“Twilight!” I yelled as I saw her collapse on the ground. I leapt into the air to rush to her side…
And found myself unable to move. I was being held in place by a golden aura.
“Let me go!” I yelled at Princess Celestia. “Twilight needs me!”
“Do not touch her,” the Princess said in a stern voice. “Her leg needs medical attention, and moving her might make it worse.”
I calmed down a hair. That was a good point. “Fine,” I said, “but I’m not leaving her side.”
“I may need you to, in order to find out what happened here,” Princess Celestia said. “In the meantime… Captain Stone Wall!”
“Yes, Ma’am!” Stone Wall barked, standing at attention and saluting. “What do you need?”
“I assume that one of your guards is medically trained, correct?” When Stone Wall nodded, the Princess continued, “Have your medic check Twilight’s leg to determine the extent of the injury, and have your fastest courier fly to the hospital. Tell them that we have a pony that is injured and will be unconscious for at least the next twelve hours.”
“Yes, Ma’am!” the captain said again, then turned and began barking orders at his guards.
I shot a glance at the Princess. “Twelve hours? Was that long really necessary?”
Princess Celestia sighed. “It may have been a tad more powerful than absolutely necessary, but I did not want her waking up on the way to the hospital. Not in her current state of mind.”
“I guess that makes sense,” I said grudgingly, looking at the pony delicately checking on Twilight’s leg. Eventually, he stood up and made his way over to the captain and exchanged a few words with him. Stone Wall shook his head, then made his way over to where the Princess and I were looking on.
He started to open his mouth, but then he paused, looking at me. “Um, you may need to leave, Rainbow. I’m unsure of the protocol in a case like this, seeing as how Twilight has done nothing illegal except resist arrest, but we aren’t allowed to disclose the details of injuries to a pony in the guard’s custody to anypony but family.”
“But I’m her marefriend!” I protested, feeling my anger rise again.
“But you aren’t married, correct?” Stone Wall said calmly.
I opened my mouth to protest, but Princess Celestia spoke over me. “As the High Princess of Equestria, I hereby give you permission to share the details of Twilight Sparkle’s injuries with Rainbow Dash. Now, captain, how bad is it?”
“Um, well,” the captain stuttered, suddenly looking very nervous. “Her leg is, well, broken. It was a clean break, however, so it should heal with no complications.”
Princess Celestia went very still. “How did this happen, captain?” she asked, her voice simultaneously soft and icy. “I believe that the newer submission holds were designed to prevent this.”
Stone Wall winced. “You see, it was Officer Steel Shield that tackled her. He is… not a fan of the newer submission holds, he believes that they are too easy to escape. After all, normal ponies don’t struggle so much in that sort of grip. It just plain hurts too much.”
“Well, then, see to it that he is properly disciplined and made aware that he should use the recommended procedure next time. Are we clear?” the Princess asked, and the last three words were so cold they could have frozen ice.
The captain was shaking in his horseshoes. “Yes, Ma’am! Right away Ma’am!” he stammered out with a wavering salute, then turned and hurried back to his recruits.
Celestia sighed again, and she looked incredibly tired. “I should have gotten here sooner,” she said, staring at Twilight. “I should have known something was amiss when I got Spike’s letter. It wasn’t sealed like all the others, so I should have known. I shouldn’t have finished listening to the court’s proposals before coming here…”
I suddenly felt extremely awkward, standing next to her. “So, uh, what did you need me for? If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather stay with Twilight.”
Celestia blinked at me, as if she had forgotten that I was there. “You will be able to go to her side in due time, Rainbow. The doctors won’t let anypony in while they splint her leg, after all. First, however, I would like to know what occurred. Spike’s letter was sorely lacking in information.”
“I see,” I said. That was another good point. “Well, it started when Twilight got sick a few weeks ago…”
When I finished telling her what had happened, Celestia’s eyes were blazing with fury. “Somepony gave her the wrong medications?” she hissed. “I will find whoever is responsible, and I will personally oversee their trial.”
