> Twilight Gets a Splinter > by MoltenXKid > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Medical Science > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The rooster’s crow signaled the morning for everypony in Ponyville. The annoying sound resonated through out a library tree house causing one mare to angrily wake up. With a sigh, she lazily rolled out of bed, and, with an animated plop, she slammed into the ground. She wanted more sleep, but deep inside-past the pain from the floor- she knew that no one else could run the library like she could. She began walking to the restroom, yet the rooster bellowed its sound again. The mare closed her eyes, levitated the pillow, and tossed it towards the rooster. “Cockle-Doodle- D-AcChhh” The mare, who everyone knew as Twilight Sparkle, smirked as she started to comb her hair. “That would teach the rooster to do what it did naturally.” She thought. As she finished her morning routine, the smell of breakfast drifted to her nostrils. As if she was summoned by Celestia herself, Twilight ran for the dining room. In her misguided attempts to obtain food, Twilight accidentally slipped, and fell down the stair case. On the way down, she hit every stair in a different contorted position. She hit the bottom with her hind leg stretch wrapped around her neck. Luckily, the yoga classes had been paying off, so Twilight was more flexible than ever; she simply retracted her leg. “Twilight, are you okay?” asked Spike as he looked around the corner. “No, Spike. I just had a simple fall.” Twilight said. She began walking to the table, yet the vibrations from her footsteps caused a bookshelf, loosely attached the wall, to fall on top of her. A large dust cloud, formed in the room causing Spike to cough and shield his eyes. When it receded, all he could see were two, lavender hooves stretching out from under the wooden structure. “TWILIGHT!!” screamed Spike. He tried to lift the feeble structure, yet his cause was futile. The young dragon was too weak-and a bit too chubby- to lift the bookcase. With all hope lost, he began to cry, yet stopped when the lavender hooves retracted into the bookcase. Within moments, the back of the bookcase exploded open revealing an unharmed Twilight. “I’m alright. I’m alright.” She said, “Now let’s eat.” She began to happily walk to the kitchen, but was unaware of the tiny, Minuscule, almost non-existent piece of wood sticking up from her wood floor. With confidence in each step, Twilight stepped right on it. “AH!!!!” Twilight yelled as she fell to the floor, “Spike…I’ve been hit! Call the guards!” Spike instinctively ran to his caregiver. She lifted up her hoof, and he inspected it thoroughly. He shook his head once he realized Twilight was being over-dramatic. “Twilight, you have a splinter. The smallest I've ever seen.” “Spike, what are you talking about?” Twilight asked, “What in Celestia’s name is a splinter?” “Hmmm, well Ms. Sparkle, I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years as a medical professional.” said Nurse RedHeart as she looked over numerous X-rays. “What do you mean?! It’s a simple splinter!” explained Spike. Unable to be convinced of her disorder, Twilight decided to go to the hospital. This only worsened her fears when even the medical professionals couldn’t diagnose her disorder. Spike’s explanations didn’t help either. They were too simple, and childish to actually explain the pain she was in. She couldn’t help, but look at her hoof when it began to throb. The wound was a swollen, darker purple area than the fur around it, which made Twilight wonder how a wound could be seen through her fur. “Can you cure me, Nurse?” Twilight sincerely asked. “We can try…” Nurse RedHeart replied. A team of medical ponies walked into the room to administer multiple tests: blood test, magic test, physical test, mental test, urinary test, and certain test that made Twilight feel- uncomfortable. No matter what, the test proved fruitless. Whatever was in her causing Twilight’s hoof to hurt couldn't be found. Medical technology hadn't come that far. “Listen, son. We’re doctors here. We know what we’re doing. We’ll have your mom all better soon.” comforted one doctor. “It is just a splinter!” Spike hollered Not able to diagnose the problem, the doctors had to assume the worse. They put Twilight in a plastic bubble to protect her, but more to protect the ponies of the town from the unknown. Purified air would be pumped into the bubble through a series of magical pumps. Twilight said inside the bubble, sad, heart broken, and somewhat violated from the earlier test. Outside the bubble sat the annoyed Spike. He kept grumbling something unintelligible to himself. “…” said Twilight. When she saw Spike’s confused look, she remembered that she had to press the speaker to talk.“Oh, Spike, I fear they may never find out what’s wrong with me.” “There’s nothing wrong with you…” Spike replied. “Of course there’s something wrong with me, Spike!” Twilight eyes began to tear, “It’s just the doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong with my hoof.” Spike mentally cursed all ponies. “Twilight, you have a very tiny splinter in your hoof. It is actually very common. Especially since you leave in a house...located in a tree.” “Spike…no one knows what a splinter is! Is that some made up name for whatever I have?!” “Wood went into…ARG!” Spike couldn’t hold in his rage anymore. With his claws-that he had sharpened at the spa- Spike slashed the plastic bubble open. The cold air forced its way out of the bubble. The dragon ran toward the pony with mercy not in his eyes. Twilight clenched for impact, yet only felt Spike gently lift up her hoof. With his free hand, he used two claws to quickly pluck out the small, wooden problem. Instantly, Twilight’s hoof began to feel better, and the swelling began to go down. She couldn’t believe what her friend her had done. “Spike! You did it!” Twilight cheered as she hugged her baby dragon. “No need to thank me. “Spike sighed as he flicked away the splinter, “It was literally nothing…” It had been a week since Twilight’s incident. Spike thought it would end there, but no. It had gone farther than he would have ever expected. “For accomplishments in Medical Science, we give the Medal of Innovation to Spike the dragon. He single handedly cured and named the dreaded disorder known as “Splinters”. Because of this, thousands of other cases were solved resulting in many cured ponies and happy families.” Celestia said using the Royal Canterlot Speaking Voice. The crowd below her cheered as Celestia lowered the pure gold award around Spike’s neck. “Any words, young hero?” “It was just a splinter…”