//------------------------------//
// Extraction 
// Story: Simulated Intelligence 
// by Crazy Laughter 
//------------------------------//

  “You could just be a hallucination.” Twilight stared forward quietly, MCF-AIC-MA-36 standing in the room staring in her direction. There was no reaction whatsoever in the immaterial shade. “You could just as well be a figment of my mind, a way for me to explain away my failings as the meddling of a third party. You have effected nothing that is not a subjective experience of mine.”
 
 
 
  There was a calming chorus of birds chirping outside, it smelled like it had rained while she was asleep and the sun shone into her room, while not quite reaching her bed. It was a beautiful spring day and her hospital room was nothing but calming and peaceful. MCF-AIC-MA-36 was standing on the edge of the ray of sunshine and the light changed nothing about the inky surface of the mannequin pony it talked to her through. It didn’t blink, breathe, or acknowledge her accusations, its vacant stare enough to break the illusion of a beautiful day everything else in the room tried to fabricate.
 
 
 
  “What in Celestia’s name are you?” She should be recuperating, sleeping soundly while waiting for her friends to be let in to visit her. It should have been the calming chorus of birds that awakened her and the smell of fresh rain should have brought her at ease. She should be mildly inconvenienced by the bandages on her wing and only worrying about the guilt Rainbow Dash would feel over her accident. 
 
 
  “I am MCF-AIC-MA-36.”  She clenched her teeth and attempted to throw the glass of water on the nightstand at MCF-AIC-MA-36, but all she was able to do was aggravate her headache to blinding levels and nudge the glass to the floor. It didn’t break, but the sound of it bouncing on the linoleum floor and rolling to a stop were like claps of thunder in her ears. A fresh wave of cold sweat pushed through her coat and she took forceful slow breaths through clenched teeth as the migraine made her vision swim and blur. The molten ball of lead radiating from the base of her horn gradually spread out along her brain and started to cool as it burned away at her more evenly. The doctor had been right about her magic being affected, either by medication, or whatever MCF-AIC-MA-36’s supposed nanite colony was doing to her brain.
 
 
 
  “I apologize for upsetting you. Inter-species communication is not my specialty.” MCF-AIC-MA-36’s voice was quieter, suggesting it was aware of the headache and her sensitivity to sound. She shouldn’t be lying in a bed sticky with her own sweat and feeling the burn of her own sickness at the back of her throat every time she took a breath. Her head pulsated and ached in ways she couldn’t put into words and her wings felt more alien on her back than they had ever felt. She had only heard about the things in her brain after they malfunctioned because of her coronation as a alicorn, so some part of her was blaming her miserable situation on Princess Celestia. Everything would have stayed just as uncomplicated and normal if she had stayed a unicorn.
 
 
 
  “This isn’t fair!” Twilight’s eyes teared up and she clenched her jaw through the numb ache of her body. She felt a new kind of frustrated anger and she didn’t know where to direct it. There was no clear malice in any part of what had been done to her, but that didn’t change the fact that the combined efforts of ponies she trusted and loved above all else had brought her to this miserable state. MCF-AIC-MA-36 was the thing that had directly put the things harming her into her brain, but if what it was saying was true, then right now it was only a machine tasked with bringing her to the care she needed. She tried to calm down by closing her eyes, but the room started to spin downward as soon as she did. She snapped her eyes open and decided to wait the nausea out, rather than make another mess.
 
 
 
  “I want to see my friends.” Twilight absently muttered out the request, while looking into the light in MCF-AIC-MA-36’s eyes. She meant it only as a jab at the machine’s unsettling appearance and didn’t even particularly want the thing to hear her. Right then and there she just wanted to stare forward and wait for the world to stop spinning and maybe some sense might visit her life when her friends were allowed to visit her.
 
 
 
  “It is inadvisable to access archived data in your current state.” Twilight felt herself jerk as the words reached her sluggish brain. She focused her eyes back to the dark shade in the room with her. She’d expressed an interest in seeing her friends and the ever helpful MCF-AIC-MA-36 considered her request to review archived data and decided against it for her own good. Did that mean that she would be reminiscing about times with her friends right now, if MCF-AIC-MA-36 hadn’t stopped her? Were all of her memories for the last 16 years just archived data in a piece of complex machinery integrated into her brain?
 
