Saturday, May 9th, 909 AB (6 days later)

“Gotta say, ma, I’m surprised you’re wantin ta come too.”

“You serious? I ain’t missin out on their reactions. ‘Sides, somepony has to make sure this one,” she bumps her shoulder against Deed, “doesn’t make ya sign your life away or something.”

Deed rolls his eyes at the accusation, choosing not to fall for the bait.

The three had just set out from the house on their way to the clinic. Given Cure’s propensity to drop absurd presents on them, Dr. Care was eager to meet with them before his shift starts.

“Yeah, I think that ship has sailed, ma.” With a deep sigh, Cure laments aloud in a groan, “God, what was I thinking?!”

“Oh quit your whining, Cure. I don’t think you could have asked for a better deal. Have you thought at all about what would have happened if you completely refused?”

“It… probably would have been kinda devastating if I had,” he admits. “Having another alicorn show up after nine hundred years of being the only one, then have him turn his rear on ya? I don’t think I could do that to her, even if the thought did briefly cross my mind.”

Stifling a chuckle, his sire asks, “Before or after she fluffed them big feather dusters atchya?”

“Had to be before. I’m not so sure he was doing much thinkin after. Not with the brain upstairs, at least.”

“C’mon! It’s not like I let that get to me!” Both parents give the colt a disbelieving look. “Much. It didn’t get to me much. Ya hafta admit, there’s some soft, warm, high quality snuggles under them wings.”

“The hug was pretty nice,” Title admits. “I could see it getting a smidge sweaty if it lasted too long though.”

Deed nods in agreement. “She was pretty toasty, can’t deny that.”

“Oh?” Cure asks, smiling mischievously. “Finally warming up to her, pa?”

Deed rolls his eyes. “Ain’t happening, colt. Stop teasin the poor mare.”

“Super serious here, dad. She is, as mom noted, an objectively pretty mare. Is it her size? Is that the issue?”

“Well, that’s part of it, sure,” his sire nods. “Ya can’t deny it’s a bit intimidatin.”

“Private medical info aside, pa, she’s physically not much larger than any other mare. I mean, she’s taller, sure, but like I said after my… incident…”

“You mean when ya blew up?” Title helpfully supplies.

“... Yes, that. So like I said, frame-wise she’s closer to a taller, slightly stockier unicorn than a legitimate earth pony. Again, these are all observations I made prior to our trip. I’m not saying anything at all based on my scan of her. Not even to you guys.”

“That ain’t the only reason, champ,” the stallion argues. “She’s the princess, ya feel me?”

“So… it’s an awe thing?”

“You gotta keep in mind, honey,” Title explains, “for all of our lives, not to mention the lives of everypony else that’s alive, she’s been this untouchable icon. We get that she’s a mare, too, but it’s still just too weird. I mean, I’d do it for bragging rights alone but I would probably feel like I did something I shouldn’t have afterwards.”

“Well said, babe. Tha thought of doin that with her just… it feels wrong, son. Besides, seems fate has somepony else lined up for her anyways.” Cure cringes at the reminder, a move that gets a satisfied chuckle out of the dark stallion. “Yup, now I get ta tease you ‘bout it instead. How do ya like them apples, colt?”

“Ugh. Guess I kinda walked right into that one.”

“You’re forgetting the weirdest part,” Title says. “How messed up would it be if your sire serviced her needs now then you gotta later? Even if it’s years down the road that’s still ground he’s sewn his oats on. In. Whichever.”

“Probably both nowadays,” Deed helpfully adds.

Cure freezes mid-step, the parents stopping a step later to look over their withers at the stunned colt. The suggestion gets an open-mouthed, wide-eyed, horrified frown from the colt that causes his mom to blast out a snort upon seeing. “Oh that is just wrong!” he shouts. A full-bodied shudder passes through the colt, starting at his head and going all the way down his spine out through his tail. Even his hidden wings involuntarily spasm, but a quick glance around shows nopony paying any attention, thankfully. “So gross!”

