What I've Done

by Knight Breeze


Chapter X

Chapter X

Doctor Level Head didn't trot, gallop, run, or any iteration of the action as he made his way to the ~human's~ room. He was far too professional for such things, it being beneath a scientist of his caliber to show such haste or eagerness to perform some simple DNA tests.

He did, however, do a somewhat quick speed walk, all the while muttering to himself in his not loud at all voice that was borderline ecstatic.

“...First the DNA reverts, then the body attacks the unchanged limbs, and now the limbs are changing as well?” he said with a bit of a hop. “Not to mention that we have a living alien on our hooves. This thing is probably a wellspring of alien knowledge! Just think of the advances in the medical sciences alone!”

He was so caught up in his ramblings, though, that he didn't notice that he had passed the ~human's~ room. He did, however, stop when he heard the unmistakable sound of laughter.

That's... odd. I don't think I've ever heard that sound come from that room... he thought as he faced the door. With some trepidation, he reached out with his telekinesis and pushed it open. What he saw on the other side left him flabbergasted.

Sitting upright in his bed was the recovering ~human,~ a smile on his face and a slice of cake in his hands. The reason for the cake and the smile was abundantly obvious, seeing as how it is rather hard to hide anything that pink.

“Who in Tartarus are you? And how did you get past the guards?” Level Head asked, his voice rising to pre-yelling levels.

At this, the alien's laughter ceased, and his once huge smile was replaced by a worried frown. Doctor Level Head could see the ~human's~ eyes dart back and forth between the two ponies in the room, but he paid it little attention.

The pink pony seemed unconcerned about this, however, and just giggled at Level Head. “Easy, silly, they let me in! I just walked up, told them I was looking for Defender, and they let me pass!”

“I was not informed of this. The only ones that are allowed in this room are the medical staff, specific members of the guard, and the Princesses,” he said, stomping a single hoof. He then backed out of the room, making sure to keep his eyes on the pink mare, all while shouting into the hallway: “Guards! There's an intruder here!”

In an instant, a sergeant rounded the corner and charged towards the room, ready to face whoever had managed to sneak into the restricted section of the hospital wing. He stopped short, however, when he glanced inside, the light around his horn quickly dying as he took in the sight before him.

“Hi there!” the pink pony said enthusiastically, giving him a friendly wave while the ~human~ looked increasingly worried and frightened.

“Uh... sir? Where is this intruder you were speaking of?” the guards asked slowly.

“She's right there!” Level Head said, pointing at the offending pink mare.

“Sir, did you happen to check your messages this morning?” the sergeant asked, his tone still calm and collected.

Level Head stopped at this. He had been so busy this morning checking and double checking the results of the latest DNA test that he had forgotten to go through his in-box. “I... may have forgotten to check those...” he said grudgingly.

The guard gave the doctor a reproving stare. “Princess Celestia sent word to the whole staff that the Elements of Harmony would be joining the research and defense team,” he informed the doctor. “This mare happens to be the Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie. She has clearance to be here, though I wasn't expecting her to actually be here until tomorrow afternoon.”

Doctor Level Head sighed at this, then rubbed his forehead with a hoof. “I apologize, it has been a busy day, and something potentially disastrous has come up,” he said. He then looked back at the pink mare, his expression apologetic as he bowed to her. “I apologize to you too, Miss Pie. I spoke hastily, and was unaware of your involvement.”

“It's okay silly billy! Not everypony can be on top of everything all the time!” she said with a wide grin.

Judging by how the ~human~ relaxed after the doctor's bow, he also seemed to accept Level Head's apology, despite not understanding a word of it. He said something in his completely unintelligible language, then went back to eating his cake.

The guard, realizing that he was no longer needed, turned and left the three to their own devices. Doctor Level Head then turned towards the ~human~ while levitating a notepad, quill, and inkwell towards himself from a nearby desk. “Now, onto the tests. I admit that I do not know the spell required to allow you to understand me, but this should be sufficient to allow me to convey the basic meaning of what I intend to do,” he said, quickly scribbling down a rough stick figure of the ~human,~ an eye staring at it, and a notepad floating nearby. Next to these drawings he drew a smiling face and a frowning face, while next to those he drew two check boxes. He then gave the pad to the ~human~ along with the quill.

The ~human~ looked confused at first, but then pointed at the doctor's stethoscope, then at himself. He then said something in his bizarre tongue, to which Level Head simply nodded. The ~human~ then nodded his head and circled the smiling face.

“Yay! We're going to find out all sorts of things about you!” Pinkie said excitedly. “Like, what's your favorite color, and-”

“We're not looking for that kind of information, my dear. You can ask him those later, but for now, we're trying to determine his physical wellbeing,” Level Head interrupted as he took back the notepad. “There is something wrong with him, and I intend to find out what it is.”