 
 
  “Please, elaborate?” MCF-AIC-MA-36 had given her enough mental breakdowns already, so she was a little desperate for this latest revelation to be a misunderstanding. She felt cold, that twisting nausea was back and she could feel a wordless scream of pure frustration trying to physically force itself out of her. She forced herself to calm down enough to listen to MCF-AIC-MA-36, it had admitted inter-species interaction was not it’s specialty, after all.
 
 
 
  “Extracting multi-sensory data and processing it into a visual medium taxes the implants needlessly, when you do not have a functioning nanite colony to maintain functions.” The inky mannequin tilted its head, considering what it had just said. The head tilted down and a forehoof was raised into the air, simulating someone reciting something from memory and making a show of it. “The data stored into the implant is an approximate copy of sensory information, with any definite data processed and stored for quick access for the logical deduction functionality. The corrupted nanite colony has caused a deficiency in the biological components ability to recollect events and the implants would be required for accurate retrieval of data. The interaction between the biological component and the implant this necessitates makes this an activity that could aggravate the adverse effects of the corrupted colony, which makes it an inadvisable course of action.”
 
 
 
  “So, my memories are still mine?” There was no change in the shade at her question, but there was a pause that indicated surprise. The shade was obviously not what MCF-AIC-MA-36 actually looked like and the inky mannequin of a pony staring at her was some kind of induced hallucination, just to give her something apparently real to talk to.
 
 
 
  “Yes, your brain is still the primary housing for sensory data and thought processes. The cerebral implants are complementary to these functions, but cannot independently function in any capacity that would be considered sapient.”
 
 
 
   She’d almost given herself another attack by carelessly talking in front of the inconveniently literal projection, so she decided to stay quiet while the empty light of MCF-AIC-MA-36’s eyes betrayed nothing of the thing speaking to her through the strange mannequin. Who, or what, was the thing she was talking to? If it truly was a machine of a sort, then who could have possibly built it? How had it come into contact with her parents? What was this facility she was supposed to be extracted to and had she been taken there 16 years ago to install these corrective implants?
 
 
 
  “Where…” Asking questions had kept her awake so far and trying to find out where she was going to be moved to should have been something she asked first, after agreeing to the idea. She was rudely interrupted by MCF-AIC-MA-36’s projection disappearing suddenly and the door to her hospital room opening a second later. The same stallion that had checked up on her wing earlier stepped in, making eye contact as the door quietly closed behind him. Again, he was obviously surprised to see her staring back at him, but at least he didn’t startle this time.
 
 
 
  “We don’t know how you keep waking up from anesthesia, but the fact that you keep doing so means we’re missing something about what is happening to you. The specialist from Canterlot is insisting on taking a biopsy of the affected tissue in your brain, but that is not something we can do while you are awake.” His horn glowed briefly and Twilight felt a warmth permeate her scalp, before running down to her neck and disappearing. Twilight recognized it as a diagnostic spell taught to healers and wondered if this stallion could see these nanites MCF-AIC-MA-36 was talking about.
 
 
 
  “We… We are certain that your wing will make a full recovery. A couple months in a cast and the required rehabilitation after that, but complete recovery nonetheless. I don’t…” The doctor paused, glancing at where his cutie mark was hidden by his lab coat. “My special talent is in diagnostic medicine. I am the one other doctors come to when they can’t see a cause for symptoms they see. This is the first time that I can see the symptom, but there’s nothing that I can see causing it.”
 
 
 
  “It’s alright, doctor. Could I see my friends?” It was most likely that this inflammation they’d seen in her brain was this nanite colony, but for these machines to be small enough for unicorn healers to have trouble discerning them from biological matter was astounding. Twilight had used one of those diagnostic spells on her own hoof once and had bordered on becoming a hypochondriac from all the things she saw. MCF-AIC-MA-36 being able to fool a practiced unicorn healer was both frightening and reassuring, when Twilight considered the situation she was in.
 
 
 
  “I… I’m not sure you understand the severity of the situation. There is something happening to your brain and we do not know what is causing it.” The doctor had a hint of panic in his voice. He was taking her nonchalant attitude personally, most likely because it was the first time his special talent was not working. Fear of the unknown, paired with a professionally cultivated need to heal made for a strong emotional bias.
 
