What Have I Become?

Chapters

I Hurt Myself Today
The Needle Tears a Hole
I Remember
Full of Broken Thoughts

I Hurt Myself Today

The wind and the phone wires made a tattletale sound as a wave of cold broke over the railing of a highway overpass in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A tired and stumbling lone figure turned his dirty shirt collar up to block the sudden chill that swept over him. At the edge of the pass, under the only working streetlamp nearby, the figure stopped and looked over the side to the ground below. It didn't matter how many times he looked over that railing those past eight months, it still gave him a shiver of fear. He let out the breath of air he was holding and swung his leg over the ledge.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered under his breath. He inched his way over the railing, holding on for dear life until his feet dangled above the long drop below. Gripping tighter he felt his feet along the underside of the ledge.

"Where... is it?" he grumbled and whimpered. Finally his foot caught on something solid. A small, makeshift rope ladder was tied off below, just wide enough for two boots to slip into. He let out a sigh of relief and started making his way down the ladder. "I'll never get used to this."

Halfway down a familiar voice shouted up to him from underneath the overpass. "Who be dat? Better not be some fuckin' crackhead comin' to try and steal old Billy Bong's stash again!"

"No Billy, it's just Rizzo," the descending man said as he looked down to the grizzled middle aged man.

"G. Rizzo, well if it ain't my favorite smack addict!" He smiled up at him before tossing his "home defense," an old crowbar, into the darkness where it clattered and slid to a stop. "C'mon down my boy, let's get you out of this cold."

Rizzo shivered once more at the thought of the day he would slip off this ladder. He glanced once more up at the tattered rope before following Billy around a tarp hung from the railings. Once around he was greeted to a welcoming and familiar sight. Three tarps and a concrete slab made up four walls of a warm and cozy shelter, a barrel of wood and garbage burning in the center. The ageing man had also dragged down an old couch and a couple of dirty recliners, one of which was occupied by a passed out boy wearing practically nothing.

"Don't mind him, he's just another smart customer like yourself who knows there are more ways than money to get what I got." Billy plopped himself into his favorite recliner and motioned for Rizzo to follow suit. Rizzo slid his backpack off and sat gingerly down on a very old Victorian era chair near the barrel.

Once he appeared settled Billy smiled wide at Rizzo, his golden brown teeth glinting in the firelight. "So Gordon, how's life been treatin' ya?"

Rizzo shrugged as his rubbed his hands over the fire, trying to get any feeling he had before back. "Don't call me Gordon, Billy. But life's okay I guess. Couple of dickheads came and forced me out from under my bridge."

"Aww, well ain't that a cryin' shame," Billy said with no hint of sympathy in his voice. "Is that why you're here? Need a place to stay for the night?"

"Well that would be mighty kind of you Billy, and before you even say anything, yes I can pay you for your... 'hospitality.'" Rizzo grinned halfheartedly at the bridge dweller. "And... I seem to have prematurely run out of my stash, maybe we can do up a little of that pineapple?"

"Oh baby, well you come to the right spot!" Billy reached around behind his chair and pulled out a small duffle bag. "I always got the good stuff." He unzipped it and started pulling various objects from within. Before the blink of an eye a bottle of water, a spoon, cotton swab, Zippo lighter, two small syringes and two little plastic baggies were spread out on Billy's lap. "Sorry Riz, I only got one clean needle tonight."

Rizzo shrugged and said, "No worries. I'm pretty surprised I don't have dirty blood already."

"Well just sit back and warm up, have that cash ready, and let old Billy take care of you." He turned his attention back down to his lap. He dabbled a chunk of the brown stuff from one bag, and a bit of powder from the other into the spoon with a little bit of water and started heating it up over the lighter. Once satisfied with his work Billy dropped the cotton end of the swab into the spoon, and sucked the dirty yellow-brown liquid into the obviously used syringe, using the cotton to filter out any chunks on the spoon. He lifted up the syringe to the light and tapped it while squirting a tiny amount from the needle, so air wouldn't get in the blood vessel.

