The Mare from the Moon

by Evilhumour

Chapter Seventeen

It had taken little time for all four of them to get packed and ready, but soon they were all standing at the train station, with both Spliced and Starlight behaving themselves. However, Twilight could see that Starlight was still looking wary of the other mare and Spliced was doing her best to look anywhere but at her.

Finally, once the train had arrived and they’d all settled into a pair of coaches, Starlight taking one with some other ponies she claimed to want to catch up with, Twilight was able to finally relax for a few minutes before she looked at Spliced.

“So,” she asked, “How did your visit with Zecora go?”

“Very informative and productive,” Spliced replied. “I think she was pleasantly surprised by all of us showing up when we did and my being genuinely curious to learn from her. Also, since I reacted much better than your townsfolk apparently did before...” Spliced shook her head. "Did you know that ponies used to think she was evil and misidentified her natural behavior as threatening? I mean, I do recognize that a pony might see another’s pawing at the ground as a threat or a challenge, but zebras paw at the ground all the time without wanting to fight - it’s just their normal method for trying to find water.”

Twilight nodded. "Yes… you know that, and I know that. But not everypony knows that kind of thing, Spliced. Hay, that first day I found out she even existed? Nopony in town even knew she was a zebra until I saw her and recognized her species! Everypony else thought she was just an oddly-colored pony."

Spliced raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," Spike said from where he was reading one of his comics. "And would you believe they thought that she'd cursed them because of how they were acting?"

Spliced gave him a look. "Okay, seriously? Curses? Now I know you're kidding. Curses don't exist..." She blinked. "At least, I hope that's the case."

"You hope correctly," Twilight replied. "Curses don't exist. But ponies who step in Poison Joke, despite being warned away from it by the zebra they were already scared of, and then wake up to find themselves under the Poison Joke’s effects the next morning and jump to conclusions about why these odd things have happened to them, do."

Spliced nodded. "That makes much more sense."

“Also, they were kind of creeped out because she lived in the Everfree Forest and thought she was as dangerous as the various creatures they knew were there.” Twilight sighed. “Even I let myself get caught up in it for a bit… but thanks to Apple Bloom, we all learned better, and now she’s a good friend and valued member of the community. And I did apologize for my behavior after I realized my mistake.”

“Every day you learn something new is a productive day,” Spliced said with an echo, turning her head to see that Starlight had said the same thing as she walked into the coach. The two mares shared a look, frowning at each other as Starlight sat down.

“So!” Twilight looked at them. “What did you think of the Crusaders, by the way?”

“They’re nice kids,” Spliced replied. “A little exuberant… oh, and that reminds me, I need to do some deeper scans on Scootaloo. I promised I’d try and find out why she’s having trouble flying, and while I did some basic scans as we were out there, enough to figure out a few things, I’d need to do a deeper check to be absolutely sure of the cause. And I need to get parental permission for those first, since she is underage.”

Twilight looked at her. “I certainly hope you can,” she said. She then stop and took in what Spliced had said and tilted her head. “What kind of tests did you do already, exactly?”

“Well, I observed her as she tried to take off, and suggested a slightly different way of doing it, but she couldn’t get off the ground either way,” Spliced replied. “I’ll wait for parental permission before I scan her thaumatic flow, but with what I saw before, that’s looking more like it might be the cause.”

“And how would you go about discovering if that is the cause?” Starlight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“By performing a test on the marrow of the bones themselves, but something that intrusive can be very painful,” Spliced said. “Especially since anesthesia could interfere with the results. But like I said, I’m not about to do it without her parents or guardians giving permission first.”

Twilight looked disturbed, and Starlight looked horrified at the thought of cutting all the way into somepony’s bones for a medical test, but Spike looked up, a thoughtful look on his face. “Isn’t there something you can do that’s less intrusive, like an X-ray for her thaumatic flow?”

