CHAPTER 9
"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."—Job 1:21
Amethyst fought to conceal the tension in her body as she was wheeled down the hallway, but was unable to prevent her breath from huffing in and out, or her hooves from kneading at the wheelchair's armrests.
"Try to relax, Amethyst."
She turned her head—wincing slightly at the stiffness in her neck—to focus on the burly security guard behind her. It had startled her earlier when he'd volunteered for the duty of pushing her wheelchair after the doctors had gotten her situated in it. Wouldn't that normally have been a nurse's job? She suspected it might be, but she couldn't be one-hundred percent sure, and when none of the hospital staff had objected to him doing it, she hadn't dared question it.
Now he was looking down at her from over the wheelchair's backrest. At least she thought he was looking down at her based on the position and angle of his head, but he had donned a pair of sunglasses that made it impossible for her to see his eyes.
"I know you're worried about your mom, but the doctors are doing all they can."
She swallowed. "I'm trying, but it's not easy. Just suddenly waking up in the hospital with no memory of how you got there. Then being told your sister is missing and your mother's all..." She trailed off as she tried to read his expression but it was difficult when most of that expression's upper portion was obscured by those sunglasses. Why had he suddenly put them on? Were they just a fashion statement or did he have a more sinister reason for hiding his eyes from her?
Whatever his reasons might be, the fact that he could see her eyes and read whatever might be revealed in them while she couldn't do the same with him made her feel horribly exposed and vulnerable. Frightened that he might pick up on this, she quickly lowered her own eyes and added, "What if I saw what happened? What if I know where Dinky is, but we never find her? And all because I can't remember it." Please think that's all I'm worried about. Please don't suspect that I'm also worried that you or anypony else here might be a disguised changeling ready to kill me if I show any sign of remembering what really happened. Please, please, please, please, please—
"Yeah," said Mike, unknowingly cutting into her mental mantra. "I suppose if any of my siblings were in a similar situation, I wouldn't be able to relax either, even though I've got plenty to spare."
Before she could stop them, her eyes flicked back up to his sunglasses. "Oh, you, uh, have a lot of siblings?" Maybe if she could get him to talk about himself—
"Uh-huh."
"You the, um, oldest? Youngest?"
He let out a short laugh. "At the moment I'm the middle child, though at the rate my family churns out kids that may change soon."
Middle child. Amethyst mentally moaned. Is that middle like out of five or out of five-hundred and—?
"We're here."
Amethyst quickly faced forward to see one of the doctors standing in front of a door and eyeing her expectantly. She took several deep breaths, partly for show and partly to truly brace herself for what she was about to see. I am just a frightened girl who doesn't remember anything, but knows her mother is in bad shape. Really bad shape.
"Amethyst?" said the doctor. "Are you sure you're ready for this? If you're not, we can—"
"No." She gave her head a quick little shake. "No, it's all right, Doctor. I-I'm ready."
The doctor's expression was dubious, but he opened the door, and Mike pushed the wheelchair forward.
In some ways, it wasn't quite as horrible as she expected. She had been preparing herself for the sight of that grotesque pulsing mound that had swallowed up her mother, not a shimmering opaque dome bristling with tubes and wires. But she had a part to play so she made a show of looking all around the room as if confused. "Where is she? Where's Mom?"
"Here." The doctor tapped his horn against the dome.
Amethyst squinted at it. "That's her?" she said, hoping they would buy the disbelief in her voice.
In response the doctor gave the dome another tap and this time it turned transparent, revealing its contents. Amethyst gasped and her hooves flew to her mouth.
"Hey, was that really called for?!" Mike demanded.
"Possibly," said the doctor, tapping the dome and causing it to go back to being opaque. Turning to face Amethyst, he asked, "Did that sight trigger any memories for you?"
Amethyst gave her head an unsteady shake. "N-no. I'm afraid not. If you say that's Mom, then I believe you, but..." Could she pull this next part off? "I just can't imagine how that happened. Who could possibly have done that to her?" Would they take the bait?
Mike let out a snort laden with distaste. "No mystery there. They've already caught the guy who did it."
"Mike!" The doctor shot him an angry glare. "You weren't supposed to mention that yet. We're still trying to let her remember as much as she can on her own when possible."
The security guard rolled his shoulders dismissively. "She'd probably hear about Discord being here sooner or later anyway."
This could be the perfect opportunity. "Discord..." she murmured, frowning. "There's ... something familiar about that ... But I can't remember..." She looked back up to meet the doctor's eyes and the security guard's sunglasses. "If he's here, could I see him?"
Two sets of eyebrows went up and she quickly added, "Not to talk to or anything. I just ... just thought that maybe ... seeing him might jog my memory. Wouldn't that at least be worth a try?"
Discord was still studying the words on the underside of his forearm when he heard the door open. He quickly turned his forearm to hide the writing and looked up to see his visitor.
Make that visitors. One of the unicorn doctors, followed by a second unicorn perched in a wheelchair and wearing a flimsy hospital gown.
"Amethyst?" Her name popped automatically out of his mouth, but before he could say anything else, a security guard he also recognized stepped around from behind the wheelchair and placed himself between Discord and Amethyst.
"Don't you start harassing her," the guard growled.
Discord considered snapping back that he had no intention of harassing Amethyst—and possibly throwing in something snide into the bargain—but quickly settled for merely sticking his tongue out at the guard as it would give him an opportunity to surreptitiously study Amethyst. Her horn was no longer blackened, but he could see where they had cut off the melted section of her mane. The scars of healed burns were scattered across her exposed forehead, and below those scars, her expression was fearful and lost.
"Amethyst," the doctor murmured. "Do you remember anything?"
The security guard looked toward her as well, and Discord promptly retracted his tongue, also awaiting her reply.
Amethyst's eyes met Discord's, then promptly looked away as she shook her head.
The doctor frowned at her. "You don't remember him at all?"
She shook her head again.
"Your mom mentioned that he stayed at your house," said the security guard.
Amethyst squirmed helplessly. "If she said he did, then he must have, but I don't remember it."
"You don't remember me?" Discord's show of indignation was mostly to hide his unease. What was going on? Was this part of the plan Fluttershy had mentioned or would it be a possible obstacle? He tried to meet Amethyst's eyes a second time, hoping it might provide him with a clue, but she avoided his gaze.
"Can I go back now?" she asked, turning appealingly to the doctor and security guard. "Please?"
The doctor nodded. "Of course. It's probably best you get some rest now anyway."
And before Discord could argue or protest, they had wheeled Amethyst out of the room and closed the door behind them.
He turned his forearm enough to expose the writing on it once again. Maybe he wouldn't need the paper to communicate. Maybe the ink alone would be enough, but how would he get close enough to whisper to it when he was strapped down so tight and couldn't perform his usual contortions?
