=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.