The door slowly opened with a creak, moving continuously until it gave off a soft thud as it touched the back wall. Anon with Twilight behind stepped into the hastily prepared room. Less furnished than the other hospital rooms. There being only the bed with various machines hooked into the blue unicorn, they beeped and whirred as various lights flashed in set rhythms.
Anon had already seen this unicorn, but now with a different purpose and better lighting, he was able to notice more. The mane he had previously thought to be just a light orange was indeed that, but with dark and light orange highlights throughout the wither length mane.
The human slid the magic dampening ring off his finger, as it left his hands almost immediately felt numb but quickly enough regained their feeling. Flexing his hands a few times and looking over them as he flipped each hand, looking for any marks or sign of leaking magic, while the human had no idea how these rings work or how magic works in general, he did have one pony near him who was an expert in the subject.
"So. Any tips?" Anon asked casually.
"Well do you remember what I told you initially, about how our bodies interact with magic?" The purple unicorn replied, attempting to jog Anon's memory.
"Not a word. Pretty sure I was still freaking out about talking horses." The human recalled. "Mind giving me a quick crash course?"
While Twilight was not entirely fond of repeating herself, with her in depth and heavily researched views and opinions, The alicorn felt that repeating an explanation took away from the initial impact. But Anon might actually listen this time so it seemed worth it to the little pony, even if it was just a shorter summary.
"The world we live in is filled with magic. It's in the air, plants, creatures and objects with each having their own unique magical signature. While some creatures use their magic passively such as the earth pony's strength and farming abilities, those with magical appendages such as unicorns and alicorns, are able to directly manipulate the magic both inside and outside those objects and creatures. This power requires a lot more Mana, which is why unicorns that wish to do more than basic telekinesis, require intense training to not only hone their skills but to expand their Mana pool. Each creature generates and exudes Mana. If creatures who are able to manipulate magic are unconscious or incapable of casting spells for an extended period of time, then their exuded magic begins to stagnate. This is one of the main reasons for the dampening rings. Stagnated magic is like flammable gas, one spark and things go very wrong." Twilight explained. Her short summary quickly lengthening as she recalled various books and texts she had studied meticulously.
"Pretty sure I got most of it, maybe." The human spoke, not taking his eyes off the unicorn.
After a few moments that seemed to drag on for an eternity. Anon moved closer to the unicorn, slowly walking to the bedside.
"Alright. If this kills him, It's not my fault." The human informed as he placed a hand over the sleeping pony. With a deep breath, Anon began letting his magic seep out from his fingertips. Taking on the form of tendrils seemed to be their natural state, they gently flicked and whipped in a breeze that didn't exist. That is until a tendril got close enough to Astral's horn, gravitating towards it. Latching on as the other four tendrils followed suit, merging into a larger tendril. Where Anon's magic touched Astral's horn turned a light shade of blue with a gradient that followed up the tendril until near the human's hand, it became the normal green colour. A shine began to form on the human's hand as it slipped down the large thread of magic, touching the pony's horn and dissipating. This repeated as the human felt weaker but his mind and emotions felt clearer.
During the silence, Twilight noticed that something felt off. It was only when Anon began flowing his magic back into Astral that she finally noticed. The unicorn did not have a dampening ring around his horn.
"Anon, I think you should stop for now, Astral doesn't seem to have his dampening ring on." Twilight instructed.
The human looked towards the purple pony as she spoke, then returned his gaze to the unconscious unicorn to see that she was right. "That's a bit of a fucking oversight. One sec." Anon commented as he began to pull his hand away.
It was clear that the human was attempting to yank his hand away, but seemed to be locked in place. When that did not work Anon upped his efforts by gripping his own wrist for more leverage but to not avail. Whatever force was keeping the human in place seemed to be stronger than him.
"The hell. Fuckin arm won't budge." The human commented as he turned to Twilight. "Little help here miss magic." He added.
With that the Alicorn surrounded Anon with her magic. With each telekinetic pull, her magic dissipated as if interrupted or dispelled. "Something is blocking my magic, I can't grab you." Twilight quickly informed as her heart rate began to rise.
At the end of her attempts. The human noticed the shine of magic that had been pumping into Astral began to slow, and slow as it gradually came to a stop. Both human and pony had a brief second of relief before the shine began moving again. But this time towards Anon. It started slowly but gradually gained speed, even faster than before and seemingly more bright as Astral's body began to give off a gentle glow of blue light. This light seemed to clump and form as it moved towards the horn, travelling across the fur.
Anon felt his heart rate spike as a sudden pain enveloped him.
"Jesus Christ that hurts!" Anon blurted out through gritted teeth, all while Twilight kept trying to grapple different things with her magic in an attempt to free Anon but to no avail.
