Chapter 17
“From what we can see, both your thaumic pathways and appendix are too small and underdeveloped to cope with the amount of mana your body is being required to metabolize,” said Dr. Stable matter of factly.
As Allen laid back on his bed, not sure what to think about Dr. Stable’s pronouncement, he thought back to earlier in the day when he went to get his MRI.
When he’d been wheeled in on the gurney, he hadn’t been sure what to make of the MRI machine. Unlike the ones back on Earth, this one was more open, with a pair of glass ovals the size of watermelons attached to a silvery colored metal ring that was maybe a foot wide and circled under a wooden table. The circle appeared to be attached to some sort of mechanism under said table that would allow it to rotate the two glass ovals as it scanned the patient.
As Nurse Redheart and Dr. Stable prepped Allen, Nurse Love, a unicorn with a light golden coat, purple mane, orange-colored eyes, and a heart-shaped lollipop for a cutie mark stepped into the room and began charging the machine with her magic.
Allen watched as her magic was absorbed by the two glass ovals, which up to this point had been a dull gray color, now they suddenly began glowing a soft orange as well as emitting a low hum. Tearing his gaze away from the nurse back to Dr. Stable, Allen asked, “So how is this gonna work?”
Carefully levitating Allen from the gurney to the table and gently setting him down, Dr. Stable explained, “All you need to do is remain still while the MRI scans you, you’re a little bigger than most patients we have, but I believe so long as you keep your arms and legs inside there should be no issues. These,” he pointed at one of the glowing glass orbs, “will scan you and send the images over to a screen at that work station over there,” he pointed to a nearby window that held a small desk and chair, with a flat plate of what looked like refined quartz sitting on top of the desk. “The procedure should only take about twenty to thirty minutes after which we’ll transfer you back to your room while we go over the results, and then we’ll let you know what we found.”
Allen nodded, a little wary of the fact that he was going to have a solid ring of metal spinning around him with nothing between him and it. “And you’re sure this is safe?”
Dr. Stable nodded. “Of course, the scanning ring spins very slowly as that gives us the best resolution of your insides, and as I mentioned before, this magic won’t be absorbed by your body, so there should be no side effects from the procedure.” Looking up, he noticed that the nurse charging the machine was finished, and giving Allen a reassuring smile said, “Don’t worry, Mr. Ross, you’re in good hooves, just lay back and relax, we’ll be in the workstation monitoring everything.”
Giving a final nod, Allen replied, “Alright, let’s get this over with then.”
Shooting Allen one final smile, Dr. Stable turned and trotted out of the room, shutting the workstation door behind him. Once inside, he leaned forward and hit a button on the desk, his voice suddenly emitting from a pair of nearby speakers, “Alright, Mr. Ross, we’re starting the procedure, please relax and we’ll let you know when we’re done.” With that said, he turned off the mic and started up the MRI machine.
With a low hum, the machine came to life as the two softly glowing orbs began rotating around Allen in a slow circle, starting at his head before then slowly working their way towards his feet. In total, the machine performed two passes, each one taking about fifteen minutes for a total of thirty, when the hum finally died down, Allen heard Dr. Stable say over the intercom, “Alright, we’re finished, Nurse Redheart will take you to your room for the night and I’ll be along later with the test results.”
Allen cautiously sat up and nodded at the doctor on the other side of the glass divider. Meanwhile, Nurse Redheart came out and helped him back onto his gurney. She then wheeled him out of the examination room to where he would be staying for the night.
A few minutes later and Allen found himself in your typical hospital room. Cream-colored walls, a white-tiled ceiling, and floor along with a pair of beds, with a green curtain separating them, made up the room. Settling back into his bed, Allen made himself as comfortable as he could while Nurse Redheart fussed over his IV and various monitors. After several minutes, she gave a satisfied nod and said, “Alright, I’ll be back with Dr. Stable and your results in a bit, but if there is anything you need, just push this little button on the side of the bed and one of the on-duty nurses will assist you.”
“Thanks,” replied Allen with a nod.
Redheart smiled in reply before turning and leaving.
