//------------------------------// // (Not) According to Plan // Story: Adventures in Atlasso // by lone wolf2012 //------------------------------// StarShine awoke to a world of pain. She was laying on her left side, her sore forelegs wrapped around her spasming stomach. The bleary unicorn tried removing one of her hooves from it's vicegrip on her belly, only to discover it was like moving solid lead. StarShine attempted to voice her discomfort with a groan, but ended up hacking due to her throat practically becoming sandpaper. She managed to open her eyes enough to see several blurry shapes around her bed, one of which was standing right beside her head, and appeared to be fumbling with a metal pole near her pillow. "Uugh," was the mare's response, which only turned into another coughing fit. "Don't move around too much, or you'll only make it worse," came an unfamiliar voice, which probably came from the blur near her head. StarShine responded by lifting her head off her pillow and opening her eyes wider, earning an annoyed huff from the unknown shape. Blinking her eyes a few times to clear her vision, the unicorn managed to make out the room's other occupants. The blur with the unfamiliar voice turned out to be a nurse, judging from the characteristic white coat, pink mane, and nurse's cap. Her soft, light blue eyes glanced between her patient and the pole beside her with a bag of IV fluid. Due to the quick, frazzled bun her mane was in, along with the bags under her eyes, the poor mare must have been working the night shift. Beyond the mare was Trident and another guard, who seemed to be the opposite of the nurse. Instead of bright, cheerful colors, the pony's coat was a solid black, and their mane was only a dull grey. On their flank was a cutie mark depicting a pair of grey eyes which matched the real eyes on the pony's face. The dark pony had bags that matched the nurse's, but their eyes radiated cheerfulness. StarShine tried to tilt her head to the side in confusion, but her tired neck screamed in protest. Flopping back onto her pillow, she risked asking for a glass of water, which the nurse apparently had ready. After gulping down the water and soothing her throat, the unicorn was finally able to speak without hurting herself. "Can... any of you... tell me what happened?" she choked out between gasps for air. The nurse smiled slightly before answering. "Your body is just sore from the shipwreck you were in. You'll be fine in a few days, but you definitely need to rest until then," here she paused to look out into the hallway before continuing,"There's other patients I need to tend to, but Trident will be staying here to keep you company." The white mare gestured toward Trident and his companion before she rushed out the door and down the hall. Once she was out of the room, StarShine glanced at the dark pony before opening her mouth to speak to her guide from yesterday. "So, care to introduce me to your friend?" Trident looked over his shoulder before answering. "Uh, yeah, sorry. This is NightWatch, a member of the city guard and an old buddy of mine. I had been patrolling with him when Nurse SoftHeart called for me. She said that you were having some problems, and since I'm in charge of you for now, I had to be here immediately," he ended with a shrug. StarShine nodded, her curiosity sated for the most part, but her gaze kept returning to NightWatch. Trident had called the pony 'him', but the equine's features seemed way too feminine for 'him' to be a stallion. The lavender mare shook her head before groaning from the ringing that ensued. Giving one last look at the pegasus and earth pony in the room with her, StarShine rolled over and fell asleep. A tired groan rang out as a certain lost unicorn woke up for the umpteenth time since her shipwreck. "Welcome back to the world of the living," said somepony in the room. A quick glance revealed it to be NightWatch, since he was the only other pony there. "You don't have to say it so cheerfully. Or loudly, for that matter," replied a disgruntled StarShine as she covered her ears with her forehooves. The only reply was a lighthearted laugh. Once her head stopped ringing, the mare realized that, while NightWatch was still here, Trident was nowhere to be seen. Apparently NightWatch saw her confusion and explained. "His brother and a couple other 'higher-ups' wanted to see him." He must have seen her confusion turn to worry, because he quickly elaborated. "He's not in trouble or anything, they just wanted his help brainstorming about where you should stay." "So where do you think I'll be staying?" The earth pony was quiet for a few seconds before he responded. "Trident and I think you should stay with an old buddy from our school days. He's a good guy, and he loves what he does. Gotta admit, I think you and ol' BookWorm would get along just fine, considering you both seem to be the scholarly type." StarShine shook her head slightly before correcting her companion, "I'm not a scholar, I'm an astronomer. "Meh, same difference." An annoyed sigh escaped the lavender mare as she got out of bed. Some sort of commotion drew her attention to the window, her hooves breaking into a brisk trot as she rushed towards the pane. Peering out into the street, StarShine quickly regretted it due to the sight greeting her eyes. In the middle of the golden road lay several carriages, all of them caught up in a large wreck. Surrounding the scene was a ring of onlookers, with several rushing forward to help the carriage drivers and their passengers. All the ponies that weren't helping stayed well back; either to get away from the wreckage itself, or to escape several blood splatters around it. StarShine backed away from the horrific scene outside, and turned to gallop out the door to help. However, she found the doorway blocked by her bodyguard. NightWatch made no move to help the ponies outside, or to let StarShine exit the room. In fact, he wouldn't even look at her; instead his eyes stared at the floor. The mare stared in disbelief before shouting at the guard, "What are you doing!? We have to help them!" NightWatch simply shook his head, still not looking her in the eye. "There's nothing we can do. They're right in front of a hospital anyway; I'll bet the nurses are already out there helping them." The unicorn galloped back to the window and saw that her captor was right. In the street below, hospital staff could already be seen clambering among the wreckage and pulling out the broken bodies of other ponies. StarShine turned her head to look out her doorway where she could see nurses wheeling stretchers through the hall. She recognized the nurse assigned to her, SoftHeart, standing against the wall, unsure of how to help. NightWatch motioned the white mare into the room and mumbled several words to the earth pony. He seemed relieved at the whispered answer, and turned to look out the hallway again. Nurse SoftHeart walked over to the lavender mare, looking comforted at having something to do but still on edge because of the situation. She put a hoof on Star's shoulder, turning her away from the window and guiding her back to the bed "It's still the middle of the night, and there's nothing you can do about the crash. You need to get as much sleep as you can before tomorrow. After all, it'll probably be a busy day." StarShine let these words console her, but as she clambered under her bedcovers a question nagged at her. Throwing caution to the wind, she asked it despite several warning bells going off in her head. "Why are you all acting so used to this? Ponies are dying, or already dead, and you two don't seem to care." While saying this, the astronomer failed to notice what her bodyguard was doing. Instead she focused on the other mare in the room, awaiting a reply. The nurse's next words, however, rose more questions than answers. "If we care, we'll end up just like them. 'They' don't like sympathizers." StarShine's face made her confusion clear, and her look of surprise much more evident as the drugs hit her system. Nurse SoftHeart knew how she must be feeling; the sleeping drugs felt like pure ice flowing through your veins. She glanced guiltily at the soldier standing by the IV line. NightWatch had emptied the entire syringe into the line while the unicorn had been talking. SoftHeart looked back at StarShine as she drifted into the drug-induced stupor. Unable to keep it in, she whispered two words to the young mare, regardless of whether or not she'd hear them. "I'm sorry..."