To get to the palace by train it would take at least three hours but a pegasus could cover the same distance in an hour, perhaps even less if it weren't for the fact that at this moment the royal guard had to carry the unconscious body of the princess on his back.
Fortunately, the training involved similar situations in which a pegasus would have to carry another pony for emergencies like this, by now they were almost there and in the distance he could see the spiers of the royal palace.
She took a look at the pony he had on his shoulders: she was alive but she was breathing very shallow, it was obvious that if he didn't make it in time she would die shortly.
With this he decided to do a last sprint, he did not use the main entrance door but went to the terrace of the throne room which overlooked the whole landscape below.
When the guards who were parked saw the pegasus approaching they got into position to block him but he yelled before they could do anything, "make your way, I'm a royal guard and I'm taking the princess with me, she's badly injured!".
Immediately the guard who was to the right of the entrance door moved to go for help while the other went to warn the rulers.

When the pegasus landed he immediately entered the throne room and began to untie the princess from the back, just a few seconds later a group of doctors with a stretcher came running, following the king and the queen, the latter were shocked at the sight of their little girl being surrounded by doctors.
"Pegasus, what the hell happened ?!" the king yelled at the guard who had brought the princess while hugging his wife with a hoof, who had burst into tears.
The guard bowed and spoke in the clearest and most respectful way possible "I don't know sire, I think she was attacked by a beast during the trip, I tried to heal the most serious wounds to prevent her from bleeding to death".
Brisk evaluated the answer and immediately spoke in an authoritative tone "well done soldier, now rest and then come back to the student group, let them come home safe and sound."
"Yes your majesty," replied the guard and then he left the throne room.

Meanwhile the doctors had checked the princess’s wounds and tied her to a stretcher so that she did not fall or make strange movements during the transport, after which they too left the throne room and went to the medical wing.
In the room there were only the king, the queen and another pony who must have been a doctor seen the white coat, the king turned to him and asked "what can you tell me?".
The doctor bowed and then spoke "the guard was right, there were claw marks on the body, but the most worrying thing is not this", the pony swallowed and then resumed, "the princess's wings have been torn off and her horn it has been damaged, it seems to have been broken ”he finished.

The queen felt sick, Fizzlepop had been injured so brutally, she didn't dare imagine the pain she felt and the fact that she will have to live with these injuries all her life: Cherry Petal was not an expert in anatomy, but she knew when the wings were severed completely there was no longer any way to repair them, as for the horn he did not even know that it could be broken in such a way.
"My colleagues are taking her to the operating room to make a full diagnosis and then try to heal her, at least as much as possible," the doctor added.
"Do everything possible to save our little girl, from now on her life is in your hooves" replied the king in a fatherly voice, and dismissed him.

In the operating room, Fizzlepop's body was lying on a surgery table and around her there was a group of doctors dressed so that they could operate, they had headphones, gowns, slippers, masks and all the necessary equipment.
"Diagnosis," said the head room simply
"The princess is in a coma, she has deep cuts on her legs, abdomen, back and face, her wings have been torn off and her horn has been severed, there are three broken ribs and two cracked , the cut on her face does not seem to have caused any damage to the right eye ”one finished saying.
"Can we do something about the wings?" the foreman asked again.
A morphologist came forward who had been studying the princess's wings for a few minutes, "Apparently no sir, the only thing we have to do is remove the parts of the remaining bones attached to the spine to avoid infection and further damage to the nerves".
The head of the hall eventually began to give orders "first we will take care of the removal of the stumps, then we will arrange the ribs, in the end we will mend the wounds, as for the horn I want someone to go and call a palace magician or someone specialized in the horns ".

The operation to remove the remains of the wings went on very slowly, it was necessary to be careful not to accidentally sever the nerves of the spine, it took over 3 hours for this part but after that the repair of the ribs and stitching of the wounds happened enough quickly, just an hour and a half.
The last thing to take care of was the horn, no one in that room had ever had to deal with a similar case, the horns were made of pure compact bone covered with an enamel that gave even more resistance, in addition was reinforced by all the magical ribs and capillaries.
It had happened very few times that a horn was broken and very often they were simple chips, and in the most serious cases of compound fractures; her was truly an unprecedented case.