When both Dr. Stable and Nurse Redheart returned later, Allen could tell that they didn’t have great news. Of course, nothing could have prepared him for what Dr. Stable had just told him.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, Allen replied tiredly, “Okay, doc, walk me through what it is you found, why it’s bad, and what can be done to fix it, in the simplest way possible.”
Dr. Stable replied with a sigh and rubbed the side of his head as he thought. Finally, he said, “Alright, I’ll start with your appendix then, as that is where the process starts. Now, as you can see here,” he said, as he held up a large image of what Allen assumed was his lower abdomen. Pointing at a small worm-like appendage that was attached to the bottom of his large intestine with the tip of his hoof, Dr. Stable continued, “this is your appendix. At first, we weren’t sure if you even had an appendix, seeing at how small the little bugger is,” he jokingly grumbled to himself, “however, we managed to find it, so that alleviated some of our worries.”
“So that’s good then? That I have an appendix?” asked Allen, not sure if he should be happy or worried.
Thankfully Dr. Stable put any worries to rest with a nod of his head. “Yep, the simplest way is to think of the appendix as a second stomach if you will. Except in this case, instead of digesting food, it ‘digests’ mana into magical energy that your body can use.”
“Mana? You mean magic right?” asked Allen, a confused look on his face.
Dr. Stable shook his head, an amused smile on his face. “No, Mr. Ross, well, not entirely wrong, but not correct either. You see, mana is basically a form of raw energy that is the building block that we use to create spells. As such, nearly everything in the world contains mana to one degree of concentration or another.”
“Okay, not sure I’m really following here,” replied Allen tiredly, “I thought you guys just pulled magic or mana, whatever, out of the air or from ley lines or something.”
Dr. Stable gave a soft chuckle. “No no, mana doesn't really work like that in our world. It might work like that in some other world, but not here. So while it is true that mana exists around us in an ambient form, and that there are such things as ley lines. We ponies can’t just pull it out of the air or directly from the ley lines and use it whenever we want. Instead, we need to consume it, usually through food and water intake. Though there are potions that can be used to increase a pony’s mana reserves. However, using them too much puts a strain on the digestive system and isn’t healthy. It would be like if you were to drink several gallons of coffee at once. Your system would be overloaded with caffeine, and that isn’t good for you.”
Allen felt his ears metaphorically perk up at the mention of coffee, and turning to the doctor he asked, a hopeful expression on his face, “You guys have coffee here?”
Giving a happy nod, Dr. Stable replied, a wistful smile on his face, “Of course! That stuff helped me through many study nights. It’s widely available so you shouldn’t have too much difficulty obtaining some when your supplies run low.”
“Thank God,” said Allen softly to himself, as he’d been dreading the day he brewed his last cup of joe, but upon hearing that coffee was freely available in this world, that was one less worry he had to deal with, of course, that still left plenty more on his plate.
Shaking his head to bring his thoughts back on topic, he said, “Alright, getting back to the matter at hand.”
Clearing his throat, Dr. Stable continued, “Right, the matter at hoof. As I was saying, while ley lines and ambient mana do exist, we as ponies cannot directly use them to power our magic. Instead what happens is the mana from these sources is soaked up by various things in the world around us. Such as plants, water, minerals, etc. We as animals consume those things and turn the mana into usable magical energy that allows us to power our spells and abilities. Such as pegasi being able to fly, earth ponies being able to use their talents to grow food and the like or unicorns to cast spells. I suppose another way to think of it is that mana is just another nutrient that our bodies need to function properly. The appendix, therefore, is a critical part of the digestive system that allows the mana to be properly absorbed by the body and used without issue.”
“So what went wrong with me then?”
Dr. Stable sighed. “Well...I’ve never personally run into anything like your condition, before Mr. Ross. However,” he held up a hoof to forestall any outburst from Allen when he opened his mouth to speak. When Dr. Stable saw Allen wasn’t going to interrupt him he continued, saying, “I have run across cases where a pony, usually because of a compilation during pregnancy, was born with an underdeveloped appendix, and by extension, a weak thaumic network, it’s a rare issue, and thankfully treatable.”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here,” said Allen warily.
