3: Evaluation
Among the Ruins
Chapter 3: Evaluation
((Thanks again to all those who are reading this and to Doom for editing.))
I released Spike after a few minutes and a prompt from Shining.
“Um... Twilly? Hate to break it to you, but... well... the floor.” Shining said through the gem.
“Huh?” I looked down and saw a circle etched in the stone around Spike. “Oops...” I rubbed the back of my head with my hoof as I trotted back onto the grate.
“It's alright Twilight,” Princess Celestia said with a small smile as she teleported Spike back to the other side of the wall. “While I don't mean to cut things short, I think it's best we get you cleared from quarantine.”
“Yes,” Luna said, smiling a bit brighter than Celestia had, “and we have some things to discuss before the press gets their go at you.”
“Oh... okay.” I was a little sad that I had to leave them again so quickly, but this probably wouldn’t take that long, I hoped.
“Do not worry Twilight Sparkle. You'll be back with your friends and family soon enough.”
“You're right... Well... here's hoping I get through this fast...” I replied, stepping off of the grate and through a door that was being held open for me by one of the Hazmat ponies.
“It shouldn't take too long Miss Sparkle.” He said. “Although we're going to have to do a thorough check.”
“I understand. I wouldn't want anything from within the wall getting out...” I said with a shudder.
“I... won't claim to understand. It must have been horrible...”
“That's an understatement.” I stepped into another rinse basin and was hosed down once more. “Geze, I hope I don't have to do this every time I cry a little...”
“Your brother already has us working on something,” the mare from before said as she handed me a towel. “Don't worry, we'll figure something out.”
“Thanks.” I said as I dried off again and followed the pair into the next room. “This is one long string of rooms...”
“It's going to be turned into a gallery of sorts. The carriage was parked in an unfinished room.” The stallion said. “We just commandeered it with a little royal leverage.”
“And the room with the window in the middle?” I asked, wondering what the heck they would need a room like that for.
“Luna whipped that up actually.” The mare said. “Nopony really wanted to wait to see if it was actually you, but we had to clear you first. Her solution, a glass wall and some communication gems. Simple, but effective.”
“Sometimes those are the best solutions.” I said with a chuckle.
“Oh, you'll be glad to know that everything you brought with you was decontaminated without damage. Captain Armor tried to slip the wedding bands through, but we caught him. Good thing too, there was some kind of crystal dust on them that was giving off some of that glowing acid vapor.”
“I... probably shouldn't have shown him those so quickly then.”
“We would have caught it before it did any harm, but now we at least have a sample of the acid's source.” The stallion said as Nurse Redheart trotted in, wearing a Hazmat suit.
“Hello Twilight, I can't begin to say how happy I am to see you again. Tenderheart and Dr. Vow will be in shortly, they are having a little trouble with the suits.” She said as she trotted over.
“I'm glad to be back, Redheart.” I said with a smile as I glanced around at the large assortment of equipment in the room. “I take it this isn't going to be a standard physical?”
“You got that right.” Redheart said with a sigh. “The politicians want a full report on how you survived in there for so long, and the medical community will no doubt freak out over the news. Environmentalists are going to go nuts when they find out about what you've told us so far, and we probably won't want to hand out copies of the results of these tests,” the nurse chuckled dryly as she nodded to an x-ray machine. “Well, first things first, an X-ray. I can run that solo while the other two finish up.”
I nodded and climbed onto the machine. “Hmm... this is a model P7C isn't it?” It was nice to see a piece of my work in use.
“Yep, a little outdated, but still one of the best compact units you can find. You helped with the design of these didn't you?” Nurse Redheart asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“The display's a bit fuzzy since we set it up in here, any idea on why that would be?” The P7C was the first model of Xenith Ray scanner to use a holographic display to show the patient's whole body after the scan in three dimensions instead of just two.
“Hmm... that's usually a problem with the data cable not being fully plugged in. Give it a good push into the socket.”
I heard the sound of plastic being pressed between two surfaces and a small click. “Huh, seems Tenderheart owes me ten bits.”
“Oh?” I asked as Redheart started the scan.
“Yeah, I bet her it was something simple, she bet that we'd need to call in a technician. Hold your head still for a moment.”
I complied while chuckling to myself.
“Okay you can talk now.”
“Yeah the cables are almost too tight to fit, however they have to be so all of the pins line up. Only thing I didn't like about designing this thing was that display, you do not want to know how long it took to get the X, Y, and Z gems aligned so the Braemore-Trotson method of holograms would work with a zoom function.”
