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THE ROYAL APPLES - Part XVI

The explosion of air was so powerful and unexpected that the half-dozen or so news ponies who were gathered outside the Canterlot Hospital were literally blown off their hooves. When the nearest of them looked up he saw the figure of Princess Luna materialize out of nothing. Without pausing for even an instant, she whirled and galloped madly through the main entrance. Anypony watching closely would have sworn she was crying. The reporters picked themselves up off the ground, only to be knocked down by yet a second explosion of air. This time it was Princess Celestia. She too entered the hospital, but her movements were less panicked and more deliberate.

The white alicorn caught up with her sister as she was in the process of nearly assaulting one of the orderlies, demanding to be taken to Sir Macintosh's room immediately.

"LUNA!" she commanded, her voice timbered more for force than volume. "Sister! Get a hold of yourself. You are causing a scene and scaring the other ponies here, many of whom are sick."

The Princess of the Night turned to face Celestia. "Thou doth not understand... We must find HIM. He hath need of us."

"Do not fear, sister," she said gently, this time modulating her voice into a soothing stream of words, "we will find your beloved and see to his aid." The Sun Princess could feel Luna's heart as it beat wildly. She reached out with both wings and enfolded her sibling, concealing her tears from their subjects. They turned together and headed for the Intensive Care Wing of the building.

It hurt Celestia to see Luna in such a state. She had become stronger, more self-assured these past months. Now in an instant of fear it was all being washed away. For Luna's sake, the Sun Princes had to believe that given a chance, Big Macintosh would recover. No other outcome was acceptable. She pondered on just how slim a thread her sister's confidence seemed to hang. Yet, though slim, it was a thread of iron. It was a thread that would not, could not break of its own accord. It was one that had to be cut. Knowing now what her former student, Twilight Sparkle had discovered, Celestia was grimly determined she would find the hoof that held the knife.

When they entered the Intensive Care Ward, they were confronted by several very odd sights indeed. Two of the rooms were currently occupied; one by Sir Macintosh and the other by the Lady Starlight. Neither of the ponies were conscious. In the case of the stallion, he was resting on a magical cloud provided, strangely enough, by Discord. The 'bed' prevented pressure from being placed against the shards that stuck out all over his body. Naturally enough, Discord being Discord, the cloud was pink in color and occasionally leaked chocolate milk. The hospital staff had quickly adapted and placed several bed pans on the floor with which to collect the saccharine precipitation. At least, the charge nurse had commented, it wasn't made of cotton candy.

In another room a laboratory had been set up, complete with test tubes, Bunsen burners, microscopes, slides and an array of both scientific and alchemical tools. Still stranger was the sight to be seen in the adjacent chamber. There another Bunsen burner had been set up, but in this case it was positioned under a medium sized iron cauldron within which a brown liquid bubbled gently. Celestia thought it looked like mud. The shelves surrounding the room were filled with earthen jars and a couple of small tribal masks hung from one wall. A zebra stood over the kettle, stirring it with a wooden spoon and singing softly in an ancient language as she added several different powders. She was being helped by Applejack, who brought her various ingredients as they were called for.

Both of the patients' rooms had been sealed with makeshift airlocks so there was no chance the oxygen being used within could leak out and find an open flame.

Upon seeing Macintosh, Princess Luna broke away from her sister and went over to the window of his room. Dr. Bluestar was standing there making an entry on a clipboard as the alicorn approached. By now, she had managed to gain control of her tears, though the evidence of them still lined her face. She looked over at the unicorn.

"How... how doth he fair doctor?"

"Well, your highness, in truth he's doing better than we expected. Maybe it's his constitution, maybe it's the fact he's an Earth pony, but the illness..."

"Poison," she corrected him, grimly.

He looked over at Celestia who simply nodded.

