//------------------------------//
// CH1: Welcome to Earth 
// Story: A Dubious Welcome 
// by Maonyman 
//------------------------------//

"Oh for fuck's sake, don't I have ANY decent music anymore?"
Anon casually swiped a finger across his phone to skip yet another song. He had just left his veterinary clinic after getting called in at too-damn-early in the morning for a dog that had gotten outside and been hit by a car. Poor thing had had several broken bones and severe internal bleeding, but he'd done his best and what would come would come. By his estimate, the unlucky pup's chances of survival were about one in three.
Of course, he hadn't told the owner that.
It had been nearly a decade since he'd finished schooling and began his veterinary work, but giving bad news was still the hardest part of the job. He remembered them all, too. 
Anon grimaced as the next song began playing and simply yanked out the audio cable to silence it since he was nearly home anyway. 
It was a boring drive home from Podunk, the ironically named little town he called home. Whoever named it probably thought they were being clever, but nowadays all it really does is get them laughed at. Still, he liked the peace and quiet of living in such an out of the way town, especially with his house on the outskirts so he didn't have to--
"ssSSHIT!"
There was a brilliant flash of light and abruptly a small deer was just standing in the road in front of him. His foot slammed down, the wheel jerked to the side, and the sporty sedan shuddered as various electronic systems struggled to compensate and keep the vehicle under control.
Anon caught a brief glimpse of purple as the deer bounced off his hood with a sickening crunch and tumbled over the roof of the car.
As he screeched to a halt, Anon sat briefly frozen in stunned silence, breathing heavily. Then he came to his senses, threw the shifter into park, grabbed his flashlight, flung open the door and rushed to the poor deer.
"Wait... The hell?"
He stopped and stared in confusion as he realized the crumpled body in the road was no deer but rather what seemed to be some sort of miniature horse with its back facing him. It was bright pink or purple in color, its indigo mane and tail were streaked with magenta and--no, it couldn't be... yes, those were actually wings!
Not quite believing his eyes, he stepped closer and squatted beside the body for a closer look, and sure enough, one wing was folded neatly against the creature's right side, the other twisted and crushed beneath its barrel. He looked up at its head and...
Was that a fucking horn?
Anon blinked, rubbed his eyes and leaned forward, but there was no mistaking it. Protruding through its mane at the top of the forehead was a small, spiraled horn that tapered nearly to a point, with a jagged flat edge about the size of a penny at the tip. 
Suddenly, a bright mote of pink light sputtered out of that jagged tip with an electric crackle, startling Anon so badly he nearly fell backward.
"W-What...?"
For several seconds he could only stare in open amazement. Then the creature's ear twitched, its sides heaved, and he suddenly realized it was still alive. Shoving all other thoughts away in an instant, Anon snapped to attention, bent over the body, and rapidly diagnosed its condition:
Mare, approximately ten hands. Pulse slow but strong. Breathing steady, no bubbling or rasping. Unconscious, good pupil response. Horn broken, approximately one inch missing. Left forehoof bleeding profusely from frog. Left fore and hind legs, both tibia cleanly broken. Left wing dislocated, humerus badly broken, possibly shattered, no penetration. Right side covered in minor lacerations. Oddly discolored flank, likely bruised or flayed skin.
Anon hurried to fetch his heavily customized first aid kit from under the driver's seat then quickly turned the vehicle around so the headlights fell on the injured... Pegasus? Unicorn? Surely...
Fuck it, he could think about that later.
He had a life to save.
*	*	*
It's very unusual for a head wound to knock any creature unconscious for more than a minute. After working as quickly as possible for two or three, Anon was starting to get seriously worried when the mare finally began to stir and he breathed a small sigh of relief. Any longer and he'd have had to assume it had cerebral hemorrhaging, and that can spell death even on his operating table, nevermind on the side of the road with a damn first aid kit.
Still, despite his worrying, he had made good use of the extra time. He had bandaged the bleeding hoof, set simple splints on both broken legs, jerked the dislocated wing back into the joint, and he was just wrapping gauze around the creature's barrel to secure the injured wing when its eyes began to flutter open.
Anon immediately began to speak with a soft, friendly tone in an attempt to keep it calm.
"Whoa there, relax, girl. You're alright, I got you."
The words themselves were utterly useless, of course. All that mattered was his quiet soothing tone of voice. One ear twitched, then slowly swiveled to orient on him. That was good; the creature was listening. He was kneeling near its back where its hooves couldn't hit him if it began to flail in panic and far enough back that it couldn't see him in its peripheral vision.
It was important to keep up constant reassurance, so Anon continued to speak in a low, gentle tone, saying anything that came to mind.
