//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Redemption: The Legend of the Equestrian Saiyan // by Saiyan789 //------------------------------// Chapter 4: Through the Fog   A sigh of relief escaped Twilight’s lips as their destination finally came into sight, the Ponyville hospital. They had alternated dragging and carrying the being for what seemed to be hours.   “Come on, girls,” she encouraged, “just a little bit farther!”   Scratched, muddy, and exhausted from their trek through the forest, the four other ponies got their second wind upon hearing Twilight’s call and quickly picked up their pace towards the white building. As they finally reached the doors, they noticed Rainbow Dash standing with a team of nurses, wearing their white nursing caps with a red cross embroidered on them, a lone doctor, and a gurney. Dash quickly pointed at them.   “There they are!” she shouted.   The group ran the gurney over to the five ponies carrying the unconscious being. As soon as they reached the bloodied creature, looks of amazement and concern were expressed upon their faces as they tried to comprehend what they were witnessing.   “I’ve never seen anything like this…this THING!” one of the nurses commented in pure surprise, “What did you say it was again?”   “No more time for gawking,” commanded the doctor, “no matter what it is or where it came from, we gotta get it inside on the double! Get my team into the operating room ASAP!”   The team of nurses nodded and quickly moved the creature off of the girls’ back, placed it on the gurney, and urgently, but gently, began to move it inside. The doctor began barking orders at the nurses, which they followed as rapidly as possible. The doctors was a light blue unicorn colt, with a darker blue shade color to his mane; a white lab coat covered his cutie mark. Twilight approached him straightaway, believing that if anypony would give her answers, it would be him.   “Excuse me, sir,” Twilight asked, getting the doctor's attention, “is there anything that you can do for…uh… it?” As she spoke, worry began to fill her voice.   The doctor hesitated, then responded, “I don’t know what we can do for it, given the injuries its sustained and because, quite honestly, we haven't seen anything like it before." Hearing this, Twilight lowered her head. "But, we are willing to try anything we can to help it."The doctor added, causing the mare to smile gratefully.   With that said, he quickly ran into the operating room. Twilight stood there in the sterile, bright fluorescent lighted area of the ER lobby, watching as the doctor disappeared through the double doors. The stress of the emergency was wearing off and the cold reality of the situation beginning to settle in. Just as she was about to dissolve into tears, she felt a warm hoof on her shoulder and turned around to see Applejack and her other friends behind her.   “Come on, Sugar Cube,” Applejack sighed, “les’ head over ta the waitin’ room fer now,”   Twilight nodded and headed toward the nearby seats. They waited in silence for a while until Rarity decided to break the ice with the question that had been on all of their minds.   “Oh my gosh, my coat is so filthy! Twilight, darling, I was just wondering, why did you want to save that creature so badly?” Rarity asked, with a look of confusion on her face. The rest of the ponies looked on in a similar fashion.   “Well,” Twilight stated, “I couldn’t just leave it there in that condition. Plus, I’ve never seen anything like it before in any of my books, even Fluttershy hasn’t seen any thing like it.”   “It’s true, and I know every critter in this area,” Fluttershy commented softly.   “Exactly!” stated Twilight, “so who knows, it could be from an unknown species, so it's my responsibility to learn everything about it.”   The girls nodded in understanding, and returned to an awkward silence. After about a minute of quiet, Rainbow Dash shattered the growing tension. "Ok, is it just me, or is anypony else freaked out about that THING!? I mean did you see those stubs coming out of its hooves? That's just not right." "What are you talking about, Dashie? They're probably just claws, like Spike's, you silly billy!" Pinkie replied in her upbeat tone. "I saw them too, girls. They were definitely way too rounded, and better manicured, than claws." responded Rarity with a flip of her mane. "I have a thought…if that's alright with you." quietly commented Fluttershy from behind her mane, who then spoke after being urged to continue by her friends. "Maybe it's like a monkey's paw. For all we know, he could just be a new monkey." "Well whatever it is, it looks like we're gonna have ta wait a spell 'fore we can ask it." The girls agreed, and began to preoccupy themselves as they waited for the results of the surgery.   ------------------------------------- The blue-coated doctor walked into the operating room, wearing a medical mask over his muzzle. The operating table was surrounded by a ring of doctors and nurses, obscuring his view of the patient. He could hear them whispering to eachother as they looked at the creature laying unconscious under the bright surgical lights. "Ahem," he cleared his throat, announcing his arrival to the team. Immediately, they went silent, and stepped back so that the doctor could approach the table for a closer look. One look confirmed his worst fears - he had never seen anything like it before. It appeared to be a two-legged animal of sorts, but without fur except the dark patch on its head. But the most curious thing was its hooves - er, what should have been hooves but had five long appendages that branched out on each one. And then there was its clothes - it was some sort of armor that appeared to be cracked and broken. He's been through something serious, the doctor thought to himself. After his quick look-over, he began to talk to the team of unicorn doctors who had been waiting for him.  "Alright, what do we got?" he asked calmly.  One of the other doctors spoke up, "well, this....thing…appears to have several broken bones as well as a large nasty gash in its head." “Obviously. What else? Anypony?” Another doctor, a mare intern, responded, “Well the gash appears to be bleeding profusely, but head wounds bleed a lot.” The blue coated doctor was about to move on when she quickly added, “And the placement of the gash is what is concerning.” “Go on…” encouraged the lead doctor as he turned around to face her, “Why is it an issue? What do we need to worry about?” Now all of the other doctors were looking at her. “Well, it is located in an area that is particularly sensitive,” she said nervously, “and if there has been internal bleeding then that could mean death!” “And the options?” asked the lead doctor, “What’s the prognosis on those?” Solemnly, with her head down and eyes looking to the floor, the bright young intern whispered quietly, “There really is no other option. If we don’t operate, the internal bleeding WILL kill it.” "Whoa there," interrupted a doctor in a brown coat, pushing his way past the others. "I'm not going to waste my time trying to save that, that…beast!" "Me neither," added a young nurse, backing away from the table with fear in her eyes. "I'm sorry." "Alright then," the lead doctor stated, "I can't make any of you do this, so anyone who wants to step away - I suggest you leave now. " One by one, the doctors and nurses stepped away from the table and observed from afar, leaving the doctor in the blue coat, and a few interns and nurses to proceed with the surgery. "OK - I guess that's clear…if this creature lives, it will be a miracle. We don't have another moment to waste...let's get to work!" With that, the operating staff's horns began to glow with their own separate aura as they tapped into their healing magic. The creature began to glow with the combination of all of their auras as his injuries began to heal.  "Let's start with the bones and cuts, then we will move our way up to the head." The blue unicorn said, receiving nods of approval from the others. Seeing this, the doctor closed his eyes, as did the others as they focused on the bones. As they began to work, the doctor could swear he heard a moan, and immediately alarm bells began to go off on the machines nearby.  "Oh no! I think we're losing it!" The nurse shouted, fear filling her voice.  All of the staff quickly opened their eyes only to see the creature, whose vital signs were weakening dangerously.  The blue unicorn quickly reacted, "Quick, it's bleeding out - we need to cauterize this wound and stop the bleeding before its blood pressure drops too much!" An intern with a white mane quickly lit up her horn as she applied the spell. As her aura faded, they were all surprised to see its vitals were still declining dramatically.  "It didn't work!" The white mare said, horror filling her face. "Well there's only one thing to do," the blue doctor said, "we all need to use the spell to cauterize the wound." The other doctors gasped at the thought.  "But doctor, you know that there are side effects associated with more than one unicorn using that spell on one being! With a head injury like that, it could cause him to slip into a deep coma - and never wake from it, plus what about the other side effects?" "And if we don't, he could enter shock and die." The doctor stated matter of factly. "We have no choice. I say it's a risk we have to take." As the staff discussed amongst each other, a voice from the back of the room interjected, "You're right doctor, it IS too dangerous. You need our help." From the shadows, the brown coated unicorn stepped forward and took his place at the operating table. He was quickly joined by the others, who all were nodding in agreement. "No matter what this thing is, we all need to do this together to save it. It's our duty as physicians. We took an oath." The blue coated doctor nodded in appreciation, and then turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "OK, then. We all agree that there is no other option. Let’s all proceed with the spell - on the count of three - one, two, three…" The team all lowered their heads and together began to cast the spell. As they opened their eyes, they were all glad to see the creature calm down, and slip into a deep slumber. Seeing him asleep, the unicorns continued their work, knowing that they would have to face the consequences of this decision when the time came if their plan did not work. ----------------------------- As I began to awaken, I could swear that I could hear a continuous beeping. Well, that’s