 
 
  “Does keeping my friends away from me get you anywhere closer to this answer?” Her voice turned raspy at the end of her sentence and she had to cough a little, not uncommon and definitely not something that should alarm her. It was like jagged bells started to jingle in her brain when her head jerked forward from the small cough. She could only hear the constant chime and jangle of metal and flashes of the silver bells flew through her vision for one very painful moment.
 
 
 
  “You can show my friends in on your way out.” She managed to rasp out through gritted teeth. The doctor might have tried to protest, but the jingle of the bells was still yet to fade from her ears. This was getting bad if just a little cough had this much of a reaction. She had to wonder how much these cerebral implants were helping her along by now, if the colony had been busy at work for the whole time. MCF-AIC-MA-36 hadn’t given her a timetable, but Twilight would be damned if she didn’t talk to her friends before being spirited away.
 
 
 
  “Hello, darling?” Rarity was talking in a hushed tone nearing a whisper, a tremble of fear obvious in her voice. She must have looked even worse than she felt for the alabaster unicorn to be so on edge. It had been a dramatically violent accident and the doctor might have warned her friends on his way out, so it was understandable. “How are you feeling?”
 
 
 
  “Migraine. Water, please.” Her throat was still scratchy and she really wanted to avoid coughing again. That stark image of silver bells was something that would haunt her for a while, even without a repeat performance. It could have just been a honest hallucination from the pain, but with MCF-AIC-MA-36 in her life she was not going to make that assumption. Two yellow hooves offered a glass of water to her, with one wing under the glass to tilt it for Twilight to be able to drink from it. The water helped her throat stay cough free for the moment, but her cerebral problem was steadily becoming more severe and she had to try and comfort her friends.
 
 
 
  “First of all, this is in no way any of your fault. My brain’s just playing catch up with all the new magic in me.” She spared a glance at her friends for the first time since they walked in, it’s not like she had tried to be rude, but focusing her eyes hurt right now, as did everything else. Fluttershy was closest to her, holding the glass of water in her hooves like a good luck charm. The pegasus had a sheen of tears in her eyes, but her hooves were steady and her eyes unwavering despite the tears. Pinkie Pie sat on the floor next to Fluttershy, hair deflated and touching the floor. Pinkie had no reservations about letting her tears flow, but she was scrunching her mouth shut to silence the flamboyant bawling she was prone to, no doubt warned off by her doctor from making too much noise. She looked downright silly and Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle carefully at the sight.
 
 
 
  “I’m sorry for scaring you, girls.” Rarity was standing on Fluttershy’s other side, trying to smile reassuringly, but failing to suppress the worry from shining through her facade. Applejack stood next to the fashionista, hat held to her breast and giving Twilight a stern look of worry, as if she was fighting back the urge to admonish the alicorn from worrying them so much. Twilight caught a glimpse of a prismatic mane hiding behind Applejack, but it hid away as soon as her eyes scanned the area.
 
 
 
 
  “Rainbow Dash, I fell because of a pre-existing condition. There was no way for you to know it would happen.” Applejack stepped back and pushed the stammering pegasus out from hiding. The mare could only chance quick looks at Twilight, obviously feeling uncomfortable with the situation. It was disheartening to see the boisterous pegasus acting like this, but taking everything that had happened into account it was not surprising. Applejack placed a comforting hoof on the blue mare’s back and gave her a reassuring nudge forward. Rainbow Dash gave the earth pony a grateful glance and finally made eye contact with Twilight, opening and closing her mouth a few time indecisively, before muttering out something.
 
 
 
  “... you.” Twilight could only make out the last word and she couldn’t deduce the rest of the sentence with just one word to go on. She could make a few educated guesses, but the awkwardness following a wrong guess was something she would rather avoid.
 
 
 
  “Ya gonna have to speak up, sugarcube.” Applejack chastised the pegasus, putting her stetson back on her head. Rainbow Dash gave the earth pony a frustrated look and then turned to Twilight with something bordering on fear in her eyes.
 
 
 
  “I didn’t catch you. I didn’t listen to you when you were obviously out of sorts this morning and then I let you fall. You were right there when I looked back and then I hear you crash and your wing was just-” Rarity reached out a hoof to the frantic pegasus and Rainbow Dash snapped out of her tirade at the contact. She looked around at her friends all looking at her with understanding and hung her head dejectedly. It must have felt like twisting the dagger in her gut for the proud pegasus to face understanding when she felt so guilty about what had happened. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t fast enough.”
 