“Aaaaand done.” Redheart said as the machine beeped. “Shall w- wow... that's new.” Redheart said as the hologram was brought up.
The Xenith Ray scanner was invented to be a non-invasive way to look at bones, and to some extent, tissue. The rays are harmless and they go clean through a pony's body before being picked up on the sensor, or at least that's how it should be.
“I don't think that ever happened during testing...” I said as I gazed at the vaguely pony shaped fuzzy blob that was shown by the projection. “Redheart would you mind being used to test the machine?”
“Not at all.” She stepped onto the platform and I started another scan. It beeped after a moment and the results were brought up. Redheart's scan showed up normally.
“That... can't be right...” I muttered. “Unless I'm somehow interfering with the system...”
“It's possible... you were hit with a Nanoplague after all. This looks like what happened after a Nanoplague went through the X-ray room at Canterlot General.” Redheart said. “However, the environmental sensors we have in here aren’t picking up any known Nanoplague...” She fiddled with the dials on one of the machines for a moment. “Hmm... well that's different.”
“What is?”
“It seems you are carrying some kind of unknown nanomachine swarm. The machine can't tell what the effects are, and this is the same kind that Canterlot Disease Control used to ID all of the others.” Redheart muttered.
“Well that's good news to hear when entering a quarantine zone.” Nurse Tenderheart said as she trotted in, another pony in hazmat gear following behind her.
“Vell ve have to figure eet out before ve let her back into ze public you know... In any case, I am Doctor Solemn Vow; it is a pleasure to meet you Miss Sparkle.” The other pony said with a small bow. “Pardon ze accent, I am still getting used to ze language. I recently move to New Ponyville from Germaneigh.”
“Pleased to meet you too Doctor.” I said with a smile. “I only wish it was under better circumstances. And please, call me Twilight.”
“Vell, ve all have to play ze cards we are dealt Tvilight.” He said. “Alzho, if you don't mind me saying, you have a razzer odd hoof of cards indeed.”
“That is one way to put it.” I said with a sigh. “In any case, before we get into things, I just want to warn you that taking a blood sample is an extremely bad idea.”
“Oh? May I ask why?” Nurse Tenderheart asked.
I was getting a little tired of explaining by now, but it was necessary. “My blood is highly acidic. It can eat through a glass beaker in seconds, I found that out the hard way in Canterlot.”
“Zis vill be interesting zhen...” Dr. Vow said. “Vell vhat do ve know so far?”
“Apart from what she just told us, she seems to have some kind of invisible nanomachine swarm around her.” Nurse Redheart said. “Aside from that, and the fact that her eyes have changed, we're in the dark here.”
“Hmm... vell vhat have you found out yourself Tvilight?”
“Well... I heal faster than I did before, and I think the Nanoplague I was hit with enhanced my reaction time. Aside from that I have better vision, day and night, and I don't need to eat, sleep, or breathe.” I listed off.
Dr. Vow dropped his notepad at that. “Vait, did you just say you vere anaerobic and have no need for rest or food?” All ponies present were staring at me wide eyed.
“Yeah.”
“Zis is... unglaublich... Wie ist das überhaupt möglich? Ich- Verzeihen Sie, I sometimes drop into my native language.”
“It's alright.” I said.
“How is that even possible though?” The hazmat mare asked.
“I... have honestly no idea.” Dr. Vow said. “Unless ze nanomachines did more zan just change her blood... vould you be villing to go through a potentially dangerous recalibration of ze X-ray scanner?”
“What type of recalibration?” I asked.
“I found a vay to get ze scanners to ignore small amounts of metal zat usually vould interfere vith ze scan, however it involves boosting ze power by two hundred percent as vell as altering ze reciever. Zere is a possibility ze rays could do harm to you.”
“Do it, I want to know what has happened to me.” After everything that Canterlot did to me, an enhanced X-ray really doesn’t seem dangerous.
“Very vell. Can von of you Hazmat ponies notify your friends zat the rooms above and adjacent to zis one must be clear of anyvone not helping vith ze test?”
“On it.” The stallion said as he trotted out the door.
“Ve vill be safe so long as ve stay out of the beam's potential path.” Dr. Vow said as he started moving a few wires around. “Although, zis does not mean ve should be careless.”
“Of course not.” Tenderheart said as she trotted over to the control panel. “Just let me know when doc.”
“Tvilight, vould you step into ze scanner?” He asked as he trotted over to the receiver array on the other side of the machine. I nodded and stepped in as he altered the position of a few of the array's panels. “Zhat should do it.” He trotted over to where Redheart and Tenderheart were standing.
