Scootaloo Dash- 12th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - AfternoonScootaloo Dash- 12th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon
Wings!
I sprinted down the road, hooves sounding like a thunder fight against the cobbles.
Gonna fix wings!
I vaulted over Big Mac’s apple stall, it was in the way!
Wings! Flight! Hovering! Soon!
Why did they even have a stall? Sweet Apple Acres was just a quarter mile out of town, a five minute walk from the town square. Just build a little shop by the path-
Who cares! WINGS!
I skidded to a halt, possibly making sparks, as I twisted to zip up to the front of my house. It certainly would have been possible. A few cobbles were flint after all. I’d seen sparks once.
The house the girls, Brook, and I shared was a simple home. It looked a lot like any other place in Ponyville, the only uniquity being the large pool outback, and only then because it was a saltwater pool. Other than that, it was just a normal one story, big, rectangular, plaster walled, straw roofed building.
Home is what you make of it. The inside was what counted. Especially for Brook.
Oh! Right! Brook!
She’d need to know somepony would be staying a while. Because wings!
I trotted up to the front window on the left side of the door. The window that got so many ponies to ask if a pipe had broken, or call the building inspectors… Despite everything being fine and legal.
Peering into the water filled room, and not seeing any sign of my amphibious roommate I gently tapped a hoof on the window. Not too hard. She hated it when people tapped the window too hard. Apparently that was mega loud.
A few heartbeats later and the seapony’s long flowing mane filled the window as she peaked out from the top right side, solid jet black eyes barely visible due to how much of the wall she was hiding behind. The dimly lit room and window tint prevented me from getting a real look at her, but at least I could see she was there.
Honestly, I’d never expected to see a seapony, much less room with one. Overall though, I’m glad my friends and I met her while at the beach a few years ago. Brook had decided to try finding her special talent on land, since nothing under the sea had seemed to be her thing.
Also she was terrified of the two hundred meter long eel-sharks that apparently live near the seafloor where her people make their homes. I’m so happy to not live anywhere near the ocean.
Oh my gosh, in a week or so I’ll be able to fly! Take that underwater monsters! Ha!
Brook’s eyes moved as she noticed me, twisting as she smiled, mouth still hidden behind the wall. A half second later, a timid hoof wave greeted me before she started to pull herself back out of view.
“Wait!” I called, making sure to mouth each syllable clearly. “Come to the door, I need to talk to you!”
Brook froze in the window, sinking down a few feet before nodding sadly and vanishing from view.
A few moments later the door opened slightly, letting me properly see Brook. As well as the damp trail she left on the floorboards. Fortunately, for the sake of avoiding an argument, I was way to happy to care about more water stains.
Brook looked a lot like a pegasus when out of the water. Seaponies can morph their long Epaulette Shark-like tails into rear legs, and their front halves are already very pony-like. Out of the water, she looked like a light coffee colored mare, with lots of little clusters of dark brown quarter hoof sized spots, and a scattering of white flecks. While slightly oily, her sea-green mane was nice and fluffy looking. When she had a proper ploy, she had a short tail to match her mane, just like anypony.
The differences between Brook and a pegasus were instantly apparent though. Instead of fur she had a smooth slick rubbery skin. Rather than multi colored pony eyes she had solid black orbs, though they looked more cute than creepy thanks to being shiny. The three thin slits on either side of her neck were gills. Wings that rather than feathers, were something between a batpony’s wing and a fish’s fins.
All in all, she looked like an aquatic pegasus. Heck, she could even fly about as good as a griffon with her finny-wings! But seaponies are not actually ponies. They are near-ponies, a species that looks alot like a pony kind, but can’t have a foal with a pony. Unlike most near-ponies Brook had one thing that instantly let anypony know she wasn’t a pony.
Her teeth. Her two rows of pointed, serrated, daggerpoint-like teeth. Teeth that would most definitely go through a pony like a hole-saw through wood. Carnivore teeth.
If I didn’t know that Brook was the kind, timid, geeky mare that she was, she would scare the pee right out of me every time she spoke.
“H-hey Scoots.” Brook greeted, hanging half around the door. “What do you need?”
Right! Wings! Yay!
I suddenly noticed that my cheeks were cramping from a persistent smile.
“O-oh! Yes. Doctor’s visit.” Brooks said quickly. “Did it go well? You look happy, so… Yay?”