With the scent of blood in the water, she leans closer to taunt, “Just think about it, Cure, if she has taken only one lover every five years then that’s as many as three, four hundred stallions that she’s been with. What’s one more, hmm?”

“Eww…”

“I mean, I’ve never thought to get a measuring cup, but with that many lovers she’s had literally hundreds of liters of -”

“Babe…” Deed interrupts, cringing at the unpleasant image.

“Fine,” she relents. “Thank goodness for alicorn immune systems, huh, Cure?” she teases with a broad smile. “You know at least one of ‘em hadta have something. It’s just a numbers game at that point. She was around way before anypony knew what germs were, after all. Guess you two are different enough it didn’t stick, hmm?”

He furrows his brow in thought, reluctantly agreeing as he starts walking again, “You’re actually not wrong. We can’t catch most of what other creatures can. Viral cells look for specific cell markers to indicate viable host cells capable of being hijacked to produce more viruses. If they can’t find any, the white blood cells, which seem a lot more aggressive in us, will eventually peg them as an invader and eat ‘em.

“If they never reproduce, they get wiped out early and we wouldn’t show any symptoms. Especially her since her operating body temperature is a couple degrees hotter. I bet most viruses would literally cook to death in her blood. She’s effectively walking around with a high fever at all times, after all.

“I kinda wonder if her sister is the opposite, even though that flies in the face of my understanding of astrophysics. Everypony automatically assumes the moon is cold since, in some ways, conceptually, it’s the opposite of the sun, but in reality it would be way hotter on the one side since it doesn’t have an atmosphere to shield it from solar radiation.

“At least, in a nonmagical solar system. I can’t even fathom how this,” he waves at the sky, “whole mess works, especially if the moon is indeed on the direct opposite side of the planet from the sun at all times. It would have to be an actual light source in and of itself instead of just reflecting light like what I’m used to. Given it doesn’t go through phases, that basically has to be the case anyhow, I suppose.”

Both parents stare at the colt, then trade a look. Title finally comments, “You are such a nerd. Only you could go off on a clinical rant like that in response to an STI quip.”

“Well, it’s true,” he says, shrugging in response.

“Regardless, at some point she’s almost definitely going to ask you to stud for her, so after giving your sire a hard time, you’re going to ultimately be the one fulfilling the obligation.”

“Guess so,” he begrudgingly agrees. “Man, talk about fucking up the timeline. So much of my future knowledge is worthless now. At least, any that relies on things that happen in Equestria. Which is basically everything in the show since it was all pony-centric. I still have my genre savviness to rely on and knowledge about who to watch out for. I wonder what impact it will have when she starts having foals.”

“She?” By the tone of the question he can tell his mom expected “we” instead.

He shrugs in response. “I have no idea what her expectations of my involvement would be. She may want to do most of the work and just have me pop in on occasion. You know, something like how Onyx and Diamond do it with Ferric. Did it. Whatever. She may want me to knock her up and go the hell away.”

“And you would be okay with that?” she asks. “The latter is more common but you strike me as the type to want to be more involved.”

“Yes, absolutely. If she wants the full ‘dam experience’ then I wouldn’t get in the way of that. She’s earned that right a thousand times over. Besides, weird as it is to imagine actually poundin out the boss lady, picturing raising a foal with her is so far out there I can’t even do it.”

“I’d think she’d hafta have a few nannies, colt. Dam or not, she’d still be awfully busy. Nation won’t run itself while she’s playin with a foal, sadly.”

“Or,” he smirks, glancing between the two, “maybe the foal’s grandpa and grandmas can come lend a hoof. How friggin weird would it be for you all, in your mid-thirties, to be the grandparents of a foal born of a mare sixty times your age?”

“Yer dam may literally explode in joy at the opportunity, colt.”

“That sounds terrifying,” Title notes. “Not the whole thing about her age, that's just odd, but I remember what you said about the alicorn filly from your memories. I prefer not to hang around foals that may accidentally vaporize my head, thankyouverymuch.”

