"I don't want to."
Filly sighed as E continues to lie on his bed.
"E, you have to go through the Augmentation Process."
"But..." he tried to protest.
"No 'but'. What happened to me was a side effect of my ability, it won't happen to you."
Earth pony winced and looked at his hooves, causing pegasus to sigh again. It's been over a week since her memorable surgery. Since then, Filly learned more about her ability. Not only she could heal all her wounds within instant, provided there was nothing blocking her reforming flesh, or that she practically couldn't get sick or poisoned (or wasted). Also her stamina was sufficiently heightened to the point she could exert herself for numerous hours, even after exposure to powerful tranquilizers. Filly's agility and reflexes were also enhanced to levels that are beyond the physical limits of the finest pony athlete.
Due to her healing factor's constant regenerative qualities, she could push her muscles beyond the limits of the pony body without injury. That did not, however, meant she was resistant to pain, but she could cope with it. Also, she could still suffer the immediate effects of drugs, and toxins (and booze) in massive quantities. The Director theorized that the only way to stop her now is to decapitate her and remove her head from the vicinity of her body. Luckily, she was too good for that to happen.
Now however, her thoughts were not on her awesome power, but instead on the quivering colt that is barely older than her. She jumped on his bed next to him.
"E..." Filly started as she began nuzzling him, blushing almost at once. "... I know you're nervous, but I promise you, nothing wrong will happen. And as soon as my training session ends, I will come to sit next to you in Recovery room and wait for you to wake up."
E glanced at her and smiled weakly.
"Really?"
"Of course, silly." she replied, kissing him on a cheek.
E kissed her back, and she had to fight an urge to move away and hit him.
Filly hated herself for that. Showing her affection to E had barely came easier over the week, which was the reason she still blushed whenever she pressed whichever part of her body to his in a intimate manner, but whenever earth pony did that, her mind almost instantly panicked. Filly was thankful she managed to not harm him yet, or that E was too shy to move things up. She wished she could get over her problems and be more like him.
E was mindful of what she told him and not once asked her about her past. That didn't, however stop him from telling her about his. She found that amusing, considering how bend he was on following protocol on the first day of their partnership. He told her that he was actually from Eastin, and that his father died before he was born. That his pegasus mother died from turbulerculosis, a deadly pegasus disease, a month before he was enlisted into the Project.
He also told her that his old name was Coy Sigil. Fitting, but in Filly's opinion, E was better.
While the two of them became closer, it didn't escape the notice of the other soldiers, despite them acting normally around them. It was most likely due to Filly being less violent when E was around, and E's newfound assertiveness... well, at least to some point. Either way, they were an object of constant teasing. Filly, to her surprise, found that she didn't care. She enjoyed their relationship to much to let it bother her, apparently.
"Relationship." Filly snorted in her mind. "What kind of relationship it is, when I'm afraid when my coltfriend touches me?"
She needed to do something about her mental blockade.
"So, are you going?" Filly asked E, returning her thoughts to the present moment.
"Um... yeah, I guess..." the colt answered reluctantly.
Filly frowned. She wished she could keep him company during the surgery, but it was out of the question. She couldn't let him leave like this. Filly quickly thought of something to lift his spirits up, and suddenly, an idea came to her.
An idea that could solve both problems.
"E, how about this?" she asked, lifting his chin so he would look into her eyes. "You will go to the surgery, be brave and not worry about anything, and after that, we will have something... fun to do?"
"Fun?" E asked, perking up, but his face quickly turned into troubled grin. "You mean something like when you nearly made me fall off the Floating Island?"
Filly giggled, recalling his reaction to that.
"No. Well, kinda." she replied, stroking his mane. "It will be a bit scary, at first. But I promise you won't regret it."
E blushed at seductive tone her voice held when she said that last sentence.
"Why everything has to be scary with you?" he joked as he rose.
"That’s part of my charm."
Few second later they stood in front of their quarter’s door. Filly quickly hugged E, brushing his cheek with her nose.
"Now, do you promise me that you will be fine?" she asked him, looking into his eyes.
"Sweet merciful alicorns, how I want him." she thought, looking into his sharp, yellow eyes, feeling his warm body and his scent. But she know that it would end badly if she would linger now.
"I promise." E replied, red all over his face.
Filly kissed him on the cheek for good bye and flew away as the earth pony reluctantly started trotting towards the lab section.
While she flew, her mind worked on what she was going to do, exactly. It would have to be... convincing, so that her mind could finally allow her to touch E without having to keep herself from harming him.
"I'm going to traumatize him." she concluded, dismayed, but brushed it off as she landed next to Cant, Los, and Hoof.
If E wanted to be with her, he would need to be at least a bit screwed in the head like her.
"We're going to sedate you now. Are you ready?"
"No." E wanted to say.
He was really intimidated by this room and by all those medical instruments, and the fact that he was strapped to the table and was surrounded by the medics, while the Director and Counselor observed from the window wasn't really helping. But he promised Filly that he would be fine.
"Yes." he said, bracing himself for the little sting.
