Charles waited patiently in the reception room of the hospital as Twilight discussed Lyra's condition with nurse Redheart. He looked around the place and assessed the quality of the medical services. It was obviously inferior to human technology, but still surprisingly advanced when one considers the progress of their industrialization. Suddenly, the main doors opened to a group of paramedics carrying an injured patient, his identity unclear as Charles did not manage to see his face. However, I'm sure he realized who it was when a familiar odor began to fill the place. He smirked at himself and thought,
"Well, at least Lyra will be getting some company."
Once Twilight's conversation was finished, she went and sat next to Charles in order to report the situation.
"You'll be glad to know her condition is stable, and she's already regained consciousness. In fact, it appears everything's alright now! They're still making her stay overnight to make sure she's out of the woods, though."
"I'm relieved to hear that," said Charles before passing his hand over his forehead.
"That's great. However, there's just the remaining issue of the money, but I can write a letter to my mentor and she'll take care of it," noted Twilight.
"The money...?"
"You know, the hospital fees. Don't you have hospitals on Earth?"
"Of course we do, but it's free and universal. Well, at least in my country."
"Wow, free healthcare? Your society must be quite advanced..."
"Oh, yeah. Thank God for socialism!"
It is of course well known that careless remarks change lives, but the full scale of the problem is not always appreciated.
For instance, at the very moment that Charles said "Thank God for socialism!", a freak wormhole opened up in the fabric of the space-time continuum and carried his words far far back in time. In the process, it split into two different instances of itself, and thus spit out his message at two rather peculiar times and locations, with far-reaching consequences.
The first one popped up in London; the 20th of February, 1511. It was precisely 2:16 in the morning, and the family doctor of Henry VIII of England was sleeping at his desk after hours of attempting to understand the disease which afflicted Henry's first son. At the pronunciation of that fateful sentence, the poor man woke up abruptly and tried to get up before slipping and hitting his head on the floor. When he came to, he had a revelation: it was the cure for the sick month-old boy. And so, in a miraculous event, the king's lineage was secured, and the English Reformation was avoided. This also affected colonial America and the success of the Protestant princes of the Holy Roman Empire, as the Emperor had Great Britain's aid in his reinforcement of religious unity.
The second wormhole popped up in a pub in Florida, back in October, 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis was at its peak and you could even reach and touch the physical manifestation of fear that hung around public buildings and in people's minds. Anyways, this time, everyone's favorite football game time had been interrupted by a special report on the military situation down below. A respected Irish physicist was quietly having a cold beer in a corner while engaged in deep thought about his life, when Charles' statement suddenly materialized next to him. The room was already deadly silent, but it became even more quiet so as to enter negative sound units. Everyone stared at him, and soon enough he had been declared a spy and taken to the authorities. He was to be released days later, but while he waited in his cell, he too, had an earth-shattering epiphany... He made three fundamental discoveries which would shape science and the future in amazing ways, advancing technology by years. In that precise moment, he realized why light behaves as both particles and waves, how to achieve faster-than-light travel and how to solve the quantum mechanical problems of nano-scale computing and molecular electronics... all at the same time. Needless to say, 2023 Earth was changed dramatically by the fact that we pretty much had the technological singularity happen decades in advance.
By the time I finished rambling about the effects of freak wormholes, Charles and Twilight were probably already on their way back home.
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Meanwhile, elsewhere in Ponyville...
The convoy of police chariots cruised swiftly through the cobbled roads under the protection of the night, the wagons' wheels creaking under the weight of the passengers and equipment. Simultaneously, squads of sentinel pegasi observed the surrounding area from above with a watchful eye; their job being to report the smallest movement, to denounce the softest noise. Any out-of-place disturbance could be a cry for help, or possibly, the killer's location.
Indeed, for a murder had been committed in the peaceful town of Ponyville, and the perpetrator was still at large. Crimes of such a heinous nature were rare in pony society; their naturally-docile nature did not permit them to experience the same extreme alterations of temper, the same heated moments of blood-thirsty passion which often fuel human homicides. This is not to say that Equestria's history is untouched by vicious atrocities, transgressions which demonstrate the darker side of their essence, but rather that they pale in comparison with man's capability. Yet, as a consequent characteristic of this exact phenomenon, the potential variance is equally great on the opposite side of the spectrum. Just as the acts and motives of our serial killers and violators would appall them completely in their failure to fathom it, so too, would they be unable to understand the meaning and extent of self-sacrifice present in the lives of our saints and heroes. Yes, humanity can hate with intensity unknown to this world, but it can also love in magnitudes superior to anything they would ever be able to conceive...
Once they had reached their destination, the investigation, support, and forensic teams disembarked from their respective vehicles. In their midst, the Altostratus brothers stood out above the rest. Coming from a respected family of cloud herders, you can imagine it came as a big surprise when the pegasi trio all decided to enroll in the police academy. The eldest, Parhelion "Sun Dog" Altostratus, was a seasoned detective and famous for his decisive evidence in the Hoofington Thefts. The middle sibling, named Borealis, took a more traditional path by becoming a constable. And lastly, the youngest of the group was forensic biologist Rodriguez "Jimmy" Altostratus.
Quickly, and with dedication, they began their work.
Parhelion entered the modest two-story building and contemplated the scene with utmost attention. His eyes darted around the room as he tried to piece the evidence together, stopping from time to time at the inert corpse that lied in the middle of the living room. Usually, these kind of cases were discrete and clean, but tonight was different. Red marks and splatters dripped from the walls and furniture, all of them flowing slowly into the central pool of blood that surrounded the body. The victim was a personal friend of Borealis, a middle-aged Earth pony who kept mostly to himself, but liked to help out around town occasionally. His coat was barely visible under the viscous coat of ruby liquid, and when Parhelion took a closer look at his lifeless face, he was met by a distinct lack of eyes. The detective stepped back in shock and disgust, his mind unable to completely process such an awful sight. The image had been burned into him, and those two empty sockets seemed to cry out to him for justice. In horror, he began to wonder who would be capable of such a brutal deed, such a horrendous act against a kind-hearted old stallion...
A photographer who was documenting the scene saw him and asked,
"Sir, are you alright?"
Parhelion snapped out from his thoughts, and answered, slightly embarrassed,
"Yes, of course. I was just... taken by surprise by the body, it's nothing."
"First murder case, sir?"
"No, no. Second one, actually. It's just the first one wasn't quite as..."
"Messy?" completed the forensic assistant.
"Yeah, I guess that's the right word."
Looking down on the static pool in beside his feet, the detective glanced into it, and saw his reflection stare back. He thought about the poor victim for a moment, and took a deep breath. Determination to find the murderer and bring him to justice filled his heart. Parhelion knew he was going to find the one responsible... and he was going to make sure he suffered a fate worse than death.
"Sun dog?" inquired a voice coming from the door.
The detective turned around to face his brother Borealis, whose face was marked with worry, and perhaps a bit of excitement.
"Have you found anything?"
"Indeed, we have. You should come check it out."
"What is it, exactly?"
"Blood," replied Borealis quite simply.
Parhelion looked around the room at the gory display of bodily fluids.
"Well, that's hardly news."
The brothers chuckled together.
"More important than what we found, is where." He took a small pause before finishing, "It's a trail of blood, and it leads to the Everfree Forest."
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