The Untold Stories of Equestria: Midnight Dawns Part 1: A Slice of Life Interrupted

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1.1
Chapter 1.0: Red Arrival

Prologue

Falling. That's all I remember is falling for what seemed like forever. I couldn't see anything. I'd open my eyes and see nothing but black. The only sound was the audible wind whooshing past my ears as I tumbled down what seemed like an endless void. I didn't know where I was or how I ended up where I was at. The only thing I knew for certain was that soon I would meet my end to the ground that was surely rushing to meet me.

I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out. The air was rushing past me so fast that it made it all but impossible breath, let alone make a sound. Was this it? Was this how I was going to die? How did this even happen?

The next thing I felt was a jarring pain rack through my body and my a bright flash appeared in front of my vision as consciousness slipped away from me. There were no words that could describe what I felt at that moment, both physically and mentally. Physically, for a brief moment it felt as though every part of my body was broken; and most assuredly they probably were. Mentally though, when consciousness left me and granted me a blissful reprieve from the agonizing pain, I felt as though I ceased to exist. No coherent thought, no knowledge of what happened, anything. It was as if my very being was erased from the sands of time. I only could pray that this torment would eventually come to pass.

"Nurse Redheart! I came as soon as I got word, what happened?!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she ran into the Ponyville clinic's front door.

Nurse Redheart was sitting behind the reception desk filling out paperwork. As the yellow pegasus entered, and at the sound of her voice, she greeted her warmly. "Fluttershy! I'm glad you can come. Things have been crazy around here" She said as she stood up from behind the desk. As Nurse Redheart approached her, Fluttershy could tell that she was stressed. The usual lively white mare had noticeable bags under her eyes and her hair was completely disheveled. She had a slow pace to her to her walk, but she still moved with purpose despite her obvious exhaustion.

"Less than an hour ago a stallion fell through your friend Rarity's ceiling." She said as she began to walk back to the emergency wing with Fluttershy in toe.

"Oh my Goodness! Is he okay? What about Rarity? Is Sweetie Belle or her hurt?"

"Rarity and Sweetie Belle are fine. They were downstairs when it had happened. As for the stallion..."

They made their way through a set of double doors that lead to the emergency section of the hospital and inside was abuzz with activity and commotion. All manners of both doctors and nurses toadied about to and fro. Some pushed medical carts through the hall to various rooms and others walked quickly reviewing medical charts. As soon as they past through the doors Fluttershy could feel the tension that was in the air and being in the middle of so much activity made her uneasy so she brought her wings closer to her sides for comfort.

"As you can see everyone is in a bit of a rush and its really crazy right now trying to get everything ready for the surgery."

"Surgery?! Is his hurt that bad?" Fluttershy asked as a large stallion doctor in scrubs rushed past her in a trot towards the operating room.

"Bad?" Nurse Redheart repeated as they continued on their way. "No bad doesn't cover it. He's lucky if he's going to survive the night, let alone the surgery."

It felt like Fluttershy's heart sank into the pit of her stomach. "Oh my goodness..." she said just above a whisper.

The two mares continued on down the long corridor and passed through one more set of double doors that lead into a small waiting room that was adorned with chairs along the walls. In the middle of the room stood four of her dearest friends who talked in hushed voices amongst themselves. Applejack had pulled a chair over to the others and was sitting. Her yellow mane was a mess and her orange coat was completely askew. She had obviously left her house in a hurry because she didn't even have her stetson hat on. The usual hyper active Pinkie Pie stood next to her and, although she didn't look as disheveled and tired as her country friend, her usual poofy pink mane was completely flat and she had a very concerned look on her face. Instead of talking, (which was definitely something that doesn't happen often,) she sat and listened to the others talk taking in every word. Behind them was Rarity who looked worse than all of them put together. The white unicorn paced back and forth while she absentmindedly held a hoof to her mouth as tears slowly down her cheeks. Her eyes were poofy and bloodshot from crying and her mane, which usually was elegantly washed and done up at any time of the day, looked like a rat's nest. Rainbow Dash hovered above them all and she didn't look much different than usual. Her rainbow mane was messy and unbrushed as well as her cyan coat and matching rainbow tail. Despite that though, she was noticeably irritated for being woken up at this late hour. She hovered in one place which her front hooves crossed as she voiced her discontent about the whole situation. Fluttershy was about to ask Nurse Redheart if she knew where Twilight Sparkle was, but as soon as she was about to ask she remembered that Twilight was away in Canterlot trying to learn more about the mysterious box that the Tree of Harmony created when they had returned the elements back in their resting place a month ago.

As soon as they entered the room, all four of them turned and looked at them as the sound of the doors closing alerted them to their presence. Rainbow Dash landed with a clop and approached the two mares.

"Nurse Redheart I'm not trying to be rude, but that the hay were we called here for? I mean yea I know that there was an accident and somepony got hurt, but we're not doctors! There's really nothing that we can do to help." Rainbow Dash said with a flick of her tail. If there's one thing Fluttershy had learned through all the years of knowing Rainbow Dash, its that she hated to be woken up from her sleep and despite all that was going on it didn't really dissuade her grumpiness.

"Actually I was wonderin' the same thing. The truth of the matter is that we aint got no business in bein' here and we'll just be gettin' in the way. Mind fillin' us in on what this is all about?" Applejack said with a gesture with a free hoof.

There was an audible sniffle from Rarity stopped pacing long enough to levitate a tissue from a box on an end table in the corner of the room to blow her nose. Pinkie Pie, who was looking at nothing in particular up until that point, looked up at the white earthpony expectantly. Fluttershy had seen her pink friend upset a couple of times before over the years, but this is the worst she's ever seen her. It was obvious that the thought of somepony dying made her more depressed than she had ever been before and it was starting to worry Fluttershy at how bad she was handling it.

"Actually Applejack, there is a reason why I called you girls here. I would've sent for Princess Twilight as well but she's currently busy with business in Canterlot still so I have no way to get a hold of her in time for her to be of any help."

At the sound of that, Rarity joined the rest of the mares to hear what was being said. She had taken a moment to compose herself. After she blew her nose one more time she was ready to talk to the nurse.

"Is the poor dear going to be alright? I would've done more, but he was hurt so bad... and the blood..." a sob caught in her throat. as flashbacks of that moment came back to her.

Nurse Redheart let out an exhausted sigh and sat down on her haunches to address the questions being thrown at her. "Rarity I really don't know. You getting us as quickly as you did helped him more than you know. We managed to stabilize him an scene and get him here, but now-"

Nurse Redheart was cut off as the large stallion doctor from earlier burst into the room. "Nurse Redheart the patient is stabilized. We're going to need you in ten minutes!" the doctor said, his deep baritone voice booming in the small room.

"Okay, I'll be just a minute longer here and then I'll be right there for prep."

With a stiff nod, the stallion trotted back out of the room and doors closed swiftly behind him. With the doctor gone Nurse Redheart turned her attention to the mares who were still waiting patiently for her to finish. "To answer your question about why I called you all here? I called you girls here because you all are good at finding things out and, if there is a threat involved, you and the princess can deal with it."

Rainbow Dash gave a snort and rolled her eyes. "Oh come on. I wouldn't call a pegasus accidentally crashing while flying hardly a threat. I mean I even had my own share of accidents. You were my nurse when I had broken my wing remember?"

Nurse Redheart stood up an was clearly getting annoyed by the blue pegasus's indifference. "Rainbow Dash, ordinarily I would agree with you if were that simple. The problem is that he's not a pegasus, he's a unicorn!" That little bit of news took all of the aback. Even Rainbow Dash quirked her eyebrow and looked away as she took it in and considered that.

"Now I know what you all are probably thinking and no it wasn't a teleportation accident" Nurse Redheart continued. "I thought that too myself but the x-rays sow massive trauma; more so than the height of an average unicorn can teleport themselves even if they knew the spell. Quite frankly if I didn't know any better, I would say that either he fell out of a hot air balloon or a pegasus flew him up there and dropped him.

"There's a problem with both theories though. 1: It's too windy in the area for any form of airship travel. I know that because my brother is the dispatcher at the airship balloon rental place on the outskirts of Ponyville. He taught me everything he knows about airships when I was a filly and I know For Fact that no air dispatcher would NEVER give anypony clearance to take off in these weather conditions. 2: As far as the idea of somepony taking him up and dropping him? Well there hasn't been a murder in Equestria in hundreds of years so that is very unlikely."