odd, I thought. That doesn't sound like my ship’s alarm. Suddenly, my senses came back, and a large, sharp pain began to coarse through my head. Almost on cue, the beeping of the machines picked up in tempo. I wanted to scream as loud as I could, but could not let out anything louder than a grunt. Then I heard someone…or something…speak. "Oh no! I think we're losing it!" "Quick, it's bleeding out - we need to cauterize this wound and stop the bleeding before its blood pressure drops too much!" Wait, cauterize…what does it mean by… That's when I realized that the beeping I heard was coming from me, and something began to run through my mind that filled me with fear. The beeping sound … it was a something I had heard before – a machine that monitored vitals, usually associated with hospitals and operations. In training, we were all warned about being captured by the natives. In some cases, though rare, the natives would dissect the would-be invader to see what makes them tick. I was well aware of this possibility and now, unbelievably, it seemed to be happening to me. No way. I was not going to be anybody’s science experiment. Adrenaline began to run through my body, lessening the pain. I tried to open my eyes, but was quickly blinded by the light above me. Something spoke up, but I ignored it as I fought to get off the operating table. As I continued to struggle, a feeling of weakness began to fill my limbs, turning them into dead weight. This, out of everything, scared me the most. Whatever they had done to me was killing me. I will not go down like this! I thought, pushing through the strong desire to succumb and literally willing myself to wake up. I was clawing through the fog now towards the light of consciousness. As I continued to fight, some of my senses began to give out. I could tell that my tormentors above me were talking, but the sounds they made were more garbled, as though they were underwater. I then began to thrash around, forcing my eyes open. All I could see were the silhouettes of my dissectors that stood above me. If I'm going down, then I'm going down fighting, I thought as a snarl formed on my lips. I began to focus my energy, trying as hard as I could to form a ball of ki in my hand. I had no choice but to blast my way out of there. I planned on blasting a hole in the wall of the operating room and escaping through there. If I couldn't make it, though I was planning to take as many of them as I could with me. As the blue ball in my palm almost finished forming, I noticed a light glow appearing on the foreheads of the silhouettes that were above me. Suddenly, I was overcome with a large amount of pain, forcing me back down onto the operating table. As my mind fell back into darkness, the beeping of the monitors returned to a slower pace, and my ki dissipated. -------------------------- I found myself standing in some sort of small dark room. I tried to feel for a wall or some sort of object that would get me acquainted to my surroundings, but couldn't find anything. Suddenly, a voice went booming into the room. "I am doing this in the hopes that you will change your ways." That voice... it sounds so familiar, I thought. I tried to think of who it could be, it sounded so familiar, but yet, so unknown... "Who are you? What is this place?" I yelled, hoping for a response only to be greeted with more silence. OK, so that didn't work, maybe if I go over that phrase again, I'll figure it out. I began to recite the phase, "I am doing this in hopes that you will….uhhh….I am doing this….what was it again?" My thoughts were interrupted by a bright light at the beginning of what looked like a tunnel. Hoping that this was a way out, I began stumbling, then walking, and finally running towards it. ----------------------------- Twilight paced rather nervously around the waiting room. It was just her alone there now. One by one, all of her friends had to leave. Applejack had to go work on the farm, Rainbow had to buck some clouds for the weather team, Pinkie had to finish setting up for Colgate's surprise birthday party, Rarity had to watch Sweetie Belle for the day, and Fluttershy had to leave to feed the animals. Everypony, it seemed had something more important to do than standing vigil over this being who wasn’t even one of them or somepony they knew. Twilight herself was supposed to open up the library this morning, but decided that studying a never-before-seen creature would probably be more important. Plus, her assistant, Spike, could use the extra sleep. The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon when the doctor came out of the operating room. He saw the purple mare and approached her. "Is it ok?" she asked, raising her head so that he saw the look of worry and heard the tremor still in her voice. The doctor spoke gently to her, "There is a lot that we don’t know to be sure. We still need to do some tests and honestly, only time will tell…but I think it should be fine." Twilight held on to the one little bit of hope and let out a breath that she didn't know she had held. "Is it possible for me to see it?" she asked. The doctor nodded, "Yes you may, but you must be careful - there is so much that we don't know about it. But since you brought it in, technically you are the closest we