BiE 16: Bro Duties.


                                            =BiE 16=


                                            >Hospital smell isn't new to you.

                                            >You've been in them often enough, usually by Anon dragging you to them after you got yourself hurt.

                                            >You sat in the exam room waiting for this doctor.

                                            >The painkillers you took earlier had been keeping a lid on your pain.

                                            >This "Horse M.D." was taking his sweet time getting here.

                                            >At this rate, you were going to heal before he showed up.

                                            >This room wasn't too different from ones back on Earth.

                                            >Anatomical posters of various body parts hung around the room.

                                            >A mock skeleton was in the corner.

                                            >A doctor was walking in the door.

                                            >Wait, shit.

                                            >"What's up, doc?"

                                            >Nice. That shit would get you smacked back on Earth.

                                            >"Hello, Mr. Mous. What seems to be the problem?" he asks.

                                            >This guy has some ridiculous hair.

                                            >It's all red and poofy.

                                            >He asked you a question, dude.

                                            >You snap back to reality.

                                            >"I got clawed up pretty good by a manticore a few days ago, I got fixed up by some tribal goo a friend of mine made, but it still hurts pretty bad."

                                            >These painkillers are making you weird.

                                            >Had to stay on top of that.


                                            >The doctor looks over a form you saw the nurse filling out.

                                            >"Hmm...Well, let's take a look, shall we?" he says as he makes his way over to you.

                                            >That's your cue.

                                            >You hop off the examination table and remove your shirt.

                                            >The doctor makes his way behind you.

                                            >You can hear him sighing, thinking, everything but telling you why you were in pain.

                                            >It eventually becomes too much to bare.

                                            >"So, what's the damage doc?"

                                            >"Did you see what kinda of treatment this friend of yours gave you?" he asks.

                                            >You had apparently lost a lot of blood that night, you didn't remember much after you got hit.

                                            >"No, I was pretty out of it after the manticore got me."

                                            >"Hmm...I'm going to have to take some blood for a quick test." he says.

                                            >Great. Needles.

                                            >You don't like needles.

                                            >"Alright, fine."

                                            >You roll up your sleeve, gotta bite the bullet here.

                                            >The doctor looks at you. "In order to confirm the theory I have, I need a blood sample from as close to the wound as possible."

                                            >...bite the bullet here.


                                            >Fifteen minutes later, you're laying on the examination table trying to rid your body of the pain it had been through.

                                            >That idiot doctor had missed the vein three times.

                                            >Being stabbed in an already painful wound wasn't a fun time.

                                            >That general anesthetic hadn't done shit.

                                            >You're thinking about how you would go about burning down a hospital when the doctor returns.

                                            >"Does it still hurt?" he asks.

                                            >A grunt through gritted teeth was all the reply he was going to get.

                                            >You were gonna kill him.

                                            >You were gonna rip that fucking stupid hair off his fucking head and force feed it down his fucking throat.

                                            >"Well, I can see why. Your blood tests showed us why you're in so much pain." he says.

                                            >Is it because you're fucking incompetent you idiot ha-

                                            >"You were poisoned."

                                            >Wait, what?


                                            >You turn to give him your full attention.

                                            >Zecora didn't seem the type to poison someone she never met.

                                            >"What?"

                                            >The doctor looks at his clipboard again.

                                            >"Manticores have a poison they use the incapacitate their prey. The one that hurt you must have had it running through its claws when it hit you.

                                            >He puts down the clipboard and prods you to sit up.

                                            >He rotates a mirror to show you your back scars.

                                            >Three jagged marks are carved into your back, one glowing an angry red after being stabbed repeatedly with a sharp needle.

                                            >He raises a hoof to your back. "When the manticore slashed you, it released a poison into your wounds to paralyze you."

                                            >That must have been why you were so out of it when Anon dragged you to Zecora's.

                                            >"Whatever treatment you took closed up your wounds, yes, but also trapped the poison inside you. The pain you feel is your nerves inflaming around the infected areas."


                                            >Well shit.

                                            >Poisoned.

                                            >That's never happened before.

                                            >"Can you fix it?"

                                            >Okay. Fuck.

                                            >This could be serious.

                                            >This could be "stop your heart" serious.

                                            >You can't die yet.

                                            >Not before Anon.

                                            >"Stop worrying." the doc says.

                                            >Fuck.

                                            >Was it that obvious?

                                            >"We wouldn't live near a manticore's habitat without having some sort of antitoxin." he says smiling.

                                            >He starts writing on a small notepad and rips the piece of paper off it.

                                            >"Give that to the pharmacy to pick up your antitoxin pills. Take them three times a day with water." he says, handing the prescription to you.

