//------------------------------// // 7. To Trust a Unicorn. // Story: Orchestrated Chaos // by ReFro //------------------------------// Chloe sat there, bored out of her mind, staring at the plain white wall across from her, not really looking at anything in particular as her mind wandered in and out of thoughts of the past few days. She looked back down over her new body. Why me? What did I do to deserve this? Did I really die in the car that night? What about Gennie, is she here in this... world? Is she still alive back in Chicago? Is she...dead? Does everyone think I'm dead? Oh God, my poor parents must be devastated... Chloe sniffed as a tear started to run down her cheek before she wiped it away with a hoof. I have to find a way to let them know I’m still alive and well, just not a human anymore. She gave a sigh and slouched down in the bed, letting her head fall onto the pillow before closing her eyes. What would they think if they saw me like this? Would they even believe it was actually their only child that now inhabited this body? Would they still accept me as their daughter and love me unconditionally even in the body of a pony? They would, wouldn’t they? She grabbed the edge of the pillow, scrunching it up against her face as she started softly sobbing into it. I just want to go home! Several minutes passed, and Chloe’s tears finally ran dry as she slowly pulled herself back up into a sitting position. She wiped her eyes with her hooves, restoring her blurred vision. The boredom was starting to get to her, and she needed something to take her mind off of her thoughts before they drove her insane. Focusing on the table that was still positioned across the bed, resting over her lap, the uneaten muffin and crackers were the only things remaining on it. Nothing interesting there... She looked over to the cabinets on the wall. And I can’t reach those... She surveyed the room, looking for anything that could occupy her mind besides her own thoughts. Not even any of those creepy doctor’s posters on the wall. This room is so bland! Ugh! She started hitting the back of her head repeatedly against the headboard of the bed, hitting it a little harder each time until she accidentally hit it a bit too hard. “Ow.” She cringed, closing her eyes and tilting her head forward, rubbing the back of her head gently. Opening her eyes, she noticed the bandage that was across her chest. Being curious, and completely bored, she gently poked and prodded at the bandage, trying to see if it underlying flesh hurt to be touched. To her surprise, it didn’t hurt at all. What the heck? This was a big cut, there is no way it could’ve healed this fast. She began to peel the bandage away to see what the cut really looked like. She kept grabbing at the corner of it, but with hooves instead of hands, and with her inability to properly articulate them, she was getting nowhere with the bandage removal. Chloe let out a snort of anger, cursing her luck at being turned into something with no digits at the end of its forearms and was about to give up on removing the bandage until a thought crossed her mind. I can just use my teeth to grab the corner. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Although, it is a bit disgusting. Well, when in Rome... She grabbed the corner of the bandage in her teeth and methodically started pulling back on it. Whatever adhesive they used on this was definitely not fur friendly. Wincing, she continued slowly pulling the bandage off, along with patches of grey fur that were clinging to it. A few moments and curses later, the bandage was completely detached from her now tender and slightly less furry chest. She spit the bandage out of her mouth and it fell off the side of the bed. How in the... She stared at area on her chest where the deep cut was supposed to be. The skin had completely grown back together leaving a slightly red trail in its place. This is amazing! Neosporin has got nothing on whatever they did! She rubbed a hoof over the red mark, slightly pressing down every so often to make sure it was real. There isn’t even any pain! She was flabbergasted and jabbing her hoof harder into her skin. “Ahh!” She yelped, hissing between her clenched teeth. Ok, I lied, there is still pain. She shook her head slightly as she tenderly rubbed her chest, massaging the pain away. Only me... The minutes slowly passed, and Chloe was still bored out of her mind as a dull pressure below her stomach had begun to make itself known. She tried her best to ignore it, thinking it was a residual pain from her injuries as she hadn’t really felt this sensation before. A few more painfully boring minutes passes by and the dull pressure had gone away, being replaced by a much more painful pressure now. Moving around did nothing to relieve the pain. In fact, it only made it more pronounced as she held onto her stomach. A thought ran across her mind as she started to panic. Restroom! Now! Pushing the table further down the bed, she rolled over, albeit painfully, and lowered herself to the floor like last time. She almost lost control of herself as her hooves hit the floor, jostling her innards. Making her way to the door, she tried pushing on the round plate again and pushing the door open, but it still held fast. The golden yellow aura was still around the borders of the door. She grumbled and started rapidly pounding on the door with her fore hoof. “Hey! I gotta use the restroom!” she shouted loudly as possible while still furiously pounding away, “Let me oooouuut!” Chloe