Berry's Test

by Maple Sunrise

Situation Critical and Announcement to Ponyville

Blood fountained out of the wound, the needle replacing the former skin and muscle that was once in place. Twilight ran out of time before she got the collar off completely. Twilight shrieked in agony as her blood sprayed. Applejack just stared at her bleeding friend, not knowing how to act in situations like this.

Colgate, however, did. Having been a doctor at the Ponyville General Hospital before taking a job as a dentist, responding quickly was critical in situations like this, but so was responding correctly. Often cases a pony would be admitted into the hospital unconscious, in a coma, or dead, all the result of incorrect CPR. Instead of feeding oxygen to the victim's lungs, the air blown in would instead be blown into the stomach. In most failed CPR cases, the stomach would be ruptured, and the pony would die within hours. Being a unicorn, things were so much easier when compared to being an earth pony.

Twilight's vision started to blacken as she started to lose consciousness. Her body started swaying around and before Applejack and Colgate could react, Twilight collapsed near the growing puddle of her own blood. Applejack hurried over to Berry’s saddlebags, noting how she still isn’t back yet, but neither are Rarity and Dash, and searched through for the morphine they had earlier. She took out the bottle hastily and almost dropped it. She couldn’t use the syringe properly. Applejack just brought it over to Colgate and hoped that she knew what to do.

Twilight had collapsed on her left side, revealing the wound on her right side of her neck. Colgate, though worried about the damage done, gave a sigh of relief. Though the needle had pierced her neck, it didn’t really hit its designated target, the common carotid artery. Even so, the injury was bad enough to make sure Twilight was gone in the next few minutes. Twilight didn’t need any morphine, seeing as to how she was already unconscious and would not feel the pain. However, for what Colgate was going to do, Twilight needed the painkiller.

The blood had stopped fountaining out and was now just flowing out of the wound. Not as fast as before that, but was still fast enough to be deadly. Colgate picked up the pace, filling up the syringe with morphine, careful not to put too much, and injected the area around the wound. And now, the tricky bit. The morphine would indeed help in lessening the pain. But cauterising the wound would cause a crap ton of pain. Better to have pain than to be dead.

Applejack looked on as Colgate lit her horn, trying with all her might to remember how to cast a cauterisation spell. If I recall correctly, I did one a couple of years back. Which was more or less true. The cauterisation spell had gone smoothly back then, but after two years of inactive use, Colgate feared that she might actually mess this one up. Slowly, an orange stream of magic flowed out of the tip of Colgate’s horn, creeping through the air before entering Twilight’s injury.

Now to heat the needle up. The stream cocooned itself around the needle, completely sealing it off to any of the blood that was streaming over it. Colgate concentrated, and almost lost focus worrying about Twilight, but carried on anyway. The pool of blood had stopped growing. Colgate quickened her pace, and the needle heated up to white hot temperatures. Had Twilight been conscious, the scream of pain from the burn would be much louder than her scream when the needle pierced. Immediately, the wound started to burn shut as the needle was slowly pulled out. The blood loss couldn’t be changed though. In order to get all that blood in, Colgate would have to open up another wound. And there’s no telling what the blood has mixed with on the ground.

Colgate leaned her head over onto Twilight’s chest. Twilight’s shallow breathing and slow heartbeats were a good sign. She’s still with us. Colgate levitated over a couple of bandages from Berry’s saddlebags, eyes not shifting away from the still unicorn. Hopefully she didn’t lose that much. Which was a silly thing for Colgate to think of. She’s lost a lot of blood. I’m becoming too slow to even be a dentist. She craned her neck and stretched it, satisfied after hearing a couple of cracks. Carefully lifting Twilight’s head, Colgate inspected the cauterisation. Pleased with the result, she proceeded to wrap around Twilight’s neck with the bandages.

Applejack walked over to Twilight, watching the lavender-coated mare breathe slowly. She took in a deep breath, and thanked Celestia that she’s fine. For now. “Will she be alrite’, Colegate?” Applejack asked without turning to face Colgate.

“She’s fine for now. But no doubt she’s going to be very, very weak considering how much blood she’s lost. She’s going to be considered to be in critical condition for the time being.” Colgate nodded, before continuing. "She's going to need help getting around. You think you can help her out with that?" Applejack shrugged, but said, "Ah'll try. Mah strength really isn't that much now, but ah'll try."

Colgate nodded, remembering what Twilight had said about the resurrection spell. Energy drain's a bitch. Colgate turned her attention once more to the lavender unicorn laying on the ground before them. I could bring her along through levitation, but.... Colgate needed absolute concentration to maintain the levitation to make sure Twilight would remain afloat and in a right position. Any break in the concentration, and Twilight would drop, potentially worsening her condition.

Just then, Berry came out from the stairwell, several blueprints in her mouth. Colgate shouted at Berry, and she turned her head. She galloped over to the three quickly, probably wondering or worrying about their friend Twilight. She let out a few muffled words, only to be met with confused looks on both the faces of Colgate and Applejack. Realizing her mistake, Berry set the blueprints from her mouth onto the ground, and repeated herself.

“The buck happened?!” The curiosity had faded from her face, but the worry remained.

“Twilight ran out of time before she could get the collar off. So yeah, we had a few complications while you were gone.” Colgate paused, glancing over at Twilight. Berry held her breath. Colgate looked over again at Berry, continuing, “I’ve declared her critical for the time being, seeing as to how much blood she’s lost. She won’t be moving on her own, so Applejack will be helping Twilight to get around."

Berry looked strangely at Colgate. "Wait, but I thought-"

Colgate cut her off. "If you are asking me about the strength needed, I am sure Applejack is capable of doing so, even after being weakened." even as those words left her mouth, she wasn't that confident with what she just said. However, she managed to keep her voice firm. Colgate got closer to Berry and whispered in her ear, “However, I’m afraid they might not make it that far seeing as to how weak Applejack is.”

Berry took a step back, and eyed Colgate. “Well that will have to do. I’m not doing any heavy lifting that’s for sure. Still have a lot of other ponies to save. I was actually hoping that you would be able to levitate Twilight or something, but never mind. At least Twilight doesn’t have to worry much about her trap since she got it off already. Considering what might have happened this is probably the best that could have happened.”

Derpy’s certainly done a good job rounding up the town’s folk alright. Derpy hadn’t even left for 15 minutes and already Mayor Mare could see the majority of Ponyville surrounding the stage. Mayor Mare smiled to herself. I must really thank her later. Mayor Mare breathed in and out several times, and sifted through her announcement a couple of times before she was sure she was ready. Her right forehoof was pawing at the ground in front of her, a nervous habit she had gotten after several failed speeches some time ago. The townsfolk was aware of her nervous habit, and had taken it as a sign that something bad had happened. Mayor Mare, however, did her best to hide this before her announcement, so as not to start any unwanted panic before she got her message through.

She sighed, and stepped up to the podium. Inaudible whispers could be heard from the crowd as Mayor Mare cleared her throat. A hushed silence fell as she eyed the crowd, making sure that everypony, or at least anypony close to anypony, was here. Even the chief and the four officers from the police department came down.

A deep breath, several quick paws at the ground, and Mayor Mare started her speech. “Citizens of Ponyville! I have a very important announcement I have to make today. Actually, make that two. First of all, following a few complications, which is the second thing I’m going to announce, there will be patrols around town to ensure the safety of everypony in Ponyville.” Mixed reactions from the ponies around the stage. Confusion, among the obvious expressions. Complications. Apart from that, a few ponies nodded in agreement with the Mayor’s proposal. Mayor Mare drew a quick breath before continuing. “I would understand if any of you are confused with the sudden patrols and such, and that brings me to my second announcement.”

“I’m sure that some of you are aware that several ponies have gone missing in the past few days?” Again, mixed reactions from the crowd. Nods, gasps and even a few who gave no reaction at all. Mayor Mare watched as several ponies started whispering to one another, as they would in situations like these. “Now calm down. To those that have filed a missing ponies’ report, the Ponyville Police Department detectives are investigating the case, and rest assured, your friends, family and or loved ones will come back safe.” The whispers escalated to talking, and the crowd no longer stood silent. At this rate, all hell would break loose before I’m done. Already there were ponies trying to squeeze their way out of the crowd. Mayor Mare continued, “Which is where the patrols come in. I will be honest with everypony here. Today saw the highest number of missing ponies’ reports in the history of Ponyville, and believe me, I am as surprised as all of you when I found out that there were ponies going missing. Now the patrols will be continue, even after the cases are solved. And I don’t want to stir any more panic, but I do not think the cases will stop.” Panic from the crowds as the talking among the few became a discussion among the whole town.