I took a step back. The air had suddenly jumped up a degree or ten. “Um, well, what if it was just a mistake?” I asked.
“Reckless endangerment of equine life, and mishandling of a controlled substance,” Celestia said, her voice icy again. “Now then, Rainbow, I would like you to show me to where Twilight has her prescriptions filled.”
“Well, there is one thing that we should do first,” I said, then I nearly wilted under the weight of the Princess’s stare.
“Yes?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Stone Wall said something about another pony overdosing on magic suppressors. I mean, it could be unrelated, but…”
“I see. Captain Stone Wall!”
The captain looked pale when he stood in front of Celestia, not that I could blame him. She was scarily calm. “Yes, Ma’am?”
“Rainbow has told me that you may have a potential lead on a pony that overdosed on magic suppressors. I would like to see all the files and evidence on that,” Celestia said.
“Right away!” Stone Wall said. “All the files are at the police station, however.”
“Then lead us there,” Celestia said, her tone irritated.
“Right!” With that, the captain turned and began to trot back into town with the Princess and I right on his tail.
“Miss Files! Do you have that report ready?” Stone Wall called as soon as we entered the guard station, with the Princess having to stoop a little to keep her horn from scraping on the ceiling.
“Right here!” the secretary said, placing a plain white box on the receptionist counter. The captain reached for it, but before he could touch it, Celestia’s golden aura enveloped the box, and all of its contents flew over to the Princess.
“Allow me, please. I have quite literally been reading guard reports since before you were born,” she said, as the papers and various knick-knacks in the box hovered in front of her face.
“Um, Princess, shouldn’t we do that someplace more private than the front room of our station?” the secretary asked.
“This will only take a minute, and I am feeling impatient,” Celestia said dismissively.
Apparently, nether Stone Wall nor Miss Files wanted to push the Princess any more, and both retreated to behind the receptionist desk.
I, meanwhile, was fidgeting while watching the Princess scan the files in front of her face. I really should have been with Twilight, but what could I do? I had no medical knowledge that could help, and she would be unconscious for next twelve or so hours. Still, going to her side felt like the right thing to do.
But on the other hoof, I really wanted to find out why this had happened, and I just knew I would tear myself to pieces just sitting and watching Twilight sleep. So I guess helping the Princess get to the bottom of this was my best choice for now.
“I see,” Celestia said, shaking me from my thoughts. “Allow me to review what happened with you, Captain Stone Wall, just to be sure that I have all the details correct.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Stone wall said, hurrying back towards the Princess.
“First of all, the victim in this case was Green Hoof, a local earth pony gardener who had recently fallen on hard times. His business had gone under, and he had been arrested multiple times for public intoxication and disturbing the peace. He was also suspected of taking illegal substances, but nothing concrete had ever shown up.
“However, about a week ago, early in the morning, he was discovered unconscious in an alley in the center of town, and was unresponsive. When taken to the hospital, a preliminary blood scan showed that he had taken a massive amount of a magic suppressor commonly known as Merlinite. Medical examination has shown that even if he ever wakes up, he will have lost his connection to soil,” Celestia continued, and her voice grew hard as she said the last sentence.
Celestia took a deep breath before continuing. “Among the trash that was littering the alley, three prescription bottles were found, all with the tags torn off. One of them was empty, but the other two still had medication inside. Matching the serial numbers on the pills revealed them to be a mood stabilizer and an atypical anti-psychotic, both in rather powerful doses. Is this correct?”
“Yes, Ma’am, that is all correct,” Stone Wall said, nodding furiously.
“Very well. I would like you and a squad of your stallions to come with me. I believe that I know where Green Hoof acquired those pills,” the Princess said, then turned and strode out of the guard station, leaving the captain scrambling and calling for a squad to join him.
I flew out of the station and joined Celestia, but I didn’t land beside her. She may not have looked like she was in a hurry, but she’s so large that even a fast walk for her was a slow gallop for an average pony.