"Start counting from ten to one." one of the medics said after the tranquilizer has been administrated.
"Ten, nine... eight... seven..." E counted, dozing off, his last thoughts about the 'fun thing' Filly had planned to do.
"Sir," one of the medics spoke to the Director, "soldier Eastin is prepped for the Augmentation Process."
The dark unicorn nodded.
"Proceed." he ordered.
The medic nodded and turned around, levitating with his magic a container with a glowing black liquid in it. He put it into the device that was strange even to him, being invented by the Director himself. It had a space of containers such as this, and five long arms with small tubes inside them, that ended with needles. Using their unicorn magic, the medic team moved the device next to the patient, lifted its arms, and plunged its needles into his body. At the same time, they activated another device that was already strapped to Eastin, causing it to glow, along with earth pony's body as it begin radiate magical energies. While it was doing that, the glowing black liquid was being pumped down into Eastin's bloodstream.
"Where am I?" E thought as he looked at his surroundings.
He appeared to be in some sort of desert. E couldn't see any sign of civilization anywhere nearby. The sky above him was clouded, and the wind was blowing, causing sand to dance around him. Strangely, he couldn't feel it.
Ywaq ma phgwa'cul hnakf.
E turned around, searching for the source of the whisper. There it was, a pony, whose coat was black as night, which was sitting in the shadow of rock at the top of the dune, gazing at what was on the other side. The earth pony trotted over to him or her, finding sand a better basis for going uphill than he expected.
After a few seconds, E was finally standing behind the strange pony, whose skin seemed to shimmer due to the temperature of the desert.
"Weird." E thought suddenly. "I don't feel hot..."
Gul'kafh an'shel... another whisper came from the pony.
E moved next to it and stared at what his companion was looking at.
...Yoq'al shn ky ywaq nuul.
It was a huge mass of swirling energy, which seemed to contain... everything. Everything that ever was, is, and will be. E caught glimpses of a city buried in the sand, and of a huge lake that felt to him like a raw magic becoming slowly tainted, changing its color to sickly green, and then imploding. He also caught glimpses of masses of insectoid creatures fighting some blue- and green-skinned bipedal ones, and one of a tree that appeared to cover the skies with its branches, no, wait, it was burning...
Ywaq maq oou; ywaq maq ssaggh. Ywaq ma shg'fhn.
E finally managed to take his eyes from the vortex and looked to his right, at the other pony. His companion did the same.
E backed away as he saw its eyes. They had red pupils, and were glowing green. Those eyes looked at him with contempt.
"Soldier Eastin's vitals are beginning to spike." the Counselor noticed.
"That's nothing out of ordinary." the Director replied, watching as the medics moved away the injection device and augmenting pulser monitor from the earth pony.
Suddenly, there was a slight beeping noise.
"His brain activity is raising." the Counselor stated.
"Is he dreaming?" the Director wondered, surprised.
Ywaq puul skshgn: on'ma yeh'glu zuq. the creature stated, taking a step towards E.
The earth pony continued to back away, scared of this... thing! By now he realized that it didn't seemed to shimmer due to the heat. It body was shimmering, as if made out of gas.
Shgla'yos plahf mh'naus.
Glowing green eyes with red pupils appeared all over its body, all looking with hatred at E. It was a sight so terrifying, that E screamed and jumped, forgetting that he was over the edge of vortex. It turned to be his undoing, as his hooves slipped and he fell down.
The strange pony-no-pony creature lunged after him, mingling them all within the vortex.
UULL lwhuk H'IWN!
"Secure him!" the Director shouted as Eastin began to thrash about. "Get him under control!"
The equipments that was supposed to monitor his body’s vitals were showing activity beyond what should be bearable for regular pony body, and yet...
... he was still asleep.
Sk’uuyat guulphg hoq.
“No...”
Sk’shgn eqnizz hoq. Sk’magg yawifk hoq.
“... no...”
Sk’yahf qi’plahf PH’MAGG!
“Get out.”
UULL lwhuk H’IWN!
“GET OUT!!!”
...Your friends will abandon you.
E woke up with a jolt
“He... he woke up.” A surprised and familiar voice stated on his right side.
The earth pony turned to that side, but soon hissed as the pain attacked his head. He pressed hoof to his temple.
“Easy there.” Another voice said and E felt a pair of strong hooves on his shoulders, gently pushing him back. “You’ve been out a long time.”
E groaned and looked at the other pony, who turned out to be Cant. Behind him he could see Mane and Trot.
“How... how long was I...”
“A month.” Mane replied. “Good to see you awake, buddy.”
“A month?!” E asked, hissing again from migraine.
“Yep, whole month.” Trot confirmed. “You kept moaning some weird shit through it. Sounded like... eh, mate, why are your eyes red?”
E glanced at him.
“They’re what?”
“They’re red.” Cant said, looking closely at him. “Your pupils changed color. Weird...”
For a reason that he couldn’t recall, an idea of his eyes turning red scared him. He quickly picked up the mirror Mane handed him over and looked into his reflection, they were right. His eyes, once yellow, where now red as rubies, with a glow around them.
