Flashes of different scenes assaulted Twilight’s senses. Her thoughts were a mess, and distantly she realized that being backhanded by the Ursa Major probably gave her a severe concussion, as she kept fading in and out of consciousness.
The first scene she was aware enough to recall was a familiar bright eyed grey Pegasus dragging her and the filly along the ground, shouting frantically.
The next one was of hearing angry shouting and seeing a yellow and pink blur darting around a large purplish blur.
Then she was being moved again.
A white blur this time, and a yellow flash that heralded the pain fading enough for her to sink into a deep, if fitful, sleep.
And now she was here. With a low groan, she opened her eyes. She yelped at the stinging this caused when she saw searing white.
She heard a snort, and a snoring she hadn’t even realized was happening came to a sudden stop.
“Wha…? Huh?”
Twilight tried to sit up to see who it was. This… proved to be a mistake. With a cry of pain she fell back. Her chest hurt!
“Twilight!” She felt a hoof on her forehead. “The Doctor said you shouldn’t move. Try and relax while I go get him.”
Twilight did just that, relaxing. She recognized the voice, but at the moment she couldn’t be bothered to put a name to it. Her body hurt too much from trying to move. All she knew was her instincts weren’t screaming at her to get away, so she decided she could wait for some answers.
As she waited she slowly got her eyes accustomed to the light. She realized she was in a hospital room, likely in Evergreen General. Well, that explained the smell of disinfectant and blinding white.
The door opened again to admit two ponies. She turned her head to see and immediately recognized Derpy, the loveable mailmare that delivered her mail every morning, and a black Pegasus in a white coat. He had a blue mane that was professionally done up in a topknot, leading Twilight to wonder if he or his family migrated from Neighpan.
She frowned. ‘Huh… That’s interesting.’ Now that she thought about it, Equestria had a lot of parallels with Earth. Neighpan and Japan, Prance and France. Yakyakistan and Pakistan. Canterlot and Camelot. In fact, the only places she could immediately think of that didn’t seem to have a parallel on Earth was Ponyville and Cloudsdale.
The black Pegasus smiled at her and grabbed a clipboard on the table near her bed. “It’s good to see you awake, Miss Sparkle,” he said, his eyes scanning what Twilight assumed was her medical records for this visit to the hospital.
Derpy approached and grabbed Twilight’s hoof with a watery derp-eyed smile. “Thank you for protecting Dinky, Twilight,” she said without preamble.
‘Dinky… Oh! That pink Unicorn. That’s right, Dinky is Derpy’s daughter,’ Twilight remembered. She gave a chuckle, and cringed at the spasm of pain it caused. She smiled a bit sheepishly at Derpy. “Oh… I don’t… I can hardly remember it, just flashes. A shadow, a yell, and… that’s it.”
The Doctor nodded. “I’m not surprised. You have… or I should say you had a rather severe concussion. No one was quite sure you would even wake up, at least before we realized your body was healing at an alarmingly accelerated rate well beyond normal for a Unicorn, even one such as you.” He looked at her over the clipboard. “The concussion has healed for the most part, and your body seems to be putting its focus more on your broken ribs right now.”
Twilight tried to shrink in on herself at his pointed gaze. “I… um…” she tried to say something.
The Doctor put the clipboard down. “Princess Luna has assured us that your accelerated healing is natural to you, and has in fact instructed us to keep you in a room with easy access to sunlight. On top of that, she and Princess Celestia both have issued a blanket order to the staff of the hospital that not a word of your physiology leaves these walls or gets put down on paper or in electronics.” That shocked Twilight.
He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know if you realize this, but that makes your medical file a risk to your health.”
“How so?” Derpy asked. “I mean, I was there, and I’m still trying to make sense of everything that happened.” She shook her head. “A fire in Town Hall, a massive glowing bear rampaging through Ponyville, my daughter dragging Twilight’s battered body through the streets, Twilight… doing something. And then there’s Fluttershy… Ponyville’s weird, but this was ridiculous.”
Twilight’s ears perked up in alarm. “Fluttershy? Was she hurt too?!” she asked in fear for her friend.