“Rainbow, I assume that you know where Twilight has her prescriptions filled, correct?” Celestia asked, and a look of satisfaction flickered over her face when I nodded. “Very well, lead the way.”
“Sure thing Princess, but can you tell me what’s going on? I guess that that Green Hoof pony ended up with Twilight’s pills, but how? I mean, did he steal them?” I asked, confused.
“First things first, Rainbow. I can confirm that Green Hoof did indeed have Twilight’s medication. I have long since asked Doctor Hooves to keep me posted on Twilight’s condition and medications, with her permission, of course. I may not be completely up to date on A.C.M.S. itself, but I do want to know the symptoms and side effects of the medication, as such to better help Twilight if needed,” she said.
“However, I do not believe that Green Hoof stole them, or even what they really were. He had no access to the medications or the placebos that Twilight’s meds were switched with, nor would he have any reason to overdose on the magic suppressor. Magic suppressors are not pleasant to take, ruling out recreational use, and there are much easier medications to overdose on, ruling out suicidal intent.
“However, the fact remains that he did overdose on Twilight’s medication. That means that somepony with access must have given them to him without telling him what they were or what they did. That in turn tells me that this is not just a mistake,” Celestia said, her tone grim.
I was having a bit of difficulty keeping up with her train of logic, but one thing stood out to me. “Not a mistake? Do you… do you mean that somepony did this to Twilight on purpose?” I asked, feeling anger bubble up inside me.
“I suppose it could have been somepony covering up that they made a mistake filling Twilight’s prescription, but I find that unlikely. When word of this gets out, the reputation of the pharmacy will plummet, whereas if they had just contacted Twilight, nothing would have happened and their reputation would remain untarnished. So yes, Rainbow, I do believe that somepony did this to Twilight on purpose,” Celestia replied, and I could hear and echo of my own anger when she spoke.
The rest of the journey to the store was in silence.
Luna must have been lowering the sun, because it was beginning to get dark by the time we reached the pharmacy.
“So, what do we do now? Do we wait for the guards to catch up or do we…?” I started to ask, but Celestia just strode right into the store without so much as a look back.
I hurried in right after her, and saw her ring the bell that was on the front counter.
“Just one moment!” called a stallion from the back of the store. After a second or two of rustling sounds, a green unicorn stallion with a pill for a cutie mark trotted out of a closet. “How can I help—Your Highness!?”
Celestia ignored his exclamation, her face emotionless. “Hello, my little pony. I need to speak with whoever last handled Twilight Sparkle’s prescription.”
“I… but you…um,” the stallion stuttered.
“Now,” Celestia said, and the word came out cold enough that the stallion paled.
“Right, right! I think that was Inspiring Script. He works here while he tries to get published, you see—“
“Then I would like to talk to him. Do you know where I can find him?”
“He’s in the back right now, so—“
“Then go get him,” Celestia commanded, and the stallion scurried away as quickly as his hooves could move him. Celestia didn’t move a muscle, but her eyes followed him until he rounded a corner and disappeared from view.
I, meanwhile was torn between demanding answers myself, and not wanting to get in the Princesses way. In the end, however, I guess that the Princess would do a better job of getting to the bottom of this than I would.
Also, I think I would be bad for my health if I annoyed her right now.
After a moment, there was a cry of “Just get out there!” from where the green stallion had disappeared to, and a pegasus, just a shade darker than I was with a lighter blue mane and a scroll cutie mark, stumbled into our view, rubbing his flank.
“Are you Inspiring Script?” Celestia asked.
“Um, yeah. How can I help you, Your Highness?” Script asked, trembling a little.
“I would like to know about when you handled Twilight Sparkle’s prescription. It was a few weeks ago now. Was there anything unusual about—“
“No! It was a perfectly normal, um, thing! There wasn’t anything strange about it!” Script blurted out, his eyes shifting from side to side.
