With a grumble, I wheeled myself through the library. I was lucky that Fluttershy had one of those dog crutches, so I was able to shuffle around while I recovered. Didn't change the fact that I was stuck in the library, though, and Moon Dancer and Twilight took full advantage of this.
"Stupid ponies and their needles." I rolled into the kitchen. "Stupid busted ribs forcing me to go slow. Stupid tree, breaking my legs." I stopped and stared out the back door, and the outside world beyond it. "Stupid stairs, can't climb back up them."
"You okay?" I heard Yomega call out as he came into the room behind me.
"Stupid Alpha, asking stupid questions." I muttered.
"What?"
"I said I'm fine!" I snapped back at him. I angrily wiggled my casts, continuing with a growl. "I can't believe Conner couldn't fix this. Didn't he snap Lulu's spine back together during Spike's greed growth? This shouldn't be that hard!"
"First off, Lulu's was a clean break. Yours were a fucking mess." Yomega lectured. "Second, and more importantly, such rapid magical healing can cause even worse problems for the recipient in the long run. Things like cancer, osteoporosis, or Alzheimer's for head injuries. That's why Rainbow was staying in the hospital. We were lucky that Lulu evolved when she did."
I sighed, knowing he was right. He had explained all this to me before. I still felt that I needed to get the last word in, though. "Just wish I could move around more, is all."
"Yeah," Yomega sighed as he sat beside me, "I can imagine how much it sucks for you to be limited to the one floor." I grunted my agreement. "Just a heads up, they're thinking of hooking you up to the Spectro-Thaumic Scanner and having you fire off a Solar Flare. They want to know how something as small as us can do, well, a Solar flare."
I gave him a half lidded stare, arching an eyebrow as I did so. "Not like I can run anywhere. Lemme guess, you're only telling me so that I don't accidentally break the scanner, hmm?"
He shook his head with a chuckle. "That too, but I'm also curious as to how we do what we can do. Aren't you?"
I groaned. "Yes, but no. I am curious, but I don't want to find out that it's midichlorians or some stupid shit like that."
"At this point," Yomega sighed, "I don't think we have a choice. Your little stunt has gotten a lot of ponies curious, including Rainbow Dash. I do have good news though: you've still got a few days to rest up. Moon Dancer's insisting that the experiment is done in our Training Yard, so they're currently looking for a portable generator." He stood up to leave, before pausing. "Oh, while I'm thinking about it, Apple Bloom had Triphyle put up a protective thicket around the Yard. People can only enter from the one side now, so that should cut back the chances of accidents like what happened happening."
"Good to know." I mumbled. I lay my head onto my front legs. I decided to spend the next few hours pony-watching, waiting for Conner to come by to give his daily dose of healing.
... I'm so fucking bored.
I sat in the scanner's bowl, propped up by my casts. I sent an exasperated look back at gathering behind me. I don't want to be here...
Sadly, everyone else did. Moon Dancer and Twilight were working together to fine tune the scanner, with Spike and Thunderlane running around making sure everything was plugged in and the generator was running. The rest of the element bearers sat back with the Pack, chatting amongst themselves. Even Silver was here, her orange hoodie causing her to stand out from the rest of the Crusaders. Yomega caught my eye, and gave a slight, but firm, shake of his head.
We're going to learn a thing or two... I mentally mocked, turning my gaze forward. I just wanted to create a new move, show it off when I was ready. Not turn it into a science fair project!
"Quityerbitchin'. You're still getting to show off." My gaze drifted over the wall of thorns and vines encircling the clearing. "The Yard's gotten a serious security upgrade because of you. Hey! Think we could convince Triphyle to beef up the Daycare's?"
... I'll look into that later. I stuck a pin in that thought as Twilight stepped up beside me.
She turned to address the assemble group. "Alright, everything is set up and ready to go. We'll power up the Spetro-Thaumic Scanner, set it to continuous print, let it create the baseline, then have Leo use her new ability. Any questions so far?"
"Do you think the rest of them will gain this new ability?" Scootaloo asked.
"Unlikely." Moon Dancer admitted. "We're currently working under the theory that an Eevee will learn or gain new abilities based on need or training, for a lack of a better word." She gestured to Conner. "We think that Conner gained a healing ability during the... Greed growth incident. That would be one gained from need."
Twilight spoke up next. "Leo, Cy and Vince, however, all have seemed to have gained an ability from their training leading up to the Running of the Leaves that increases their overland speed. However, these speeds are nowhere near the extreme speeds shown with their light rushes. Now- yes, Silver?"
Silver lowered her hoof. "What's a light rush?"
"That's what we're calling the ability that most of the Pack share, the one where they cover themselves with energy and charge their opponent." Moon Dancer answered.
"I think Leo's rush is a different one." Silver mused. "Hers seems much faster than the others, though I think Cy's getting faster as well."
The studious mares shared a look. "That's an experiment for another time," They agreed.
"For now, though..." Moon Dancer began.
"Science!" Twilight cried with almost maniacal glee. The subsequent button push seemed almost anticlimactic.
I leaned against the bowl's edge as the tines spun slowly around me. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but the horrid screeching that sounded from the machine behind me wasn't it. I cringed into myself, regretting the fact that I couldn't cover my ears.
"I thought that the scanner only showed pictures." I just barely heard Pinkie over the damn noise. "Whats with the squiggly lines?"
"We can't watch the screen in real time." Thunderlane answered. "The machine can't process the data fast enough. We can reenter this in later to get the images."
"Why does it sound so awful?!" Spike cried out.
<<It sounds like an old dial up!>> I moaned out.
"Maybe we should have the Pack wait out of earshot." Fluttershy sensibly suggested. "They seem to be in pain."
<<It's like one drill in one ear,>> Abes whined, <<and another drill in the other ear! And they're meeting in the middle!!>>
"Baseline set!" Moon Dancer faintly called out.
I think Twilight mumbled out something like "Alright, cast it now!" but I couldn't tell.
Goddamnit! I'mma about to hit the universal mute button! I groaned, clenching my eyes tightly shut.
Then Rainbow called out to me. "Alright Leo, Solar Flare."
I began to charge up, the machine's screeching becoming a howl. During the brief charge, I cracked an eye open to gauge the speed of the tines. I waited for one to pass to launch the sphere.
We all watched it race down the clearing. It landed just shy of the tree, blowing a crater in the dirt. Twilight shut the machine off to let Rainbow pull me out of the bowl.
"Holy..." Silver's voice filled the silence. "I don't remember Cheerilee teaching us about anything that could do that! That almost seems like something a summon could do!"
Twilight and Moon dancer shared another look. "... Huh."