The sun was setting and the air was cool when they began descending toward Canterlot. The towers and turrets of the royal castle loomed into view as they approached, and he realized before they touched down that he had been brought down very close to their ultimate destination. A small mercy, then, since he would be spared the prying eyes of the Canterlot elite. Once the pegasi pulling the chariot eased to a stop, Savior turned around and undid the straps holding him in place while Saber climbed out and galloped toward the castle.
"Lieutenant Saber has gone to contact the royal doctors. They'll be bringing you in to the hospital once they arrive. Once they've checked you in for treatment, they will ask you some questions so they can get you the care that you need. You must be completely honest with them. We've never treated a changeling before, and they will need to learn everything they can so that they don't harm you by mistake. Do you understand?"
Pincer nodded, but without any real conviction. He very much doubted that the doctors would have his best interests at heart, so what would they do with the information? Use it to torture him somehow? That didn't seem to make sense. They already knew how to make him suffer. They'd seen that broken limbs were just as painful for him as they were for them. They didn't even need his permission to find anything out, either. They had a facility full of medical equipment and he was completely at their mercy.
"Good. Is there anything you need in the meantime?"
He shook his head, and Savior nodded in acknowledgement. Pincer's unwillingness to speak left an awkward silence. From the distance came the sounds of carts rolling on cobblestones, flags flapping in the breeze, and the low din of ponies chattering, broken by an occasional laugh or shout. From somewhere nearby came the sound of steadily splashing water. In an attempt to break the silence, Savior tried to engage in small talk.
"Is there anything or anyone at home in particular you hope to get back to soon?
"Would you like to talk about your family? Do you even have a family as we understand the term?
"Do you happen to have any hobbies?"
As he'd been trained, Pincer remained silent.
Perhaps ten or fifteen minutes had passed when he first heard the approaching hoofsteps of the royal doctors, accompanied by the squeaking of wheels. The pony pulling whatever it was stopped, and half a dozen nurses and doctors followed closely behind her. Their appearances did not have the stern sameness of the royal guards who had taken him in; they were more like the ponies he had known from his infiltration missions, coats and manes awash in color. They wore uniforms like the guards did, though theirs were smartly pressed white medical coats. Some tried to peer down curiously at him, muttering amongst themselves as though he couldn't see or hear them. This stopped when one of them, a mint-green earth pony mare with tired-looking eyes and a wrinkled face, waved them to the side and snapped a reprimand at them for their conduct. Her eyes flickered over Pincer.
"Stay still for this. We need to lift you onto the gurney," she said in a low but firm voice. She turned to face the other doctors. "Okay, transfer him."
Remembering how much struggling had hurt last time, he did his best to follow the mare's instructions. She trotted away from the side of the chariot, and four unicorns — two stallions and two mares — took her place at the side of the chariot. Four horns glowed, four pairs of eyes narrowed in concentration, and Pincer summoned every fiber of his self-control to stay still as he once again found himself rising into the air, guided only by the colorful pulses of energy that enveloped him. He almost clamped his eyes shut, but he couldn't show weakness. They may have had him at their mercy, but whatever they did to him, he'd face it like a drone.
The doctors and guards didn't seem impressed by his display, but that didn't matter. They didn't matter. The Hive mattered. Chrysalis mattered, and Chrysalis would not want him to falter. He kept his eyes open until he felt himself eased onto the padding of the gurney and the unicorns released their magical grips. Then, just as had happened when he'd been put in the chariot, a pair of straps uncoiled themselves from somewhere underneath him and pressed firm against him, securely tying him in place.
From here he could see that he was somewhere in the castle courtyard. Its emptiness emphasized its spaciousness, with the only ponies around being the staff surrounding him and the occasional stationed guard. Low walls of carved rocks and rows of hedges bearing vibrant, colorful flowers sectioned the courtyard. Here and there were intricately carved stone statues of ponies Pincer did not recognize, along with abundantly flowing stone fountains centered in some of the sections. It was certainly lavish, but he had little time to take in the sight; after not more than a few glances around, the elderly doctor gave her signal and the young, rose-colored pegasus mare in front of him harnessed to the gurney began to pull it into the castle.
As the group made their way through the many corridors and chambers of Canterlot Castle, Pincer once again felt himself tense up and his nerves wear thin. He'd been here before, during the invasion, but he'd been with the others then. They had each other, they fought for each other, they supported each other, and they had a plan drafted and headed by Queen Chrysalis. It was ironic, really. If only he'd been uninjured, transformed, and hidden, any drone in Cluster Three would've wanted to change places with him. Now that the enemy had him in captivity here, though, the place seemed menacing. There were towering ceilings, blazing banners, dominating stained glass windows, miles upon miles of royal red carpet and he was in a castle made of glaring gold and ice-white marble, every inch polished to a mirror sheen and it made him long for the cracks and crevices of The Hive.
They descended a ramp, and the air began to grow colder. The vast gleaming halls and chambers of the castle above, lined with magically powered lamps, gave way to cramped black stone passages lit by flickering torches. It would actually have been rather comforting, being so reminiscent of The Hive, had Pincer not known it was the dungeons of Canterlot Castle. It was, though, and if he ever left here, it would be in pieces, boxed and labeled.
