The Birth of S.T.A.R.

The next few days were rather uneventful for Ice Storm. Presteza had been helping her a lot considering that she couldn't use magic at the moment, and it definitely made the bandages and ointment a… rather unappealing two-pony job. "You're lucky I'm such a good friend Icy," she heard from Pressy. "This is some of the most icky stuff I've ever touched. I can't believe this is supposed to help ponies… I hope you aren't offended when I say I hope you can use magic again soon so that I don't have to touch this stuff again. Even changing your diaper after a long night isn't as bad as that."

"Pressy…" Icy said blushing.

"Right… sorry… I forgot how sensitive you get about that. But seriously, no pony cares! It's not like you can help it! Judging you for something you can't control would just be mean," Pressy said. "Plus, the designs are kinda cute," she continued, giggling as she watched Icy bury her head in her pillow. "Now now, none of that. You have that meeting with Twilight today, remember? Something about a very important topic that you're not allowed to tell me about?"

"Pony-feathers… What time is it? I nearly forgot!" Ice asked, hearing Pressy snicker. "Hey! Being late to something like this isn't funny!"

"Hehehe, are you sure you aren't related to Twilight? You certainly act just like her at times," Pressy answered. "But to answer your question, it's not even ten yet. From what you told me, the meeting is at noon, the throne room. Oh, and Luna came by and left these for you last night. They are Lunar Lilies," she added, showing Icy the white she royal blue flowers.

"Ooo, pretty…" Ice started. "Wait… don't you have a cat? I'm pretty sure that is deadly for them. At least I know normal lilies are."

"Then we'll just have to make sure she can't get to it then," Pressy said. "You can't just turn down a gift from a princess! You must have so done something super special to get their attention and make them like you this much!"

"Hehe, yeah will… I imagine saving one of the Princesses and a good portion of the ponies in the spire has a way of putting you on a few radars," Ice said.

"It most certainly does," a third voice rang out as a pair of ponies were now seen in the doorway.

"Princess Cadence!? Prince Shining Armor!?" Presteza said, shocked.

"Weee didn't get a chance to thank Miss Storm here for her heroics before she had departed and it would be rude for us to not acknowledge a pony that played a vital role in saving what lives we were able to. Not to mention saving my sister. Have you ever thought about being a guard? You have real guard material. I could even see you running your own platoon at some point," Shining commented.

"That might be something that I put into the works. If I did, it would probably be the Lunar Guard. I mean no offense to the other regiments it to you Princess Cadence, I just know Princess Luna better…" Ice commented.

"No offense taken. We know that certain individuals are drawn more to others. We did want to let you know though that we will be holding a ceremony in the Crystal Empire honoring those who aided in our defense. You and a few other ponies will be receiving both the Equestrian and Crystal Empire Medal of Valor and the Medal of Courage. The ceremony will be in a week to give everypony time to prepare," Cadence spoke.

"Great! I'm wanting to return soon myself to actually investigate the attack more, but I'm waiting for a certain meeting and certain paperwork to go through to get higher clearance protocols first," Ice responded, prompting a raised eyebrow and a knowing smirk from both of the Crystal Rulers.

"I figured that would be a path that you'd take," Shining Armor replied. "Nice to see some very capable ponies stepping up to the cause."

Meanwhile Presteza was watching and listening to the conversation with a look of confusion before it registered that her friend was getting two of the highest honors that the Princesses could bestow. She instantly let out a squeal. "Eeeeee! Icyyyyy! You're getting a medal, or well… medals… but still… eeeeee!" She said, hugging the mare tightly.

"Eek! Too tight!! Too tight!!" Icy yelled through a wince. Then would give a small glare at Pressy when she released her.

"Hehe… oops, sorry… you know how I get when I'm excited," Pressy apologized. She then felt Icy tickle her nose with a bit of leftover bandage. "Yaaachoo!" She sneezed with a burst of wind magic going through the room and clearing some of the shelves. This time it was her turn to glare at Icy.

"Wow! That's a powerful sneeze!" Cadence said, giggling a bit from behind her hoof. "Though magic like that I'm sure can come in handy. Hopefully you will join us as well?"

"Wouldn't miss it! I might even make a few paintings to commemorate it!" Pressy said with a smile.

"That sounds perfect! We'll see the two of you there. You two make a cute couple," Cadence said as her and Shining Armor left, making both the mares blush with a blank stare.

"Wow, they think that we are a couple? That's so hilarious! You're like my super best friend… with a few benefits," Presteza giggled.

