//------------------------------//
// Chapter 30: Back to Life, Back to the Workshop, and Back to Normal (sort of) 
// Story: Bermuda Beginnings 
// by ScarFox9700 
//------------------------------//

For several minutes, all eyes in that room  were glued to Taylor's health monitors. 

BEEEP!!!!! BEEEEEEP........blipbeep......beep......beep......beep......beep......

"Ok, it looks like he's stable now." 

With his magic, the doctor removed his glasses from his face, and after wiping his face with his hoof, he put his glasses back on. 

"Well, I would definitely say that this was a successful procedure, wouldn't you agree Dr. Stables?" 

The doctor nodded. "Yes, I couldn't agree more princess." 

James was shaking his head, and just staring at Taylor in awe. Where a few minutes prior there had been what appeared to be a burnt corpse, he saw once again, his friend and comrade, Charles Taylor, albeit, slightly different than before. Almost all of his burns were gone, replaced by a criss-crossed series of spiderweb scars that ran across his face, but were just thick enough to be noticeable. His hair, which had previously been almost fried off, had seemingly regrown itself to what it once was. The only difference now was that some patches of it were black (from where they had been burned), instead of brown. 

"I just can't believe that that spell actually worked! Aside from the cast on his left arm, and of course his eyes, Taylor looks like nothing ever happened to him!" 

"I really can't believe it either", Nurse Freckles added. "In all of my time here, I've never seen anything like this before, and if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes, I never would have believed it!" 

During the course of this conversation, the doctor and Nurse Cotton began preparing more of the potions so that the same spell could be used for the rest of the Airplane 8 as well.

Any idea on how much longer it's going to be until Taylor wakes up?" James asked. 

Nurse Freckles looked at the health monitors again. "Well, he is stable, and his anesthesia should be wearing off soon, so I would say maybe any minute now." 

Just then, as if Taylor had heard her, he began to groan. "H-huh? W-where am I?" He muttered. "Did, d-did the procedure work? If so, I can already say that I'm still blind, however, I can maybe see some faint glowing of light." 

All eyes turned to look at him.

"How do you feel Mr. Taylor?" Nurse Cotton asked him. 

"Well, aside from my eyes, my broken arm still feels sore, as does my back. Whatever that procedure was, maybe it can't fix everything." 

The doctor and nurse Freckles examined him. Sure enough, although his arm was now well on it's way to being fully healed, it wasn't quite there yet. The heavy bruising on his back was also still present as well. 

"Well Mr. Taylor, I can say that even though that spell worked wonders on you, it didn't quite do everything. You're arm is well on its way to being fully healed, but I'm afraid that we're going to have to put it into another cast for the time being. Also, the heavy bruising on your back is still present as well." 

Taylor sighed. "Yeah, I guess that I could have expected as much. However, I also must ask, how are my burns?" 

The doctor smiled. "Well, why don't you put your hand to your face and find out?" 

Taylor did so, and when he did, he gasped in shock! All he could feel was skin! Skin, hair, the bandages covering his eyes, and of course, the series of tiny scars. 

"Wow. I, honestly have no words right now. I just wish that I could see the results! Whatever that treatment was, it really was a miracle cure!" 

"And speaking of being able to see, it's time for your next round of eyedrops Taylor. You're going to need another round every four hours." 

"For how long doctor?" 

"For the next couple of days at least. After that, you may finally fully regain your eyesight." 

Taylor sighed. "Yeah, this is going to be a pain, but if it'll restore my vision, I'll do it." 

Taylor then leaned his head back, and after the doctor removed the black bandages from his eyes, he opened them wide with his magic, and dropped 4 drops of the special flash-burn eyedrops that he had been provided by the optometrists.

After this was over, Taylor went back to sleep, and Dr. Stables, Nurse Cotton, and Princess Celestia left to see if the same treatment could be administered to other patients. 



 

A few minutes after they left the room, Taylor turned to Nurse Freckles. "While Mr. Taylor is sleeping, there's something that I need to do." 

She looked at him curiously. "And what's that?" 

"Well, two things. First of all, I think that I need to go back to that workshop, and do some examinations, so that I can give Taylor a full damage report when he wakes up. And while I'm there, there's something else that I need to check on inside the plane." 

"What? What's inside the plane?" 

James shrugged. Maybe nothing, or maybe the book that I need. I won't know until I see the plane again." 