Spliced turned to him for a moment. “Actually, that would be a good idea,” she said as she tapped a hoof against her chin. “Our MRIs, and the scans that are like them, only really work on physical material rather than the energies flowing through them. That means I’d have to invent a better one to do that kind of scan first or modify the ones you have here as best as I can, but if I could… that would be a much safer option.” She then blinked and frowned. “Although if I am correct, then I would have to open up the bone anyway, to fix the thaumatic core in her wings. But in that case, it would be safe to use anesthesia - it only interferes in the initial examination.”

“I’ll get in touch with her…” Twilight blinked as she realized she didn’t know Scootaloo’s parents or guardians’ names. “Well, I’ll get in touch with Rainbow Dash, I’m sure she can help us get in touch with Scootaloo’s family, since she does know them.”

“Or, you could ask me,” Spike pointed out as he flipped another page in his comic. “She lives with her aunt Holiday and Holiday’s marefriend Lofty, since her parents are out of town on business most of the time.” He looked up. “At least her aunts actually care enough about her to worry… her parents barely know she exists half the time.”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you, Spike. I’ll contact them about this as soon as possible then.” She facehoofed. “I should have known about them, I was her extracurricular teacher for long enough…”

Spliced looked at her curiously. “If you were her teacher at one point, and I do want to know more about that, why would Rainbow Dash know more about her family than you do? Are she and Rainbow Dash related or something?”

“Rainbow Dash is… well, they’ve been as close as sisters since not long before I ascended, and Scootaloo looked up to her for a long time before that,” Twilight replied. “They’re family in every way that counts.”

“Ah.” Spliced nodded. “That makes sense.” Then she considered. “And Scootaloo’s friends, are they related to anypony I know?”

“Apple Bloom is Applejack’s little sister, and Sweetie Belle is Rarity’s little sister,” Twilight told her. “Oh, and Apple Bloom and Applejack have an older brother too, Big McIntosh - I don’t know if you’ve met him yet.”

“Unless he was at that party my first night in town, I don’t think I have,” Spliced said. “I never met anypony besides Applejack when I dropped by the farm earlier that day, and I haven’t been out in town that much since that first night.”

“You didn’t try and take one of her apples, did you?” Starlight said, eying her suspiciously.

“No, I didn’t,” Starlight gave her a dirty look. “Sure, I was hungry when I saw those apple trees out there, but I remembered what Twilight told me about one of her friends having an apple farm. And besides that, I may be a former war criminal but I am certainly no thief.” She gave Starlight an indignant look. “Anyway, I was looking at one of the trees and trying to figure out how I was going to pay for one of the apples when Applejack found me and offered me one for free.”

Twilight smiled. “That’s Applejack for you… never one to let a pony go hungry.”

Spliced smiled back, then looked thoughtful. “So… while we’re on the subject of families, I know the other alicorns that we’re going to see are your sister-in-law and niece. I presume you have a brother who’s part of that family too?”

Twilight nodded. “Shining Armor. He used to be the Captain of the Royal Guard, until he and Cadance got married and moved out to the Crystal Empire once it returned - long story,” she added at Spliced’s curious look.

Shaking it off, Spliced continued. “And I met Pinkie’s sister Maud that first night in town… good pony to talk to if you’re really into geology.” She looked thoughtful. “Do any of you have any other brothers or sisters?”

“Well, Pinkie’s actually got another older sister and a younger twin who live back at the family rock farm,” Twilight said. “And Fluttershy has…”

“The most obnoxious little brother I’ve ever met,” Spike said pointedly as he looked up from his comic again. “He’s changed, supposedly. But the last time I saw him, the guy was a shameless moocher who’d do anything to avoid any work he could, so I’m reserving judgment until I get proof otherwise.”

“Oh-kay.” Spliced decided not to pry; it sounded like Spike wasn’t in any mood to elaborate.

“On that note…” Starlight spoke up. “So Twilight, where are we picking up Pharynx?”

“Thorax said he’d meet us at the Crystal Empire,” Twilight replied. “Actually, it’ll be interesting to meet him, since I haven’t had the chance yet.”

“And Pharynx is?” Spliced asked.

“Thorax’s older brother,” Starlight told her. “He’s in charge of the Changeling hive’s guard. He’s also pretty cranky most of the time, but he is just looking out for the hive.” Then she looked surprised at herself for a moment, before settling back into a grumpy expression.