A part of himself was actually disappointed that he would not be meeting Celestia before they took him down there. That was strange to think about, wanting to see his most feared and most hated enemy. The chance to tell her off before he breathed his last, though, would have been some small source of comfort and a chance for some sort of closure.
The mare towing him saluted one last guard who opened one last door, then pulled him into a room lit sickly yellow by overhead gas lamps and sectioned by curtains. It housed several gurneys like his own, each paired with a steel table holding rows of scalpels, needles, scissors, and other surgical equipment. The walls were packed with shelves and cabinets, some of which were open, allowing Pincer to see the bottles of chalky pills and bubbling potions inside. Slowly, he was pulled into place alongside an unpaired table.
"Here is fine, Nurse Clean Bill."
The mare pulling him nodded and slipped out of the harness, then trotted to another room. Meanwhile, the head doctor took a seat near the sharp instruments. Pincer knew the time to face what he'd been dreading had finally come.
"My name is Steady Hooves," she said. Her corn-yellow ponytail swayed as she pulled a quill from her lab coat pocket and pressed it against a nearby clipboard. "I'll be responsible for you until you're discharged. I need to ask you a few questions before we begin."
Pincer took a breath. "What do you want to know?"
"What is your name?"
"Why do you want to know?"
Hooves didn't bat an eye. "So I can address you and enter you into our records. Unless, of course, you'd prefer I just called you 'Changeling.'"
Could they use his name against him or The Hive? They could take him hostage. They already had him, of course, but if they'd only said they had a changeling, it would be easy to call it a bluff. Then again, ponies had cameras, too.
"You don't have to answer it if you don't want to," Hooves said levelly.
Pincer took another breath. "I'm not. I won't answer it."
"Very well," she said, scribbling a note. "Now, do you know how much you weigh?"
He gave the most accurate answer he could; they would probably weigh him later anyway.
Hooves scrawled another note. "Now, I mean no offense by this next question. We've never treated changelings here, so I can't know for certain. Are you male or female? Or some other specification?"
"Male."
She scrawled again, giving a small, pleased "hm." "What... stage of life would you say you're in? Adolescence? Adulthood?"
The question seemed harmless enough. "Early adulthood."
Another scribble. "Family history of cancer, heart attack, or diabetes?"
"Mother's side, no. Father's side, I don't know."
"Any allergies that you are aware of?"
"No."
"Did you sustain any other injuries during or after the battle in Canterlot that we should be aware of?"
"Got hit by some kind of pink beam from a unicorn's horn. Knocked me off my hooves, but as far as I can tell I only got scrapes from it."
"A kinetic impact spell. Nothing to worry about. Now, what about your dietary requirements? Do you need anything besides love?"
"Meat. Any kind."
Hooves gave a final nod and a final scribble, then slipped her quill back into her pocket. She had failed to ask several important questions, such as whether he'd had any recent history of plate dislocations or had ever suffered Transformation Rejection Syndrome, but she couldn't have known about those and Pincer planned on keeping it that way.
"All right, next we'll need to take you to another room to x-ray your legs."
Pincer tensed, wishing he'd studied pony medical technology more during his infiltrations. Weren't x-rays harmful radiation?
"Is something wrong?"
"That's radiation! It's dangerous! Are you... why? Why are you doing this?"
Hooves' eyebrows raised. "You don't know about x-ray imaging? Do you mean to tell me that changelings don't have the technology?"
Pincer nearly hissed, more at himself than anyone else. He'd just given the enemy information!
"I mean, I didn't really know about that stuff. Wasn't in medical. I just know they never used it on me."
Hooves let out a quiet "hmmmm." "We use x-rays to image bones, so we can see how bad the fractures are and if they will require us to operate. It's easy and safe, I assure you."
Pincer cringed. There was really no way to get out of this and he was sure his carapace was too thin to block the rays. His endoskeleton would be on display for them all to see, and that alone would be a lot more data about his kind in their hooves. He'd been a fool! Dying of thirst in that ravine would have been better than this!
"You can relax. It's a perfectly routine procedure, it doesn't take long and it's completely harmless and completely painless."
He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his head. While he was looking at Hooves, the nurse had slipped into the harness again. How had she done it so quickly? Suddenly he was being pulled once again, past rows of gurneys and shelves towards an open doorway, Hooves trotting along beside him. He didn't know where he was going or what exactly to expect, but once again images of blades and poisons burst into his mind.
He was wheeled into another room. This one was harshly lit by the cold, white light of a multi-bulb lamp hanging from an iron arm bolted to the ceiling. Filling the room was a cage of shining steel machinery and rubber cables, a cage into which he was being pushed. He'd barely gotten into the doorway when the nurse had to step out of the harness to circle around and push from the rear. Once he was directly under the light and boxed in by the strange medical devices, the nurse stopped pushing and slipped back into the other room, quiet as ever. He found himself wishing he could follow her.
Hooves turned away from him to adjust some dials on the side of one of the machines. He began straining against his bindings, grunting as he tried to work up some motion, any motion, anything that remotely felt like it could get him away from the scanner. Overhearing his struggle, Hooves took her hoof off the dial and turned back around.