Dr. Stable nodded. “But, all of these cases are in young foals whose bodies are still growing. Additionally, there is also the consideration that your gut bacteria isn’t properly suited to breaking down the mana into usable energy that your body can absorb properly. This is primarily due to your underdeveloped appendix, as that is where the bacteria and enzymes that your body uses to break down mana into energy are created and stored, and since your appendix isn’t properly developed, it can’t produce the needed bacteria and enzymes necessary for your body to function.”
“So, what your saying is that I have magical diabetes?” asked Allen, a quiet look on his face.
Dr. Stable waggled a hoof back and forth in an unsure motion. “I suppose that is one way to put it. However, it’s a bit more complex than that, and we don’t have all the information that we need to make a proper diagnosis. When you first came in we didn’t think to do a gut floral test on you or any other tests beyond what was needed to identify potentially deadly diseases, as we were more concerned with keeping you from getting sick or getting us sick with a new disease. However, now that we have that particular issue sorted out, I’d like to do a full battery of tests on you to see what we can find.”
“Okay, and what all does that entail?”
“Needles, lots of needles...and samples can’t forget those,” replied Dr. Stable absently on the last part.
“Joy,” sighed Allen.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Ross, we’ll be sure to use a local numbing spell, that should hopefully take care of the majority of the discomfort.”
“Okay, so what happens after that?”
“That’ll depend on what your test results give back to us, the worst-case scenario is that you’ll need months worth of intensive treatments to bring yourself to a level approaching that of a healthy adult pony. At best, you’ll just need a couple of weeks to a month or two to get to a level where you don’t need to worry about mana overload. Though in your case, I’m leaning more towards the latter than the former.”
“Why’s that?” asked Allen.
In reply, Dr. Stable grabbed another blown-up image and, using the tip of his hoof again, pointed at Allen’s liver. “Sitting just below and behind your liver is your gallbladder, and right next to it, is your pancreas. These two organs also help process mana, just in different ways. Now, in general, we ponies do not have gallbladders. However, alicorns, on the other hoof, do have one as well as the appendix and pancreas.”
“What’s an alicorn?”
“They are a pony that possesses the magic of all three tribes, unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony, as well as their physiology. Meaning, they can cast magic with a horn, fly using their wings, and possess enhanced endurance and strength. Now, the only alicorns that are currently known in the world right now are Princess Celestia, her sister Luna, and their niece Princess Cadenza. However, I’m getting off-topic, now,” he said, clearing his throat as he tapped the image again, “as I said, ponies generally don’t have a gallbladder, we just have an appendix, also called a cecum and a pancreas. These two organs allow us to digest and use mana in our daily lives. However, the fact that you have all three organs, means that your body is better able to process and absorb mana for later use.”
“Alright, so if I have all three then, shouldn’t there be enough redundancy to keep me from having these kinds of problems?” asked Allen.
“If it was just due to your underdeveloped appendix, then yes, you would be mostly correct. However, your body’s thaumic pathways are just too weak to handle the strain imposed on them. Think of them like blood vessels, except that they carry mana instead of blood. The main problem with yours is that they are so small and weak, that if you were to try and push any normal amount of mana through them they wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure and would burst. Like trying to hook a garden hose up to a fire hydrant and turning it on full blast, the hose would rupture from the pressure after a time. Thankfully, the fact that you even have any pathways, to begin with, is a good sign. It means that your species at one point had access to mana and maybe used it in some fashion.”
“So does that mean I’ll be able to do magic spells and such?” asked Allen, hoping that something good would come of this uncomfortable mess that he’d found himself in.
Dr. Stable’s ears fell flat and an unsure look crossed his face. “I...do not know, to be honest. We know so little about your species that anything could happen. In fact...” he trailed off as if unsure he should finish the thought.
Sensing that the doctor was holding out on him, Allen gave him a firm look and said, “Spill it doc, if there is one thing I hate, it’s when people try to sugarcoat something, just give it to me straight.”