“Ah, that’s good,” Spliced said with a smile. “With what I was told they told found, someone of his nature that can handle the more negative emotions is just what we need.”

“Who they found,” Twilight corrected the other mare. “They told us that they found a male-”

“No, Celestia told me they found something and that they need my expertise in determining how it can be treated,” Spliced said stiffly.

“How can you be so cold to somepony?” Starlight looked at her in disgust. “I know you’re not tribalist; you have to care about others first to hate others. So how can you even begin to justify this.”

“Because based on the species I was told I’d be dealing with, I’m pretty sure this one isn’t sapient,” Spliced snapped, suddenly sounding like she had when they’d first met. “At least, its kind probably isn’t anymore. But the necklace it had on it means something else is going on.”

“But, and by your own logic, wouldn’t it be sapient and thus a person like me or Twilight?” Starlight jabbed a hoof at the mare.

“I believe the phrase is me or you,” Spliced said acidly, slapping off the hoof pressed into her chest.

“I wouldn’t call you a normal pony or like anyone I know, Genome,” Starlight growled and both their horns started to glow when a barrier suddenly appeared between them.

“That. Is. Enough,” Twilight growled. “Honestly, can’t you two go one day without sniping at one another?”

Spliced just sighed and turned away, while Starlight did the same, looking the other direction. After a moment, Twilight dropped the barrier, and sat back in her own seat.

“If I acted like that, I’d be grounded for a month or something,” Spike commented from his spot.

“That’s a very good idea, Spike,” Twilight said as she gave the two mares a look. “Spliced, you are banned for going into the lab for two weeks and Starlight, while we’re away from Ponyville, you are prohibited from casting anything other than basic telekinesis, unless it’s to save a life, and will have to write a friendship report on what you did wrong before we get home again.”

“Twilight!” Starlight protested with Spliced sputtering in disbelief.

“It’s either that or you two apologize and promise to stop fighting all the time.” Both mares glared at each other and snorted, looking away from each other with Twilight sighing. “I had hoped you two were mature enough that I wouldn’t need to treat you like foals, you know.”

“She has been suspicious of me ever since I got here,” Spliced snapped. “I’ve been doing my best to be nice and not hurt anyone, pony or otherwise, but it’s never good enough for miss ‘I nearly destroyed an entire country while trying to prove I was right’.”

“Because you’re still hiding something, I can tell,” Starlight snarled back. “And I already told you, I made a huge mistake, I admit it, and I’m still paying for it.”

Twilight quickly raised a barrier between the two of them again. “Do I need to add even more weeks?” She looked at them and shook her head. “I meantit; behave yourselves. Starlight, I taught you to be better than this. Spliced, you’re old enough to know better.”

Both mares looked sheepishly at her and turned away to the corners of the carriage for a moment, leaving them in silence. Then they muttered out apologies to each other. They weren’t looking at each other and were more than likely going to fight again but Twilight was happy that they were making some progress.

With a smile on her face, Twilight opened her new book and started to read while keeping an eye on the two mares. Still, she knew that this was going to be a long ride.

At least she had one traveling companion she could trust to behave and not antagonize anypony else, she thought to herself as she glanced over at Spike, who was himself still contentedly reading. He was definitely maturing and she was really proud of her son.

---

Vroo-vrooooooooooo!

“Crystal Empire, next stop!” the conductor bellowed as he passed by the coach, all three mares and Spike looking up and getting ready to disembark, gathering their luggage. Moving behind the crowd of passengers, they patiently waited until the platform was almost empty before moving out to meet the lone Changeling still there waiting for them, no doubt Pharynx. Twilight took a closer look at him as they approached, noting his appearance; like Thorax but unlike most of his kind after their metamorphosis, he’d grown a pair of antler-like mandibles on his head, albeit smaller and redder than his brother’s, and with a set of wings that matched them in color. His overall body was a dark cyan, and his carapace was purple, while his eyes were a slightly lighter shade that almost matched Thorax’s wings.