Billy jumped up from his chair and stood over his new house guest. He held out the needle for Rizzo, but pulled it back out of his reach when he extended his hand to grab it. "Ah, ah, ah! Dough before dope, boy."

"Jeezus Billy, no need to be a dick. I'm hurtin' here!" Rizzo complained, but he still reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of dirty bills. Billy snatched the whole wad from his hand and set the syringe down on the arm of Rizzo's chair. He quickly grabbed it up, pulled off his shirt, and whipped his belt off before tightening it around his arm. He gave his arm a couple smacks and found the vein. He glanced once more up at Billy who was too busy counting his new money, before pressing the needle into his body. It took him a moment to hit the rolling vein, but once he felt it hit, he pulled back the plunger of the needle and "drove it home" as it were.

As soon as the pale liquid hit his blood, he could feel the pleasure jump up his arm with each increasing beat of his heart. "C'mon baby. C'mon, let me feel it again..." He whispered to the drug coursing through his body. A wave of dull euphoria washed over him, although it wasn't enough. It was never the same as the first time, yet he had kept coming back to try.

"I hope you don't fuck like you slam, Rizzo. Otherwise you'd never get it in!" Through the overcoming haze, he could see Billy standing above him, smirking. "That Horse and Amphetamine mix really fucks you up, huh dumbshit?"

Billy looked down at the completely out of it man before him. "Pfft, fuckin' fool." He shook his "friend" to make sure he wasn't lucid before he started rummaging through his pockets. He didn't find much, but the couple spare dollars and golden pocket watch were a nice find. "Thank you, kind sir!" Billy said with a bow. Opening the watch, a small picture fell out. Billy picked it up and stuffed it into his own pocket. He turned around and made his way back to his chair, but was stopped in front of it by a gut wrenching sound. He swung around and grimaced at the convulsing body of Rizzo, disgusting, viscous bile was trying to be coughed up from his mouth, only to be sucked into his lungs with each rattling breath.

Billy ran over and kneeled beside him and made to roll him over so he could cough out the vile liquid. He put his hands underneath his body, but that's as far as he got. He glanced over at Rizzo's pack and then down at his boots. Slowly, he slid his hands back out from the choking body and began untying the boots on his feet. He pulled them off and checked the size. "Hmm, just right."

He walked over to the pack and started pulling everything out. "Oh my, yes. Oh this is nice! Oh wow, I haven't seen one of these in forever!" he stated with each item pulled out. Nearing the bottom of the bag, he realized it had become very quiet. He turned and looked to find Rizzo's body no longer moving. Billy made his way back and pressed his fingers to Rizzo's neck. He felt a twinge of guilt as no pulse reached his fingers. Inside, his partially inebriated mind searched for an answer. "I wish I could think of something to say. Something sympathetic. Something human... Eh, fuck it."

"What a shame, what a shame. Hehe, at least you got one helluva ride before you went, eh pal?" he said the best words he could come up with out loud.

Billy pulled the picture back out of his pocket and stuffed it into a pocket in Rizzo's pants. He picked his body up and dragged it to the nearby drainage ditch just outside of Billy's overpass. "Hasta luego, amigo." he said his final goodbye before rolling him into the ditch. At the bottom, Rizzo landed in a large puddle of dirty runoff and mud, his body no longer visible to world around him.

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Warmth. He needed warmth. And someplace dry. No boots, no shirt, and a sinus cavity full of what he believed to be bile and stagnant swamp water, Rizzo found himself in a staggering run through a dense forest. "W-where is everything? There are no woods like this... as far as I know," he wondered aloud.

He ran for what could have been hours or minutes, the true passage of time unknown to the dirty man. Looking through the pouring rain he saw a break in the tree line. "Finally!" he shouted over the din of the storm above. He picked up the pace, sprinting as fast as his sore body could move. The trees thinned as he ran, and he leaned up against one of the last ones of the forest. Through the rain he could see a big two story building with a couple lights twinkling through the windows.