"Ah, yes... the poison has not progressed as far as in Lady Starlight's case. As a matter of fact, it seems to have taken a different turn with him. Instead of internalizing the toxic elements, his body seems to be fighting to expel them in the form of these shards. I think that if we can find a way to remove them, without causing a catastrophic loss of blood, he will survive."

"Then why dost thou not simply remove them?"

"We tried. We carefully removed about half a dozen; which actually came out rather easily, but in every instance we had a difficult time staunching the blood flow from the cavities they left behind. Also, with half the extractions a new crystal grew in the place of the old one."

"Canst we go in to see him, to be by his bedside, such that it is?"

The doctor sadly shook his head. "While Sir Macintosh is not himself contagious, he is in a weakened state and we don't want to risk the possibility of outside infections complicating his recovery." Bluestar looked at the expression on Luna's face. "I'm sorry, your highness, but it's for the best."

The alicorn turned back towards the glass and simply stared silently at the stallion. Wishing not to intrude on her thoughts, the doctor went over to talk with both Goldleaf and Celestia.

"How long before Princess Twilight returns?" asked the gold-furred earth pony.

Bluestar shook his head. "I don't know. It shouldn't be long. She just went down to the medical supplies to get a catalyst for her formula."

"Will it work?" Celestia asked.

"The science part of her theory is sound enough, but I'm not all that certain how well it will mix with her friend's potion."

"Twilight's knowledge I do trust, her spell will do all that it must," said Zecora as she joined the other three. She looked over sympathetically at Luna, lowering her voice to a near whisper. _"Your sister's sorrow I observe, leaves her as fragile as a bird. Her strength relies on love's true art, it gives her meaning, hope and heart." _

"Yes," Celestia replied. "That is why we must do all we can to cure Sir Macintosh... and Lady Starlight."

The door to the Intensive Care Ward opened and Twilight Sparkle entered carrying a small beaker in the air in front of her. "Zecora... I added the catalyst and you were right, the formula turned blue. I think we're ready..." she stopped when she saw both princesses there. "Oh, your majesties... I didn't know you'd be here."

Luna turned and glared at Twilight, fear, taking form as anger, flashed in her eyes. "Thou should hath known you canst not hide my heart from me," she said grimly, her voice drenched in reproach.

"I'm sorry, but Big Mac was afraid that you would be hurt seeing him like this. He asked we not sent for you... At least not immediately. I wanted to see if we could find a cure first."

"Luna... please," Celestia gently spoke. "Twilight was just using her best judgment, and I believe that under the circumstances she was only trying to fulfill Sir Macintosh's wishes."

Emotion and reason clashed briefly, then the Princess of the Night lowered her head. She knew how much the stallion cared for her, how much he wanted to protect her. "We are sorry. Thou doth not deserve our anger. We know thou art doing what thou can."

"It's alright," Twilight said before turning back to Zecora. "The formula's ready. How about your potion?"

"A small sample of my potent brew I shall get, to see if science and magic together will set." The zebra went back to her cauldron and ladled out a small amount of the concoction into a small bowl. She carried it over to Twilight.

"Is that... Mud?" asked Dr. Bluestar.

"A special kind imbued with earth's own charm. A magic which can heal and never harm." As they watched Twilight held her beaker over the bowl and allowed three tiny drops to fall into the mix. She then levitated a small, metal stick and began blending the two elements together.

"Three stirs to the right," she muttered to herself, "then five to the left... and tap twice." There was a small, hollow metallic ring as she tapped the edge of the bowl. This was followed by a small pop. A tiny mushroom shaped cloud rose from the mixture, then dissipated in the chilled air of the room. "Eureka," the alicorn cried. "Now to see if it works." She put a surgical mask across her face and entered Big Mac's room, accompanied by Dr. Bluestar. The others remained outside and watched through the window.

Carefully, the doctor magically grasped one of the shards protruding from the stallion's flank and pulled. It came out easily, followed by a thick stream of blood. Twilight then applied a dollop of the potion to the hole. Within seconds, the wound vanished, leaving behind a small patch of bare skin, minus the fur. They repeated the process half-a-dozen more times, then carefully examined the patient. There was no sign of any new crystal growth.