Finally after all this time Pinkie Pie spoke up. "I'm not trying to be a mean-meanie-pants and judge somepony I don't know, but what if he stole a balloon from your brother's rental shop or from another balloon place? I know it's unlikely and I really don't want to accuse somepony of something they didn't do without any evidence, but maybe he had done something bad or maybe he there had been something chasing him so he took one for a quick getaway? Once he was up in the air he might not have known how to fly it or lost control due to the wind and he either jumped out or fell."

Everyone looked at Pinkie Pie then gave each other a look. Clearly they weren't used to see the crazy party pony using such logic in much of anything. All of them except Nurse Redheart who addressed her in kind. "That is plausible but there is a problem with that idea as well. The issue with any airship theories is that if anypony stole an airship of any kind then the guards would've been called and they would've been looking for him. Another issue with the idea is that if he did loose control of the ship or fell then the balloon would've crashed somewhere around here. Both of which didn't happen; there are no guards or a flaming wreckage of a crashed balloon."

The others exchanged glances while Rarity blew her nose a second time.

"So how in the hay did this happen?" Applejack asked after a brief pause.

"And now you see why I called you all here. This is too strange of an occurrence to not have somepony look into it. Not only that but without any substantial evidence of any crimes or any witnesses that may have seen him fall then the guards can't launch an investigation. Not only that but due to his condition it's impossible to ask him what had happened so there's no real way for me to gather anymore relevant information on this tragedy. I'm sure when Twilight returns-"

Nurse Redheart was cut off by the same doctor as before. "Nurse we need you now, the patient is flat-lining!!"

Fluttershy shuddered and gave a barely audible whimper as Redheart ran to the door. She looked back for a brief second at the five mares in the room and then quickly ran out of the doorway leaving the five friends alone. Visibly shaken; Fluttershy quietly walked over to a chair in the corner and cried quietly as she sat down on a chair. She hated the fact for anypony to pass away, especially when they have had something like this happen to them. What about his friends or his family? Will they even know?

Seeing their friend breaking down both Pinkie Pie and Rarity walked over to her to offer her some comfort leaving Applejack and Rainbow Dash the only two still in the center of the room.

"Well I feel like a complete jerk." Rainbow said realizing how out-of-line she had been. She absentmindedly kicked a hoof at the white tiled floor and looked at the room's decor while Applejack sat back in the chair she had been sitting in and put her front hooves behind her head completely at a loss of words. Applejack didn't even hear Rainbow Dash or what her other friends had been talking about and when Rainbow Dash noticed how quiet she was being she broke the awkward silence. "So what are your thoughts AJ?"

After a brief pause Applejack finally answered her. "You know I don't rightly know I reckon. I knew somethin' was amiss when that secretary from the hospital came an got me from the farm... but I didn't know it be somethin' like this. The way I'm figurin' it that this is either the worst accident that Ponyville has seen in ah very long time or someone was tryin' to rub that stallion out and almost did it. What ever it is though, I don't think Ah'ma gonna be getting much sleep tonight. Nurse Redheart sent for us so she thinks that somethin' is wrong with this whole mess."

"Well... what do you think? There has to be some"kind of explanation for this whole thing."

Applejack looked up at the ceiling while she spoke. "Like Ah' said Rainbow I don't rightly know, but here's what Ah can say: Ah got a really bad feelin'. I've had one for awhile now ever since we returned the Elements of Harmony to keep that tree alive. But tonight? I'm almost certain that theres'a storm a brewin'. And if by miracles chance that that stallion survives and by the grace of Celestia isn't a vegetable from his injuries? Well... I got a feelin' that whatevers'a comin' it has to do with him."

Rainbow Dash gave a small laugh which made Rarity and Pinkie Pie look their way while Fluttershy took a tissue offered to her from Rarity and wiped her eyes. "Applejack you're overreacting. I'm sure within the next couple of weeks things will still be going just like they've always been."

Applejack looked away from the ceiling and gave Rainbow Dash a look so serious that it made her uncomfortable and Rainbow shifted under her gaze. Every word that Applejack said next sent a chill down her spine. "Ah've never been more serious in all mah life. Rainbow Dash, my element is Honesty and I refuse to lie, especially about something like this. There's somethin' comin' and I hope that whatever it is; I just hope we're ready for it."

Meanwhile at Fluttershy's cottage...

"Well now, isn't that very interesting...?" Discord, the Spirit of Chaos said as he stroked his white beard in wonder. Discord was a draconequus; which is essentially a mix match of different creatures throughout all of Equestria. He was tall, towering over all of the ponies and was even bigger than the land's rulers themselves, Princess Celestia and her sister Luna. He had the head of a horse and the tail of a dragon. His right arm was a lion's paw and his left arm was an eagle claw. He had the legs of a goat and big bushy white eye brows that sat over a top of a pair of glowing yellow eyes that pierced through the darkness of the night looking at the small town in the distance. He had red pupils, which glowed as bright as flames when he was angry, now they sat as their usual crimson color.

Discord stood there in front of Fluttershy's small cottage while he recalled the scene that just played out a little over an hour ago, a smile on his face revealing his sharp teeth. One long protruding fang was bigger than the others and while he smiled a single drop of saliva slid down the whole length of it while he thought about it. He had been flying over the town of Ponyville as he did most nights when all of a sudden a black unicorn appeared out of thin air and fell from much higher than Discord had been flying. It had been so dark that Discord had to take a second glance just to make sure he didn't imagine it. The funny thing about it was though; there wasn't a trace of magic that brought the unicorn there. None. Discord would've sensed the discharge of magical energy from a teleportation spell so he knew that no one, not even the falling unicorn, could have summoned him there. The fall itself would've surely killed the stallion, that much Discord was sure of, so with the few seconds Discord had at that time he used his magic to create a white dampening spell around him just before he had hit. The spell would've cushioned the impact some, but with how fast he had been falling he would've still been seriously hurt. Discord had wanted to do more, but he knew that considering that Fluttershy had only 'reformed' him a little over a month ago that the ponies would've thought that he had been the one behind the accident and that was the last thing that Discord wanted. If that were to happen then it would run a risk of loosing Fluttershy as a friend over something he didn't do and that was completely out of the question. Sure they couldn't turn him back into stone anymore since the Elements of Harmony had been returned to the Tree of Harmony about two weeks ago, but was good is immortality without friendship?

The unicorn had landed and crashed through Rarity's roof and her ensuing scream had woken up almost half of the town. Seeing that, to ensure he hadn't been blamed Discord had teleported himself back to Fluttershy's place before anyone had seen him. The rest of what happened became known when the secretary from the hospital arrived to get Fluttershy and ask her to go to the hospital immediately and that there had been an accident.

Fortunately, Fluttershy's cottage was on the outskirts of town and she didn't hear the crash or Rarity's earsplitting scream so she had been asleep when it had happened. That gave Discord plenty of time to quietly slip into the cottage before anyone showed up and pretend to be asleep when the secretary showed up. Discord had figured that somepony would show up and tell her what had happened and if he wasn't there and accounted for then he would've been the first suspect that had came to everypony's minds.

He actually found the whole thing funny really, though not in the morbid way one would imagine. For one thing he found it funny how much Fluttershy trusted him now. Once she was done talking to the secretary, she actually had left Discord in charge of her place and told him to keep an eye on her animal friends. He wouldn't do anything to harm them of course and he would indeed take care of them, he just was amazed to think that literally less than a month ago he was her and her friend's mortal enemy. In a way, he was honored to see how much she trusted him now.

The second thing that humored him about the whole situation was the fact of how much of he himself, the God of Chaos, had changed on a personal level. Sure he would occasionally pull a harmless prank on the townsfolk for laughs, but to actually save a pony from certain death; anypony aside from Fluttershy; just shows how much of an impression the yellow mare has left on him.

"Well no matter what anypony says about me, I can still say I've done my good deed for the month." Discord said as he used his magic to summon a cup of tea out of thin air and took a sip. That was another thing that Fluttershy had changed about him, he was addicted to tea now. "Now about that unicorn..."

Discord began to levitate and he hovered up to the top of Fluttershy's cottage and sat down. When situated he crossed his legs and took a sip of his tea while looking over the distance toward the hospital. The wind was blowing really strong that night; so much so that the trees in the Everfree Forest shifted and groaned as their branches swayed in the breeze. In the distance the wind carried the sound of an owl hooting and frogs chirping from a nearby pond. To top off the perfect quire of nighttime melodies, all throughout were the sound of crickets singing and fireflies lighting up the night with small yellow flashes of light, giving the warm summer night a peaceful ambiance. While looking at the calming scene Discord sat sipping his tea lost in thought, his two glowing eyes the only constant shining lights in near the front of the massive expanse of Forest.

