//------------------------------// // 20 Medic 3: The Repunchening // Story: Lifegiver // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Lily - 21st of Midsummer ‘15 EoH - Evening Sometimes when I wake up, there’s a good five minutes of time where I can’t move, or even open my eyes. It used to scare me, but it’s happened so much now that it’s a non-thing. Just a thing that happens on Tuesdays. Actually the fact that it almost does happen every Tuesday is a bit worrying. But only in that ‘did I leave the oven on?’ way. What was actually concerning is that I could feel something going down my throat. I could feel the same thing poking out of the left side of my mouth. The last time I had woken up with something thin poking out of my mouth, it had been because my college roommate had tied a large dildo to the end of a cord and gotten me to swallow it in my sleep, which he magically induced... I hate pranks. A lot. While spending about five minutes paralyzed wasn’t terrifying, the looming dread of having to once again pull two kilograms of silicone out of my stomach was almost more than I could bear. A mini eternity of fear. All because of one bucking asshole. Which is why the second I could move I immediately pulled on the tube. This was a mistake. The tube moved easily and immediately, sliding along my throat in a way which indicated nothing was tied to the end of it. Given how much force I had put into pulling, expecting there to be a thing, I immediately turned and doubled over, dry heaving over the side of a bed I didn’t know existed, and so instantly fell off of it. The fall pulled the tube out completely, which triggered my gag reflex again. The sharp twisting in my throat accompanied the dull crunch of hitting the floor, sending spikes of pain all along my spine as I coughed and heaved for at least a minute, unaware of anything other than the steel bucket which had seemingly been in front of me the moment I fell. Finally, after that worst wake up all year was over with, I pushed myself up every muscle cramping up a bit, each protesting the slightest movement. I had been laying down a long time. A long long time. “There you go, it’s all right now. Stan on up,” a familiar-ish changeling voice soothed. “Sorry I missed catching you, I was reaching for the bucket after you pulled on the tube.” Feeding tube? That meant I was in a hospital. Blinking my eyes a few times I realized that everything was too bright. Effectively for the moment, I was blind. Just as I started to panic, I noticed that darker patches were starting to fade in, indicating I could still see, but something was messing with my ability to do so. Probably a drug, being that I was in a hospital. But why was I in a hospital? The last thing I could remember was going to sleep after the everfree monsters had attacked Ponyville… “What happened?” I asked, not wanting to assume anything. “According to the paperwork, you drained yourself completely attempting to cast a spell, and your body self cannibalized to try to make up the energy loss.” The doctor or nurse said, her tone simple and explanatory at first but turning to one of concern as she asked. “Can you see?” “No,” I answered. “But things are starting to slowly show up.” “I see. I’ll make a note to not use thiopentone on you in the future.” The decidedly female voice said as the sounds of pen on paper reached my ears. “It can cause temporary blindness in a small minority of ponies. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find medications that will work on someone with your genetics? A full third of medications I commonly use would kill you.” I laughed, a genuine, smiling laugh. “I’m sorry. I know I’m a patchwork, but this is the first way I found where I’m still my original genetics, but stable.” “Frankly it’s amazing you found one at all,” my unknown nurse or doctor grumbled. “I know. But it's a good thing I did. Because I’m not dead,” I pointed out. It was her turn to laugh. “The more I see of you, the more like Sky you turn out to be. If I hadn’t seen your scans I’d swear you were proper brothers.” I frowned. “We’ve met before? Where am I?” “Yes, about a month ago. You’re in the Emerald Hive, specifically the Aft Medical Bay on the Engineering Deck. Do you remember me? I’m Ensign T’ilk, I treated you once before,” T’ilk said calmly, in that medical professional trying to examine you way. “Yes I remember you… But not by name. Sorry,” I apologized. “Are we working out if I have memory loss?” She chuckled, “Yes, we are. It’s interesting to work on another medical… individual.” “Individual?” I asked curiously. “I don’t mean to offend,” T’ilk started instantly telling me she did mean to offend a little bit, “but I personally can’t call you a professional. For example, your Marefriend explained you injured yourself while enhancing her, during a recovery period.” “Wait, I did what?” I demanded, ears perking up in alarm and anger. “Do you not remember that?” She asked in a serious tone. “No! I most certainly don’t. What the hay was I thinking? Is she alright?” I exclaimed, pleading for an answer. “Well… Medically speaking I’m unsure if she