                                            >"What about my pain?" you ask.

                                            >Don't want to not get treated for the reason you're here.

                                            >"The pain should subside when the swelling goes down, take those pills and that should happen in about a week." he says as he walks out the door "Have a nice day Mr. Mous."

                                            >He shuts the door before you can answer.


                                            >You're walking in to town holding your antitoxins and a fresh bottle of painkillers in a bag.

                                            >You had taken your first dose on antitoxin as well as some painkillers already.

                                            >Feels good man.

                                            >Feels REALLY good.

                                            >You've been in pain for the past few days, to be rid of it felt incredible.

                                            >Damn.

                                            >The town got FUCKED UP.

                                            >Everything was broken and shit.

                                            >Ponies were flying around and running all over the place.

                                            >You should help, probably.

                                            >But how?

                                            >You try to find Twilight, she'll know what needs to get done.

                                            >You wave at Derpy as you walk by and get a wave and a smile back.

                                            >Derpy was so cool.

                                            >Shit, you could really go for some of her muffins right now.

                                            >You wonder if you'll run into Lotus, you wanna give her your clean bill of health.

                                            >You come up on Twilight's tree house thing.

                                            >There's Twilight and everyone else outside, Twilight was probably coordinating everything again.

                                            >But she isn't coordinating, it looks like.

                                            >She's walking around Anon, it looks like.

                                            >Anon looks like he's sitting on a box.

                                            >Was he...bleeding?


                                            >Big Bro mode: Engaged.

                                            >Anything that was on your mind is pushed to the side as you stomp over to Anon.

                                            >Applejack hears you approach and starts walking towards you.

                                            >"Well, howdy ther-"

                                            >"Move."

                                            >You don't have time for her shit right now.

                                            >You blow past her and approach Anon.

                                            >He's getting bandaged up around his head.

                                            >You grab his chin and turn it up before he can talk.

                                            >"Uh...dude?" he starts.

                                            >"Look at me."

                                            >Twilight and the girls stand in shocked silence as you examine Anon.

                                            >You turn his head to get a look at the back of it.

                                            >Bloody, a small gash on the back of his head was the cause.

                                            >"Bro!" Anon shouts and he waves you off him.

                                            >You crouch down and meet his eyes as he turns back.

                                            >You hold up a finger.

                                            >"Follow."

                                            >No chances, he could be concussed.

                                            >His eyes are narrow in annoyance, but he follows your guide all the same.

                                            >Satisfied, you stand up again.

                                            >"How did this happen?"

                                            >"Dude, it's nothing, I'm getti-"

                                            >"How?" you interrupt.

                                            >He was your bro, you had to protect him.

                                            >You can do that if he's bullshitting you.

                                            >He still looks pissed.

                                            >"I was out cleaning up debris on the edge of town, I started goofing off and hit my head on a barrel, you happy?" he says.

                                            >Your eyes drift to Rainbow Dash.

                                            >She looks guilty.

                                            >Of course these two were together, they're best friends.

                                            >But you were his Bro.


                                            >You could care less that Dash was there, you got the answer you needed.

                                            >You could push the point, but that would just get him pissed off and make him lie to you when this happened again.

                                            >You let out a sigh.

                                            >"You can't be so reckless, bro."

                                            >His good cheer seems to return to his face

                                            >"Excuse me? This coming from the manticore wrestler?" he says as Twilight finishes wrapping his bandages.

                                            >"That's different. I can take a manticore, barrels are too far out of your league." you quip.

                                            >"Oh please! Which of us had to go to the hospital because he couldn't take his old man back problems?" he shouts with a smile.

                                            >With the situation back in friendly territory, the two of you plus the girls get to work on the town.

                                            >With everypony working, you finish before sunset.

                                            >Rainbow heads back to your apartment for the most recent movie night.

                                            >Tonight was Terminator's I and II.

                                            >Rainbow liked the chase on the motorcycle, good times were had by all.

                                            >She left shortly after the second movie, work in the morning.

                                            >You popped some of your pills in your mouth as you got ready for bed.

                                            >"Yo, bro." Anon stopped you in the hall as he was taking off his bandage.

                                            >"Hmm?"

                                            >"What was the deal in town today? You kinda freaked." he said.

                                            >Great. This.

                                            >Best to just get it out there.

                                            >"I'm the older bro here, it's my job to protect you."

                                            >Anon leaned against the wall. "Well isn't that sweet? I'm only two years younger than you dude, I can handle myself."

                                            >Shit. You knew.

                                            >But you've been protecting this kid since you were seven.

                                            >"Sorry..."

                                            >You don't wait for him to respond, you just head inside and go to bed.