Present Day
LT Cassandra E. Campbell was never a morning person. Her mind and body slowly started bringing her back to consciousness. She snuggled into the bedding, trying to fight off the urge to wake up, but the sunlight now filling the room made that impossible. She rolled over so that the rays from the sun no longer seared her eyes through her eyelids. She inhaled the dry air deeply through her nostrils; it smelled faintly of disinfectant. It was vastly different from the clean, crisp, air that smelled of earth and leaves, both fresh and decaying, that she had been used to these past few weeks.
Finally, Cassie relented to the assault of the sun’s insistence upon the room, and she slowly opened her eyes. What she saw was not what she expected. This was not her bed at home, the barracks, the stateroom on the ship, or even the transport ship bed she had been sleeping in recently. Cassie looked around at the light blue and white walls of the room. It had the appearance of a wispy, cloud-filled sky. Following the wall to the floor, she noticed a rich, brown molding where it met with a pale, light blue tile floor. That same molding went up the walls in the corners, where it came in contact with a white tiled ceiling. Across from her bed, and slightly to the left, stood a door with a small window, which Cassie assumed led into the hallway. Continuing her observation around to the left side of the room, she found a basic medical cabinet and two small benches. On the wall closest to her head was a door that she assumed belonged to a bathroom, but she could not see any sign indicating that to be certain.
Cassie turned back to the wall across from her and saw another bench with two small potted plants on either side. Turning to her right, she found that the wall on the far side of the room held two large windows with flimsy, white, semi-transparent curtains, which did nothing to keep the sun from shining through. Noticing the privacy curtains bunched up against a wall, Cassie realized this room was double occupancy, but the other bed was not there. Next to her stood a small end table with a lamp, and a pole with an IV bag attached. A vitals monitor that was set into the wall, above the right side of her bed, gave a soft beep every so often.
Cassie followed the IV line to her arm, then looked down at the slightly small hospital bed. Seeing as she was a little on the short side at only 5'2", she was still able to fit on it, but with only a couple inches to spare. At that moment, she noticed that she was nude underneath the scratchy sheet. A slight, disapproving frown flashed on her face for just a moment.
What the hell! Was it too hard to put me in a hospital gown, or at least an oversized shirt, or something?
“Damned military hospitals,” she muttered.
Cassie let it go and laughed it off as she realized it wasn’t really something to get worked up about; it was just a hospital, after all. At this point, she noticed everything seemed short— even her bed sat only about two feet off the ground. She wondered if maybe this was a hospital in one of the outer solar system colonies where money and resources were tight sometimes, or possibly a room for children. Cassie also wondered who rescued her, and how long she had been in stasis to make it back to the Sol Republic.
The stasis time slightly concerned Cassie, as she knew she had used around three and a half years, of the maximum ten that were allowed for safety reasons, just to get to that planet in the first place. She considered the thought only briefly as click-clack sounds started getting closer to her room.
Oh great! Uptight military brass that like to wear those small metal plates on their shoes so they click, and I still don't have anything other than this thin sheet over me.
The voices and footfalls were right outside the door, so Cassie rolled over and pretended to be asleep. She heard the door open, and many pairs of feet entering the room. They tried to talk in hushed tones, but Cassie could tell right away that they did not speak English.
Great, not even in a primary Sol Republic Military hospital, but some local colony military one.
Though she didn’t want to deal with the brass just yet, Cassie reluctantly stopped pretending to be asleep; she realized that a translator would be needed.
Cassie rolled over, eyes still closed, and made sure to keep the sheet covering her as she started saying, "I’m sorry, but I only know English. Do any of you spe—."
Cassie's sentence was cut short when her eyes opened, falling across a sight she could barely believe. Her eyes went wide as she looked across the room at four equine-like creatures, and a small, plump, lizard thing. Cassie shuddered as her anxiety started creeping up. She had a moderate case of equinophobia, and here in front of her stood four creatures that looked ‘off’ in several ways, but still close enough to resemble those horrible beasts that liked to bite and kick.
Cassie sat there, her mouth hanging open in shock. Someone had broken several laws. Genetic modification and engineering of creatures such as these was banned throughout the solar system. Yet here in front of her, and in a hospital no less, were four small, vividly colored, pony-like equines, and a two-legged purple lizard… thing.
These mutated-looking equine creatures were very strange to Cassie. They were short, with more filled-out bodies than a normal horse or pony. Their heads were much rounder than a normal equine, with overly large eyes, and short muzzles. The legs were somewhat tube-shaped, especially the forelegs. They most likely had ball-and-socket joints at the shoulders, if the fact that one of them had a foreleg held out straight to the side was any indication. Three of them appeared to have a horn, like a unicorn from mythology, and one of those three even had wings akin to a pegasus. The fourth hid behind the others, and only one of its large, azure eyes could be seen. She settled on calling them unicorns for the time being.