“Well, no.” I answered quickly. “The hospital couldn’t do anything, but that’s okay because I found somepony who can fix them just a few minutes ago! She seems pretty nice, and just moved here to set up a Clinic or something, I can’t remember exactly, I’m too excited!”
Brook smiled, her teeth flashing for a very brief moment before she covered her mouth with a hoof. “Eep! S-sorry.”
I gave her a timid smile. “It’s okay. I’m almost used to them. But yeah! I’m going to get fixed up! But uh… There’s a thing.”
Brook nodded. “W-well yes. Something important enough so you won't come in to talk first.”
“Well, I told her I would be in front of the door. She should be here any minute now.” I said turning to look up the street for any sign of the white and yellow unicorn.
“W-what? You’re doing an operation here?” Brook asked in stunned surprise.
I nod-noded. “Yes. She doesn't have a home or office yet… And I said she could stay with us until she does as payment. I promise it will be temporary, and I know you’re nervous around ponies but I… I need… If you can imagine not being able to swim.”
Brook clenched her lips for a few long moments then sighed, gills fluttering slightly. “I… I don’t understand. But I understand… If that makes sense.”
“Uh… Sort of?” I said with a confused shrug.
“Just… Please tell her not to scream. I hate it when they scream… Ponies don’t even taste good.” Brook sighed. “Well… Not usually.”
Woah! Okay, that was entirely new!
“Uhhh, do I even want to know?” I asked with a wince.
“I’m only repeating things I’ve been told. Let’s forget I mentioned anything.” Brook admitted shyly. “Just… Please… Make sure she won’t call me a monster. Okay?”
“I will,” I promised. “And well, she’s pretty weird, so she might not be afraid of you at all.”
“That would be nice… It’s pretty dry out, I’m going back to my room.” Brook informed turning away and closing the door.
“Okay. Sorry. I just couldn’t let the opportunity vanish.” I apologized, recognizing Brook’s ‘I-can’t-handle-this-social-thing-right-now’ tone and wrapping up so she could go.
Dry wasn’t a problem for her, she actually liked low humidity. But well, I wasn’t going to blame her for using ponies assumptions about her biology to slip away from awkward moments. Heck, I’d do the same if I could.
“I know. I can’t be mad at you.” She said the door clicking shut a moment later.
I knew that Brook wasn’t angry. She was just scared. She’d never expected ponies to panic because of her predator's grin, and it hurt her pretty badly. When all was said and done, she did enjoy living in Ponyville, she just was a lot more introverted than she had been with her own species.
I’m sure I could explain everything to epic-wing-fixing-mare well enough where everypony would be comfortable.
Oh dear Celestia! What they hay was her name!?
I spent who knows how long pacing the porch trying to remember what her name was. I didn’t want to be rude! What if not even being able to remember her name meant she got mad and didn’t fix them?
“Hallo again!” Her memorable feminine accented voice called snapping me out of my pacing in an instant.
“Uh, yeah! Hi… Um…” I blushed a deep red as apparently my brain didn’t even bother to pretend I had remembered.
“It’s Lily, or Azur if you want to be forma-” She informed, trailing off as she looked over towards Brook’s window with a growing frown. “Um… Your house seems to have flooded.”
“No that’s just Brook’s room.” I said automatically tone shifting back to happy as I realized the crisis had been averted.
“Okay, but, It’s full of… Oh! Is it a window tint?” Lily asked. “If she has porphyria cutanea tarda I can fix that too. Das ist common where I come from.”
“Uh, pour what?” I asked, instantly confused.
“It’s a disease, it makes you blister in sunlight. I’ve heard some ponies use window tinting to still be able to look outside.” Lily asked.
“Oh! Geeze that sounds horrible. No, she doesn't have that.” I said wincing at the thought of just instantly blistering from walking outside. “She’s actually amphibious, but can’t sleep on land so we worked out a way to make her room into a big fishtank.”
“Oh,” Lily exclaimed with genuine interest, “is she a salamander? I heard there was an intelligent reptilian species somewhere in-”
“No, no! That’s a myth.” I giggled. It was always fun to hear foreigners misconceptions of Equestria! “Brook’s a Seapony.”
Lily blinked twice then turned to look into the window. “Those exist?”