He turned to leave, but before he could, Nurse Freckles stopped him. "Um, do you really think that you should leave Mr. James? I mean, aren't you still injured?" 

James looked at her curiously. "Um, yeah, I WAS, but then I got healed, remember? Technically, I'm not injured at all anymore. I can leave the hospital." 

"Maybe so, but TECHNICALLY, no release forms for you were signed." 

"Yeah, but my treatment and its effects were witnessed by you, Dr. Stables, Nurse Cotton, and Princess Celestia. It may not be a release form, but isn't that the next closest thing?" 

After thinking about it for a few moments, Nurse Freckles sighed. "Fine, I give up. You win. You can go if you want, however, if you get into trouble later, it's all your own fault!" 

James nodded. "Thank you Nurse Freckles! And I should be back in maybe 2-3 hours or so, so not too long." 

"Ok, I guess that I'll see you again later Mr. James." 

After leaving Taylor's room, James then exited the Trauma Ward, and after returning back to his room, he removed his stallion-robe and slippers, and after putting back on his shirt, shoes, and jacket that he had been wearing when he arrived, he went downstairs to the main lobby, and after leaving the hospital, he found himself on the streets of Ponyville.



 

"Um, excuse me?" He asked the first pony that he saw. 

"Yes?" 

"Um, could you please tell me how to get to the Drywood Workshops? You know, the one where Mr. Taylor and the others were wounded in a few days ago?" 

The mare pointed down the street. "Yes. You head down this street, take a left at the town hall, go straight for two blocks, and then turn right. It's the large building on your right." 

"Ok, thank you ma'am!" 

"You're welcome, um........what's you're name?" 

"Oh, um, It's James, Ma'am. Ensign William James." 

"Oh, well then, you're welcome Mr. James!" 

James nodded, and then he left to get to the workshop. When he arrived there a few moments later, he was slightly surprised. There were construction ponies there, and they seemed to be working hard. Most of the broken windows had been repaired, and the rest weren't far behind. 

"Strange", James thought to himself. "I wonder who's behind this?" 

When he got to the workshop's main doors, he found them open. Peering inside, he saw more ponies cleaning up the interior. Most of the blackened stains from the smoke had been scrubbed away, and the whole interior smelled like lemon cleaner. 

James then noticed two ponies who seemed to be giving orders. One was a stallion, and the other was a mare. When they turned and saw James standing in the doorways, they were surprised. 

"Hey, I know you! You're that other human who accompanied Mr. Taylor on his plane!" 

James nodded. "Yes, that's me. I'm Ensign William James, but you can just call me James. 

The stallion nodded. "Yes, well, it's nice to meet you Mr. James. I'm Blueprints, and this is Squeaky. As I'm sure that you know, we were the only two of the accident to come out completely unscathed." 

"Yeah, that's what I was told at the hospital. And that's also why I'm here, I wanted to be able to give Taylor a damage report when I return to the hospital. I'm sure that you can imagine my shock when I realize that this place is being repaired! Is there a reason for this?" 

Blueprints nodded. "Yes, we're cleaning this place back up, so that we can get back to work on our engineering projects here, which was our original intent. Fortunately, the damage was not as bad as we originally believed, and the workshop should be ready for operation again by the end of the week." 

"And where is Taylor's plane? I need to examine that." 

Blueprints pointed to the corner. "It's back there. We pushed it and all of its debris back there so that they would be out of the way. All remaining fuel was drained, and has since been removed for proper disposal." 

"That's good, I guess. I'm sure that Taylor would be glad to know that nopony will be in any danger of getting hurt from that fuel anymore." 

James then walked over to the plane, dreading what he was going to find. When he arrived, he was in for another surprise. James expected the plane to be nothing more than a burnt out shell. Instead, the plane was still standing upright, and from the cockpit on back, everything seemed to be almost completely intact, aside from a few minor burn streaks. 

From the front of the cockpit forwards though, it was a different story. It was a mess of burnt, tangled metal. Most of the plane's frame, aside from the engine cowling, was still intact. However, all of the engine casing, as well as all of the engine's components that weren't made out of metal, were completely destroyed. The plane's engine itself had come out, and was sitting on the ground in pieces. 

Perhaps most bizzarely of all though, in spite of everything, the plane's propeller was not only still attached to the drive shaft, but it was also completely unscathed!