"Right!? Besides, you're too amazing for me anyway. You're an amazing painter. Right now I'm a unicorn that can't even use magic," Icy replied.

"Hey, you're the one getting awards from all four of the princesses here. I think that makes you pretty amazing yourself. Besides, I don't think either one of us is willing to settle down yet, and by the sounds of things, you have grand adventures planned. You'll have to tell me all about them! As much as you can so that I can try to paint them!" Pressy said, watching Icy try to get up. "And where do you think you're going?"

"To get ready… for the meeting with Twilight? The one you were just reminding me about?" Icy said with a raised eyebrow.

"Not yet you're not! You got a couple hours, and I need to get you back for back at the hospital, and that sneeze," Pressy smirked. "You're not going anywhere until I'm done with you," she added with a saucy tone.

About an hour later Icy bolted out of the door of the guild hall and started sprinting to the castle. It didn't really feel good on her side, but the cut was almost completely healed at this point. It was still just a bit tender because of the salve. She made it with a couple minutes to spare. Thankfully she had just enough time to freshen up enough that there wasn't too much of a scent left from her… activities with Pressy.

She started to approach the doors, granted much slower than when she was coming here. She knew that running to the doors would put the guards on edge. "Sorry… I was running a tad bit late, but got here with minutes to spare…" she told the guards.

"Mhm... Twilight is expecting you. She's already in the throne room, and has instructed to not be interrupted. If you agreed to one of her crazy experiments, then may Celestia…" the one guard started before the other coughed. "Sorry… may Luna be with you," he corrected himself, though it still felt weird to say.

Ice nodded and made her way through the halls. Being an apprentice of sorts to Luna, she knew the castle pretty well and was able to find her way pretty easily. When she got to the throne room, she would hear Twilight greet her. "Hello Ice Storm, thank you for coming. I trust you are healing well?"

"I'm still a little sore, but I guess that's expected, all things considered."

"The fact that they let you come home already speaks volumes about your immune system and recovery. Do you have any idea when the ring is supposed to come off?" Twilight asked.

"I'm supposed to be getting it off tomorrow actually, if everything goes well. I'm feeling pretty confident and the other day my aether levels were just below what they were wanting to remove it. I would presume that it should be high enough now or they would have set it further out. I must say, not being able to use magic totally blows," Ice stated with certainty.

"I must say that I myself can't imagine being without magic, but I presume there are some that it would be less intrusive on. That said, I wish you the best on that. I believe that we have some official business to take care of?"

"Indeed. What do you need me to do?" Ice asked.

"For starters, I'm going to need you to stand in the center of this triangle, for it is a zone of truth and will be physically impossible for you to lie in. Not that I think that you ever would, especially after what you've already disclosed about yourself. That would be something most would lie about in a heartbeat. Then we will move through the three arcane circles here on the floor," Twilight instructed.

"The green circle will run a full medical screening, and will tell me of any issues that you may have. If I'm honest though, I'm not expecting to find anything other than the obvious. The red circle will give me an idea of your psyche and your state of mind. This will give me an idea as to good fits for missions as well as what some of your triggers might be. I have a feeling I already know one of them, but we'll ignore that one. The white circle will tell me just about everything about your past in a very thorough background check. When you're ready, step into the circle and we can begin."

Ice gulped a bit, but she did as instructed. She understood why all the security was needed though. You couldn't just let anypony into a top secret undercover organization. They had to be trustworthy, and share most of the same beliefs. Honestly, she was kinda worried that EPIC wasn't going to live up to the hype that she heard from Twilight and Luna, but if it helps then it's worth it. When she stepped into the triangle, she saw it light up with a white light, and a small barrier formed around her.

"For the record, please state your name and all occupations you may have," Twilight started.

"My name is Ice Storm, and I am currently the owner of the Frozen Delights Franchise across four stores. I own a store in Canterlot, Hoofington, Ponyville, and Seaddle. I am also an apprentice of Princess Luna in the study of astrology as well as some magical studies as well, and I am also the Archmage of the Element of Ice in the Canterlot Sorcerer's Guild," Ice Storm proclaimed.

"With you being such a busy pony already, are you sure that you can handle the responsibility of being an agent of EPIC?" Twilight asked.

"Pretty easily actually. In fact, being spread across Equestria like that would make it easier to pick up on potential problems through those channels. The only thing that I could see being a potential problem would be if I was in one place if something broke out in another area, but that’s a possibility no matter what path you go down. We can’t possibly be everywhere at once, so no matter what, there’s going to be some agents out of position to handle the current task. At that point I would expect those agents to focus on their task at hoof to avoid a chain reaction of events.” Ice explained.

