Solo Run

by Feather Scratch

Here Comes Trouble

Chapter Three

Here Comes Trouble

Teddy's Perspective:

Doctor Rhodes sprang to his feet and closed the distance with Nurse Redmond in a single stride. He was keeping his face in a well-schooled neutral expression, but his eyes radiated with the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning. 'What do you mean, "another one." Another case like Teddy?'

Nurse Redmond fidgeted under the scrutiny, but nodded. 'When all this started, I talked to a bunch of my nurse friends in the other hospitals in the city. I didn't tell them anything specific, but I asked them to keep an eye out for anything particularly unusual.'

'And?'

'Well.' Nurse Redmond pulled out a scrap of notepaper from his pocket. 'My friend, Lydia, that is, Nurse Copperfield. She works in the leukaemia ward in the Paediatric Clinic. She called me and said… Well they bring in entertainers and celebrities and stuff whenever they can. For the kids, you know? They got Chris Evans last month for a Make a Wish kid. It was really sweet. And-'

Doctor Rhodes placed a hand on each of Nurse Redmond's shoulders. 'Frank, breath. Maybe skip the preamble?'

'Right. Right. Sorry.' He shook his head. 'Anyway, they have this clown who comes in regularly. Nugget. He was scheduled to perform last week, but he cancelled at the last second. Then he cancelled his next two performances. Now he isn't answering his phone.'

I cocked my head. 'People cancel, dude. Maybe he's got the flu or something.'

'That's what Lydia thought. So she went to his house to check on him. He wouldn't answer the door. But she said it was weird.'

Doctor Rhodes frowned. 'How so?'

'Well, for one thing.' Nurse Redmond glanced between us and lowered his voice, conspiratorially. 'The curtains were drawn, but she saw a shadow moving inside. A big shadow.'

'So?'

'"So?" Nugget's a little person! He barely tops four feet. That was part of his appeal!'

Doctor Rhodes scratched his chin. 'Maybe he had company over?'

'Company that smelled like a barnyard and had hooves?' Nurse Redmond grinned. 'Lydia swore he must have had a donkey or something in there. She was about to call animal control, but she called me first.'

Doctor Rhodes' eyes widened. 'Call her back, tell her we'll handle it. I've got to arrange a hazard team and a van to pick him up. This is fantastic!'

He turned to me. 'Looks like you may be having some company soon, Teddy.'