“Err... dude, how are you holding it?” Mane asked, his voice trembling a bit. “And why did your eyes started to glow?”
It was then that E realized he wasn’t holding the mirror with his hooves, but rather, it looked as if he was levitating it.
“But... I’m not a unicorn!” he thought.
At this moment, his brain once again was stabbed with pain. His growled as he closed his eyes and grabbed his head, causing the mirror to fall on his bed.
“Are you okay?”
“Just a headache.” He grinned as the pain passed. “It’s getting weaker, I will be fine.”
“So... Is levitating things his ability?” Trot asked Cant.
“I have no idea, but it would seem like it.” The older soldier replied. “However, his cutie mark... I don’t know how that is...
"My cutie mark?" E asked them, perking up.
He quickly glanced at his flank and he saw it. His cutie mark. It was... strange. It appeared to be some kind of vortex, made out of all colors of the rainbow.
"What kind of ability I could have with this cutie mark?" he thought as he laid down, rubbing his head.
"We should probably get the Director." Cant noticed and turned to the grey earth pony. "Trot, could you..."
"Sure thing, chap." he replied, moving towards the door. "I will also try to find Filly."
"Filly?" E asked as Trot left. "Where is she?"
"Didn't she promise that she would wait for me to wake up?" he thought, feeling anger at her betrayal.
"Crys and Cloud managed to convince her to go eat something about twenty minutes ago." Cant told him and chuckled. "She spent almost all her time by your side, whenever she didn't have training."
E was immediately relieved, and ashamed. Of course she wouldn't break her word if she could help it, and it wasn't her fault that he slept for a month. And since when did he grow angry at somepony?
"Is there something going on between the two of you that we should know of?" Mane asked E, winking.
"What! Um... no! I mean... err..." younger colt stammered, blushing fiercely.
Cant and Mane started laughing, amused by his discomfort. E was about to say something, but at that moment, two unicorns entered the Recovery room.
"Soldier Trottingham informed us you regained consciousness, soldier Eastin." the Counselor said as he and the Director made their way towards him. "How do you feel?"
Cant and Mane quickly stood in attention, while E saluted.
"Um... Besides a little headache, I feel fine, sir." he answered.
"At ease." the Director told them. "Soldier Eastin, we need to know what your abilities are. Get up."
Filly felt like vomiting what she just ate.
"He's still not woken up." she thought for a billionth time, as bitter as all the other times.
If somepony told her barely six weeks ago that she would feel like this because a pony that she didn't even meet yet would fall into coma, she would burst out with laughter. But now, laughing was the last thing she wanted to do. Even beating the crap out of Hoof earlier didn't lift her spirits.
She quickly realized this must have been how E felt after her surgery, only in that case, it all lasted only few hours.
"When he finally wakes up, I will beat the living hell out of him for making me suffer like this." she thought angrily, not surprised that it actually still fitted her plan.
"Still thinking about E?" Cloud, sitting on the other side of the table in the dining hall, asked.
"It's none of your business." Filly replied, resting her head on her forelegs.
"Oh come on, Filly, everypony knows that there was something going on between the two of you." Crys, sitting next to Cloud, said.
Filly snorted, dismayed. Not because of the comment, though. She didn't need the best - currently - soldier to tell her this to know the others had their suspicions about her and E. What pissed her off was the past tense in her sentence.
"You mean like between you and Cant?" she bit back.
"Maybe." the unicorn replied, smirking, not showing any sign of annoyance that her secret relationship was also an object of rumors.
Filly snorted and looked away.
"Filly," Cloud said, flying over and sitting next to her, "there is nothing wrong with how you feel."
"Shut up." she hissed, not looking at her. "I hate it."
"Hate what?"
"This! I..." she was about to start ranting about how everything was unfair, how much pain she felt, how much she missed E, but then she noticed Trot coming their way.
She still had enough pride left in her to not confide in the presence of a colt.
"What do you want?" she asked him when he was standing next to them.
The earth pony frowned, offended.
"Knock-knock."
Nopony answered.
"It's a good one." he promised.
Filly glared at him, and said:
"If it isn't, I'm hitting you with that table. Who's there?"
"Em..." Trot stammered, a bit put off because of her comment, but soon continued: "Awa ken."
"Awa ken who?" Filly asked, busy getting better grip of the table.
"Awaken E from coma." Trot said, backing away.
"That..." Filly grinned, but soon her eyes went wide when what he said sunk in. "Wait, what? E's awake?"
"Yes," Trot answered, smiling.
Crys and Cloud followed suit, but Filly flew up to Trot and lifted him from the ground.
"He's awake and you've been wasting my time gabbing about your stupid jokes?!" she asked, lifting her hoof to punch him.
"Attention." a voice of the Counselor spoke across the compound. "All soldiers are ordered to gather in Simulation Room's viewing room at once."
Filly let go of Trot and glanced at Crys and Cloud. The last time they were told to gather in such fashion was when she woke up from her surgery.
"Surely, the Director don't expect E to be in a condition to fight a match?"