stopped for a second as her ears swiveled, picking up the faint sound of hoofsteps and redoubled her efforts. The hoofsteps got closer as she kept yelling and pounding away. The door suddenly gave a click, giving her only a split second to jump out of the way before it hit her. “What’s this racket all about? And why are you out of bed?” Dr. Charts scowled at the grey earth pony that was sitting on the floor with a pained expression across her face. His scowl was quickly replaced by a worried expression. “Did something happen? What’s the matter?” “Restroom! Now!” Chloe blurted out before jumping up on her hind legs, crossing her forearms over her stomach while swaying from side to side, and giving out a pathetic whimper as she looked up to the unicorn. Dr. Charts stood there for a second, “Oh, OH! Umm...” He turned his head down the hall before yelling, “Heartsong! Come to room three and hurry!” Chloe could hear rushed hoofsteps heading towards the room. Moments later, the creme colored unicorn appeared alongside Dr. Charts. “What is it Doctor? Is everything alright?” Nurse Heartsong quickly asked with a bit of worry in her voice. “Everything is fine but I believe the little one needs to relieve herself,” he said, pointing to the dancing filly in the room “And soon by the looks of it.” “Alright,” she said, sounding a bit relieved as he stepped aside, letting her into the room. “Come on, sugar. Let’s hurry before I have a mess to clean up.” She smiled at the filly before taking the grey earth pony’s fore hoof in her own and started leading her out of the room and down the hallway. “Oh, and Heartsong, make sure to keep an eye on her so we don't have another incident,” Dr. Charts remarked as they walked passed. “And when you get back, please check out her chest, it seems the bandage has mysteriously disappeared.” He chuckled. Heartsong nodded in return as she hurried the filly down the hallway. Chloe whimpered at every step. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold it. “Almost there, honey. Just hold on.” Heartsong and Chloe reached the door at the end of the hallway. The mare opened up the door, causing sunlight to flood the hallway and bathed the two ponies in its bright light. Chloe close her eyes for a brief second until they re-adjusted. Wait, outside? Why are we going outside? He eyes went wide. They don’t go... outside... I can’t do that! That’s disgusting! Not to mention humiliating! I don't want anyone else to see me go... They walked down the side of the building and around the corner. Chloe saw a small, rectangular wooden building set back from the main building. A single door in the front of it that had a moon shape cut out about three fourths of the way up, but what came as odd to Chloe was that the moon had a unicorn’s face on it. Eww, an outhouse?! You have got to be kidding me! Don’t they have indoor plumbing at least? Chloe cringed a bit as they walked closer to it. At least it’s better than going out in the open and not really the time to be picky... “Here we-” Heartsong stopped as the filly let go of her hoof and began to run. She quickly readied her magic to stop her before noticing she was running towards the outhouse. Chloe ran up to the door. Luckily it was partly open, and she was able to wedge a hoof in between to open it. Rushing inside, she slammed the door shut behind her. Inside there was just a raised wooden box with a hole in the middle and three seashells rested on a small shelf on the side of the wall. And the smell, it was nauseating. Chloe gagged and tried to just breathe through her mouth as she cautiously positioned herself over the hole. It was a bit too big for her and she could easily fall in if she wasn’t careful. She also had to take the time to make sure her new hind appendage was out of the way. She did her business and was thankful it was only number one that she had to do since there was no toilet paper anywhere in sight. She got up and turned around to find the handle to flush. ...right, outhouse. She huffed, looking over herself making sure she didn’t get anything on her before pushing open the door and walking back outside to the waiting mare. She stepped out of the outhouse, exhaling quickly before taking a deep breath of fresh air as she closed the outhouse door. Nurse Heartsong let out a quick laugh before speaking, "Not the most pleasant smell is it?" she asked, raising her hoof, beckoning the filly over to her. Chloe briefly glanced over to the mare before looking at her surroundings. Now's my chance. I can just dart in between the buildings over there and slip away. Her body started involuntarily swaying slightly back and forth at the thought, getting ready to flee at a moment’s notice as her excitement built up. Alright, let's do this! Chloe began to push with her hind legs and almost immediately fell forward. Letting out a surprised yelp, she quickly shut her eyes before her face collided with the ground. But the impending pain never came as she opened her eyes; a familiar aura was holding her forelegs in place. "I know what you were thinking, Missy, and it's no use trying to run," Heartsong said with a frown, giving a slight tug on her magic aura that was around the filly's forelegs, bringing her point across. "You probably think we are being cruel, forcing you to stay here and having to restrain you at times but believe me, it's for your own good." She sighed, walking over to the magically bound filly, looking her right in the eyes, but now with a harsh glare that Chloe was expecting. No, it