//------------------------------// // What I See // Story: Dr. Horrible's Equestrian Story // by Terrasora //------------------------------// Somebody was humming. A soft tune. Quiet, probably more subconscious than anything. The kind of thing you do when you don’t have anything better to do. A soft shift. Something came off of the man’s shoulder. Dr. Horrible felt the bandages unwind from somewhere far off. Everything was blurred, tinged with the slightest breath of scarlet. His head was buzzing, cottony. Thoughts, half-formed, unclear, ran circles around him. Bank, stone. Gun. Shoulder, pain. Box. Where’s the box? Not here. Bank was here. Then new bank. Bed is here. Face. Horse face. Bandage. Hospital? Song. Humming. She would hum. She would sing. She would help. Dr. Horrible felt the bandages more clearly, could feel them pull at his skin slightly as they came undone. Not her, he thought. “She’s dead.” Dr. Horrible whipped upwards, the arm carrying his death ray poised to fire on the bright yellow, pink-maned pegasus standing over him. Pain lanced through his stomach. He had tried to lean on his other arm, placing part of his weight on his wounded shoulder. Stupid idea. Dr. Horrible crashed back into bed with a cry of pain. He clutched at his shoulder. “Oh, oh dear,” said the equine. She rushed forward, gently pushing aside Dr. Horrible’s hand. “P-Please don’t do that; we don’t want the wound to open again.” She unrolled a length of bandages, tearing the cloth with her muzzle and rewrapping the wound. The human blinked. “Horse.” The horse looked up, staring at the Biped’s prone figure. Her light blue eyes easily covered two-thirds of her face, and the white bandage still hung from her mouth. “You’re a horse,” said Dr. Horrible. The equine looked mildly confused. “Horse,” said the villain without much intonation. “Cheval. Caballo. Equine.” The equine nodded kindly, tying off a knot in the bandage. "I'll go get Twilight." She trotted off, smiling politely at what was clearly a very tired, nonsense-speaking biped. Dr. Horrible was left alone in bed. "Horse. Genetically modified?" The human snorted. "Bad Horse has a strange taste in minions. Bright, talking ponies, don't exactly inspire fear." He tried to look around the room, but a wave of nausea washed over him, moving out from the bullet wound in his stomach, causing his vision to blur. "I think I'm gonna hurl." *** "Ummmm, Twilight?" "Of course I'd return it, I'm not a thief! And have you not seen the technological prowess that must have gone into such a device? That's years, if not decades, ahead of any current Equestrian technology!" "Twilight? Ex-excuse me--" Nurse Redheart, a white pony with a cutie mark in the shape of a bright red cross, facehoofed. "For the last time, Twilight, we're not going to just hoof out every interesting thing a patient has. Even when said patient looks like some creature out of mythology." "T-twilight?" "But we have no idea what that mechanism is capable of! Have you not considered the sheer amount of things that we'd learn from a few hours, maybe even a few minutes of observation?!" Nurse Redheart was unconvinced. "My hospital, my rules. And my rules say that every patient has the right to keep their hooves, or talons, claws, whatever, on their own possessions. And no knowledge-obsessed unicorn is going to change that." "... Pretty please?" asked Twilight, somehow visibly deflated as her chances for research dissipated before her. "No." Fluttershy scooted a few steps closer to the confrontation. "P-pardon me." "Hey, Fluttershy," said Twilight in a slightly depressed voice. The nurse nodded her greeting. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to interrupt anything. Am I interrupting anything?" The purple unicorn smiled at her friend. "Of course not. What's happening?" "Well, um, I was in the room, changing the biped's bandages, like you told me to, and then he woke up and he tried to say something, but I couldn't really understand what he said and--" But Twilight Sparkle had already run off down the hallway, moving much faster than a librarian had any right to move. *** Dr. Horrible kept his eyes firmly shut, fighting off the urge to throw up... What? When was the last time he'd eaten? He hadn't sat down for a proper meal in months, not since he'd devoted himself to his newest project. At most, he'd take a sandwich from the Evil League of Evil's cafeteria. No, there simply hadn't been any time to devote to food or snacks, to washing clothes and frozen yog-- Billy winced. He could almost hear his mind, like a steel shutter or a pair of scissors, cutting him away from that line of thought. Damn it, he thought to himself, am I really that weak? He looked around the room, looking for something to further