I nodded and scribbled down the new development. 'Looks like I may not be an isolated case.'

~~~

Doctor Rhodes’ Perspective:

I sat in the ambulance at the head of our small convoy, pulling on my full body PPE as we drove to the residence of Isaac Grant. Aka Nugget the clown. It took all my willpower not to cackle like a maniac. Another one! I hope this one’s male. That would make comparative genome testing so much easier! Would it be a unicorn, like Teddy? Or would it be one of the other races? Oh, I hope it’s a Pegasus! How would a different race’s genetics compare? Were the ponies one race with trimorphic castes, or were they three distinct species that had developed a symbiotic relationship? So many questions!

The ambulance pulled up to a small bungalow in a quaint little leafy suburb near the edge of town. I picked up the receiver on the two way radio and cleared my throat. ‘Alright, listen up, ladies and gents. We need to approach this delicately. Assuming this is a “Teddy” we’ve got, Mister Grant is likely to be confused and frightened. We don’t want to spook him and I absolutely do not want us to have to resort to tranquilisers. I’m going to approach first. Alone. Hopefully I can talk him round to coming with us willingly. If he does, I’ll give a signal. Set up the screens and clean tunnel to the van, and we’ll get him aboard and cleared out as quickly as possible. If I can’t… well. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Understood?’

A round of affirmatives later, I hopped out of the ambulance, approached the house as fast as I dared, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Then, from inside, I caught muttered voices. ‘Hello? Mister Grant?’

A second later, a woman’s voice called back. ‘Who is it?’

I frowned. That wasn’t the voice I had been expecting. But, then again, considering Teddy’s situation… ‘Mis…ter Grant?’

‘Who’s asking?’

I cleared my throat. ‘Mister Grant, my name is Doctor Rhodes. I’m a resident over at Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy. A clinic for individuals with long term medical conditions. Sir, we’ve received a tip that you might have a very… unusual condition we’ve been studying for the last several days. May I come in? I promise, whatever you have, I’ve seen it before.’

There was shuffling from inside. I heard the distinctive sound of a chain sliding into place and a deadbolt unlocking. The door opened a crack. ‘Mister Grant, I assure you. I’ve seen a po-‘

A young woman in her mid-twenties poked her head into view. She eyed me up and down. ‘Look, Doctor Space Man, I don’t know what bunk you’ve been fed, but Isaac doesn’t have any “condition.” He’s just been out with the flu is all.’

‘And you are?’

‘Kelly. His sister.’

‘Well, may I see Isaac? I am a Doctor.’ I chuckled. ‘I won’t even charge my usual call out fee.’

She held fast to the door, but forced a smile. ‘No need, Doc. I got this. Goodbye.’

Thinking quickly, I wedged my foot in the door before she could slam it shut. 'Please. Hear me out. If I could just see Isaac, I know I can help.'

Kelly's forced smile evaporated, morphing into a glare. She reached behind the door, and re-emerged with a baseball bat. 'You people. You think just because Isaac's a little different, that gives you the right to gawk at him, like some kind of freak? You have three seconds to get your foot out of this door and off Isaac's property before I show you how good my swing is.'

I raised my hands in surrender and took several, deliberate steps back. Kelly wasted no time slamming the door. 'If you show up here again, I'm calling the cops!' She called from inside.

I beat a hasty retreat back to the ambulance where Doctor Herdman was waiting, arms crossed. 'That looked like it went well.'

I pulled my visor, mask, and hood off and rubbed my head. 'Mister Grant has a very protective sister. I couldn't even get a look inside.'

'So…' Doctor Herdman pulled a syringe from his pocket. 'Are we doing "Plan B" or…'

I stared at him. 'What? No! Put that away. Why do you even have that on hand? We're not talking about some feral animal here. He's a human being with a condition. He hasn't done anything wrong. And we have no right to storm into his home.'

Doctor Herdman pocketed the syringe and shrugged. 'An argument could be made for containing a carrier of an unknown, highly aggressive pathogen to prevent spreading.'

'Which we both know is almost certainly a lie. One that would never hold up if our own test results were examined. I didn't even get visual confirmation that this is a similar case.' I leaned against the ambulance and watched the curtained windows of the bungalow. 'We need to get them to open the door. To let us in, willing.'

'But they're not going to do that.' Doctor Herdman leaned against the ambulance beside me and, casually, lit up a cigarette. 'I can see their point of view. Something freaky and inexplicable happens to one of them, then a random doctor in a hazmat suit shows up asking to examine them? I wouldn't open the door either.'

'No.' I scratched my mustache. 'Neither would I. So how do we get them to open the door?'

Doctor Herdman took a long drag from his cigarette and flicked some ashes away. 'I don’t think we do. Not without breaking a bunch of laws. They have no reason to trust us, and we have nothing tangible to offer them. So the question becomes, if they won't open the door for us, who will they open the door for?'

~~~

Teddy's Perspective:

I glanced at the clock, anticipating Doc's return. If Nurse Redmond's tip proved good, then that'd go some ways to validating my theory. But I wasn't about to sit idle. I had other leads to chase.

I looked over some of the notes I'd made about current events. It was unnerving to see so much political tension building up all over the world. Like the planet was just one serious terrorist attack, or military action away from blowing its lid.

But, as serious as it was, I wasn't looking for the usual media fear mongering. I was growing more and more confident in my reincarnation theory. And if there were other ponies out there, no matter how careful they were, they would have left a trace. The tricky part would be figuring out what was genuine. The internet was bursting with hoaxes, trolls, and role players afterall.

There were a few articles and blog posts here and there about pony sightings, a few about mysteriously appearing cutie marks, one YouTube video about a pony allegedly walking into a McDonald's in North Dakota that had been taken down, even an impressive video of the CMC's introducing themselves. But it all reeked of fan made content. Even the CMC thing, based on the comments, was probably just a really well done animation. Since I had no idea how far animation technology had progressed in the last five years, I couldn't say one way or the other.

