//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Pain // Story: Pony-Z // by Black Light //------------------------------// Pain Pete gave a yelp of surprise and pain and he found himself lifted up off the floor. He gave another yell of pain as he found his body thrown on top of Shining Armor. Armor then took off at a gallop towards the door. Pete groaned as he was thrown up and down as Shining ran, but he always stayed on Shining’s back. Somewhere along the way Pete’s vision blacked out and when he came too again Matt and Jay were helping to lift him into the chariot. Pete closed his eyes, his first flight wasn’t so good, he didn’t want to be awake for this one. Pete awoke to Matt shaking him. Pete looked down to his leg and saw that the wood was still embedded in his leg. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths calming his nerves. He looked back to Matt who indicated over to his right. Pete followed his gesture and saw Canterlot they were just coming in for landing. Pete turned his head back up to the sky and watched as the clouds went by. The sudden jarring told Pete that they had landed. He heard Shining Armor call out to get a medical squad and a large stretcher. Pete heard the loud gasp from beside the chariot and turned his head and saw Twilight standing near the railing her hoof over his mouth. Pete tried to give her a reassuring smile, but instead grimaced in pain as he was lifted over the railing and onto the stretcher. The stretcher was lifted with magic and started off in the direction of the clinic. Pete was brought into the clinic and immediately the few doctors they had were alongside his stretcher heading to a surgery room. Before the doors shut behind him he saw Shining Armor standing in the hall talking to Twilight. He didn’t see any more as the door shut behind him. There was soon a mask over his mouth and he lapsed into a forced sleep. The three humans stood in the waiting room with the purple mare and her brother. Twilight as pacing back and forth in a state of panic. It was obvious that she was holding back tears as best she could. Matt reached down and put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry about Pete he’s a tough guy. It will take more than a hurt leg to get rid of him.” “How can you say that?” Twilight asked him. “You saw his injury you saw all that blood. How can you just say he’s going to be okay?” “Trust me we’ve been through worse with less.” Matt said to her. “Back where we come from there are no more hospitals. We’ve had some pretty bad injuries and we’ve made it through even without medical help.” “Like when you shot Pete.” Jay said with a chuckle. “WHAT?!” Twilight asked loudly. “He disguised himself as a zombie to slip past them. Of course I thought that he was one of them.” Matt said to Jay. The room was silent until the door to the surgery room opened and a single pony walked through. It was a pegasus with a yellow coat and a light pink mane. Upon seeing the mare Twilight ran up and embraced her saying. “Fluttershy.” “Oh, uh Twilight.” The mare said returning the embrace. The two broke apart and then Twilight spoke. “So how is he?” “He’s resting right now. We removed the wood and bandaged the wound. We’ve have a few medical unicorns accelerating the healing process, but I do have one question… What exactly is he, I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.” The shy pegasus said. “He’s a human.” Matt said gaining the attention of the small pegasus, who froze as she stared at the creature towering over her. Matt looked down at her. “Liz I think that you might need to do the talking.” The small women nodded and went up to the pegasus crouching down to her level. “Hi, I’m Elizabeth Fortune. Who are you?” she asked with a smile. The pegasus calmed down and looked at Liz. “I’m Fluttershy.” She said retreating into her mane. “Well Fluttershy, it’s very nice to meet you. We just wanted to thank you for taking care of our friend.” Liz said. “Oh, he-he’s your friend?” Fluttershy asked. Liz nodded in return. “Well, we could use your help if you don’t mind.” “What is it?” Liz asked. “Well, he’s lost a lot of blood and he’s going to need a transfusion. He’s not a pony so we don’t know if anything we have will help him. It would help if one of you could donate blood, I mean if you’re okay with that.” “Well, we would, but we don’t know what type of blood he has.” Liz said sadly. “Well that’s easy enough.” Jay said. “Just get me a sample and I can tell you what type of blood he has.” Now everybody in the room was looking at him surprised. “What telling what type of blood someone has is pretty simple if you’ve been to medical school.” Jay said with a smile. “You went to medical school?” Matt asked with a bit of surprise. “Yeah, that I did.” Jay said with a laugh. “Okay please follow me then.” Fluttershy said returning to the room and Jay followed behind her. Fluttershy and Jay emerged a short time later. “Okay I’ve got good news and bad news.” He said to them. “The good news is that I was able to tell what type of blood he has. The bad news is that he has O-negative blood. That means he can only get blood from another O-negative. I’m going to assume that neither of you two have 0-negative because I’m A-positive.” “B-positive” Liz said. “AB-positive” Matt said. Jay sighed. “That means none of us can donate.” “Well, um, I’m O-negative.” Twilight said. Matt looked skeptical and asked. “Is it even the same classification?” “Well, I looked at some of the small samples of pony blood they have here, and they do follow the same classification. Although even if it is the same classification I don’t know if cross species donations would work, or if his body would reject it violently.” He looked to Fluttershy. “Do you think he would he be able to make it without the transfusion?” Fluttershy shook her head. “He’s lost too much blood. Without a transfusion the best case is that he goes into a coma.” She answered. Jay sighed. “Well, it looks like we don’t really have any options.” Jay said looking at Twilight. “Come on we’ll get you hooked up.” He said walking through the doors the two mares following him. The three others waited outside. A while later the three emerged from the room Twilight rubbing a bandage on one of her legs. “Well the transfusion’s done. Now all that’s left is to hope that Pete pulls through.” Jay said to the rest of them. Shining nodded. “We should probably go then.” He said and the rest of the group nodded following him out. In the dining hall the eight there sat in three different groups. Jay, Liz, and Matt sat at the end of the table eating a few of the cans of beans they had saved. Shining Armor and Princess Luna sat at the head discussing the latest mission. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow were in the middle of the table catching up. The sudden crashing sound from outside got all their attention. The door to the dining room opened suddenly revealing a very annoyed looking Pete wearing a t-shirt and shorts. On his right arm was a nurse trying to pull him back as well as another nurse on his good leg. He turned to the two of them. “I don’t care if I’m not allowed to go anywhere! I’m hungry and I’m not going to get stuck eating hospital food!” He told them loudly shaking them off and hobbling over to the table and sitting down with the small group of humans and taking one of the cans of beans. Matt gave a soft chuckle. “Good to have you back Pete.” Pete gave a small nod. “So who was it that gave the transfusion? I saw the blood bag when I woke up. I didn’t know that any of you were O-negative too.” “We aren’t” Jay said smiling. Pete looked confused. “Then who gave the transfusion?” he asked. “Um, that was me.” A voice behind him said. He turned and saw Twilight standing there. Pete looked even more confused. “So… how does that work? I’ve got pony blood running through my veins?” “That’s about right.” Jay said taking another bite of the beans. “Oh and this is the real kicker.” Liz said gaining Pete’s attention. “Jay is apparently a doctor. Went to medical school and everything.” Pete looked at Jay who was smiling very big and then turned to the rest. “Yeah, that’s the line.” He said getting confused glances from those around him. “Too much, it’s too much. Doctor, blood, leg, head. Too much. I think I’m-Eeyup. Blacking out!” and with that Pete fell down his consciousness gone and his body grateful for the rest.