The pain only seemed to grow as his entire body seemed to writhe. Anon began coughing as his vision turned red, wiping them with his hand which now was covered in blood. The human struggled to breath as his throat filled with blood, coughing a red mist over the Unicorn.
Now fully panicking, Twilight opened the door to shoved her head out as she called for help. Pulling her head back in the room, she saw the magical connection between Anon and Astral break as the human stumbled backwards into the wall, sliding down it.
Gasping for breath, the human eyes began to close as his vision became a red blur, Twilight and a few staff ran to Anons side, only colourful blurs with minimal facial features. The last thing anon saw before his eyes shut was Astral's eyes opening.
Anon!
Anon!
Anon!
The human jumped awake, lifting his head, seeming to bang it on an overhead lamp. Taking a look around, he realised he was in his workroom. He was sat at an old wooden table with various machine parts scattered on a large blue mat.
*Knock knock knock* "Anon! Come on, did you fall asleep again?" A muffled voice asked, clearly a young female.
Anon stood up from the table, the metal stool scraping against the concrete floor. "Yeah I'm awake, one sec." The human replied as he stretched. Walking towards the other side of the room, the walls the same concrete texture with the ceiling wooden with support beams as cables and pipes ran through the supports.
Anon made it to a large set of old wooden stairs that creaked loudly as he began to climb them. Once atop the last stair, the human unlocked the wooden door as it swung open outwardly. The bright hallway light seemed to blind Anon for a few moments before his eyes could adjust. "Hey Claire, what's up?" Anon asked. In front of his was a decently short young woman with pitch black shoulder-length hair which she had wrapped into a messy bun. While her skin was pale it was clearly looked after, a face adorned with faint but abundant freckles which streaked across her face. She wore basic white slippers which her feet were nestled into, also wearing pyjamas with various Jaegers and kaiju scattered around from the film Pacific Rim. She looked at Anon with tired but caring eyes.
"You good?" She asked, tilting her head.
Anon gently shook his head as he blinked rapidly. "Yeah, I kinda forgot where I was for a second." Her admitted. Looking down slightly, he saw that Claire was holding two plates, both of which contained eggs, bacon, mushroom and hash browns.
Noticing this, Claire decided to speak up. "Mom and dad are out, and I'm not in Uni today. Thought I could watch you work while I have my breakfast." She asked.
Anon thought long and hard for around five seconds which was reduced to three with the promise of food. "If you want. Just don't touch anything." He instructed. Taking one of the plates, the due walked down the steps and as Claire had a quick look around a few of the tables strewn about with various gun parts, Anon made some space on an old work bench.
Anon had a few bites of his food before wiping his hands with a dirty hand towel and walking towards one of the tables. Claire just sat down where Anon had made room and just watched him work.
Claire stayed silent, focusing on her food. But when that quickly ran out, the silence broke. "So what kinda guns you working on?" She asked.
"Huh?" Anon grunted as he held a hex head screwdriver in his mouth. Realising what the question was, he quickly removed the tool from his maw. "Scorpions." He replied simply, not taking his eyes on his current project.
"What's wrong with them? They are in so many pieces." Claire asked as she observed the sea of parts.
"Uh, most of them just need servicing. Guys are saying they jam frequently, the one I'm doing now has it's charging handle stuck open, the foldable stock is bent to shit, and the quick mag release is not working, honestly just tempted to fully disassemble it and use it for parts." Anon informed, wiping the inside of the mag well with a clean rag.
Claire's questions stopped as she stopped talking. "Anon looked over to see her head down as she looked at the ground.
"You know I have to do this. I don't have a choice." Anon stated.
"I know." Clair replied.
"I just-" "I can live with you being a debt collector or dealing with counterfit but fixing guns is just..." She stopped, her hands clasped together.
"It will be over some day. Then you, mum and dad can live freely."
Claire lifted her head slightly. "What about you?" She asked.
Anon chuckled before answering. "I ain't got a chance-"
"Don't say that!" Clair quickly blurted out, interuppting Anon.
"Look, we both know I'm pretty much fucked, the best thing I can do is put you through Uni and give mum and dad an early retirment." He stated, not looking up from his work.
After a few minutes of silence, Anon lifted his head to look at the clock that hung near the stairs. "I can easily finish this later. You wanna watch a movie or somthing?"
"Yes please." Claire quickly answered, nodding her head slightly.
"Alright. I'll take the plates to the kicthen,you go find a movie." Anon suggested as he stood up, wiping his hands with the now dirty cloth before throwing onto the table.
Anon grabbed the plates as Clair began walking up the stairs, once they had both left the basement, the door closed and the light turned off, leaving the room in complete blackness