Then he noticed his dragon tattoo crawling down that arm. It framed the words with its front claws, and he felt the faint tickle of it working its back legs up his neck until they came to rest against his throat just under his jaw. The dragon looked back up at him and jerked its head toward the words as if to say: Start talking.
It was worth a try. He whispered: "Fluttershy, I think we might have a problem. Amethyst doesn't remember me."
He saw Fluttershy's message transform into the one he'd just whispered. After several seconds, it shifted into a new reply.
Fluttershy: "No, Discord, she's faking it. She remembers what happened. She knows you didn't hurt her family, but she can't let anyone at the hospital know if our plan is going to work. I'll explain more later; once we hear back from her."
"Don't worry about Discord," Amethyst heard the security guard murmur behind her. "He'll pay for what he's done to your family."
Amethyst let her eyes close for a brief second. Oh, Mike, are you a pony who truly believes what you're saying or are you a changeling just trying to fill the "blank" parts of my memory with lies?
Opening her eyes, she saw they were nearing her mother's room and gestured wildly for Mike to stop. "Wait!"
He halted, bringing the chair to a stop, and the doctor looked back at them. "What is it?"
Time for the most critical part of her mission. "Um, before you take me back to my room, could I please see my mother one more time?"
The doctor seemed to consider this, then nodded.
When they got back to Derpy's room, Amethyst leaned toward the bed. "Hey, Mom. It's Amethyst. I know you probably can't hear me, but if somehow you can, I want you to know we're at the hospital. You're hooked up to a life-support system. It..." She purposefully trailed off, biting her lip as if uncertain, before turning to the doctor. "Uh, is there some way I can find out how this setup works?" She gestured toward the machinery surrounding the bed. "Sorry. It's just ... Well, I'm a bean-counter professionally. It's my job to make sure all the numbers add up and are all in the right place. And knowing how these different parts work is kind of like that. I just feel that understanding what's involved will, uh, give me more peace of mind, knowing what's going into keeping my mother alive. I know it might sound really strange, but—"
"It doesn't sound that strange," said Mike while the doctor nodded thoughtfully.
"I think some of the tech-ponies could explain things to you."
"Could they? I'd really appreciate it. Oh, and could I have some paper and something to write with for notes? This all looks pretty complicated and I don't want to forget anything."
"I think we could arrange that."
Mike whistled. "Man, when you take notes, you really take notes."
"No kidding," said a tech-pony, shaking his head in wonder as he studied Amethyst's pages. "I don't even think the original assembly instructions were this detailed."
Amethyst pressed the notes to her chest, hoping she looked as if she were trying to hide embarrassment. "Well, it's like I said: It's my job to help track down a bunch of numbers, and all these details are essentially a bunch of numbers, and knowing how they all add up is ... reassuring to me. Makes me feel I have more of a grasp on what's going on, since right now there's so much I don't remember..." Were they buying her explanation? "I know it might sound odd, but—" She purposefully cut off her own babbling by letting out a long yawn. "Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know where that—"
"We should get you back to bed now," said the doctor. "With everything you've been asking and writing down, it's no wonder you're exhausted."
"Yeah, I suppose I am." She leaned back in the chair and let her eyelids drop to half-mast. She turned toward her mother's bed and murmured, "I have to go now, Mom. Love you." As she was wheeled out of the room, she let her head jiggle about as if nodding off, but surreptitiously watched the ponies around her from under her half-closed lids.
As the doctor opened the door to her room, she heard Mike say, "I can take it from here."
She heard the doctor murmur some response she couldn't make out, and the next moment the security guard had lifted her out of the wheelchair, muttering, "Come on, come on. Up. Up. Up."
Fear shot through her as she felt his forelegs around her. He was so much stronger than she was! What was he doing?! Was he—?!
Then she was set down on the bed.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked, lowering his sunglasses enough to look at her over the tops of them. "I didn't startle you, did I?"
The concern in his voice and in his now-visible eyes seemed so genuine that Amethyst briefly felt relief replace her fear. But a little voice in the back of her head reminded her that this could all be a trap, and if he was a changeling she couldn't let him know she suspected it.
"I, uh, I must have nodded off on the way back here, and you picking me up like that woke me up. I didn't mean to fall asleep like that. I just—"
"Don't worry about it," he said, pushing his sunglasses back into place. "You've had a full day."
"Yes, I—" She let out a long yawn, hoping it would convince him that she was exhausted.
"Well, I should probably let you get some sleep now." He plucked the pages of notes from her hooves.
No! Amethyst shrieked inside her head, but before she could grab them back, he set them down on the bedside table. It took everything in her not to lunge for them. If she gave him any indication just how important they were...
He turned back to face her, and she tried to look relaxed as he pulled the blanket over her. "There now," he said, tucking it in. "Comfortable?"
Lying there with him leaning over her, she was anything but comfortable. But looking up at her reflection in his sunglasses, she forced herself to nod and, taking care to sound sleepy, said, "Yes, thank you. Thank you for everything."
He beamed at this. "You're welcome." He moved to the door, and looked back at her over the top of his sunglasses one more time. "Good night."
It wasn't until he switched off the light and closed the door behind him that she finally did allow herself to truly relax. At least somewhat. She listened for several minutes to make sure no one was approaching her room before daring to turn on her bedside lamp and retrieve her notes. Now if she could just get them to Spike. She looked up at the ceiling, wondering if he was currently up there, hiding behind the tiles.
"Spike!" she called softly. "Are you up—?"
At that moment a dark blur shot past her and splatted against the top corner of her first sheet of notes, startling a tiny cry from her. This new splatter of ink slithered toward a clear section of the paper and reformed itself into the words:
Amethyst: "Eek!"
Meanwhile in the TreeHAB, everyone had gathered around the desalination container. Skywishes had switched it on to boil the collected salt water, and the resulting heat was quite welcome. Twilight was using her magic to shred a large pile of paper into extremely fine strands and Rarity was using hers to twist those strands together into a sort of yarn. The rest of the girls were winding this "yarn" into balls, while the boys were a short distance away, using each other and several miscellaneous objects for a make-shift weightlifting session. Even Bonfire had ventured close to the container to enjoy its heat, though she still kept a wary distance away from the rest of the group.
Suddenly Fluttershy felt the folded paper she'd tucked into her jerkin quiver. Dropping the yarn she was winding, she pulled out the paper and unfolded it. The rest of the group also stopped what they were doing and crowded around her to see what was written on the paper.
Amethyst: "Eek!"
Spike: "Amethyst, what's wrong?"
Amethyst: "Oh. Nothing. It was just that moth tattoo you mentioned was watching my room. I forgot about it, so it startled me when it slammed into the first sheet of my notes. But I'm okay now."