"Emtt, Q amm cif lwpeajp qa ieism okkjan bpiv atlaypaz," a deep voice called out.
Cassie looked around for wherever the voice came from. Before she noticed it, the lavender unicorn with the wings appeared right next to her bed. She flinched away, keeping her shoulder scrunched to her jaw, and her arm held to her side and chest, bracing for the bite she just knew was going to come. Panic's claws started sinking deeper into her mind.
"Wep, Q'u aw awzzg. Q lqlv'b umiv bu bnecdpaj ukq," a feminine voice said.
To Cassie, it looked like the voice had come from the unicorn in front of her, which had thankfully taken a step back.
"Ug vium qa Xquvkmaa Beqtqop Axizstm, pih xtmiam rcab kitt um Beqtqop," the same feminine voice said.
"Please come out and take these unicorn things away. I don’t like being around horses very much, especially this close to me," Cassie said, sweat starting to form on her forehead, and anxiety filtering into her voice.
By now, the beeping of the heart rate monitor was increasing in frequency by the second. The lavender unicorn stepped forward, put her foreleg on the bed, and began to undeniably speak to her.
"Lhawoa lw vyb xa bnecpajaz. Em izm vyb dana bu vifh ukq. Izm ukq ijtm bu qjzanopwiz um ib itt?" the unicorn said with a small tilt of her head, and slightly higher-pitched ending.
Instantly, the monitor went into alarm mode as Cassie's heart rate skyrocketed to unsafe levels. Cassie's pupils shrank to pinpricks while her mind proceeded to shut down all coherent thoughts, going into full panic mode. She started flailing around and scrambling in the bed in order to get away from the unicorn. It did not take long before she pushed herself off the bed. Due to her thrashing, her right leg had become caught under the railing near the end of the bed, but she did not realize this until it was too late. Just before she landed on the ground, there was the creaking sound of metal being stressed too far, accompanied by a popping tink sound.
"Get away! Get away!" Cassie screamed as tears started flowing down her cheeks.
Now on the floor, Cassie lay both exposed and hobbled. She quickly grabbed the blanket she was tangled in as she slid back across the room on her butt, unable to walk or run. She continued shouting and frantically waving her free arm, as if trying to ward them off, while she moved into the corner of the room. Cassie huddled in the corner as far from the equines as she could get. She clutched the blanket around her to cover herself up as she pressed herself as far into the corner as she could, crying and hyperventilating. Her mind was still unable to process what was happening, only that this place was not anywhere she knew of. Cassie heard the pounding of her heart in her ears growing ever so loud. Her already blurry vision started wavering with black and white dots flashing in her eyes. Cassie was only dimly aware that the equines had not moved, and were making soft, soothing tones that sounded so very far away, when she threw up, then passed out from the panic attack.
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"No one touches her," Doctor Scope stated. He looked at Fluttershy, knowing she was most likely to check on the creature, to make sure she got the message before he left the room to fetch a nurse.
Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike stood there speechless, and slightly horrified, at what just happened. The room looked like a small disaster zone. The pole that was once upright, and holding an IV-Bag, was now laying on the floor. It was no surprise that the IV had been pulled from the creature's arm while she was flailing around. A pillow and a now-broken lamp from the end table also lay on the floor. The mattress was partially hanging off the bed frame, and on the bed rested the creature's artificial leg. In the corner of the room, the creature lay passed out in a puddle of its own vomit and tears, with a small red line on her arm where the IV had been yanked out.
Using her magic, Twilight picked the creature up and pulled it away so that it wasn’t lying in the puddle anymore. Spike walked over with his claws, pinching his nose, and looked down at the creature.
"Yeah, she's sleeping now, Twilight," Spike announced as he walked back, waving his claw in front of his face a few times to blow the stench out of his nostrils.
Twilight sighed, "Good. We don't want her to have drowned in her own mess. At least she’s not about to have a heart attack now, either."
"How utterly repulsive,” Rarity said, trying to ignore the new floor covering.
Fluttershy voiced the question everypony in the room was thinking. "I wonder why she seemed so scared of us?" she said, barely above a whisper.
"Scared? That was outright terror she displayed upon seeing us. She acted like a rabbit surrounded by timberwolves. Just another mystery to add to her," Twilight said loudly before she looked back over at the pitiful-looking creature.