“So you finally got here,” he said, rolling his eyes as they approached him. “And this must be the newbie,” he added with a gesture towards Spliced.

Spliced nodded her head and held out her hoof. “My name is Spliced Genome and-”

“I read my brother’s report that Princess Celestia sent us,” he said, looking her over with a frown. “Frankly, I don’t know what you did to get locked up, but as long as you leave my hive alone, I don’t care.”

Spliced nodded. “In which case, we need to get going. You and I have a subject to deal with.”

Pharynx nodded, then turned and headed off, Spliced trailing after him and Spike hurrying after both of them. Watching them go, Twilight sighed. “Well, at least he’s not reacting as poorly to her as he did to you and Trixie when you first met him,” she remarked.

Starlight nodded. “That’s Pharynx for you, he’s cranky and kind of paranoid sometimes, but he means well.” She cleared her throat. “Well, I’d better be off…” Levitating her bags, she headed off down the street. After a moment, Twilight turned and headed after her other companions who seemed to be left alone by the crystal ponies, surprisingly as Pharynx was a changeling, Spliced was an alicorn and Spike was their personal hero. As she caught up to them, she could hear that Spliced and Pharynx were talking.

“-take them fairly well,” Pharynx said with a snort. “Mostly due to my winningpersonality, our former Queen had me siphon out the negative ones for the rest of the hive, so I’ve built up a tolerance. Not much call for it these days, but I still can if I have to.”

“Still a useful talent to have in case of emergencies, though,” Spliced said, giving him an understanding look.

“Yeah, but it still tastes terrible,” Pharynx grumbled as they got closer to the crystal palace. “Of course, I do know the importance of living is far more important than the taste.”

Spliced nodded, looking pleased with his answers before looking at the crystal palace properly for a moment before letting out a sigh and shaking her head. “Do all rulers live in places like this?”

“Hey, don’t look at me,” Pharynx remarked with a snort. “I didn’t design the place, or any other places. But my little brother says that over a thousand years ago, some unicorn lady found a big piece of Cosmic Spectrum stone, took it out to a frozen wasteland and poured all her magic and emotions into it to turn that place into this place.”

Spliced rolled her eyes. “So now I know two palaces that were grown to look all fancy and shiny. Great. At least Princess Celestia’s place doesn’t have a crazy origin story.” She looked at him. “It doesn’t, right?”

“Hey!” Twilight couldn’t help but speak up. “It’s not like it was my idea to grow a new palace in Ponyville!” Then she looked somewhat indignantly. “And no, as far as I know, both their old palace and the one in Canterlot were built normally.”

“Still doesn’t excuse how much of an eyesore yours and this one are,” Spliced said with Pharynx actually smiling in response and Spike snickering at the back and forth.

Twilight just groaned, but resisted the urge to snark back.

A few minutes later, they’d reached the crystal palace, and were escorted into the throne room by a set of guards who gave them curious looks as several maids took their bags.

Princess Cadance was sitting in her throne when they arrived, and her eyes brightened as she saw them. “Twilight! It’s so good to see you and - Spike?” She blinked. “Is that really you?”

“Yep!” Spike flexed a bit. “Had myself something of a growth spurt recently.”

Cadance smiled. “Well, I’m glad to see you’re doing so well. And it is good to see you as well, Pharynx.” Then she turned to Spliced. “And you must be Spliced Genome, the mare my aunt said could help with our… guest.”

Spliced nodded. “May I see them now?”

“Of course, of course.” Cadance rose from her throne. “This way, please.”

Guiding them to the medical ward, she waved aside a set of guards, who bowed and moved to let them in, before the quintet entered the room that had a pink shield over every possible entrance.

There were three ponies in the room standing before the bed; the first a male crystal unicorn with a light green coat and the second a female crystal pegasus with a faded pink coat. The third was a male normal unicorn, who was clearly maintaining the shields around the room, and looked up to see them entering. “Twily! Just in time.”

Twilight smiled. “Good to see you too, B.B.B.F.F.. I think you know Pharynx, and this is Spliced Genome,” she said as she gestured to her companions, the latter of whom was giving her an odd look and mouthing something. Shining frowned for a moment before nodding his head at her.

