Doctor Strong Heart was heading back to check on his patient when the doors flew open and some terrible mix of creatures burst forth and went running down the hall. As the doctor leaned into the room, he was almost run over by Twilight Sparkle.
“Which way?!”
Strong Heart pointed down the hall and the unicorn took off in pursuit. He shook his head and stepped into the room to see drawers and cabinets opened, their contents spread across the counter-tops and floor. “Why were they digging through the surgery overstock?” He wondered aloud.
Hospitals very often have the same layout in every dimension. It's not so much a question of culture, more of space and efficiency. Uniform rooms on uniform hallways in uniform floors. Only special needs and labs get any variation.
Fortunately signs for stairs and exits are also nearly idiot proof. I spotted one pointing around a corner and followed the arrow to a stairwell. I took the stairs down two at a time, dodging patients and nurses who were all scrambling to get out of my way.
The bottom of the stairs opened into a half full waiting room, not the best place for a two legged monster to run through. Ponies panicked and ran in every direction, tripping over each other and throwing bags, juice cups and cans at me as I scrambled for the exit. I had almost made it out the front door when an abandoned crutch caught my right leg.
The world spun as I twisted and fell through the front door, and found myself looking at the three crusaders upside down.
We all just sat very still for a few seconds.
Say something.
“Yo.” I said, waving at them.
“AAAAAAAHHH!!!”
It’s odd what translates through all language barriers.
Apple Bloom ran inside for help, Sweetie Bell fainted straight away, and Scootaloo took off on her scooter.
Unfortunately for me, I was currently laying in the attached wagon. I saw a purple flash as Twilight teleported to the hospital entrance, but I was already being sped away by the terrified filly.
“Slow down! I can't get out at this speed! Look out for the cart!” I could have been yelling gibberish for all the good it did. I only managed to convince Scootaloo that I was right behind her and just as fast, so she went even faster. It was only a matter of time before she took a turn too sharply.
I managed to roll over and was now kneeling in the cart. I could lean a bit to help steer, but we were still effectively out of control.
Scootaloo had carried us from the hospital past the school house and was now trying to “lose” me by twisting through the market. All this was doing was showing me off to half the town. She took a turn to sharply and I saw the scooter start to tilt too far.
I reached out and puller her close to me and curled up as the cart went out from under me. “Ugh” I sat up and looked at my cargo. Scootaloo was unconscious, but I couldn't tell if she had hit her head or passed out from fright at being caught. She started to glow with a white aura and slowly lifted away.
“Gen tabent con ros Bilato?!”
I looked up to see a white unicorn with a stylish purple mane glaring at me. Her horn glowed with the same white aura, and Scootaloo was quickly pulled to her side. A burst of purple light to my right and Twilight appeared.
“Gestoben, gel den jison fragen. Tre pulos.” Scootaloo was placed down, and both unicorns tried to grab me with their telekinesis.
Ooh, that’s good energy right there. The spells faded as D ate up their power.
“Gran talken!” the white one cried.
“Ten gust sav who sun sir.” Twilight said.
The next blast from Twilight hit the ground by my foot and chipped the ground.
“They are SHOOTING AT ME!”
Don't explain you idiot, RUN!
I took off, but it didn't take more than a couple of near misses to remind me that I was not going to outrun ponies firing magic missile at me.
“I need speed and dexterity boosts D. Take what you have to but we need to get out of here.”
I nearly stumbled from the pain as my toes melted off, but my stumble moved my head out of the way of a magic bullet. Now it wasn't just an all out run, but a weaving zigzag I cut through town towards the woods. I was putting substantial distance between me and my assailants, and safety was almost in sight.
“How is she so fast?” Twilight gasped, slowing to a stop. Running and casting with accuracy is a chore even if you are Princess Celestia's favorite student. Rarity came to a stop next to her, breathing heavily.
“Twilight, *gasp* I'm not as *gasp* as skilled in magic as you dear. I'm going to *gasp* be exhausted if we keep this up much longer.” Twilight looked at Rarity, noting she was starting to sweat from the effort of so many stun spells.
A hundred questions were running through Twilght’s mind. Why did she run? Is she a threat? Did exposing her trigger some attack response? What happened to Scootaloo?
“Twi, what are you doing? You woke me up.”
Twilight looked up to see Rainbow Dash laying in the tree branches and rubbing her eyes.
“Rainbow Dash! Thank goodness!” Rarity pointed at the escaping creature, “That thing has done something to Scootaloo and we need to catch it.”
“It hurt Scoots?!”
“We don't know what it did,” Twilight saw a chance to recruit her, “but we have to catch it and we can't touch it-”
“On it!” Rainbow Dash took off headed skyward.
“-with...our... magic.” Twilight sighed. “Will she ever sit still long enough to learn everything before she goes dashing off?”
“Not without most of the Apple family holding her down.” Rarity joked, resting under the same tree Dash had been napping in.
I had almost made it to the forest. It was easy to see the clear line where well groomed grass gave way to thick undergrowth. A cloud trailing a faint rainbow arced overhead and came to a stop above my escape, but I didn't pay it any mind. If the unicorns had stopped shooting me, chances were good I was home free.