There were one or two articles I stumbled across that caught my eye though. A mysterious purple explosion in a residential area of Vancouver. A similar purple explosion in a bookstore in Seattle the next day. A piece about a man in Chicago stealing his own medical records while wearing red horse ears. None of these directly referenced ponies, but they were unusual enough to warrant investigation.

I looked up the number for the police precinct nearest to the Vancouver explosion and dialed. I was on hold for several minutes before someone finally answered. 'Hello, Vancouver Police Department. How can I help you?'

I put a little pep in my voice. 'Hi there! This is Caitlin Ryan with the Vancouver Sun. I'm writing a follow-up piece to the bombing incident that occurred on the second. I was wondering if there was someone there I could talk to?'

There was the clacking of keys. 'It looks like Inspector…Miller is the lead on that case. Hold on. I'll see if he's available.'

I drummed my hoof on the bed as I was put on hold again. I knew as well as anyone how busy a police department could be, so I tried to stay patient. The bombing must have had them in a tizzy.

After several minutes, the phone picked up. 'Miller here. Who's this?'

I smiled and tried to let it register in my voice. 'Inspector Miller, hello. My name's Caitlin Ryan, with the Sun. I was hoping to ask you a few questions about the bombing on the second? I just wanted to clarify a few details.'

He audibly groaned. 'Look. I'll tell you what I told the last twelve of you people. It was an airburst of as-yet unknown origin. Nobody was killed. No culprit has yet been identified. There have been no new developments since our last official statement. Investigations are ongoing. That is all!'

'Wai-'

The phone line went dead. I snorted. 'Ass.

'Moving on, I guess.' I looked up the number for the bookshop in Seattle. I was halfway through dialing the number when the door to my room slammed open.

'Bah!' My heart jumped and a gossamer thin bolt of electricity arched between the lightbulb overhead and the remains of my horn. The lightbulb sparked and went dark.

Nurse Redmond dashed in. 'Oh my goodness! Are you alright? There must have been a fault. Here.' He pulled out a pen light and tilted my head down. 'Let me see.'

I gently, but emphatically pushed him away. 'I'm fine.' I gave my stub a few experimental pokes. 'No harm done.'

He gave a deep sigh. 'Thank goodness. I'm so sorry about that. I'll have one of the maintenance guys have a look at the lights immediately.'

I looked up at him. 'Dude, you nearly gave me a heart attack. You never heard of knocking?'

He held up his hands. 'Right. Sorry. Sorry. But Doctor Rhodes called. He needs your help.'

I leveled a stare at him. 'Has he signed his NDA? I told him, no more tests until-'

'No no, it isn't about testing.' He assured me. 'It’s about the other potential case.'

I cocked my head and perked up an ear. 'What's-his-name, the clown?'

'Nugget, yeah.' He nodded. 'Doc can't get him to come to the door. He figured if you were with him… Well, seeing is believing, right?'

'I thought I was supposed to be in quarantine.'

'We've accounted for that, and have precautions in place. So, will you come?'

I glanced down at my pile of notes and scratched the back of my neck. 'I don't know. I'm really busy right now.'

Nurse Redmond clasped his hands together. 'Please. This is someone's life we're talking about. Who knows what kind of mental state Mister Grant is in?'