Sighing, Dr. Stable relented. “Very well, I was about to say that considering your world doesn’t either have mana anymore or that the mana is so weak that you might not even be able to properly process, let alone use it anymore.”
“Which means?”
Dr. Stable shrugged. “As this situation has never happened before that I can recall, where a pony was unable to process mana. All I can say is that if your body can’t properly process and use the mana that you consume, that you’ll likely...well, die.”
Allen sat there blinking, feeling as though someone had just punched him in the gut. “What?” he croaked out, “what do you mean, die?”
Dr. Stable gave Allen a sad look, “Think of it as a steam boiler if you keep shoveling fuel into the firebox and don’t use any of the steam created by the fire, eventually the boiler will explode. It’s the same thing with mana. If your body can’t process, absorb, and use the mana, it will just build up in your system until your internal organs become overloaded and shut down. I mean, look what happened today, we just gave you a very small amount of magical based medicine and you reacted poorly to it. What happens when you eat our food, drink our water , and consume other things that have mana in them on a regular basis? If your body can’t handle it, then...well, you’ll die.”
“Well...I did say not to sugarcoat it didn’t I?” replied Allen humorlessly, a dry smile on his lips.
Dr. Stable wasn’t smiling however, his lips were pressed together in a thin line, and his brain was shifting into overdrive. However, he quickly placed a comforting hoof on Allen’s arm and said, “Mr. Ross, I promise you that I will do everything in my power to keep that from happening to you. We have time, you still have food from your world that shouldn’t have any mana in it. Moreover, judging from our previous experience, your body can to some degree consume magically laced food and medicines, though only in extremely low doses. So you are not one-hundred percent intolerant to mana, so there is some hope there. Additionally, once we have some of your blood and stool samples, and analyze them properly, we should have a good idea of what we’re dealing with here. I have a feeling that you will, at a minimum, be able to absorb and process mana like anypony else. Whether that leads to you being able to do magic,” he shrugged helplessly, “only time will tell.”
“Still gonna suck,” replied Allen petulantly, crossing his arms in annoyance.
Dr. Stable gave him a wan smile. “Nopony said it wouldn’t, but I think you’ll pull through this.”
“So what did they look like?” asked Allen curiously.
“What did what look like?”
“My thaumic pathways,” replied Allen.
Dr. Stable grimaced in reply. “Nearly translucent, which is a bad sign. I almost didn’t see them. But thankfully the pathways around your heart showed up better than those further away. So there is that.”
“So how come nobody back in my word has seen these ‘thaumic pathways’?”
Dr. Stable shrugged. “Most likely they didn’t realize what they were looking at or they didn’t have the ability to see them. Thaumic pathways are generally easy enough to see in our world, as they are usually well developed and have mana flowing through them, which makes them stand out when we are taking scans or are operating. In your case, the pathways are small and thin, and there isn’t much mana flowing through them, so they are hard to see unless you are using a special piece of equipment, such as an MRI machine. Even then, we almost missed them entirely.”
“Well, at least you were able to see them,” said Allen with a resigned sigh.
“Quite. Now,” said Dr. Stable, as he and Nurse Redheart began trotting out of the room and he used his magic to flick the light switch off, “I believe that it is time for you to get some rest, and in the morning we’ll get those samples from you, and then go over what we found.”
Allen nodded. “Alright sounds like a plan doc, thanks for your help, and have a good night.”
“You as well, good night, Mr. Ross,” and with that, he shut the door, plunging the room into darkness. Allen let himself relax into his pillow and found himself drifting off to sleep.
Hopefully they’ll have good news for me in the morning. Was his last thought as he drifted off to sleep.
~oOo~
The following morning found Allen eating a simple bowl of oatmeal as Dr. Stable came in.
“Good morning, Mr. Ross, did you sleep well?” he asked, a cheerful expression on his face.
Allen nodded between spoonfuls of oatmeal. “Yeah, your hospital beds are more comfortable than the ones back home, it feels like I’m sleeping on a cloud or something.”
“Well, technically, you are,” replied Dr. Stable.
“Wait...what?”
