Twilight woke up in the morning, greeted by a slightly calmer but significantly colder weather outside her window. For a moment she lay there in a haze, wondering where she was, when suddenly she picked up a bloodcurdling groan coming from downstairs. The sound, which probably just pulled her from her slumber pierced the walls and floor, floating from the depths of the building. She felt chills run down her spine as she realized what it was. A moaning pony was dying.
Twilight dragged herself out of bed and lit a candle. For a moment she wondered if she should go downstairs and help, or rather stay in the room. Finally, the sense of duty overcame her fear. After descending the creaking stairs she reached the ground floor. In the hallway she turned left and stopped at the end of a long corridor. One of the doors was slightly ajar and a streak of light shone through the crack. She knocked tentatively.
"Come in!" somepony answered from inside.
The smell of death lingered in the air, a terrible odor of decomposing flesh. For a moment she stood in the doorway, until she worked up the courage to cross it. Hansen sat in front of a patient on a small stool. In the back of the room near the table an elderly pony was filling a syringe with a white, cloudy liquid. To her surprise, the elderly pony was not a unicorn, but a dark-blue pegasus stallion with a short, golden mane with the a few streaks of hoar here and there. Both ponies were dressed in doctor’s coats, however they didn't cover their cutie marks. On Hansen’s flank there was a microscope, and to the Twilight’s consternation, the pegasus had a crossed saber and flintlock pistol. It was quite a big surprise for her, considering the fact that it was a relatively new invention; even the Royal Guard didn’t have them in stock.
Resting in bed the sick pony was gritting his teeth. The pegasus pony came and uncovered the patient a bit from his quilts and grabbing his front leg and deftly injecting him with the contents of the syringe. Twilight saw that the hoof of the what she only just realized was that of a dying pony was covered with sores and tumors, and that it was morbidly discolored. Dissolved tissue made it hard if not impossible for the wounds to heal.
Once injected, the leper closed his eyes, and after a few minutes his face adopted a relieved, almost blissful expression. Twilight only just now noticed, that the two physicians had thin, rubber gloves on their hooves.
"I'm Dostoyevsky." The slightly graying stallion introduced himself once he noticed Twilight, putting the syringe on the table. "Please forgive me, Miss, for not kissing your hoof, but in our line of work, it is a gesture that we cannot afford.”
If she thought that Hansen had strange accent, than Dostoyevsky’s was from another planet. She would say it was quite broad with a nice lilt to it, as well as being fairly thick, but for the love of her she couldn’t say where it was from.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, it's a pleasure to meet you." She smiled. However, maintaining a false smile was extremely hard. She didn't know if she should admire these stallions for being so calm in face of death or be terrified by their apparent callousness.
"Morphine." Hansen explained, spotting her as she was eying the empty syringe curiously. "A new substance with a powerful analgesic effect."
"I’ve heard about it. We use it for a long time." She answered. "Still, the doctors usually use opium."
"Opium?" Dostoyewsky asked astonished
"Laudanum." Hansen supplied for his comrade.
"By the way, because I haven’t checked it before... did you receive a letter of recommendation from the Canterlot Medicine University?" Twilight asked, trying to avoid looking at the leper.
"Indeed. I am very happy being able to see you here. The exchange of experience will be useful to you both." He gestured towards Hansen.
"Actually, I'm not a doctor..." She started
“Neither am I.” The pegasus cut in with smile.
Twilight raised an eyebrow in astonishment. “Ehm...”
“It’s a really long fabella, one which I don’t think I have the time to tell you right now.” Dostoyevsky grinned proudly. “Medicina is just one of the artes I learned during my long life; if you are interested, Miss, I can tell you about it later.”
“Don’t allow him to do that, he’ll talk your ears off.” Hansen warned the mare.
“Oh, but what a splendidus way to lose one’s ears it would be!” The pegasus smiled even wider. “It reminded me of an adventure of mine when I was wandering through the Eastern Borderlands. Me, my best friend Zagłoba and...”
“Dostoyevsky, please!” Hansen tried to stop him. “I’ve heard this story at least a dozen of times already! And besides, we have a lady with us, show at least some self-restraint!”
“Oh, my apologies.”
Twilight felt that they should change the subject. It felt incredibly unnatural that these two could speak so calmly while there was a pony dying right beside them.
"They faded and partially closed?" She pointed the patient’s wounds. "According to books I’ve brought with me it means that the end is very near..."
"We will have to perform an autopsy." Hansen added, nodding at Twilight’s words. "It’s not very often that the leprosy hits the internal organs. In this particular case I think the kidneys and the liver was damaged. Please note the spots on his face and hooves."
Twilight nodded, taking note of the diagnosis. Surprisingly, the patient's eyes widened and he looked directly at her. There was a demented gling to his eyes.
"Find him and kill him." he said quite clearly, and then his eyes faded, losing the spark of life in them.
His face seemed to sink in, the muscles in it sagging, and the strange grimace that held one corner of his mouth slightly opened gave way, dropping slowly. The lower jaw slowly dropped. Doctor Hansen closed the dead pony’s eyes. Twilight tried to control her trembling hooves. She failed at it.
"Did he... did he... suffer?" Twilight asked, desperately trying to stop the tremor in her voice. She almost succeeded. Almost.
"Unfortunately yes. However, he lost feeling in the affected organs." Hansen replied calmly. "Lepra always strikes first at the nervous system. By the way, it seems to me that you should sleep for a bit more; it seems that you’re still suffering from the fatigue of the journey. We can easily make the autopsy without you, I can tell you about the result later." The doctor said, looking at Twilight with pity.
She wanted to argue that, but instead of an answer a yawn escaped her mouth. As much as she still wanted to help the doctors, she couldn't stay focused anymore. Twilight felt the days of being in crowded stagecoach taking their toll on her.
"I guess you're right." she slowly admitted. "Good luck then."
Twilight returned to her room. She carefully washed her hooves and mane, but she still couldn’t get rid of the intrusive impression that the disease clung to her skin for good. She knew that the risk of infection was minimal, but couldn’t control the fear. While heading for bed, she saw that dark figure from yesterday again, standing on the sidewalk across the street. She closed her eyes for a few moments, and once she opened them, the only thing she could see outside the window was the wind forcing loose snow into a wild dance across the pavement.
"Damn phantoms." she murmured.