Corruption
Medical Miracles
Previous ChapterNext ChapterLuna had relayed the events in her mind over and over. She sat next to her sister in the medical wing. She occasionally glanced to her sister who was bandaged up and sleeping on a warm bed made for the Royal ponies in the castle who are brought to the medical wing. She wiped the sweat from her brow as she looked outside once again and increased the magic her horn was bringing out to raise the sun.
How could this have possibly happened to Celestia? She had a feeling her sister was hiding something. When she went into the dream realm she found herself unable to enter her sister's dreams. She was blocking her out. She had become distant with her and others since the Discord incident. The door to Celestia's room swung open and a guard trotted in with a spear. Giving Luna a quick bow before relaying his information.
"Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Elements request permission to see the Princess." He said. Luna nodded in agreement and he bowed again before leaving to guide Twilight and her friends to the room.
She looked back at her sister's sleeping face and quickly attempted to enter her dreams. She could at least feel her emotions. Anger. Fear. Sadness. All her dreams had those feelings now. But she still could see anything other than very blurry images before she was forcefully removed by some unseen force in her sister's mind.
"Princess Luna?"
Luna's eyes snapped open to see Twilight and her friends peaking into the room.
"Hello, Twilight Sparkle. Come in."
Twilight and her friends entered slowly and gasped once they saw the injuries on Celestia that weren't covered up by the blanket tucked around her body. Twilight examined the bandages that had some blood seeping through.
"I don't understand. I thought Alicorns had regeneration abilities..." She pointed out. Luna nodded in agreement and stood from her chair. Standing on the other side of her sister's bed, picking up her brush and carefully running it through Celestia's limp mane that was messy and full of knots.
"We do. But contrary to what the scientists claim. Our abilities to regenerate aren't as fasts as they claim. The best magic doctors and nurses have been helping heal my sister with their magic. Hopefully, she should be better in a few days." Luna explained.
"How did this happen, sugarcube?" Applejack asked. Luna shrugged as she finished brushing her sister's mane and placed the brush back down on the nightstand.
"We do not know. We were discussing matters of the summit with Arone-"
"Who's Arone?" Rainbow Dash asked with suspicion. "That isn't really a pony name."
"He is a unicorn. Celestia's personal assistant started a few months ago. Anyway. We were in the ballroom after an...Incident and Arone were telling us about Discord's-" Luna stopped and her eyes grew wide when she considered how this might have happened. "DISCORD! He must be behind this!"
"Ah, Princess." Twilight injected. "I have considered that option and I honestly don't think that even in Discord's evil form that he would injure her like this."
Luna growled and looked up at the sun with heartache.
"You weren't there when Discord returned. He hurt my sister badly. Although not as bad when he..."
"He...did what, darling?" Rarity asked. Luna blushed and looked away from the group before turning back to them.
"He...broke up with my sister when he first turned evil. It really affected her." She admitted with shame. Feeling guilty for reveal her sister's secret. Twilight let out a strangled cry to alarm and the rest of them looked at each other to confirm whether or not they heard what they think they heard.
"She and Discord...Oh, sweet Equestria. This-This can't be real!!" She exclaimed and started to hyperventilate. Applejack tried to calm her down as Rarity fainted and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy snapped out of it and caught her. "THIS ISN'T HAPPENING! Does anypony know how to contact Discord!?"
Just then, a flash of light appeared and the Lord of Chaos appeared with genuine concern on his face.
"Hello, fellow Elements!" He said, trying to hide his expression. His attention was drawn to Luna who was glaring and him in hatred. Somehow, he had not noticed Celestia yet. "Ah, Lulu. Lovely to see you again."
Luna flew into the air and pointed at her sister was rage directed at Discord.
"WHAT DID THOU DO TO MY SISTER, DISCORD!?" She demanded. Discord's face fell and he flew over to Celestia, who was still peacefully sleeping.
"ME!?" He snarled. "Why would I hurt Tia? Do I look like I torture ponies like that for fun!?"
"Uh, yeah." Rainbow Dash spoke up. Fluttershy flew into the air to gather their attention despite her shyness.
"Um, eve-everypony? Dis-Discord is our friend! I-I am sure he wouldn't intentionally hurt the Princess! He isn't evil any more!" She defended.
"Thank you, Fluttershy." Discord said. Pulling her into a hug and glared at the rest of the group. "You could learn something from her you know. Believe me, if I knew what was happening I would fix it."
Luna moved closer to Discord, narrowing her eyes at him with a pointed hoof.
"My sister talked to you while you were in stone. You heard what she talked about, did you? What did she say? Anything that could lead to this?" She demanded. Discord dropped Fluttershy and crossed his arms at her.
"I don't go around sharing other ponies' secrets. Unlike some ponies." He snapped at Luna. Luna blushed and moved a bit further away.
"I had to tell them, Discord! They deserved to know!" She snapped. Discord pointed an accusing claw at her.
"They didn't need to know. You just wanted to get that secret off your chest. Well, tell me Lulu. Do you feel any better!?"
Luna shook her head and moved further away from his accusing glare.
"T-They need to know." She mumbled.
Suddenly a soft groan filled the awkward silence.
Celestia's eyes fluttered open and she let out a soft groan as her body ached and her eyes adjusted to the sunlight coming through the window. Suddenly a dark navy blue figure with a flowing main blocked the sunlight with her body. She lifted her head slightly to see Luna looking down at her with concern.
"L-Luna? Wh-Where am I?" She asked in a weak voice. Finding it hard to speak as her body was in so much pain. Luna bit her lip before responding and looked to something behind her before she replied.
"You...Had an incident during the summit and you were seriously injured."