His eyes spun around in his head, looking for anyone who might spot him. Seeing no one, he resumed his sprint towards the building. About 50 yards in front of the building, his foot caught on a rock hidden in a large puddle, which he proceeded to fall into. He lifted his head out of the muck and blew the junk from his mouth and nose. Shaking his hand off, he wiped his eyes clear and looked back up, only to see a large white sign in his way. He looked closer and saw a big red plus sign on it.

"Big red cross... must be a hospital or clinic," he wondered. He got up to his knees only to be thrown back down by a sudden, painful cramp in his stomach. "Oooh, whatever Billy gave me must has worn off awhile ago... wait. If that's some kind of medical center... they might have some methadone, or even some actual morphine!" He got back on his feet, slowly at first so as not to agitate his stomach. Once up, he jogged up to the front doors and peered in. The lights were on, but no one was at the front desk.

"No need to risk it. Someone might see me come in." He turned and walked along the wall and whipped around the corner. He checked a couple of windows and found all of them to be locked. "Shit," he muttered to himself. He kept going around the back and there he found his way in. A metal fire escape reached up and bent around the top ledge of the building's roof. He put his weight all on his foot on the first rung to test it, and satisfied that he would have an easier time than with Billy's ladder, he made his way to the roof.

Up there he found an unlocked window, leading into a dimly lit hallway. He peered into it to make sure no one was coming, and slipped into the nearest room. Luckily he found it empty. He grabbed up a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around his shivering form. He sat for a moment letting the warmth soak into his cold and clammy skin. Getting anxious from the increasingly painful stomach cramps, he noticed a painting up on a wall and on a whim looked closer.

"Man, whoever this artist is he has a weird sense of what a horse looks like." He looked down in the corner of the painting to find a name, which he read out loud once he could make out the handwritten scribble, "'#3 of 12 Lithographs by Purple Prose, from the Collection of Fine Art at the Ponymount Manehattan College of Art and Graphic Design.' Pfft, decent artist, can't even spell 'Manhattan' right."

He turned away and walked back to the door, since the feeling had returned to his hands and feet. He peered out the door. "Still empty." He slipped out into the hallway and made his way towards the end. There he found that it turned right to a hallway blocked off by locked steel doors. Up above he saw a sign that read "Psychiatric Ward." He banged on the door in frustration and turned away. Across the hallway, there was a large poster sized map with a big red arrow that said "YOU ARE HERE."

"Perfect!" He ran his hand along the directory, reading off the names, "Burn Ward, Cafeteria, Mareternity? I didn't realize Cedar Rapids had this low of a literacy rate... Ma-Magical Accidents? What?" Rizzo scratched his head before passing it off as a withdrawal symptom. "Dah, dah, dah, AHA! Here we go: 'pharmacy.'" He traced his route along the map and set off down the hallway. He bounded down the steps and ran through the ground floor door, not even bothering to look first in all his haste. He ran out into the hall only to take his second spill of the night, but instead of his foot hitting hard rock, his whole leg smashed into something soft and fuzzy. And that soft and fuzzy thing had yelped in pain.

The first thing to go through Rizzo's mind was, "OH SHIT! I just kicked a kid!" But as he picked his face up from the floor and turned it towards his would be child abuse arrest, he only found a light olive-furred lump. "Is... that a dog?"

Those thoughts were laid to rest as the furry thing raised its head, rubbing its temple with a... hoof? The knee high thing stood to its full height on all four limbs and looked to its attacker. Its already large eyes widened when it saw what had hit it. Rizzo opened his mouth to say something soothing so the animal wouldn't make any noise. He was interrupted when the thing talked.

"W-w-what are you?" it exclaimed.

Rizzo didn't stick around to answer though, as he was up on his feet again running to the point of his feet aching in pain with each foot fall. "Oh man, oh man! These DTs are Goddamned CRAZY! I gotta get something in my vein NOW." He shook his head clear of what he knew in his mind to be a hallucination from the lack of amphetamine in his system, he turned the corner into the final leg of his search. Halfway down the hall, he found his destination, the words "Pharmacy" emblazoned on a small plastic sign on the door. He tried turning the knob, but of course, it was locked.