"Twilight darling, not to change the subject, but why did you not warn me, or Fluttershy, about the fact that this creature had a prosthetic leg?" Rarity asked.
Fluttershy quietly added, "I-I-it was kind of scary when it came off. I thought the creature had broken its leg off for a moment."
"Sorry girls, I was going to get to that. I didn't expect her to be awake, or anything like… this to happen, for it to really matter," Twilight said, waving her foreleg over the scene before them.
"That’s alright, dear. It's just that it helps to be prepared so you don't have a shocked reaction upon seeing a pony like that, thus causing the pony to feel self-conscious about it. Enough of courtesies that were forgotten. Come, look at this; I’ve never seen anything quite like it," Rarity said, looking at the leg.
Twilight and Fluttershy trotted to the side of the bed, where Rarity inspected the leg in her magical grasp. Fluttershy cringed slightly at the thought of needing to use it, and what the cause could have been. Twilight had seen the leg before, but only briefly while the creature was on the exam table, and in the X-ray photos the doctor had shown her. Thinking it was cool-looking, Spike wandered over and tried to poke it, but both unicorns stopped him.
They all looked closely at the leg, marveling at how lifelike it appeared in comparison to the creature’s natural leg. Rarity felt the outer covering to find it had a rubbery texture, then rotated it around so they could all see the black metal part sticking out at the end.
"I don't know exactly how this connects to the creature, but I think I know what that sound was before she fell off the bed," Rarity said. "I am quite sure that this end is not supposed to be bent this way."
Spike held up two small pieces of metal. "I think this was one piece, and it looks like it would have fit in those holes," he said, looking up at Rarity with a smile.
Nodding in agreement, Twilight decided it was time to get to work on the reasons they had come. She took the broken pieces of metal from Spike and set them on the small table next to the bed. Levitating the prosthetic leg over to a bench against the wall, she then grabbed the bag and small box that were sitting there.
Twilight used her magic to set the small box down in front of Rarity, who stood at the foot of the bed, then dumped the contents of the bag onto the center of the bed. Twilight left what appeared to be a small tent and bedroll attached to the bag, which she set down at the head of the bed. Clothing for Rarity to inspect was separated to the foot of the bed, leaving a few devices: a book, a knife, some nuts, some random items, and a couple of things wrapped in a metallic-plastic material with some sort of writing on them.
"I take it these are the items she was wearing when she came in, Twilight?" Rarity asked as she looked into the box.
Twilight replied, "Yes, they are. They have been cleaned, but I was wondering if you could repair them. Maybe you could even tell where they were made, or who the designer is?"
Rarity levitated up a pair of what looked to be tan shorts, noticing the tears and cuts in the fabric. Next, she levitated up a navy blue shirt, which was mostly okay, other than a ripped sleeve. However, a pair of short, white socks had no hope of repair in a way that would still be comfortable, so Rarity set them off to the side. The next items were strange-looking; they appeared to be some sort of covering that would completely surround the creature's feet. Other than some scuffing, and a broken lace on one, they seemed to be in good condition from what she could tell. The following item was a pair of pink underwear, with a semi-wide, white, lacy frill waistband, but it most curiously did not contain a tail hole or groove. The last item in the box perplexed Rarity; it was the same pink color as the underwear, but consisted of two pieces of dome-shaped fabric with white, lacy frill-covered straps coming off opposite sides with fasteners at the ends, and a white strap off the top of the dome connecting to the strap on that side about halfway to the end.
Rarity turned her head and asked, "Twilight dear, where was this on her body?"
Twilight looked at the article Rarity was referring to and slightly blushed. "That was over what we suspect are her, umm…" She looked down at a puzzled-looking Spike, then finished, "…let me show you," and trotted over to the creature.
Spike tried to follow, but Fluttershy stopped him. He instead focused his attention to one of the devices on the bed. A smile came to his face as he picked it up and took it to one of the benches to sit down while he examined it. Meanwhile, Twilight rolled the creature over part way and removed the blanket that was covering its torso. She then motioned to the small mounds on the creature's chest.
"Ah, I see," Rarity said, then she started trotting back to inspect the other clothes.
The wheels in Rarity's head started turning, and a thought came to her mind. She paused partway through her trot to the bed for a moment to cover the creature back up using her magic. The pile on the bed contained two more shirts, a pair of pants, a pleated skirt, two sets of socks, and two more sets of undergarments, all of which needed just a little fixing up. Rarity put all but the two sets of undergarments into her saddlebags.
"Twilight, does that book happen to have pictures of the creature in it?" she asked with a smile.