“Yeah… But they are like, literally nothing like the myth. Except for the being a ponyish aquatic creature.” I explained. Now was as good a time as ever to get this out of the way. “She’s really not okay with most ponies, and well, she’s very very shy because those same ponies are very afraid of her. Because she’s not an herbivore.”
“Well that’s just a little speciesist.” Lily said with a frown. “You don’t need to worry, my best friend is a- Well his species is known to eat ponies. He doesn't though. Lots of carnivores have a ‘no sapients’ rule.”
I sighed in relief, at least she wasn’t instantly not okay with meat-eaters! But on the other hoof, “Well… See, there is a difference between say a Griffon and a Seapony. Sure both eat meat, but one is part bird, and the other is part shark.”
“Uh, beg pardon?” Lily asked giving me a wide eyed look.
“Brook, and all Seaponies, are part shark.” I repeated, “She’s harmless, but uh… Her teeth are very very very creepy.”
“How harmless?” Lily asked. “Sharks eat in their sleep you know!”
“She doesn't eat ponies.” I said firmly, I’d learned that the first night spent camping with her on the beach she’d washed up on. “But uh, she did get hungry talking to a Griffon once… But she insists that’s because seagulls are apparently very good, and that particular griffon was gull colored.”
“Okay, so, she has a no sapient’s rule?” Lily asked, fear looking to be going away.
“Well… She’s never said that… But she’s pretty shy, and generally nice, so you’re perfectly safe. Just please don't panic when you see her, she gets depressed very easily.” Wanting to change the topic away from something sad, I decided to lighten the mood by telling Lily what Brook’s talent happened to be. “Want to know what’s hilarious about her?”
“Sure.” Lily answered backing away from the window, looking a little disappointed. “But, you are not pulling my legs are you? I mean I can’t see anything in there.”
I nodded. “Eh, yeah it’s hard to see in there, she likes it dark. She could be in another room too, I mean, she is amphibious. Trust me, she’s real and you’ll see her sooner or later. Anyway, the funny thing is her talent is, heh… She’s the host of a radio show.”
Lily gave me an odd look. “Uh, how’s that funny?”
For me, the funny thing was her personality basically inverted, going from shy to bombastic like turning on the lights. Also the fact that almost nopony knew that Brook wasn’t a pony.
“Well… It’s funnier if you know her.” I giggled. “Her talent is mixing audio, which she never would have learned she could do in the ocean. She’s got her own station, mix of music, news and talk. Her whole set up’s here, if you can get her comfortable around you, you totally have to get her to show you her set up, it’s cool!”
Lily shrugged. “Still don’t get why that’s funny… But, I suppose you want to get started? Do you have a tarp, or drop cloth? Because this could be mess-”
Her eyes suddenly shrank to pinpricks. “Oh dear Faust! Uh, please tell me that she won't frenzy from smelling blood!”
I winced, I hadn’t expected there to be any blood involved. This was magic, right? “Uh, why will there be blood?”
“I have to take physical objects out of your wings.” Lily deadpanned. “Maybe a more powerful unicorn could teleport them out, but I’m not that gut. I’ll need to cut them out. So there will be some blood… Und you live with a half-shark!” She finished, fearfully hissing the last few words.
I giggled and gave her a reassuring smile. “Well um, not looking forward to being cut… But it will be okay. If she didn’t go nuts the time I nicked myself cutting carrots, she won't now.”
Lily nodded, and let out a relieved half-sigh half-groan. “Okay… I um… I’ll help, but I might get a hotel room. I mean, I can handle predators, but, sharks?”
I rolled my eyes, everypony was like this. Hence why Brook basically never went outside. “She’s fine. Uh, do you have everything you need? I think I have a tarp somewhere.”
“Ja, I got everything.” Lily said a bit nervously.
I opened the door and invited the mare in. The inside is way nicer than the outside. Growing up in Ponyville honestly had me thinking that the whole world was the same sort of Classical Era style as Ponyville. But that impression had only lasted until a school trip to see the observatory in Manehattan.
Applebloom and I really loved a lot of the modern Equestrian styles, and we’d decorated both halves of the duplex accordingly. Nice smooth dark hardwood floors, minimalist furniture, decorative colored lighting from mage-lamps, and most important of all, transforming public spaces.
City ponies had one brilliant idea for homes. In Ponyville, you had a living room, bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, your house got huge fast just because of the idea that you needed a room for everything. City ponies, on the other hoof, worked out that if you can make each room cleverly it can do all kinds of things.
