//------------------------------// // Chapter Four // Story: Hornless // by Death Pony //------------------------------// The device in the corner started to make a combination of both clicking sounds and a series of hums. Emerald was nearly quivering in anticipation, but she was struggling to keep her façade of cool and not weird out the minotaur next to her with a ‘geek-out’. She was startled out of her introspection by a new sound coming from the fancy golem. “Aaaaahhhmmmm~,” the device seemed to yawn, as if waking from a long sleep. This was followed by what Emerald swore was the smacking of lips and a distinctly male grunt. “*cough* Well-well, didn’t expect a visit so soon from you tough guy,” the golem said in the deep voice of a stallion, the accent from someplace like Appleoosa or the Great Plains. “Hold on…” it hesitated, as if just noticing something and one of the smaller arms with a tiny lens swung around to examine the now stunned pegasus. “Uh, maybe my diagnostics are fried or somethin’, but…everything I’m getting’ says…we ain’t in Kansas anymore Toto. That ‘bout right pard?” The golem seemed to turn its attention back towards the minotaur. Emerald was so impressed that she struggled to figure out what was going on in her shocked state and a second line of thought wondered where on Equus ‘Kansas’ might be. Hornless seemed to just shrug helplessly at the golem. “We can talk about the details later, but all I can say for now is,” he glanced over at the green pegasus for a moment before continuing. “It seems to have something to do with…Project Delta.” The golem’s arms seemed to recoil in surprise at the mention of Project Delta and it let out a low whistle. Emerald Breeze noticed that the minotaur was rather emotional when mentioning the project and filed that away for later. Despite her being absorbed in the amazing intricacies of the metal creature, she could tell her bipedal companion was rather angry about something. Hornless continued speaking with the golem, “I’ll have some questions of my own later, but right now we have a genuine medical emergency to worry about.” “Ah’ see… Well now, medicine first and we can jaw later ah’ suppose. So,” the machine said and swung the arm towards Emerald while another appendage began to move over Snowy Skies’ still form and bathe it in strange light. “While I take a look at the little one here, you goin’ to introduce me to your friend there?” Doc asked amiably but with a heaping of humor, as if the idea was preposterous. Emerald Breeze decided this was a chance to make a good impression and gave her best smile. “I’m Emerald Breeze, and my hurt friend there is Snowy Skies. It’s a pleasure to meet you Doc!” The little arm recoiled again, even more abruptly than before and she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Hornless had covered his masked face and was slightly shaking his shoulders as he turned away. “Ah’…see…. Well, it’s… It’s a pleasure to meet you too…ma’am?” The golem replied. The little happy trotting in place the mare did seemed to prove that Doc’s response was correct. The little lens swung around to look at Hornless, who was failing miserably at looking innocent. The golem then looked at his patient stretched out on the table and gave a hum of thought. “You know pard, I’m not…that kind of d-“ Hornless cut him off. “You can still access the local archives, right? Try, EE649-V. You know, under the…’other lifeforms’ files?” After a short pause, Doc seemed to understand with a chuckle. “Ah, that’s right. Guess I’m…getting’ too old and forgetful after all.” Emerald just tilted her head at the exchange and because she couldn’t read the strange text on Doc’s screen, she failed to notice a slew of veterinary folders opened in rapid succession as the data was downloaded into Doc’s core. Hornless turned to her and said, “Doc’s never worked on a pony before but I’m sure the knowledge is in there. No worries.” Emerald smiled and shook her head at the notion that a minotaur bull of all things, was trying to reassure her. It seemed her entire world was upside-down today. “Oh, I t-trust you, H-Hornless,” she said slightly embarrassed to say the words out loud that sounded just fine in her head a moment ago. Hornless just nodded once and Emerald managed to fight off a serious blush at just how dorky she felt her image was becoming. “Hmm, hmmm… Okay folks, ah’ think ah’ got the gist. However lil’ lady, I’d like to get a close look at you so ah’ have a baseline to use for yer friend here. Just a quick scan and maybe a small blood sample; if that’s alright?” Doc said as a number of appendages moved in her direction and stilled, waiting for her response. Now Emerald Breeze was no chicken, but she really, really didn’t like needles. “A…a needle? For b-blood?” She shuddered a little and squeezed her eyes shut. It’s for Snowy, it’s for Snowy! Buck up mare, your friend is dying! You chicken-livered-! Just as she was about to continue berating herself into tears, she felt a warm mitten rest on her withers. When she opened her eyes in surprise, she saw that Hornless was crouched down close enough for her to see her own reflection in the shiny black goggles he wore over his eyes. Instead of feeling fear however, this time looking at the dark portals helped relax her a bit and she started to imagine what his eyes looked like under those lenses when he suddenly spoke in a soft tone. “Doc’s real gentle Emerald and he only needs a little bit to help your friend. I’ll tell you a secret; I don’t like needles either, but I found that a little distraction is usually all it takes. What do you say my friend? Does Doc get the go ahead?” His warm voice was quite soothing and Emerald was almost completely relaxed when she gave a firm nod. Hornless gave her a quick rub with his mitten and she was pretty sure she saw his muzzle form a smile under the cloth covering his face. “There we go, all done Emerald, good job.” “Huh?” she asked. She turned to find that all but one of the numerous limbs Doc had were already hovering over Snowy again and the only one left was just bathing her in that strange light again. “B-B-But, I didn’t even feel it!” she said in amazement. Twisting her forelimbs and hind legs to look for a wound, her head swiveled around in disbelief. Doc chuckled from his corner. “Ol’ Doc’s been doin’ this for a long time sugar; don’t you fret none. I’d give ya a lollipop but my dispenser is plum empty at the moment. Now then, let the old sawbones here analyze all this here data and we’ll fix yer friend up, right as rain. Looks like ol’ hoss already found the Blood Bank and sealant, so that will speed things along nicely. Good to see he ain’t completely useless.” Doc began to laugh when Hornless turned and raised a single mitten towards the golem, with the back facing it and the middle pronounced as a peak, in what the mare assumed was some kind of weird salute. She just shrugged and laughed along with the golem as the thought that 'you didn’t have to always understand your friends for them to come through in a pinch' bubbled up to the top of her thoughts.