"Excellent," observed Dr. Goldleaf. "Removing the shards will prevent the toxins in them from spreading. It should give Sir Macintosh a chance to recover normally."

"Is there a way you can adapt your potion to help Lady Starlight?" Celestia asked.

Zecora looked at the Sun Princess. "I do not know if what we have will work. For tis inside where all her poisons lurk. But do not fear for we shall do our best. To find a cure and bring her ills to rest."

Twilight and Dr. Bluestar came out of Big Mac's room. "It works," the lavender alicorn announced happily. Now all we need do is mix up a large enough batch of this compound and we can remove every piece of crystal safely from his body."

Within a few minutes the unicorn medico was back at work, pulling crystals while two unicorn nurses assisted him with applying the mixture and cleaning the small amounts of blood that did flow from the stallion's body. Dr. Goldleaf looked over at Twilight. "How much of this, 'mud' did you bring with you?" he asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well," he started, "I was wondering... if this is how the toxins were leached from Sir Macintosh, perhaps, if we had enough extra, we could apply it to Lady Starlight as a kind of salve and draw out the toxins in her the same way."

"Ah ain't so sure that would work," warned Applejack. "Ta the best o' ma knowledge, this special mud bath is somethin' that's only been used on Earth Ponies. Granny said it was a kind o' magic o' the Earth, maybe even the same kind that allows us ta grow Zap Apples."

"Would it hurt to try?" Dr. Goldleaf asked.

Applejack thought about it for a moment. "Ah don't recon it would. Leastwise, she wouldn't be any worse off than she already is."

With help from Applejack, Zecora and Twilight, the doctor applied a thick coating of mud to Lady Starlight's body. It was a bit of a messy process, but eventually the unicorn was covered on one side from neck to flank. They stood back to examine their work. Twilight was the first to speak. "I'm not sensing any kind of magical reaction going on. Is there something we missed?"

Applejack clopped a hoof to the side of her head for being so forgetful. "Well, dah! We need ta get that mud warmed up some."

"Warmed-up?" asked Dr. Goldleaf.

"Yep! Like a hot spring."

"How do you propose we do that... without tossing my patient into an oven?"

"I think I can help with that," said Princess Celestia who had put on a mask and entered the room behind them. She closed her eyes and focused for a moment on the filly in front of her. Her horn began to softly glow. The others stepped back as they began to feel heat rising from Lady Starlight. Within a few moments, the mud was bubbling softly, but not vigorously. Dr. Goldleaf touched it briefly with a hoof, then stuck a thermometer into the thickest part of the mud pack, watching it carefully. After about twenty minutes Applejack spoke up.

"That's about how long one o' us sits in the mud back home. If it's gonna work, the magic should be takin' hold about now."

"Yes," replied Twilight. "I can feel something coming off the mud... Uh... Wow! It feels somewhat... primordial."

"Prime-mordy what?" asked Applejack

"Like it's ancient magic." Princess Celestia explained as she released her spell. The mud quickly cooled and Dr. Goldleaf herded everypony from the room.

"Let's stand back and give the magic a chance to work," he said hopefully.

Twilight went over to Princess Luna who was still standing outside Big Mac's room watching the procedure intently. By now a little more than half the shards had been removed and they were gently turning him so they could access the other half. His fur looked like it was made of a hundred or more individual, evenly-spaced polka-dots. None of the crystals had regrown and it appeared that the stallion was breathing a lot easier.

Luna looked at Twilight, studying her for a moment. "Thou should... I mean, you should go lay down somewhere. You appear to have need of some sleep," she observed.

Zecora joined them. "The princess is right. You've had a long night."

"It's alright," Twilight insisted. "I feel fine."

"But you don't look fine," Luna replied.