Brook and my apartment had a total of six permanent rooms. Two bedrooms, one kitchen, the room Brook had her equipment set up in, bathroom, and the utility room. You entered in the utility room, which thanks to a series of sliding walls, curtains, and folding furniture hidden in the walls, floor, and ceiling, could become about a dozen different kinds of room.
Need a living room? No problem, slide the couches up out of the floor, open some cabinets to reveal the stereo and other things, done. Need a dining room? Couches go down, table and benches come up. Need some office space? Slide the east wall out to divide the room in two, fold down the desk on the back of the sliding wall, close the privacy curtain. Done.
Need a guest bedroom? There’s four beds that fold out of the non-sliding East wall. Want a workshop? Slide the west wall out, unfold the workbench and open the tool cabinets.
Oh and you can have a living and dining room with the east wall ‘deployed’. You can have the east and west walls out at once if you don't need a living or dining space, leaving a hallway to the kitchen and other hallway. Despite the challenge of building the whole set up, Applebloom and I really enjoyed the renovations.
At the moment, the utility room was in the ‘living room’ state. Pretty much how it was most of the time. I had Lily wait as I retrieved a tarp from the shed out back.
As I set the tarp down on the floor, Lily commented, “you have a nice home.”
“Thanks! AB and I built most of the interior ourselves. The landlord wanted to renovate, but he let us do it instead after we basically said we want to live here permanently.” I explained. “So uh, do you want like, a table or… How do we do this?”
“ A table would be good.” Lily admitted. “Uh, something sturdy, a normal dining table is wobbly. We can use the floor if we have to.”
I giggled and walked over to the second couch and started to flip the little latches with a hoof to fold it down. “Our table is as solid as the floor.”
“Uh, what are you doing?” Lily asked in confusion as I flipped the fourth and last lock. She wouldn’t have seen them, each latch is hidden behind one of the couch's legs.
I grabbed the top of the couch and pulled, folding it so the back touched the seat, then pushed, the whole couch sinking slowly into the floor, the wooden backing almost seamlessly blending into the floorboards as it sunk flush with the rest of the floor.
“Well, we don’t want to have to clean the couches. Can you put yours away? The locks are behind the legs. I’ll take care of the table.” I asked.
Lily stood up and immediately began to inspect the couch, crouching down to look at the underside. “That’s ingenious! Is your mark an engineering core’s badge?” She asked excitedly.
“No, my friends and I are great at helping others find their talents.” I answered, pulling up on the hidden handle to get the table’s lifting mechanisms to push it out of the floor. “But we tried a ton of stuff to get our talent’s before that, we had a club for it that we’re trying to make into a youth organization now.
“Anyways while our special talent is helping others, we sort of have a whole heap of random skills. This place is half Cutiemark Crusader Clockmakers, and half Cutiemark Crusader Carpenters, glued together with grown up planning, skill, and patience.” I finished as the gear assembly finished raising the table.
“That’s pretty cool.” Lily said finally working out the couch and getting it to slide down as I pulled the tarp over the table. “What do you mean, youth program?”
“Oh! Like an official after school club, Equestria wide with programs to help fillies and colts find their talents!” I explained excitedly. “The three of us went to college to get the business degrees, education degrees, and all that stuff to get it set up. Hopefully, in a few years or so, we can stop working retail and get the program running!”
It was always fun to talk about the dream of an Equestria wide Cutiemark Crusaders program. Too many young ponies went too long without learning what they were good at. Especially since we'll, blank flank is as popular a schoolyard insult as always.
“That’s pretty-” Lily started, stopping as Brook timidly stepped into the room, “-uh, hello.”
“H-hi…” She said doing her best to slowly scoot along the wall towards the door. “I’m gonna go… Vinyl has new records I need to pick up.”
“Alright. Have fun.” I said making sure the tarp was covering everything properly.
“Brook right?” Lily asked, her tone returning to normal. “Scootaloo here really oversold your alleged creepiness.”
I looked up quickly, dreading that kind of blunt statement causing any sort of problem. But no, instead Brook simply gave her a surprised look.
“I don't scare you?” she asked.
“No. I thought you would, but no.” Lily mused. “Honestly, I was picturing a great white with hoove-”
Lily froze mid sentence as Brook smiled happily, and not the small restrained smile that mimicked a normal pony’s grin, but that full corner of jaw to corner of jaw actual smile that took me year to get used to.