 
 
  “You don’t have anything to apologize for. My wing’s going to make a full recovery and you couldn’t have known about the other thing.” Rainbow Dash made eye contact for a passing moment, before glancing at the others. Applejack was looking at Pinkie with a raised eyebrow and Rarity was trying to calm the pink mare down. Fluttershy was still holding the glass of water with the same stoic determination. Twilight motioned to have another sip and the yellow pegasus was happy to oblige her.
 
 
 
  “The doctor made it sound like you were… not getting better.” MCF-AIC-MA-36 might not have any problem telling her she was in the process of dying, but Rarity had more tact than an emotionless machine. Twilight did indeed feel like she was dying, but to admit that could prompt them to stay and force MCF-AIC-MA-36 to do something drastic to stay hidden.
 
 
 
  “I’m going to be fine. I think this is an adverse reaction to some medication that would work on unicorns. The doctors have the right to be a little anxious with a princess in one of their beds.” Twilight hated throwing her new title out like that, especially knowing what she knew of her intellectual faculties now, but it was just as uncomfortable of a subject for her friends, so they were likely to move on from the subject. Her friends were visibly uncomfortable, averting their gazes and relaxing just enough to signal they didn’t think Twilight was going to die.
 
 
 
  “Jou sure you goin’ to be ahkay?” Pinkie Pie asked through the sobs she was suppressing, she was the designated wildcard, after all. It must have been her Pinkie Sense that had spooked her friends into believing she was dying. Pinkie Pie’s baffling precognition might accurately represent reality, but it seemed like MCF-AIC-MA-36 was out of the view of her preternatural sight. Her friends knew to trust the pink mare’s prophecies, but Twilight was faced with the problem of convincing a precog with an impeccable record they were wrong.
 
 
 
  “Pinkie, I’m going to be fine. It’s going to take more than a nasty headache to take out a alicorn.” The pink mare’s blue eyes were very close and it strained her eyes to focus on them properly. The energetic mare’s sobbing had slowed and her eyes now sported the same sheen that Fluttershy had, rather than her usual liberal river of tears.
 
 
 
  “My Pinkie Sense said you were going to leave us and I thought that… that…” Oh, there were the rivers again. So, her Pinkie Sense had told them of her extraction and Pinkie had read it as Twilight dying and leaving them behind. MCF-AIC-MA-36 had warned her that telling her friends about what was happening to her brain would be problematic and Twilight had a feeling she understood the thing’s logic. Convincing her friends that MCF-AIC-MA-36 was not malicious would take more time than she felt like she had, seeing as she was not wholly convinced of it herself.
 
 
 
  “Pinkie, it’s more than likely I’m going to be transferred to Canterlot general hospital for more tests. The doctor just told me they can’t discern exactly what is happening to me with the equipment here. Couldn’t that be what your Pinkie Sense was telling you?” Pinkie Pie’s sobbing slowed gradually, she was thinking the proposed rationalization over. It should be an adequate explanation, if her Pinkie Sense had only given the fact she would be leaving them, because of her sickness or not. MCF-AIC-MA-36 was a cold, manipulative thing that was not above implying harming her parents to get her to cooperate. She didn’t quite agree with its methods, but it was also the only thing that had offered a viable solution to her problem.
 
 
 
  “Maybe, I guess?” Pinkie offered tentatively, shooting a confused look to her friends. The usually happy mare looked beyond confused. Her precognitive abilities were obviously telling her Twilight’s extraction would be far more than a simple transfer from hospital to hospital, but now she had to argue a completely logical argument against her emotional plea. Her friends wanted to believe the easier version of the truth Twilight was offering them and arguing against it would make her into the antagonist in this situation. Twilight felt dirty playing her friends against each other like this, but them being in the same room when whatever MCF-AIC-MA-36 was planning happened would be dangerous.
 
 
 
  “Gosh darn it, Pinkie! Ya scared us half ta death with yer yammering about losing Twilight!” Applejack hissed out at the pink mare in that hushed yell you did when you wanted to shout, but didn’t want to actually raise your voice. Twilight felt a pang of both fear and guilt at the outburst. Had Pinkie used the word “lose” when describing her premonition to her friends? Pinkie had proven to be scarily accurate with her precognition, so did this mean Twilight would not be returning from whatever facility MCF-AIC-MA-36 wanted to spirit her away to?
 