“That's a good policy in general. Truthfully, though, I bet she'd want to be super involved anyhow. Maybe one or both Blueblood will step into some kinda leadership role,” Cure suggests. “By then forty-six will have several years of leadership experience and, hopefully, has been raised since birth to do something other than loaf around and get sloshed.”

Title asks, “Did he strike you as the type?”

Cure shrugs, reminding her, “I heard him speak one sentence the whole time. Not exactly enough to get a bead on him.”

She furrows her brows in thought. “I… think I got the context, but I’ve never heard the expression before.”

“Ah. It’s probably related to a weapon you all don’t have, and hopefully never will. Specifically, acquiring a target in your aiming mechanism.”

“So humans used an idiom for murdering somepony to say they understand them?” she asks.

“More or less, yeah.”

“And ya still insist they’re no more violent than ponies?”

“Don’t forget, babe,” Deed interrupts, “somepony just tried ta foalnap tha colt. Or worse,” he adds in a growl. “It ain’t like ponies are perfect.”

The pink mare grimaces as she turns to look forwards again, nodding in acceptance.

Cure speaks up after a few seconds of walking in silence. “Anyhow, I don’t know if Blueblood, either one of ‘em, knows leadership, but one would hope he can at least effectively wield some kind of influence. Senior might have come off a little rude, but he wasn’t the whiny, stupid, egotistical ass that their whatever-great grandson was portrayed in the show. Maybe the whole earth pony thing just legitimately surprised him enough to throw him off his game.”

“Maybe,” she half-heartedly agrees.

“He prolly ain’t hung around with many earth ponies, babe. Who knows what kinda stuff them other nobles have told ‘em.”

“Right,” Cure agrees. “He may just be like Emerald was. Lack of exposure and all that. Most of the actual doctors she’s seen over the years were probably unicorns, so she just associated ‘unicorn’ with ‘better.’ Exposure is the only way to get around that.

“Besides, he was just one possible idea. I’ve said it a dozen times; there’s gotta be ponies with talents specifically in leadership who could do a better job than, possibly, even her. It just depends on how much Harmony whispers in their ear and how well they listen, I guess. And, whether the instruction is any good.”

“True, true…” she concedes. “What about other mares? I bet a bunch of nobles would leap at the opportunity to have an alicorn’s foal, even if technically it’ll be an earth pony’s.”

“I’m not sure, ma. I think I would only be concerned about having a foal with somepony that is either trying to have one with me as a way to have an ‘in’ or if they were not in a stable situation that a foal needs to have. I’d be devastated to find out in twenty years that my child was raised in a shitty environment that I should have known about before the act.

“Nobles may be looking for an in, granted, but at least the foal should be well cared for. In theory. It’s not like having a title makes you exempt from being a shitty parent, I suppose. Overall I’d be more concerned over mares I have no way of checking into. At least with a noble you know who they are; they’re not gonna just up and disappear.”

“Just get your license once you’re fifteen,” she suggests. “Family Planning screens applicants, so you really only need to watch out if you don’t go through them. Lots of stallions do that even if they’re not actually charging anything just so they have the peace of mind.”

“That rings a bell. I think you,” he looks to his sire, “mentioned that once. It’s going to cause an absolute riot if everypony knows an alicorn has signed up. I’ll probably have to talk to Family Planning to see where and how they want me to do that.”

“You wouldn’t just stay local?”

“Half’a the town’ll be family in five years, babe. He’d be best off goin to a big city.”

“Yeah, preferably one nowhere near here. Or Canterlot, whichever locale we decide to settle in. I think it would be too weird, at least initially, ta pound out a bunch of mares then bump into ‘em when I’m out and about.”

“Everypony, for the most part, keeps it separate, honey. Nopony wants to make stallions uncomfortable and less inclined to participate. That wouldn’t help anypony in the long run.”