"You sure came outta nowhere, didn't you, girl? Took quite a tumble, but I'd say you're pretty lucky all the same, 'cause I'm just the doctor you need."
The mare tried to lift its head and let out a pitiful little moan, its mouth working as it tried to whinny, then its legs shifted uncomfortably. Anon readied himself to jump back in a hurry. This was the critical moment: if the animal was going to panic, it was most likely to be now as the pain started to creep in through the shock and it tried to move its restrained legs. 
Sure enough, when its left foreleg wouldn't move the way it wanted, the creature tensed up in fear, ears folding flat against its head.
"Eaaasy now, it's alright. Just a brace to help your legs heal, that's all. You can still walk on them, I promise, just relax and take it slow. You'll be okay."
Slowly, the animal relaxed again, its ear fixating on the calming sound of his voice, and Anon felt a great weight of tension lift from his shoulders.
"That's it, there's a good girl. Just relax, lay here for a moment. Give your body some time to wake up. You were out for a good couple of minutes so you must have had a pretty good knock on the head. I bet you feel awfully dizzy, huh? Maybe even a little sick. It's okay, girl, take as long as you need."
As he spoke, he gently worked the gauze binding under the creature's barrel and the mare shifted uneasily, letting out another groan that sounded even less like a whinny than its first attempt. Anon was beginning to worry it had cracked its jaw or bit through its tongue, but there was no way he could check while it was conscious, so he just finished the binding and continued talking, not caring or even really thinking about what he was saying.
"You sure are an odd looking mare, huh? Ain't a problem though, you're close enough to what I do know. I'll fix you up right, don't you worry, girl. No, I'm really just wondering where you live since I ain't never seen nothing like you 'round these parts before."
The creature struggled weakly to lift its head then gave up and stared blankly ahead. Its muzzle opened again and an odd sort of grunt and hiss came out, almost sounding like the word "quest." 
Anon furrowed his brows in confusion. The hell kind of horse makes a noise like that?
He saw its tail flick in annoyance, then its side rose in a deliberately slow breath.
"E...quest...tree...uh."
Anon fell very still.
There was a brief pause, the silence pierced only by the soft hum of his sedan. Then the creature took another slow breath and this time the words were unmistakable.
"I... live in... Equestria."
Refusing to believe what his senses were telling him, Anon numbly repeated the words he thought he had heard.
"Y... You live in E-Equestria?"
The animal immediately and distinctly nodded its head.
It had responded to his question.
It understood him.
Anon abruptly swayed crazily to the side as the very ground seemed to lurch beneath him. He caught himself with a hand as his throat made an inarticulate choking noise of pure shock and confusion. Slumping to one elbow, he just barely managed to hold himself on his side and stare dumbly at the back of the mare's head.
Surely he was dreaming?
Had he fallen asleep at the wheel?
Was he himself laying unconscious on the side of the road?
Or perhaps he had never even left his bed?
It felt like a very long time had passed when Anon's attention was forced back to the present. The mare was rapidly becoming more and more agitated and its whining and scrabbling movements slowly roused his deeply trained need to care for his patient.
He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, then pushed himself upright. As he came back to his senses, he realized the animal wasn't just whining, it was speaking again. Yes, its words were quite clear now and getting faster and louder as panic began to take hold.
"Oh, ow, that really... wait... What? W-Why can't I... My horn? Oh sweet Celestia, my horn! NO! What--how... no, WHERE? Doctor, help! Please, I... Oh, Tartarus, where is it? Doctor? Doctor, please! Where is the tip of my HORN!?"
It wailed in clear distress and struggled desperately to twist its weakened body around and search.
Anon took a brief moment to close his eyes and take one long, slow breath, forcing his mind into the focused calm he relied on to function in even the most bizarre and stressful medical operations. When he opened his eyes again, he saw his patient in the throes of a full panic. 
Normally, it's not only impossible to calm a panicking horse, but outright dangerous. All your effort goes into avoiding panic in the first place and if things go wrong and the horse does panic, you simply step back, wait for it to calm down, then deal with any additional injuries it may have caused itself.
However, Anon realized the way he thought about this creature had shifted. This was no dumb horse that had spooked from a fallen leaf turning over too quickly. This was a thinking and speaking person, panicking due to complex emotional trauma and fear.
This wasn't an "it," this was a "her."
Anon, faced with the threat of an out-of-control patient, roughly shoved aside any thoughts about the absurdity of the situation and simply addressed her as if she were a human.
"I'm here," he said calmly, "Listen to me, please. It's going to be okay, we'll get your horn healed, but I need you to try and relax. You're going to hurt yourself if you keep struggling like that."