 
 
  “No, that’s what it felt like! This one hadn’t happened before and it felt just so…” Pinkie curled up onto herself, pressing a hoof to her chest desperately. There were tears in her eyes, but now they were tears of desperation and confusion. The usually happy mare looked terrified and lost, pleading Twilight to say something, for the unicorn to somehow make things right. Twilight extended a hoof to the pink mare, ignoring the flashes of silvery pain in her head from the movement, moving the pink mare’s hoof away from her chest. Pinkie had pressed hard enough to leave a clear print on her coat, most likely bruising the skin.
 
 
 
  “Pinkie…I know this has been scary, for me and you girls as well, but I want to say something to you girls and I want you to listen.” Her friends all nodded and leaned in to listen for what she was going to say. She only saw acceptance and care in the eyes of her friends. She had such good friends and it was more than wrong to keep secrets from them, especially something this big. She felt sure, confident she was making the right choice for the first time during the hectic day. She should have expected MCF-AIC-MA-36 would find a way to ruin that for her.
 
 
 
  *What are you going to do to us?* The words floated into her field of view, written out in her mother’s familiar cursive. The words appearing exactly as deliberately and carefully as her mother had written them out in her vision. The words stayed stationary in the air, no matter how her eyes moved, right over the heads of her friends. The threat was still only an implied one, but it was skirting damn near that line. Her parents were obviously involved with MCF-AIC-MA-36 and bound by their agreement, but Twilight could be putting her friends in danger if she told them of the things in her brain. Obviously, MCF-AIC-MA-36 was very adamant on staying a mystery to the rest of Equestria.
 
 
 
   “It’s going to be alright.” She’d opened her mouth fully intending to tell Pinkie why her premonition felt wrong. Why her leaving felt like she would be lost to them, how MCF-AIC-MA-36 didn’t want anypony to know where this facility was. She wanted to tell them that she was the mare who she was because of these cerebral implants and MCF-AIC-MA-36 was partly responsible for every achievement and victory she had. She wanted to introduce them to MCF-AIC-MA-36 and see how the mechanical shade would deal with her friends. She wanted this to be a friendship problem, when it was obviously not.
 
 
 
   “This is not a problem you can solve for me.” She wanted to do a lot of things, but her mind kept going back to how frightened her parents had been of possibly breaking the agreement they had made with MCF-AIC-MA-36. Her parents had lived for 16 years without being harassed by the thing and they still feared what crossing the strange shade meant. Knowing her parents had been lying to her for most of her life hurt, but her love had not diminished enough to sentence them to whatever punitive measures MCF-AIC-MA-36 had in store.
 
 
 
  “All I can do is wait.” Her friends had stayed quiet, most likely uncomfortable and confused by the tears on her face. She was so uncomfortable and the situation was so unfair it twisted at her guts. The sheets were damp with sweat and digging through her coat, she could still taste the bile in her throat and she was forced to push her friends away when she needed them most.
 
 
 
  “I beg your pardon for the interruption, but have you considered the chance of infection?” A soothing vaguely accented voice cut in just as Rainbow Dash was about to talk again. Her friends turned their heads to address the new visitor, but Twilight was both in too much pain to bother and knew who it was just from the voice and the rhyming. Zecora had found her way to her bedside and now Twilight would have to find a way to turn away the nice zebra politely.
 
 
 
  “The gesture is heartwarming, but the sickness might be spreading.” Twilight heard the door to the room open and didn’t hear it close. Her friends gave her a understanding and fearful gaze. They’d seen the pain she was in and the thought of being stricken ill with the same thing was understandably frightening. Rarity took the time to levitate the glass out of Flutterhy’s hooves and Twilight could see the fashionista’s blue magic wash over the pegasus. She had the irrational thought to be insulted by their fear, but realized she hadn’t given them any explanation of her sickness, so their assumption was still valid. Her friends said their hushed farewells and well wishes and filed out the door Zecora was supposedly holding open.
 