Discord finished his tea and with a snap of a claw the now empty cut disappeared with a flash of light. Fluttershy would more than likely be home soon and he had some things to take care of before she got back. He levitated himself down in front of her cottage and walked inside. He was going to make sure all of the animals had food and water and then was going to try to lay down for sleep. As he got the various foods out for the animals to get his chore done, his thoughts drifted back to the stallion. "Very interesting indeed..."

Author's Note

This is the start of a book I have been working on for over a year. It is bar none the longest book I've ever wrote and the real first one I've dedicated myself to finishing. The story switches perspectives as it progresses. When it is the main character, the story is told through the first person perspective. When it switches to a different character, it switches to the 3rd person perspective. Not only does this help me as a writer broaden the story being told, it also gives me more practice with both writing styles. The story takes place just after Twilight Sparkle became a princess and like a week or so after the Mane 6 gave the Elements back to the Tree of Harmony. Let me know what you think and please, be gentle. Either way please enjoy and I hope you like the story :)

Chapter 1.1

There were no records of the mysterious unicorn at all. None. Even the Canterlot Royal Archives didn't have any files on him and it had blown Rarity's mind because the Canterlot Archives had files on EVERYPONY. They even had files on ponies that have passed away hundreds of years ago and citizens of Equestria would sometimes go there for help with any extensive genealogy projects that they may have been working on.

When Mayor Mare had sent word to Rarity about the reply she got and dropped that bombshell of news, Rarity's mind reeled. Not only is that stallion all but on his death bed, but he also for all means and purposes had no one at all. That entire week when Rarity would visit she didn't see not one other pony stop in to see him. No family, no friends, no one. Every once and awhile Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie would stop in and see how he was holding up but only when they were they actually had free time. Pinkie Pie had to help out the Cakes with the store or help them with their twin foals most of the time and that was why she wouldn't come around that often and Fluttershy would stop in whenever she didn't have her hooves full with taking care of her animals or spending time with Discord.

As far as Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were concerned? They hadn't had a chance to come and and see him at all due to their hectic schedule. Twilight still hadn't returned from Canterlot yet and hadn't replied to any of Rarity's or the other's letters. Chances are it was because knowing Twilight she had probably locked herself in the library there and was so enveloped into her research that she hadn't had time to actually respond to any outside stimulation, let alone actually sending out a reply letter. In fact when she would get into one of her studying shticks the only ponies in Equestria that could peel her away from her books was Celestia or Luna themselves. Applejack on the other hoof had been busy working at Sweet Apple Acres nonstop since the whole ordeal and had only been seen in Ponyville a hoof full of times since the accident. And Rainbow Dash? Well she was busy with her duties with the local weather team and practicing her routines for the Rainbow Falls sporting event that was coming up later on in the year that she couldn't take some personal time off.

With all of her friends disposed of, that just left Rarity the only one who was actually able to keep tabs on his condition since business was still slow aside from an occasional five minute stitch job on some pony's outfits or fabrics. Sometimes Sweetiebelle (reluctantly) would tag along with her when her friends were preoccupied, but for the most part though she wouldn't go along unless she absolutely had to. Rarity wished that she could get ahold of Twilight or the other princesses. She knew that if anypony in Equestria would be able to either help his wounds or find out who this pony was it would be them. At the very least if Spike had stayed behind in Ponyville when Twilight left Rarity would have a direct line of communication with Celestia herself but alas, it was all for not. At one point, Rarity even considered asking Discord if he could come in and heal him after she had selflessly help fixed her roof but quickly thought against it. Even if he would've been willing, if he actually showed up at the hospital he would probably cause an outright panic. Even though he was 'good' now, a lot of ponies in Ponyville were still quite scared of him. That said Rarity knew that Discord's usefulness to this particular endeavor was at an end.

With a sigh Rarity continued making her way to the hospital like she had been for the past three and a half weeks. At this point she had just arrived to her destination. Who knows? Rarity thought to herself as she entered the front door. Maybe he might wake up on his own one day and will be able to tell me more about himself in person... that is if he wakes up.

As she entered through the set of double doors she noticed a different secretary behind the reception desk. Usually it was Nurse Redheart sitting there but that time there was a different mare in her place. It had taken Rarity a moment to recognize her but it then it came back and she remembered who she was. She had been the secretary that had flown off to get Fluttershy and the other ponies the night of the unicorn's accident. Rarity hadn't been sure of the pegasus's name, but one thing she did remember clearly about her is that she was really fast when she needed to be. That night Rarity honestly thought with how fast that secretary had flown out of the hospital that she would've given Rainbow Dash a run for her money in a race. She was a fiery red colored pegasus with bright blue eyes. She had a straight orangish yellow mane that hung over the sides of her face and she wore nurse's hat that was similar to Nurse Redheart's. As Rarity approached she had taken notice that the mare was reading the latest Daring Doo book while she was humming to herself and filing a hoof. When Rarity stopped behind the desk the athletic mare looked up from her book and smiled at her.

"Hello there ms. Are you here to visit a patient?" she said as she set her hoof file down on the desk.

"Yes I am as a matter of fact. My name is Rarity and I'm here to see the unicorn fellow that was brought in here almost a month ago. It's a pleasure to meet you miss...?"

"I'm Nurse Flameheart, Nurse Redheart's sister. I'm usually in the back helping with the patients but due to how you friend is doing Doctor Horse wanted Redheart back there because she has more medical experience than I do."

Rarity's pulse quickened as she expected the worse. "Dear Sweet Celestia, is he alright?" Did something happen to him last night?"

Nurse Flameheart seen how upset and worried her comment made Rarity and she quickly help her fore hooves up . "Whoa he's fine Ms. Rarity. It's just with how severe his injuries are the higher ups want all medically trained nurses in the medical wing just in case something were to happen."

"Oh really?"

"Yea the word just came down this morning and that's why you never have seen me up here before. You see, I'm a nursing assistant. I help patients use the restrooms if they need assistance, check their blood pressure, stuff like that.where-as I'm not medically trained to deal with an emergency they put me up here."

Rarity breathed a sigh of relief and she put a fore hoof to her chest. "Oh my goodness that's a relief. I'm sorry I got so worked up like that darling. It's just when you said that I assumed the worst."

"Nah your cool girl." Flameheart said as she got out a clipboard out from under the desk. "I completely understand. It's not everyday that we see injuries like his in Ponyville so I get where your coming from. Here, just sign in and I'll take you back to see him."

I like her. Rarity couldn't help but think to herself as she used her magic to levitate a pen from a cup on the desk and began to file out the paperwork Flameheart had sat in front of her. Once she was done Nurse Flameheart took the clipboard back and handed Rarity a visitors pass.and stood up from behind the desk. Rarity followed her as she cliped the visitor's badge on her saddlebags.

"So are you like his sister or something?" Flameheart said as she held the door open for Rarity.

"Oh no we're not related. I'm just checking on him to see how is doing. I really hope he pulls through this." Rarity said as they walked through the open door. Once Rarity was through Flameheart followed next to her and the door closed with a loud clack.

"I see." as she waved to a doctor that was in a patient's room that they were passing. "So how long have you two been dating?"

Rarity almost tripped at the sound of that and the vases in her saddlebags made a small clink as the settled. She blushed and quickly regained her balance."Oh non you've got the wrong idea. I don't even know him. I just uh-"

Flameheart began to laugh which made Rarity blush even deeper. "Hey relax I'm just messing with you." She said as they rounded the corner that was down the hall from the unicorn's room. Once she stopped laughing she continue. "Hey in all seriousness though, I think what your doing is pretty cool. I'm glad that he has somepony that cares about him as much as you do even if they don't know him very well. I've seen you come and visit him every day so if that's not genuine concern then I don't know what is."

They arrived at his room and Nurse Flameheart opened the door for Rarity and they both walked in. Inside the room, Nurse Red Hear stood to the right side of the stallion's bed hooking up a fluid bag to the IV that was hooked up to him. The site wrenched Rarity's heart. The stallion was laying in a full body caste that was being held up by a suspension system that was connected to his bed. The stallion's eyes were the only thing that was visible about his form and there was a breathing tube that entered into his muzzle to breath for him. The IV that nurse red heart had been changing was connected to him by a hole that was in his cast over top of his left hoof that had all sorts of different fluids that were being pumped into him. On the his right was a heart monitor that was slowly beeping in rhythm to his heartbeat. there were two chairs in front of the wall that were at the foot of his bed and a small table in front of the window next to them.