Her ears immediately turned back to focus on him and she whimpered faintly. 
Hell... she really did understand him. A shiver ran up his spine and he struggled to keep his voice steady.
"Please, I can help, but I need you to keep calm. Here, try closing your eyes and focus on your breathing, it will help you relax. Count to ten every time you inhale and exhale. Everything will be alright, I promise."
Her eyes closed and he could clearly see her following his instructions to try and get her breathing under control. His concentration wavered as a fresh wave of confused astonishment swept over him. He felt like he should run away or slap himself awake or even just stand up and scream, "What in the hell is going on here?"
Then his eyes fell on her bandaged hoof and the sight of the blood soaking through the gauze sent an energizing jolt through him.
Dammit, he had an injured patient here! Time to freak out later, right now he needed to get that bleeding under control and get her home for a more thorough examination. God forbid if she had internal hemorrhaging...
He took another deep breath to steady himself, then quickly got up to fetch an old towel from the trunk of his car. When he returned to the mare and began to spread the towel on the ground behind her, she twisted her head to see him and her breath caught in her throat.
"W-What? You... You're not... Who are you? What are you?"
He could hear the panic edging into her voice again and he paused in his movements, giving her a chance to calm down before he touched her again.
"It's okay, don't worry. What matters now is you're hurt and I'm your doctor. Let's get you stabilized, then we can figure out the rest later, okay?"
She hesitated, shuddered slightly, then said, "O-Okay, but... can I see you first?"
"Of course."
Anon slowly moved around her head in a sort of shuffle, keeping to a low squat to avoid towering over her too much. At first the mare only watched his feet, then her eyes slid up his body and settled on his face. Even through the fear and confusion, Anonymous could clearly see the intelligent curiosity behind those eyes. Resisting another shiver, he gave her the best smile he could manage and her muzzle sort of twitched in a similar attempt.
Then the red stain on her bandage caught his eye again and his expression turned anxious. 
"Now, I need to get you into my car so I can take you somewhere safe and treat you properly," he said as he gestured to the towel. "I've put splints on your legs but they won't hold under any real use, so try not to stand. Your other two legs seem to be uninjured, but I can't say for sure out in the field like this."
Realizing his words were coming out too quick and tense, Anon cut himself off and passed a hand over his eyes. When he spoke again, he sounded much more relaxed and controlled.
"Sorry. Point is, try not to move as I slide you onto the towel except to shift your body weight where I press. Don't bend your braced legs and especially don't move that wing I bound to your side."
Her eyes widened, "My wing, what? Why?"
He patted the air in a calming gesture and said, "Don't worry, it'll heal, but it could get worse if you move it. Now come on, we need to move--that bandage can only soak up so much blood."
Stepping around her again, he gently wiggled a  hand under her head and slid the towel under it, then moved down and  shimmied the towel under the rest of her body. She squeaked indignantly  when he lifted her flank, but he ignored her protest and shoved the  towel into place.
"Okay, I'm going to slide you a little closer to the car then lift you inside. Try not to flop around too much."
He was trying to hurry now and began dragging her before she even responded. She yelped in surprise or perhaps pain, but he shushed her as he wiggled his arms under her barrel. Half expecting to throw out his back, he braced himself and heaved--then stumbled to catch himself as she was far lighter than he'd expected, only forty or fifty pounds at most. Her sickly groan at the sudden movement made him wince and he took much greater care as he slid her onto the backseat of his car, then snatched up his first aid kit and jumped into the driver's seat.
"Alright, this is gonna feel weird 'cause of your head injury, but try not to move, okay?"
He began to ease the car forward, but the mare suddenly cried out, "W-Wait! My horn!"
The car lurched to a stop, and when he looked back, her face was contorted with fear and anxiety.
"Please, I need it! It can't heal without the missing piece!"
The effort exhausted her and she collapsed back onto the seat.
"Doctor, please... you have to find it... p-please..."
He didn't like delaying further, but surely the strange creature knew her body better than he did, and she'd been more distressed by her horn than anything else. With a little sigh, he stepped out, placed his flashlight on the ground so every little pebble cast a long, distinct shadow, then slowly swept the light across the road.
About a minute later--and just as he was about to give up--an odd glitter caught his eye on the side of the road. He stepped closer to get a better look and... yes, this had to be it. Scooping up the tiny purple cone, he ran back to the car and jumped in.
The creature began to speak as soon as he opened the door, but he cut her off, "Yes, I found it. Now shush and keep your head down, we've already taken too long."
Dropping the horn fragment into his shirt pocket, he eased the car forward and was soon flying down the road at well over the speed limit.