//------------------------------// // Core Sample and Finger Food // Story: To Serve Bronies // by Fuzzy Necromancer //------------------------------// Jamal kept his eyes shut. He squeezed them even tighter and bit his lip. He wouldn't scream. “Just tell me when you're done,” he gasped out. Twilight finished cleaning the needle and looked down at the tense human. “Relax, Jamal. I did it twelve seconds ago.” He half-opeend one eye. “But I didn't feel a thing after the topical anesthetic.” Twilight Sparkle gently patted his torso with her hoof. “That's the idea.” She dabbed the spot with a sealing potion in a cotton swab, then applied a thin bandage to his hand. The spongey hot-pink and orange-yellow tissue filled up the glass syringe like an enchantment aura. It looked superficially identical to pony marrow, but she'd have to run tests to be sure. The world contained so many wonders at the microscopic level. “Would you like to see the tissue sample?” Twilight asked, waving the syringe in his face. He snapped his eyes shut again and jerked against the restraints. “Oh God no! I mean, no thanks. I'd just like to be unstrapped from this table.” “Sure thing. Let me just get this sample into the morphic resonance cauldron while it's fresh.” Twilight trotted over to her cast-iron thaumaturgical equipment, opened the syringe, and dropped the still-warm bone marrow into the charmed dry ice with a burst of fog. Twilight Sparkle undid the straps and helped Jamal up from his resting place. “Now, that hand will feel numb for several hours, and there's a soreness that might persist for a few days when the numbing wears off. Drink plenty of milk and get lots of spinach and you should be alright, okay? Just let me know if the pain gets intense.” Jamal shook both his hands. “I thought you couldn't use anesthesia for bone marrow removal, in case you severed a nerve. Also, shouldn't I feel cold and pressure?” Twilight Sparkle jumped back. She'd heard of some griffons and dragons doing rather barbaric medical practices for want of advanced magic, but this was too horrifying to contemplate. “Oh Celestia no! That can't possibly be right!” She shivered. “I'm going upstairs for some hard cider. Do you want anything?” Jamal wiggled the fingers of his left hand curiously. “No, I'm good.” # Reiko stretched out all three of her arms in a big yawn, then flinched and pulled into a tight little ball. She opened her eyes and stretched out again. She breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Are you alright?” Pinkie Pie said. “Yeah, sure,” Reiko said, in a way that made Pinkie Pie sure she wasn't alright, but also made her just as sure that Reiko would never tell her a thing until she was good and ready. “Do you want me to get some help from Twilight Sparkle to fix those extra magical growths later? I mean, once we've solved the problem and made sure she won't eat you.” Reiko frowned and flexed her reptillian fist thoughtfully. Growths was an odd word. It was one of those things that sounded less like a real word the more you said it. “Growth growth growth growth growth,” Pinkie Pie said. Reiko gripped another jar of pickles with her right hand and twisted it open with the dragon-like arm. “I might stick with this one, actually. It's a lot better at opening jars, it's a little stronger, and it types faster.” She frowned and scratched, loosening a few dead scales. “I could do with something for the scale rot though.” Pinkie Pie frowned. Spike sometimes used teatree oil or advocado poultice when he had a hide problem. She wasn't sure if that would work for the magically-altered limb. Still, at least the itchy flowers had fallen out after a while. Reiko said she didn't mind the neon-colored stripes that had turned up on her body, and her temperature had gone down to normal. Pinkie Pie still thought she should see a magic doctor as soon as the clever plan made peace with everyone. “Wanna see my finger food?” Pinkie Pie said. Reiko leaned over. Pinkie Pie showed her the tray of specialty strawberry-filling chocolate cupcakes. Reiko jerked back. “Are those fresh? Did you...those aren't real, are they?” Pinkie Pie blinked. “They're real cupcakes.” Reiko stared again. “They're not real hands?” Pinkie Pie laughed at her. “Of course not, silly filly. Where would I get them? I'm just very good with colored frosting.” Reiko stared harder. “You even got the knuckle ridges, and how did you get that torn fingernail to look real?” “Translucent buttercream,” Pinkie Pie said with pride. “Now I want you to help me finish the severed bear's head.”