is fine,” T’ilk said slowly. “However, she seems to be okay. It’s not really a medical question as to whether she is alright or not. A mage or a psychologist could give you a better answer than I could.” “What did I even do?” I asked fearfully. Please tell me I hadn’t almost killed her while trying to fix something going wrong with her wings! “Uh… I honestly don’t know. She knows, and was here until an hour ago… But was called away to talk to Princess Celestia about this exact thing,” T’ilk said sadly. “I’m certain that if it wasn’t for the royal order, she would still be here.” I let out a held breath. “Thank goodness.” I’m certain she would have been here if she could too. I wasn’t going to be mad at her for leaving me. Especially since I was happy she was alive. “She claimed you had been planning to do…whatever you did for a week, and she convinced you do do it. Can you remember any of that?” T’ilk asked carefully. I shook my head no. “What day is it? I remember it being the tenth yesterday.” “It’s the twenty first,” T’ilk said in a deeply concerned tone. “I wish I knew more about you… You should get yourself checked by a psychologist as soon as possible to see if you might be missing any other memories. However, medically speaking, you are mostly fine.” “Mostly?” I asked with a frown. “What’s wrong? I’ll help you fix it.” “Well… You appear to have suffered damage to your thaumaturgic system,” T’ilk said slowly and carefully. “Now, again, I’m not a mage and I don’t know if anyling knows the exact biological basis for a unicorn’s magic, but I can tell you that your mana seems to be limited to around seven kilohugs of energy, which as you probably know, is not even close to nor-” “I don’t know your scale,” I apologised. “Oh! Right, sorry. I’m used to people who live here... Let’s see… Well its a little less than the changeling average, and our best top out at a third of a pony’s power.” T’ilk explained. I blushed and turned my head away from the sound of her voice. “Uh… That’s actually my normal amount…” “A-are you serious?” T’ilk asked in an astonished tone of voice. “H-how did you fix her wings? She told me you repaired severe trauma to her wings in minutes!” “It’s a Germane thing,” I explained. “A lot of my people lack the capacities of other unicorns, and well, we always have. By necessity, our spells are very efficient in terms of mana usage. My worst spell wastes only two percent of the power invested into it, und by wastes I mean ‘isn’t used to optimal efficiency’.” “That must take a long time to develop any spells at all,” T’ilk mused. “Ja,” I nodded. “But when an hour of constant telekinesis tires you, you make better spells.” At this point, I could see enough of my surroundings to tell where T’ilk was, and notice her head tilt to one side as I spoke. “Are you aware you sometimes use Germane words in place of Equish ones?” She asked. I nodded. “I’ve always done that. I can avoid it if I’m concentrating on it, but I don’t do that for casual conversation. It’s not evidence of a stroke or anything.” “Ah, good,” T’ilk sighed in relief. “Now… There’s another possibly more sensitive subject. I was told you got your piercings drunk, is that correct?” I nodded again. “Is one getting infected? I could have sworn I was cleaning them properly.” “No, far from it. It’s pretty clear that whoever did them used Neighponese tools for it, the holes might as well be natural,” T’ilk said reassuringly. “It’s just that well… According to medical scans, some tissue has been removed to make the skin fall into shape as it does-” My ears flicked up in alarm! “-not that tissue. You’re not gelded. I meant skin and some fat!” T’ilk said quickly. “Oh thank Faust!” I exclaimed. “It’s always so hard to regenerate those…” “Right… Talking to a biomancer,” T’ilk reminded herself. “My point is… Er- you’re not upset by the surgery?” I shook my head and gave her a little smile/ “No. I like the look, I’m not in pain, and Scoots was right. I do feel better not trying to prove I’m male all the time. So it’s not like I need to be constantly presenting.” “Ah, well, good. My point is, recalling that you got the piercings drunk, I decided to make sure nothing was wrong… A few of our scouts have returned with stories of getting piercings done too deeply and getting tangled up with- Er… Well I’m sure you can imagine,” T’ilk said, a slightly bioluminescent glow flashing across her cheeks. “Hey! I saw your blush. Eyes are clearing up nicely,” I mentioned to steer her on her way. “Ah, good! Well… In the process of checking I was able to determine that you, er… Well you’re sterile.” She finished with a nervous hoof shuffle. “I’m sorry I always hate to tell people bad new-” I held up a hoof gently. “It’s fine. I did that. I don’t want kids yet, so I turned that off. Just in case I ever did find somepony and they happened to be female.” “Oh. Well, that’s good then,” she said in a relieved tone. “Is that all? Am I free to go?” I asked curiously. “Well, no,” She said decisively. “You have been in an induced coma for three days. I’ll need at least another two hours of observation to know you are well enough to