“-ves…” Lily finished, trailing off slowly.
Brook’s head drooped, her grin faded.
“That’s amazing!” Lily exclaimed, prompting a surprised “wah?” from Brook and I.
“How the hay does your mouth do that?” Lily asked. “There’s nothing to indicate you can open it that wide! No lines no wrinkles… Hold on, do you have the double rowed teeth, how does a pony shaped jaw hold them like that?”
The white mare looked genuinely interested, she had that same sort of Science!™ look that Twilight did when she had something new to study. I facehooved. “Oh my Celestia, I forgot you're a science pony…”
“Ja, I’m a cellular biologist, und biophysicist, und uh… Well you get the idea.” She admitted with embarrassment.
Brook squirmed a bit, unsure of how to react. I saw her eyes dilate after a moment (a tricky thing to do thanks to their jetblack uniform colored outer layer), she shuffled her hooves and finished walking to the door, taking her cloak and scarf off of a peg and quickly bundling up, wrapping her face with the scarf to hide her teeth.
“I um, thanks!” She said in a half happy, half weirded out tone. “Stretchy skin, that’s how. Bye!”
She quickly slipped through the door, leaving Lily and I alone.
“Um, did I say something wrong?” Lily asked with a frown.
“No. You just did something she didn’t expect.” I replied.
“You could have said she was just a pony with shark-teeth.” She said accusingly. “I’m not kidding when I said I was expecting a Great White shark with hooves.”
I felt my ears droop. “Heh heh… Sorry… Just well that’s how most people treat her. I didn’t even think you would find her teeth neat.”
Lily shook her head. “You have no idea! Sharks regenerate teeth. If she does, I could maybe work out a way to let other ponies regrow teeth. Anyways, we have bits to get out of you. If you’ll climb onto the table, I’ll put you under and you’ll wake-”
Put me under? Yeah, no. I might be brave/stupid enough to let a stranger try to fix my wings with a magic I didn’t hear of, but I wasn’t stupid/dumb enough to let them knock me out.
“Yeah, how about no.” I said firmly. “I want to stay awake.”
Lily blinked twice, giving me a horrified look. “You want to be awake while I perform surgery on you?”
“Yes. So I know I won't wake up in a cabin in the woods someplace.” I answered equally firmly. “Not to say I think you’d kidnap me or anything… But I don’t know you… And well, Sweetie was right, you do have a bit of the Mad Mage thing going on.”
“It will hurt very badly.” Lily said with a visible wince. “I understand your fears, und I assure you you are perfectly safe. Even if I did want to kidnap you for creepy sex reasons or whatever you are worried about, I don’t know how I’d make somepony snuggle me by force.” She finished, shaking her head in amusement.
I couldn’t help but crack a smile at the idea of somepony trying to make me cuddle them. That was a funny concept. ‘You’re a pretty one, I’m going to make you forcefully cuddle me against your will!’ Heh…
“Still… I want to be awake for this.” I insisted. “Can’t you like, just do a local anesthetic?”
Lily nodded. “Ja, but I don’t have drugs. So to do that I’ll have to disconnect your nerves. Und that hurts a lot.”
“I’m a tough mare, I can take it.” I grunted hopping up onto the table with a rustle of tarp. “Besides, this way you can talk me through what you are doing. I want to know how they got fixed so I can rub it into those Doctor Jerk’s faces.”
Lily sighed and trotted over to the table. “Alright… In a minute, this will really hurt. Also don’t call them jerks. There is a big difference in technique und approach here. A doctor deals with medicines, tools, und spells that replicate those tools und spells. They deal in big things. I deal in the smallest things. A Doctor can treat cancer by injecting or cutting, I can treat it by showing your white blood cells what to attack. We have entirely different tools und techniques.”
I thought it over for a minute. “I guess that makes se-”
A burning agony of pure pain rippled outwards from the base of both my wings! It literally felt like a thousand burning needles had all been jammed into every spot along a straight line path from my wings to my spine, and then all down my spine! Somepony was screaming like they had their legs chopped off!
Oh, that was me…
The pain slowly, ebbed away. I took a few deep breaths, trying to forget what that had felt like. “Owies owies owies…” I whimpered over and over without wanting to trying to.
“Und that,” Lily said slowly, “is why I wanted you unconscious. Can you feel this?”