could get to next of kin, anyway. I'm sure that it will be happy to see the mare that saved its life." The doctor then led Twilight down the hall, and to the room 102. As the doctor pushed open the door, Twilight was greeted with the sight of the creature before her, still wearing the same outfit as the night before, but also covered in bandages. These coverings were most prevalent around the top of its head. As Twilight walked into the room, the doctor spoke, "I'll be back in a few minutes, miss. Here's a buzzer to call if there is any sign it waking up." He pointed to a button on the wall, and she nodded in understanding as the doctor shut the door. Twilight then carefully moved to the chair by the bed and sat down. The deep, rhythmic breathing of the creature was somehow calming. Even though the room was brightly lit with the harsh fluorescent lighting, it was quiet and suddenly she felt so very tired. Her eye lids felt heavy, her head began to nod, and she started to fall asleep…but then she saw something move. ------------------------------ I. Must. Do. THIS! Rogue gathered all of the strength he had and made one last push through the thick fog, running towards the light. He bolted awake with a gasp. The room was bright. He was alone. The sharp smell of disinfectant hung in the air and behind him a machine pinged in rhythm with his heartbeat. Rogue tried to move his right arm and looked down to see an IV attached to it, with tubes connecting to a hanging bottle of dripping fluid. His pulse quickened, and in response the machine behind him began to ping more rapidly. Where AM I? he thought to himself. What happened? The back of Rogue’s head answered with a deep throb. He raised his left arm to his head and felt the source of his pain – what seemed to be a large gash on head that had been stitched and bandaged. He closed his eyes and tried to recall an accident. Nothing. What was the last thing he remembered? Again, nothing. Rogue turned his head, but the movement sent a spike of pain radiating down though his skull. He took deep breaths and let the pain pass. Instinctively, he surveyed his surroundings. The hospital room was all white and brightly lit which hurt his head. There was a single bed, which he was on. He saw a table nearby and next to it a medical waste bag, which looked like it held remnants from a trauma – bandages and gauze covered with blood. Damn! Must have been bad, he thought. Now Rogue turned his head very slowly toward the window beside his bed. It was just getting light outside. He saw his reflection in the window – a bandaged head, tubes, and wires to the machine behind him – but something else, too. What is that??? A stuffed animal? He turned his head back around in response to see what was behind him and to his surprise locked eyes with Twilight. "Oh!” Twilight gasped. “I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you." He immediately gasped in both pain and surprise, setting off a symphony of alarms from his machines. Rogue stared incredulously at what was before him. It wasn't a stuffed animal after all, but something real. She appeared to be a young adult…female horse, smallish though – maybe a pony. Reflexively Rogue responded in absolute surprise "You can talk!" as he recoiled on his bed, setting off another set of alarms. Almost simultaneously, Twilight responded with the same reaction, "YOU can talk!" As she cried out, she backed away in surprise and knocked over the small table, which hit the silent alarm button on the wall. They looked at one another in a stand off, each waiting for the next one to make a move. Rogue was amazed that the pony could speak his language, and Twilight was delighted that this creature had intelligence. She could now learn so much from it! Realizing that she presented no immediate harm, he fell back onto his bed as the alarms quieted, and nodded weakly in response. "Yeah, I can talk. Where am I?" As Twilight looked at him, Rogue felt oddly comforted. Her eyes were large and gentle but penetrating pool of violet. They looked caring and concerned at the same time. He found himself staring deep and deeper into them, until he forced himself to pull away, suddenly self-conscious. “Where am I?” Rogue repeated, “What happened?” "Wow! You can speak!" she gasped again. "…Uh huh? We've established this." She blushed with embarrassment, "hehe, sorry, just a little excited." She then grinned from ear to ear, "Oh my goodness, that is amazing! I was hoping you could, but I really had my doubts. Now that I know though, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?" Rogue nodded his head, which responded with a painful reminder of why he was there. She clopped her front hooves together happily as though she was clapping. "Before I begin, let me introduce myself," she said, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, what's your name?" Rogue opened his mouth to respond, and slowly uttered his name with a raspy whisper, "Rogue..." "Oh! Rogue! That's an interesting name!" she added excitedly. "And where are you from?" He searched his mind for a few seconds. The question was so simple, and he knew the answer was right..there…but only could envision a thick fog where his memory used to be. Frustrated, he finally responded. "I….I don't know…"