I groaned and rolled my eyes. 'Urgh. Fine. No need to go for the hard sell. I suppose I could use a breath of fresh air.'

~~~

'What the heck is this?' I stepped out of the ambulance half an hour later and, rather than the fresh air I had hoped for, I seemed to be in a giant, collapsable hamster tunnel covered in clear plastic.

Doctor Rhodes, wearing one of those medical hazmat suits, sans-mask, walked up to me, a look of relief on his face. 'Teddy. Thank you for coming.'

'Hey, Doc. What's with…' I waved around at the tunnel.

'Sterilised clean tunnel. We use it for transporting individuals with infectious diseases from their location to an ambulance safely.' He pointed behind himself, round the bend. 'We took the liberty of setting this one up right to the front door. We've also cordoned off the area. So we should have privacy.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Subtle. This looks like that government home invasion scene from E.T. I think the neighbors are going to notice.'

Doctor Rhodes chuckled. 'We've set up screens and are telling anyone who asks that we're investigating a potential Malaria outbreak. If we're quick, hopefully we can be gone before we draw a crowd.'

I nodded. A believable enough excuse. 'So why have you been having trouble? Does he not believe you're here to help?' I looked down at my hooves. 'Is he not able to open the door? Hooves would make doorknobs pretty tricky.'

He sighed and started walking down the tunnel towards the front door, with me close on his heels. 'No. But he isn't alone. His sister is in there, with him. She answered the door and refused to let me in. I didn't even get a glimpse of Mister Grant.'

I stopped. 'Wait. You didn't even see him? And you want me to talk to him. What if Nurse Redmond's tip was wrong?!'

'I don't believe it was. His sister was definitely hiding something. She said Isaac had the flu. But when I offered to take a look at him, free of charge, she got angry and chased me off with a baseball bat.'

I snorted. 'There's a joke in there somewhere about people's faith in the healthcare system.'

He rolled his eyes. 'I'm glad you find my near assault amusing.'

'Although.' I scratched my chin. 'Between the sister's reaction, and Nurse Copperfield's testimony about the smell and the hoofbeats… Yeah. Okay. Let's do this.'

We carried on to the door and Doctor Rhodes rang the bell. 'Mister Grant? Kelly? It's me again.'

My ears perked at the sound of stomping footsteps approaching the door from the other side. 'I told you to get lost! What are you people doing out there?! I'm calling the cops!'

'I am the cops.' I glanced up at Doctor Rhodes and he cocked a brow. 'I was the… Look, Miss. We all know you're not calling the cops. Can you come to the door?'

There was a moment's silence. 'You're trespassing. And I… I have a gun!'

'Kelly!' A deep, masculine voice rebuked from further inside the house.

'Mister Grant? Is that you? Can you open up, please? We just want-'

'I've got nothing to say to some shady scientists. Go away.'

I frowned and patted Doctor Rhodes on the hip. 'Doc, go wait back in the van. This might go easier if I can talk with them alone.'

'Are you sure?'

'You're spooking them. I got this.'

He scratched his chin. '...Alright. Ten minutes. We have to be gone before we draw real attention.'

I nodded, and he walked off, back the way we had come.

I sat down and gave the door a gentle rap. 'Okay. The Doc's gone. It's just us now.'

'And who the heck are you?' The woman, Kelly, called back.

'I'm Teddy. I'm one of the Doc's patients. He thought you might be more willing to talk to me.'

'You don't sound like a "Teddy."'

I chuckled and glanced down at one of my forelegs. 'Actually, you'd be surprised just how well that name fits now. I am very fluffy. And I'm thinking I'm not the only one. Right, Isaac?'

Heavy footfalls approached the door. I tilted my head and cocked an ear. They may have been hoofbeats, but there must have been a thick carpet laid down, because I couldn't be quite certain.

'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

'Have you figured out going to the bathroom yet? Kinda tricky without hands. If you've got any tips, I'd love to hear them, because right now I'm having to rely on a dude named Frank to wipe. Not fun for anyone involved.'

There was a whispered back and forth between the two siblings. 'Who says there's anything wrong with Isaac's hands?'

I bit the inside of my cheek and tapped a hoof. I couldn't just come out and say I was a cartoon pony. If there was even a slim chance we were wrong, that could go really bad really fast. I needed him to confirm he was like me. I needed something concrete. But what?

Tap tap, tap, tap tap tap tap tap.

What could I say?

Tap tap, tap, tap tap tap tap tap.

I blinked and looked down at my hoof. I had been tapping out a rhythm without even thinking about it. If my theory is right, then maybe…

'Hey, Isaac. How have you been sleeping lately?'

'Sleeping?' He sounded genuinely confused.

'Personally, I've been having these nightmares. Although, I guess it was more like one recurring dream. I was in an alien land, in a body I didn't recognise. There was this monster, Discord. Like Frankenstein's fursona. He attacked me. He said this rhyme. "For five score, divided by four."'

'"Your memories removed, your body confused."' Isaac muttered.

I grinned to myself. Theory confirmed. 'Have you figured out who you are yet?'

There was another whispered back and forth, followed by a heavy stomp. 'Just open the door, Kelly.'

'Urgh. Fine.' After a minute's shuffling and the sound of a sliding chain, the door swung open and a young woman with a baseball bat stepped into the frame. She opened her mouth to speak, but shut it and frowned when she didn't see me.

I rolled my eyes. 'Down here.' She looked down and gasped. 'Hi there. Honestly. You'd think, having a little person as a brother, looking down would be your first instinct.'

'Yeah. Kind of fell out of that habit recently.' She glanced over her shoulder in time for Isaac to finally show himself.

Now, I was tall. For a pony mare. At least, I assumed I was, judging by my princess-like build. I didn't know what I was expecting Isaac to look like, but I at least thought he'd be at my eye level. As I craned my neck up and up to finally meet his gaze, I had never felt so dwarfed by anyone. He was huge! This guy was supposed to be a pony?! 'You're…'

'Troubleshoes. Yeah.' He drooped his head so that he was only slightly taller than Kelly. 'We figured that out a few days ago. What about you?'

I shrugged. 'No idea. I didn't turn up on the wiki. But you can, at least, see I'm like you. Why don't we get in, out of this…' I waved around at the tunnel. 'Giant condom, and we can swap info?'

