//------------------------------// // Paranoia // Story: Foal Necromancer // by Kytranis //------------------------------// I drifted back into consciousness again the aches and pains in my body somewhat lessened. Hmm... that's rather nice actually. I plant my new hooves down and stretch my back a little and to my surprise and pain there are several violent pops but the pain is gone in an instant. I wait for a moment then roll my shoulders. Nothing broken just popped the joints. I hear hoof beats across a the floor and I turn to face whomever it is. "Good... hmm... I'm not sure what time it is so I'm just going to say good morning." I say calmly before whomever it is speaks. It's probably the good doctor, or a guard that she'd mentioned earlier to get information out of me. "Good evening dearie." the doctor said and I smiled. "You're awake a little sooner than expected but we can take you off the drip now and get you in a bath and change your bandages. It should help you feel a little better as well." she says kindly and I smile and nod at this. I feel the magic from her come and pull out the needle from my forearm. Foreleg? Whichever. I wince a little at the slight surge of pain and I am gently lifted from the bed and lowered to the ground. "Here, bite my tail dearie and I'll lead you to the bathing room." she says and I feel some long hairs brush up against my mouth and I quickly bite down on it. I hear her walking and I follow it trying to match the pace. It's a little tricky but I've seen horses move before and try to copy it. I'm probably moving like a golem but still... I relax for a moment and I'm now moving more naturally and in a similar pattern to the doctor. It takes about a minute and there's the sound of a door opening before she stops. "Here we are, you can let go of my tail now." she says and I let the hair out from between my lips and teeth. "Now I'm going to take the bandages off but I'm going to put a waterproofing spell on the injuries to keep the soap out." "That's a relief." I respond more for the sake of learning my new voice than answering. It's very young and innocent without a drop of the raspy jaded nature of my former voice. I feel a slight surge of magic and the bandages fall away without issue. Another surge later and there is a barrier on my injuries no more harsh than the bandages themselves and exclusively on the wounds. Now I'm being lifted by magic and now I'm being lowered into warm water with a slick feeling to it and numerous bubbles. Odd there's not even a blade hidden in the water or a contact poison seeping in. I can sense some more magic and flinch away just a little as I feel something make contact with me and start scrubbing. There's a squeezing noise and something is in my mane and spreading it around when I hear the doctor gasp in shock. "Is something wrong?" Here come the machete's and explosive powder propelled lead shots. "I... you... your horn!!" she exclaims in shock and I reach up around the same general area that hers was and I feel it. A small jagged bump that's rather tender. Hmm so something did attack me as I slept... That's a surprising relief. If things get too peaceful then the forces against me tend to build up to levels requiring me to go through a rebirth. "Well... what's left of it at least." I say to myself. So I'm not in the form of a pegasi? A winged unicorn? Pegacorn? I'm positive there's some word for it all its own. The silence is profound and I'm positive she's staring at me. "Is something wrong?" I ask, now I'm worried that there's a discrimination against hybrids. This could end badly but at least I'm back in familiar territory though. "N-no. Nothing's wrong. Oh you poor foal..." she said and the brushing is both quicker and more gentle. I can't tell but she seems to be more attentive. My hybrid nature has rattled her badly and I'm not sure if it's in a good way or bad way. It takes nearly no time at all before I feel myself being lifted out of the tub by hoof instead of magic and there is then a slight surging of magic and suddenly there's a trio of towels quickly rubbing the water out of my fur and mane. Another brush shows up and my tail and mane are both quickly brushed out before there's a pause. "You're mane is a little on the long side... is there something you'd like done with it?" she asked sounding a little nervous. Is she about to strangle me with my hair? Inventive, I'll give her that. "A simple braid would be nice, it's practical." I say trying to be diplomatic and I feel my hair being quickly pulled into the right formation and it keeps the horn stump visible. There is one lock of hair that's too short for the braid and it crosses in front of the horn and goes halfway down my face before ending. No violence... a bit of a letdown that. "Would you like it done to the tail as well?" the doctor asks with a slightly impish tone of voice. I consider for a moment. She seems calm and is a little more playful but attentive. Perhaps something good has happened for once. "Actually that would be nice." I say holding myself still as much as I can as I feel the slight pulling and there were two more bursts of magic and something, probably extra bandage cloth is now wrapped around