After finishing applying the bandages around the abdomen, the head of the hall turned to the court magician who had been called, "What can you tell me about the horn?".
"I don't know, it's the first time that a similar case has happened to me, the horns are very complex parts, they are full of capillaries and ribs that are directly connected to the brain, I think this is the main reason why the princess fell into a coma" he paused and sighed "the only thing we can do is wait for her to wake up and then assess the damage." he finished saying.

The head of the hall was not satisfied with this answer, he would have liked to do more but if this is what the expert had said then he could not do anything about it.
"Take the princess to a room where she can rest," he ordered a couple of his colleagues, "you others set up the operating room, I will go to inform the king and queen."
He left the room and took off all the clothes for the operation and threw them away in a special basket, after which he went in search of the two sovereigns.
As a doctor he had sworn to treat patients in the best possible way, he always wanted to be able to say "everything is fine, the patient has been treated and he is healthy ...." the pony smiled wistfully "these are the expectations of someone who had started studying medicine over twenty years ago, with the illusion of being able to cure everyone ... even those who were already beyond salvation".

It didn't take long to find the monarchs, in fact they were just outside the medical wing, sitting side by side on a sofa, in the atrium that connected all the other sections of the palace.
The doctor came forward and introduced himself: "Hi, I'm Clean Hooves, the operating room head, I witnessed the surgery of yuor daughter"
"Hello, how is Fizzlepop?" asked the king.
Clean Hooves had not noticed that it was now day, outside you could see the first rays of the sun illuminating the atrium with a slight yellowish light, it would have been beautiful if it were not for the current situation.
"Not well your majesty, we had to remove what was left of the wings, it had deep cuts that we stitched up but unfortunately some scars will remain, luckily we were able to treat them with a special drug that allows the regrowth of the hair, even in the points where there was the suture, in this way they will be less unpleasant " he paused but the king said nothing, he was listening carefully "as far as the horn is concerned we could not do any intervention, we do not know how extensive the damage is ... but it is probable that they are the cause that sent the princess into a coma. From now on, the only thing we can do is wait for her to wake up "he finished saying.
For a moment no one said anything, the random sobbing of the queen could be heard.
"I understand, thank you very much to you and her colleagues for doing everything possible, now you can go to rest", the king dismissed him and the doctor left the room leaving the two spouses alone.

“What are we going to do now? How will Fizzlepop overcome this tragedy? " Cherry said in a pained voice to her husband.
“I really don't know, I wish it was just a horrible nightmare, and I don't dare imagine what it was like and what it will be like for our daughter. But as the doctor said, the only thing we can do is wait and hope for the best, "Brisk replied in anguish.

The days had passed and yet Fizzlepop had not yet awakened from the coma, the days had lengthened to weeks and then months.
The wounds were now healed, the bandages and stitches had been removed to leave only for the scars ... witnesses of that fateful night.
Fizzlepop had been moved to her personal room and attached to her paw there was only the drip bag and an electrocardiogram that always sounded regularly and perpetually, just like a metronome.
Every day her parents visited her by turning, every now and then they talked to her and other times they just stood by her bed, in silence while to mark the time there was only the annoying sound of the machine that she had next to her .
A couple of packages and flowers were placed on a small table, gifts from her alleged friends…. they had probably given her these gifts only out of pity or good education.
A daily routine was also planned, every morning a nurse came to air the room, then changed the catheter bag and added liquid to the drip, every three days they washed her and changed the bed linen and in the meantime cleaned the room.

The doctors didn't know why she hadn't woken up yet, her wounds were now closed and she looked healthy, she could breathe on her own and her metabolism was working perfectly.
Scientists came from time to time to study the wound on her horn, after all it was an unprecedented accident that had struck the princess; some had theorized that she did not die on the spot due to the fact that she is an alicorn, in fact they did not know if she could still be considered as such: she had lost her wings and her horn was damaged, probably unusable .