If Rarity AND Twilight have shot it enough times to wake me and still not stopped it, Rainbow thought, aiming the cloud, It should be able to take a lightning bolt. Better hit it with a number three, I wouldn't want to kill it. She closed one eye and stuck out her tongue, aiming the cloud as only a pegasus can. Right ...about ...NOW! She reached out with her hind leg and kicked the cloud.
Lightning stabbed down out of the sky, scaring the hell out of me. I threw myself forward into the brush in an attempt to gain cover. A second bolt smacked the ground at my heels, the blast throwing me forward into the forest.
I have disguise ability restored. Sit very still and I'll make us look like a fallen tree till they leave.
I lay still in the forest's edge for over three hours, watching as first Rainbow Dash and Twilight wandered past, then a smattering of other ponies, and finally a trio of what looked like guards. I could hardly bear the looks of worry and fear on their faces. With nightfall the guards retreated from the forests edge and the illusion spell could relax.
It looks like even ponies know better than to stay in the woods at night.
“Well,” I whispered, “We won't fare much better without shelter.” I moved quietly into the woods, further from the lights of the town. “How much power have you got after all of that magic?”
A fair amount. I could probably regrow your fingers and toes and still have a bit left. Do you want them back?
“Not right now. I may need that power for speed and stealth just to survive. See if you can find us some shelter, then we can work on fingers and toes.” My left arm emitted a high pitch whine, just on the razor edge of hearing. I waited for a few minutes, listening to the sounds of the forest at night.
I believe there is a small cave to the north.
A short hike proved D correct, the dry cave was little more than a 5ft deep 4ft tall depression in the side of a hill. I spent an hour collecting long branches and leaning them against the cave opening to help protect from wind and hide me for night predators.
“Ugh,” I shivered in the cold and dark, “How about you use a little of that magic and keep me from freezing?”
Fine, how about you check on that cinder of a backpack you're carrying.
I swung the backpack down and gasped at its state. Rainbow Dash's lightning bolt had caught it dead on, reducing the tough nylon bag to a melted mesh. The zipper was fused and I was forced to rip the bag wide open to get at its contents. Final count recovered: two of the least smouldering pieces of my conversion pod, a burned MRE (the other was burned straight through), the utility knife and my relatively untouched cybernetic component.
I munched on what I could salvage from the MRE and poked the component's diagnostic button. It hummed and whirred for a bit before a single green light lit up.
“Crap, it's only got one dot of charge.”
You are damn lucky it didn't just explode! What did I say about that? Be more careful!
“Nag nag nag.” I depressed the activation stud and watched the small cylinder unfold into a right arm and hand. “I'm beginning to think the pod exploded from a bad dimensional jump.” I picked up the arm and looked it over.
My right arm contained one of the most powerful devices ARCO had ever come across: a molecular sequencer. Given enough power and time it could build anything from money to medicine to amunition and weapons. It all ran on a powerful AI, and mine was nicknamed Machina.
The only downsides were the power requirements, and the connection. “Gods I hate this.” I lined up the arm's spikes and sockets to match the holes in my right shoulder and, after gritting my teeth, slammed it home.
“AAAARGH!” The pain of the connection spikes grazing my nerves was amplified by the electricity as the arm tested for sensory response. “I really wish you could test using pressure or tickling or something OTHER than pain!”
I blinked back a tear or two, and the cybernetics buried in my right eye started to come online. First was the heads up display, compass, health, radar, and targeting. Next was the projected image of a short woman in a pink kimono, Machina's preferred avatar. Machina bowed and began speaking, her words entering my ear through a micro speaker near my eardrum.
Hello and good evening. Thank you for activating ARCO AI model 1773-b “Machina”. Please wait while start up calibration begins.
I sighed and leaned back against the cave wall while a little holograph of an hourglass spun in my vision. The doctors and technicians had always told me I was lucky to have lost an eye. “most people have to have projectors built into their limbs” they said. “Its much harder to hide those when the AI has to show things to you” they said.
“bullshit” I muttered to no one. The hourglass stopped turning over and Machina reappeared.
Thank you for your patience, calibration is now complete. What can I help you with today Sarah?
“Augmenting D's illusion spells would be nice, you'll need to disguise my right arm when we are shape shifted. Nothing else right now, unless you can get us home.”
Home it is then.
I sat up, suddenly excited. “Really? You can get us home?”
Wow, that is quite a trick. Are you going to build us a conversation pod from scratch.
Nothing quite so drastic. I can perform an emergency jump, but you will be going through the void with minimal shields. It won't be pretty.
“That's ok, I think we can make it. Go ahead.”
Alright, please enter dimensional coordinates relative to home dimension.
“Um,” I had a sinking feeling, “Where can I get those?”
Your conversion pod's readout, your transition documentation, your dimensional probe reports, or your mission briefing.
“Crap.”
The conversion pod kind of kicked us out into a forest fire and exploded.
Machina's avatar giggled at us and waved her hand, poo pooing the idea. Conversion pods don't do that, they are completely safe
I picked up one of the burned pieces of the pod and held it with my right hand, watching Machina's expression become worried.
Oh dear.
“Right, don't you have digital backups of those files?” I grimaced watching my AI wring its illusionary hands.
There is nothing on my internal data storage. I can not tell if it was lost or never loaded at all. I am sorry Sarah, but without those coordinates we are stuck here until our rescue arrives.
I laid my head on the hard ground and closed my eyes. “Well that's just great.”