“Nice to meet you,” he said politely, holding out his hoof to her.

“Nice to meet you too,” Spliced said, shaking the hoof before looking at the two other ponies in the room. “You are?”

The stallion moved towards her and gave her an even look. “I am Doctor Hale; I am the chief medical doctor of the Crystal Empire. This is my associate, Doctor Hearty, our general practitioner,” after shaking her hoof, Hale then moved to the bed that had the icy blue figure on it. “Here is our patient, Genome. We were told that you had some expertise in dealing with his kind?”

“Yes,” Spliced said as she approached the bed. “Although I am not as knowledgeable in windigo anatomy as I am with dragons’.”

“So he is a windigo,” Doctor Hearty said as she peered at the stallion on the bed. “How do we treat him?”

“First off; Pharynx can you feel any excessive love in the air?” Spliced asked, her tone becoming sharp and pointed; just like when she had redesigned the laboratory.

“Not really,” the changeling said with a frown. “The shield around this room is blocking the effects of the Crystal Heart.”

“Crystal Heart - never mind; you’ll explain that nonsense afterwards,” Spliced said in such a tone that caused every Crystal Empire pony to frown. “I want you to monitor the levels; the subject could eat them but in its current state it would kill them. “

“It is a good thing that we made sure that he was isolated from the Heart,” Doctor Hale said with his mane bristling and eyes narrowed.

“Is there anything else that can cause an unusual imbalance of emotions,” Spliced asked as she leaned closer to the windigo, lifting the limbs with her thaumatics. “It appears that its right foreleg is broken, it also appears to have a mild concussion although it should have recovered by now and I need a scan to see if any of its organs are damaged and assistance if I need to operate on it.”

“Excuse me, Genome,” Doctor Hale used his magic to lift the windigo’s limb out of her grip. “What exactly are your credentials?”

Spliced looked angered for a moment and said through clenched teeth, “I am a biochemical research consultant, with a smattering of other lesser degrees.”

“Well then, we will take your consulting with due credit. Also, as a fully credited doctor, I must advise you that your bedside manner is horrendous. Furthermore, we do not refer to our patients as it; they are he or she,” he lectured her, with Spliced’s horn starting to glow and the mare lowering herself in an aggressive stance.

Everypony took a step backwards before Shining Armor and Pharynx lowered their horns. Just as Twilight was worried that a fight was about to explode, Cadance set off a loud bang with her own horn, and everypony (and one dragon) looked at her in surprise.

“Everypony, calm down,” Cadance said before turning her focus towards Spliced. “Either restrain your more aggressive behaviour or leave,” she said leaning down towards Spliced who scoffed, rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“As you seemingly are unaware of, windigos feed off negativity,” she said bluntly. “This behavior here is generating exactly the kinds of emotions that it needs to absorb so it can recover.” As she gestured with her hoof, a smirk on her face, Twilight looked directly at the windigo and saw they were starting to stir.

“Mitt huvud,” the windigo groaned, the voice definitely male, with his good hoof rubbing his head. Light blue eyes flicked open, and looked around in surprise. “Vem är du? Var är jag?” he snapped at them, trying to push himself upright only to wince sharply as he placed weight on his broken hoof. “Evinnerliga snöstorm! Vad ända in i Fimbulwinter är det för fel på mitt ben‽”

“Do you have any idea what he is saying?” Twilight asked Spliced who simply shrugged.

“I don’t have my universal translator anymore,” Spliced said under her breath. “And I have no idea what language it’s even speaking.”

“He is speaking,” Doctor Hale snapped with Spliced grunting and rolling her eyes.

“Pharynx do you have any idea what it’s saying?” Spliced asked, raising an eyebrow as the windigo continued to talk, looking at them in confusion.

“I think?” the changeling said with a tilt of his head. “It sounds like ancient changeling but I don’t know it.”

“Well thatwas useful,” Spliced snarked. “I can’t treat it if I don’t know about any issues it has.”