More months passed and the princess had been in a coma for over a year now, the court doctors had suggested that she give a lethal injection, or stop feeding her body and let her die in peace.
Obviously the queen hadn't reacted well to that warning, if it hadn't been for her husband that day a couple of ponies would have gone the same way Fizzlepop.
Luckily Cherry had made the right decision, she had decided not to give up and wait as long as necessary.

BEEP BEEP…. A STARRY SKY AND THE FULL MOON….
BEEP BEEP…. A DENSE WOOD….
BEEP BEEP…. A DARK CAVE….
BEEP BEEP…. “GRRRRR” A FUR COVERED BY THE FIRMAMENT….
BEEP BEEP…. DANGER…
BEEP BEEP .... HER FRIENDS ....
BEEP BEEP .... BETRAYAL ... ..
BEEP BEEP…. ACHE….
BEEP BEEP .... ANGER ....
BEEP BEEP .... DARKNESS ....
BEEP BEEP....

Fizzlepop woke up suddenly, her heart was pounding, her fur was sweaty and she had tears coming out of her eyes.
She had dreamed of that night ... the night she had suffered so much pain, she had lost his wings, but above all the trust she had in her friends.
At the thought of this she felt again the anger she had felt that night but immediately stopped, she began to feel a severe headache starting from her forehead.

A good half hour had passed and she finally managed to calm down, she had not yet realized where she was.
She looked around and noticed that she was in her room, the windows were half open and a light beam of light filtered through them, next to her was the source of the annoying sound and next to it was the pole to which she was attached a drip from which a thread started that ended up under the covers.
"So I'm not dead ..."
Fizzlepop looked at her back, it was difficult as her body was quite weak and numb, she noticed that the wings were gone, there were only scars on which the hair had grown back, however it could not hide as it was of a lighter shade than the rest of the coat.
Seeing this, she felt like crying again, but she tried to restrain herself by squinting and clenching her teeth.
"I should have minded my own business ... but what am I saying?! ... it's their fault ... if only they had made an effort to do something .... but instead they abandoned me in the time of need…. "
Thinking about this she felt the anger and betrayal in her heart again, but again they were interrupted by a severe headache coming from her forehead.
She had been sitting on the bed thinking until her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and immediately after it came a maid who had a broom in her clogs and was humming a tune.
Fizzlepop frowned, usually staff knocks before entering.
She tried to call the mare but no sound came out of her mouth, her throat was so dry it hurt the moment she swallowed.
This time she tried harder, "Can I have a glass of water?" her voice came out hoarse and thin but it was enough to attract her attention.

When the maid looked up and saw her she froze and dropped the broom to the floor, after which she immediately ran out of the room without saying anything.
Fizzlepop was shocked by the mare's reaction, she certainly hadn't expected it; it had been a couple of minutes until she heard outside the door, which had remained open, a group of ponies running in her direction.
Soon after a couple of individuals, all dressed in white coats, they burst into the room and stood around her bed.
Immediately they asked her questions like "how are you?", "Do you feel pains somewhere?", Fizzlepop tried to answer the barrages of questions.

When they finished asking the questions they were all silent, some were taking notes in notebooks while others were handling machinery and wires, they had removed both the drips and the heart rate sensors, when it was time to remove the catheter she blushed slightly and asked everyone else to turn around as a nurse slowly removed the tube.
They had been silent for a few minutes and there was only the sound of the pens running on the yellowish paper of the notepads.
"Where are my parents?" the princess asked in a low voice.
Immediately those present looked up and a look of surprise appeared on her face, immediately one had run away from the room.
Shortly after he returned and behind him were the king and queen, her mother cried as soon as she saw her and ran to hug Fizzlepop who was lying on the bed, her father instead had whispered in the doctor's ear that nodded and left the room, he was followed by all the other doctors and nurses, they also took the medical equipment with them.

Meanwhile her mother had calmed down and sat down next to the bed that Fizzlepop was on, her father did the same and then they were silent, until Brisk took a deep breath and said the typical question one would ask to someone who is he was awakened from a coma.

"What do you remember?"

Author's Note

here is chapter 4, honestly I am not a surgery expert and therefore I tried to describe the scene of the operating room based on some other similar stories that I had read.
I decided to split this part in two because I didn't want the chapter to be too long, but I already know what to write next.
thanks for reading.