“Oh...” Pinkie said, looking a little crestfallen. “Well, we can still have a party later, right?”

“I think a party is the last thing he needs...” Level Head said with a shake of his head.

Pinkie gasped at that, her face a look of horror. “Don't scare me like that! Even in the worst of times, a party is the best medicine for anypony!

“If a party keeps him from turning back into a monster, I'd be all for it. But for now, I'm going to have to ask you to either be quiet, or leave as I examine my patient,” Level Head said impatiently.

Pinkie pouted at that, but did as she was asked and stopped talking.

Finally, Level Head thought as he charged his horn. The spell he was trying to cast was complex; the slightest mistake could cause an error in the information recorded from the patient, and would invalidate all later results. Needless to say, he needed as few distractions as possible in order to get it to work right.

Carefully, he wove the energies around the reclining ~human,~ then around the notepad in front of him. If all went as planned, the end result would be that the page would record not only the DNA of the ~human's~ healthy body, but also the DNA of his sickly gray limbs as well as the spiderweb of gray that emanated from the four points where they connected to his torso.

After about ten minutes of this, he finally released the spell. He then took a look at the results while comparing them to ~Alex's~ previous results.

What he found did not make him happy in the slightest.

“So? Is he going to make a full recovery?” Pinkie asked excitedly.

Instead of answering, Level Head went to the still open door and stuck his head out. “Sergeant!”

Instantly, the same unicorn from before popped his head around the corner. “Yes doctor?”

“Take a message to the Princesses. Tell them I need to see one of them in the alien's room at their nearest possible convenience. Also, send another soldier over to Doctor Tender Care to ask her the same thing. Tell them all that I've discovered a complication with our patient...” Doctor Level Head said grimly.

While Doctor Level Head waited, he decided to check and double check his notes and records, just to make sure that he hadn't missed anything.

He sincerely hoped that he had.

* * *

When the strange, irritable doctor showed up, I really didn't know what to think. It was clear that he wasn't mad at me, but I still felt like it was my fault when he called in a guard to deal with The Pink One.

She seemed totally fine with this, which only caused my confusion and worry to grow. Despite my worries, though, the guard that appeared seemed to be completely at ease with The Pink One's presence, leading me to believe that she really was supposed to be here, and the doctor simply hadn't gotten the memo.

This was further reinforced when the doctor bowed to The Pink One.

"Okay, glad we got that cleared up," I said, returning to my piece of cake.

As I continued to eat, though, I decided to take a moment to examine the easily aggravated pony. He was a rather short light red unicorn with blond hair. On his flank, I could see what appeared to be a complex set of circles and triangles, all layered upon each other in what could only be described as a mystical fashion. He was also wearing one of those white lab coats, as well as a stethoscope around his neck.

The doctor approached me at that point and, after a short game of pictionary, got to the reason why he was here: an examination.

This wasn't an ordinary checkup, though. Instead of going for his stethoscope, he set his notepad on the bed in front of him and began to charge his horn. Immediately, I felt something strange; my entire body began to tingle from whatever he was doing, almost as if it had fallen asleep and was just waking up.

I was worried at first, but after several minutes of nothing happening, I relaxed. Still, I figured that I should probably remain as still as possible. I was no doctor, but I had been X-rayed and such before, and the ones back home usually got really touchy when their patients moved around during one of those. I didn't want to tick off the already irritable doc, so I just concentrated on keeping my muscles immobile.

Still, staying motionless while tingling and having pain in your extremities is a pretty difficult feat to manage. Needless to say, my nose really began to itch roughly around minute five.

As I sat there, straining against how uncomfortable this was, I happened to glance down at the notepad in front of him. His magic seemed to be having an effect on that as well, creating a complex wall of text and pictures. It was all Greek to me, though I guessed that it was probably a transcript of all of the information he was obtaining from me.

Just when I thought I couldn't take another second of this torture, the tingling stopped, allowing me to scratch my nose with impunity. “Ahh... I really hate those kinds of things,” I said, reveling in the feeling of actually having a nose to scratch.

The doctor didn't seem to notice, however, judging by how his look of irritability morphed into one of grim certainty.

He called for a guard again, only to send him off for something. I knew it probably involved whatever he had learned from the notes, judging by how furiously he was checking and rechecking them.

Minutes seemed like hours, and I grew increasingly nervous as I waited to hear the bad news. Did I get some form of magic cancer from them healing me? Am I rotting away from some strange form of leprosy?