was almost a look of, sadness? "I wish you could understand me, Hun, I really do. Then you wouldn't be so scared of us, at least I hope you wouldn't be. You know, Dr. Charts and I are doing our best to reunite you with your family, but we can't do that if you run away from us." She put a hoof on the filly's withers. Chloe recoiled slightly but couldn't move far. "Now, I know you are a smart filly, and you are trying to communicate with me from that little gesture you did earlier, so I'll see if I can come up with a way to explain to you what is going on. But first, let's get you back inside and get a new bandage on that cut." She removed her hoof from Chloe's withers and pointing back to the building. "I'm going to remove my magic from you, so please don't try to run. Despite what you may think of me, I don't like having to restrain ponies," Nurse Heartsong said as her ears folded flat against her head. "So please, don't make me do that to you again." She nudged the filly gently towards the building before turning around and trotting to the back door on the other side, leaving Chloe standing there. "I hope I got through to her..." she muttered to herself, slowing down as she rounded the corner. Wha... What just happened? Chloe stood there with her head cocked slightly, dumbfoundedly watching as the mare walked out of sight around the corner of the building. Am... Can I go? She glanced over her body. No magic aura, no unicorns in sight... but she did nudge me back to the building before walking off. Hah! Chloe turned away from the building and started to take off. Fat chance of that! She made it to the next building as a thought came across her mind. Where are you going to go? Do you even remember how to get back to where you first woke up after the car accident? And what would happen if you got hurt again? You were extremely lucky someone found you after almost drowning in the river and cared enough to carry you here. Here to a town, where they healed, cleaned, and fed you, literally, I might add. Do you even know if you're fully healed yet? Is only been what, one day since getting hurt? Chloe stopped and looked back at the clinic. And how have you repaid their kindness? By constantly trying to run away from them and cause them trouble, that’s how! Chloe let out a drawn out sigh as she headed back towards clinic. She couldn’t fight her own logic, no matter how much she wanted to. After rounding the corner of the building, and much to her surprise, the creme colored mare was sitting next to the door. A smile came across the mare’s face as the filly trotted around the corner. Chloe smiled back as Heartsong stood up and opened the door for her. The trip back to the room was quick as Chloe trotted to the side of her tall bed and proceeded to jump right up onto it, almost knocking the table off of the bed as she landed. Nurse Heartsong gasped as she watched the filly. “You really shouldn’t be doing things like that, sugar.” Heartsong spoke in a motherly tone, scolding at the filly that was now working her way back under the covers. “You’re still not fully healed and could injure yourself again, not to mention the table you almost knocked onto the floor.” She removed the table from the bed, setting it down on the counter behind her. A white piece of something under the side of the bed caught her eye as she turned back around. On closer inspection, she noticed that it was the bandage that had previously been on the filly’s chest. Grabbing it with her magic and floating it up, Chloe watched the bandage float in front of her. “And why did we think it was a good idea to take this off, hmm?” She chuckled a bit, lightly swaying the bandage back and forth. “I know that had to hurt taking it off seeing how there is a good bit of your fur still clinging to it.” “I just wanted to look at my injuries,” Chloe said, pulling down the covers and rubbing the injured area on her chest. “I was going to try to put it back on, but it fell to the floor.” She pointed to the floating bandage and then to the floor. “I swear!” The mare looked at her with one eyebrow raised as she tried to explain what had happened. “Well, no matter your reason for taking it off, you still shouldn't have done it. But, since it’s already off, let me take a look at how it’s been healing, alright?” Heartsong replied, mashing the old bandage into a ball before tossing it into a nearby garbage can. “I’m going to have to move some of your fur to get a good look at it but it shouldn’t hurt one bit,” she said, raising her hoof up to the filly’s chest. Chloe tensed up, holding her breath as the mare’s hoof ran over her chest. Heartsong examined the healing cut for any sign of infection or a spot that wasn’t healing correctly. At least it doesn’t hurt; it actually feels sorta, nice, if not a tad bit odd. Chloe thought as the unicorn continued moving her hoof to different spots on her chest. Never thought I would have a pony run their hoof over me to be checking out an injury. It’s definitely better than a cold stethoscope on your chest, that’s for sure. It took Heartsong a few minutes to finish checking the wound. “Everything looks like it’s healing nicely. Now I’ll just put some more healing ointment and a clean bandage on it, and it should be completely healed by morning.” She moved over to the cabinets on the wall, taking out a bottle of cream and a fresh bandage. Chloe stared at the bottle that was hovering in the air. Hmm, is that the stuff they used on my cut to make it heal so fast? She pondered as the unicorn