Equestria meets the Vasto Lorde.

by Phoenix Archangel

A Second Report, Part 1

Calm Report sighed as he entered the staff lounge, ready to clock out for the night. Trotting wearily over to his locker, he began to put away the various things that marked his position.

"Good evening, Report," a mockingly serious voice sounded from the doorway.

"To you as well, Precise," Calm chuckled, turning his head to glance at his colleague, as well as tonight's replacement. With a jovial grin, an olive green unicorn trotted over to a locker nearby to Calm. With unnecessary flourish, Precise Incision's horn lit up with a light tan aura to remove the red robe he wore and replace it with his own doctors coat that he'd had modified for plenty of pockets, into which various things were floated.

"So, who do I have the pleasure of helping tonight, eh?" Precise asked as he settled a stethoscope around his neck.

"Hmm... Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity," Calm replied after a moments thought, "I asked Casual Burn to look after the other patients."

"Poor souls," Precise said with a wince.

"Yeah, it musta been terrifying seeing that monster..."

"I meant the ones that Burn'll be looking after."

Calm gave Precise a deadpan glare that was shortly ruined by a chuckle at the comment and at Precise himself.

"Well honey, I'm off to work," Precise said in a slightly nasally voice as he waddled away comically, the flippers on his hooves slapping the floor with each step, his raven hair pressed under a cowcolt hat and a pair of Grouchy Mark glasses over his somewhat piercing tan eyes.

Calm shook his head as he wondered, as well as most everyone in that hospital did, just how that pony became a doctor with a Martini glass cutie mark.

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Rock. Dirt. Grass. Rock. Shrub. Tree.

God, I was getting sick of walking, and running. Though I did find out I was fairly fast without Sonido, it still did nothing to alleviate the cycle I'd found myself in.

'Screw this,' I sourly thought before I launched myself into the sky. Standing there, I looked around; Arid plains to the west, mountains north-west to north, greenery to the south where I'd just left, thick forest to the east. Looking around to ensure I hadn't missed anything, I closed my eyes and spun myself in a short circle. When I stopped, I kept my eyes closed and Sonido'd three times before dropping. Or, at least, that was the plan

I quickly got an idea of where I was when I slammed face-first into a tree on the second Sonido. Trying to move my head revealed my horns had somehow gotten stuck.

'Well? What's the problem?' Instinct asked. I charged energy for a Cero in reply, the tree bulging before exploding at the build up. The next few dozen trees behind it were consumed by the laser as I fell to the ground, splinters raining around me.

=================================

"Well, Miss Sparkle, I'd say you're doing just fine," spoke a grinning Precise as he re-bandaged his patient's side, "Though I gotta say, walking around isn't quite a smart choice."

"I, well, I needed to talk with my brother," Twilight said, fidgeting with the sheets as she endured the agony of full third degree burns that stretched from her left shoulder to just barely touching her flank and wrapped almost fully under her barrel. She'd paled and refused to look at the fact that her coat, skin, fat and muscle had been cauterised so thoroughly that her ribs were showing. Thank the Princess for modern medical spells, Twilight thought, wincing as a bandage pressed a little tightly on one of five cracked ribs. With said magic, her flesh should return a little faster while scarring a little less.

"Right then," Precise stated as he finished up, slyly pulling an extra length of ordinary cloth out of a pocket and quickly tying a fancy bow over where the bandage had been fastened, "All wrapped up. Now, for that spell..."

With that, he lit up his horn and began to cast the spell. And immediately cancelled it with a yelp of surprise.

"What is-" Twilight began, cutting herself off as she spun her head to look.

Her bandaged (and bow-tied, though she didn't notice it at first) wound was subtly glowing a blackish red, wisps of it flowing through the bandage.

"Seems that thing left a bit of a present for you," Precise cracked, eyeing the glow with a practised eye. Lighting his horn up once more, the glow in Twilight began flowing out like smoke to be guided into a nearby jar that previously held tongue depressors. Sealing the jar, he turned back to Twilight and cast the spell, noting with a smirk the look of curiosity the mare was giving the jar and himself.