“Här är jag, bara så du vet,” the windigo said in a snappish tone. “Jag förstår inte vad du säger men jag är rätt säker på att det handlar om mig och det uppskattar jag inte!”

“De försöker bara hjälpa dig,” Spike said, causing everyone to pull back in surprise.

“Vänta, så du kan faktiskt prata normalt?” the windigo said with wide eyes. “Kan du tala om för mig vad det faktiskt är som händer?”

“Shush,” Spliced said causing the windigo to pull back in indignation. “Spike, you speak its language?”

“Yeah, it’s same thing some of the characters use in my comic book,” Spike said, holding out a comic with an image of two ponies, one with a brilliant red mane and beard and the other with a green outfit, a gold crown and a strange-looking staff. “See? I thought it was cool, so I decided to find out more about it.”

“How in Equestria is this even possible?” Twilight said as she looked at the comic book, noticing at the same time that the windigo was peering down his body and seemed angry at the sight of something.

“Hallå! Var är mitt halsband?” he shouted, turning his head to glare at the others in turn. “Jag hoppas verkligen att det är här någonstans!”

“Hur såg det ut?” Spike asked him.

“En kedja av hård granit som omger en kristall,” the windigo replied.

“What is he asking for Spike?” Twilight asked.

“Some kind of necklace, Twilight,” Spiked said, with Cadance’s magic opening a drawer and pulling out the object in question.

“Det är mitt! Ge tillbaka det genast!” the windigo snapped, Cadance about to give it to him when Spliced overtook it with her own aura.

“This back and forth won’t work,” Spliced said, holding the necklace with the windigo glaring at her. “Twilight, can you somehow make things so we can understand its language?”

“Yes, but shouldn’t you give him his necklace back?” Twilight asked, shifting on her hooves. She had an inkling of what Spliced was going to say and it made her feel uncomfortable to be a part of it.

“We need a leverage to make it behave itself and I thought withholding this instead of treatment was the better option of the two,” Spliced said in her usual detached manner with her cold logic in full view.

“As much as I do not wish to say this,” Doctor Hale said, his hoof scraping the floor, “She has a point.”

Spike muttered something in the windigo’s language, which made the other male snicker. Then he glared at Spliced again. “Jag vill fortfarande ha tillbaka mitt halsband.”

“Twilight, do what you need to do,” Spliced ordered her with Twilight reluctantly lighting up her horn to perform the spell.

“Hallå där! Vad håller hon på med?” the windigo demanded, trying to shift away from Twilight.

“Hon gör så att alla ponnyer kan förstå vad du säger och du kan förstå dem,” Spike told him. “Det kommer vara säkert, det lovar jag.”

“Det är bäst för dig, or else I will-” the windigo growled with Spliced leaning down to glare at him in the eyes.

“You will do what,” she said, placing a hoof into his chest. “Currently, I am the only one present with enough medical knowledge to treat you and if you think you can threaten me, then I can easily turn around and wash my hooves of this whole matter.”

“You’re a healer, you have to help!” he said, holding his good hoof at her.

“No I am not and no I don’t,” Spliced said with a smirk on her face. “What I am is a researcher and you pose a lot of interesting questions, namely this necklace.” His eyes immediately were drawn to the necklace she was tossing up and down in her hoof, just barely out of his reach. “I can take this back to my lab, pull it apart to get my answers or you can do what we tell you and tell us what what we want to know.”

“You arrogant little pony bitch, I’ll,” he snarled as he tried to leap at her, only to realize there were restraints holding him back. “What the-”

“That’s enough!” Doctor Hale snapped, grabbing the necklace from Spliced with his magic and turning to face Cadance, hoofing the necklace over to her. “I cannot tolerate this abusive treatment anymore; either she relents or gets out of my medical wing or I will lodge so many complaints that Celestia will be late to raising the sun!”

“Agreed,” Cadance said, staring down the other alicorn as she used her magic to place the necklace on the windigo. “I understand what your methods are for but I cannot allow you to threaten, harass, or abuse someone under my protection as you have been doing so anymore. You were brought here to give us advice and support in how to treat him, not how to make threats. Do so again without my approval and I will have you removed from my lands. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” Spliced said with a growl before moving away form the bed and towards a corner to breathe.

“Why am I tied down, anyway?” the windigo asked.

“It’s for your own safety,” Cadance told him. “We needed to make sure you wouldn’t accidentally roll off the bed while you were unconscious and hurt yourself further.”

“Right,” The windigo looked around. “So where am I?”

“You are currently in the Crystal Empire, the royal-”

“Please don’t lie to me; my head still hurts, along with the rest of my body and I still want my necklace back but I know the ‘Crystal Empire’,” he said the name with such sarcasm that even the non-emotivores could taste it. “Is nothing more than a southern depot town with a few sparkly baubles that you ponies seem to like.”

Twilight and Cadance exchanged glances, then Cadance turned back to him. “The Crystal Empire was founded well over three thousand years ago,” she said. “It was… inaccessible for a little over a thousand years due to the actions of an usurper, but it’s back now, and I’m its ruler.”

He stared at her before shaking his head in disbelief. “No, that’s not possible, I don’t believe you,” he then flicked his eyes towards Spliced. “Hey you; is she telling the truth? You may be a really mean bitch but experience has taught me that the nasty ones don’t often lie.”

Spliced rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I wouldn’t know; I come from another dimension myself and just recently got here… and from what I’ve been able to learn, the history between our two worlds is vastly different.”

The windigo shook his head in disgust. “Great. The most reliable-sounding one doesn’t know a thing.”

“I know enough to treat your kind,” Spliced shot back angrly. “I also know that according to her-” and here she gestured to Cadance - “aunt, windigos haven’t been seen anywhere around since around the time Equestria was founded by a bunch of ponies moving out of their old land, and that was apparently a few thousand years before the Crystal Empire was founded.”

The windigo blinked in surprise. “Seriously?”

“Just repeating what I’ve heard,” Spliced replied.

“That can’t be right; I mean we have long established migration lines we follow,” the windigo said as he tried to push himself upright. “You have to be wrong, you-arrg,” he groaned in sudden pain, clutching his side.

“What’s wrong, what hurts,” Doctor Hale asked with Spliced walking over to assist him.

“My gut right here,” he said, rubbing the area and wincing in more pain.

“Can one of you do something that would let me see inside of him?” Spliced asked as Doctor Hale brought in some equipment over to the windigo that Spliced seemed to recognize immediately as she took control of it. Accepting a small tube of gel from Doctor Hale, she squirted the contents out onto the windigo’s stomach, carefully spreading it a bit, and then let Doctor Hale hook the medical wand up to the crystalline screen he’d been setting up. Carefully, she pressed the wand against the windigo’s stomach, and began running it over him slowly, letting it pick up the information she needed. He winced at the contact, but said nothing.

After a minute or so of this, she set the wand aside again, and then both looked at the images on the screen with a frown on her face.

“So, what’s the prognosis, healer?” the windigo asked as he tilted his head to try and see the screen too.

“Some internal damaging all over; you will heal over time but that could kill you,” Spliced highlighted a part on the image that Twilight couldn’t understand but both doctors hissed for some reason. “That organ looks especially battered and ready to split open at any moment. How good is your surgeon?”

“Doctor Glorious Death is one the very best doctors in her field,” Doctor Hale said. He paused for a moment. “Despite her unfortunate name. I think she may have chosen her field specifically because of the irony involved.”

“If she can patch me up, I don’t care what she’s called,” the windigo said with a hissing laugh.

“I would also like to suggest we test his thaumatic core in his right foreleg,” Spliced said, eyeing the limb again. “If it has become damaged then his cryokinesis could be weakened or out of his control and thus pose a danger for everyone present.”

Doctor Hale looked pleased for a second before he spoke. “We are already suppressing his magical abilities via medication; while Doctor Death and her team are patching him up, we can do a further scan to see if we need to repair his magical core. If so, we will set up a date to have that operation performed for our guest.”

“Hold on, why would I need to wait?” the windigo asked with a frown on his face, leaning upwards with Spliced glaring at him until he laid back down.

“The surgery is quite intensive, and one would need to be more than reasonably healthy before we would operate on you,” Doctor Hale said.

“Where I am from,” Spliced said with an eye glancing over the equipment again. “We would need to remove the bone in question and open it up to reach the core for the most accurate of results. That’s if you don’t have excessive wealth or connections to grant access to the more advanced nanobots that could repair the core. How advanced are your techniques?”

“It seems that we are on par, Genome,” Doctor Hale said, keeping his eyes on her as Doctor Hearty went to the intercom system to call for Doctor Death to report to the operating room. “We do the procedure almost the same way, although I am sure you have a few more advanced tools from where you are from?”

“Without a doubt,” Spliced said with a nod of her head as several nurses began to enter the room. “There are those who made it their life’s work so the bone healing is as painless and seamless as possible.”

“Would that we had the same abilities here,” Doctor Hale replied. “While some bone injuries can be healed in a matter of days, it still takes time, and even then they’re still fragile for a while longer.”

“I’ll vouch for that,” Twilight volunteered. “Rainbow Dash had to keep off her wing for a week after she was in the Ponyville hospital for a few days, and when she didn’t pay attention to what the doctor said… just one or two flaps was enough to break it again.”

Spike then tilted his head, and looked at Spliced. “Didn’t you say you would need to do something like that for Scootaloo?”

“I would like to have her tested first to see if she needs it,” Spliced said with Doctor Hale giving Cadance a look to which the alicorn nodded her head.

“Give me her information and we’ll set up a date for an examination with Doctor Snuggles,” Doctor Hale told her. “Now…”

“We need to have that shield and Pharynx with us; I doubt he is well enough to endure positive emotions without seizing up-”

“Hey, I do have a name!” the windigo snapped at them.

“And I was going to ask you for your name when you woke up,” Cadance replied softly. “Please, tell us so we can stop using him or the windigo.”

“It’s Snöflinga,” he said, holding his head up with a smirk only for Spike to start laughing.

“Your name is Snowflake?” he held a claw over his mouth to hold back his laughter.

“Spike,” Twilight lectured him, shaking her head. “I taught you better than that!”

“Sorry Twilight,” Spike said, looking at the crowd admonished before turning back to Snowflake. “Sorry for that.”

“Eh,” Snowflake said as he rolled his eyes. “You’re not the first to laugh and you won’t be last. My friends had a good laugh too when they heard it.”

“These friends, who are they?” Twilight asked as they were about to transport him down the hall. “While they are more than likely… no longer with us, I might be able to find their descendents for you.”

He stared at her for a bit, blinking before a smile broke out on his face. “I doubt you can do anything, but thank you.” Just before he and everyone left the room, he managed to say, “Their names are Privateer Pansy, Tough Cookie and Clover the Cobbler.”

Comments

[Asolem2]

Twilight quickly raised a barrier between the two of them again. “Do I need to add even more weeks?” She looked at them and shook her head. “I meant it; behave yourselves. Starlight, I taught you to be better than this. Spliced, you’re old enough to know better.”

Age does not equal wisdom Twilight, experiance does and Spliced has very little of it when it comes to interacting with others

“Still doesn’t excuse how much of an eyesore yours and this one are,” Spliced said with Pharynx actually smiling in response and Spike snickering at the back and forth.

Ohh they're getting along

“Mitt huvud,”

Wait... is he speaking...

“Vem är du? Var är jag?”

HE IS... jag känner mig hedrad (I feel honored)

“It’s Snöflinga,” he said, holding his head up with a smirk only for Spike to start laughing.

I am Spike in this scene

He stared at her for a bit, blinking before a smile broke out on his face. “I doubt you can do anything, but thank you.” Just before he and everyone left the room, he managed to say, “Their names are Privateer Pansy, Tough Cookie and Clover the Cobbler.”

Oh well... shouldn't be too hard to find their descendants

[Evilhumour]

8829386

Oh, you're Swedish? Neat!

[anyone675]

“With what I was told they told found,

Told they had found