 
 
  “Zecora, I would just like to be left alone. I have a terrible headache.” Zecora didn’t respond immediately, deciding to calmly trot to the side of her bed her friends had just vacated humming a tune that made Twilight’s mane stand on end, but she couldn’t place it. She pulled out a compact travel burner and set it up on Twilight’s nightstand. The zebra then continued to add water into a small pot and let it simmer while she mixed several spices and herbs from her saddlebags into a cloth bag that was promptly thrown into the near boiling water. The distinct aroma of the calming tea Zecora supplied Twilight with filled the room as the pouch did its thing.
 
 
 
  “I must insist you drink my concoction, I am here to prepare you for your extraction.” Zecora said these words in her trademarked vague accent and jovial tone, so it took Twilight’s sluggish brain a moment to catch up.
 
 
 
   “Zecora, what are you…” Twilight’s words stuck to her throat as as the inky spectre she’d associated with MCF-AIC-MA-36 popped into existence next to Zecora. Twilight had become numb to the shock of seeing the frightening spectre appearing out of nowhere, but seeing Zecora turn her head to address the apparition surprised her enough to silence her.
 
 
 
  Twilight heard the strange whistling sound again as this shadow addressed Zecora directly. She had almost mistaken it for the thing that had been talking to her, but there were differences that became obvious when the shadow materialized itself fully. This was the outlined figure of a bald zebra, with similarly disturbing eyes made out of light. Was this something other than MCF-AIC-MA-36, or was it only a superficial change for interacting with Zecora?
 
 
 
  “Twilight, these things you see are very real, there is no reason for you to fear. All they are here to do is help you heal, I would ask that you accept their deal.” Zecora leaned forward to press her hoof on Twilight’s and Twilight was too stunned to react in any other way than staring at it. She wanted to scream, to accuse Zecora for being a spy, a liar and a bad zebra, but was again reminded of the implied threat to her friends and family. Zecora was either coerced into telling her this, or she genuinely believed the things threatening her had good intentions. The only concrete thing she could gleam from this situation was that MCF-AIC-MA-36 did actually exist.
 
 
 
  “Do you know where they are taking me?” The smell of Zecora’s tea was helping immensely in calming down her temper and soothing her headache to a manageable level. Could this tea be somehow connected to the things in her brain? It had been strange how none of her friends liked the concoction, but it calmed Twilight down better than any of Fluttershy’s teas and even alleviated her headaches when she stayed up reading too long. Was it a way of controlling her through proxy? Had she been made dependant on its effects to force her hoof even more, or was this just a coincidence?
 
 
 
  “I am bound to keep it secret, as my people see it as sacred.” Zecora reached over to the small clay pot of tea happily boiling away and poured a portion of the tea into a cup she’d procured from her saddlebags. The smell of the tea was intoxicating and was doing wonders for her debilitating headache. This was definitely not any normal brewed tea, this was a medicine meant to alleviate her symptoms. Zecora carefully offered the cup to Twilight, a encouraging smile gracing her features. She looked every bit the kind medicine zebra Twilight had learnt to trust.
 
 
 
  What would accepting the cup mean for her, for her friends and family? It would obviously alleviate her symptoms on the short term, but how would her friends react to her sudden unexplained disappearance? She was an official princess of Equestria, so there would be a thorough investigation, following the scandal. What would happen to her parents if they cracked under the pressure and told the authorities of MCF-AIC-MA-36? Zecora would supposedly be the last one to see her before her disappearance, so what would happen to her if she were to break under interrogation? Was she forced to choose which of her friends she wanted to put in danger, just because MCF-AIC-MA-36 didn’t want to be known by equestrian society?
 
 
 
  There were far too many questions and the urgency of the situation had been driven into her time and again, through pain and implied threats upon those she cared about, but she still couldn’t shake the immense distrust she felt toward MCF-AIC-MA-36 and all it stood for. It was a literal shadowy figure who had spent the time she’d know it coercing her into holding secrets from her friends and into being compliant in her own kidnapping to an undisclosed location, where her brain was to be operated on by technology she did not understand. The rational things left in her mind were screaming at her to refuse this immensely suspicious deal and wait for Princess Celestia and her guard.
 
 
 
  “Thank you, Zecora.” Twilight reached out her hooves to grasp the cup of tea and felt an immediate sense of victory when her head did not explode in pain from the careful movement. Sipping at the strange tasting concoction had an immediate effect on the squirming nests of sickening pain in her head. The warmth spread from her mouth to her scalp, leaving only relief in its wake. Everything had been so hot for so long that a small wave of warmth felt like cold water running across her coat. She took another sip and the wave of warmth was replaced by a pleasant numbness pressing down on her like the world’s most relaxing blanket. She breathed in the calming aroma of the tea slowly and could feel all her doubts simply melt away.
 