“Elaborate,” Twilight instructed.

“Hmm… without magic it would be hard to show, but if we have agents scattered across Equestria working on different assignments, we’ll use the four cities I own shops in for this example. If we have agents in Canterlot, Ponyville, Seaddle, and Hoofington, and let’s say in this example, Canterlot is attacked like the Crystal Empire was. We wouldn’t want to pull the agents out of Hoofington or Seaddle because both of those cities are coastal cities for one, and would be susceptible to attacks of their own… but also because being that far away, they wouldn’t make it to Canterlot in time to be of any use. However, calling upon the agents in Ponyville would be okay, as Ponyville is close to Canterlot, and would likely be the next target of attack anyway.”

“An interesting take, but not unwise,” Twilight commented. “Now, What makes you think that you have what it takes to be part of EPIC? We are looking for the absolute best of the best, with something in their talents that make them unique. You show me that you have a decent knowledge of tactics, but what else can you bring to EPIC other than a bit of cold?”

“My ice magic, I would dare to say, is among some of the most powerful in Equestria. I am able to create it and shape it to any density and shape that I need it to be. If I need to make a block of ice that has the density of steel, in the shape of a swan, I can. All I have to do is envision it, and I can make it, and make it as strong as it’s needed. Not to mention if all else fails, and there’s no other options of getting out of a sticky situation, most creatures are mostly water,” Ice explained.

Twilight raised an eyebrow a bit at that answer, but took it for what it was. She knew everything that Ice Storm was saying right now was her honest opinions because of the nature of the zone that she was in. She wasn’t really shocked by this answer, considering what the mare had just been through. “Alright, I think I got what I needed from that. After seeing your magic first hoof, or at least the after effects of it, considering I was unconscious for most of it, and in collaboration with other ponies interviewed on the subject, I can safely say that I agree with your assessment. I have never seen an Elementalist with the raw abilities that you possess. You’re definitely a pony that I’m glad to have on our side,” Twilight admitted. “Now, these next series of circles are going to feel a bit weird, and the health one maybe even a bit invasive… but it is all necessary,” Twilight admitted.

Ice Storm watched as the first of the three circles moved from it’s corner towards her. It was the green one, the health one. She presumed that Twilight wanted to get the uncomfortable one out of the way first. Especially since if it was as invasive, with the recovering wound it was likely to be a bit painful as well. Once it centered on her, she felt the magic pulse and she felt the aether wash over her and feed through every crevice and hole that she had. She instantly understood what Twilight meant when she said invasive, and she couldn’t hold back a wince as she felt it going into the gash. She just hoped that the magic didn’t open it back up. She would hate to have to go back to the hospital again to get patched up for something that she couldn’t even really explain. That would make it look like she wasn’t taking her recovery protocols seriously, and then they wouldn’t take the ring off her horn at all until her magic had completely recovered.

She could see Twilight watching as the magic coursed through her, displaying every possible flaw that she had right now. On the plus side, with this much magic coursing through her, if she had something wrong with her right now that she didn’t know about, she’d find out about it and then figure out how to get it fixed from there, but from how Twilight was looking, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Everything from that one checks out. Your aether levels are exactly where she should be all things considered, so the doctors should in fact be removing that ring tomorrow. Otherwise, the only problems are the ones that you’ve already mentioned, though it looks like your um… other issue is actually caused by some lingering nerve damage. I would ask how that was caused, but I’m about to find out anyway. But I did also notice that your body has a surplus of water, and was quite a bit cooler than most ponies. Your temperature only reads about eighty-four point six! The average body temperature of a pony is about a hundred, so your magical affinity is definitely having some sort of effect on your body,” Twilight said. “Are you ready for the next circle? This one won’t be as bad.”

Ice Storm nodded and watched as the white circle started moving towards her. Once it centered around her, it basically played out the entirety of Icy’s past like a movie for the princess. Judging by the looks that the princess had on her face, she wasn’t really liking what she was seeing. After everything was said and done, the circle faded out, and Twilight spoke. “You actually went through all of that!? How are you not completely and utterly evil? How in Equestria were you able to stay positive through all of that!?” Twilight asked.