the ends of the braids. A few moments later I feel the rest of the bandages wrap around the injuries and the spells keeping them closed fades and the bandages pick up the slack. So is she trying to lead me into a false sense of security? May as well play along. "Well you certainly look handsome now little colt." she says gently with a bit of a giggle. Oh yea, something's up. "Uhm... this is a little embarrassing but it's just occurred to me that I don't know your name. I'm terribly sorry." I tell her and I get the feeling she's smiling at me. What for!?! I'm about to learn her name and she knows that I know about naming magic! Why is she smiling!? "It's alright sweetie. I forgot to tell you with all the little surprises you keep bringing up. My name is Doctor Gentlehooves." she says kindly and I smile. I got her now, if she tries anything she'll have the same wretched time I did. "A pleasure to meet you. I don't have a name so I'm afraid I can't give you one." I say with a slight bow and there is a bit of a titter from her. Clearly my hammy performance put her at ease. Or she feigned being at ease so that I would be put at ease... clever. "Alright little colt follow me. Grab my tail too." she says gently and I grab the tail hairs that brush against my face and follow the sound of her hoof steps trying to match her pace. We go all the way back towards the bed but... "I'm certain the bed I was in is a few more metres forwards." I say slightly nervous, I can hear someone else breathing. The breath sounds fairly large, at least larger than Dr. Gentlehooves. Is a fight about to break out? Will I have to curse this Doctor through her tail? "Yes my nurse Mr. Feelgood has prepared a different bed for you so that we're not putting clean fur in dirty sheets. He's also fetched a clean needle so that we can put you back on the drip." Dr. Gentlehooves explains and I nod at this. Alright I'll keep playing your game Doctor. "Well thank you." I say towards the sounds of the second breathing and I hear a noise of surprise. “How did you know I was here?” Nurse Feelgood asks me and I smile. “I can hear your breath so I took a guess.” I say and there's a bit of a chuckle from him. Yea laugh it up muscle head, I know how to deal with your type. “You're a clever one foal... uhm Doctor could we speak for a moment?” Feelgood asks and Gentlehooves lifts me upwards and into the bed. Ah so the conspiracy begins! “Hold on a moment dearie. I'm about to put the needle in.” Gentlehooves says and there is a small amount of pain and a bit of metal is now embedded in my right shoulder. A bit of cloth is tied around the tube part of it to keep it in place. “Now I'll need a minute or two to speak with Nurse Feelgood.” she explains and I nod. I listen to both of them trot off and then strain my ears. If there's poison in the IV then my necromatic talents will nullify the negative affects and alert me to any danger. “...Alicorn?! ...Didn't... Tell...?” is all I can make of Feelgood's side of the conversation. “I didn't...! Have to tell... ... The Nobles... ...” I hear from Gentlehooves. “True... ... Celestia... ... ... kill him...” at this my heart speeds up before I force myself to calm down. Maybe they simply think that I think that they think that someone may be trying to kill me. They finish speaking and Gentlehooves returns. “Uhm Doctor... I... I couldn't help but overhear parts of the conversation and... I know I took this out of context but Nurse Feelgood mentioned my being killed I think.” I say ready to use as much magic I can in my current state to defend myself if I have to. It will be a pity to kill this mare, she's been very nice. “He's just concerned about your injuries and the implications that there have been multiple attempts to kill you.”Gentlehooves quickly replies sounding panicked at my caution. So she knows I'm onto her? Haha! “Sorry, it's just paranoia has kept me alive for longer then I seem to have any right to have lived.” I say by way of apology and sigh. “So... now that you know I'm Alicorn what's going to happen?” I ask taking a shot in the darkness at the strange word. May as well pump her for information so long as she's going to be playing this game. “Well, I'm not sure if you actually know this, but Alicorns are very... rare. You see you have the blessings of all three types of ponies. The magic of Unicorns, the wings of Pegasi and the strength of Earth ponies.” Gentlehooves explains to me and I start thinking. "So I'm safe due to my crippling injuries removing any advantage I would hold over other ponies thus removing any jealous riots?" I ask and there is a stunning silence. "I take it I'm in error about that." I say, not even a question. Gentlehooves is so quiet I start to wonder if she's even breathing. Perhaps she's trying to silently draw a weapon? "Yes! You are wrong! All currently known Alicorns are royalty. The fact that you're one yourself but have been absolutely brutalized is nothing short of terrifying." She tells me sounding a little uncomfortable. There is no way in all seven hells I could be so lucky as that, something must be up. “Sorry.” I apologize trying to stall for time and reinforce my meek appearance. Maintaining a meek appearance