~~~

Kelly excused herself to go make us coffee while Isaac led me into the living room. The walls were covered in framed pictures of Isaac with, presumably, his family, Isaac in full clown makeup, performing for sick children, Isaac meeting various celebrities, Kelly and Isaac laughing at various tourist traps around the world. All evidence of a good life, well lived.

The room itself was surprisingly spartan. A sofa against one wall, a love seat against another, and a TV in the corner. That was it.

Isaac paused when he saw me looking and chuckled. 'Yeah, we had to move most of the furniture and bric-a-brac into the spare room when I became too big to walk around without breaking anything. Not a problem I've ever had, until recently. I'm still adjusting to the perspective change. Everything looks so strange from this angle.'

I hopped up onto the love seat. 'Tell me about it. I used to be six foot two, now everyone's butts are in my face.'

Isaac actually guffawed and plopped himself down on the carpet. I supposed a two thousand pound draft horse was a little much for the average sofa to take. 'Welcome to my world. Or, my former world, at least. You get used to it.'

'Isaac always said people learned fast not to give him grief when they realized he was at perfect headbutting height.' Kelly came in with three mugs of coffee, and set one in front of Isaac and I. She had even, thoughtfully, added silly straws.

I snickered. 'There is that.' I pointed at my jagged stub. 'Bet I could do some serious damage with this thing.'

'Wow.' Kelly sat down beside me. 'So you're, like, a legit unicorn. That is so cool! Can you do any spells?'

'With this thing?' I frowned up at my horn, just barely visible in my upper peripherals. 'Even assuming that kind of magic exists, I'd hesitate to try it. Without a proper horn, I'd be worried my head might explode or something.'

'Yeah. How did that…' Kelly reached out a hand to touch my horn, but hesitated. I inclined my head towards her to let her know it was okay.

My ear gave an involuntary flick at her touch. Despite being hard as bone, what was left of my horn was remarkably sensitive. The point of contact feeling like pins and needles and a static shock all at once. 'No idea. I got hit by a car five years ago. I was in a coma until the day before last, when I woke up in the clinic, like this. Scars and all.'

'Seriously?' Isaac frowned. 'How do you know they didn't…' He mimed a sawing motion.

'They're not like that.' I took a sip of my coffee. Instant. Darn. Aw well. Caffeine is caffeine. 'The Docs at the clinic are good people. They just want to help me. And, if you give them the chance, they'll try to help you too.'

Kelly gripped her own mug. 'You can't know that. What if they're just trying to lull you into a false sense of security? Or what if they're using you to lure other ponies back for dissection?'

'Well they are kind of using me to bring at least one pony in.' I chuckled and winked at Isaac. 'But I've seen all their test results, reviewed the footage they took, and had background checks run on them. They're clean.'

Kelly and Isaac shared a glance. I was wearing them down. 'But enough about me and the clinic, for now. Tell me about you. You have to tell me everything!'

Isaac blinked.'Wow. Um, okay. Let me think…'

~~~

May 5th:
Isaac's Perspective:

I stood on a borrowed chair in front of the men's room mirror of the Pediatric ward, applying my makeup. I had to confess, my smile was a little bit forced. I mean, I knew it was my birthday and all, but what wiseacre sneaks into a guy's house in the middle of the night and gives him a tattoo? Two, even. I was all for practical jokes, but that was a step too-

~~~

Present:
Teddy's Perspective:

'Wait wait wait! Stop.' I waved a hoof to silence Isaac before he could build any momentum. 'Later. You have to tell me everything later. We're kind of on a time crunch here.'