“True. Still, it would be a good excuse to do some traveling. Chilcoltgo, Cloudsdale, Manehattan… I guess I could just work my way down the list by population sizes. Do they just like… give prospective dams a menu and have ‘em order a stud? How’s that work?”

“Ya oughta ask Lemon ‘n Amy, champ. If ya wanna know how the mare’s side of it works they can tell ya.”

“Eh… I guess it doesn’t matter much for me. Idle curiosity, I suppose. As long as somepony is monitoring the agency to ensure they’re being fair and impartial and they’re actually doing their jobs I would be fine with whatever. The whole system probably only has a few decades left before it’ll be obsolete anyhow. Hopefully.”

“True,” his mom concedes. Glancing towards the clinic, she spots Ivory Gale standing outside. “There’s Gale.”

Cure takes a couple quick steps to see around his parents as he turns the Sound Bubble crystal off. Sure enough, the light gray pegasus is smiling broadly, waving a wing in greeting. The trio approach the mare, trading greetings like every other time, and are led back past the desk to the usual conference room to find Dr. Care idly flipping through some paperwork.

She closes the folders and slides them back into her bag before greeting everypony, then levitates a white cardboard donut box over which is promptly snagged by Title with a happy thanks. Cure ends up between the parents, Deed on his left and Title on his right wantonly slamming a glazed donut in her face hole while doing the fat girl happy wiggle.

“So how was the show, Cure?” Gale asks. “My daughters and I have tickets for when they come near Baltimare towards the end of August and I can’t tell you how excited I am to see them again! I haven’t been to one of their shows since I was a teenager!”

“Ah, so you just saw them a couple years ago, then,” he says knowingly.

The light flirt gets a fluttery giggle and an “oh, you!” wave of her wing from the pegasus.

“It was seriously impressive. Best Hearth’s Warming present ever,” he insists, nuzzling against his parents’ sides. “Maybe I’ll go again in a few years. How bout you, Dr. Care? You ever been to one?”

“I have,” she answers. “About four years ago, in fact. I get tickets each time the city gets close; a perk of the position. Usually I give them away as prizes for an employee incentive program or a charity auction, but I went when they came by in nine-oh-five just to see what they were really like. I admit, it was impressive, but I can’t say I like being that far off the ground.”

“Yeah, a couple of my friends were scared at first but they calmed down by the time the show started. Three of my friends are pegasi so we kinda did a buddy system.”

Dr. Care and Ms. Gale both smile and nod in understanding. As a lull in the conversation sets in Cure looks at his sire and tilts his head towards the mares. Deed rolls his eyes but dutifully plays along. “Tha colt has some papers he needs ta show ya,” he explains, taking a couple steps around the table to the left and reaching in his bag. He leans over to slide a copy of Cure’s confidential “alicorn” identification paperwork to them, drawing their eyes away from the colt.

As soon as they’re not looking at him, his mom reaches in her bag and sticks the crown on his head while he unhides his wings, extends his horn, modifies his vocal folds, and alters his colors to the brown and gold design he’d shown the princess, then lifts his wings high off his back to maximize their visibility. To further drive the point home, he flips the mental switch, activating the ethereal glimmer from crystal ponies and giving himself a golden shine.

Cure and Title resume their otherwise nonchalant posture and wait until the pair is done reading while Deed moves back by his side. Cure struggles to hold back a giggle when he notices his mom’s shoulders shaking beside him. Deed gives the two an eye roll when he glances over but can’t completely hold back his smirk.

Dr. Care finishes first, looking up while saying, “Is this some kind of -” cutting off mid sentence as she recoils so hard away from the table she loses her balance and flops onto her right side.

The move gets a startled yelp from Gale and, as she looks back across the table, she freezes stock still, her only movement the comical widening of her eyes and her wings rising off her sides. Dr. Care, still on her barrel, peeks over the edge of the table; only her horn, pinned ears, and eyes visible to Cure.

Deed chuckles lightly to himself while his wife is half laying on the table, laughing her rear off, doing a poor job muffling it with one foreleg covering her face.