“All of our beds have special clouds inside them, the mattress cover is specially enchanted to prevent the cloud from dissipating as well as to provide support for non-winged beings.”
Allen shot his mattress a dubious look but decided not to press the matter further, instead electing to focus on the doctor's apparent good mood. “So, is that smile a professional one, or do you have some good news for me?” asked Allen hopefully.
Dr. Stable floated a small folder in front of him and replied happily, “I indeed have good news, we just finished your tests this morning and the initial results look very promising.”
“How so?” asked Allen, hope welling up in his chest.
“Well,” began Dr. Stable, “we’ve found traces of the microbes in your stool sample that are necessary to the processing of mana. There aren’t very many of them and they are very weak, in fact, we nearly missed them because of that, but one of the lab techs is very good at his job and managed to spot a few. As such, that somewhat answers our question regarding why you didn’t have an initial reaction when we first had you here last time.”
“And why is that?” asked Allen curiously as he polished off the last of his oatmeal, and it was his oatmeal, as Dr. Stable had asked if they could retrieve some food supplies from Allen’s home the previous night so that he could have something to eat that wouldn’t upset his condition.
“I don’t have a fully fleshed-out theory yet, I would have to go to your world and take measurements of the various plants, animals, and minerals there to see if there is any mana present in the environment. But, what I can say is that from what we have found in those samples we took from you, that your world at one point had more magic in it. Now as to whether that was enough to allow for spells or just a healthier and longer life span, I don’t know. However, the fact that you have an appendix, even if it is underdeveloped, along with the microbes needed to process mana, and that you possess a thaumic network are strong indications that your world still has magic in it. It’s just that it’s so weak that no one can detect it.”
“So what does that mean for me?”
Dr. Stable set the folder down on the bedside table and stood next to Allen’s bed. “Well, it means that your treatment won’t be nearly as long or as difficult as we initially thought. Moreover, it will mean that your animals should be fine as long as we give them the needed probiotics, same as you, to get your, and their, gut flora in balance with their new environment.”
Allen nodded. “That’s good to hear.”
Dr. Stable smiled. “Indeed it is. Now, did you have any concerns or questions for me? We’re still working on getting the needed medicines and specialists in to get you up to snuff.”
“Yeah, I had a few,” replied Allen.
“Alright, lay them on me,” replied Dr. Stable as he magically levitated a clipboard and pencil in front of him, in case he needed to write down a request from Allen.
“Okay, well the obvious first question is, who’s going to pay for all of this? I know that Blueblood and Red Tape had mentioned the Crown would pay for my vaccines and stuff, but they didn’t say anything about this, and I don’t have any insurance here.”
Dr. Stable nodded as he made a note on his clipboard. “A fair question. I’m afraid I don’t know, I would assume that the Crown would be willing to pick up the tab considering everything, but then again, they might not, it’s hard to say. We won’t know until we hear back from His Grace, as we only got around to sending out a message late yesterday, so it might be a day or two before we have any official response. However, even if the Crown says no, which I highly doubt they will, the hospital will be more than happy to work with you to manage your bill.”
“And how much is this bill going to come out to?” asked Allen as he braced himself for the inevitable wallet shock.
“At least a few thousand, but probably no more than ten, maybe fifteen thousand depending on if we need to do further treatments.”
“That’s it? For all of that, it’s only gonna cost me at most fifteen thousand bits in total for everything?” asked Allen incredulously.
Dr. Stable gave Allen an odd look. “Of course, why wouldn’t it? It’s not like you’re having a major operation such as heart bypass surgery, and even then it’d only be around forty or so at most. Why, how much is it back in your world?”
“Uh, a lot more than that,” replied Allen, still shocked at how little they were going to potentially charge him.
Now curious, Dr. Stable set his clipboard down and pressed Allen for further details. “Well, how much more?”
“Well, I’m not sure what the exchange rate is between our currencies, but,” Leaning back in his bed, Allen screwed up his face as he tried to recall how much medical care cost back home, finally, he said, “if I remember correctly a heart bypass alone would cost nearly two hundred thousand dollars on average. Of course, that’s not taking into account things like room cost, lab work, transportation, etc. A lot of people report having medical bills in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, some even millions.”