These and other thoughts chased themselves around in my brain until I was fit to burst. I found that I was quickly developing a headache, and my arms were itching more than they ever had before.

Luckily for me, however, I didn't have to wait too long. The people he had sent for finally arrived, and I wasn't too surprised to see both Moon and the doctor with the stethoscope tatoo from earlier.

They, on the other hand, seemed to be surprised to see The Pink One here. Surprised, but not alarmed.

As soon as everybody had arrived, the irritable doctor began rattling and rambling on about something. Whatever it was seemed important, judging by how the other's faces grew progressively more sombre.

Well, except for The Pink One. She just seemed to take it all in stride, smiling as if she hadn't a care in the world. I stared at her for a moment, trying to make sense of her seemingly carefree attitude. Before I could come to any sort of conclusion, however, my throat and ears began to tingle, letting me know that the ponies had used whatever hocus pocus the did to allow me to understand the conversation.

“Alex?” I heard Moon ask, a little hesitantly. “There is... complex thing go wrong.”

“What is it?” I asked, not really sure if I wanted to know.

“There problem with instructions of Alex. Instructions act badly, act badly to healing spell. Original instructions react to healing spell, new instructions react to healing spell. Both change, both become something am not,” Moon answered sadly.

I just looked down at my hands as I tried to work out what they had told me. I already knew that 'instructions' probably referred to my DNA. They had told me that they had fixed that, but apparently they were wrong.

Apparently, I was changing into something else entirely now.

“Is... Is my body still trying to kill itself?” I asked, fearing the worst.

Doctor Magic Circle (as I decided to dub him) just shook his head at that, then pointed at his notepad. “All things point towards not happen. You heal, you get better. Not need remove limbs, though still problems.”

“Then... then what's happening? Is my DNA falling apart? Am I going to turn into some sort of slime creature, unable to retain even my basic shape?” I asked, my hysteria progressively growing.

Moon shook her head at this, then thought for a moment, as if she were trying to figure out how best to explain what needed to be said. “Maybe 'change' wrong word for happen. What mean is combine, form together. Still possible might die, but possible go down with each day. We unsure how happen, still try fix, but now know you become something in between. Not sure really what turn into, but know it combination of what once was, and what originally was,” she said sadly.

At this, it suddenly hit me as to what had happened. Their little healing spell, while patching me up and giving me a face again, had accidentally spliced my old DNA with the new stuff. I really didn't understand everything involved, mainly due to the language barrier, however, one thing was abundantly clear.

My body wasn't attacking my limbs anymore because my body now recognized them as part of itself.

As I pondered this though, I strangely felt no anger about it. Even if I had turned into some sort of monster again, I was still me. On top of that, these ponies were trying their best to prevent something like this from happening. It wasn't their fault that their treatments had backfired.

Besides, even if I completely reverted to the monster I used to be, I would still be in a better place than where I was. I had friends now, a warm place to sleep, decent, properly cooked food, and clothing as well. Well, after I'm able to tell them that I prefer to not be naked, then I'll have clothing, I thought to myself.

Actually, now that I thought about it, the whole thing seemed rather... funny. I tried to keep a straight face, but I just broke down and started to laugh. To my credit, though, it wasn't a joyous sound in the slightest.

“Um... you doing right?” Moon asked, worry clear in her voice.

“Yeah...” I said, my voice shaky as tears streamed down my face. “It's just that... I thought I had finally escaped from the monster I had become. Instead, it looks like it's impossible to get rid of it.”

Despite the tears on my face, though, I kept my composure.

I had already mourned the loss of my life. I had already resigned myself as a dead man.

Every day after this one was a gift, and for that I was more grateful than these ponies could possibly imagine.

* * *

Akitesh eased into her command chair, her lithe, serpentine form settling comfortably into the velvet comfort as she scrolled through her datapad.

“Priestess,” Jedon said, interrupting his new priestess' thoughts, “I have just been to the circle room, and Alizar says that he might be able to squeeze a little more power out of the central circle. In order to do this, however, you need to authorize the use of Qu-tai runes.”

Akitesh looked up in confusion at first, then shook her head. “No, those are still extremely experimental, and better left in the laboratory for now. The last ship to use those exploded as soon as the circle was powered up.”

Jedon smiled at this. “That's what I told him, but he kept insisting that I at least mentioned it to you. He claims that he can draw a safe amount of power from the laylines, without it overloading the system.”

“Did you tell him to send his findings to the university?” she asked, flicking her tongue a little.

“I did, M'lady, but he begged me to at least bring it up with you.”

“The answer is still 'no.' We're in a hurry, but not in such a hurry as to risk the destruction of the entire ship,” Akitesh said dismissively.