“Nope! No joke,” Cure answers. “Come sometime next month, Cure Wave will officially end his internship with the Baltimare RHA and starting sometime after the summer births are over with I,” he pauses to give an exaggerated wink, “will start volunteering in his stead.” He pauses a beat and adds, “Assuming that’s okay with everypony.”

“Whuh?” Gale intelligently asks.

He folds his wings back down and changes his vocal folds back, continuing in his normal voice. “Long story short, I’m an alicorn now. It’s apparently something that can happen,” he offers with a shrug.

Dr. Care finally gets her wits about her, returning to her spot at the table. “How?!”

“In all honesty I can’t tell you exactly how it works. Do a whole bunch of good, live by the tenets of Harmony, have a magical accident that kills you, and maybe you’ll get lucky and, after you die, you’ll come back. Can’t say I fully recommend trying.”

“You died?!” Gale nearly shrieks.

“Guess it depends on whatcha mean by dyin. The colt blew up,” Deed clarifies. “Big flash’a white, loud boom, and scorch mark on the ground. ‘Least he did it right in front’a the princess, so she explained what happened right away.”

“She’s seen it happen before?” Dr. Care asks, now intensely curious. “Herself or somepony else?”

“Mending! He said he DIED!” Gale shouts, jabbing the doctor’s shoulder with her right hoof. At this point Cure isn’t even sure if it’s possible for the sweet pegasus to not be adorable. She fully leans on the table, her expression and body language showing she’s barely holding herself back from hopping the table to hug the colt. Only his indifference to the whole thing is keeping her back. “Are you okay, Cure?”

“I’m fine, Ms. Gale,” he answers honestly. “I don’t really know if I died, technically,” Cure shrugs, then clarifies, “I mean, there was no real loss of consciousness. I guess in the same vein that we ‘die,’” he says with air quotes, “every night when we go to sleep is what I meant.

“Physically, I might as well have died and, without trying to sound like a nut here, been re… born? Remade?” He tilts his head in thought for a moment and shrugs again. “I can’t say for sure. I’m definitely not the same as I was, biologically, before. Is somepony still a pony if somehow they are magically transformed into a griffon?”

The mare frowns deeply in thought and settles back down against her seat, her wings folding back into the normal relaxed posture. “I don’t know. I guess as long as you’re okay, that’s all I’m worried about.”

“We talked it over afterwards,” Deed assures them, putting a hoof over Cure’s withers and pulling him against his side. “The colt’s the same annoying, smart-mouthed brat he ever was, so he ain’t changed too much.” Title nods vigorously at the assertion.

“Love you too, pa, ma,” he flatly replies. He turns to the doctor and tells her, “Anything that the princess shared with me would have to go through her. She didn’t explicitly say what was and was not confidential or private, but I don’t want to say something I shouldn’t. A few months ago I pointed out to a couple of my friends that our flag has two alicorns on it. Make of that what you will.”

Knowing Cure won’t give any more details without the princess’s blessing, Dr. Care decides to move on. “Huh. That’s reasonable. Would you mind coming in for an examination? We know almost nothing about alicorns and I don’t think anypony has ever asked her highness for a blood sample.”

“I don’t mind. I have a scheduled meeting with her tomorrow night. Umm, not like… physical. Alicorns can do a few things that nopony else can, apparently. I’ll ask if she’s okay with it. I mean, normally, I’d be fine, but with only two of us,” he trails off.

“Right,” she nods in understanding. “With only the two of you there is no such thing as anonymous data. Just Send me a message after you meet with her, if you could.”

“Doctor?” Gale softly calls. “I think we may have gotten distracted. Did you catch what he said about his internship?”

“Huh?” she mutters, glancing to Gale. “Oh! Right! Umm… I’ll need to probably bring this up at the board meeting tomorrow. I don’t anticipate that being a problem at all. In fact, having an alicorn prince as a volunteer healer?” she scoffs at the very idea of them declining. “We’ll be the envy of every hospital in the nation. Can I keep this copy?” she asks, holding up the page Deed had given her.