Tears came to Rarity's eyes as she beheld his broken body. Despite how many times she's seen him it never got any easy for her. Visions of that night flashed before Rarity's eyes as she remembered his limp form laying on her sewing room floor. Thick blotches of blood soaking into his black fur that matched his deep red colored mane. It was just too much. "Celestia above, have mercy on him..." She said quietly as a tear slid down her cheek.

Nurse Flameheart seen how distraught Rarity had started to get and she cleared her throat and to get her sister's attention. Nurse Redheart looked from her sister to Rarity and her eyes went wide when she realized what was going on. She quickly finished what she was doing with the IV and began to trot to the door. Once she got close to Rarity she put a reassuring hoof on shoulder but she didn't say anything. Everyone in that room knew that the odds of him actually recovering were nearly impossible so Nurse Redheart didn't try to give any kinds of false hope. "Rarity if you need anything you let us know and we'll get it for you. Your welcome to stay as long as you like okay?"

Rarity only gave a slight nod and thanked Redheart as both her and her sister both exited the room. Being alone, Rarity walked over to the small wooden table in front of the and levitated the vases from her saddlebags and put them on the little table in the sunlight. She tried to reassure herself as she put them neatly into place that the unicorn would be fine but even if he did wake up Rarity knew that he would never be able to walk again. While she thought about it made her feel even worse considering no pony knew who his family was or where he came from to let anypony that might know him what had happened.

These might be his final days and he has to spend them alone. She thought as she gave a slight sniffle. Good or bad, nopony deserves that.

When she had the vases put meticulously into place she used her magic to levitate her saddlebags off and set them on the free chair by the door and she sat down in the chair that was in front of the window.

The room itself was small. The walls were painted a pure white color and here and there had paintings of different locations of Equestria and ponies hanging here and there. Above Rarity's head a big blue clock slowly ticked away and every so often the respirator would hiss with the unicorn's breathing. As she listened to the various instruments in the room making their various sounds, Rarity was hit with an almost palpable feeling of confidence that she couldn't explain and she smiled at the unicorn. "There's still hope for you yet darling. Just hang in there." She said as she sniffled once more and wiped a tear from her eyes.

As she sat and listened to the mechanical noises ringing in the room she was about to pull out the latest fashion magazine that she had brought along from the boutique when the heart monitor started to beep a little faster. Rarity quickly looked at the unicorn to see if something was wrong with him but he looked like he always did. Still though, of all the times that Rarity had visited him he heart rate had never spiked like that. There didn't seem to be anything amiss about him and after a few minutes Rarity thought that things were fine.

But then his eyes opened.

They started slowly; barely any movement almost like he was sleeping. The they slowly opened up revealing a set of golden orangish colored eyes. The thing that had really stuck out to Rarity was his right eye had a very distinguishing birth mark in it. It was a light blue streak that ran through the his golden orangish iris that looked like a lightning bolt.

The unicorn looked directly up at the ceiling for a second the quickly closed his eyes once more. His heart monitor started to beep even faster and the breathing machine started to increase in its rhythmical hissing.

Rarity's heart jumped. The pony was actually waking up, Rarity knew that, but with haw fast his heart was beating made Rarity worried that something was terribly wrong.

"Oh my starts he's waking up!" Rarity said as she jumped to her hooves. Without thinking Rarity opened the door with her magic and ran out of the room; the sound of her hooves the only sound in the long hallway as they echoed through the corridor.

Rarity rounded a corner at the intersection at the end of the hallway and ran to the nurses station. There, Nurse Red Heart was talking to another nurse Rarity didn't know and when they heard her galloping down the hall the both turned and looked at her. Nurse Redheart quickly became concerned. "Is something wrong? What's a matter?" she asked as Rarity came sliding to a stop. The nurse that Redheart had been talking to recoiled because she thought she was going to run into right into her and she braced for an impact that didn't come.

Rarity called out as quickly as she could exhasperated. "The stallion is waking up. He opened his eyes and his heart monitor is going crazy!"

Nurse Redheart's eyes grew as wide as dish plates. "It's not possible. With the kind of trauma he endured he should've been out for months if he even woke up at all! If he's conscious he might not remember what had happened to him and he might freak out."

Nurse Redheart looked at the nurse that Rarity didn't know. The pudgy blue and white mare clearly worried about the situation. "Go and tell Flameheart to call out a rapid response on his room now!" she said as she began to trot towards the intersection that led to the unicorn's room. When she reached the intersection she called out to a stallion nurse that was at the opposite end of the hallway who was reading a medical chart. "I'm going to need your help in room 117 now!"

The stallion looked at her and Rarity and dropped the chart he had been reading while the pudgy blue nurse ran past him to the reception desk and immediately headed with them to the stallion's room. As they turned the corner at the intersection and made their way down the hall and got closer to the room the began to hear the heart monitor beeping. It was going nuts.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Hearing that Nurse Redheart called to the stallion nurse that was following close behind.

"Get Doctor Horse. Tell him the patient is conscious! His heart rate is heart rate is increasing, get a crash cart on standby!"

The stallion quickly stopped and ran to do what he was told and Rarity felt a gaping void of dread grow inside her chest; the optimism she had just felt moments ago completely forgotten.

The two mares barged into the room and Rarity ran to the foot of the bed as Nurse Redheart ran to look at the readout the heart monitor was giving.

"Blood pressure is 190 over 120! We need to calm him down or he's going to have a stroke!" Red Heart called out as she looked at the unicorn with a worry etched over her face. Rarity noticed the caste that covered the unicorn's horn began to glow a soft orange and she stood there shocked. With how hurt he had been it should've been impossible for him to use any kind of magic. Should have been.

Just before Rarity could say anything about the unicorn's horn Dr. Horse ran into the room. He was light brown stallion that was slightly taller than Rarity. He had a light brown fur and sported a doctor's coat. His mane was a deeper shad of brown and was kept up in a stylish way but as he ran a single strand of hair came loose and fell over one of his eyes. "Call a rapid response for 117, we need a crash cart in here now!"

Dr Horse ran to the opposite side of the bed that Nurse Redheart was standing as Flameheart came over the intercom through the whole hospital. "Code Rapid Response, Room 117. Code Rapid Response, Room 117!"

Rarity had felt as though she was about to cry and she covered her mouth with a hoof. Oh sweet Celestia... Rarity thought as a single tear slid down her cheek.
Doctor Horse leaned over the unicorn so he could look him in the face. "Sir you need to calm down. You're at Ponyville Hospital right now. You were in a severe accident and if you don't calm down you could have a heart attack or stroke out."
As he said that the glowing from the unicorn's horn started to grow even brighter until it was glowing a shining golden orange. Random crackles of magic energy began to surround his horn and jump off from the tip of his horn and Doctor Horse took notice. "Nurse Redheart look out, he's about to using his magic!"

Nurse Redheart took a couple of steps away from the bed as the stallion doctor from earlier came rushing in pushing a crash cart full of various medical items. As the stallion seen the unicorn's horn he stopped dead in his tracks at the foot of the doorway and let out a shocked gasp.

Rarity let out a yelp as the unicorn's eyes began to glow an extremely bright red. The whites of his eyes no longer visible and were instead replaced with a glow that was bright as a burning fire that emanated from underneath the stallion's caste.

"He's having a magical surge!" Doctor Horse yelled. "We need to sedate him or he's going to seriously hurt somepony!"

The stallion that was in front of the medical cart quickly grabbed a syringe and a tiny vial full of sedative. As he filled it Doctor Horse continued to try to talk to the unicorn and try to calm him down. The breathing machine made louder and louder hissing sounds as the unicorn's breathing got even more faster and erratic. His heart monitor was beeping so fast that it sounded like it was about to short circuit.

"Get down!" Nurse Redheart screamed as a bolt of orangish red magic shot from the unicorn's horn and hit the doctor that was standing at the door. The stallion let out a scream as he was launched through the air and smashed into the wall behind him. The concussion from the impact of the magic sent the cart toppling over and it landed on the floor with a crash and its contents spilled out all over the hallway floor. As the stallion nurse landed on the floor he went limp and the freshly filled syringe of sedative fell out of the grasp of his hoof and rolled into the room. Nurse Redheart seen it and made a go for it but as she moved another magical bolt discharged from the unicorn's horn towards her. The bolt missed her head by millimetres and it left a patch of singe fur on her face. The magical bolt struck the open door and it blew a hole in the middle of it which caused Rarity to cover her face to protect her from the shards of broken wood that went everywhere.