Down the hall, he heard a cry from a female, "He's down that way, hurry!" Sparing no time, he picked up a small metal chair in the hall and bashed it against the knob. Blow after blow it seemed like it wouldn't come off until finally, with strength he thought he didn't have, Rizzo broke the handle right off the door. He pushed and pulled but the mechanism was still locked. He glanced down the hall again to see flashlights nearing the corner. Fully sweating now, Rizzo stuck his finger into the hole from the door knob and rattled around inside. After a moment he heard a click and the door swung open. He ran in and slammed the door shut, propping his metal chair against that side's knob, which thankfully had not come off yet.

Rizzo spun around. A few metal cabinets lined the walls, each with their own metal placard. He walked up to each, reading off their names, "Hmm, anti-psychotics, mmm no, no... oh. Oh my." Rizzo was struck dumb at the sight in front of him. A cabinet as high as the ceiling and twice as wide as Rizzo stood proudly before him, stocked from top to bottom with what the cabinet placard said.

ANALGESICS

A tear ran down Rizzo's face. "So... so much of it!" He ripped the doors open and giddily started pulling bottles of pills and liquid medications. He jumped with joy and hollered out, forgetting he was on the lamb. Rizzo may have forgotten, but the furry things outside had not. As Rizzo popped the top of a bottle marked "Marephine 50mg (quick release)" his pursuers began banging on the barricaded door. His ecstasy ended then and there. He slammed his body against the door, hoping to keep it in place. His eyes scanned the room for any way out.

"Of course. It's a pharmacy. One way in, one way out." Rizzo summed up his situation quickly, "there's no way I can get out of this now..." Another tear, this time a tear of sorrow etched across his dirty cheek. He picked up the bottle of pain killers and sighed. "If there's no physical way out..." Rizzo tilted his head back to down the entire bottle, but instead of the feeling of those little, white, happy pills entering his mouth, he got a rough kick to the back through the door. The force of the hit knocked him across the small room, pills spilling every which way from the bottle.

Still shaken, but still in his somewhat right mind, he started scooping up handfuls of the pills into his mouth, chewing on them for full effect. The taste would have gagged him, if it were not for another furry thing, this one larger than the last, slamming its hooves into the back of Rizzo's skull. Light faded from his eyes just as the numbing effect spread across his tongue, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

The Needle Tears a Hole

A dark blue unicorn trotted down the road, a cup of steaming coffee clasped in his magic. Doctor Blue Pipe strode groggily towards Ponyville Hospital early in the morning. The ground squished and splattered with each hoof fall, the freezing rain scheduled for last night forming large puddles in every street.

The doctor shivered as he stepped into a particularly deep puddle and grumbled to himself, "stupid Doctor Assmosis, taking my night shifts for the week." The good doctor had indeed been rescheduled to work during the days at Ponyville Hospital. But as Chief Deputy Physician for the whole building, he usually chose his own shifts, his favorite being the night shift. Barely anypony ever came in, only one or two other doctors or nurses to deal with, and he could flirt with that cute pegasus nurse in Wing Care.

But of course the Chief was out of town this week, so it fell on him to take over as the leading medico of the building for that time. Plus Doctor Osmosis wanted the night shifts this week. After the mishap the week before with that syringe breaking off in a patients leg, Blue Pipe was sure Osmosis wanted to avoid both he and the Chief at all costs.

As Blue Pipe rounded a corner in the path to work he was jostled off to the side by a group of galloping ponies, all heading towards the hospital. Wondering what was going on, he sped up to match their speed dropping his coffee along the way and hollered at the nearest stallion, "Hey you! What's going on, where's the fire?"

The Earth pony barely looked at him. "You haven't heard? There was a break in at the hospital!"