Twilight flipped through the book, but she only found pictures of rocks and minerals. However, a few photographs fell from between the pages. Twilight held up a picture from the pile on the bed that showed the creature next to what appeared to be two other females, and most likely three males. All but one of the males appeared to be in the same age group, and they were dressed similarly, in white uniforms, with big smiles on their flat faces. The other picture showed the creature on what looked like a podium with two other females, wearing only a jacket over her torso and her bare legs sticking out the bottom, holding a bronze medal.
Rarity nodded after seeing the image. "I thought as much. I will have to have a word with the doctor, and nurses, before we go," Rarity said.
"Oh? What's wrong? Umm… that is… if you don’t mind my asking," Fluttershy said quietly.
Rarity asked, "What, my dears, do you both notice about the photographs of the creature here?"
Fluttershy thought it over a moment before she answered, "They’re all happy and smiling."
"Based on these pictures, I think our creature here is on the noticeably short side for her species,” Twilight said in her scholarly tone.
"While that does seem to be true, Twilight, look again. In both pictures, the creatures are clothed, even in the outdoor photo where it appears to be a nice, warm, and sunny day. I see that she is basically hairless, so it might be due to having no fur to keep warm, or to help protect the skin. However, after inspecting the clothing, I think it’s culturally taboo for them to be without clothing covering… certain areas," Rarity informed them, holding up a pair of the undergarments. "I do not believe these are used in the same manner ponies sometimes use them. I think that is why, even in her panicked state, she was clutching that sheet to herself,” Rarity finished with a satisfied look on her face.
The mention of the undergarments caused both of the other mares to blush slightly. Twilight looked over to re-cover the creature, but noticed that Rarity must have already done so. She had started re-packing the bag when the doctor returned with two nurses and a gurney.
Doctor Scope glared at them very agitatedly. "I don't care if you are a princess, or the Element Bearers— this is MY hospital, and when I say don't touch the patient, I mean... Don't. Touch. The. Patient!”
"Oh, we're s-sorry, Doctor. It’s just that she was lying face-down in her own v-v-vomit, so Twilight moved her a bit," Fluttershy said softly, shying away behind Rarity.
Realizing his mistake, the agitation fell from the doctor's face, and he apologized for his outburst. That did not stop the death glares both nurses gave him for leaving a patient like that. The nurses walked over to the creature and gently lifted her onto the gurney. They started to leave, but Rarity stopped them and levitated the sheet over the creature. This interruption did not go over well with Nurse Redheart. The white earth pony stomped over to the white unicorn until their muzzles almost touched.
"Rarity! You do not stop hospital staff in the middle of taking care of a patient," Nurse Redheart angrily spoke through clenched teeth.
Rarity stepped back a pace before she gave her explanation. "Darling, I would never dream of preventing you from doing your job. Before you leave, however, I need to inform you, Nurse Snowheart, and Doctor Scope of something we think we found out."
Rarity and Twilight then showed them the photographs of the creature. They pointed out the fact that clothing was worn in each picture. Rarity levitated one of the sets of undergarments to Nurse Snowheart, who in turn placed them on the gurney. The other set Rarity placed in the drawer of the end table next to the bed. Twilight quickly looked at the metal plate on the creature's leg, with Nurse Snowheart watching her every move. When Twilight was satisfied a few minutes later, the nurses left to go wash up their patient.
"Doctor Scope," Twilight began, waiting until he looked over to her, "I am leaving the creature's prosthetic leg here for the time being. The connection point on the leg is definitely damaged, but it's still probably usable. From my initial assessment just now, the connection point on her body looks to be undamaged, but I cannot be sure until I look at it more closely. On the side table is a broken metal pin. Be sure no one messes with the leg, or that pin. When the creature next wakes up, make sure she knows where the leg is, and the pin," she finished, and waited for his reply.
"Princess, it's obvious she does not speak Equestrian. I'm not even sure she understands it. We still don't know for sure if she is actually sapient, and not just a trained exotic pet. How will I inform her of this?" Doctor Scope asked while writing two notes to be placed next to both objects.
Twilight sighed, "I know, Doctor. For all we know, in that picture she may have won a medal for some sporting event, or it could have been for best in show, obedience, or something to that effect. You will have to do it like you do with foals or a pet. I am sure you, and your nurses, will figure something out. Do you have any idea why she acted like that?"
"Umm, I don't know what she said, Twilight, but like you mentioned earlier, she was clearly terrified of all of us. That was worse than you with the snakes at Winter Wrap-Up that first year you were here," the butter-yellow pegasus said, grinning sheepishly once she realized the words she had just spoken.