Time seemed to stop and Rarity took in all of the carnage that was going on around her and was to shocked to move. She heard multiple sets of hoof steps coming from down the hall way outside of the door as both security and more nurses ran toward the disaster that was rapidly developing. Outside of the window next to her she heard the sound of a dog barking frantically while the hissing sounds and various beeps of the medical equipment continued to go crazy.

As Rarity took her hoof away from her face it was replaced by a look of horror. Doctor Horse let out a cry for help as orange magical aura began to shimmer and glow over the heart monitor and the bed the unicorn was lying in. The heart monitor began to groan and creek as the glow from the unicorn's horn and eyes grew even brighter. The black screen on the heart monitor broke it the black casing around it began to collapse in on itself. With a series of sparks the entire console was completely crushed causing Nurse Redheart to cry out and duck to the floor for cover. The pole that the heart monitor was connected to snapped in two and sent the crushed remains of the heart monitor itself to the floor in a heap right next to Nurse Redheart. The group of ponies that Rarity heard earlier finally made it to the room and looked in shock at the scene rapidly unfolding. Rarity could see two younger mares stoop down and check on the stallion nurse that had been struck by the magic bolt and thrown from the room.

Doctor Horse cried out in desperate terror "We need a sedative right NOW!!!"

The nurse in the front of the door reached down to grab the filled syringe that had rolled into the room but as he started to run to give it to Doctor Horse an extremely high pitch noise started to pierce the air. The noise was so loud that it made everypony cry out in agony and put the hooves to their ears to fruitlessly try to block out the deafening sound. Rarity couldn't think. The sound was so loud that covering her ears with her hooves didn't do anything to help and she cried out alongside of the doctors and nurses. Magical discharges shot through the air and scorched the walls, each one getting brighter and more destructive as the dry walls of the room began to melt and break off as they were struck.

The unicorn and his bed began to slowly levitate into the air and as it did so the high pitch noise increased in frequency along with it. Rarity needed to do something and she knew it. She opened her eyes and her gaze fell onto the filled syringe that had been dropped a second time. When the stallion dropped it as he fell it rolled close to Doctor Horse but the doctor wasn't able to take his hooves from his ears. As she watched the doctor scream and convulse on the floor, Rarity knew that she up to her to stop this madness. She was the only unicorn in the room and her magic was there only hope. Rarity could see the open port of the IV that ran into the unicorn's front hoof, but as the bed slowly continued to rise the cord was starting to grow taught. It that IV cord got ripped out Rarity knew that they were doomed.

Another arch of magical energy shot out and hit the light above the unicorn's bed and sent glass and sparks everywhere. Some of the sparks landed into the filled trash can that was full of paper towels and disposed medical gloves and it started a small fire that started to quickly spreed.

Rarity knew that it was now or never. She used her magic and grabbed the syringe and started to levitate it to the IV just as a bolt of magic struck the wall just above her sending dry wall and magical sparks to rain down over her. The tiny burns she got from the cinders on her fur almost made her loose focus and drop the needle, but she held fast and levitated it toward the IV port which miraculously was still connected to the unicorn's front leg despite of everything that was going on. Rarity knew that she had to act quick. If the stallion destroyed the IV machine like he did with the heart monitor then there would be no way to get the sedative in his veins. Using all her focus she hovered the syringe into the open IV port in the line and pushed the plunger with her magic.

Her task done, she lost focus on her magic and the needle fell to the floor with a hardly audible clink; the noise was even louder now. It was like the sound itself was bearing right into Rarity's brain like a dagger. She felt every pulse from her rapid heartbeat pulsing through her ears and her skull.

I can't take... much... more...

Since the IV port was connected to one of the unicorn's major arteries it didn't take long for the sedative to take effect on the stallion. Just when Rarity thought her ear drums were about to burst and she began to slip away, the aura that surrounded the unicorn and his bed erupted outwards in a massive shock wave that blew everypony that was in the room near the unicorn towards the back wall who each hit with a massive thunk while the hospital itself shook violently on it's foundations. Rarity had the wind knocked out of her from the violent impact and the only sounds that followed was the bang of the unicorn's bed crashing back down to the floor that was instantly followed by the sound of breaking glass echoing throughout the hospital as all the windows simultaneously blew out from the massive force.

By Celestia, who is this stallion?! Rarity thought to herself as she was showered by glass from both the window next to her and the vases that she had brought in. Little did Rarity know, this was only the beginning.

Author's Note

It finally here :D. After a long hiatus I'm back and I want to apologize for the delay for anyone who has been keeping tabs on my story. Honestly, I have been extensively busy working and doing things around my home so I haven't had much time to type as of late because I have to physically bike and walk everywhere since my car broke down a little over a month ago. Anyways, here it is; part two of chapter one. Don't worry I'm still working on the book and the next installment I make will (finally) be the end of chapter 1. Stay tuned for more and take it easy everypony :)

Chapter 1.0: Red Arrival

Part 1: A Slice of Life Interrupted

Where am I? I kept thinking to myself. Over and over. Where am I? How did I get here? What happened? Why can't I move?!

My thoughts were nothing but a jumbled mess of questions upon questions. All that I knew for certain was the darkness; this... void that I found myself in. Try as I might I couldn't move, I couldn't speak... I... I... couldn't do anything!

Oh my God, am I dead?! Is this death? Dreamless sleep, a never ending blackened void, and then being left with unending questions for all of eternity?

"We're losing him!" Came a very faint voice from the darkness. Or was it a voice at all? Was I imagining everything? Did I ever even exist at all?

"We need an extra pair of hooves in here, Where is Nurse Redheart?!" There it was again, I wasn't imagining it! With all of my might I tried to call out, move, do anything... but... I couldn't feel any part of me. Why couldn't I move?!

"Three, two, one, CLEAR!!"

A sudden wave of fiery pain raced all throughout my entire being. It was as if liquid fire was being poured into my veins all at once; every muscle in my body cramped and seized. For what seemed like an eternity the agony continued. How long was it? Minutes? Hours? Months? I didn't know. As quick as it came it passed just when I started to think I couldn't stand it any longer.

"Nothing. Again, higher voltage! Three, two, one, clear!!"

The pain returned again fifty times worse than before. I couldn't take it! If I wasn't dead then the pain I felt right then I thought would surely do me in.

"Clear!"

My vision went a bright white, slowly faded to a dull red, and then slowly sunk back into the darkness once more. I don't know how long I drifted in the eternal void between life and death. Time had lost all meaning and slowly I succumbed to the nothingness around me...

Beep... Beep... Beep...

Slowly the sound of a high pitched electronic beep started to pierce the darkness. I still couldn't move, but the internal monologue returned. What is that beeping sound? Why can't I move still? Wait I'm hearing that sound, does that mean I'm not dead? I need to try to open my eyes.

I tried to open my eyes and nothing happened. All the while the persistent beeping continued with it's rhythmic quire of never ending beeps that started to go a little faster. Beep... Beep... Beep...

I tried once more, this time with all of my willpower and finally something happened. My eyes fluttered open to a bright light that instantly blinded me and I quickly shut them again.

"Oh my stars he's waking up!" came an elegant sounding female voice. There was a sound of clocking noises that echoed within the room I must've been in and it was followed by the sound of a wooden door opening. I then listened as the clocking sounds slowly disappeared down a long hallway that I assumed was outside of the door that had just opened. I tried to move again but I still couldn't.

My God, am I paralyzed?! I felt my heart rate start beating faster and the rhythmical beeping next to me start increased along with it. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! I opened my eyes more slowly and gave them time to adjust to the light. At first the surroundings only appeared as gray smudges enveloped in a bright glow, but slowly they started to come into focus. The first thing I seen was a wooden ceiling above me. I realized that I must've been in some kind of hospital because I found the beeping I had been hearing was from a heart monitor that was on the left side of the bed I was lying in. The beeping it was making continued to beep even faster as I realized I couldn't even move my head to see the rest of the room.