distract him. An open window, through which shone a rustic town, a wooden desk with a single flower on it right under the window, a curtain that cut the room more or less in half. The death ray strapped to his arm made him itch. The blankets against his bare chest made him itch. "... Where did my coat go?" Another cursory glance around the room. No coat. Something quadruped, violet, and extremely quick bounded through the door. Dr. Horrible felt himself snap to action, his death ray sliding towards a very eager-looking equine. The weapon stayed where it was. The unicorn came to a sliding stop.She cleared her throat slightly, evidently trying to maintain a degree of composure. “Good afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?” She spoke with slowly, with exaggerated enunciation, as if she were speaking to a child. Dr. Horrible scowled. The ray remained fixed on the equine. “I sincerely hope that you’re speaking like that because I’m only just recovering from two bullet wounds and not because you think I’m some kind of idiot.” Twilight Sparkle’s eyes went wide. Or at least, wider than normal. “You can talk.” “I can talk?” scoffed the villain. “Have you looked in the mirror lately?” The two other mares appeared in the door way. "And didn't the yellow one tell you that I spoke to her." Futtershy hid behind a curtain of pink hair. Twilight stepped forward slightly. "Fluttershy has an affinity with animals--" "Critters," whispered Fluttershy inaudibly. "--and she can often understand what other ponies can't," continued Twilight, unaware of the interruption. "I'm sorry, I didn't realIze that you spoke Equish." Dr. Horrible laughed, a barking sound that made the wound in his stomach strained. “Equish? Honestly, what has Bad Horse been telling you?” Twilight knit her brow. “Bad Horse?” The human raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, clearly. Talking horses as Bad Horse written all over it.” He pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the pain as best he could, silently glad that he still had his pants at least. "Well, let's go." The nurse rushed forward, firmly planting a hoof onto the villain. "You're not going anywhere until you've gone through the proper check ups." Dr. Horrible pushed the hoof to the side. "I'll decide that. Get my coat, I'm hardly presentable without the top half of my clothes." Twilight's brow had been permanently knit together. "Presentable for what?" "Bad Horse. I trust that he'd want to know what went wrong at the b--" Dr. Horrible stumbled suddenly, an ache in his head. "The bank." Nurse Redheart guided him back into bed, mumbling all the while about patients without patience. "That's what we want to know too," said Twilight gently. "The bank. How did you end up in a vault? Nopony had unlocked the door or been down there." Dr. Horrible vaguely registered the 'nopony' in that sentence, noting how stupid it sounded. But that thought was quickly torn away. "I-I was in a bank. In a vault, and then I wasn't but then I was and..." He looked around, taking in the bright colors, the rustic town with the impossibly yellow thatched roofs, the single bright blue flower within the room, a shade of blue that somehow seemed unnaturally blue. "I'm... I'm not..." He brought his hands, shaking, no longer gloved, to his face. "It worked," he breathed. "I'm not there." Fluttershy watched with worried eyes. "Not where?" she asked. The human turned towards her, his eyes suddenly burning. "I'm looking for someone. A girl. Named P--" Dr. Horrible fumbled on the name. "Penny. Her name's Penny. She has red hair, she's" -- Dr. Horrible raised his hand into the air -- "this tall. Always worried about somebody else, really likes frozen yogurt. H-have you seen her?" There was so much hope in his voice. The Pegasus folded into herself, not wanting to bring an end to that hope. The human looked from mare to mare, their mirrored expressions telling him everything he needed to know. The fire in his eyes was snuffed out. Twilight watched as the Biped, that cold cynic she'd been talking to returned. "That's a no then." Dr. Horrible shrugged. "It was a long shot anyway." "I-I'm sorry," said Fluttershy. The villain rounded on her, a snarl on his face. "Don't you dare apologize." Fluttershy cowered. "I'm sorry for apologizing," she whispered from behind a nest of pink mane. The villain took a deep breath, smoothing over his features. "Doesn't matter." A pause. Dr. Horrible threw another glance around the room. "I need my coat. And the box too." "You're not just walking out of here," asserted Nurse Redheart. "And you can't just shout at ponies like that!" added Twilight with a stomp of her hoof. "You should apologize to Fluttershy." Dr. Horrible looked down at the unicorn, regarding