Doctor Scope thought for a few minutes, then answered, "I don’t know. She could’ve just been overly surprised at waking up in a new location, or she could have a phobia of some sort. I didn’t even expect her to wake up for another few hours with the sedatives we gave her. She was pretty bad off when you brought her in here yesterday morning."
A slight popping and fizzing sound, similar to when a magic power-crystal breaks, echoed in the room. This was followed by a loud thump, something skidding and bouncing on the floor, and Spike screaming. They looked over to see Fluttershy laying in a heap, not moving. Doctor Scope immediately checked on the pegasus, confirming she was still breathing, and not choking or having a heart attack.
Spike ran to Twilight, still screaming. "I didn't mean to do it! Please be okay, please be okay," he said between sobs, his face now buried into Twilight’s rear leg.
"She's just knocked out, Spike. Similar to a stun spell, it appears," Doctor Scope stated.
Twilight spun on the dragon, with a speed that would impress Rainbow Dash, to look him straight in the eyes. "Spike! Tell me what happened," Twilight sternly commanded.
Spike wiped the back of his claws across his eyes to get the tears out. He pointed to the device on the floor, and hurriedly said through sobs, "I-I w-was l-looking at that... a-and I p-pressed a b-button... and a-a l-light shout out... a-and Fluttershy fell."
He re-attached himself to Twilight’s hind leg as she turned to the device. Twilight picked it up with her magic and placed a small shield around it. Then she gathered up all of the items on the bed and shoved them, as well as the device, into the backpack. A shield was then placed around the entire bag.
"I am taking these with me," Twilight stated with a commanding tone that left no room for argument.
Rarity was kneeling next to her friend. "Let's get you into a bed to sleep this off, Fluttershy. Twilight, I will let you get to analyzing those... things. I will take our dear friend here to a proper bed, and stay with her."
Twilight nodded, levitated the sobbing Spike onto her back, and grabbed the shield-enclosed backpack with her telekinesis. Doctor Scope helped Rarity take Fluttershy to an open room.
I have a lot of work ahead of me, Twilight thought to herself as she trotted out of the hospital.
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Cassie awoke with a headache. She glanced around the room, noticing it was the same one as before. Everything appeared to be the same, with the exception of her leg laying on the bench on the wall across from her, along with a cup of water on the end table to her right. Without hesitation, Cassie picked up the cup and gulped down its contents, relieving the dryness in her throat.
It was then that Cassie noticed she felt cleaner, and had a slight tightness on her chest. A smile graced her face as she looked under the covers and saw the reason why. Her royal blue underwear set was on, though the panties were on backwards. Cassie was not one hundred percent pleased that she was bathed and dressed while unconscious without her knowledge or consent, but knew that’s how hospitals worked with patients sometimes. With a giggle at how the nurse managed to put them on backwards, she quickly fixed her panties so they were on properly.
Cassie felt a pinch on her arm. Looking to where the IV was taped to her forearm, she saw a nice bruise under the skin, and a small scabbed-over cut next to the needle hole.
I must have thrashed around during my nightmare from earlier.
Cassie thought back to the horrible nightmare she’d had earlier, with the strange-looking ponies that had been in the room with her, just waiting for her to drop her guard so they could bite and kick her. She shuddered at the recollection.
“Oh, thank god that was just a dream,” Cassie said aloud.
Cassie’s belly rumbled. Before she could focus on her hunger, the door across from her opened. A small serving cart entered the room, pushed by a white pony. Cassie’s breath hitched in her throat, and a small gasp escaped her. The pony looked to her, then stopped.
“Nooo! It was a nightmare… It had to be!” Cassie cried.
The white, pink-maned pony with a nurse's hat started to push the cart towards Cassie again, albeit much slower. "Ep’o cy. Q'u vyb dana bu vifh ukq."
Cassie shrieked, “Get out! Get away from me!” She hurled the mostly empty glass of water towards the pony, hoping to scare it away.
Cassie’s plan worked; the pony was startled, and started to back up out the door. She noticed the pony seemed to look sad, like a dog that did something wrong. Its head was down, and it mumbled something. However, Cassie still wanted the pony thing gone. Looking for something else to throw, she spotted the box of tissues on the end table just as she heard the door click shut. She looked up to see that the pony had thankfully left, and she put the box back. At that moment, her stomach grumbled, reminding her to fill it.
Cassie climbed to the end of the bed. The cart was within reach of her arms, so she pulled it over, slightly confused at what she saw. She was starting to think that whoever ran this place used these… ponies… as trained service animals, but she was still confused as to why in the hell they would let the ponies deliver livestock feed to a patient. The tray contained some hay, oats, pudding, apple slices, flower heads, and two sandwiches.