Ice Storm couldn’t help but chuckle a bit from the reaction before pointing to the stained glass window of Luna. “The moon,” Ice Storm started. “Princess Luna and I, we aren’t that much different. Aside from the obvious differences, we’ve both felt what it was like to have been left behind from those whom we would have called family, and like Princess Luna, I have rekindled my relations with at least one of my parental figures. However, It was Luna’s moon that gave me the courage to keep driving. I knew that no matter what happened during the day, Luna’s moon would always be there to protect me, and knowing that things eventually got better for Luna meant that as long as I had that same hope, that they would get better for me as well. Now look how far I’ve come.”

“How far indeed! Your mental fortitude is unbelievable. I’ve seen ponies crack under less stress… I’ve cracked under less stress!” Twilight said, remembering the incident with the Want-It-Need-It spell. "I don't even need to use the last spell at this point other than formality," Relight said, moving the red circle over to examine her mental state. The magic only lasted a couple seconds though, more like she had moved the circle just to say she finished the process.

After that, all the magic in the room faded, and Twilight wiped her brow a bit. "Phew… those spells never get any easier… but I can definitely say, I've never interviewed a pony quite like you before. I can definitely see why Luna chose you for a pupil. I do have one question though. When you came to Canterlot the first time, you know… when you were a filly, why didn't you go straight to the princesses? Celestia wouldn't have let you sleep in the park alone for all that time, and I doubt that Luna would either."

"Honestly, after the way most of Canterlot had treated me for not being from Canterlot myself, I just figured at the time that the Princesses would have been more of the same, or even worse. Not to mention there was the lingering thought of if they found me, they'd force me to go back to Fillydelphia," Ice Storm commented.

Twilight wanted to recoil at the fact that she heard somepony mention Celestia and didn't mention amazing in the same sentence, but she actually understood where Ice was coming from. "Well, I know one thing for sure. All those ponies that turned their nose at you before are probably wishing they hadn't now. Equestria owes you a great debt. Without your actions, I would not be here now to have this conversation or induction with you."

"Induction?" Ice asked.

"Well yeah. I mean you either pass or fail the magic exams, so the answer is always pretty clear. Postponing things at that point is just inefficient. I, Twilight Sparkle, co-founder of EPIC, hereby grant you admission into the Equestrian Protection and Information Command. Agent Storm, your first assignment will be the attack on the Crystal Empire. Since you were at ground zero, and have already expressed interest in the investigation, it seemed the logical choice. Plus, you need to be in the Crystal Empire by the end of the week anyway for your ceremony. Once you've gathered what information you can find, report to a pony named Deadra, and tell him that 'A Mocking Bird has landed'. He'll know what it means," Twilight told her.

Ice Storm nodded. "Is there anything else that I should know about?"

"You will get briefed on everything else once you get to Solstice Heights. The only thing you'll need at the moment is your badge. Before you receive it though, I must remind you. EPIC is for the most part, a top secret, hidden group of ponies. As such, the ponies that know of it are restricted to other members and government officials. To most ponies, you are an extension of the guard. With that in mind, Princess Luna has already agreed to assist with your training, and should you pass the guard training, which… I have no concerns about happening, you will be assigned to be one of her personal guards. A title that could, in all honesty get you into even more places than your EPIC badge can," Twilight explained.

"If that's the case, why does EPIC need to exist at all then? If being a high ranking member of the Lunar or Celestial guard can get you better access to locations, and most common ponies only know EPIC as guards of sorts, then it seems kinda pointless. Unless there's something I'm missing," Ice commented.

"Think about it this way, even within the ranks of the guards, you have those that are a cut above the rest, but there's not always enough rank to go around. You can't have too many chiefs and not enough indians, otherwise nothing gets done. EPIC are ponies that excel under pressure, and can fit into places most guards can't go, or get information that guards can't get because of tight-lipped ponies," Twilight answered.

"So wouldn't it make more sense for ponies involved with EPIC to not be involved with the guard? If a pony recognized someone from the guard it would spoil an entire operation, and put everyone in the operation in danger. I mean, I suppose that's why the organisation is a secret, but if the ponies that EPIC are trying to track are smart enough to avoid detection from the guards and the groups to begin with, then they are going to inevitably see through any disguises a pony might wear," Ice said concerned.

“You have voiced a lot of the same concerns that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna shared, but I assure you that I have taken precautions into account. Like WRAITH, we have our own unique identifiers, and most guard armor is enchanted so that while the guards are in their armor look mostly the same. With that in mind it would be considerably hard for a pony to identify a guard outside of their armor. This is done as a measure for them naturally. After all, the guards also act as the highest form of law enforcement in a region. If a pony were to figure out who they were and consequently who their families were, that would put them at considerable risk,” Twilight answered.