Spike: "Well, I guess having your own sheet of paper with a moth tattoo on it will make it a lot easier for you to keep in touch with the rest of us."
Amethyst: "Speaking of which, I'll probably need these notes, or at least a copy of them, back after we send them to the TreeHAB. They ended up making a pretty decent-sized stack of papers and any hospital staff who saw me writing them might get suspicious if the whole stack just suddenly disappeared."
Spike: "In that case ... You there, Twilight?"
"I am, and I read your whole conversation. I think Amethyst is right about needing to keep a copy of the notes there. We should probably also make a set of them for you."
Spike: "Then, here comes the notes."
Twilight backed away from the rest of the group and a stack of papers flashed into existence in front of her, falling to the floor with a soft thump. "Alright," she said, stepping toward the stack of papers. "Now we just have to—"
At that moment Mache Max swooped down on the papers and, before anypony could stop him, crammed the whole stack into one of his beaks and swallowed it down.
There was a horrified chorus of "Max!" but while the group was still processing the fact that he'd devoured the notes, the parrot suddenly hawked a roll of papers out of each beak. As soon as the rolls hit the floor, he snatched one back up, swallowed it down again, and hawked up two copies once more. He repeated this several times until there were ten rolls in total, and he hopped away triumphantly. The group moved in to examine the rolls and found that each one contained an identical collection of notes.
Except for one roll that also had:
Applejack, Dinky, Fluttershy, Highflyer, Rarity, Screwjob, Skywishes, and Twilight: "Max!"
Spike: "What's going on over there?"
written on it.
Right on cue, the words Spike: "Uh, guys?" appeared just underneath these words at the same time they appeared on the letter Fluttershy was carrying.
"Uh, looks like Mache Max just helped us speed up the note-copying," said Twilight.
Mache Max uttered a smug "Uhhhh!" to which Skywishes responded with a deadpan "Thank you, Maximus."
"Anyway," Twilight went on, ignoring this little exchange, "I'm going to send you and Amethyst each a copy of the notes now." A few minutes after she sent the two stacks of notes through, Spike's and Amethyst's confirmations that they'd received them appeared on Fluttershy's letter.
While this was going on, Skywishes had been studying her own copy of the notes and now spoke up. "Spike, you'd better check how well-stocked that hospital's supplies are because it looks like we're going to have to steal quite a few things on this list."
Applejack grimaced. "Couldn't we just call it borrowing?"
Skywishes shrugged. "Call it what you want, but we're going to have to do it as the HAB isn't exactly equipped to sustain a wrong-side out pony."
"They can just send me a bill when this is all over," Twilight said absently as she shifted through her own notes. "Wow, Amethyst. There's so much detail here, I'm surprised you didn't include the price of each piece of equipment."
Amethyst: "I did, but it's toward the back."
"Wha—" Twilight flipped to the back of the notes to check this. "I was just joking. I didn't think you'd actually include it."
Amethyst: "I had to. It came up when I was asking how to run the equipment if, for some reason, I had to take care of Mom at home and run the system myself. It would have looked suspicious if I didn't write it down. ... Though I should let you know there were a few important things I didn't get the chance to include."
"Oh, and what were those?"
Amethyst: "Well, first off, I don't know if Spike already told you this, but Mom's room is exactly midway between mine and Discord's. Second, once Mom gets disconnected from the life-support system, she'll only be able to survive about four minutes before she has to be completely hooked up again."
"Hmm, four minutes..." Twilight murmured, writing it down. "Anything else?"
Amethyst: "Well ... there's one more thing..."
And she quickly related Mike's behavior toward her, to which Spike chipped in with the fact that he'd noticed the security guard seemed to station himself by Amethyst's bed every chance he got during her coma.
"Hmm," said Highflyer, crossing his forelegs over his chest. "Seems like he's either extremely concerned about her welfare, or up to something."
Screwjob snorted. "I think he's a phony. I mean, come on. 'Mike?' That's a fake name. What kind of pony goes by 'Mike'?"
"What kind of pony goes by Screwjob?" Applejack muttered under her breath.
"I do, and proud of it given it's a family name."
Applejack rolled her eyes heavenward. "Oh, just when you think one is too many, it turns out there's a whole family of the Screw-heads."
"Odds actually."
"Come again?"
"Odds. My family name. You're an Apple, and I'm an Odd."
"Wait a minute," Twilight cut in. "Your name doesn't have 'Odd' in it."
"It does too. If I were a girl, I'd have been named after my mother Oddball and my aunt Moonshine, but as I'm clearly not a girl, I got named after my father Oddjob and my uncle Screwtape instead. Simple enough."
Applejack snorted, and shook her head. "Only to you and nopony else."
"Point is I have a proper name, unlike a certain unnamed sec..." the wrestler suddenly trailed off as his thick black brows dipped down in a considering frown. "Though ... now that I think about it, that name is just unusual enough to possibly be genuine. Truth being stronger than friction and all that, doncha know. I suppose it could be a nickname ... Say, Amethyst, did you happen to notice what kind of mark he had?"
Amethyst: "It was a blue rectangle with a white X on it."
"Huh. Not sure what that could mean. Maybe his family has a special naming system or—"
"Look!" Applejack snapped. "It doesn't matter if it's his real name or not! What matters is if he's a real pony or not!" Turning back to the paper, she went on in a kinder tone. "Sugarcube, wasn't there some way you could have found that out? Like ripping a piece out of his clothing or something?"
Amethyst: "Well ... he's a big guy, so his uniform is pretty tight. I could probably try ripping a piece off it ... but I'm not sure how I'd do it without him noticing. I could probably explain things if he turned out to be a pony, but if he turned out to be a changeling..."
"That might tip him off to the fact that you know a lot more than you're letting on."
Amethyst: "Right. He also had some sunglasses I could try knocking off, but I saw him take them off several times himself so..."
"Ah," Applejack nodded. "That could mean he's a real pony, but it could also just mean he's a changeling using them as an optional accessory rather than a must-have one like my hat or High's mask. Well, keep your eyes open for any clues about him, and whatever happens, stay on your guard. If he is a disguised changeling, he might be trying to lure you into a false sense of security by acting all concerned about you."
Amethyst: "That did occur to me."
At this point, Twilight stepped in. "You've done wonderfully, Amethyst. Now just try to keep everypony thinking you don't remember anything while we see about getting things ready for your mother."
Amethyst wasn't sure exactly when or how she fell asleep, but the next thing she knew, she was staring at the inside of her eyelids. Groaning, she forced those eyelids apart and blinked blearily at her surroundings.
"Good morning."
Startled at the sound of Mike's voice right beside her, she lunged up into a sitting position.
"Woah, hey. Easy now."
She felt a large hoof press lightly against her back, and flinched away from it, whirling to face its owner.
