Accidental Sunshine (4) (Patreon)

The doctor didn't like her being quiet very much, and didn't let her just lay there no matter how much she wanted to. "We're going to start with a simple concentration exercise, to see whether there are any causes for concern," he said. "I want you to count down from a hundred, one number at a time. Can you do that?"

"A hundred..." she repeated. "That's a lot."

"Yes, well. It usually doesn't take very long to see what there is to see. If you would indulge me, I promise we will go as quickly as we can." 

She sighed, but did as instructed. "A hundred... then there's, uh.. less." How often did a little bug have to count up so high? "Thirty? Then... twenty nine."

The stallion rested one hoof on her shoulder. "That will be enough, thank you. Very... illustrative." He scribbled something down on a sheet, then levitated the thing he was using to write with into the air in front of her. Not a stylus, but the thin sheet would probably not hold an impression as good as slime or clay anyway. Maybe it worked some other way? 

"I want you to follow this with your eyes while I move it. Back and forth. That's good, just track it." He kept that up for a few silent seconds, then started talking while he moved. "What can you tell me about the accident? We saw the explosion all the way from Ponyville, so we know it must've been... significant. What details do you remember?"

She looked away from the writing thing, directly at his face. "Loud, fast... boom!" She spread both wings as she said it. "Loudest thing I ever heard in my whole life! Hot, everything burned."

The doctor kept moving the writing thing around for a few more seconds, until he realized she wasn't looking at it anymore. Weird that it took him so long to give up.

But eventually he did, tucking it behind his ear. He held something else up in his magic, a little metal tube. "Look in this direction for a few seconds, please." 

She obeyed—only to be rewarded for her cooperation with a sharp blast of light to the face. She recoiled, baring her teeth and glaring at him. "Hey!"

He held still, and a twinge of confusion and actual fear passed through him. Did her little gesture scare him that bad?

"Now let's talk about before. You agreed to go on this test flight for Time Turner, correct? Do you remember why?"

She took a deep breath, thinking back to everything the real Ditzy Do had told her. She cared a great deal about the stallion, that was clear. Her dying wish was to make sure he wouldn't hate himself for what happened. Yet about the mare herself...

She spread her wings, then folded them again. "Was it so... I could fly away? If anything bad happened? Except that didn't even happen."

He tucked the light away. "What about your mother's name? Your father? What is your hometown?"

She tilted her head to the side, lost in thought. Her mother was Queen Chrysalis, obviously. But her father was harder—there were a dozen or so males in the swarm at any one time, all her consorts when they pleased her, and little more than expensive pets the rest of the time. That was probably why she got along with Thorax so well—he was far from the Queen's favorite.

"The Que—" She stopped short, then settled her forelegs in front of her. "Not sure." A lie, and not a very convincing one at that. What kind of bug could get that wrong?

Her, apparently. The doctor scribbled a few more lines. "What was your career? Explain what your job was like. Did you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Oh, yeah. Lots. Like... sixteen sisters. No brothers, I think we had enough males already, so there weren't any."

"Sixteen?" Doctor Horse said nothing for several more seconds, scribbling so hard on his floating slab that she could almost make out the words.

"One more thing, and I believe I'll be ready." He levitated something else—a flat rectangle, soft under the light. There were lots of those on the ship when it burned, this was just one. "Can you read this for me? What's the title of this book?"

There were markings in the center, but not the little patterns of lines and dots that formed written letters. Of course she hadn't learned those either. A hunter had to learn something useful to record and pass on to future generations of bugs before they needed to learn writing. "Dunno any of those."

He sighed, and levitated the book back down without opening it. "I think we have everything we need to know. Would you like the diagnosis now, or to wait for your friend at the helm?"

"Uh..." She shrugged. "Dunno what a diagnosis is. Is it good?"

"In your case... no. I'm seeing very serious signs of trauma. There's a course of medication we can use to stabilize, but... there are no spells safe enough to use on a pony's brain. The consequences of failure are so high they generally aren't worth the risk. If you're still... functional, it's usually best to wait for healing to occur on its own. Assisted by medication and lifestyle changes. We will need to hold you at Ponyville General for a few days, make sure the swelling goes down. After that, it could be... a long road."

He said all those things while radiating a sympathy powerful enough for Grey-17 to taste it, even if it didn't quite cross the threshold into edible love. "I'm sorry, miss. This is a very serious case. Not the kind a pony can overcome in a few days. It could be months, or even years until your memory is back to normal."

He took another step back, removing another metal necklace from around his neck, and tucking it back into his pocket. These ponies sure had a lot of magic to eat—but also lots of objects. How could any bug need so many different tools?