Wow, I never thought that I would meet a worse liar than Applejack, but here he was. To be fair, however, I would like to see even the best liar come up with a convincing lie with the Princess glaring at you like that.
“Listen, my little pony,” Celestia said, her voice very soft, but trembling with rage, “one pony is comatose, and another has been injured thanks to somepony tampering with medication that came from this pharmacy. If you know anything at all, tell me before I arrest you and everypony that works here for obstruction of justice!”
“All right. All right! I’ll talk!” Script said, cowering. “Twilight came in to fill her prescription, but she didn’t want to wait in the store like she always did. She said that she was going for a short walk with her marefriend. Anyways, right after she left, this mare came in and said that she was running a pharmaceutical trial, and that I should switch her medications for placebos! I—“
“What!?” the green stallion yelled. “What in Equestria made you think that she was legitimate? You know that all requests for changes in medication have to come through me, and I never would have allowed that, not with what Twilight was taking!”
“She looked like a scientist! Besides, she, um…” Script trailed off, muttering something under his breath.
“Repeat that, please,” Celestia commanded.
“She paid me two hundred bits, all right?” Script said. “I really needed the money to pay my agent, okay? I’m not proud of it, but I needed to do it! You understand, right?”
“Yes, I do understand,” Celestia said, so quietly that I needed to strain to hear her. “I understand that instead of working honestly, you decided to take a bribe and commit a crime. Because of your selfishness, two ponies are now in the hospital, one of whom may never recover.”
At that moment, the doors to the store burst open, and Captain Stone Wall and a group of other guards burst into the room.
“Just in time, Stone Wall. I would like you to arrest this pony here. He is the one that tampered with Twilight Sparkle’s medication,” Celestia said.
“Wait!” Script protested. “You said you wouldn’t arrest me!”
“I never said that,” Celestia replied coldly. “However, I can argue for a lighter sentence, if you tell me who bribed you to switch the medications.”
“But she didn’t tell me her name!”
“Then describe her!” Celestia said furiously.
“Okay, okay!” Script said, and he looked like he wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and disappear. “She was red with a brown mane. She had on this weird coat with a lot of pockets, and she was constantly fiddling with her glasses. Her cutie mark was—“
“A drop of blood between two slides?” I asked, already knowing who she was talking about. When Script nodded, my vision turned red. “Blood Work!” I hissed.
“You know who she is?” Celestia asked me.
“Yeah, Blood Work is a competitor for that contest Twilight was in. She was always rude to Twilight, something about not wanting to be second best. I didn’t think that she would do something like this, though.”
“Very well, guards!” Celestia said, and every guard in the room stood at attention. “I want you to find this Blood Work, and bring her to the guard station. I will interrogate her personally.”
The room filled with a chorus of “Yes, Ma’am,” and all the guards save for one bolted from the pharmacy and scattered in every direction. The last guard approached Inspiring Script and pulled a pair of wing restraints from his saddlebags and put them around him, before leading him from the store.
Celestia sighed. “I always hate arresting one of my little ponies, but sometimes it is inevitable. Come, Rainbow, let—“
“Princess!” called a pony, and the Princess and I turned to see Doctor Hooves gallop into the store. “What’s going on? The guards won’t tell me anything about Twilight! I am her doctor, they should let me know!”
Celestia sighed again. “Yes, yes, they should let you know. Come, I will tell you what happened on the way to the guard station.”
By the time we reached the station, Celestia had just about finished telling Doctor Hooves what had happened.
When we got to the part about the magic suppressor, Doctor Hooves stopped short of actually entering the guard station.
“She tried to push through the magic suppressor!?” he asked, an alarmed look on his face.
Celestia instantly stopped as well, and turned to face the doctor. “Yes. Does that mean anything to you?”
“Well, you know A.C.M.S. is mainly because of an overdeveloped and under shielded magic lobe, right?”
Celestia shook her head. “I did not, but I do now. Please, continue.”