“Damn, no strawberries,” Cassie said.
Cassie pushed half of the stuff to the side, happily eating the apple slices, vanilla pudding, and the sandwich that had only lettuce, tomato, and some sauce, but not the sandwich with flowers in it. She leaned back on the bed, patting her full stomach satisfactorily with a smile playing along her face. Cassie briefly wondered why the doctors hadn’t visited her yet as she drifted off into a food-lulled nap.
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The hallway was bathed in soft white light from the overhead magic-crystal powered lights. The floors of the isolation wing were made of the same pale, light blue tiles as the floor in the lobby and most of the non-carpeted hallways. There, in the middle of the white-walled hallway, stood Nurse Redheart in slight shock.
The echo of hooves approached her. Nurse Redheart looked up to see a pale, yellow-coated mare trotting up to her with a smile. Nurse Snowheart’s two-toned light blue mane bounced as she approached, her green eyes dancing with anticipation of asking how the feeding went. When she looked upon Nurse Redheart’s face, her own jubilance started to die off.
“I take it feeding her didn’t go well?” Snowheart asked her fellow nurse.
“It could have gone… better,” Redheart sighed. "When I first entered, she only seemed startled that somepony entered the room, and cried out. But, when I talked, she screamed something at me, and then threw a cup of water in my direction. When I noticed her heart rate was increasing rapidly, I slowly exited the room. That was only minutes ago.”
“Oh my,” Snowheart said, putting a foreleg over her chest. “Maybe we’re wrong about her being sapient. Do you think she’s a pet that might have been mistreated by ponies? Or, possibly missing its master?” she asked.
“I really don’t know. From her reaction when the Princess was here, to the reaction just now…” Redheart appeared lost in thought for a moment, then continued, "Regardless, I am starting to think she was mistreated by ponies.” As she started walking down the hall, Redheart said, “I have no basis for whether she’s a new sapient race or an exotic pet. Either way, to me, she’s a patient that needs help.”
The two nurses made their way towards the staff lounge. It was a decent sized lounge, similar in color to the reception area. Redheart headed to the small kitchen section, where a few cups with each nurse’s name on it hung on a small wooden rack on the island counter. Taking their cups from the rack, Redheart’s brow pinched in thought as her hoof hovered over a small bowl containing a few fruits that sat next to the rack, before she finally plucked out a few strawberries. Popping the fruit into her mouth, Redheart turned toward the stove against the back wall behind her and started a pot of coffee with the brewer on the adjacent counter.
Snowheart reached past Redheart for a partially eaten loaf of bread sitting next to a beat-up toaster oven in the back corner of the counter. Across from the kitchen sat two tables, each beneath a window. One was an oaken, booth-style table that had been donated from some restaurant when they remodeled years ago, the other was just a small circular pine wood table with a partly folded-up newspaper on it. On the far side of the room, snoring could be heard coming from one of three cots with divider curtains around them; a small flask lay on the ground next to it. Ignoring the possibly passed-out doctor, Nurse Snowheart opened the fridge, pulled out some sandwich fixings, and began making lunch.
A few minutes later, they made their way through the room, passing a large couch on their way to the round table to relax upon the cushions surrounding it. As Redheart poured them each a cup of coffee, adding a cream and two sugars to her own, Snowheart cut the sandwich in two and passed half to her friend. Snowheart then got back up and snagged one of the faded, well-worn, pale-green pillows from the couch to keep her propped up as she lounged sideways on the cushion.
“I’ve been thinking,” Redheart started.
Snowheart jokingly interjected, "Oh? Is that why your mane is pink? Is it your brain starting to catch on fire, but only making your mane glow like an ember?“
Redheart laughed. “No, no. I’ve been thinking that we can’t keep calling her ‘The Creature’ or ‘It’. Even if she ends up being just a beast, she should have a name. Any Ideas?” she asked her pale yellow friend.
Snowheart took a bite out of her sandwich. "Frenzied Heartbeat, that’d be a good name for her," she said.
Redheart almost spit her coffee out at the suggestion. After recovering from her giggles, she said, "While that would be a fitting name, I think we need something better. She does have that tattoo on her hip. It's sort of like a cutie mark in a way. If she does turn out to be just a pet, it's probably a brand from her owner."
"I don't remember the colors of the rings, but I do remember there were three on the top, two on the bottom, and they were all a different color. Oh, and it had those three blue wavy lines under it. Maybe we can call her Rainbow Rings, or Rainbow Squiggles?" Snowheart said.
