Christie awoke with a shaky cry, rubbing at her eyes blearily. The operation to save, and repair, Vinyl Scratch had taken a lot out of her. Her mana-capillary system had flummoxed the experienced doctor, but she had been lucky enough to find an unicorn surgeon amongst the refugees, one Careful Eye. Working together for several long, stressful hours, they had managed to save Vinyl Scratch's life, and get a pair of working cybernetics into place for her hind legs. Though the gun-metal grey and soft yellow lights along the servos did not exactly match Vinyl's natural fur tone, Christie was sure that they could figure something out. A few centimeters to the right of Vinyl's horn was a small metal implant, entwined directly with her brain, to allow control of her new legs.
Cybernetics were a fast growing part of humanity back in the Solar System; direct brain-to-network implants were common among youths, and many engineers and scientists had at least one cybernetic eye, with the ability to zoom in to microscopic levels, or bring up heads-up displays directly to the eyeball. What had started as sophisticated ways to repair damages wrought by accidents had quite quickly turned into a consumer market. Christie herself did not have any cybernetics, but after such extensive work, she was re-thinking her stance on the subject. Having an implant that could have directly linked with Vinyl's new legs to check the connections, instead of running diagnostics from her smartpad, would have saved Christie and her assistant an hour's work.
Careful Eye was long gone, likely to find his own family in the chaos; Octavia was flopped out on her side, snoring loudly and quivering, little tears in her eyes. Christie's heart really went out to her; it had been touch and go several times, with the extreme amount of blood loss Vinyl had suffered. The fact that Octavia had kept her composure at all till Vinyl had been put under spoke to the cellist's inner strength. Of course, once Vinyl was asleep, Octavia had broken down into heart-broken sobs, crying her eyes out till she too had passed out. It was probably for the best. Cybernetic implantation was a rather... messy procedure. But all in all, it had gone swimmingly.
"Aw damn... my head..."
Christie yelped a bit and turned to Vinyl Scratch in shock. She was up? After that kind of procedure? She should be out for days! But the little white mare was indeed wide awake, one crimson eye clenched as she slowly rubbed at the metallic implant.
"W-what... what is..."
Moving quickly, Christie knelt down and gently held Vinyl's hoof, giving her a gentle smile.
"It's an implant, to help control your prosthetics," she explained quietly, "The pain will fade in a few days. It's just getting used to your head right now."
"Prosthetics?" Vinyl asked slowly, almost as if tasting the word, "Like... w-wooden hooves or somethin'?"
She sounded dull, shaken even; Christie couldn't blame her. If the Equuskind only had wooden or simple metal replacements... She gave Vinyl a kind smile, and reached down to, very slowly, lift her hind hoof. Peering down, Vinyl froze, eyes widening slowly as she looked the hoof over.
"Holy shit," she breathed, brightening as she managed to flex the hoof slowly, "Dude it... it feels real! H-how..."
Christie grinned, just a little pride coloring her being. She was a damn good surgeon, and perhaps had the makings of a cyberneticist after all! Vinyl was moving the hooves smoothly and with no noticeable hesitations or pain. That meant that all of the nerves had been successfully integrated and were not grating on the filaments leading to the servos. She had been afraid that, with the... not quite ideal circumstances of the operation, that she might have made a mistake.
Vinyl blinked and smiled tenderly when she managed to tear her gaze away from her new hooves enough to spot Octavia, now having rolled onto her back, front hooves drawn up to her chest. This close, Christie noticed that a good deal of Octavia's fur was patchy; possibly from nerves, or an infection. She would definitely need to do some blood work on the both of them.
"She always works too hard," Vinyl whispered faintly, wincing as her horn gleamed a soft blue.
Magic... real magic... Christie watched, utterly fascinated, as Vinyl's soft blue magical field wrapped around Octavia's sleeping body, gently dragging her over to her arms. Of course, Careful Eye had been using magic all throughout the surgery, but Christie had been far too busy to appreciate it. Maybe, once Vinyl was healed more, she could convince her to undergo some testing. If humans could harness the same magic, the applications could be enormous!
Octavia gave a soft mewl as she was drawn into the warmth of Vinyl's fur, nuzzling closer to the source and slowly blinking her violet eyes open. The utter relief in her expression when she and Vinyl locked eyes nearly brought tears to Christie's own eyes, and she quickly stood up to give them a little privacy... only to meep when a firm, warm force wrapped around her middle, yanking her back to the bed.
"Oh no you don't, doc," Vinyl teased, grinning widely when Christie turned back towards the pair, "Get in here."
Like she was going to turn down that offer. Careful not to brush the implant, Christie carefully reached out to hug both ponies, blushing deeply as two sets of forelegs firmly wrapped around her. They were stronger than she would have thought, especially Octavia! Unable to help herself, she carefully entwined her fingers their puppy-soft head fur, gently scratching behind their left ears. The effect was both amusing and surprising; squeaking at nearly the same tone, both mares went limp against Christie, shuddering.
"Holy shiiiiit," Vinyl mumbled, a blissful grin turning her muzzle, "Riiiight there, girl. Mmf."
"Need to keep you around, doctor," Octavia teased, tail flicking around them in a wave of somewhat spicy-scented hairs, "This is a nice way to wake up from a nap."
"I'm happy to oblige," Christie replied sheepishly, blushing just a bit.
With a hiss of compressed air, the med-bay door slid open, and Christie instinctively lurched to her feet, battlefield adrenaline still coursing through her system. The Seraph had been driven out of this area, but that didn't mean saboteurs couldn't still be skulking about. But what entered was most certainly not a Seraph, or human. Indeed, she wasn't even a "regular" pony. Princess Luna, a black cloak fluttering from her withers, frantically galloped inside the medbay, sides heaving. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, and Christie was horrified to see her ribs clearly protruding, even through her soft fur. Apparently, so did her other pony guests.
"Luna!" Octavia yelped, scrambling off the bed and darting over to hug onto the princess tightly, burying her nose into her flowing mane.
Vinyl squeaked and stamped about on the bed and, to Christie further horror, leaped down onto the floor. She slid about a bit, gritting her teeth as she struggled to get her footing again; the mare was a fast learner however, and quickly managed to charge forward to join Octavia and Luna. Christie slowly sat down near them, watching nervously as Princess Luna sobbed quietly, holding the two close. Every human knew of Princess Luna; of the two ruling Princesses of Equestria, Luna was in charge of their military, their spy networks, and the protection of their dreams. Her powers had captured the imagination and reverence of many young minds; Christie's including. When Luna's teal eyes turned towards her, etched with curiosity, the young medic was quick to bow low to the ground.
"Princess," she whispered, blushing slightly... only for warmth to quickly surround her body, and tug her into the hugging ponypile.
"You saved her," Luna whispered huskily, sniffling, "Dr. Eye sent me the m-message. Y-you saved her life... my Vinyl..."
Luna gently kissed Vinyl behind the ears, then turned to lightly peck a blushing Octavia on the lips. A teensy bit of panic rose up in Christie's mind; she had been operating on the... girlfriends? Concubines? Whatevers, of the princess!? If she had screwed up...
"I-I did my best, Princess," she replied modestly, rubbing the back of her head, "I-I'd do the same for a-any pony."
Luna smiled faintly, looking her over slowly; her gaze was piercing, the wisdom behind them showing back to ages seen and lived that would destroy most minds. Christie gulped, doing her best to seem stoic, in charge, like a good medic. But in front of such ageless insight, she felt simply like a child. It was this feeling that led Christie to be stunned as Luna began to giggle, and leaned forward to nuzzle the doctor's cheek lightly.
"I'm glad you feel that way," Luna told her warmly, "Because I do believe that the Lunar Court could use your services, Doctor. Will you come with us, please?"
Like she even has to ask?