The Doctor and Derpy exchanged a looked, before the Doctor spoke. “Not… necessarily.”
Twilight blinked.
“I asked them not to say anything yet.”
The quiet voice made everyone look over at the door, where Fluttershy stood. Twilight immediately noticed that Fluttershy was both unharmed and… odd. It took a moment, but she realized that Fluttershy was standing straighter, her eyes were sharper, and there was a certain confidence in that gaze, but they also appeared haunted and jaded, as if she had seen the worst the world could throw at her, and had become used to it.
Twilight realized it was the gaze of a soldier.
John Stewart and some of the other members of the Justice League who had a military history, back on Earth, also had eyes like that. Often they had told her that it was a price normal people paid to gain the skills and abilities they needed to protect their home and loved ones. You got desensitized to it all.
“What happened to you?” she asked in quiet shock. What could have changed Fluttershy so much in such a short time? Wait... “How long was I unconscious?” she asked.
“Three days,” the Doctor supplied helpfully.
Twilight shook her head. “No, I have to have been unconscious longer. How else can you explain such big change in Fluttershy?” she gestured to the Pegasus.
Fluttershy smiled and approached. “It says a lot that you could see it almost immediately, Twilight.” She sighed and sat in a nearby chair. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. In fact, I’m better than ever!” she grinned happily.
Twilight relaxed after a moment, seeing that Fluttershy was happy. Then she remembered something. She turned to the Doctor. “You said something about my medical record?” she asked.
The Doctor nodded. “Your record is based on the “fact” that you are a Unicorn, with a Unicorn physiology. We both know that’s not true, at least not anymore. Unicorns don’t normally use what appears to be photosynthesis to accelerate their healing factor. Usually, such a deviation from the norm in your body would be documented and noted in your record, but with the order to suppress that information… we are effectively barred from treating you in the, admittedly unlikely, chance that your are once again hospitalized.”
“Why?” Twilight asked. She was surprised when Fluttershy answered for him.
“Because your physiology is different, meaning any medical procedure they use on you that would normally work on a Unicorn may in fact be incredibly dangerous to you. Your body may resist it beyond normal, or it may not resist it at all, leading to an accidental overdose of medication. Or your bio-chemistry may react severely with the medication and cause further problems.” She blushed at the questioning looks sent her way. “I work on a variety of different animals every day. I have to keep track of what medications work for what species, or I risk hurting them.”
Everyone went, “Oh,” in understanding.
“Miss Fluttershy is correct,” the Doctor picked up the conversation. “Normally we would fix this with a variety of tests and examinations to determine what would work… but since we can’t lawfully record the results anymore, it’s pointless.” He shook his head in frustration. “If this was just a Noble being stubborn I would have ignored it, but both Princesses have agreed, knowledge of your altered body can’t get out.”
Twilight was quiet for a moment as she digested this.
“What if i give you permission?” she asked. “Doesn’t my opinion in this matter supersede their order?”
The Doctor shook his head. “Not in this case, no. This is apparently so important that your body has been classified as a Military Secret. Not even the subject of the secret can go against the order.” He shrugged helplessly at her shocked look.
“It was a temporary order.”
Once again, the group turned to the door. This time they bowed at the sight of Princess Celestia. Well, Twilight tilted her head.
“Rise, my ponies. We have much to discuss.” She looked at the Doctor as she entered the room. “I understand your frustration, Doctor Tender. Know that Luna and I never meant for the order to stand as it is for long, just until things calm down.”
“Calm down?” Twilight asked.
Celestia sighed. “A lot happened while you were unconscious, my student. The Ursa Major was just the tip of a very cold iceberg.” She sat down on the floor. “I should probably begin at where you Overdrived.”
The harsh look sent her way made it clear to Twilight that this was far from the only conversation the two would be having. She groaned. “I’m not going to like this story, am I?”
“No, you aren’t, but you must be informed of the threat aligned against you, and possibly your friends as well if the theory Luna told me holds true,” Celestia said.
That instantly turned Twilight serious. “Tell me everything,” she said with quiet force.