"There are still things that need to be done..."

"And there are other ponies here who can do them," Dr. Goldleaf said. "Go get some rest."

"But..."

Applejack stamped her hoof on the floor. "Twi... go ta sleep before Ah hogtie ya and put y'all ta bed ma self."

The lavender alicorn looked to Celestia for support but found none. The Sun Princess gave her a kind of half-smile and looked over at Applejack. "What she said!"

Defeated, Twilight went over to the nurse's station where she found a small cot. She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

**********

Blueblood was walking down a corridor of the palace when one of the admission clerks from the hospital approached him. The pony looked around to make sure he wasn't seen, then said a few words to the unicorn before trotting off as if everything was normal. The prince watched him go, then made an about face and headed for the quarters used by higher ranking castle staff. He quickly found Emerald Cloud's suite. He raised a hoof to the door and knocked twice, paused, then knocked three more times before opening the portal and walking in.

The green-furred pegasus was just stepping out of the shower, her mane wrapped in a towel as he entered.

"It's time," Blueblood said. Send the signal to Chrysalis' minions. I want them on the move now."

"Alright..." she replied playfully, "but next time you plan a coup, would you be so kind as to allow a lady to dress first." Removing the towel and shaking her mane out, she walked out onto the balcony just outside her quarters. She paced slowly once around its circular edge, then deliberately went to the center and faced northeast towards the mountains. Once positioned, she fanned her wings several times, then stretched them above her head first twice, then thrice, then once as if stretching them. To other ponies it simply looked as if she were trying to loosen up her wings in preparation for flight. However, to a pair of changelings hiding in the western mountains with a scrying crystal it would be a signal. Even now, one or both would be heading off to deliver a simple message.

Re-entering her rooms, Emerald Cloud looked over at Blueblood. "If all goes according to plan, we should be waiting in the ante-chamber of the Throne room about two hours from now." She seductively flipped her tail and turned away from the unicorn to show off her flanks. "I wonder how we can occupy ourselves until then."

**********

Fluttershy was the first to hear the buzzing noise coming from the Everfree forest. The trees muted the sound enough to make it seem both strange, yet oddly familiar at the same time. Putting down the drying cloth she'd been using on her dishes, the yellow and pink pegasus pony went over to the window of her cottage and looked out. The noise was slowly getting louder, and the effect it was having on her animal friends was alarming to say the least. Most were dashing around the yard trying desperately to find somewhere to hide. Even Angel Bunny, who spent the majority of his days sleeping on the couch was outside trying to force himself into a smaller than normal hole at the base of the tree in her yard.

Dashing out the front door, she tried desperately to calm her friends, all the while feeling a growing sense of dread building within her. The noise increase yet again and she glanced towards the edge of the forest less than a quarter mile away. Even before she saw them, Fluttershy suddenly remembered where she had heard that noise before. Frantically she turned in the direction of Ponyville and launched herself into the air. Granted, she didn't stay more than a dozen or so feet above the ground, but the speed of her flight would have impressed even her friend, Rainbow Dash.

By the time she reached the outskirts of town Fluttershy was in a complete panic, so much so that her eyes were screwed shut in fear and she was flying blind. Fortunately the first thing she collided with was both resilient and exceptionally soft. Rarity had just come from the spa where she'd had a conditioning treatment done. As she was luxuriating in the silkiness of her fur, mane and tail she too had her eyes closed, breathing in the scent of her own perfume. Her reverie was abruptly ended with a thump, a tumble and a splat as both she and Fluttershy skidded into a nearby mud puddle.

The fashionista opened her eyes to discover the frightened, dazed and gasping pegasus lying atop her. Her first thoughts were concern for her friend. These were abruptly driven from her mind when she discovered the cold, clammy, thick muck clinging to her body. Rarity's wail of angst and horror was enough to alert half the town. Thus, when as the changelings arrived a moment or two later, they had not achieved absolute and complete surprise.