"What?" Blue Pipe exclaimed. "Was anypony hurt?"

"I guess a little filly named Cotton Ball got a pretty good kick to the flank," the stallion said with a shrug. Blue Pipe slowed down and the group went on ahead as he stopped, his mouth open in shock. "No, not Cotton Ball..." Shaking his head, he started galloping back to the hospital.

A few minutes later he was running up the path in front of the hospital. In front were near a hundred ponies, a lot of them were obviously reporters or just bystanders, but a very large amount of them were of the Royal Guard, clad in their exuberantly shiny and gold armor. He made his way through the crowd to the barricade the guards put up blocking the front doors.

As he stepped up a guard put a hoof to his chest. "Sorry Sir, only those with extreme medical injuries or hospital staff are being accepted right now."

Blue Pipe simply grabbed at something in his saddlebag with his magic and pulled out an I.D. card which he floated to the guard's hoof. The guard snatched it out of the air and read aloud, "'Doctor Blue Pipe, Deputy to the Chief of Medicine, Chief of Hematology, Chief of Pharmacology, Chief of...' that's a lot of 'Chiefs,' Doctor Pipe."

"Well it's a small town hospital," he said with a grunt as he pulled the badge from the guards grip. "Maybe when we have the staffing like Los Pegasus General does, I won't have 400,000 jobs to do here." After placing his I.D. back in his bag, he crouched under the barricade, past the guard and into the front door of the hospital.

"That's odd," he said as he stepped up to the front desk to sign in, finding nopony at the station. "Why is nopony here? This desk should be occupied during all daytime hours." Blue Pipe went around the desk and signed himself in. After hitting the locker room for his lab coat and clipping his I.D. to it, he started searching the halls for anypony at all. Every hallway he trotted down echoed his hoof steps loudly, the normally bustling sound of nurses, doctors, and patients absent. Passing down one hall, he decided to check in on the pharmacy and see if anypony was there. He rounded the corner to see two more Royal Guards in front of the taped up door of the pharmacy. As he approached, he noticed the door handle had been broken off.

"Uh... I'm Doctor Blue Pipe, what happened here?"

One of the guards spoke up without averting his gaze at the wall, "During the break in, the intruder went straight here. Dug through one of the cabinets. Sorry Doctor, but a good supply of your pain killers had to be disposed of."

"Disposed of?" the doctor inquired.

"Yeah, we incinerated them since most of them were on the floor. I guess the five second rule doesn't apply, hmm?" the guard half chuckled.

"No, no it does not... is the intruder still here, or has he been moved to a holding cell?"

The guard nodded. "Oh yeah, he's still here. Doctor Osmosis gave him a pretty good blow to the back of his head, I guess."

"Where are they now?"

"Up in the Intensive Care Unit." the guard motioned up at the above floor.

"Thank you," Blue Pipe said before making his way towards the stairs.

"Steel yourself Doc, I heard this guy's pretty weird to look at." Blue Pipe barely registered what he said as he went up the steps.

"Why would he head straight for the pharmacy? If he was hurt we certainly could have helped him. Unless he's a fugitive. But I think if one was somewhere in the area we would have been notified, wouldn't we?

Once at the top of the stairs, a cry of pain echoed down the hall. Blue Pipe broke into a gallop again towards the I.C.U. Up ahead he spotted the door to the unit, just before it swung open with the force of a pony being hurled against it. Blue Pipe stopped to examine that now unconscious pony, who he immediately recognized as Doctor Osmosis. A Nurse Redheart, Blue Pipe thought was a nurse for the dayside team, rushed out of the room.

"Doctor are you... Doctor Pipe! Oh thank Celestia you're here! Please, we need your help restraining this um, 'patient,'" she said, a bead of sweat dripping off her brow.

"You have Royal Guards at your disposal Nurse, why is it so hard to restrain this pony? Is he a powerful unicorn or strong earth pony?"

"T-that's the thing, Doctor. Since he woke up he has knocked out or injured 7 Royal Guards, one nurse, and now Doctor Osmosis," she said as she pulled him to the door of the I.C.U. "and um, he's not a pony."