"Not my first time drawing mana residue outta bodies, Miss," he said with a peculiar twist to his smirk. Finishing the spell, he picked up the jar and, flagging a nurse down, hoofed it to her with instructions that he gave with a flirting edge. With a knowing smile and eye-roll, the nurse was off. Collecting his things and quickly stacking the tongue depressors into a cabin-like structure, he bid Twilight a good day with reminders to not move.

Hope the colts down in Research can determine anything, he thought as he made his way towards Rainbow Dash's room, 'Cos I'd rather not have to mess with an unknown magic. Magic poisoning wasn't a first to Precise - in fact, such a thing had been used multiple times, even in the modern age. Murders and assassinations were difficult to solve when a unicorn could poison, kill and remove evidence from the corpse, after all.

Knocking on the door, he entered and rose a questioning eyebrow when he noticed a nurse sitting near the bed.

And Rainbow Dash strapped to the bed from from her ribs down, hind legs set in traction, her upper body twisted a little uncomfortably to not put pressure on her missing wing. What was more, her... were they ankles or wrists? He had been to medical school and still couldn't tell - wore what looked to be bracers locked with a key, and left her hooves free to grasp.

A third thing he noticed was that anything remotely sharp was kept out of the distraught Pegasi's reach.

A sobered sigh announced his presence as he quickly fit the pieces into a disturbing picture. Trotting over to the immobile, glassy-eyed Pegasus, he took a seat in the chair next to the bed and said simply,

"Mind telling me why you want to waste the efforts we made to save you?" His gaze was set on the wall; Some things, moreso than others, cut deeper through his professionalism.

His words, however, triggered something that he wasn't expecting. Not unprepared for, but unexpected nonetheless.

"'WASTE THE EFFORTS'?! WHY WOULD YOU WASTE THE EFFORTS ON ME?!" Rainbow Dash screamed at him in a raw voice, snapped out of her thoughts. Unnoticed blood flecked from her lips, evidence of a torn larynx, as she continued a little softer at the pain of her throat while the nurse settled back into her seat, courtesy of Precise, "I'm nothing now! Everything I have, everything I've worked for, GONE! And you ask me why I should live when I have nothing to live for?! HOW am I gonna be a Wonderbolt?! HOW can I keep the calling myself the fastest pegasus if I can't even FLY?!"

His eye twitched, as his eyes became hidden in shadows. Regardless, she continued, "HOW would you know how it feels?! I don't see YOU hornless here! SO SHUT UP, and don't pretend to know the HAY I'm going through! DO you know how much it's hurting right now?! That I can never ever fly again on my own?! I'm WORTHLESS!"

"Do you know how it feels to have to shovel a ponies intestines back in?"

Rainbow Dash, drawing in a breath to continue her rant, fell silent as she took note of the question, and her doctor. His eyes came back into light, giving her a glimpse of the darkness that hid behind them. Taking advantage of her silence, he continued in a low voice as the nurse looked away with a distant look in her eyes.

"Did you hear about the border dispute about twenty-odd years ago? The one that's been called a Royal Guard action?" A hesitant nod was his answer. "That is what the politicians and nobles call it. For myself, and many others... That was a war with Gryphons," His eyes took on a shadowed, haunted look. And by Celestia, even Rainbow Dash in her depressed rage saw that this pony in front of her had seen true Tartarus on Equestria as he went on, "I spent the seven years of that war, when I was barely older than you, being a surgeon. I've seen more blood spilt than rain you've kicked out of clouds. I've used more thread, handled more needles and sewn more parts together than all of Canterlot's dressmakers. I've taken enough shrapnel, both metal, stone and bone, to make a life-scale model of Canterlot Castle.

"I've operated on ponies and gryphons that'd lost horns, hooves, ears, eyes, legs, wings and even lives. I've set bones, saved lives and even once," here he dryly chuckled, "delivered a foal of a nearby village.

In fact, I once saved a pegasus, much like yourself, from suicide. Difference? She lost both wings to a vicious bastard of a gryphon."