I looked back to see Lily rather roughly pressing the edge of her hoof into my left wing. “No.” I said shaking my head, “Oh Luna… This is… It’s like I don’t even have wings… I can’t feel…”
I shuddered and tried to think about anything other than the fact that it felt like my wings were just gone.
“Ja… I’ll keep talking so you don’t go into shock. Another reason I wanted you unconscious.” Lily sighed.
“Sorry…” I apologized. “Trust issues. I had very bad parents.”
“I can sympathize, but this is medicine, some things are for the best… You shouldn’t look back here. I’ll talk.” Lily said her horn lighting up again. “By which I mean I’m going to start cutting.”
“Oh!” I quickly looked forwards, resolving to check back every few seconds to make sure that nothing nefarious was going on. “So um, what are you doing first?”
“I am making an incision around where my magic shows me the caps are.” Lily explained. “I’m not really cutting, I’m using my magic to make your cells part from one another. It will heal without scars.”
“Aww… I kinda like scars.” I mused. “A clipped ear or cool cheek scar would make me look badflank!”
“Nein! You look much better as you are now. A scar would make you look… Thuggish.” Lily commented. “Okay. Your wing is open. I am now removing the necrotic tissues from around the site. I’m using the von Buns technique to remove the entire tissues by disconnecting them from the surrounding tissues. They will be regenerated in a few minutes.”
I flinched as I heard some wet squishing, scraping sounds. Maybe looking back wasn’t a good idea…
“Uh, um… Do I need to worry about bleeding out?” I asked quickly.
“Nein.” Lily said calmly. “I’ve stopped the blood flow to your wings. The only blood comes from the first incision. I thought there would be more… But it looks like your cardiovascular system does not extend to the end of your wings. I’ll fix that soon.”
“What could have caused that?” I asked curiously.
“Probably your corrupted genome… Do you have a donor in mind? Maybe a friend? Any pegasi will do.” Lily said casually.
“Any?” I asked, heart skipping beat in excitement.
“Ja, any.” she replied. “Okay, I can see the caps… Your doctor was wrong. These are um… Keep talking for a bit. This will be tricky…”
“Uh… Well, my adopted mom is like, the only real option.” I said, trying to not focus on the really creepy scraping sounds and what they might be…
“That’s pretty sweet,” Lily said slowly, “you’d be her actual foal after the resequencing finished.”
“Wait, really?” I asked in surprise.
I could literally, actually, seriously have Rainbow Dash as my like, real by blood mom?
“Ja. The process needed will replace one of your x chromosomes entirely. It takes about five months to finish, uh, your wings will work almost immediately, but over time the DNA graft will eventually replace all of your DNA. So whoever you pick you will be related to, und you actually will loose the blood relation to a previous parent.
“It sounds horrible, but the technique is the main reason why many Germane foals are alive today. Uh, history wise, the Great War was bad. Und so healthy citizens donate blood so hospitals can remove as much bad DNA from foals as possible. It’s not a biomancy technique, but I learned it anyways… If I hadn’t been forced to leave, I’d be using my version of it to help ponies there.”
“Um… Does that mean my appearance will change?” I asked curiously.
“Ja, a little. Nothing major. Your body is finished growing, at most your mane color might change a bit.” Lily replied. “It would completely change a filly though. Okay, I’m done on this side, I’m going to do the other, then we can put them back together properly.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “That would be totally awesome!”
“Uh, ja, it would be horrible to leave your wings like this.” Lily said as she moved to my other side.
I giggled. “No! Having mom’s mane colors. I tried to dye my mane like that but it didn’t work. It did not work…”
I couldn’t help but remember my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad dye job. The colors had all run together and turned the exact green-brown of ‘slightly sick poo’. Funny to think back on now, the worst thing ever back then!
“I had to cut it all off. Wore a wing for two years.” I giggled.
“You laugh at your pain too?” Lily asked curiously.
“Well, yeah. I could be sad about it, or well, laugh. It’s all over with now. I don’t want to be some sad moping mess. So I laugh.” I explained.
“I do the same thing.” Lily said eagerly. “I’ve never met anypony who could get over things like that too. Well… I’m able to laugh at most things at least…”
“Yeah, sure.” I agreed. “There’s some really bad stuff I can remember too. But It’s done. Over with. So I focus on now… Speaking of now, how’s that wing?”