“Hm, I suppose that makes sense then. I didn’t know that all the guard armor was enchanted. I mean, I had always wondered how the princesses got all the guards to look all the same like they did. Enchanted armor makes a lot of sense now, actually," Ice commented, feeling a bit silly that she hasn't thought of something as simple as enchanted armor.

"It's nothing. You'd be surprised how many ponies don't actually know that. They just think that we somehow find hundreds of ponies that look almost exactly the same. Do you know how insanely hard that is!? I've crunched those numbers! It's really hard!"

"Of course you have, Twilight," Ice said with a smile. "Same Twilight I met in Ponyville before you got those," Ice added with a chuckle.

"I would hope so! Just cause I have wings now doesn't mean I'm going to behave any differently! It just means there's so much more to learn and so many new problems to solve! But anyway, we're getting off topic. It's important to remember that your badge will only work in government sanctioned locations. Like I mentioned before, most of the civilian populace doesn't know EPIC exists," Twilight informed.

"Okay, I get it. Super secret, not many know of it use with caution," Ice repeated. She still had some questions in the back of her mind on the matter, but she didn't think that she was going to get anywhere with them here. She'd have to ask them at HQ. The most important being, if EPIC is so secretive… then how are they able to get the clearance needed to get all the extra information that she was promised on the investigation of the Crystal Empire, or any investigation for that matter? Unless they have supper secret probes everywhere that link back to a central database. There were still a lot of things that didn't quite make sense to her, but she'd go with it for now. At the very least they were trying to create a better form of protection, so that's something at least.

"Now, if you don't have anything else for me, I'll be taking my leave. It would seem that I have some new paperwork that needs to be filed," Twilight said with a knowing smile. "Besides, Princess Luna should be here in a moment. She was hoping to speak with you herself afterwards, regardless of how the interview went," Twilight said before departing.

Ice wasn't surprised that Luna would want to know how everything went, especially since Luna had been the one to bring up EPIC to begin with. She didn't doubt that Luna already would know the answer before coming into the room. If she knew how the princesses operated, then it would be much different as how she would react knowing a friend went in for a job interview. One would give a knowing, questioning look, and the other would either give a nod in affirmation or a shake of their head if they didn’t get it.

Not to mention the fact that she hadn’t seen the princess since she’d been back in Canterlot. She actually hadn’t really left the Guildhall since she’d been back either. She had spent the last couple days looking through the library that The Canterlot Sorcerer’s Guild had to see if they might have had anything on the Crystal Heart. It was a magical relic, so there was a possibility, however much of a longshot it was. Of course, it came as no surprise to her when her attempts came up empty.

She did, however, learn about a few things and found a few tricks to make other spells easier. She would have to work at this and try it when she can again. If she could figure out how to use teleport and not make herself sick, that would add a lot of tactical maneuverability in different scenarios. Especially now that she could potentially end up being a frontline mage. No, there was little possibility of potentially at this point. After having felt what it was like to be able to protect others, and knowing that she had the power to do so, she would be a frontline mage. She wasn’t going to let anyone suffer anything like that again.

Her thoughts were interrupted though when she heard the door to the throne room open up, and she watched Princess Luna enter, albeit considerably more tired than when she would normally see her. It was late morning after all, and The Princess of the Night was usually fast asleep by this time. “Good morning, Ice Storm,” she heard the princess say through a yawn. “I trust your meeting with Twilight went well? She seemed to be in quite high spirits when she left.

“Things went quite well. I’m sorry I haven’t been at the castle the last few nights. Without magic, I kinda figured I’d just be in the way, so I pulled a Twilight and stayed where the books were,” Ice Storm said, laughing a bit.

The princess would join her with a laugh. “You needn’t worry about such things, Ice Storm. Your recovery is more important, and it still sounds like you're working on studies through a different means so I can’t really complain. Once your magic has recovered though, I would like to work on refining it even more. As powerful as you are,I still believe there is room for improvement, mainly in the form of efficiency. With that in mind, I would like to take you on as not only my apprentice in astronomy, but as my apprentice in Sorcery as well. With my help and tactical knowledge, we can have you leading platoons in no time,” Princess Luna stated.

“I don’t know about that. Outside of the spire, I don’t have any combat or leadership experience, and I hardly think that counts,” Ice replied.

“Actually that counts for a lot more than you think. A civilian pony who is untrained in combat and tactics being able to think and react on the spot like how you did isn’t common,” Luna said.