"I kind of like the Rainbow Rings name. What about Rainbow Waves, Colored Rings, Interlock Rings, or Circle Wave?" Redheart replied.
After much discussion with many more names popping up, some wildly inappropriate, they settled on telling Dr. Scope that they’d recommend calling her Ring Wave. With their break over, both nurses left the lounge to continue on their rounds.
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The clip-clop sound of hooves against stone broke the silence of the laboratory. Light flickered in the room, pushing the darkness back from two large, magic-crystal powered lights hanging above the center of the room. The lights glowed radiantly with soft-white light, keeping the darkness at bay.
A dark wood table sat against the far wall from the bottom of the stairs, well-worn from having seen a countless number of experiments and investigations take place upon its surface. The lab table was neatly organized, with each thing in its designated location. A stack of parchment sat on the right, with three quills laid out side by side above it, and three ink bottles in a row right above them. On the left of the table rested a small rack of test tubes; two held liquid of some sort, while the other three remained empty. In the center of the table, just the circle portion of an old alchemic spell-circle outline was burned into the wood, with clear lacquer filling the groove to keep the table surface flat. Light filtered in through a very small, circular, four-paned window nestled up near the ceiling, just above ground level, but it did little to illuminate the room.
Around one side of the mostly circular room stood various large machines with wires, and other attachments, hanging off of them. All were silent at the moment, not needing to be used for the upcoming investigation. The side of the room where the stairs and walkway to the main floor stood contained shelves carved out of the trunk of the tree, just like the rest of the library, only not a part of the living tree any longer. The shelves held books, beakers, hot-plates, test tubes, and various other small scientific equipment. The room also had a small door that led to a closet under the stone walkway, which were carved from a very large boulder in the earth that the tree roots had grown around. A few roots from the tree crisscrossed on various sections of the mostly hard-packed earthen walls. The floor was comprised of a great circle of wood, carved in one piece from the main floor of the library during its construction.
Twilight made her way to the table with the creature’s bag in tow. Upon reaching the table, she carefully dumped the contents out, and started separating them into piles. She put the book off to the side, along with the photos and some plastic-y metal pouches. To stop the assortment of nuts from rolling everywhere, Twilight levitated a glass dish from a shelf to the table and deposited them inside. It wasn’t more than a hoofful, but she did not want to take them from the creature permanently. Twilight was unsure if it was common food for the creature, or if it might have been a treat she was saving. A coil of string, tape, and some ragged strips of cloth were pushed to the side near the book. Twilight inspected the knife briefly, but found nothing out of the ordinary, so she placed it off to the side within its sheath, next to a compass.
Hmm… if this creature does turn out to be non-sapient, I wonder if it is used as a sort of pack animal, similar to how the minotaurs use those desert salamanders.
"Well, if that's the case, I hope its owner is okay," Twilight mused aloud.
Twilight furrowed her brows slightly. She was still not sure if this was actually a new creature to the equines, or a sapient race. She really had no way of knowing one way or the other, though evidence led her to believe new race was the most likely turn-out.
Twilight paced back and forth in the center of the room, going over her options. On the one hoof, the creature was clothed, and had a pack with tools and supplies in it. On the other hoof, it was not able to communicate in Equestrian, freaked out upon waking up, and seemed to not be able to properly feed itself when on its own. Twilight stood there in thought for a moment, remembering when they found it. Any smart creature would have at least taken some apples from the trees around, but Applejack said none of the trees had been messed with. They also certainly did not find any apple cores around the creature, and it was clearly malnourished. Twilight sat on her haunches and groaned in frustration. Not even thinking about it, she levitated up a few of the nuts from the glass dish and bit down.
"Oh great, I just stole the creature’s treats!"
Twilight scuffed the ground with a forehoof. Her muzzle scrunched up, showing her teeth, as she hissed through them in frustration at her own actions. She made a note to buy a small bag of peanuts to return to the creature.
Until she could prove otherwise, Twilight decided to assume the creature belonged to a new race. Returning to the lab table, She gazed at the three objects she still had to study.
Twilight started with a small rectangular object made of glass and black metal. It had a few symbols on it and a small opening on one of the skinny sides. After flipping it around and poking it, she could not figure out its purpose. All Twilight found was that the bottom could slide open to reveal two small teardrop-shaped objects. Deciding it was not anything dangerous, she set it off to the side with the notes she took on it.
Twilight moved on to a larger, light gray, rectangular object. The top of this one was curved, with a picture of a compass rose on it. Pressing a small button on the side, Twilight's eyes lit up with excitement as the top flipped open, revealing the insides. Her ears perked up and rotated forward upon hearing a low beep from the item, and a smile began to form upon her muzzle. She levitated over a new piece of parchment and started taking notes, while continuing her observations.