I carefully set aside my coffee cup and stood up. 'Look. Here's the bottom line, guys. You can't stay here. People are going to come looking for Isaac eventually. Isaac can't work like this, and even if Kelly did all the grocery runs, how long will your money last?' I looked over at the woman not meeting my gaze. 'Can you afford to feed a horse, long term, on your salary? Do you know how many calories a full grown horse needs per day? About fifteen thousand. Minimum. That's the equivalent of about six or seven grown men.'

Her face went red. 'We'd have thought of something!'

'Kelly, please.' Isaac rested a reassuring forehoof on her knee before turning to me. 'You make some good points, Teddy. But you're still asking us to take a lot on faith here. Even if we believe you about this clinic meaning well, can they actually help? Because it sounds like I'll be trading being trapped in my house for being trapped in a hospital, being watched twenty-four seven.'

Kelly slammed her mug on the ground and stood up to loom over me. I doubted she topped five foot four, but in my current state, it was a decent attempt at a power move. 'I've taken care of my brother my whole life! I can take care of him now, without a bunch of quacks treating him like a lab rat.'

I cocked a brow. 'And when your money runs out? Or your friends and neighbours wonder why they haven't seen Isaac in a while? What if someone finds out about him? Do you really think there won't be opportunists who would try to exploit a magical, talking horse?'

Kelly grabbed her bat and gripped it in both hands. 'They'd have to go through me.'

I smiled. 'You got guts, kid. But having guts isn't the same thing as having a plan. I don't know, one way or the other, if Doc and his crew can help. But they're trying. They won't treat you like a freak. They will feed you for as long as you're there. And the clinic is a lot more secure than a little bungalow in the suburbs.'

I patted Isaac on the shoulder and walked to the front door. 'No one's going to force you to come. But what better options do you have?'

Kelly skipped forward and opened the door for me.

I turned back. 'I'll wait in the van with the Doc. I'd guess we have about five minutes before we really need to clear out. Whether you're with us when we do? That's up to you. No pressure.'

I didn't look back as I made my way to the van through the weird condom tunnel. I did my part. And, while one or two more examples would have been preferable, I thought it was safe to say, my reincarnation theory was all but confirmed. I did hope Isaac made the right call, but mostly, I wanted to get back to my investigation. Now that I was fairly certain what was happening, it was time to move on to the how and why.

As the van came into view, Doctor Rhodes ran up to meet me. 'Well?!'

I smirked. 'Give them a minute.'

Two minutes later, Isaac and Kelly came around the corner, and, tentatively, approached the van. I nodded at Isaac, who gave me a small smile.

Doctor Rhodes approached the siblings just in time for Kelly to flick her bat up and rest it on her shoulders. 'I'm keeping the bat.'

Comments

[Poparakelis]

MORE!!!

[harts fire]

ok first i think i have read (several times) most all of the five score story's on this site.
i can say you have a really strong start hear with a totally new look at things.
i will warn you that you will not get many votes as even though the five score has a bunch of story's it is just not famous bare with things and please do keep going.
i will point this story to a vary good friend who is a five score righter and may be willing to help if you get stuck.
i hope you have a story bible to follow so you don't get stuck in a corner.
best wishes
Harts Fire

[Feather Scratch]

11653982
Thank you! I appreciate the kind consideration and will bear your offer in mind.
The story will continue. It's all planned out.
I hope to not disappoint.😁

[Everfree V]

A bit different from the stories I normally read, but this has a great few opening chapters. Im not sure where this story will be heading, but am interested enough to continue reading it as it goes on. Keep up the great work. I look forward to seeing more.

[Somniare]

Has he signed his NDA?

Ah... the papers. Do you really think they're solving something in your situation? You can wipe your butt with them. Nobody cares.

Isaac and Kelly must cooperate better with scientists. They don't really have a choice. They have already been discovered. If the "mad scientists" want Isaac, then there's nothing Kelly can do to stop them.