I moved my eyes frantically around to see as much of the room as I could. From my limited view I had seen that my legs were inside white caste wrappings suspended above me. As I took it all in I realized to my horror that my legs weren't the only thing that was covered. I discovered that the reason why I couldn't move was because I was completely covered from head to toe in a full body caste.

Oh my god What happened to me? Where am I? I thought to myself as I tried to call out. When I tried to speak I felt a tightness in my throat and I almost threw up. I moved my eyes as far as I could to my right and seen a quarter sized tube that hung off from the side of my bed that lead down into my throat. Sweet Jesus, I'm on life support?!

Although I couldn't see the machine that the tube was connected to, I could hear the faint hissing sounds the machine made as it pumped oxygen into my lungs. The hissing sound began to increase in rythum as I begin to feel as though I was starting to hyperventilate.

The clocking sounds began to return from down the hallway outside my door. The original sound was followed by two additional sources as they rapidly approached the room I was in.

"Get Doctor Horse, tell him that the patient is conscious!" came a different voice than before. "His heart rate is increasing, have a crash cart on standby!" As the voice said that the third set of clopping noises stopped and started to head in a different direction than the other two. When they got to my room I couldn't have been prepared for what I seen next. I at last discovered what the sources of the clopping noises were and to my utter shock it was coming from two... ponies?

The two ponies burst through the open doorway with incredible speed. Although I couldn't turn my head to look at them, I seen enough of them out of the corner of my eye to have an idea of what they looked like and I couldn't believe it. One of them was a unicorn! She had snow white fur and a purple colored mane and matching tail that was done up in a regal-like way, both of which descended in a curly swirl like design and flowed through the air in waves as the unicorn ran to the foot of my bed. The unicorn had a deep bluish colored set of eyes and she had a look of concern written on her face. The other pony wasn't a unicorn, but a regular horse. She too had white color fur, but unlike the unicorn her mane was pink and was done up in a neat bun. She wore a doctor's mask covering her face. She also sported a white nurses's cap that miraculously didn't fall off the top of her head as she ran over to the heart monitor with the quick pace she had. Her eyes were also a deep shade of blue, and she came in right behind the unicorn and as soon as she read the reading on the heart monitor she gasped. "Blood pressure is 180 over 120. We need to calm him down or he could have a heart attack!" The nurse pony said as my heart rate increased even more.

I was freaking out. If I could've screamed I would've. Something about this was all off. What is this place? Why am I in a hospital? Unicorns? Talking ponies?! This isn't normal. Oh my God what in the hell is going on?!! I thought as an orange light began to glow from the top of my head. It was just barley visible over the obscuring view of the caste I was in.

The nurse looked at me as another pony ran into the room. The third one was larger than the other two. It wore a doctors coat and had a dark brown mane and light brown fur. "Call a rapid response right now, we need a crash cart in here now!!" he yelled as he approached the other side of my bed. As he came to my side a female voice over an intercom system and sounded throughout the hospital 'Code Rapid Response: Room 117. Code Rapid response: Room 117!'

The white unicorn at the foot of my bed put a hoof up to her mouth and it looked like she had started to cry. The doctor leaned down over top of me so he could look me in the eyes. "Sir you need to calm down. Your at the Ponyville Hospital right now. You were in a severe accident and if you don't calm down you could stroke out!" He said trying to sound calm but still an edge of worry hid underneath the collected tone that his voice carried.

Accident? What accident?! What happened to me?!

The orange light that was glowing from the top of my head got even brighter and the doctor took notice to it. As soon as he seen it he took a step back in shock. "Nurse Redheart look out, he's about to use his magic!"

The nurse moved away from my bed as another pony pushing a big red medical cart that had various medical instruments on it ran into the room. The white unicorn at the foot of my bed gave a surprised yelp of surprise as my vision went a bright red. I don't know what happened next.

Ponyville Town Square, one hour prior...

Rarity the fashionista unicorn made her way past the Ponyville town hall humming a small tune to herself as she walked. It had been three and a half weeks since that unicorn fell through the roof at her boutique and Rarity was on her way to the hospital to see the poor dear. It had been a rather strange couple of weeks actually now that Rarity thought about it. For one thing Discord had been acting weird... well more weird than normal anyways. He had actually made fixing her roof a relatively simple matter by using his magic to repair it without asking for something in return which was very odd for him. True, Fluttershy had reformed him and befriended him; which had actually blew Rarity's mind at the time; but he still wouldn't do something nice like that usually without being asked by Fluttershy or getting some kind of benefit out of it. He was Discord after all. The following morning after the accident Rarity had seen that Fluttershy made it home okay. After she said goodbye to her and made it home herself she had feeling quite drained. Fluttershy had been really distraught after the doctor said that the unicorn had flat-lined. Even after Nurse Redheart came back in later and let them all know that they managed to stabilize him, Fluttershy still had been upset by how hurt the condition that the stallion was in. She knew that there was physically nothing that she could to help him, but it was just the thought of somepony almost passing away after something so terrible happening to them really hurt her and she was completely powerless to do anything about it. Applejack talked to Rainbow Dash most of the time they had been there and once Nurse Redheart told them that the unicorn had been resuscitated they were the first two to leave. Shortly thereafter Pinkie Pie was the next one to go. She explained that she had to help the cakes with a large order they were having to fill by the end of the week so she left to go get whatever small amount of sleep she could for the day ahead. Being the last two there, Rarity seen how still emotionally upset Fluttershy still had been and decided to make sure that she made it home okay and do whatever she could to comfort her. By the time she had gotten her home and made it home herself Celestia had already started raising the sun and she had been completely exhausted. Rarity had sent Sweetiebelle over to her friend Twist's house down the street from the boutique immediately after the accident so she wouldn't see the gruesome scene that had been in her sewing room and ensure she wouldn't be in the way of the paramedics when they arrived so she was glad that she didn't have to make breakfast for the both of them when she got home.

As Rarity remembered the horrific scene she shuddered as she recalled the amount of blood that was on... well everything. One thing that Rarity was for sure of though; that stallion had been lucky. For one thing he was lucky that he had survived the fall to begin with, that much was a given and even the doctors had been amazed by that fact. The first reason was because the doctors estimated that due to the severe state he was in that he must've had fallen close to seven stories. That fact alone left everypony that was aware of what had happened scratching their heads in shock. Another amazing occurrence was how he had landed. If he had just hit a few more inches to the right he would've landed directly on the table that Rarity keeps all of her sewing needles and gems on for her dresses and he would've been impaled on hundreds of gems and needles of all sorts of sizes. That and not to mention his head was literally centimeters from smacking the edge of her sewing machine...

Someone is definitely was looking out for him in high places. Rarity thought to herself as Sweetiebelle who had been walking next to her spoke up interrupting her thoughts.

"Hey Rarity, you mind if I go over to Applebloom's while your at the hospital visiting your friend? I really don't want to be stuck in the hospital for hours like yesterday." Sweetiebelle said in an annoyed tone. "Besides me, Applebloom, and Scootaloo have more crusading to do. I got a feeling that today is the day that we finally get our cutie marks!" She exclaimed as she stopped and took a dramatic pose. Rarity couldn't help but chuckle at the little one's act.

"Of course darling, run along and play with your friends. Just make sure you're back before dark." Rarity replied as she turned to face her younger sister. Sweetiebelle was half the size as Rarity and they shared the same white coat. Sweetie's poofy light pink and purple mane blew slightly in the breeze as she met Rarity's gaze. After she heard that she was aloud to go, her green eyes lit up with excitement and she smiled from ear to ear.

"Hooray! Thank you Rarity. I promise I won't get into any trouble!" She said as she began to trot off the opposite direction towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Rarity smiled as she watched her sister make her way through a small crowd of ponies. "Boy I hope not..." she said turning around continued back on her journey. It was a start of a beautiful late spring day. Rainbow Dash had gotten up early and cleared the skies with the local weather team and the air was filled with the sounds of birds singing to one another. As Rarity walked a small blue colt ran by her with a yellow balloon in his mouth and all around her she could hear different ponies talking amongst themselves or trotting towards various destinations in town. While she walked Rarity passed by a stand that had flowers on display and she stopped to see what the owner had for sale.

"Good morning Rarity, how are you today?" Rose, the owner of the stand said cheerily as she noticed Rarity checking out her display. She was a unicorn with a pale yellow colored coat. Her hair and tail was a raspberry color that had a single streak through them that was a lighter shade color that ran through it.