"Hey," said the security guard, one hoof still raised. Amethyst's eyes instinctively fastened on that hoof. Would she be able to avoid it if he tried to strike her?
He was still wearing those sunglasses so she couldn't see his eyes, but she did notice that his head twitched a fraction in the direction of his upraised hoof before he promptly lowered it. "Hey, it's just me. Mike, remember?"
"Oh," she breathed, putting a hoof against her chest as a visible sign of trying to calm her wildly pounding heart. "Mike. For a minute there, I didn't recognize where I was, and I'm not used to having somepony right there when I wake up, so—"
"Ah, sorry about that. Didn't mean to scare you."
His regret sounded genuine, but that could just be a testament to his acting skills. And there was the fact that he was still keeping his eyes hidden behind those dark wraparounds.
"Say, what's up with the sunglasses?" she asked, partly to deflect attention away from herself, and partly because she really wanted to know. "It's not that bright in here. At least I don't think it—"
"Oh, these?" His mouth quirked in a faint grin as he lightly tapped the frame of one lens. "They're just to let everypony know I'm currently off-duty."
Are they really, or are you worried about your eyes giving something away?
Mike's brows furrowed above his sunglasses. "You okay there?"
Amethyst quickly gave her head a shake. Maybe he actually had the right idea hiding his eyes. "It's—" She let out a yawn. "Say, you don't suppose they'd let me have a cup of coffee, would they? I can't seem to function in the morning without my coffee." Under most circumstances this was the absolute truth, and while her fear was currently proving to be an equally effective stimulant, she wasn't about to admit it.
"Really?" Mike's voice took on an amused tone. "What a coincidence, I happen to be the same way. Except I've also worked out a system to get around it. I chew chocolate-covered coffee beans. Great if you need a good dose of caffeine. Hey, I might have some here now," he added, reaching into a pocket.
Amethyst did her best to appear unconcerned but inside she was anything but that. Was this possible offering of chocolate-covered coffee beans an attempt to slip her some poison? If so, could she avoid taking them without arousing his suspicion? Could—
"Nope. I guess I finished them up earlier," said Mike, slapping the outside of the pocket. "I'll have to restock."
"That's okay. No hurry." Amethyst said, doing her best not to visibly slump in relief at being spared facing the possible trap. For now anyway. But would she be so fortunate a second time in the days to come? Could she continue keeping up her façade?
For Mom, she reminded herself. You're doing this for Mom.
"Phew," Fluttershy breathed. "It's done." She had been working all through the night to knit a blanket out of the paper yarn Twilight and Rarity had spelled and spun respectively. Her hooves were sore, but it would be a small price to pay if the product worked the way Twilight was hoping it would.
Magenta light surrounded the blanket and Twilight brought it close to her eyes, examining its weave. "Hmm, looks good and tight," she murmured, before turning to Highflyer, who was watching her expectantly. She let the blanket drop on him and he adjusted it so that it covered him completely.
"Ready," came his voice from under the blanket, and Twilight fired off a blast that caused the whole blanket to glow a bright flamingo pink. Highflyer tossed the blanket off and—looking no different than he had before going under the blanket—stepped forward for inspection.
"Bummer, I was hoping to mock you when you came out all pretty pink," said Screwjob when the aforementioned inspection was complete. "Though on the plus side, I guess we won't get burned to a cinder in that blanket."
"I don't want to be positive on that until we finish the rest of these tests," said Twilight. "Speaking of which, you and Applejack are up."
There was a gleeful "Yippee!" from Screwjob, and a noticeably-less-enthusiastic "Yeah, yippee," from Applejack.
As the two earth ponies moved over to where the paper blanket lay crumpled, Applejack shot Screwjob a warning glare. "Don't get any ideas about trying to yank me toward you by twisting this blanket around yourself because it won't work."
He raised his impressive eyebrows at her. "Now where did you get the idea I'd try something like that?"
She actually smirked and responded with a sarcastic "Lucky guess."
Then the two of them seized the blanket in their teeth and began a furious tug-of-war, each digging in their heels and hauling on the blanket with all their considerable earth pony strength. This went on for a good thirty seconds until Screwjob suddenly stopped digging in his heels. With that resistant force suddenly gone, Applejack went stumbling backward, and—rather than releasing his grip on the blanket—Screwjob let himself be dragged along as well, so that when Applejack landed on her haunches, he collided with her. They tumbled backward and ended up with Applejack on her back, and Screwjob straddling her.
Releasing his hold on the blanket, he grinned down at her. "Well, I always did want to find a woman who could sweep me off my feet."
Scarcely had he finished saying this, then she threw a punch at his head. Only for him to jerk up a fold of the blanket and loop it around her foreleg, trapping it.
He shook his head reprovingly. "Cheap shot, Apps."
"It's only what you're worth!" She tried to throw a second punch only for him to trap that one as well. She glared up at him while he grinned down at her.
"Apps, I'm the Aristrotle of cheap shots. I can spot them coming a—"
Applejack snapped her head forward, intending to head-butt him but Screwjob dodged and promptly pinned her upraised neck between his head and shoulder. "See what I mean?"
"Someday I'm gonna get you for this." Applejack fumed as she continued trying to twist free.
He chortled at this. "My flaxen-haired femme fatale, consider me as good as 'got.'"
At that moment Highflyer stepped in and grabbed a large hoofful each of Screwjob's forelock and the mane at the scruff of his neck. "Flirt on your own time, lover boy." he advised before hauling on the bigger stallion's hair, forcing him to back off the downed mare. Applejack quickly sat up, managing to look simultaneously grateful and annoyed at Highflyer's stepping in.
"I can't. We're on borrowed time as it is," Screwjob protested. "Oh, by the way, Apps. How'd that sheet hold up during our, heh heh, escapade?"
Applejack had been detangling herself from the blanket, and glanced up at Screwjob's question. "Well, looks like now I can honestly say you couldn't punch your way out of a paper sack." Her expression blanched, as if to say "Where'd that come from?" and she quickly tossed the blanket to Twilight. The alicorn gave it another look over and was pleased to see it didn't appear to be torn or stretched out despite the tussle it had just been in.
"Looks good but let's check it one more time just to be sure."
She floated the blanket back to Highflyer and they repeated the test they'd done earlier with identical results.
Satisfied, Twilight retrieved the letter with the moth tattoo ink on it. "Spike, you there? The blanket survived all the tests we did on it here, so now we have to see how it holds up against your fire."
Spike: "Just in time too. I found some nutrient bags we'll need in storage."
Highflyer wrapped himself in the blanket once more, and this time Twilight sent him through to Spike. The group waited nervously for a long tense moment, before a shape wrapped in the paper blanket flashed into existence in front of Twilight. The blanket was flung back to reveal Highflyer, unscathed and triumphantly clutching the nutrient bags Spike had mentioned.