“Yep. Go ahead and share that with the board, just tell them that by royal decree that is to remain confidential until further notice.”

“Oh my…” Gale mumbles, holding a fetlock to her face, “Royal decree! Congratulations, your highness! I guess it hadn’t clicked right away!”

Dr. Care jolts like she’s been shocked, gasping in realization. “You’re a prince!”

Cure glances upwards towards the crown and shrugs, “Eh, technically, not yet. Is there even a term specifically for somepony that is going to be ennobled before the ceremony?” All four adults look to each other in consideration. After a few seconds where no answer comes forth the colt continues, “Guess not. I suppose it hasn’t happened many times when it comes to somepony that has no title at all.”

“Right, when somepony is going to be… promoted, I guess?” Dr. Care shares an unsure glance with Gale who shrugs back, “Close enough, I suppose. Regardless, you would normally call them by their title until it is changed; though it’s a tad different with the reigning monarch. If, maker forbid, something were to happen to her highness after your coronation you would, immediately after, be the High Prince. That is, assuming your title supersedes all others. Given there’s no other alicorns, I assume it will?”

“She said my title will be Grand Prince, so, yes. She specifically told me that once I come of age I’ll be second in line, but she’s unaging and so overwhelmingly powerful that I’m not too worried about that.”

“And thank goodness for that,” Dr. Care nods, “I shudder to think what would happen to the country, let alone the world, if she were not around to maintain the cycle.”

“No doubt. Anyhow, by official royal decree from her highness this is to be shared with only those members of the Baltimare RHA that need to know in order to facilitate the updates to my Creature Resources profile. I technically can’t issue decrees like that until after the ceremony.”

“Oh. I suppose that makes sense,” Dr. Care nods in understanding.

“A terrifying prospect,” his mom teases, nudging him with her foreleg.

Cure just rolls his eyes and carries on. “I would like to begin working under the name Prince Serpentus effective whenever I make it back from Canterlot, so probably early July. With everypony’s blessing, I would prefer to transfer my internship to Baltimare Hospital.

“The plan is to work with you all until next summer, at which point I’ll probably be either moving to Canterlot or, more likely, spending most of my time there attending CSGU while learning alicorn-related stuff directly from her highness.”

Seeking clarification, Dr. Care asks, “Alicorn related stuff?”

“Yeah, apparently we have some abilities other tribes don’t,” he explains, waving at his glittering coat. He turns off the effect and gives a weak shrug, telling them, “Don’t ask me the details, I can’t do much more than I could before, aside from the sparkly thing and communicating with her even when I’m far away.”

Even those meager abilities are pretty impressive to Gale, apparently. “You can talk to the princess whenever you want?”

“Sort of. The method is confidential, so for now I would prefer not to say anything other than we have a way of communicating over long distances.”

“Huh. Interesting,” Dr. Care mumbles, idly scratching at her chin. “Her majesty has never really shared much about what she can truly do. I would assume even a unicorn mage of her years to be unfathomably powerful. This is all very fascinating.”

Gale reaches over and pokes Dr. Care’s side with a wingtip, scowling at the constant interruptions. The dark green mare sheepishly apologizes and waves for Cure to continue.

“Right, so I plan on taking it easy until I need to leave for the births in Canterlot sometime in June, but starting when I transfer I would like to up my hours since I won’t be going to school and will have a lot more free time. There’s also the whole mobility thing,” he points out, waving a wing. “I can just fly out there in a few minutes if there’s an emergency.

“How would you feel about Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from eight to eleven, give or take? Ideally I’d come in, take care of anypony in the ICU and ER, then, as needed, come in when somepony is in critical condition, especially if they’re here in Golden Hills and the Origin Cell Trees won’t suffice.

“I was thinking that maybe a couple days a week if there’s critical or chronic cases from other cities they could, maybe, send ponies here? I dunno,” he adds. “I can’t really travel far ‘till I’m older, and I’ll never be able to be everywhere.”