Rarity looked up from the flowers that she had on display and greeted Rose in kind. "Hello Rose, I'm doing just fine today. How's business been treating you lately dear? Have you had any more trouble with rabbits eating your flowers at all since that whole bunny herd incident that happened awhile back?" Rarity said with a gesture with a hoof. At the sound of that Rose gave a gulp and looked away.

"No luckily. Oh Rarity it was horrible that day when Applejack started that stampede! Oh my I didn't think I would EVER recover from the horror of it all. It took us a whole day to replant all of those flowers!" She said looking back at her friend. Her pale green eyes had shrunken down to the size of pinpricks and she had a look of pure terror on her face. Rarity almost laughed but she held it in so she wouldn't hurt the mare's feelings. Rarity knew all-to-well that Rose and the rest of the flower ponies overreacted to any small thing; often times comically so. One of Rose's friends in question, Lily Valley, actually fainted as the baby rabbits ran through the town the day of the stampede. That said, Rarity was afraid Rose might get upset if she didn't take her feelings seriously... at least try to anyways.

"Oh yes, I know dear. That was um... certainly a... traumatizing event as it were." Rarity said somehow managing to keep a straight face. Rose narrowed her eyes at and seeing that Rarity quickly changed the subject.

"Yes well in any case, I was hoping you could help me with something dear. You see I'm on my way to the hospital to visit somepony and I was looking to get the perfect flowers to sprucin' up his room. Would you by chance have any recommendations?"

Rose's face instantly lit up and she gave a happy smile. "Oh Celestia yes! If you want to get a more refreshing fragrance," She began as she started gesturing to the different breeds of flowers on her stand. At that point she started to list the pros, cons, benefits, aromas, and color combinations that would go well with a hospital room layout.

That'a girl Rarity, you really dodged a bullet there. Rarity thought to herself as she listened politely to Rose go over every single flower on her stand. That was one thing about the flower ponies; if any of them start to get upset or mad just get them to talk about flowers. It cheers them up every time and they often forget what the were even mad about to begin with.

"...That said, I would probably recommend either some lavender leaves for it's calming aroma or roses if your looking for a sweet smelling flower that's color matches with most of the decorations of the rooms there." Rose concluded as she closed her eyes and gave a confident smile almost thirty minutes later.

"Alright then you have me convinced. I'll have two vases of lavender please." Rarity said as she used her magic to levitate her coin purse from her saddlebags that she had been wearing.

"Okie dokie then, that'll be two bits please." Rose said as she gathered two vases of lavender off of her stand with her magic and levitated them towards Rarity. Rarity counted out the bits and gratefully paid the kind mare. After putting her coin purse back into her bags, she then used her own magic to grab the vases from Rose's magical grip and put them in her bags. Her saddlebag was just the right fit for both of the vases and it wasn't too loose for them to clink together as she walked. Once the vases were secure, Rarity exchanged farewells with Rose and continued on her way. A little further down from the flower stand Rarity crossed a bridge that was over a small river which cut through the middle of town. Once she was on the other side she took a left onto the dirt road that lead to the hospital.

I hope Rose is right about the lavender having a calming fragrance. After all that poor stallion went through I'm sure the dear could use at least some form of relaxation even if it is just aroma. Rarity thought as the hospital came into view. Rarity had been visiting the unicorn every day she could since e fell through her roof. At this point it had become somewhat like a routine of sorts. Every morning she would wake up and make sure Sweetiebelle and herself ate and afterwards go for a walk. Ordinarily, her walks in the mornings would be to buy supplies for the orders she had to fill however now though she usually made her way to the hospital to see haw he was doings since business had been slow the few weeks prior. She felt so sorry for him and especially bad for not being able to do more to help him when the accident had happened. She knew that his injuries had been far to severe for her to be able to physically to do anything without any medical training. That said she also knew that technically she actually had done everything she could've for him. It had been the fact that she wasn't able to do anything more that upset her. Suffice it to say that was the reason why it had been so important to her to at least visit him whenever she could.

At the end of the day Rarity still doesn't know how the accident happen; the same as anyone really; but truthfully even if it turned that it had been his fault or he was a bad pony on the run from the law, Rarity didn't care. She didn't even care that her roof got damaged and some of her one of a kind dresses almost got completely ruined despite the fact at the time she had no idea what she was going to do about it. Oddly enough though, the one that ended up saving the day and fixing everything had been none other than the Spirit of Chaos himself.

Since there had been a gaping hole in her upstairs roof, Rarity had laid down on the sofa that she had in her reception area as soon as she got home the morning after the accident. Just as she had started to fall asleep she heard knocking on her front door and she had assumed that it was one of her friends coming to check on her or Twist's mother dropping Sweetiebelle off because of her being brought over last minute the night before, so despite her complete exhaustion she got up and trudged herself to the door and answered it. Being half asleep, her surprise had been doubled when she seen that the visiting guest was none other than Discord.

"Why hello Rarity. I was just in the area and I figured I would drop in on a close friend and see how she was doing this morning." The draconequus had said with a smile. He had been wearing a tuxedo and top hat that was shaped to fit his mix-matched form. He also sported an old fashioned tobacco pipe in his right claw and in the other he had a black cane that he absentmindedly twirled around on one of his out stretched talons. Once he was done with his greeting he took a puff from his tobacco pipe and a series of bubbles floated out of the top it and floated high into the air.

"Discord, what are you doing here?" Rarity asked clearly annoyed. "I have enough to worry about right now and I hardly have the time for your shenanigans."

Discord stopped twirling his cane and took the pipe from his mouth and pretended to be offended. "Why Rarity I'm shocked. Here I am dressed in my finest attire to appease your sense of fashion and high standards and this is how I get treated? Why I am appalled."

"What do you want Discord?"

"'Want?'" Discord repeated. "Why, I just wanted to visit with a friend of mine. You're not still mad over that whole 'Tom' incident are you? Sure I may have overdid it a little but you have to admit it was rather funny to watch. I even have it in high definition." Discord said as a television set appeared and it showed Rarity protecting a giant boulder for dear life. Discord had used his magic to corrupt her and had her convinced that it had been a giant diamond which caused her to go absolutely nuts over it. The television set showed a scene where Rarity was flipping out on Twilight and accusing her of wanting to use Spike, her personal assistant, to steal it from her. At the sight of Rarity's ensuing blush and reaction, Discord gave a hearty laugh and slapped his knee. "I mean Tom? Of all the names in Equestria why did you go with Tom? Ah it's too much!" Discord said as he wiped a tear from his eye. "All in good fun though? That's what friends do right? Have fun with one another?" as the television disappeared with a flash of light.

"Fun? You were trying to take over Equestria and leave it in a state of Chaos!" Rarity said with a stomp of her hoof.

"Well, yea but you have shown me the errors of my ways and now we can all look back at it and laugh right? I'm reformed remember?" Discord said as a golden halo appeared over his head with two tiny versions of discord above it. They were dressed in an angel's outfit and they started playing a tune above it with two matching trumpets.

Rarity's eyes narrowed and she rolled her eyes. She had been way too tired to deal with this and just wanted him to leave. After a brief silence Discord scoffed. "Oh fine let's get past the pleasantries then and get on with this." He said as he snapped his fingers and the tuxedo, cane, top hat dissipated in a flash as well as the halo and tinier Discords. "I heard that you happened to have had a little accident here last night." he said as he crossed his arms.

"Yes as a matter of fact I did. How did you know about that?" Rarity asked slightly accusingly.

"Why, Fluttershy told me. Poor dear was awfully tore up over what happened. Thank you by the way for seeing her home. I would've seen to it myself but I had been busy keeping an eye on her animal friends while she was away so I was quite disposed of."

"Fluttershy told you?"

"But of course. Fluttershy and I tell everything to one another. That is what good friends do." Discord said as a picture of him and Fluttershy appeared in his hand. The picture showed Discord having one claw on Fluttershy's back and giving a thumbs up gesture with the other. They were standing outside Fluttershy's cottage smiling and both of them wore matching black t-shirts that said 'best buds' on the front of them in white letters. He gave Rarity another smile which earned another eye roll from Rarity. The picture disappeared and Discord continued. "That and plus there's a huge gaping hole in the top of your roof so that was also a big giveaway." He said as he pointed to the top of her house.

"Okay so what what does it matter to you? Since when do you care about somepony other than yourself."

"Well when Fluttershy told me about what happened I just knew that I had to do something to help one of my dearest friends in their time of need. Despite what you think I actually do care."