leave. Also, there is a slight matter you may wish to make a decision on…” “Er, what?” I asked with a frown. “Trixie had an idea for ensuring you wouldn’t drain yourself again. While I personally am not knowledgeable of the procedure, it seems simple enough and you yourself would be able to correct any mistakes as time went on, so I couldn’t object to her idea,” T’ilk started to explain. “Uh, who is Trixie?” I asked with a deeper frown. “Uh… Ah, you met her less than a week ago. Right,” T’ilk mused. “She’s a stage magician, or claims to be. I doubt that, she’s got ‘soldier’ written on her body. You can tell when somepony’s trained for combat, even if they don’t act like it… Er, regardless she claimed to be a patient of yours. “She’s also currently your adopted half-sister’s mate-” “Wait, what the flying buck?!” I demanded. “Since when do I have a half-sister?” T’ilk laughed. “Sky said you had a family dinner? How did you miss… Sky’s parents adopted a changeling nymph a long time ago… A seriously long time ago. Frankly it’s a miracle she’s still living most harvesters don’t make it to fifty and she’s almost sixty, still looking like twenty. “Anyways, Sky has an adopted sister named Ayna. Meaning Trixie is dating your sister. So you should probably meet her for that alone. Not just because she had an idea to fix your magic problems.” I triple blinked. “I have a sister?” I asked again. “Yes. You do,” T’ilk replied slowly. “Is that surprise or brain trauma?” “Surprise,” I clarified giving her an eager smile. “So does she like fashion at all? It would be amazing to go shopping with a sister sometime! I’ve always wanted another hoof to help with picking out some nice-” I stopped speaking as my still improving vision registered T’ilk rolling on the floor in a silent laughing fit. After a few moments of me standing there embarrassed, T’ilk stood up and cleared her throat. “I mean, no. She’s not big into feminine things.” “You didn’t have to put it like that…” I muttered, ears drooping. “Yes. Yes I did,” T’ilk chuckled. “Would you like me to get Trixie for you? I understand her proposal well enough, but it would be better for someone more familiar to explain it.” “How about you get Sky?” I askmanded. “I’d like to know why he didn’t tell me!” “I can save you time,” T’ilk said as she floated a small tablet to herself with her magic, “you didn’t ask him.” I rolled my eyes. Yeah, right… Like that was the reason. “Please?” “Alright. Hold on. This works like a messenger gem, only you get to see whomever you are talking to. Hold it so the image faces you or he won't be able to see.” T’ilk said as she tapped a few spots on the tablet with a hoof tip. A half second later the tablet glowed slightly. “Hey T’ilk. Is Azur up and about?” “Yes he is,” she answered, passing me the tablet. “He’d like to speak with you.” I took the tablet in my telekinetic grip and had to smile at the device. It was a lot like a scrying mirror, but the image was much more clear. I could see Sky, and a really huge open room behind him filled with an incomprehensible mass of various mechanical bits and bobs, all in perfectly crisp detail. Not bad! “Hello,” I greeted, “so-” “Hey!” Sky interrupted. “Good to see you're better. I’da been there to be there when you got up since Scoots had to leave but-” In the distance something exploded with a sharp pop. Sky’s ears fell back flat in irritation. “-apparently telling the food replicators to make kale will make them explode… So I’m fixing that,” Sky finished. “No, that’s fine. Don’t worry. I understand, life happens… Speaking of life, why the buck didn’t you tell me I had a sister!?” I demanded. “Uh, because I don’t know your side of the family tree...” Sky replied. “How would I know if you had a sister?” “No! You have a sister, so since we are related, I also have a sister. Why didn’t you tell me about her?” I asked indignantly. “Oh, Ayna?” Sky asked. “What?!” A female changeling’s voice cried from off behind Sky. “No not you!” Sky shouted back. “Good! Cuz this thing is on fire!” The voice returned in an irritated but oddly calm manner. “Yes, her!” I said again, doing my best to maintain my indignant look in spite of the apparent fire happening out of view. “You didn’t ask if I had a sister,” Sky said simply. “Told you,” T’ilk giggled from off to my right. “Faust VERDAMMT!” I swore. “Fine! What other relations do we share?” “None now, but give our sis and her new squeeze a few months and she might accidentally lay an egg or five. I kinda wish our rooms were not adjacent… Oh yeah, Sai, remind me to install better soundproofing in my room later tonight,” Sky said, looking off to his left. “Fine, whatever,” a male voice grumbled. “Speaking of Trixie,” Sky continued, “are you calling about her idea? Because I got the gems all synthesized. Pretty neat idea too. I never thought to see if Technoarcana could do cybernetics.” Cybernetics? I frowned, tail swishing uneasily. “Uh… I think I should call her next. I was mostly upset that you didn’t mention I had a sister through you.” “Well no shit I didn’t! You met her when we all had dinner,” Sky said with an eye roll. “If you’re