Celestia attempted to move out of the bed but was quickly held down by a familiar paw on her shoulder. She looked up in alarm seeing Discord staring back at her with his red and yellow eyes.
"Dizzy? What are y-"
She heard a rustle and then looked towards the end of the spacious medical room where Twilight and her friends were nervously standing with awkward smiles. Well, all except Pinkie who seemed oblivious to the situation. She gawked at them and then looked to Luna and Discord before back at Twilight.
"What the hay is happening?" She demanded and pulled the blanket back to see bandages on her body with some blood seeping through with bruises on other parts of her body. "What incident did I have exactly?"
"I was hoping you could explain it to me." Luna admitted. "You were talking with Arone and then suddenly collapsed with all these injuries. It was very sudden."
"I am sorry. I don't know what happened." She lied. Luna raised an eyebrow in her direction as she clearly didn't believe her. She looked over to Discord who was glaring at her as he knew the truth. She had told him about the voice a few times when they were having one of their one-sided conversations during his banishment. "Can I have a moment alone with...Discord, please? I would like to discuss his friendship progress so far."
The ponies nodded and hurried out. Luna gave them one last look before shut the door and leaving them alone. Celestia cleared her throat and shifted into her bed to look up at him.
"Dizzy. I know that you know what the problem is. I am begging you. If you have any remaining feelings from when we were young, don't tell them. Please keep this a secret." She begged. Discord fiddled with his chin beard for a moment before snapping his fingers and making a comfy chair appear next to her bed with him in it.
"Tia. I must be honest. I do. But this thing. Is clearly not natural! Even before I was reformed by you...Ugh...Ponies. I did have feelings for you from our past so I will keep this secret as long as you figure out how to get rid of it!" He demanded. Celestia looked down for a moment in embarrassment and then looked back at him.
"I have tried everything! Don't you realize that I have been trying for centuries! I have done so much research all over Equestria. Nothing explains how this...Thing is in my mind. It claims that it is the darker side of me and it can't be a coincidence that it started moments after Luna was banished."
"At least you still have smarts," he muttered. "But reading books doesn't fix everything."
"I am aware of that. But there must be a record of this happening somewhere, to somepony." Celestia insisted.
Arone was having a bad morning. He had to deal with the fallout of Bini's outburst with Blueblood at the summit that morning. He had woken up in the early hours, before sunrise. Having to watch Bini, who was half awake and not in a good mood with Prince Blueblood who demanded to sue Bini for everything she is worth, fire her, and then get her blacklisted from every job in Equestria. Which Arone didn't even think was possible. Bini was trying to organize books as she provoked him with some of the worst insults he had heard in a long time with her assistants occasionally trying to calm her down.
Then, he had a run-in with some of the guards, the specific group known to bother ponies who they considered lesser than them. He didn't understand how he was a "lesser" pony by being the Princess's assistant. He had to deal with nobels spreading rumors and gossip that either Arone was the one to hurt Celestia in a failed assassination attempt (Which Bini actually claimed in a form of insanity that she believed) or Luna did it as a way to get back at her for banishing her to the moon.
Now, he was in the medical wing. Heading towards Celestia's room to inform Luna that reporters were starting to break into the castle in an attempt to get more information on Celestia's incident and a statement from Luna. He turned the corner and heard a mare whispering something frantically.
"H-ow could she like Discord!? Discord?" The voice belonged to Twilight Sparkle. Arone peaked around the corner to see Luna and the mane 6 with Twilight's dragon standing in the waiting room alone. Occasionally glancing towards Celestia's room.
"I don't try to understand why she does like him but-"
"SHE DOES!?" Twilight shrieked a bit too loudly. "As in, still does currently like him!?"
Thanks to the newspaper, he had learned all of their names so he was able to identify Rarity trotting up to Twilight.
"Darling. I know this is surprising but stranger things have happened." She insisted. Twilight shook her head in protest.
"No. No, this is beyond strange. This is on a whole new level of strange!" Twilight said. "My teacher like the Lord of Chaos and they dated at one point? Can any of you understand how wrong that is!?"
"Oh! Do I get to plan a wedding!?" Pinkie asked out of random. "A royal wedding!?"
Twilight connected the dots to what Pinkie said and let out a tiny scream of stress.
"Wed-Wedding, no, no, no, no, no," Twilight said frantically shaking her head.
"I-I think it is good for Dis-Discord to have a marefriend." Fluttershy muttered loud enough for the group to hear. Twilight was hyperventilating again and pacing in circles.
"Now, ya'll. Let's not jump to conclusions." Applejack said, stomping her hoof on the ground to get their attention. "No pony is getting married and we don't know that they are together...again."
Twilight, at this point, had checked out of reality and curled up into a ball on the sofa. Rocking back and forth. Luna began shaking Twilight, trying to get her out of her trance.
"Twilight? Twilight Sparkle! Pull it together! Everything is...fine..." Luna said, hesitating on the last word.
"Why did you hesitate, Princess?" Rainbow Dash asked with an accusing eye. "Something is clearly NOT fine!"
"My sister just collapsed into a pool of her own blood with injuries that keep reappearing for at least an hour and then the madness in the medical room occurred and here we are! Of course, nothing is fine!" She snapped. "I have a hard time lying!"
Arone gulped and took a few steps back. Wanting desperately to relay the information that he had heard to Bini. Even if she wasn't willing to listen to him.
"Oh, and Twilight." Luna voice rang across the corridor. "Your brother and foal sitter are getting married in a few months."
"...WHAT!?"
"Oh my..."
"Since when did ya'll have a brother, Twi!?"
---End of Chapter Fourteen---
Author's Note
Before you write that everyone is acting out of character, yeah, I know. I tried my best to stick to their original characters but here we are. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and are excited for the next one!
Twilight was having a very bad day.
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