"Oh really? There's got to be some kind of catch Discord. Yes you may be 'reformed' but we both know that you wouldn't do anything just out of the kindness of your heart unless your getting something out of it in return."

At that Discord actually did get a little irritated and he put his hands on his hips. "Well I never. I'll have you know I've done plenty to help ponies who needed help."

"Really? Name one time. Or I should say name one thing you did that didn't involve you fixing a problem you help create or helping us with a friendship problem that you didn't have your hoof in."

"Well for starters I saved that stallion's life..." Discord muttered under his breath as he looked away in frustration.

"What was that?"

"Okay fine you've made your point. Do you want your roof fixed or not?" he said as he looked at her frowning.

Rarity looked at her hooves and bit her lip as she considered it. It would've costed her a small fortune to get it done by a construction team. That and plus the Apple family had been really busy with the orchard at that time and Rarity didn't want to add to their overwhelming burdens that they still had on their plate. Not to mention all of the fabrics that she needed to replace because the blood stains that would never come out. Some of the fabrics that had gotten ruined were unique one of a kind or limited addition sorts that couldn't be replaced. Loosing them would've been a detrimental loss and plus all that blood was still up there... It would all cost too much money that she could afford at the time because of how slow business had been that month but if Discord fixed everything with his magic than it would save her and Sweetiebelle months of ensuing hardships. But this was Discord they were talking about here. Could she really trust him into her house? Only Celestia knows what he could, or rather would do just to fill some kind of quick laugh before he continued on with his day.

"You could fix it from out here right? You wouldn't need to come inside to do it would you?" She asked looking back up to the towering draconequus.

Seeing that Rarity was considering it, another smile came onto Discord's face and he relaxed his posture. "Now Rarity there's two ways to do a job," he began extending his arms slightly to his side. "You can either do it and second guess yourself and take the chance of doing it wrong, or you do the job right the first time and make sure it gets done properly. With how intricately crafted you home is it would be very easy for me to put something out of place. That said, I do need to be inside to look at how the original framework is laid out so I can get it exactly right. I'm the God of Chaos, not a miracle worker."

Rarity looked away as she considered it. He did make a really good point. She didn't know the first thing about construction and it would be impossible for her to explain it to him. But still having him in her house...

"Plus I'm sure you would want me to clean up whatever bodily fluids he might've left behind too. I can do that for you as well." Discord concluded pointing a finger in the air for emphasis, that smile never left his face.

That had been all Rarity needed to hear. "Okay fine. Just don't break anything or do anything... Discordly."

Discord slapped his claws together and rubbed them in excitement. "Great, I'll get started right away!" With another flash of light his appearance changed a second time. He then wore a black and red plaid shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He had a construction hat on and a tool-belt with a pair of steel-toe boots that completed the look. "Now who's ready for some home improvement?"

Rarity sighed and face hoofed. "Oh Celestia what have I just gotten myself into?" she breathed exasperated.

"Why, progress my dear." Discord said, his eyes gleaming. "Now if you would be so good as to show me upstairs?"

Reluctantly, Rarity nodded and headed inside as Discord followed behind whistling the My Little Pony theme song while he walked. He ducked to get through her doorway due to his height and as he passed through the end of his tail wrapped around the door knob and pulled it close behind them.

Despite all of Rarity's concern that she had had though, Discord had actually came through. He evaluated the damage to the roof and once he had seen how everything was supposed to go he fixed exactly to a tee of how it had been before the accident. He even cleaned the blood off of everything like he said he would and even got it all out of her fabrics as well so she didn't have to throw any of them away! The thing about the whole situation that had surprised Rarity the most is that he actually had did it without her even having to keep an eye on him. She would've, especially because she didn't trust Discord at all, but she couldn't stand the idea of seeing the blood again. Just the thought of it had made her nauseous and she had to excuse herself before she had even gotten to her door and by the time she had recovered not two minutes later and returned to check on Discord he had already had been completely finished.

She could've sworn he was going to do something to mess with her and that's what she had been expecting to see. Instead though when she actually seen that she had been wrong her jaw literally had dropped. When she came in through the door Discord had been hovering up close to the newly installed roof dressed in a maid's outfit brushing the ceiling with a feather duster. When he noticed her standing there he landed and shifted his appearance to normal with the usual flash of light.

"There you go Ms. Rarity. All spic and span and what-not. Don't worry about compensating me. Like I said I only wanted to help out a friend in need and helping you was all the reward I needed."

Rarity had just stood there mouth agape completely dumbfounded. Maybe Discord really had changed after all and she just couldn't believe it. Either way Fluttershy really could work miracles on anypony, or draconequus, in this case.

"Don't worry my dear I'll see myself out. You have a good rest of you day now." Discord said as he walked past her and ducked under her doorway. When he was through he stopped. "Oh and I noticed that your trash bin hadn't been emptied in awhile so I took that out for you. I know how busy you get making dresses and saving Equestria and everything so I just wanted to lend a hoof to help 'fight the good fight.' Ta-ta now."

With that he waved good bye and walked downstairs and Rarity heard the front door close shortly thereafter that had signaled his departure. Rarity had double and triple checked everything after he had left and everything had been perfect and nothing, not even any of her gems had been missing. Once she had made sure everything was accounted for she made her way back downstairs to go and get Sweetiebelle. Since she had dropped her off last minute the night before she figured that she would pick her up early since the house had been back in order. On her way out she said goodbye to Ovalescence, her fluffy white cat who had hissed and ran away when Discord had entered, and began her day. Once Sweetiebelle had been picked up and Rarity had thanked Twist's mother for being so understanding and helping her out the night before, Rarity's mind had drifted back to the stallion while she had been making breakfast for her and Sweetiebelle had returned home. Once she had answered Sweetiebelle's millions of questions about what happened after she had went to Twist's house the night before and had sat down to eat, she had wondered if he was okay. For that matter, who was he to begin with? Nurse Redheart had asked Rarity and her friends to look into the accident so in order to do that they needed to a least find out who he was. As soon as that thought had crossed her mind, she figured out what she was going to do the rest of the day. Once Sweetiebelle had told her that she was going to head up to Sweet Apple Acres to see Applebloom and Scootaloo, Rarity decided that she was going to start looking into the mystery that was still on everyone's mind.

After Sweetiebelle had left, and also three cups of coffee later, Rarity took to Ponyville and headed straight to the town hall. She figured that Mayor Mare would be her best bet in starting her search for information considering Twilight still was in Canterlot doing her research. As soon as she arrived, and had gotten a moment of Mayor Mare's time, she immediately explained the situation and about the unicorn. Once she said that Nurse Redheart had asked specifically for Rarity and her friends to launch an investigation into the matter considering the strange nature of the accident Mayor Mare was more than willing to help. Mayor Mare checked Ponyville's records to see if they had any files on anypony that matched the unicorn's description and that had been a dead end. After that came to light, Mayor Mare explained that she would send out letters to the other cities of Equestria to see if they might have had any records of IDs of the pony.

Her chore finished and after exiting the town hall, Rarity decided to stop in to see how the stallion had been doing. Her plan initially had been to stop in, talk to Nurse Redheart to see if she found out if anything and if anything had happened after she had left a couple of hours prior, and then leave. Had been her plan. As soon as Rarity had seen the unicorn hooked up to all of those machines however it broke her heart. She wished that Twilight had been there right then. She didn't know if Twilight knew a spell that could heal him or not, but she knew that she would at least have an idea how they might be able to help him. What made her feel even worse about it? When Nurse Redheart showed Rarity his X-Rays and she seen the full extent of his injuries. As soon as Rarity seen them she knew that even if by a miracle's chance that he survived there was a nine out of ten chance he would be a vegetable the rest of his life.

Her originally planned short visit turned into thirty minutes, then an hour, then two. By the time she actually had left and because of how upset she had been when she actually did leave, she could've sworn that she heard some of the staff at the hospital asking one another if she was a relative to the unicorn. After that she started to come and see him every day, especially about a week later when Mayor Mare actually had gotten a response from the other cities. It was as if he never even existed at all.

Author's Note

Okay if you made it this far I want to thank you so much for reading my story. I just want to say as the author, I deeply appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read my work; it means more to me than you know. I ended the chapter here because the chapter itself isn't even half way done. I'm hand writing my book first then typing it up when I get the free time in between work and taking care of my family so that's why there was quite a hiatus on this chapter, or at least the start of it. Don't worry, more will be coming soon, let me know what you all think in the comments :twilightsmile: