“Almost... steady... steady... don’t let it fall this time, come on... You can do it...” Chloe sat there on the hospital bed trying to keep herself motivated after the numerous failed attempts at trying to pick up the various objects that were now scattered across the bed and floor. She had been practicing picking up and manipulating objects in her hoof for about an hour now, all while talking to herself the entire time, getting used to how her new mouth and tongue worked together to form sounds. At least now when she spoke, it actually sounded like English and some jumbled sounds all mashed together. In all honesty, it wasn’t that much different from her human mouth now that she was getting used to it; you just have to be extra careful with that long tongue. You can make some really strange noises with it just by making the slightest change.
“Yes! Finally! I got you now, you stupid crayon! Hah!” She beamed, holding the once elusive crayon proudly in her hoof. Huh, that’s strange. Chloe’s smile turned to confusion as she stared at the hoof that was holding the crayon. I’m holding it in my left hand? I’m left han- left hoofed now? She thought about this new revelation, intensely watching her left hoof as she rotated the crayon back and forth.
Setting down the crayon and tried picking it up with her right hoof; she almost lost her grip on it but was able to keep it from falling back to the table. It... it just doesn’t feel right when I use this hoof, just like it did when I used to try and use my left hand before. Chloe grabbed the crayon with her other hoof as she thought about it some more. Hmm, what other things like this have changed? After a minute, she shrugged. Guess I’ll find out soon enough.
Chloe set the crayon back down as she eyed the brightly colored book that was somehow still on the table. It was green with a picture of a red barn, a cow, and a dog standing alongside of it in the grass. It was half colored in and half white. The non-colored half was just the outlines with some symbols centered in the middle of each segment.
“Ha! I haven’t seen one of these in years.” She smiled as she picked up the ‘color by numbers’ book and began to flip through the pages. “Cow, ponies, birds, unicorn, umm griffon? Sorta odd but, whatever,” she muttered as she kept turning the pages. “More ponies, bear with stars all over its body... okay, moving on, pony with... wings?” She stared at the page for a moment. “Are there really pegasi here? I haven’t actually seen one yet...then again, I haven't really been out much either.” She turned slightly and looked at her side. “Aww man, why couldn’t I have a pair of wings?” She turned onto her back again as she rubbed her forehead. “Using magic would have been awesome too.” She sighed before flipping to the last page. “Guess I’m just not that lucky.”
The last page had a picture of the most regal unicorn she had seen. She was much taller than the ponies in the other pictures and had a crown on her head and what looked like metal shoes on her hooves. She had a very long, flowing mane that almost touched the ground even with how tall she stood. Her wings were spread out and upwards not unlike a peacock that was showing off its plumage.
“Wings and a horn? What is that even called...? A pegacorn? A Unisus? Nah, those don’t sound right. Hmm.” Chloe wondered as she flipped back through the previous pages of the book. “None of the other ponies pictured have a horn and wings, it’s all been one or the other or none at all, like me.” She sighed as she reached the beginning of the book and turned back to the picture on the last page as her brow furrowed. “So why is this one different than all the other ponies? And dressed like royalty? Also, what’s with the butt tattoos?”
The door to the room opened as Dr. Charts came through, a clipboard surrounded in his golden aura was floating in front of him. “Hello, Sweetie...” He paused for a second looking at the disarray of crayons and papers that were scattered on the table, bed, and floor. “Ah, I see Nurse Heartstrings found you something to... occupy your time.” He smiled as the filly set down the coloring book onto the table and looked up to him.
“Hey, Doc,” Chloe cheerfully said as a small smile crept across her face. Hehe, I wonder if he has a tattoo on his ass too?
The unicorn’s ears twitched at the unfamiliar sounds that came out of the filly’s mouth as his brain tried to make them into sensible words. Heartsong was right; this filly did seem to speak an entirely different language. “My dear, I know several languages, but I have never heard one as, how can I put it, horri- err, unique, sounding as what you just spoke. I don’t suppose you can tell me what language that is, can you?” Dr. Charts asked as he set down his clipboard on the counter and started to remove the papers and crayons from the bed and onto the table. He was looking at the pages to see if the filly drew anything, but they were all still blank.
“I didn’t think so, since you’re either playing dumb and ignoring me or, more likely, what Heartsong and I think, is that you can't understand a word I’m saying.” He chuckled, picking up the table with his magic, turning around, and placing it on the counter.
AH HA! He does have an ass tattoo! Chloe grinned, staring at the stallion’s flank. It’s a... stethoscope laying across a clipboard? Who in their right mind would get a tattoo like that?! She pondered as she continued to stare.
“Ahem.” Dr. Charts cleared his throat snapping the filly out of her fixation on his rear. “You know, it’s not polite to stare at another pony’s flank,” he stated as he turned back around, removing his hind quarters from the filly’s view.
Chloe’s cheeks turned deep red as she quickly looked down, her hooves suddenly became very interesting to stare at. “Sorry,” she meeped out. I can’t believe he caught me staring at him like that, it’s not like I was staring at his butt, just his tattoo, the tattoo that was on his butt, his firm bu... Oh God, no! Don’t even go there brain, I don’t need this right now. I have enough crap to deal with at the moment without having to deal with my own hormones as well. I mean, come on! We’re not even the same species... well, technically we are, but still, just, no! Chloe grimaced, pushing those thoughts out of her head as she continued to twiddle her hooves until she felt the covers being lifted from her moments later.
“Now, I need to look over your injuries to see how they're coming along,” Dr. Charts said as he finished removing the blanket from the embarrassed filly, setting it down at the foot of the bed. “Please lie down on your back, and I will get started.” He motioned with his hoof for her to lie down as he spoke only to have the filly watch him with a confused look.
“I don’t understand what you want,” Chloe replied. “Did you want me to get out of bed?” She started to move to the side of the bed only to stop when she felt a hoof on her withers. Looking back, she saw the stallion pat the bed just past her hind legs, motioning again for her to scoot down and lie on her back.
“Oh, is this what you wanted?” Chloe laid down on her back, crossing her forearms across her chest. Even with fur, the room was still quite cold without the warm blanket on her.
“You’re not making this easy, are you?” Dr. Charts chuckled as he gently tugged at the filly’s forearms, getting her to reluctantly remove them from her chest. “Let’s take a look at that nasty cut you got and see how it’s been healing. Nurse Heartsong said it was coming along quite nicely.”
His horn lit up as his magic aura surrounded the bandage. Chloe gritted her teeth, expecting it to hurt like it did when she pulled it off earlier in the day but to her relief, the bandage came right off with no pain at all. The doctor ran his hoof back and forth over the wound a few times, moving her fur out of the way as he checked for any complications.
“It is almost completely healed and there shouldn’t even be a scar. You’re definitely an earth pony, that’s for sure.” He laughed as he floated his clipboard over and started writing in it before setting it back down on the counter. “Let’s hope the same can be said for your rib and lung.” His smile was replaced with a serious look. “This might be a little unpleasant. You will feel a pressure on your chest but don’t be alarmed, it will only take me a minute to complete.”
The unicorn’s magical aura enveloped Chloe’s chest as she gasped. It felt like someone had just sat on top of her chest. She tried to breathe but her lungs felt stiff and they wouldn’t expand or contract. Her eyes went wide as she started to panic.
“Can’t... breathe...” She struggled to gasp out as she started frantically flailing her forearms towards the doctor.
“I’m sorry, dear. Just a few more seconds.” He set a hoof on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. “And... we’re done.”
As soon as Chloe felt the pressure disappear, she quickly took a deep breath that caused her to start having a coughing fit. She calmed herself down after a minute and sat back up. “What the hell—cough—was that all about? I couldn’t breathe!” She folded her fore arms across her chest, scowling at the doctor who wasn’t paying attention to her as he wrote on his clipboard.
“I know it was an unpleasant experience but I had to keep your lungs still while I took the readings. It’s the only way to check on how well you have been healing. Which, by the way, everything looks good. The rib has set properly and will take about a week to fully mend but the puncture in your lung has completely closed up. You will be able to leave with Granita tomorrow morning,” he said as finished writing on his clipboard and began digging in his pocket for a second before pulling something familiar looking out. “Candy?” He said, smiling to the filly.
Chloe rolled her eyes as she sighed. “First, you try to kill me; then you want to bribe me with candy?” She reached out as he dropped the honey flavored candy onto her hoof. “You’re just lucky I like this stuff.” Chloe huffed as she unwrapped the candy and popped it in her mouth. She closed her eyes and swirled the honey flavored treat around with her tongue, savoring the flavor as she shivered a bit. “Mmm....”
“Hah, works every time,” Dr. Charts chuckled under his breath as he grinned. He grabbed the blanket that had been resting on the foot of the bed, pulling it over to the filly.
“Why does every hospital have to be so damn cold?” She muttered, quickly taking the blanked from the stallion and covering up. She tucked herself snugly back into the blanket’s warming embrace as the doctor waited for her to get settled in before he picked up the small table and set it back onto the bed across her legs.
“I’ll come and see you again tomorrow morning to do a final check-up. Try and get some rest, dear. I’m quite sure you're going to have a busy day tomorrow,” he said, his clipboard floating next to him as he began to walk to the door but stopped abruptly after a single step as he lifted one of his forelegs, looking at the space on the floor that it previously occupied then back to the filly before speaking. “And try not to make such a mess with the crayons this time, okay?” He chuckled as he picked up the blue blob that was once a crayon in his magical grasp and floated it into the trash bin.
Chloe let out a soft giggle as she watched the doctor scrape the rest of the smashed wax from his hoof. After deeming that his hoof had been sufficiently cleaned, he looked back and gave a warm smile to the filly before exiting the room. Chloe sat there under the blankets, letting them warm her body back to a comfortable temperature as she rolled the ever shrinking piece of candy around in her mouth.
After the candy had completely dissolved, and she was nice and warm again, she went to work clearing a spot on the table, setting the coloring book, along with the various pages of blank paper, onto the bed. Grabbing a blank piece of paper from the top of the stack she had just made, placing it in the middle of the table as she picked up a crayon. She was finally starting what she had set out to do over an hour ago now: draw.