"There are reasons to be optimistic. I'm seeing very few physical signs of lingering trauma. If the swelling doesn't come back, you should be able to make a full recovery. In the worst case, I've seen patients learn everything they forgot, thanks to the help of loved ones. There's no reason you could not do the same."

Very little happened on the ride after that. Finally the one called Doctor Horse left her alone, other than occasional visits to the room to make sure she was doing okay, and offer her water or solid food. She could take the former—but the latter would be a problem.

A bug could eat solid food if needs required, but not for nourishment. Within hours, her body would mix it with love to produce slime, which she would need to remove one way or another. 

They slowed after a time, and began a gradual descent to the ground. Grey-17's curiosity finally got the better of her—she had to press up to the window and look at what a “pony” burrow looked like. Would they have more guards on the surface? Would pegasi do the job of soldiers, patrolling the skies for predators and rival tribes?

There was no burrow here as she had ever known one. It wasn't even a mound, but vertical burrow made from stone and slime over many bug generations. Instead there were hundreds, maybe even thousands of little mounds, each one disconnected. Streets wove and crossed between them, like the internal halls of the burrow. Yet all were out in the open, vulnerable to attack from any direction. 

It wasn't very efficient to make their paths only walkable on the bottom like that! With no walls connected and no halls curving in vertical space, the ponies would be forced to all take the same routes all the time!

The locals didn't seem to care, though. Even from the window she felt the energy radiating from below, a lot like the fire of when Ditzy's airship burned. It washed over her, not directed enough to give her love. Even so, the power was... overwhelming. It would take dozens of hunters to properly harvest a place like this, maybe even more.

They landed with a little bump, nearly throwing her off her hooves again. She used a wing to keep herself standing, bracing it against the single flat bed.

Then the door opened, and Time Turner appeared there. Both other ponies were behind him. Yet none felt afraid, only worried for her. "There's a wagon from the hospital already waiting on the dock," Time Turner said. "Everything will be okay, I promise."

She turned away from the window, then advanced cautiously towards him. "Why don't you believe that?"

He winced, ears folding flat and tail falling still. "Ah, well. Spoke to the doctor about your diagnosis. Ordinarily I wouldn't, but considering what it said—I hope you don't mind."

How could she be upset about something she didn't even understand? She shrugged, and followed them out the tunnel, then back up the weird ramp onto the surface. The airship now rested at a wooden platform suspended over the air, with lots of space underneath. That could be a dangerous fall, if a bug slipped down without their wings ready. 

That was probably why Time Turner walked beside her, one hoof ready to hold and stabilize her at the slightest sign of instability.

They crossed up onto a wooden bridge, then down to the flat road. Sure enough, there was another wooden thing there. A “wagon” apparently, with a bright red symbol on the side and ponies dressed a little like Doctor Horse waiting there. They rushed to meet her as she approached, pushing another flat bed thing with them. 

"Get in, miss. We'll take you."

She pulled back, wiggling her forelegs away from their grip. Was this a capture? Otic had warned her this could happen. If a creature learned she was a hunter, they would probably try to kill her. Everything hated bugs, if they learned they were around. 

Her tail whipped back and forth, and her wings splayed, ready to lift up into the air if she had to fly away. 

But she'd never flown as a pegasus before. Could she even get these wings to work?

In this strange new place, she knew only one way to look—towards the stallion who had helped her so far, and fed her with so much love. "Time Turner? What do they want?"

"To help you," he assured, resting one hoof firmly on her back. Maybe he realized she might try to flee. His hoof held down with enough force that it would probably trap her on the ground, no matter how hard she struggled.

But she didn't fight him. A creature who fed her so well was obviously not going to hurt her. There were easier ways to hurt her if he wanted, and less expensive. Once she got the love, he wouldn't get it back. "Are you sure?" she asked, breathing fast and heavy "Will you... will you be there?"

"I—yes, Ditzy. I'll come with you. If you think it would help you feel better."

She nodded several times. "Please. I don't want to go with strangers. I don't know anyone here. Where we are, or... I'm already lost."

"Stay calm, miss," said one of the ponies in white. She had no horn or wings, just a jacket like Doctor Horse. She pushed over a set of steps, nudging Ditzy up onto the bed. "We're going to the hospital. You were hurt, remember? Everypony saw the accident, even from here. You need to go to the hospital."

Without Time Turner, she probably would've made a break for it. Getting in that enclosed space with creatures she hadn't seen yet, trusting only their word that she would be safe? Not worth the risk, even for all this love.

But when Time Turner got in, she didn't feel so scared. Ditzy Do knew him, and cared a lot about how he felt. She would trust him too. 

The ponies pushed her bed up into their wagon, and Time Turner clambered in beside her. There was barely enough room for him in the confined space, when there was already another pony there to watch her. He kept his hoof on her wing the whole time.

"It will be okay," he kept saying. "You're doing great. You'll see."