“It’s not as bad as the other. I’m almost done.” Lily said, the scraping sound coming back.
Along with the horrible spine tingling the scraping induced. “Guh! It’s like hooves on a chalkboard!” I moaned.
“Sorry. Bone sounds like this when you separate the fibers.” Lily said casually.
“Wait what?” I exclaimed whipping my head back to see exactly-
I immediately looked forwards again. I did not just look at that. Nope nope nope!
“So um, anyways, last week, I read a great book!” I said to try and change the subject.
“What was it?” Lily asked in a joking tone. “It’s not a good idea to look at your own surgery in progress, don’t do that so none of us have to clean up sick?”
I groaned, “Very funny…”
“Sorry.” Lily giggled. “I have a weird sense of humor sometimes.”
“Yeah, my mom’s sense of humor.” I grumbled.
“Okay,” Lily announced, “I’ve got everything out. This may tingle, I’m going to regenerate your wing’s tissues und use several spells to guide them to grow in properly. Is there anything special you may like done while I’m at it?”
I cocked my head to the side, almost turning to look and remembering at the last moment not to do that. “Uh, special?”
“Ja!” Lily announced. “We could just put things back normally, or we could make them better. Or maybe not better, but special. I could add in some electroplaxic cells along the fronts of your wings, so you could zap things with them like an electric eel! Or you know, something.”
“Wait, really?” I asked, she couldn’t be serious about that.
Could she?
“Ja. I mean, eh, forget I said anything. There’s just a lot to rebuild, so I’m spending a lot of energy anyways und I have weird ideas sometimes.”
“Uhh… Well, how about we just make them really really good wings?” I asked, deciding against the taze wings.
Sure that sounded cool, but A, bit creepy, and B, I knew for a fact I’d shock myself.
“Okay.” Lily said. “So… Good at speed, maneuvers? How do you want them? Oh! We could make them silent like an owl's!”
Okay, now THAT was cool!
“Ooo! Yeah silent would be awesome!” I exclaimed eagerly. “What about endurance? I’m pretty sure that if we use mom’s DNA to make the missing parts that I’ll have speed and agility in spades.”
“Oh ja? How so?” Lily asked a few glimmers of blue light shining on the wall as she charged a spell.
“Well, uh… I was taken from my parents by Foal Protective Services, and adopted from foster care by Rainbow Dash. So yeah. Speed’s gonna be just fine!” I giggled excitedly.
“Really?” Lily asked curiously and with a bit of amusement.
“Yep!” I replied.
“So… This makes two important pony family member’s I’ve ‘saved’.” Lily muttered to herself. “I wonder what my high score will be?”
“Wait… Saved?” I asked curiously. “Why saved?”
“Because um… Those metal bits were… You’ll see in a bit. Almost done.” She said as the sound of arcane sparks started to fill the room.
I anxiously waited for what felt like an hour as Lily’s magic did whatever it was she was doing. Then suddenly my wings were back! I could feel every last part of them again! And also a few parts I couldn’t before…
“Alright, give them a little flex and try to curl the feathers at your wingtips.” Lily ordered.
“Uh, I can’t.” I said automatically.
“Ja you can. Your body knows how to move, just tell it what to do.” Lily said. “Move the tips.”
I closed my eyes, concentrated, and slowly moved my wings. I could feel them move like they had before, but it felt smoother, more powerful. Each motion was like my legs or head or tail, it felt like it was supposed to move, not like it was supposed to stay still.
I felt tears start to form in my eyes. They worked! Even if I couldn’t fly they felt like body parts now! Not like some decorations stapled to my shoulders!
Then I tried to curl the feathers at the tips. They moved!
“Thank you!” I exclaimed through joyous tear filled eyes, turning my head to look at the pony who had finally, at least, really, truly improved my wings if not fixed them completely.
And that’s when I saw everything she had taken out of me in neat piles arranged on the tarp.
“You’re welcome!” Lily replied with a happy smile.
I tried to keep from throwing up.
Long strands of rotten meat. A lot more puss than should ever be on the planet. And two sections of bone with corroded bronze bolts and other bits of metal literally drilled through them and mounted like you would do if you were bolting wood together!
“I ew… Just… nN!” I exclaimed backing away from.
“Huh?” Lily asked in surprise. “Oh, ja, I guess this is pretty gross. Where’s your trash?”
