Heart said, looking at the half-worn teddy bear in her hooves.

“I’m sure he is cute the way that he is.” Starlight said, admiring the rustic charm on the teddy bear.

“Listen. We just spoke to the doctor and we have news about your mommy and daddy.” Sunset said, trying to slowly break the news to the young alicorn princess.

“Are they going to be okay…?” Flurry Heart asked, already feeling scared.

The trio looked at each other, equally scared as well before facing Flurry Heart. Then Sunset says,

“They’re going to be okay. We just learned that your daddy is feeling better, but he is asleep right now and we won’t be allowed to see him until visiting hours are permitted.”

“But what about mommy? Is she okay?” Flurry Heart asked once more.

“She is. But it’s gonna be quite some time before your mother can wake up.” the doctor said while trying to avoid spilling the secret.

“What…?” Flurry Heart asked, feeling her stomach sink.

“Well, we’re not sure when she will wake up. But you can rest assured that she will receive the best care that we have to offer. All we need-.” the doctor said before stopping himself.

Flurry Heart started to feel the tears come out of her eyeballs. Seeing this, the doctor stammered and said,

“Y-You can still visit her. But… she’s…” the doctor said, beginning to lose his wording.

Having heard enough, Flurry Heart immediately ran away from the lobby with tears in her eyes. It didn’t take a grown-up to tell her what was happening to her mother. She could already see it on the doctor’s face when he was slowly telling her that she would be in a coma. This trauma that she felt within her gut was too much for her to describe. Even as the others called out Flurry Heart’s name, she ignored them and kept running. That is, until she tripped on a set of stairs, causing her to accidentally hit her nose. By the time she tries getting up, the grown-ups have already caught up with Flurry Heart.

“Are you okay…?” Tempest asked as she picked up Flurry Heart and inspected her nose.

But upon taking a closer look at the princess, she was already bawling her eyes out. The grown-ups were devastated by her saddened state and no idea what to do. Other than to comfort her as Flurry Heart cried.

“Why…? Why won’t she wake up…?” Flurry Heart blubbered as she hugged Tempest.

Tempest wanted to tell Flurry Heart the truth about Cozy Glow, but the looks she received from the others told her that now wasn’t the right time to tell the heartbroken princess.

“I shouldn’t have left the castle. If I had just listened to you and ignored Cozy Glow… none of this would have happened. She hates me…” Flurry Heart blubbered once more.

“No…” Tempest said as she comforted Flurry Heart.

“She hates me. She hates me, Aunty Tempest. I wasn’t a good girl to my mommy and daddy.” Flurry Heart said as she cried.

Before Tempest could say anything else, a voice said,

“It’s not true…”

Flurry Heart raised her head out of Tempest’s chest and saw that it was none other than Shining Armor. He was riding a wheelchair and he has an IV cable linked to his left arm. Being wheeled over to her by Cloak, he said,

“You mean the entire world to us. And she never hated you.”

“Daddy…” Flurry Heart said upon seeing Shining Armor in a wheelchair.

“Sweetie…” Shining Armor replied, clearly beginning to have a breakdown as well.

Flurry Heart walked over and jumped into her father’s lap before crying some more. Embracing his daughter while no longer feeling himself hold back the tears, Shining Armor said,

“I’m sorry… for being such… a terrible father.”

“Daddy…” Flurry Heart bawled as she hugged him.

The others looked on in sadness as they took in the failure of saving Cadance from the ceremony held by Cozy Glow before secretly vowing to themselves that they wouldn’t rest until they found her and made her revive Cadance from her coma.

. . .

Meanwhile in the cave, all the cult members were gathered with Cozy Glow holding onto the fully-restored Malachite Crystal Heart that was shattered by Starlight ten moons ago. Looking at the heart with sinister glee, she could imagine all the destruction she would unleash on New Equestria until she was made Queen. After basking in her grandiose fantasies, she turns to Hans and says,

“It is time…”

On that note, Hans raised his magic staff and started waving it in the air. As soon as it started glowing, everybody began chanting a dark spell in ceremonial fashion as she held onto the crystal while flying over to the mummified corpse.

“That poor, stupid Flurry Heart will be for a surprise when she meets you~…” Cozy Glow said in sadistic pleasure as she inserted the heart into his chest.

The moment it got inserted, tentacles sprouted out of his body and it grabbed everyone, minus Cozy Glow. But instead of screaming in terror, the creatures embraced their demises as they were absorbed into the goat’s body. And when it was finished, everything became silent as the lights went out. Just as Cozy Glow got a closer look, she heard a crunching sound. She saw the head of the goat moved in a broken manner with snapping noises before facing the evil pegasus with red glowing eyes.

Author's Note

Well, this closes off Arc 1. While I am not sure when I will get back to this story, you can be rest assured that there will be more to come and it will be just as evil as ever. In the meantime however, I'm gonna try and work on the other side-stories I've mentioned. But if I'm gonna write them, I won't be publishing them until the full stories are finished. It might be a long process, but the wait will be damned well worth it once I'm finished. I will also be working on a Celestia and Luna story, but that is yet to be seen. The same thing goes for my Spider-Man story on here. I'm also working on an MHA Story and a Sonic Story on Archive of our Own. I will not disclose any details, but they are looking good so far. And that's where I'll close things off for now. Leave your thoughts in the comment section down below and I will get back to you.

This is Ghoul. I'll see you on the other side.