“Well, with her summoning so much magic, and with the magic suppressor preventing the magic from going anywhere, it is possible that, well…”
“Well, what?” I snapped, not in the mood for anymore dancing around the issue.
“Keep in mind that this is only a theory. I mean, nopony has seen a unicorn with as much magic as Twilight before, so I don’t actually know if this has happened, but…”
He took a deep breath before continuing. “It is possible that there was a magic backlash in her brain. When she wakes up… her symptoms could be even worse than before.”
I fell out of the air, my wings suddenly unable to support me.
Blood Work, I knew it. Little rat.
Oh... joy.
Well, dependent on what he means by "even worse than before"...oh, who am I kidding? There isn't a single phrase for just how screwed Blood Work will be when Rainbow and Celestia catch up with her; not to mention the other Bearers, the other princesses, and her family.
I look forward to the Blood bath. Popcorn, please?
Here you go.
Thanks.
Who says Rainbow is dumb and has no sense of self preservation?
Well, Blood Work is about to find out that winners and lossers go to prison. Keep up the work, though I wonder what will happen to Twilight.
will say that it was extremely obvious it was blood work. still interesting little lead to the criminal to prove it.
could be worse........ oh boy. pretty sure that the maigc surpressors and such could keep her mind in balance still, yet at the some time it would mean if she broke down again she would be even more unpredictable.
Oh...that's not good. Blood Work pretty much just signed her own death warrant. Ok, that might be a bit much but after Celestia gets a hold of her, she'll be lucky if she just spends the rest of her life behind bars.
There are no words to say how much I love this fic! Please, more!
Twilight's a druggie? Really?
Well, at least the moon is lovely to visit this time of year?
5326853 What do you mean? She's mentally ill, and she takes prescription medications to help. That's all.
I hope that guard learns his lesson, and that Twilight's alright. You mess with Celestia's student like that, you mess with Celestia too. So, somepony else's life got screwed up permanently because of Blood Work? She will pay! Oh no, Twilight!?
5327004
a "Duggie" takes dangerous illegal drugs for recreational purposes, committing criminal acts to obtain them and behaving dangerously while under their influence. Twilight Sparkle has a imbalance in her brain and takes prescription drugs under struct dosing guidelines to help control the bad behavior her condition can cause.
...Can you say "high treason"? I mean, seriously, even if Blood Work had no idea what else she was do, she tampered with the medication of one of the Elements of Harmony. As in, the multiple-time saviors of the world in general and Equestria in particular. The only wielders of the most powerful defensive weapon ponykind has. Whatever the details, messing with the medication of one of them is unlikely to lead to good things. And given that the injured mare is the personal student of the goddess-queen (one of two, now, but the only one for a thousand years), any bias (from, it bears repeating, a starting charge of treason or possibly even crimes against Equus) is highly unlikely to be in Blood Work's favor.
Keep the updates coming please!
I certainly hope she turns out okay.
5326853 No, she's schizophrenic and takes a carefully controlled and monitored prescription to deal with it. If thats what constitutes a druggie then I know at least one, probably more.
(not really schizophrenic but something like it.)
I'm... kinda disappointed it's straightforwardly Blood Work's fault, with her being jealous of Twilight's ability to completely ignore and completely overshadow Blood Work and, in this case, probably prevent BW's dream from happening just... on a lark. I was hoping that it was heading in a direction where Twilight is forced to empathize with BW, making it that BW cannot catch up, no matter how much she works, and that without the money BW would basically be forced to stop doing any independent work, instead of strictly villianizing BW.
I knew it was Blood Work, but for her to go so far as to do permanent damage to another pony, and knowing that Twilight might be even worse now?
You pissed off both Rainbow Dash, AND Twilight's teacher, who just so happens to be the leader of the FREAKIN COUNTRY!!! You forfeit your life, Blood Work. Know that.
5326853 Did... did you even read the chapter?
The Blood Work being behind the whole thing was extremely obvious as soon as Twilight went crazy after her notes were sabotaged.