Fluttershy mentally let out a little sigh of relief at the sight. One item down, and... She glanced down at her copy of Amethyst's notes. A lot more to go.
"The problem with wrapping ourselves in scrolls to teleport is that it takes time, and there's always the risk of the paper tearing or us missing some gap and catching on fire the way Dinky did," said Fluttershy as her knitting needles clicked away. While she worked, she was taking the time to fill Discord in on the plan to spring him, Derpy, and Amethyst from the hospital. "So Twilight came up with this idea of turning the usual scrolls into a huge blanket that can quickly be pulled over all of us at once, and she put a spell on the paper yarn to make it extra strong." She felt her cheeks blush. "But her attempts to knit with magic weren't that great, and Rarity is more of a seamstress than a knitter, so it's up to me to make the blankets.
"We've been using the smaller one I first made to transport the supplies we need for Derpy here."
Discord: "So once you've got all those, you can get us out of here right?"
"Well, there's something else we also need to—"
"Drill time!" Twilight called from the middle of the room.
"I'll be right back," said Fluttershy, dropping her knitting and racing over to stand in front of Twilight. She was joined by Applejack, Highflyer, Screwjob, and Skywishes. They unrolled a large camo blanket on the floor, and lay down on it, all packed closely together. They pulled the free edges of the blanket up over themselves, tucking in the ends so that they resembled a giant burrito.
Twilight lifted them with her magic and moved them to a ten-foot by twelve-foot section of the room that had been marked off and contained both a pack about the same size as Spike, and a mock-up of Derpy's hospital bed and life-support system constructed of spare material from around the TreeHAB. Outside the marked section was Dinky with a stopwatch and Rarity with a dummy they'd constructed from camo to be roughly the same shape and size as Discord.
Twilight set the blanket burrito down inside the marked-off section, and the burrito's passengers promptly poured out.
"Go!" Dinky called, clicking the starter on her stopwatch.
Highflyer ran to the corner next to the Spike-sized pack, while the remaining four ponies ran to the mock-up and began disconnecting all the wires and tubes from the machine.
When everything was disconnected, the four shouted, "We're ready!"
At this point, Rarity raced forward, using her magic to haul the dummy along with her. She grabbed a hold of the mock-up bed and wrapped the dummy around it with her magic. Fluttershy, Applejack, Screwjob, and Skywishes all grabbed the camo blanket they'd been carried in, and pulled it over the mock-up bed and themselves, taking care to make sure everything was covered.
"Set!"
Highflyer grabbed the pack he'd stationed himself next to, slung it onto his back and launched himself up onto one of the pipes on the ceiling above, while Twilight first lifted, then lowered the mock-up bed and its passengers.
"Go!" Dinky called out a second time. The ponies holding the blanket flung it aside and Rarity got herself and the dummy out of the way, while the remaining four ponies began reconnecting everything to the mock-up machines.
"Time!" they called when they were done.
"How'd they do?" Twilight asked.
Dinky just stared at the stopwatch.
Twilight frowned at her. "Dinky?"
The young teenager looked up. "Four minutes for the disconnecting, and four minutes for the reconnecting."
Fluttershy mentally winced, and she suspected the other ponies were doing the same. If this had been the actual rescue attempt, Derpy would have been dead before she ever reached the TreeHAB.
"Well..." said Twilight eventually. "This was only the first attempt. Let's try again and see if we can shave some minutes off each of those times."
Several days later, Fluttershy was once again filling Discord in on where they stood in the rescue attempt.
"We've managed to collect all the equipment we need. It's ready to go, and I've made our special paper blanket big enough to cover all of us at once, but I'm afraid we're not quite ready yet. We've managed to get our disconnect and reconnect time on the practice model down to about one-and-a-half to two minutes apiece, but we have to get it to the point where we can do each in exactly one minute. With the time it will take to make sure everyone's completely covered, and to travel back to the TreeHAB, those few seconds could mean the difference in whether Derpy lives or dies."
Amethyst: "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Fluttershy was momentarily startled by this new addition to the conversation, but quickly recovered. "No, sweetie. We've each got an assigned section to work on so we don't accidentally get in each other's way. Just focus on getting to your mother's room, and stay close to her bed when we tell you to. We'll handle the rest." She paused, then added, "I know the waiting is hard on both of you, but we've only got one shot at this. Once we unhook Derpy, there's no going back."
Amethyst: "I'll stick this out as long as it takes for Mom."
There was something in those words that made Fluttershy curious. "Are you doing all right, Amethyst?"
Amethyst: "Well, to be honest, everyone here has been so kind and caring toward me that I feel awful lying to them. I realize it could all just be an act, but it never feels that way when they mention their worries about how my memory hasn't come back. Now they're even theorizing that since my mind is supposed to be blank from the point that Discord showed up in Ponyville until now means my brain is blocking out all memories related to him as a defense mechanism against the trauma he inflicted on my family."
Discord: "Wonderful."
Amethyst: "I'm sorry it's making you look bad."
Discord: "Oh, it's not your fault. It's not like they believe my proclamations of innocence anyway."
"Let's just focus on getting the three of you over here for now," said Skywishes over Fluttershy's shoulder in passing. "We can figure out how to clear your name later."
Discord: "Speaking of which, is there a plan regarding how I'm going to reach Derpy's room? Amethyst may not be strapped down, but I am, and most of my usual modes of travel are currently unavailable."
Spike: "Still working on that. I've been trying to find some way we could cause a distraction far enough from your rooms to keep the staff away while we free you, but it's not easy with our favorite security guard prowling around."
Amethyst: "In a lot of ways, he's been the hardest part of my situation. He's always so sweet to me that I really want to believe he's a well-meaning pony ... but somehow there's just enough off about him that I can't be sure."
Discord: "You mean like the fact that he always seems eager to jump on the Blame-Discord train?"
"That ... doesn't ... necessarily ... mean he's ... a ... changeling," said Highflyer. His words were punctuated by strained grunts because he'd just recently gotten the splints and bandages removed from his wings, and now lay on his back trying to raise said wings on either side of him, while Screwjob (at Highflyer's insistence) acted as resistance weight by forcing them back down. "When I ... first thought ... you'd ... murdered ... Ray ... I was ... so furious ... if I'd ... had the ... means ... I ... could have ... killed you myself ... and ... not ... lost ... a minute ... of sleep over it."
Discord: "Thanks for that vote of confidence."
"Just ... telling it ... like it is. ... Or was."
Amethyst: "How are things where you are, Discord?"