"What? How is that even possible! There were flames everywhere! Plus, even the engine cowling was blown forwards. There's no way that it could have been blown forwards hard enough to hit a stallion, and break his hips and both legs, but still leave the propeller intact, is there.....? This must be some type of supernatural-type stuff, as it defies all of the known Laws of Physics!" 

After James had gotten over his initial shock about the propeller, he got to work on his examinations of the plane. 





About an hour or so later, he was done."Phew, that was a bit harder than I thought it was going to be! But at any rate, it's done now, and now I can give Taylor that damage report."

Just as he turned to leave though, James suddenly remembered why he'd come to see the plane in the first place. He went to the back of the plane, opened the rear door, and climbed inside. James then began to reached into the small storage compartment underneath his old seat, to see if what he was looking for was indeed there.

"Come on, where is it? Please tell me that it's still here!" 

Finally, after a few moments of frantic searching, James finally found what he was looking for. 

"Are you doing ok over here Mr. James?" 

James then climbed out of the plane, and found himself face to face with Blueprints. 

"Yes, I'm doing fine. I also found what I came here for." 

"And what's that?" 

James held it up. It was a thick book with a blue cover. the words, "Grumman TBF Avenger" were visible in white, while below them the words, "Complete Manual, 1941". 

"And what's that Mr. James? It looks very important." 

James nodded. "It is. This is the operator's manual that was written for the TBF Avenger. It's a complete guide to everything about it, to the parts, statistics, maintenance instructions, the whole 10 miles." 

Blueprints stared at the book in shock. "If only we had had this while we were restoring the plane in the first place! Then this accident would have never happened! I'm also willing to bet that Taylor knew about this book, and chose to ignore it!" 

"In Taylor's defense though, I'm almost completely certain that he had no idea that it was even here." 

"Oh? And how do you know this?" 

"Because, I "borrowed" this book from the airbase at Fort Lauderdale to read during dull moments on our last flight. Taylor didn't know that I had it at all. When the weather started getting really rough though, I stashed the book under my seat, and here it remained until just now.'" 

"And, are, you going to take this book to Mr. Taylor?" 

James nodded. "Yes. He needs to be aware of its existence. Taylor talked about maybe restoring the plane again one day. It sounded like he maybe wants to return to Earth." 

Blueprints was surprised. "What? Mr. Taylor wants to return to Earth?" 

"Maybe, it was just something that we were talking about. Anyway, I think that I should probably get going now. I'm due back at the hospital." 

James then tucked the book under his arm, and after shutting the rear door, he left the workshop. 

"Goodbye for now Blueprints. I hope that the cleanup here goes well, and that you can get back to your engineering projects." 

Blueprints nodded. "I hope so too Mr. James. I also hope that the rest of the engineers, as well as Mr. Taylor, make full recoveries soon, so that they can return to help." 

"Yes, I hope so too. I'll be sure to check on everypony when I return to the hospital. Goodbye Blueprints." 

"Goodbye Mr. James." 

Just before James left though, he turned back one last time to Blueprints. "One last thing Blueprints." 

"Yes Mr. James?" 

"If when Taylor recovered, and he did want to restore his plane again, and he wanted your help with it again, what would you say?" 

Blueprints sighed. "I would have to say that I would certainly have to think long and hard about that. I'm still pretty shook up from last time." 

James nodded. "Ok, that's fair enough I guess." He then left the workshop, and returned to the hospital.





Once James was back in his room, he set the book down onto the table beside his bed. Then, after removing his jacket, he went back to the Trauma Ward. When he arrived though, he was in for yet another surprise. There was a small crowd of ponies standing in the hallway, to to James's utter shock, they were gathered around Metalwork, Inky, and Royal! They all looked like they did the day before the accident. 

"What?! They're all fine now?! Wow! That procedure really is a miracle cure!" 

"Well, yes and no Mr. James." 

James turned around, and to his surprise, there stood Princess Celestia. "Yes, that procedure is a miracle cure, but no, it doesn't work on everything." 

"What do you mean Princess?" 

Celestia sighed. "I mean that we used it on those three engineers, as well as Oilcan, who was injured by flying glass. It worked for them, but not Oilcan. It also didn't work on several other patients that Dr. Stables, Nurse Cotton and I tried it on." 

James was really confused. "What? How can that be?" 

"At first, I couldn't understand it either. But then, after returning to Canterlot, I found a series of manuscripts that explained everything. According the Theodosian himself, the spell only works for "Ponies who have been injured by foreign sources, or are actually foreign sources themselves." 