5330781
5327004
5328185
IN RESPONSE:
That was a product of my ignorance and laziness. Without actually getting around to reading the story, I saw the cover art and made a judgment based on that. I'm sorry for my mistake, and should probably "Not judge a fanfiction by its cover art" in the future. That is all on me.
5331104 I actually had the same Idea when I first saw the cover art.
5331104 Completely understandable.
5330796 .......... you seem to have missed the part where her notes were in reality NOT sabotaged. she THOUGHT they were sabotaged. because while unicorns are liars, and it meant that rarity was a liar, and sense lyra had been working with rarity and tiwlight, it obviously meant they had sabotaged her notes.
least to twilight it was obvious.
5331490 It doesn't actually specify that it was or wasn't sabotaged, even if Twilight is off her pills I'm pretty sure she would at least look through her notes to make sure they were tampered with.
5331563 .......... they were not tampered with. that is what is being implied here. not a single bit of it. her madness caused her to see sound information as sabotage, and her mind connected information without rhyme or reason behind it.
5331104 That's understandable. Well done for being so mature about it.
5331575 I was thinking that Blood Work sabotaged her notes to cause a bases for her
insanitydisability to build upon. After all she did stoop low enough to switch Twilight's pills.5331605 she would have had to break into her house to do that. more so all she had to do was make she got the wrong drugs and wait.
twilight's own mind created the narrative of rarity and lyra's 'betrayal'. if what we heard the chapter prior is an indication, her mind suddenly came to a conclusion that white mares are liars. and non existant pieces to a distorted puzzle fell into place.
5331626
Well, she could break into her house quite easily with teleportation.
How would Blood Work even know what the pills were for to begin with? From what we have seen Blood Work would have no way of knowing what those pills are for.
5331669 blood work is probably in the medical field from the looks of it. more so she is also a unicorn with some talent of her own. and it also seems plausible she could have gained access to less classified medical files about tiwlight, see what medication she took, and came to the conclusion of why.
heck maybe it turns out the reason she is so hateful towards twilight was that ttwilight lost control one day and accidentally hurt her.
5331689 I would think that anything involving Twilight would be classified considering that she is the student of Princess Celestia and the average medical pony knowing about her illness could do quite a bit of harm.
The bit about Twilight hurting Blood Work is rather unlikely though. She was most likely under careful watch of very high up ponies at all times. Yet this does raise the question on how a pony would find out their cutiemark is for blood....
5331709 medical field as i said. the exact nature of her condition, however she was getting her medicine through civilian channels.
like i said, a theory. true or untrue, it is possible till we know the truth.
5331718 Quite a few questions are left unanswered, I hope the next chapter clears some of them up.
Blood Work...
Thou are found guilty of thy crimes against mine most faithful student.
And f'r thy transgressions...
Thou shalt burneth.
Forevermore.
Celestia: Blood Work I have one question to ask you. Do you like bananas?
This story is simply the most addictive shit I've ever read on fimfiction. Keep up the great work!
5335911
… I think you may have an overly broad definition of what you consider selfish behavior.
5334050 Blood Work: N-no?
I just finished reading this entire story. I read half yesterday, and the rest today. I really hope to see another update soon! It's about Twilight, but it's also Rainbows story, and I think you did a great job with her, and how she tries to handle the situation.
So, yeah, I absolutely love your story. Once my schedule frees up after the end of the semester, I might even do some fanart for it!
5336227 My apologies if you took that as an insult to Twilight. I did not mean it in that way whatsoever, and it's an admirable goal. For the record, I'm pursuing a career in healthcare and (hopefully) emergency service out of a desire to help others; I'm doing so, not solely because other people want me to or need me to, but because I myself take pleasure and pride in helping others.
evryone, gg. get rekt.
Blood Work? When Rainbow is done with her it's going to be Blood Bath.
6255101 we should go help RD and Head Egghead to make it that way.
So good my heart is pounding lol
Good momentum.
She pissed