“No wonder they wanted to cut them off when I was twenty!” I exclaimed practically falling from the table in the need to get away from… That!
Lily frowned and trotted over giving me a kind hug before gently pulling my left wing to the extended position. “It’s okay, see, all better! Improved too. Used the odd drop of earth pony you have in you to make them extra tough.”
“I-I’m not pure pegasus?” I asked in confusion, desperately seeking anything to focus on other than that mess on the table.
“Eh, yes and no.” Lily said waving a hoof in a so-so gesture, “Everypony has a percent or two of DNA from another kind. With how many inter-kind couples there are and have been, scientifically speaking there are no ‘pure’ breeds anymore. Haven’t been for thousands of years. You have about one percent earthpony. Und so I used it to make your wings earth pony tough!”
She gave me a happy smile, then frowned. “Oh, und um… You should press charges on your parents because that bronze was slowly corroding und uh… Ja, it would have probably killed you in another ten years or so.”
I gulped. “So that’s why you said saved?”
She nodded. “Ja… But how about we clean up this mess, und then we see how you can do with some wing exercises. Tomorrow we can get started on getting you your flight feathers.”
“That sounds great!” I said, glad to for the first time in my life have made real progress.
I owed this mare more than a short stay in my home, even for just this much. I’d have to find a way to repay her someday.
Lily - 12th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Late Night
Against my better judgment, I’d decided to stay the night at Scootaloo’s. I was still on the fence about how safe Brook was. Sure she had seemed like just a normal pony earlier, and then later when I had seen her come back… But you could never be too sure until you’d been around a carnivore long enough to really know them.
I’d gone to sleep in the awesome deployable guestroom some time ago, but sleeping in unfamiliar buildings has never been an easy thing for me. So when I heard hooves thumping down the hall I’d almost instantly woken up, awake and alert, ready for battle.
The guestroom was separated from the hallway by a curtain. Behind it was whoever had gotten up. Scoots? Maybe. Brook? Possibly. An intruder? Could be.
I had to at least look.
As quietly as I could I rolled out of bed, moved to the curtain and pulled it back.
Ahhhhh! Soulless black eyes! No fur! Teeth! Oh dear Faust no!
The monster’s mouth opened, I was too terrified to even react as it’s tongue slid from its gaping maw and slid over my cheek.
“Bleh… Pone…” It muttered.
Then turned and shuffled off towards the kitchen.
What. The. Buck?
With my heart beating at a million miles per hour, I stuck my head out from behind the curtain, gingerly looking out into the kitchen. “Oh…” I sighed, heart still beating at a million klicks per second.
It was Brook. Sleepwalking. Into the kitchen.
She trotted into the kitchen with her forelegs, dragging a large shark like tail behind her. I assumed she had to intentionally shift between this shape and having rear legs.
As I watched she made her way slowly to the fridge, opened it, sniffed around, grabbed a slab of what looked like pork ribs. She sniffed them, carefully licked them, and then just ate them.
Raw. Bones and all. In three bites.
Okay. So that’s why Scoots said she was creepy! Still, she hadn’t bitten me… And she could have easily taken my head clean off if she had wanted.
Brook sleep-rummaged through the fridge for a few more moments made a frustrated sound, closed the door and started to walk-drag herself back down the hallway. Going back to bed I guess.
I couldn't help but watch as she moved, it was pretty fascinating how her tail moved like a snake did. On closer look, her tail was doing the real work while her hooves just kept her propped uprigh-
She stopped dead in her tracks right in front of me! She sniffed the air hungrily!
“Food?” Brook muttered sleepily
I felt the terror come rushing back. “Nein, not food!” I squeaked.
Brook turned, mouth opened, long tongue reaching for me! Panic rooted me to the spot!
Her tongue slid along my other cheek.
“Bleh… Pone…” She grumbled disappointedly.
Ohhhh! Duh! She was a pony, so her species was a pony kind, or at least a near-pony. Any species that eats in it’s sleep would logically have evolved a dislike for their own kind’s flesh so they wouldn’t eat each other. So she tasted things first, then ate them if they were ‘food’.
I felt the fear leave me as Brook slowly shuffled back to her room.
“Well… that’s the end of sleeping for tonight.” I muttered to myself.
Sure, I knew I was completely safe staying here now. But it was medically unwise to go to sleep right after two back to back mini-heart attacks…