Precise allowed himself a brief respite as he looked into Rainbow's eyes, before he continued, "For three weeks while that mare recovered from blood loss, I had to sit by her bed when I was off duty reminding her of all the things she can still do. When she was sent back home, I made her promise she wouldn't try something stupid again. When the war ended, I went home to Manehatten. Some weeks later, she turned up on my doorstep. Some time after that, we moved here." His tone during that part was clipped, like he was skipping a good deal of the story to reach a point.

Rainbow found what that point was.

"When we did, I found out that there was a spell, created somewhat recently, that could help regrow a Pegasi's missing wing or wings. So, we followed up on that but found that, with her wounds closed so long, she wasn't eligible for the procedure."

Rainbow dwelt on that as Precise fell silent, calmly sipping water from a nearby cup. The nurse, sensing something change in the patient, hoofed him the key before quietly walking out the door.

"So," began Rainbow, voice rusty from being raw, "You mean..."

"You can get your wing back?" finished Precise, "Yes. It will take some time for it to be fully grown, not to mention as strong as it was, but-" He was cut off as Rainbow threw herself awkwardly into a hug, sobbing in relief. He let a gentle smile slip onto his face as he pushed his past away, "if you get onto the treatment soon, it may take less time than you think. At most, maybe five years." With that, he gently pushed Rainbow back into bed, unlocking the bracers around her hooves to reveal three jagged wounds sewn shut on her left. With a tap of his horn, the wounds sealed together until all that was left was an angry red scar, almost like a burn, while the thread neatly untied and dropped into a bin.

Turning to leave, he was stopped by a throat being cleared. Followed by coughing.

"Hey, Doc? Could you, y'know..." Rainbow stuttered a little. Precise threw an understanding grin back to her, as he said, "Don't worry. Doctor-Patient confidentiality, after all." He left the room, confidant that she wouldn't try anything. As he shut the door, the nurse from before approached him. Wordlessly, he wrapped her in a gentle hug before work forced him to continue.

Night Wisp sighed, her nurse's uniform twitching as the long-healed stubs of her wings remembered flight.

Author's Note:

Right, due to a minor cock-up I don't know if this registered as Updated or not. So I just deleted and resubmitted for that reason. Not to hit Feature Box or get more readers.

Honestly, I never know what the Feature Box hype's about.

Anyway, I hope this appeases the readers, as I figured you basically deserve this for putting up with my lack of updating.

And don't forget to check my Blog, it's where I'll put my ideas and stuff.

Also, my goal is 2 - 3k words a chapter. I'm not aiming to write a novel, just writing for the joy of it.

Comments

[Braininthejar]

3414064 This tends to happen. Last time I saw Chryssy in a Bleach/MLP crossover, Barregan landed in the hive...

[Phoenix Archangel]

3568355 Yeah, I know how that went. Trust me, this?

Will be MUCH more epic.

[ShadowEclipse]

yeah update, more hollow action, more stupid pony logic when thinking about said hollow!

[xbox432]

Good to see this again, wasn't expecting the humor of Ichigo getting his horns stuck, but that's just a plus.

[Nidle]

hope it gets better! So far it's just been gut-wrenchingly sad and dark.

[QWERTY]

Augh, combination of slow updates and slow story progress really makes this a hard story to enjoy. Not to mention small chapters for how long it takes to release a chapter. The way I see it, every week made waiting should constitute 1500 words in the next chapter (ie. 2 weeks=3000 words, 3 weeks=4500 words).
I am still waiting for you to have Luna sit down and tell the ponies the truth of the situation, that it was her fault. I absolutely despise when characters are uninformed and act stupidly because of if it when they could have and should have been told. I don't care if the Mane6 are still willing to attack Ichigo after discovering the truth, just that they know the full extent on why they are attacking. I am still disappointed in the fact that the ponies completely glossed over the Ursa incident when interacting with Ichigo. It's just blatantly unrealistic behavior.

[Bradledew Ender]

3568355
I remember that chapter of Cuatro.

[Phoenix Archangel]

3568706 That's the chapter after Report Part 2. I promise.

Unless you want me to just footnote and get on with it. I can do that. *shrug*

[Spiderman here]

3569716 Ain't nobody got time for that!