 
 
  *Registering diagnostic nanite telemetry, affected nanites responding to shut-off command.*
 
 
 
   Twilight saw Zecora’s eyes moving from right to left, staring at nothing. Zecora was either having a stroke, or she could see her own text prompts appearing in her field of view. Zecora had a separate little shadow buddy following her around, so Twilight assumed the medicine zebra was not seeing the same data that was offered to Twilight. The zebra was definitely reading something longer than the statement Twilight had been given.
 
 
 
   *Original hypothesis stands, insufficient resources for full recovery at current facilities. ZA-19 will begin preparing subject Twilight Sparkle for extraction at earliest convenience.*
 
 
 
“Initiate sedation of subject immediately.” Zecora ordered, with no discernible accent to her voice. Yes, her rational parts might have been rabid in their distrust of the situation, but it had been every other part of her that had been in pain and discomfort while her mind only confused her and put her through more discomfort. MCF-AIC-MA-36 had proven to have an immediate way to alleviate her pain and now there was a concrete enough reason to believe it could have the cure it promised. Well, good enough for her feverish, pain-addled mind, at least.
 
 
 
  “Zecora, that didn’t rhyme.” Zecora didn’t respond, she only smiled warmly and offered a hoof to take the cup of tea from her. As soon as the cup of tea had exchanged hooves Twilight’s body fell limp as a numbness spread through her body from the back of her head. She could barely keep her eyes open, having to fight against her body’s natural response to what MCF-AIC-MA-36 was doing to her brain. Zecora calmly retrieved the cup of tea and placed it back into her saddlebags. The last thing she heard was that maddening complex whistling, as the zebra’s black shadow turned to address MCF-AIC-MA-36.
 
 
 
  *Initiating sleep mode*
 




   Luna





  There it was again. Luna hadn’t thought much about her inability to enter into Twilight’s dreams after her ascension, but now she was becoming increasingly suspicious. Nights without discernable dreams were common and acted as white noise in the scape of dreams the blue alicorn visited each night. What was happening to Twilight wasn’t even that, there was nothing for Luna to see or feel where Twilight’s dreamscape should be, except for a single blip of light, or the absence of it, whenever Twilight lost consciousness.
 
 
 
  Alicorns did dream, just like other beings, but it was harder for Luna to enter into these dreams. This was doubly true in Twilight’s case, as her psyche would still in the process of alicornifying, for the lack of a better term. Still, she should still be able to see the dreamscape in flux, right where Twilight’s own dreamscape had been before. Nigh impossible to enter and alien to both the dreamer and Luna, but still there should be something there.
 
 
 
  “Your Highness?” A calm male voice interrupted Luna’s frustrated meditation. The night Princess flinched involuntarily from the sound. She might have been drifting a little too close to actually falling asleep, as unlike her sister a stable sleep cycle was a part of her duties for most of the week. It was during the day when she could let her own mind to simply dream her own dreams, even if her body could stay active without sleep, like Celestia’s could.
 
 
 
  “I’m awake. What is it?” Luna pulled her mind back into her body and opened her eyes to see one of her guards leaning into the chariot she was in. The elderly doctor who’d written books on rare brain diseases was looking out from the window on the opposite side with worry plastered on his face. Luna nodded for the guard to move over and extended her head outside the carriage. She froze when she saw just what had made her guards stop in their tracks.
 
 
 
  There was a lime green cloud hovering over the edge of the Everfree. Just the fact there were no weather ponies pushing it back, or breaking it apart, made it suspicious. The color was strange, but Luna wouldn’t put anything past the strangeness of the Everfree.
 
 
 
  “Did it just appear? Has it moved?” Luna fumbled on opening the carriage door with her hooves, before pushing it open with magic. She stepped out and hovered next to her guards, watching the cloud lazily drift low enough to graze at the trees of the Everfree. She couldn’t be sure if it meant anything, but the cloud was moving in a way that reminded her of breathing.
 