that much of a lightweight, you shouldn’t drink. You’re probably the worst drinker ever, of all time...” “So um, how do I get to talk to this… Trixie?” I asked. “Woah, wait, ‘this Trixie’? You don’t remember her?” Sky asked in surprise. “You made her a new eye! She also saved your life when you collapsed by filling your mana back up.” I winced at his statement. The fact that I couldn’t remember somepony I owed my life to hit me hard and deep. “I’m afraid he’s lost a week of memory,” T’ilk said in that ‘professional doctor’ sort of way. “Ah… Well shit. So then you will remember none of…” Sky sighed. “I got you to agree to let me build you medical equipment, and I did, and it’s installed in your clinic. I did it so we could collaborate on making the world a better place, and I REALLY hope your memory loss is temporary because I gave an epic rant and I like to think you learned a life lesson from it.” “I’ll do my best,” I promised. “But I think I need to talk to Trixie now. How do I get a hold of her? Do these things work like a messenger gem?” “No. You dial a number into it,” Sky said shaking his head. “But it doesn't matter, Trixie’s still going through immigration-” “What?” T’ilk exclaimed in surprise. “She’s decided to stay?” “She seems a bit simple. I said she couldn’t just visit anytime because of security and after explaining how the hive works she applied for residency so she could come and go as she liked… I hope she really understands that means she’s signing on to a work crew too. Eh, I’ll pull some strings, get her on entertainment staff making ‘ling food. But anyways, Azur-” “Lily,” I corrected. “I prefer the second half of my name, remember?” “I do. But big bros are supposed to be a bit dickish,” Sky said seriously. “Now, Azur, Trixie doesn't have a number or communicator yet. And Ayna’s here, so someone will need to go to Ayna’s room and get her. Just sit tight, I’ll have an ensign do it.” “Trixie will be right over!” A bombastic mare’s voice called. Sky jumped slightly, “How the hay did you get in here?” “Trixie asked the door politely, and it opened,” she said in what I was certain was crazy talk. “Seriously, Sai?” Sky said glaring off to his right. “She said please. What was I supposed to do?” The same male voice grumbled from before. “Why did you even want to come to my lab?” Sky asked, walking off camera. “Trixie was bringing Ayna lunch,” Trixie explained. “You had better just be talking about food, hugs, or a kiss! This is a clean environment!” Sky exclaimed as the tablet went dark. I spent about twenty minutes sitting on the bed waiting. During that time my vision came back completely. I think the light from the tablet helped my eyes readjust. I couldn’t remember much about how the hive had looked the last time I had been in it, but I did remember enough to know most of it looked the same as any other part of it. It was quite interesting, to say the least. The metal everywhere was an interesting look. Not especially nice in my opinion, but certainly sturdy. The lack of windows was also a bit depressing. Still, it did feel safe. The enclosed, but open areas had a warm welcome to them. A sort of warm welcome at least. I looked up from my thoughts as the doors hissed open, confirming my suspicions that everything in the hive made some kind of sound. Through the doors walked an ice blue mare. She had purple eyes, and a light blue and pale blue mane, giving her a winter theme. She also had on a purple cape covered in stars, which clashed so horribly with the hive’s surroundings that it was almost painful… “The Great and Powerful Trixie once again meets with her favorite doctor in a clinic!” The mare announced dramatically. “She only wishes it wasn’t because he was hurt.” I triple blinked. “Uh, do you have to talk in third person?” Trixie frowned immediately and turned to look at T’ilk. “Is he all right? Trixie told him about her speech before.” “He lost about a week of memory as far as I can tell,” T’ilk reported, looking up from some sort of experiment. “Ja, I can’t remember anything after the tenth,” I said. “That includes you… Sorry.” Trixie nodded to herself and trotted over. “Well… That is very sad. Trixie counted you as a friend. Oh well, that simply means she must start over again!” She exclaimed with a smile/ “Trixie will start by thanking you for healing her injuries, though you don’t remember, she was in great pain, and you fixed that! You also improved her love life, Trixie’s current and first marefriend loves your hoofwork! … And Trixie probably wouldn’t have gotten her attention without it. “So thank you! You changed Trixie’s life for the better, because now she might get to live in the most sensibly made city in all Equestria! Seriously, why do ponies build above ground? There are dragons up there…” “Uh, because it’s spacious, roomy, with nice views…” I said slowly. “And dragons! Timberwolves, Cragodiles, vampiric Jackalopes… Er, Trixie is getting off topic,” she said quickly. “Since you helped her so much, Trixie would like to help you… She knows you have very little magic of your own, and she also may have acquired some very impressive