“Of course, Priestess,” Jedon said. Her second voice looked as if he wanted to say more, but chose to keep his mouth shut.

“What is it, Jedon?” she asked him pointedly.

“I was wondering why we're in such a hurry. After all, it's just a distress beacon,” Jedon reasoned. “The planet is well equipped to support life, and is, for the most part, quite hospitable. If the Krin survived, they should have no trouble in adapting to the area. If they didn't, it will be a simple matter of cleanup and sanitation.”

“Well...” Akitesh said reluctantly.

“Also, we've completely scrubbed our scientific survey of Gel in order to do this first. You told the mages and priests in charge of the expedition that there were extenuating circumstances, but you didn't explain any further than that,” Jedon said carefully. “I'm not in anyway questioning your orders, but I think it would help if we were aware of what we're getting ourselves into.”

Akitesh shook her head at this. “I can't say for certain, but something about this whole thing feels... wrong. There is a darkness lurking on the horizon, which the Maker has allowed me to catch glimpses of, but little else.”

Jedon did a double take at this. “Are you telling me that... that you saw something?” he asked eagerly.

“I... I'm really not sure what happened. It was faster than the blink of an eye, leaving me dazed and confused, with nothing more than this feeling of impending dread,” Akitesh answered.

Jedon just nodded his head at this. “I've heard of High Priests and Priestesses using such foresight, usually when the need was especially great; never have I heard of normal priests and priestesses receiving such revelation,” he said, excitement clear in his voice. “What do you think it means?”

“I think it means that something terrible has happened, and something worse is just around the corner,” she said, shaking her head. “I'm going to go and pray on this; hopefully The Creator will give me guidance on how we must proceed.”

Jedon bowed at this, his claws pressed to his forehead. “I will guide the crew until your return, Priestess,” he said with respect.

“Thank you, Jedon. Please, just don't let Alizar destroy the ship in my absence,” Akitesh said with a wave.

“I will keep two eyes on him at all times,” he said with a grin. “Hopefully, they will suffice. If I had to keep all four on him, then I think we're in for some interesting times.”

Akitesh just shook her head at this and left for her quarters. However, with each passing minute, she just couldn't shake the nameless dread that had been growing since her vision.

Maybe a shower will help me calm my nerves, she thought as she reached her quarters.

Without any ceremony, she quickly stripped off her garments and got into the shower, turning on the water as she closed the door. The whole room quickly became bathed in steam, relaxing her muscles and allowing her mind to drift.

As she soaked in the warmth of the shower, however, she became increasingly aware that something was amiss. The steam seemed to become progressively thicker, until she wasn't even able to see the walls of the shower. She reached out for them, only to encounter nothing with her searching claws.

As worry began to set in, a shape slowly emerged from the mist. It was a Krin vessel, circling a most unusual planet.

The ship was also strange, in the fact that it seemed to be filled with light. She then saw another vessel, one that she quickly recognized as her own. The Krin then fired upon her vessel, but Akitesh sensed that there was something... amiss with what was happening.

She couldn't say how she knew, but she knew that the vessel was just a pawn. She then felt a great sense of sadness as her vessel fired upon the Krin, completely destroying it and casting its broken shell adrift.

Her own ship had not come out unscathed, however. It was crippled, and could not properly defend itself when three other Krin ships, these filled with darkness, decloaked and attacked her vessel.

She watched with growing horror as the three cowards destroyed her vessel, then proceeded to ravage the planet below. Cities were destroyed, and countless generations were brought under the heel of a dark tyrant.

As this terrible scene unfolded, everything changed again. She saw the sun rise twelve times over a hill, then watched in confusion as a strange, bipedal abomination approached her.

It bowed to her, then looked at her with a piercing stare. “Priestess, your entire empire hangs in the balance. You must reach your destination before the sun has risen on this planet the twelfth time. Speak with the Sun and the Moon, offer to help them in any way possible, or all will be lost.”

Akitesh bowed at this, but quickly stood up as her head thumped against the wall of the shower. She glanced around in confusion, only to realize that the vision had faded into the mist, leaving behind only echoes and dread.

“Computer! Get me the bridge!” Akitesh shouted in haste.

“Priestess? Is there something wrong?” Jedon asked in confusion.

“Yes. Go tell Alizar that he has my blessing to use the experimental runes,” Akitesh said grimly.

There was a pregnant pause at this. “Any particular reason for the change of heart?” Jedon asked slowly.

“We need to be there a lot faster than I expected, and without those runes, I'm afraid that we'll be too late,” Akitesh answered.

“Right away, priestess,” Jedon answered hurriedly.