The door opened again and the hazmat pony who had left trotted back in and over to where the others were standing. “They have given us the all clear.”
“Danke. Zis vill probably sting a little... Begin ze scan!” Dr. Vow exclaimed, the mid-experiment excitement that I know all too well showing on his face.
Redheart nodded and pushed down the green button with her hoof. The scanner's Xenith Ray emitter hummed and started to glow before I felt my whole body tingle. “This feels very weird...”
“Zat is vhat double ze recommended safe amount of Xenith radiation feels like.” Dr. Vow said as the machine powered down, and started processing the data. “It vill take a little longer to process ze scan, so shall ve do a few more tests? Namely to see vhat zhose nanomachines do?”
“Okay.” I nodded as I stepped off the platform.
“I'll keep an eye on things here, make sure the machine doesn't mess up.” Tenderheart said, glancing to the hologram display where an image was starting to form.
“Very vell. Now... since ve didn't know vether you vould be toxic or not, ve did grab a few lab rats.” Dr. Vow said, levitating over a cage with two large white rats inside. “Er, please do not tell Miss Fluttershy, she seemed to be ze animal rights type.”
“I won't, I know the facts behind lab specimens.” I said as he set the cage down on a table.
“Now, ve vait. Ze rats should show any kind of reaction that vould affect a pony. Ze light on top is a sensor for any kind of toxic material, be it biohazard or nanohazard.” He explained as a little light on top of the cage turned red. “Zey are exposed to it... Now, ve try to get a sample of zat acid you vere talking of earlier. Find out some properties.” He said as he nodded to a metal grate platform over a large basin of water. There seemed to be a number of small beakers of varying materials placed beneath it in a magical field. “Hopefully von beaker survives.”
“So how are you going to get a sample?” Nurse Redheart asked.
“Scalpel, zat is, if you don't have any objections Tvilight.”
“What? That's has to be the dumb-” I cut Redheart off.
“I'll do it, just pass me a few sharp ones.” I said. “It wouldn't be the first time I've had to do something like this...”
I trotted along a rusting catwalk, large vats of a thick, oily sludge sat beneath me as I explored the chemical plant. My hooves made a light clanking as they contacted the metal sheets that made up the floor of the suspended walkway. I had originally just wanted to take a look, but the first section of the catwalk had collapsed, taking out two of the vats and causing the floor below to be swamped with the black sludge.
The liquid took a rainbow sheen in the afternoon light, reminding me of Rainbow Dash as I trotted along.
Being a pegasus would be convenient right about now... I thought as I reached a metal security door that led to a stairwell.
I gave the door a tug with my magic, but it held firm. The lock must have engaged when the power went down, so there was no way to open the electric lock, even if I had access to the passcode.
Great... I don't want to fall into that goop, and the catwalk is totaled on the far end... how am I going to get this open? I thought, raising a hoof to rub my chin.
“Ow!” I yelped as a sharp piece of metal sliced my hoof, my blood eating it away into nothing.
That's just wonderful... wait a second... I rubbed my acid covered hoof along the hinges of the door, and where the electric latch was. The metal sizzled immediately, and quickly dissolved as my acidic blood did it's work. After a few minutes I gave the door another good tug, and the hinges and doorframe crumbled as the frame was relieved of its door.
Not exactly the best solution, but workable. I thought, stepping through the empty doorframe and leaving holes in the floor as my wound healed.
“Macabre as that was, that was rather clever...” Redheart said after a moment as Dr. Vow floated over a tray of gleaming scalpels.
“Still hurts though.” I took the tray and trotted up onto the platform. Steeling myself against the inevitable pain, I picked up a scalpel, and in one swift motion, drew the blade down the length of my lower foreleg, leaving an inch deep cut. The surgical steel sizzled as it dissolved, as did most of the beakers as the acidic blood hit them. Only a few drops made it into each one, but three beakers survived.
“Vondahbar!” Dr. Vow said as I levitated the beakers over to a second tray that was over the basin of slightly acidic water. The cuts were healing quickly, taking on a slight silvery sheen before returning to normal color.
“Don't forget to wash that hoof.” The hazmat mare said, nodding to a nearby bucket of water which I made use of when my cuts healed.
“Thanks.” I said.
“The scan's done rendering.” Tenderheart called to us. “And you ponies are going to be floored by what it shows...”
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dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png
Cliffhangers, oh how i hate thee... THIS IS GREAT THOUGH!
Really, another cliffhanger?
Seems like everyone is doing that now.
Very well written :D, though it makes me want MOAR :P
dam cliffhangers!
Well, just as well it isn't longer... I have family visiting and ran out to read the update!