"I need you to stay still. Otherwise, I can't get a proper image."
She looked down at Pincer. Pincer looked back up at her, baring his fangs slightly.
"No. Don't look at it." His breathing quickened. The gurney jostled slightly as he began thrashing again.
"Calm down! We just want to help you!"
"You think I don't know what you're trying to do? You'll just send this to the royal guards so they know where to kick!"
Hooves balked. "I wouldn't! I couldn't do that even if I wanted to! They'd fire me for breaking a patient's trust!"
"You're lying!" He snapped his fangs, and even though he could do little more than turn his head, Hooves gasped and stepped backward. She recovered quickly, though, and cantered steadily out of the room without another word.
Seeing her exit, Pincer let himself fall limp and begin panting for breath. It couldn't have been that easy. She'd be back, and she'd have some way to make him sit still. He shivered, then steeled himself. They would punish him for this. He had to be strong, though. Anything useful they got out of him wouldn't be from his own failure or weakness. He'd already let Chrysalis down by getting captured. This was his chance, and he would exonerate himself!
"Here he is."
The doctor stepped into the room and to the side, making way for a blue unicorn stallion with a short, neatly trimmed, sea-green mane who wore a white medical coat similar to Hooves'. He trotted to the gurney, slowing his pace as he approached Pincer, eyes on his dagger-like fangs. Pincer gnashed and flailed with what little ability he had, as though he could overcome his restraints and bite the new pony through sheer force of will. Unfazed, the pony lowered his head and his horn began glowing.
"You've left us no choice. I'll have to tranquilize you."
"No! Put it away! You won't break me! I know you've been lying! I know why you're really x-raying me! You're going to use me. You'll use me to fight The Hive. The others..." He yawned. "The others are c—counting on me. I won't let you win. We won't let you win. None of us... we'd never... damn it... we can't l—let Chrysa..."
Pincer's head fell to the pillow.
"Not very pleasant, was he?"
Steady Hooves, who had been sitting by Pincer and writing up a chart for him, glanced toward the doorway. Standing there was Clean Bill.
"Hardly surprising," Hooves replied, focusing again on her work. "He's a prisoner. I just hope he didn't lie about anything. If we make any mistakes, we could have a lot worse than broken legs on our hooves."
Clean Bill trotted towards them, circling to the side of the gurney opposite Hooves. Her gaze never left Pincer.
"Like an arthropod crossed with a mammal," she said quietly, eyes sweeping him. "I'd never heard of a creature with both an exoskeleton and an endoskeleton. The exoskeleton doesn't seem to be very thick or heavy, though. I suppose they couldn't fly if it were."
"It was thick and heavy enough we couldn't get a blood pressure reading through it after sedating him," Hooves said, eyes not leaving her chart. "If he gets circulation problems, we're in trouble. At least we were able to get a decent x-ray image. I wasn't thrilled with the thought that we might have to open him up just to look at his fractures."
"The wings, too. They're like insect wings. Thin, translucent membranes..." Bill leaned over the gurney. "I can see the veins if I look closely. The ears are very long and thin, but structurally they're quite similar to our own. They look like they developed from antennae. The only fur I can see is on the tail. And why the holes? Why in Equestria are they there? I bet I could snap those legs with my hoof. Come to think of it, I'm not sure what the fin on the back of the head is for. Reducing drag? Attracting mates?" She looked up at Hooves and continued.
"I heard what he was screaming about, and I'm actually surprised The Guard haven't asked us about that. You know, getting some samples — blood, chitin, anything like that. I'm sure the scientists at Canterlot University would love to get their hooves on some. As long as he's here, you know?"
For the first time since Bill began speaking, Hooves' eyes left her clipboard.
"He's a patient, Bill, not a lab specimen," she said. "There are rules we have to follow when we treat patients."
"He's not a pony, he's a lovesucker," Bill said, tapping her hoof against the floor. "Those monsters came here to..." She shuddered. "...feed on us. You're really saying we should treat him like anyone else? Like he was some Canterlot pony caught stealing?"
"It's not our place to judge, Bill. As members of Her Majesty's medical staff, we've got to handle all our patients— "
"...with compassion and consideration, I know. But do you think Celestia could've planned for something like this? Do you really think she'd want us treating him like one of our own?"
"Have you heard her say otherwise?"
Clean Bill's eyes flickered to Pincer.
"We'll need a meal for him when he wakes up," Hooves said. "Meat won't be a problem. Some gryphon dignitaries will be coming in a few days, so Celestia should have some fish ready to cook."
"But what about love? Standards say we can't let him get malnourished. The problem is, we can't just let him take it by force, and I don't think anypony's going to give it to him willingly. Can you even imagine it? 'You there. Love this oversized bug vampire for us.'"
Steady Hooves tilted her head to the side, looking at nothing in particular, touching her quill against her chin and furrowing her brow. Then, suddenly, she let the quill fall onto the chart and looked at Clean Bill, mouth turned upward in a satisfied smile.
"Princess Cadance. I'll need to speak with her."