Dr. Care considers the suggestion, nodding slowly. “That’s… a pretty significant increase, Cure. Are you sure you’re okay with all that?”

“Sure. It’s only a few hours in the morning three times a week. If anything it will work out better; I’ll be off on weekends and, if I can miraculously clear everypony out, I could just leave early. I mean… there’s not much sense in me just sitting around. I do wanna point out that the princess has asked that I find a pegasus to tutor me in weather control, so I can’t guarantee my availability, but I don't see why that couldn't be done either before or after.”

“What about flying?” Gale asks, looking over his wings.

“I’m good with flying. Far better than I should be. The whole ‘near perfect muscle control’ thing my talent gave me makes me a fantastic kinaesthetic learner.”

“How’s your magic coming along?”

“Great. It nearly tripled when all this happened. I’m almost caught up to Dawn. Runic casting isn’t a problem at all and I’ve started studying some theory and whatnot on direct shaping.”

“Impressive… damned impressive, Cure. Question, though,” she points at a line on the form, “Serpentus? Where’d that come from?”

“So apparently cutie marks can change when this happens,” he explains, turning to show them his new mark. “I dunno if the princess had some kind of feeling or if she just picked it outta thin air, but she suggested the name as an alias. I’m not sure if I’ll keep using it once I go public, eventually, or if I’ll just use my actual name.”

“It’s neat,” Dr. Care nods approvingly. “In several old myths, serpents were associated with medicine. I was once told the association between the two happened when snakes were credited with killing off disease-spreading vermin in keeps. I’m not sure I buy it, though… cats would have been far more effective, I would think.” She shrugs and adds, “Maybe they meant in fields instead.”

Cure scrunches his snout in thought, nodding in agreement. “Fields would make more sense. I would think keeps would be too cold, at least in food storage areas.” He looks to his parents and asks, “Have you ever heard that?”

“Nope. Never heard that one before,” his mom confesses. “I figured it had something to do with milking them for antivenom.”

“Can’t say I did, colt. Didn’t ya say snakes were tha sign of some ancient healer or somethin?”

“Yeah but I don’t know why. I figured somepony just used ‘em to be all mysterious and dramatic and stuff. Or they found one with a hallucinogenic venom and thought they were cured ‘cause they were so blitzed outta their minds they couldn’t feel pain.”

“A few cults have used them in rituals,” Dr. Care explains. “I don’t know if there was any real reason. They probably were doing it as much for the spectacle as anything.”

“Buncha tryhards,” Cure comments, nodding in understanding.

“Try… hards?” she slowly says, testing the word.

“Yeah, tryin too hard to be cool or edgy. They just end up bein pathetic.”

“Ah, I see.”

A knock at the door has Cure quickly changing his appearance back while his mom snatches the crown off his head.

“Ya got donut glaze on it, ya heifer,” the colt grumbles, earning a quick jab in the side from the mare.

Ivory Gale and Dr. Care watch in wonder as his wings seem to merge into his sides as his normal blue and green colors fade back in. The unicorn blinks a few times in shock when his horn seems to be yanked back at the base and disappears into his mane.

Once the colt finishes reverting to his normal look Gale calls out, “Come in!”

Nurse Gentle slowly opens the door and peeks in. As soon as it’s cracked open the wailing cries of a foal can be heard from behind her. “Sorry to interrupt! A young colt took a bad tumble and broke a bone in his leg. I was hoping Cure could come lend a hoof real quick.”

“Oof. Poor thing,” Gale sympathizes. “I think we’re done anyhow. Do you mind, Cure?”

“Nope, duty calls. Later ma, pa,” he calls, giving each a quick nuzzle. As he trots out the door past Nurse Gentle, Dr. Care hops up to come see him in action. Gale follows behind her out to the hall and down towards the exam room that the wailing is coming from.

The two stop at the door and watch as Cure finishes introducing himself over the younger colt’s crying. He doesn’t look like he could be over five and, despite the dam trying to calm him, is crying so hard he’s oblivious to everything going on around him.