Discord: "Oh, physically I seem to have healed completely, though it looks like I'll have scars where they busted my head open. I've got some bald patches here and there where my feathers and fur haven't grown back yet, which could be a good look for me. And now the doctors are saying they want to keep me here for observation. Observation! (Fluttershy could just imagine him letting out a disgusted snort at this.) I'm strapped to a bed unable to use my magic or go anywhere! What do they want to observe me doing?!"
Screwjob snorted with amusement. "I can think of a few things, but do you really want to hear them?"
Discord: "No, I don't! So stop interrupting my fuming!"
Screwjob shook his head at Fluttershy, his voice laced with cheerful irony. "He must have been a joy to have around."
"He was," she murmured absently, not even noticing the letter had captured her words as she thought longingly of the time when they would finally get Derpy, Amethyst, and Discord all safely moved to the TreeHAB. Maybe then she could finally get some time to talk with him in private. Maybe as their group faced the dilemma of proving his innocence and exposing their disguised enemies, the two of them could put their heads together and reclaim the bond they'd formed while working on Applejack's disappearance. Maybe—
Suddenly she felt eyes on her and noticed Highflyer had stopped grunting. She looked up to see Screwjob studying her with a cocked eyebrow. Below him, Highflyer had also lifted his head to look at her, though the expression on his masked face was harder to discern.
Why are you—? Fluttershy started to wonder, when Twilight suddenly called out, "Drill time!" She would often spring these practice sessions on them at random moments since there was no knowing when the perfect rescue opportunity would arise.
As the other ponies sprang into action, Fluttershy quickly whispered, "Gotta go." to her paper before joining them.
Discord gazed at Screwjob's words, and Fluttershy's response to them on his forearm, resolving that as soon as they reached the TreeHAB and had Derpy settled, he'd take Fluttershy aside somewhere they could talk in private and ... say what, exactly?
Actually maybe he would first have Twilight look at the blasted cuffs on his wrists. Have her see if there was some way to remove them and allow him to actually use the power he could feel churning inside of him.
Then maybe he'd check out Bonfire. Fluttershy's description of the little creature intrigued him and he was eager to see her with his own eyes.
Then he'd talk with Fluttershy in private. That should give him time to figure out what he'd say.
Hopefully.
Several days later, Amethyst was wheeling herself back to her room. She had just finished another meeting with the doctors and was so weary from it that she didn't notice Mike until he stepped right in front of her.
"What's wrong?" His tone was soft but the question still caught her off-guard.
"Wrong?" Her voice came out in a squeak. "What makes you think anything's wrong? Well, I mean I'm worried about my mom and sister and everything, but wouldn't any—?"
"No, no, it's not that. It's just..." He suddenly lifted his sunglasses to meet her eyes. "You keep looking at me like you're afraid of me."
Because I am! I can't figure you out! she mentally wailed, all the while trying to conceal her rising panic at the fact that he'd picked up on her unease. Hoping she sounded only mildly surprised, she said, "I do?"
"Yeah." He let the sunglasses drop back into place and their impenetrable lenses seemed to mock her. But she forced herself to come up with what she hoped sounded like a plausible explanation.
"Well, I feel scared for Mom and Dinky a lot, I can't help it. And maybe you just happened to be in my line of vision each time I thought of them. I mean you have been sticking pretty close to me."
He seemed to perk up at that. "You noticed?"
She laughed nervously as she tried to find an escape route. "Hard not to." Her eyes lit on the signs for the restrooms a short distance away. "Could you excuse me? I have to..." She jerked her head in that direction.
He looked where she'd indicated and his brows furrowed. "You're not supposed to be getting around without the wheelchair, just in case you fall. Should I go get some mare to help you in there?"
"No, I'll only be up a few seconds, I can manage that long," she said quickly, half-relieved he hadn't volunteered to help her himself, and half-annoyed that he and the rest of the staff seemed to regard her as so fragile she couldn't even make a simple restroom trip unassisted. Granted it was likely her performance as a harmless helpless partial-amnesiac that had given them that impression, so she really had only herself to blame, but still...
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yeah, I really have to go," she said, quickly wheeling herself to the door for mares, standing up, and practically bolting through the door. She leaned on a nearby counter behind the door so she could watch it but would be out of sight if he decided to peek in to see how she was doing. However, the door didn't open, and after several seconds, she moved to study her reflection in the mirror. She looked exhausted, but did it appear to be the mere weariness of a long unproductive interview, or the true anxiety of trying to discern a possible enemy among all the friendly faces?
"Finally managed to ditch your shadow, huh?" said a female voice behind her.
Amethyst whirled around to see a unicorn watching her. It was the same doctor who had soothed her in those first terrifying moments of wakefulness after she had been warned to act like she couldn't remember anything.
"I'm sorry?" said Amethyst.
"Mike," the doctor laughed lightly. "I'm surprised he didn't try to follow you right in here, considering how closely he's been sticking to you."
"Um, about that. Has he done that before with other patients?"
"Nope. You're the first to have that honor," said the doctor, now using her pale blue magic to fold several nearby towels Amethyst hadn't noticed until just then. "Sweet, isn't it?"
Amethyst's gaze flicked to the door, her mind on the guard behind it.
"Say you shouldn't be walking around like that." said the doctor. "You could fall and get hurt."
Amethyst turned back to her. "I haven't been up lo—"
At that moment pale blue light obscured her vision, and her head was suddenly wrenched around and slammed face-first down onto the counter. Pain exploded in her skull and she felt her legs give out as she slipped to the floor.
Wha...? she thought numbly as her dazed brain struggled to process what had just happened. Why did—?
Then she felt her body being dragged along the floor as more blue light surrounded her. What are you doing...? She tried to struggle but her limbs refused to respond. She felt herself being lifted into a sitting position right in front of a janitor's large mopping bucket. She had a fraction of a second to register bewilderment at the sight before her head was suddenly shoved into it.
Hot soapy water stung her eyes and rushed into her throat and nostrils, making her choke and gag. The immobility in her limbs suddenly vanished and she thrashed about, trying to lift her head from the water, trying to knock the bucket away, anything! She even tried to fire up her own magic, but was still unable to get free. Mixed with the panicked terror coursing through her, was a baffled indignation. Was this truly the end? Being drowned in a bucket of mopping water?!
But suddenly the force holding her down was gone. Amethyst flung her head back and sucked in a precious breath of air before falling into a fierce fit of coughing. Through tear-blurred eyes, she looked up to see the doctor who had just tried to kill her, now pawing at eyes surrounded by black smears. A black moth darted about, zipping in repeatedly to jet a small but clearly effective stream of black ink into the doctor's—the changeling's—face.
Amethyst wasn't sure how the moth had known to come to her rescue, but she was grateful and didn't intend to pass up this opportunity to escape. Scrambling up, she raced to the door, yanked it open, and shot through it.
Only to crash right into Mike's barrel chest.