Neighponese technoarcana while they were looking away from it. “Trixie’s point is she can show a doctor how to implant special mana gems at key locations in your body, which will let you store more magic than you normally would. She even knows the spell to make them work properly, and your brother was able to make the gems. We could multiply your magic reserve by a hundred fold this very day!” Trixie finished, beaming me a proud grin. I put a hoof to my chin in thought. While that would be a real game changer for me, there had to be some sort of risk… “What’s the downside?” I asked carefully. “Well, Trixie has a set,” Trixie said, shuffling a hoof against the ground. “She hasn’t noticed anything too bad… But sometimes if she’s completely charged her pee glows a bright purple, and that’s very frightening late in the night.” “Sooo excess mana is diverted into your digestive system and expelled?” I asked, musing over what the consequences of that would be in terms of health. “That’s what the doctor who implanted them said happens,” Trixie confirmed. “She’s noticed nothing else and it’s been a long time since she had them… But that one thing can really make you jump.” “Well, if there are any real problems, I can fix them as they pop up,” I mused. “You’re sure there is no problems with the gems themselves?” “Oh!’ Trixie exclaimed, one ear perking up. “Yes… There is. If you were hit with a powerful damage dealing spell, they could explode. But Trixie has been hit with many spells since she got them, and is fairly certain that by ‘powerful’ they meant ‘alicorn powerful’ and by ‘could’ they meant ‘there is a small chance.’ Because she’s been hit, A LOT... “Besides, that risk is if the gems have flaws, and Sky said he can make atomically perfect ones! Trixie is thinking of seeing if her’s can be replaced.” So… Greatly increased capacity for magic in exchange for a risk of exploding if hit with a powerful attack spell… Which would probably kill me anyways. “Alright, let’s do it!” I said firmly. “I’d like to know that I can work on my marefriend without risking my own life.” Trixie nodded. “That’s what Trixie thought you would say.” She trotted over to T’ilk and pulled a small metal box out of her cloak with a flourish. “Here they are! Trixie will direct you with where and how to implant them. Don’t worry about the magic involved, Trixie can do it.” “Wait, we’re doing this right now?” I asked ears perking up in alarm. “Yes,” T’ilk said gently. “Because you’re still under the effects of the painkillers I had you on, and it was a nightmare finding one that would work on you, the one I did was only rarely used, and so we are out of it now… I figure we have three hours left before we would be waiting months for a fresh batch to be synthesized and delivered from Trottingham.” “Oh…” I said slowly. “Well, alright then. It’s just a little weird, going to sleep so soon after waking up.” Trixie and the nurse walked over to my bed. “Oh no, “Trixie said shaking her head. “You need to be awake so Trixie can link each gem to you. Don’t worry! No cut is too deep.” T’ilk nodded. “It’s about as damaging as extracting a fatty nodule. Small cuts, a quick spell, dab with healing potion to close. Nothing major. The hard part is the spells to get them to work.” “Oh,” I nodded firmly, steeling myself. “Well then, let’s get to it.” It wouldn’t be the first time I had been awake for surgery. At least this one wouldn’t be too bad. It was still weird to not be working on myself though. Especially since it was to improve something I couldn’t improve on my own. “Are you okay?” Trixie asked with a frown as I lay back on the bed. “Ja. Just realizing how weird it is to not be doing my own work,” I explained. “Trixie can imagine that would be weird for you… Okay, the first one will be in your left hind leg. Hold still. T’ilk-” I heard the changeling nurse jump. “How the hay did you say the ultrasonic part of my name?” “Uh… With Trixie’s mouth?” Trixie said in confusion. “Ponies shouldn’t be able to hear ultrasound, let alone make it…” I said looking up and over my shoulder. “Trixie is not a standard pony,” Trixie said with a smile. “Her senses are very sharp. We should start, because the drug is wearing off.” I nodded. “Yeah… That’s a good plan. So. Left leg. Here you go.” As the gems were implanted, despite the lack of pain, I found myself uncomfortable. It’s odd to watch your flesh be cut open but feel nothing. In order to distract myself I turned my thoughts to Scootaloo. The sooner I could see her the better. I had a whole week to be told about. Faust only knew if we did anything major… I hoped my memory loss wouldn’t upset her. Oh gods if we shared our first actual date and I couldn’t remember it! No, it didn’t matter. She was alive, and I knew that the moment she was free she would come back here to see me. Everything would be fine. If I missed our first real date, I would simply take her out on the best night of her life or die trying! On second thought… I’d already come a bit close to dying this week… I’d take her out on the best night of her life or fail trying. Yes. That was much more reasonable.