Dr. Stable felt as though his jaw was about to hit the floor. “M-Millions?!”
Allen nodded.
Dr. Stable spluttered in shock at the price. “How in Equestria do they justify that price?!”
Allen shrugged helplessly. “A lot of reasons I guess,” holding up a hand he began ticking off reasons with his fingers, “an overweight, aging, and unhealthy population coupled with government regulations, doctor and nursing shortages, and expensive medicines all make it more difficult to get quality and affordable care.”
“My word,” exclaimed Dr. Stable, astounded that medical care could be so expensive.
“Yeah, it sucks, but it is what it is, and there isn’t much that can be done to fix it, or at least, there aren’t many people who can fix it that are willing to do so. Of course, since you guys have magic, that probably makes things a lot easier for you. I bet you guys have spells to fix all kinds of problems near instantly.”
Dr. Stable chuckled. “While it’s true that magic is pretty good at taking care of minor issues and helping to speed the healing process along, it’s not perfect. Some things can’t be healed by simply waving a horn at them and casting a spell.”
Allen nodded. “Yeah, if that were the case, I wouldn’t be stuck here in this condition.”
“Agreed, now, what was your other question?” he asked.
“Well, what all is involved here? I mean, is my appendix going to get bigger or what?”
Dr. Stable nodded. “Yes, it’ll need to be a bit bigger in order to properly work, I’m not entirely sure yet, as we’re still working on fully figuring out your physiology in comparison to ours. So that adds some additional complexity to the issue. Additionally, we’ll need to get your gut bacteria up to snuff so that they can properly handle the influx of mana and be able to turn them into energy that the body can use. Moreover, since your body has been starved of mana for so long it will need time to adjust. Too much mana at once will send it into shock, much like it would if you gave a starving pony a cake after only having lived on dried straw for months. Their system wouldn’t be able to handle it and would go into shock.”
“Yeah, let’s not do that,” replied Allen.
Dr. Stable nodded. “So in your case, we will have to carefully monitor your mana intake and make sure you’re not getting too much at once.”
“Makes sense, so how long do you think it will take then?”
Dr. Stable waggled a hoof back and forth in an unsure manner, “I’m not one-hundred percent sure, but the treatment itself should only be a few weeks, after that, we will slowly give you more and more mana rich food until your body is used to it.”
“So different foods have different levels of mana in them?”
Dr. Stable nodded happily. “Oh, of course! While everything in the world has mana in them, some have more than others. For instance, grass has a very low amount of concentrated mana in it. That means if you eat grass, you’d get very little in the way of magical energy from it. However, milk from a cow that has eaten grass is chock full of mana!”
“So basically mana gets absorbed and passed along up the food chain?” asked Allen.
Dr. Stable nodded, a pleased smile on his face. “Naturally whatever doesn’t get consumed by the organism for its daily needs is stored in its cells and other areas, in our example of the cow, her milk. For plants, seeds are often chock full of mana as the future generation will need the energy to get started and grow.”
Allen gave a thoughtful nod. “Makes sense, back home it’s well known that nutrients work their way up the food chain, often becoming more and more concentrated the further up they go. I guess the same principle applies here as well.”
“Exactly the same,” nodded Dr. Stable, a pleased grin on his face. Looking up at the clock on the wall, Dr. Stable then said, “While I wish I could stay, Mr. Ross, it’s getting late, and I have other patients to see and paperwork to do. If you have any questions, concerns, or need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Allen gave the pony doctor a return smile and said, “Alright, thanks doc.”
With that, Dr. Stable bid Allen goodbye and shut the door behind him. As he walked along the quiet hallway, he mentally began compiling a list of everything he needed to do, along with everypony he needed to talk to before the day was over. All in all, it was shaping up to be a long day, and an even longer night.
But it’s all worth it when I see a happy and healthy patient leave my care. He thought to himself with a happy smile as he continued down the hallway to his office.
Of course, coffee helps too.