The burly stallion didn't even wince at the impact but it completely knocked out what little air Amethyst had managed to regain. Winded, she staggered and fell to the hall floor. The guard reached down toward her, but she flinched away as if his hoof were on fire, scrambling to her hooves to put more distance between them. He moved to follow her, and Amethyst felt what little remained of her composure shatter.
"Don't touch me!" The force of her scream shocked her, but it evidently shocked Mike just as much if not more so because he not only stopped moving toward her, but actually retreated several steps. But even then, he was still far too close for comfort, and there was still her attacker in the restroom to worry about.
Amethyst bolted. Behind her, she heard the female doctor shout: "Stop her! She slipped and cracked her head on the counter. Hit it so hard she actually broke her horn—"
My horn?! Not slowing her stride, she raised one hoof to dab at her forehead and to her horror felt only a splintered stump where the familiar horn had been just moments ago.
"—I'm afraid it made her amnesia even worse. She doesn't recognize anything or understand what's going on. We've got to stop her before she hurts herself worse!"
Amethyst's horror at her physical injury was immediately eclipsed by the terrifying realization of what her attacker's fresh lie would mean for her. If she was captured, any changelings posing as hospital staff could do anything they wished to her, and anything she said, any word of protest, would be written off as the babbling of a crazy pony.
Then there was the very fact that the same doctor who had once comforted her had just tried to murder—
No! She forced herself to halt that thought. You don't know that! Maybe she was the real pony back then and just recently got replaced.
But there was no comfort in that line of thought either. Amethyst had known all this time that she might be facing disguised changelings, and had been constantly bracing herself for a possible attack. Yet she had still been caught off-guard and nearly died for it!
Then she suddenly wondered: Had Mike been in on it? Was that his plan all along? To keep her so focused on trying to decode his actions that she'd been blindsided when an attack finally came from a completely different direction? If so, it had nearly succeeded.
Several ponies suddenly appeared from around a corner in front of her. She couldn't slow down, and saw surprise flash across their faces as she barreled toward them.
"Sorry! Excuse me!" she shouted automatically as she alternately bounced off or skidded around the various ponies in the group. Behind her, she heard pounding hooves and shouts of "Stop her!" but her element of surprise must have been strong enough to keep the ponies around her from obeying because she was suddenly through them and darting around another corner. But she was all too aware that she might not be so fortunate next time. Word would spread around the hospital and sooner or later somepony would catch her and how could she possibly know if they were the real thing?! She couldn't know! She couldn't trust anypony here!
Any ... pony?
No. Not any pony but what about any...
Discord!
Of course! He wouldn't be a disguised changeling.
And if her act earlier had managed to convince everypony that she was terrified of him, they wouldn't expect her to take refuge in his room.
Would they?
Discord had been napping, mostly out of boredom, when several of his neck tattoos began buzzing wildly. He jolted awake just in time to see the door fly open and a hospital gown-clad pink pony dart inside. She shut the door quickly but made a noticeable effort not to slam it and began fumbling for the lock.
"They took the lock off." Discord informed the pony dryly. She turned to face him and he realized with a shock that it was Amethyst. But what had happened to her? She was soaking wet, her eyes were wild, and there was nothing but a stump where her horn should have been.
"What's going on?" he asked in concern, trying to sit up the inch or two his restraints would allow.
Her breath came in ragged puffs. "One of the ... doctors tried to kill me. ... Drown me. I think ... she was a ... disguised changeling and others ... might be too."
Discord's expression suddenly turned calculating. "What kind of muffins did I improve at your house?"
Amethyst blinked at him. "Sorry?"
"What kind of muffins did I improve at your house? The real Amethyst would know."
"Oh. The orange chocolate chip ones. Dinky originally made them orange mint chip by mistake until you fixed them. But we have to hurry now. Where's your paper to communicate with the TreeHAB? I lost mine."
At that moment a black moth shot into the room from underneath the door and splatted itself against Discord's lion limb.
"Here," he said, lifting that arm as high as the restraints would allow. "The words will appear on my forearm."
Amethyst looked uneasily at the lockless door, then hurried around the bed to be closer to his offered arm.
"Spike?" she whispered to it. "Twilight? Anyone there? We've got an emergency."
There were several responses in the affirmative, and Amethyst rattled off the terrifying moments from earlier, concluding with: "I know you're worried about the time thing, but I really think we need to get Mom out of here now. If they went after me, what's to stop them from going after her? They probably meant my death to look like an accident and that'd be pretty easy to do to Mom in her current condition."
Twilight: "All right. We'll do it. But what about you and Discord?"
"Just have Spike send the rescue party to Derpy's room and we'll join them there," said Discord.
Amethyst looked up at him. "You have a plan?"
"It's been known to happen."
Spike: "Alright. I'm headed to Derpy's room now."
"Get me loose." Discord ordered Amethyst, flexing his strapped-down arm for emphasis.
Not questioning him, she bent over his right arm and began working furiously with her hooves and teeth to loosen the many straps securing it. As soon as that arm was free, Discord whipped it up to begin undoing the straps on his neck, chest, and remaining arm while Amethyst moved to the straps on his legs and tail. Within minutes, the draconequus was completely free. Jumping from the bed, he allowed himself a brief glorious stretch before straightening up as much as he could without smacking his head against the ceiling.
"We'll go this way," he informed Amethyst as he lifted one of the tiles away, revealing the dark space above.
"But how'll we see?" Amethyst asked as he lifted her up into the space. "We haven't got a flashlight and I don't think I can make anything with this stump." She strained to test this but couldn't produce even the feeblest of sparks.
"Not a problem," said Discord, putting his head and arms into the hole. He flicked two moth tattoos that were high up on his neck, just a bit behind each ear, and they lit up to illuminate the space. "Let's go."
Amethyst moved forward cautiously, not wanting to get too far ahead of the light as Discord wiggled after her. They might be out of sight but this mode of travel was definitely going to be a tight fit. Discord had just finished squeezing the first two-thirds of his long body through the hole in the ceiling when there were yells of "He's escaping!" and one "There's somepony else up there with him!" from below.
Then there was a sudden tug on his legs and tail, yanking him backward. The draconequus yipped, and snagged a strut with his claws, halting his unwilling retreat. Amethyst whipped around to face him, her expression alarmed.
"They've got me." Discord mentally cursed as he tried to thrash free, furious at his current inability to escape what wouldn't even have presented a challenge if he'd been able to use just a fraction of his usual power.
"What if you used me as a hostage?" Amethyst whispered. "Then maybe we could walk right over to Mom's room."
Startled, he stared at her. "You're willing to risk that?"
"I can't find my way in this darkness without you. I'll do it."
Letting go of the strut with one hand, he pulled her close. "Just act scared and let me do the talking."