when I have no eyes, shredded wings, a broken horn and a patchwork collection of scars and all my ribs showing... Could I possibly look more pathetic? Maybe, probably not though. “It's alright. You've had a hard life so you expect the worst. I'm going to have to report you to the Princesses. They will want to know about you.” she tells me and I nod shortly. This will either end badly or horribly. Or is that well or badly? Or this will end very well... or something! I have no idea what to think about this, she seems sincere which is incredibly confusing. “What's most likely to happen?” I ask a little calmer now that I realize just how adverse this woman... mare is towards death. As such she's unlikely to rat out a child to something that may kill them. I think I'm safe. But this could all be an act as she summons greater forces to deal with me? Perhaps she's detected my necrotic powers... “Well most likely you'll end up adopted by one of the princesses. But there is going to be a riot about your injuries. No matter how well you carry them you're appearance will horrify many of the nobles.” Gentlehooves tells me and I frown a little before grinning slightly. Let's see if I can crack that veneer of hers. “So I'm so darn ugly that I outright horrify ponies. Good to know.” I say in a joking tone with an actual smile crossing my face. Please take the bait. "No, No! It's not like that. It's sympathy little dear. We imagine what it must have been like for those injuries to happen." She then hugs me and I let myself melt into it. She didn't take the bait. "You're such a sweet little foal, the princesses will love you." she says then gives me a kiss just below the broken horn. She may be baiting me. "Anyways, when we get enough nutrition into your body before we start using regeneration spells on you. So long as nothing bad happens you'll be in full health again before the month is out!" She explains excitedly and my eyebrows shoot up and I face her looking incredulous. No, just no. “R-really? I... I might be able to see again?” I ask shocked, there is no way in any capacity that a stranger gets this kind of treatment much less myself, just no way. “But something like that has to be expensive and I don't have any coin.” "Oh dearie, medical care is on the state. It's part of the taxes." Gentlehooves tells me and I nod with a gentle smile. Cute lie. "By the way sweetie. I've sent Nurse Feelgood to summon a representative from the palace for your sake. We're only a block away from the palace so he should be back soon." Oh that can not be good. “Actually we're already back.” Nurse Feelgood says and I turn my head in the general direction of his voice. Time for a fight then. “Oh my! Captain Shining Armour!” Gentlehooves says in shock. Well no prizes as to guess what the new guest is wearing then. “Good Evening sir.” I say cordially and there is a pause. What? Just because I'm an unholy sin against all things doesn't mean I'm rude! “Good Evening Foal. I must admit you're taking your current state amazingly well.” a new voice says and I assume it's Captain Shining Armour. He sounds heroic. I hate him already. “Well if crying, screaming, complaining, throwing a fit or soiling myself will help my situation be sure to tell me and I will do it." I say with all honesty and a wry grin. There's a snort of laughter and then a slight clinking to match hoof beats. He's clearly in mundane armour of some kind and walking towards me. That's never a good sign, because if they know of me and are not bringing magic arms and armour then they bring the best of the best. “Still now that I've confirmed that you're an Alicorn we're going to be moving you into the palace's medical wing for intensive treatment. We'll have you in full health again before the end of the month.” He says calmly and I feel my jaw drop. This has to end. Now. “Why?” I just have to ask, I'm not used to this, it's just not normal! Why hasn't something been thrown at me!? Why am I in a comfortable bed!? Why isn't the IV poisoned? Why is nothing coming at me with a knife?! WHY AM I SAFE!?!?!?! “I mean why hasn't something tried to kill me yet? I've been here for several hours at the very least why hasn't there been an attempt on my life?” I demand and there is a silence but I can't stop. “Why isn't there poison in the IV!? Why wasn't there an attempt to drown me in the bath?! Why are none of you carrying a knife?! Why isn't there an unholy beast trying to sneak up on me!?! This isn't normal!” I nearly shout and it echoes in the room around me. “What the Bucking Hay happened to this colt?!” Shinning Armour half shouts sounding shocked to his core. "And he's affronted by this! What kind of messed up reverse world did I stumble into?! Look I'm sorry that I'm being rude but I'm at the edge of my wits. Why isn't anything trying to kill me!? If things are peaceful for too long then all unholy hell breaks loose and I get torn apart again!" I declare my voice going shrill as I start to completely panic. I begin channelling magic. The headache returns and I can feel it flowing out of my horn stump in distorted waves before it backlashes on me and slams me onto the bed which collapses. My consciousness leaves at record speeds.