“But I wasn’t alone. I had other ponies there guiding me and helping me. Without Winter Frost being there, I would have never thought to use the blood on the steps as a material component. I still didn’t overly enjoy it, but without that I wouldn’t have had enough energy for us to get out, and without Pressy’s magic to speed us up and slow us down that would have been disastrous as well,” Ice countered.

“That means that you’re willing to listen to the experience and the wisdom of others. That is the most important quality in a good leader is being able to listen and take advice from others. It is a lesson that I wish I would have learned myself about a thousand years ago. I guess you’re already a bit ahead of me in that regard,” Luna said with another yawn and a smile.

“I suppose, I just kinda feel like because Twilight was on my back everypony is forgetting about all the others that helped me,” Ice commented.

“Trust me, we haven’t. Between myself, my sister, Cadence, Shining Armor, and just about every pony that we interviewed from the spire that survived said that they had you to thank for it. Decisions like these aren’t made lightly. Not to mention,” Luna said, looking around the room for a moment. “Between you and me… I think you might have a higher magical potential than Twilight, and I would love for a chance to one-up my sister on something, so it’s win-win for both of us,” Luna laughed.

Ice kinda raised an eyebrow at that. As much as she liked being the protege of the princess, she wasn’t sure if she could live up to that kind of expectation. “Well, if you think that I’m capable of all that, then who am I to say otherwise. I mean, I am just an ice mage, but I’m willing to try to learn more if I can, and I did find a few books in the Sorcerer’s Guild that help with efficiency and finding ways to make other spells easier. I was already planning on working on that.”

“Great! You’re already one of the most powerful elementalists I know. It will be interesting to see how far that potential goes. On that note though, I believe you have a train to catch, and I must be getting ready for bed. They are starting rehearsals for the ceremony within the next couple of days in the Crystal Empire so…”

“Wait a second… Princess Cadence and Shining Armor said that the ceremony wasn’t for another week yet. They came by this morning when I was getting ready to leave to come here,” Ice Storm interrupted.

“Oh, I didn’t realize that they were even in town. They must have come to visit Twilight and her family. It would make sense given what just happened. I’m sure Twilight Velvet and Night Light were quite worried about everyone. But they are correct, the ceremony is being held in a week, but you still have to rehearse it. You wouldn’t believe how many times we had to rehearse Twilight’s coronation,” Luna said. “We have you booked on the morning train.”

“Can we reschedule that to an evening train? I’m supposed to be going to the doctor tomorrow to get this removed,” Ice asked.

“Oh! That is great news! Consider it rescheduled,” Luna said with a smile. “That said, I’ll see you there. Though if you would like, the infirmary here at the castle is rather empty at the moment. We could take a stroll there and see if they can perform the test. We might be able to get that taken off today. Do you remember where it’s at? It’s been a while since we were last there, the night of the blizzard," Luna started.

"Vaguely. I'm sure if I get lost though, I can have a guard show me the way," Ice said, watching the princess depart.

"Then I'll leave you to it then. May the stars be with you."

"And may thy moon shine bright," Ice said, finishing the formality.

She then started making her way down the hall towards the infirmary. With where they were in the castle Ice actually did have to stop to ask for directions, twice. Once she made it there though, she explained everything to the nurse on duty. After running a few numbers and after freshly filling the medical report she had just received, the nurse nodded and removed the ring.

"There you go. I would still take it easy the next couple of days. You might still feel a bit weaker than anticipated so keep that in mind for a bit. After that you should be your old self again," she heard the nurse tell her.

"I will keep all that in mind. It just feels good to have that off," she said with a smile before opening and then closing the door with her magic. She didn't feel anything off, but that was a simple spell for most unicorns. It was akin to basic levitation.

"Anything else you wanted us to take a look at? How's that wound healing?" The nurse asked.

"Well enough. My roommate doesn't like the salve though, she says it feels weird," Ice said, giggling.

"Yeah, some of those ointments and creams can feel kinda gross, I'm not gonna lie. I would ask to take a look at the wound, but those bandages look fairly fresh. With that in mind, I'll trust your judgment. If there's nothing else, I wish you a great day. Unless there's a training accident in the guards, I doubt I'll have many other patients today," the nurse said.

Ice nodded and smiled. "Well, hopefully it won't be too bad. At the very least whenever I'm around the castle I can swing by and give you somepony to talk to for a bit," she said before departing the infirmary, and heading home to get things packed for a second trip to the Crystal Empire.