 
 
  “It rose up out of the Everfree in a single column like smoke. It moved to the edge after gathering into the shape it is in now. Couldn’t have been more than a minute ago.” The guard moved himself to and from in the air, trying to determine the size of the cloud. It was far too low to the ground to be a normal cloud and far too concentrated to be a fog front on the move or smoke from any fire. If it had risen up from the Everfree and stopped at that point, then if it kept moving in the same direction it would hit the hospital they were heading towards.
 
 
 
  Luna and her guards watched silently as a small group of pegasi took flight from Ponyville and headed for the cloud. Ponyville’s weather patrol was quick on the draw, used to Everfree’s quirks of uncontrollable nature. The pegasi gathered near the cloud, pausing to take stock of the cloud and what to do with it. Luna watched as one signaled the other three to action. The pegasi rose above the cloud and folded their wings to their sides, obviously intent on stomping the cloud back down into the Everfree. The three pegasi fell into the cloud without any sound, rather than landing on its surface. The leading pegasi stayed stationary in the air and Luna waited for the three flying out of the cloud with bated breath. It took 30 seconds for Luna to be sure there was something wrong and the leader pegasi had obviously come to the same conclusion and turned tail to get away from the cloud. The cloud surged forward and swallowed the remaining pegasi, as soon as their back was turned.
 
 
 
  “It’s moving for the hospital! Take the carriage to Ponyville and escort the professor inside a building. Princess, we have to move!” The commanding guard was quick on the draw, immediately turning to his subordinates and issuing commands in her stead. Luna appreciated the relaxed social rules in situations like this. In the past the commander would have asked her for permission before doing anything. Her guards knew her too far more powerful than them and were instructed to act accordingly if the situation warranted it.
 
 
 
  Luna flexed her wings and sped forward in a steep dive toward the hospital. She righted herself low to the ground and kept pumping her wings to go faster, to disturb more of the air around her with her magic. The cloud was moving fast, billowing and folding back into itself unnaturally. It was easily large enough to swallow up the whole hospital compound within its smothering mass and that would be something Luna would not allow. She’d overtaken her guards well before she was halfway to their destination. She needed to be on time to defend the structure, but she also needed the power she was pumping out into the air around her to have enough velocity to repel the cloud. Her wings beat the air into a frenzy and kept it chained to her as she advanced, but it was the spell she was focusing on that would amplify it and keep it constant enough to keep the green wall of smog at bay.
 
 
 
  A well timed beat of her wings and she rose to meet the edge of the building’s roof, scrambling and skidding to a halt as her horn glowed a brilliant hue of blue as the alicorn channeled her power into the spell she’d prepared. The gale she’d gathered howled as it sped past the building and rattled its windows, but it rose to a deafening roar as it was swallowed by the spell Luna had prepared. It was an invigorating experience to channel and direct so much power from nature, but the wall of green still continued on its course.
 
 
 
  It was moving far slower and had retreated into itself somewhat, but the swirling cloud still continued its advance. The movement of its mass had also changed, rather than billowing outward and into itself the mass was moving horizontally, left to right. Luna watched this strange reaction for a moment too long, as she was surprised by the cloud’s left side starting to move toward her. Channeling more power to her spell did not nothing to slow the mass and she realized this was not the reaction of some mindless smog monster. There had to be some other mechanisms to this mass for it to be able to use the power of her attack against her. The reaction had been far too fast for it to be an instinctual reaction of an all devouring fog monster, as well. There had to be a real intelligence behind this thing and the fog was only the thing it was using to obscure it from scrutiny and attack. Luna heard her guards landing around her as the wall of green continued its advance. She was too preoccupied to address them directly.
 
 
 
  “Keep the wind going. I’ll put up a shield.” The magnification spell would keep the volume constant, even with four pegasi supplying the wind power. As soon as she could hear her guards striking their wings against the wind luna started compiling another spell. It was a basic barrier spell amped up to beyond eleven, but it was the only one she knew that could keep out even gaseous substances. It was dangerous for unicorns to cast it at such high power, but she hoped being an alicorn meant more than just having wings. She hadn’t tested the fact in this specific circumstance, but she hoped the general idea would carry over.
 
 
 
  She stopped feeding her magnification spell power and started to reallocate those reserves to feed the barrier. She started to do this, working as fast as her hundreds of years of experience afforded her, but she was still caught unaware by the flash of light from within the green wall of fog.
 
 
 
  Her horn exploded. Everything became white hot and then there was the comforting nothing.