At that moment, he was yanked backward so fiercely that sections of the ceiling broke and they came down in a shower of dust and broken drywall.
Discord surged to his feet, finding himself facing a wall of ponies who looked ready to rush him. Until they saw what was in his arms.
"Hold it! He's got Amethyst!"
"Yes, I've got her, and if any of you touch me in any way, I'll split her in two!" He let his talons drag lightly up her throat to her chin. "And I don't need magic to do it."
"You harm her and you won't live long enough to regret it!" And there was Mike the security guard on the frontline. His sunglasses were gone and the look in his exposed eyes was furious.
Discord quirked an eyebrow and as he took a step back toward the door he made a show of jabbing Amethyst lightly in the throat with his talons, drawing sharp gasps from several ponies.
"Mike, don't goad him! He'll kill me!" Amethyst choked out.
The fury in the guard's eyes shifted to shock. "You know me?"
But at that moment one of the doctors shouted, "Take him!" and a unicorn guard fired a bolt of magic right at Discord's chest. Right where Amethyst's body was shielding it. On instinct, the draconequus dodged and the bolt slammed into the wall, blasting a great chunk out of it.
"Are you crazy?!" Mike shouted at the unicorn who'd fired the shot. "You're going to get her killed!"
"He's right! Don't try that again!" Discord warned, still backing toward the door.
"We can't let him get away!" said the unicorn guard. "If he figured out how to get out of those straps, he might figure out a way to get free of those cuffs too!"
"Well, then shoot to stun or something!" Mike argued. "Don't use kill shots!"
"No good. Regular stun shots aren't strong enough to hold him. Wounding him with kill shots is our only option."
As much as I hate to admit it, that claim about stun shots not affecting me is an absolute lie. Discord thought, but had no intention of saying aloud.
"But you might hit Amethyst!" Mike shouted even as the unicorn fired off another shot.
My boy, I'm afraid that's exactly what he's trying to do! Discord thought as he barely managed to get himself and his hostage out of this second beam's path.
His suspicions were confirmed when he heard the unicorn say "Better to sacrifice her if it means saving the rest of Equestria."
The unicorn's horn flared a third time, but before he could fire, Mike suddenly whirled and gave him a kick to the jaw that snapped his head back. Discord took advantage of this to duck out the door with Amethyst and was immediately followed by a barrage of shots from the other unicorns.
He raced down the hall, getting closer and closer to what he knew was Derpy's room, when he suddenly felt something strike his legs and he pitched forward.
Amethyst spilled out of his arms and scrambled to her feet. "Discord, did they get you?"
The draconequus grimaced. "Stun shot to the legs. No lasting damage but I can't move them until the spell wears off."
"I thought he said stun spells—"
"He lied. He probably made it up so he'd have an excuse to 'accidentally' kill you."
Amethyst didn't seem to know how to respond to that. "Here," she said, pushing her head under his arm in a sort of firepony carry. "I'll pull you. We're not that far from—" But as she tried to drag the much-larger draconequus with her, another beam shot over them, searing both his arm and her back. Amethyst cried out, and Discord could tell from his own pain that this beam had been designed to do far worse than stun.
"Amethyst," he said, hardly believing his own words. "Stop trying to drag me and get to your mother."
"What?" Amethyst stared up at him in disbelief.
"They want me alive for trial but they want you dead!" he snapped. "So get to your mother and get out of here. Don't worry about me."
"But—"
"Go!" And with that he pulled his arm away from her shoulders until his hand was resting against her chest, and shoved hard.
Amethyst stumbled backward, her expression shocked. But then she steadied, cast him one last conflicted look, and raced toward her mother's door.
"Amethyst got away! Don't let him get her again!"
Even though the draconequus couldn't move his legs, he could still move plenty of other things. Now he coiled his long body up like a rattlesnake's, and suddenly shot out toward the oncoming ponies. They scattered with cries of alarm, probably fearing he was trying to get a fresh hostage, and Discord exploited this mercilessly, lunging toward first one and then another of the ponies.
"Mother!" he heard Amethyst shout. "Mother! Mother!"
He snapped his head around in time to see Derpy's door open and Amethyst shot inside. Then he was suddenly knocked to the floor and it seemed every pony who was there was pinning him down. All that is, except Mike the security guard, who had run past him and was now in front of Derpy's door. The burly stallion whirled around and kicked the door, causing it to spring open. Discord saw him turn as if intending to enter the room ... only to have the door promptly swing shut in his face. The stallion brought his front hooves up to keep the door from completely closing and tried to push it farther open, but something on the other side of that door stopped him. The guard and his unseen opponent struggled. Mike put his shoulder against the door and pushed, managing to get his muzzle between the door and its frame ... only to suddenly jerk back away from the door, stumbling and rubbing at his head. Glaring at the door, he lunged toward it a second time...
When there was a loud reverberating boom, and a burst of flames shot into the hallway as the door was blown off its hinges. Discord saw the burly stallion get knocked down with the door on top of him just before the sprinkler system came on, drenching everyone.
When several ponies finally reached Derpy's room, they looked in to find it a charred blackened ruin with no trace of either the patient or her daughter. It seemed that the two had been vaporized as if they had never existed.
The next several days were painful ones for Discord, both physically and emotionally. He was never left alone. His every move was watched day and night because the hospital staff all seemed convinced that he had found a way to escape his bonds and had engineered the explosion that had destroyed Derpy and Amethyst. Exactly how he had managed to do this, none of them could fully explain but they didn't intend to give him a chance to repeat it.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
All that time there was never any word from Fluttershy or anypony else. Half of him hoped this was just because his tattoos didn't want to reveal the fact that they were unaffected by the cuffs that bound him. But the other half feared something had gone wrong, and the fire really had vaporized not just Derpy and Amethyst, but all the ponies that had come to get them.
These thoughts tormented Discord up until the day he was declared physically fit to stand trial and was shipped off to the prison cell awaiting him in Canterlot. All throughout the trip he was guarded just as closely as he'd been at the hospital, and even after he was finally shoved into his cell he was never out from under a guard's eye.
As he took in his new surroundings, he wondered yet again if he had made the right choice in forcing Amethyst to go on without him. Thereby giving up what would probably be his last opportunity to see Fluttershy face-to-face.
"Discord," one guard's crisp voice startled him out of his thoughts several days later. "Your lawyer is here to see you."
The draconequus squinched one eye. "Lawyer? I don't have a lawyer."
"You do now. Though what prompted her to volunteer for the job, I can't imagine."
For once we agree. Discord thought and aloud said, "Who is it?"
The guard checked a scrap of paper. "Must be a new one. I've never seen or heard of her before. A Miss Regal Love..." he squinted at the writing. "...and her assistant Wisteria."