The chief facehoofed. Way to go, Mayor. “Rose, Carrot Top, I want you two to try and contain the crowd. The last thing we would want is a panic or a stampede. Tell Sparky and his brother to be ready should there be a stampede. A panic is not that bad, but a stampede would be dire.” Roseluck and Carrot Top galloped off. The chief turned his attention to Mayor Mare. He signalled with his hooves to cut to the chase. Mayor Mare didn’t see the gesture at first, but it wasn’t long before she did. She nodded, and continued.

“Calm down everypony!” She had to shout it twice before everypony quieted down. Mayor Mare sighed. “Citizens of Ponyville, you need not worry. As I’ve said there will be patrols around the town so rest assured everything will be safe. If anypony panics now, there will be a high probability that somepony will be taken in the ensuing panic, so please, keep calm, and let the PPD solve the issue.” Once more, whispers among the crowd. “Any questions?” The mayor called out.

There was a brief moment of silence before a series of hooves went up in the air. “Caramel?” The Mayor called out to a stallion with a sandy-yellow coat and dark-brown mane. The whispers died down as the crowd and the Mayor wanted to hear what Caramel had to say. The earth pony paused a moment before asking. “Any leads?”

Mayor Mare nodded, and added, “As of now, all we have is a lucky victim who managed to get away. We’re working with Canterlot and Cloudsdale on these cases as the towns have had ponies gone missing as well.” Caramel nodded, accepting the answer well. “Any other questions?”

A tall light-creamed coat unicorn had her hoof raised, as if her height weren’t good enough. Allie Way, one of the elite bowlers, seemed eager to ask. Mayor Mare nodded in Allie’s direction, signalling Allie to continue. Allie nods, and proceeds. “Can you give us the names of those that are missing?”

Mayor Mare looked over at the chief, who was now to Mayor Mare’s right of the stage. The chief shook his head slowly, to which Mayor Mare nodded. A no it is then. But at least a few names won’t do any wrong. The chief gave a look that said Don’t do it all over his face. Mayor Mare went on anyway.

“For now, I can only say that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony have gone missing as well. Now there is no confirmed reason why they are missing, but we wouldn’t want to overreact like last time and jump to conclusions, alright?”

Allie Way said nothing. She understood the Mayor, but she was still curious. The crowd’s curiosity had increased as well upon hearing that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were missing.

The crowd started picking up on the noise again as concerned ponies exchanged opinions. Two stallions were already at each others’ necks arguing on what was happening. Roseluck was trying her best to stop the two from fighting as the crowd continued to exchanged thoughts. The chief stomped his forehooves on the stage, silencing the whole crowd. The two stallions that were fighting stopped and stood idly as the chief glared.

“Now, anymore questions?” The chief spoke. One stallion, amidst the crowd seemed unfazed by the chief’s fierceness, but instead of raising his hoof, he trotted over to the front of the stage, barely a couple of feet away from the chief before asking his question. His spiky dark amber mane gave a sort of shine in the sunset evening as he spoke. “Will any of them come back, alive?”

It sounded more of a challenge than a question to the chief, but it was enough to soften the chief up as he had no idea. He got off the stage and trotted his way back to the police department, leaving a crowd of surprised ponies in his wake.

“You know, Doc, you didn’t have to go so far.” Mayor Mare spoke.

Doctor Whooves turned, “But he asked if there were anymore questions. So I asked him one.”

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Author’s note : Again, forgive me for the late post. Been kinda out of action for a few days. Stressing over a few things. So I didn’t actually have time to write Lyra’s Test in this chapter. However, it’s on its way so.....yeah

By the way I hope you guys liked how Twilight didn't actually die. But she may/may not be so fortunate later.

Comments

[Chill Mists(Chilly)]

I was listening to slipknot while reading this... so yeah. Kinda fit. I look forward to reading more.

[Goldenfalcon101]

YAAAY TWITWI'S NOT DEAD. Spike would be heartbroken ;.;
Hm. Where is he in all of this? o.o
And my respect for Mayor Mare is growing. Just a little P:

[Festus]

The Doctor's here! WHOO! And Twi's not dead!! WHOOT~