opened the bottle, pouring some onto her hoof before setting the bottle back down. That stuff could be really handy to have. As Heartsong brought her hoof with the cream down to Chloe’s chest, the smell hit her nose like a ton of bricks as the mare started to rub the ointment onto the her wound. “Bleh!” Chloe gasped, sticking out her tongue and quickly turning her head to the side, trying her best to avoid the smell that was assaulting her senses. Ok, maybe not with a smell like that... “I know, Hun. It smells horrible, doesn’t it?” Heartsong giggled as she continued to rub the cream into the filly’s chest until it was all absorbed into the skin. “But the smell will go away in a minute or so.” With the cream applied, the smell dissipated as quickly as it had appeared. Chloe turned her head back to watch the mare as she floated the bandage over, setting it over the affected area and lightly pressing it down with her hoof to make sure it would stay put. “Now don’t you go and take this one off. It only needs to stay on until morning,” the unicorn said, giving the filly a stern look. Chloe pulled the covers back over her chest and looked up to the mare, noticing something resting in the crook of her ear. It looked a lot like... Hey, a pencil! That’s what I can do to pass the time, draw! I haven’t drawn in years. She started to recall all the times as a child that she had drawn the animals on her farm, with the horses were her favorite to draw. That’s sorta ironic considering all things. She let out a giggle. “Hmm? What’s got you giggling all of a sudden?” Heartsong asked as the filly pointed up to her. “What? Do I have something on my face or mane or something? Is that why you’re laugh-” “Can I have your pencil?” Chloe blurted out, cutting off the mare as she pointed to the pencil that was resting on her ear. “Please~?” Trying to act as cute as possible. If she was in this body, why not use it?  “Wha- huh?” She replied, moving closer to the filly. Chloe reached out farther, grabbing for the pencil. “What are you trying to get at?” Heartsong ran her hoof through her mane as she tried to figure out what, exactly, the filly was trying to reach for. Her hoof hit the pencil that she had forgotten was there. “Is this what you are wanting?” She removed the pencil from its resting place, holding it out in front of her. “Can I have that, please?” Chloe asked again, her forearm still stretched out towards the pencil. Nurse Heartsong stepped back, keeping the pencil out of reach of the grabby filly. “I’m sorry, hun, you can't have this pencil, but I can get you something better.” She smiled as the filly pulled her forearm back, a frown coming over her face. “Come on! It’s so booooring in here. Can I please have the pencil? It’s not like I’m going to break it or anything!” Chloe dropped the cute act and frowned seeing the mare put the pencil back in its previous resting place behind her ear. “I’ll be right back.” She tried not to giggle at the pouty face the filly was giving her. “The poor dear must think I’m teasing her by not giving her my pencil,” she said to herself as she left the room and headed to the lobby. Chloe crossed her arms and huffed seeing the mare leave the room with her only source of entertainment tucked behind her ear as the door swung shut again with the same *thud* that she was growing to hate. What a bitch! She wouldn’t even give me a stupid pencil?! I finally find something I can do to pass the time, but noooo! Can't have an entertained Chloe now, can we? Well, fuck you too, horn-head! Chloe laid there fuming, looking up to the ceiling as the seconds ticked by. She tilted her head forward as the door to her room was opened. As soon as she saw ‘horn-head’ walk back into the room, she quickly set her head back down, rolling over onto her side, and pulled the covers over her head. She listened to the hoofsteps as they stopped next to the bed. Something was set down on the bed, and the rustling of paper and a few hard objects hitting something could be heard. “Come on, don’t be like that now. Look what I got for you.” Came the voice of ‘horn-head’ as Chloe felt a hoof gently push on her back. “Leave me alone! I’m being miserable, just like you want me to be,” Chloe said, choking out the words. She wanted the mare to just go away but she was being very persistent with her nudging. Chloe rolled onto her back, removing the covers. “What do you wa-” she started to growl out but stopped as she noticed what had been set down on the bed. The table was once again resting across her lap and it had a few sheets of paper, a thin but colorful looking book and some crayons. “Y-you brought me crayons and p-paper?” Chloe stared at the table, not knowing what to think, so she did the first thing that came to mind. She quickly sat up and gave the mare a hug around the neck. “Thank you!” Nurse Heartsong was taken aback from the sudden affection the filly displayed, but she hugged her back all the same. Chloe broke the hug after a few seconds, smiling from ear to ear at the unicorn before pulling the table closer to her. “I told you I would get you something much better.” She chuckled. “You have fun with those now, and try not to drop any on the floor.” She smiled to the ecstatic filly on the bed before walking out of the room. “I’ll be back to check on your in a little while.” Chloe didn’t even notice that the mare had left as she reached for one of the crayons only to have it fall right back down to the table. She blinked, looking at her hoof and then down to the crayon. “FU~”