The scan of the leg is pinned to the wall; it looks like a full break of the left foreleg radius just a little above the knee. Dr. Care knows that it would normally take six to eight weeks in a cast before the poor foal will be ready to resume normal activities. At least the break looks clean; there aren’t any visible shards and either they already set it or it just happened to realign itself after the injury.

With the dam’s blessing he walks up to the foal, raises up his right hoof and, in a comically slow motion, reaches forward and pokes him right on the snout with a loud, “Booooooop!” drawing the word out for several seconds and popping the ‘p’ at the end.

The move surprises the foal enough to get him to stop screaming and look at Cure in confusion.

“Your snoot has been booped.” He points at the colt’s seemingly healed leg and adds, “You’re completely better now, see?” Waving both forelegs in the air dramatically, he declares, “Behold the power of mine boopening!”

“What?” the colt asks as he tests the previously injured leg. “Dam! It’s not hurting!” he shouts, looking up to the relieved mare.

“Duh? I did boop you, ya know? Magical boops are my special talent, after all.” In a lecturing tone he slowly thrusts his hoof forwards, twisting it clockwise as he explains, “It’s all in the fetlock, ya gotta get the spin juuuust right.”

Dr. Care has to hold back a giggle as the colt scowls at Cure, then tries to boop him in return.

“My leg’s fine, though!” Cure whines, making little effort to dodge. By the time the foal lands a return boop he’s happily laughing, having already forgotten the terrible injury he had just minutes before.

Nurse Gentle lets the two play for only a moment before insisting the dam and colt follow her to get an updated scan, leaving Cure and the two mares behind.

“I couldn’t help but notice how quickly you were able to repair that, Cure.”

Gale nods in agreement. “It didn’t even take you ten seconds.”

The colt points at the scan and explains, “Well the bone was already all lined up and everything, so that made it pretty easy to patch it back together.” Demonstrating with his forehooves, Cure explains, “All I really had to do was encourage the body to fill in the gap to merge it back together, then fix up a little bruising.

“I’m guessing he fell and landed bad on a rock from the looks of it. There’s also the fact that I have way more throughput than I used to, even disguised. I numbed the pain and started fixing it as soon as his dam said to go ahead, the colt just didn’t realize it wasn’t hurting anymore till I gave ‘em a snoot boop,” he explains, once again demonstrating the maneuver.

“Huh. It makes me wonder what you’ll be able to do when you’re an adult. Raising the sun exhausted five strong unicorns…”

“She showed me.”

Gale tilts her head in confusion. “She… showed you how to move the sun? Already?”

“No, no, not that. She held me while she did it. It was wild. She didn’t outright say it, but I suspect it may not be safe for other ponies. The magic she used; it wasn’t unicorn magic. It was… something else.” He shakes his head, lost in thought over what he felt. “I dunno if it’ll be that way for me when it’s my own magic, but I could see getting lost in the feeling, honestly.”

“I’m a little jealous,” Gale admits.

“I’m a lot jealous,” Dr. Care agrees.

Cure shrugs in response. “Hopefully I’ll be able to let you both feel it someday. Remind me to ask her once my alicorn abilities start developing. It’ll be a while, apparently.”

“Hm. Well, we’d better take our leave,” Dr. Care says, looking towards the front of the building. “Let me know if the princess is okay with an examination and I’ll be in touch if we need to work out any details about your internship. Gale, you got anything?”

“No, I think I’m all set.” She takes a step closer to Cure and wraps him in a hug. “I’m super sad to lose you, Cure, but I think you’ll do a lot more good at the hospital.” As she separates she gives him a quick nuzzle. “I’ll be in touch when we get the paperwork together, okay?”

Author's Note

Woot! We're back with a shorter one today. I did manage to get some writing done this last week, but I can't really say I pulled ahead like I wanted to. I have through Ch. 70 done and 71 just barely started, though, so that's not too bad.

Enjoy, folks! And, as always, thanks for reading!