The part of the object that flipped up had a piece of glass in it. It glowed with a green background, and had two perpendicular white lines crossing in the center at a dot. A white circle filled most of the screen. On each line, three tick marks fell within the circle. In the upper left above the green glass, a symbol that looked like a foal’s drawing of a house was glowing blue. It matched an arrow on the screen that rotated around to always face the same direction when the object was turned.
Could this be a location device, pointing to the creature's home? Oh, what if she’s an explorer?!
Twilight shook with happiness at her last thought, her tail playfully swishing behind her. She wanted to take it completely apart and see how the magic made it work, but thought better of it. Twilight put her enthusiasm aside for a moment, remembering to calm herself. She did not need another episode of her lust for scientific knowledge causing her to go slightly crazy. She also feared she would end up breaking it, so she settled with waiting to ask the owner about it. She scribbled a note on a separate piece of parchment before returning to her inspection.
On the base of the object, a small compass was embedded near where the top flipped up. Twilight, unable to read the lettering, used a spell to confirm the direction indicated, surmising that wherever this was pointing might be the creature’s home or camp. She would have to have it checked out, to see if the owner was still there, and to return the creature.
Twilight noted that every 30 seconds, the device made a small beep and the arrow flashed. One of the buttons turned the screen white with a flashing black line; another made the beep and arrow flash. A few other buttons were on the bottom, but she was unable to determine what they did, other than a quick double beep. Deciding it was also safe, she set the device off to the side with the other items.
Humming a soft tune, and bouncing on her hooves, Twilight recorded all her information on the parchment. She also added in a drawing of the opened device. Satisfied, a grin formed on her muzzle as she placed the parchment into a drawer.
Her joyful expression fell when her eyes looked back to the last object. Her lip twitched in anger, and her eyes squinted at remembering what that particular object did to Fluttershy. She pushed her thoughts aside as she began the task of recording her observations.
It was clearly some sort of pistol, somewhat like what the minotaurs developed, but much more compact. It was comprised mostly of lightweight, dark-gray metal, but had a couple of short, semi-transparent, white tubes on the top, with white bands at both ends. The handle was covered in a soft, but sturdy, ribbed material. A small piece of glass was embedded near the back, with a small round button next to it. On the top, at the back, were three buttons, two of which were white. The third button was smaller and colored red, with the dark-gray material of the object making a raised edge around it, slightly taller than the button.
At the end of what could be called the barrel, Twilight noticed a small lens. Figuring that’s where the discharge came from, she made sure not to point it at herself. She started with pressing the buttons on the top, but nothing happened. She then pressed the button next to the glass. Still, nothing happened. She cocked an eyebrow while looking over the device again. Twilight repeated the process, but held each button down a few seconds. This time, when she held the one next to the glass, the tubes on the top started giving off a soft-blue glow. The screen had a blue symbol on the left of a circle with a dot in the center, and a series of bars stacked on the right that went from bright green at the top to dark red at the bottom.
Twilight repeated her previous process. When she did, the symbol changed to green, and then red. She was slightly surprised when the tubes on top turned to red also when she pressed the red button. Twilight's tongue poked out of the side of her mouth in excitement as she recorded the observation. Holding the button for a few seconds changed the circle with a dot into a solid, filled-in circle.
Ready for a test, Twilight turned to face the wall, and raised a shield around herself. Making sure the lens was facing the wall, she used her magic to pull the curved trigger button she had yet to touch. Twilight jumped slightly and her ears splayed back in surprise, causing her to lose her magical grasp on the device, which fell to the floor. She had been expecting the magic power-crystal fizz sound, not for a red beam to shoot out of the end. Twilight also hadn’t expected to put a small hole in her basement wall. Twilight ran a hoof through her mane, composing herself as she recorded the observation.
Twilight started the test again; this time, she put it back to the color and symbol that she had found it on when she activated it. Readying herself, she pulled the trigger button again. A small ball of bluish light shot from the end, dissipating quickly upon hitting the wall.
Twilight's lips curled up in a smile. Her testing was satisfactory. She finished her observations before packing everything back in the creature’s bag, except what she dubbed the ‘magic energy gun’. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the object. No one had ever been able to make magic power-crystals expel their energy like that. Twilight could not wait to get this to Princess Celestia to have it researched, or find the inventor.
Twilight returned to the main floor with the creature’s bag and called for Spike. The little dragon waddled out from the kitchen in a small apron.
"Spike, we have a letter to write," Twilight said with a huge grin.