Still, great chapter. I love Dr. Solemn Vow. Very interesting character. Can't wait to see just why Twilight doesn't need to eat, sleep, breath, and other such stuff. Great chapter!
I am the Ubermensch!
Let me guess, Twilight's a sentient mass of nanomachines now?
Cliffhanger!!!
So what does the scan show? My guess: Twilight has a gooey caramel centre.
WOW! Great story.
1206499
Gargrrrlebll. Also, we need a Luna emote that doesn't require an extension, for those of use reading on mobile devices.
Oh you nasty brilliant genius.
1206499 Wunderbar!
and now too wait a month for the next chapter :D
MOAR MOAR MOAR!
1206560 Not quite, that doesn't explain the acid. And of course, she still needs to have some sort of power source, I'm defaulting to magic esp. since she needs a way to replenish lost mass due to the acid dripping out of her.
Of course, at this point defining what she is would be a pointless exercise in semantics. Nanoswarm, golem, vampire etc... She's what we at Gaming Den call a Steve. Unique monster. Any type you could possibly assign her, it's definition would boil down to "Twilight Sparkle".
As far as the chapter goes, I would have preferred more meat in it. Basically nothing happened in terms of events, and as far as exposition goes we only found out her nanoplague is still there and active plus some minor stuff.
Thank you for updating, I'm going to start to read it now!
I am really enjoying this story, I'm tempted to not check updates to this so I'll be able to read more at one time. 3,000 words or so just doesn't cut it.
Looks like she will be examined for a few more chapters.
And what were the surviving beakers made of? Frozen Helium? Crystalized Time?
1206499
........I hate you SO much right now....
I'm guessing those rats are gonna die. Or go super mutant.
Also. Would like if there was more in it. It was short and the only thing we really learnt was that the nanomachines are still there and active, the acid can't destroy everything and we met a German.
The title is also wrong. There were no evaluations in this chapter, just tests.
1206599 Crystallized Time... I like it.
MOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
So~ will next chapter take as long
please say no.
Celestia damned cliff hangers!
Whoever invented the cliffhanger must be shot
1206616
Yes. While it may get out eventually, with enough time dilation it could take millinia to do so.
Why are we, the German always the ones who have to play the scientist. I mean it's such a cliché, but a good one.
1206639
I have been playing a little bit too much tf2 of late. Thusly the doctor is german. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Luna_apple.png
omg clifhanger
I could do without the guy's accent. Maybe tone it down some?
It seems a story doesn't need to be action filled to leave you hanging on a cliffhanger. It's frustrating when a new release leaves you starving for more instead of quenching the thirst.
I keep wanting more and you keep subtly releasing less.
The chapters seems to be getting smaller.
And releasing less and less new information.
I don't know if I should be happy or frustrated with new releases.
Ah, how I love Germane doctors. They remind me of home and since they're often a little(or way too) crazy, I can really identify with them.
Thank you.
I hate cliffhangers!!! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Twilight_Sparkle.png
MOAR dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Fluttershy.png
Dat cliffy
german pony style....... really
I love it
More story please?
We don't want to be hanging off this cliff for long, and we don't have Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to catch us if we let go. It's not good to succumb to yelling at the author complaining of deprivation of details...
DEM CLIFFHANGERS.
Yeeeeeeah, like I don't use 'em.
I HATE YOU CLIFFHANGERS
Dear lord 1206654 you combine a Replicator with an Alien round up in a cute but insanely powerful unicorn package. I didn't know if I should applade you or run to the armory to grap my M4 with a M320 grenade launcher.
Oh and....
gifsforum.com/images/image/moar/grand/moar_7.jpg
Edit: That guy is the same rate as me.
An update? GLORIOUS!dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png
>Cliffhanger
i.imgur.com/d2TRA.jpg
YOU DARE LEAVE ME WITH A CLIFFHANGER?!!!
Ballsy move. I respect that.
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Seriously, it's a quarter to twelve at night.
Why must you torment me so?!
1206660
I have a few word count goals for each story i write. For Vampony it's 4000 for this one it's 2500. I try to pass them but i have to choose to give you guys quicker releases or longer chapters.
Some ponies' reactions when they'll hear about/see Twilight's changes:
1206874
only a quarter to twleve? my worst are the fallout equestrias. Been up till three am reading one only for it to end in a cliffhanger.
1206803 NOT MY CHOCOLATE!
Oh you sick bastard.
That cliffhanger was just plain evil!
calling it now: the scans show that Twilight herself IS a nanoswarm, packed densely enough to appear solid.