"Um, I'm still really confused. Can you further enlighten me please?" 

"Yes. What he meant was, that the first patients that he treated, were victims of fights with dragons. Dragons are not native to Equestria; they are a 'foreign source'. Mr. Taylor's plane is also 'foreign'. It came from Earth, and is made from materials not native to Equestria. Mr. Taylor, Metalwork, Inky, and Royal were all hurt by either the plane itself, or the fire caused by it's fuel, which was also a 'foreign' compound. Is this making any sense to you Mr. James?" 

James shrugged. "Some, but I still have questions. What about Oilcan? Why didn't the spell work for him? And why did it work for me? I wasn't injured by the plane." 

"Oilcan was injured by flying glass from the shattered windows. That glass is Equestrian-made, and not 'foreign'. But you Mr. James, are another story. You, like Mr. Taylor, hail from the planet Earth. Everything on Earth is 'foreign' to us, even when it isn't. You both are 'foreign sources'. What this means is that if you are ever injured like Mr. Taylor was, or Mr. Taylor is ever injured like that again, this procedure will work to heal you." 

James was taken aback by this statement. "A treatment that can heal severe injuries that really only works for those who have been injured by 'foreign sources'?" He thought. "This is really weird." Out loud, he said, "I don't know what to say about this Princess. It's still slightly confusing, and I need more time to think about it." 

Celestia nodded. "Yes, I understand completely Mr. James. However, before you go back to Mr. Taylor, I need to ask you a question." 

"Certainly Princess. What's your question?" 

"Um, while I was talking to Nurse Freckles earlier about Taylor, she mentioned to me the conversation that you had with him yesterday about maybe going home some day. My question is, were you both being serious about that?" 

James was really taken aback by Celestia's question. He shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know at this point Princess. We were just talking about it, although Taylor did seem to have an interest in maybe returning home. If this was the case though, do you think that you would be able to help us go home?" 

Celestia thought about that for a moment. "To be perfectly honest Mr. James, I don't know. In theory, I could just use that same spell again, but who knows if it would work. I would need to do a lot more research on it first." 

James nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that that would be for the best. Anyway, I guess that I'd better go see how Taylor's doing." 

James then left Celestia, and returned to Taylor's room. As he was walking though, he saw the three engineers returning to their rooms as well. 

"So are all of you guys all healed up as well?" 

Metalwork turned to him. "Yes, it sure looks that way. We're going to be kept here one for night for observation, but if everything is still ok by tomorrow morning, then we'll get released." 

"Hmm, that sounds good. I hope that all of you qualify for release." 

"I sure hope that we do too Mr. James." 

James then opened the door to Taylor's room, and went inside. As he was walking back in, Nurse Freckles was giving Taylor his latest dose of eyedrops. 

"Hello Taylor, how are you doing?" 

"Hmm? Oh, hey James, and I'm doing ok. I still feel a bit sore, but my arm is in a new cast, and my eyes are feeling much better as well. I can already see light again, and in a few more days, everything should almost be back to normal, I hope. But I noticed that you went somewhere earlier. Where did you go?" 

"Oh, I went back to the workshop to fully assess the damage." 

Taylor was surprised. "You did? And how bad is it?" 

"Not too bad actually. When I arrived, I found Blueprints and Squeaky there, and they were supervising the cleaning and repair work that was being done." 

"What? They're doing repair work already?" 

James nodded. "Yeah. Oh, and I also did an assessment of the plane." 

"Oh, and how bad is it? Junk and scrap metal?" 

"That's what I thought that it was going to be too. However, I was wrong. In reality, from the cockpit on back, everything is completely fine. The front though, is going to need some serious work. The engine is in pieces, all non-metal parts and the engine housing are gone, and the rest is kinda mangled. Overall though, I do see hope, especially after what I found." 

Taylor was curious. "What? What did you find?" 

James smiled. "Well, under my seat, I found the TBF Avenger operations manual that I 'borrowed' from the airbase, and had with me during the flight." 

Taylor looked at James, and his face seemed to have a mixture of anger, sadness, regret, and other mixed emotions. "So basically, you mean to tell me that underneath your seat, you had the operations manual for the plane, it was there the whole time, and I never even knew it?!" 

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. Hopefully now we have a real chance of fixing the plane, without it blowing up this time." 

Taylor maybe would have said something, but he was in such a state of shock about James having the TBF Avenger operations manual, that he actually fainted!