her with indifference. His gaze shifted to the Pegasus. "That was uncalled for. I was out of line." Fluttershy peeked out of her mane. "That wasn't an apology," fumed Twilight. "Well, it's the best you're gonna get at this point." The villain took a few shaky steps around the room. "Where's the closet? I'm guessing that that's where you stashed away all of my stuff." "For the last time!" shouted the nurse suddenly. "You're. Not. Leaving!" Dr. Horrible turned around in surprise. A few moments passed in silence. Then the human began to laugh, a deep, rumbling, mocking laugh that he had spent months perfecting. "You think you can stop me? Do you know who I am?" Nurse Redheart raised an eyebrow. "Right," relented the villain, "stupid question, considering that you're a talking pony. I'm Dr. Horrible. Member of the Evil League of Evil, scourge of any city that opposes me, and holder of the highest degree in villainy." He gave a slight bow, which would have been much deeper if not for the wound in his gut. Twilight Sparkle snorted. "Evil League of Evil? Is that a branch of the Tautolgical Society of Tautology?" Dr. Horrible scowled. "No. Joke's on you; the Society of Tautology is on the other side of the city." "Wait... Really?" "No. A Tautological Society of Tautology would be stupid." Nurse Redheart trotted forward, pushing against Dr. Horrible again. "Well, Mr. Villain, we'll talk about that after you've gone back to sleep." "Oh haha, very clever ponies." Dr. Horrible batted aside the nurse's hooves. "But being a villain comes with its perks.” He lifted his arm, pointing it at the flowerpot in the corner. “Like death rays.” He fired. A bright red beam enveloped the plant. The pot disappeared, vanished into a pink dust. The flower and the dirt it was planted in were untouched. “Now,” said Dr. Horrible, “will you get out of my way?” Twilight went on the defensive, her legs bent, her horn glowing with magic. “Stop! Now!” Dr. Horrible brought his ray forward, leveling it with the unicorn. He smirked. “You know, it’s incredible. This really is a different world; I realize that now. There’s no Bad Horse and no League, yet I can’t help but see the similarities.” He glanced at the two other mares, Redheart and Fluttershy, both of them cowering behind the unicorn. “I’m still the villain. I’m always the villain.” “Put that down, Doctor!” Twilight’s magical aura seemed to brighten slightly. “Down is good.” Dr. Horrible fired, tilting wrist so that the ray hit the floor beneath Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn disappeared down the hole, landing with a muffled thump in the room below them. “Now,” said the villain. “Where did you leave my coat? And the box too. I kinda need that to--” There was a bright flash, then a whistling sound. Dr. Horrible felt something thud against his back. Then blackness. He was snoring before he hit the ground. *** Nurse  Redheart tightened the final restraint. Dr. Horrible was back in bed, sound asleep, his weapon currently floating well out of his reach. "Quick on that anesthetic spell, aren't you?" Twilight rubbed her rather sore flank. "He's the one who dropped me through the floor." Redheart nodded, glancing at the red and silver mechanism in Twilight's magic. "Is that thing magic?" The unicorn floated it closer, turning it this way and that. "I'm not sure. It's mechanical, but unlike any machine in Equestria. It's not for study or for travel. It destroys. If it's magic, then it's on the same level as Queen Chrysalis when she fed on my brother's love." "Bad," said the nurse. From her place in the corner, Fluttershy let out a small squeak of terror. "Bad," agreed Twilight. "I'll be taking care of this. I'll hide it somewhere in the library." She glanced over at the bright blue flower, it's new dirt pot surrounded by pink dust. "And a letter to Princess Celestia wouldn't be out of order. Nurse Redheart, please keep me informed if... Dr. Horrible, I think he called himself, wakes up." The nurse nodded. “But the thing stays here.” “Wait, what?” responded Twilight intelligently. “He’s still my patient. I’m responsible for him. Not only that, I’m responsible for his things. So that thing stays here.” “Did you not see what it’s capable of doing?!” “Yes I did,” replied the stalwart nurse. “I’ll hide it.” “B-but! Guh! Ugh!” Twilight relented, floating the weapon to Redheart’s waiting hooves. "Let's go, Fluttershy,” said the unicorn testily. The Pegasus picked herself up, slowly cantering after her friend. She spared a glance back at Dr. Horrible. He had called himself evil, but he was looking for someone. He was looking for a friend, had been wounded for that friend, had ended up someplace far away in an attempt to find that friend. And how could someone like that be evil?