"Is he a griff..." The Doctor's words were lost as he stared into the room. A large, hairless "beast" had a chair in his grip and was swinging it at the nurses inside. This thing, stood near twice the height of a full grown pony, and on two limbs no less. A pair of dirty shorts hung around its waist and a pair of tattered pants were thrown into the corner. The thing grunted, screamed, and swung his chair at any nurse that got close enough to stick him with the syringes they all had.

"We've been trying to get him sedated since he woke up screaming. He keeps clutching his abdomen and he's sweating a lot, so we're pretty sure he is having stomach cramps along with a nasty gash we couldn't get cleaned in time after Osmosis hit him," the nurse said as she watched one of her nurses nearly take a chair leg to the face.

"It was like this as soon as he woke up?"

"Yes, as soon as his eyes opened, he hit a nurse across the head and tried running out. We've been able to keep him here so far but..." Nurse Redheart stopped as Blue Pipe pushed her aside and walked into the room.

"Get Doctor Osmosis into a bed, Nurse Redheart," the Doctor said before he pursed his lips and let out a loud whistle. "Nurse Sweetheart! Coldheart! All of you, stop this at once!"

The four nurses jumped at the sound and backed away from the thing, not taking their eyes off it for one second, two of them exiting the room to make way for the doctor. "Now if we could try calming him down, instead of trying to stab him with a needle, maybe we could get better results, eh?" Blue Pipe asked, looking expectantly at the two remaining nurses. They both nodded and placed the syringes down on a nearby tray before taking a place at either side of the doctor.

The thing in the room stared at Blue Pipe uncomfortably. As the nurses backed away it lowered its comfy weapon. "Good, good," the doctor said as he smiled. He spoke directly to the thing, "Now, can you understand me?" The thing nodded and the doctor smiled wider.

"Can you talk?" The thing nodded again. "Okay. Then let's talk. A little Quid Pro Quo?"

The thing looked at the nurses hesitantly. Blue Pipe noticed and nodded his head at the nurses. Both of them stared incredulously at the doctor before backing out of the room. "Don't worry, they're not going to hurt you, and neither am I, okay?"

The thing dropped the chair to the floor and opened his mouth, but instead of words only a thick stream of brown water and bile poured out and the thing dropped down clutching his stomach. "Nurses!" Blue Pipe called out and they both rushed to his side. "Have you taken his vitals?"

Nurse Sweetheart spoke up first, "Yes, but they're so weird. I think us and it are fairly similar, but... well his body temp is normal for us, about 101.5 degrees. But his pulse is near three times our normal heart rate—" she stopped as she held up a vomit receptacle in front of the things mouth, but only a little bit of bile came out. "—keeping around 120 beats per minute, and his respiration rate is fairly normal for us, about 20 breaths a minute."

Both nurses and the doctor were pushed away as the thing thrashed around on the floor, a silent cry evident on his face. Blue Pipe inched closer to the things face, holding it to keep eye contact with those beady eyes. "Listen to me, you need to tell me what the problem is, otherwise I can't help you!"

The thing reached a limb up and it grabbed onto Blue Pipes lab coat. It pulled the doctors ear up to its mouth and forced out a whisper, "please... please, the pain is so much. Give me something, anything for the pain!" The limb released Doctor Pipes coat and the thing thrashed again, both limbs now clutching at its stomach.

The doctor went back towards the things ear. "I need to examine you before I can give you any pain medication, will you let me sedate you so I can do it without worrying about you thrashing around? You'll go to sleep and won't feel a thing, okay?" It took a moment of pained gasps and groans before it nodded once more. The doctor levitated one of the syringes over and he grasped the things forelimb with his hooves. He pulled out his band and tightened it around the upper part. As he did this he noticed many deep red marks in the middle joint of the limb. "Trackmarks?"

Blue Pipe tapped the limb and found a vein, which he quickly injected the tranquilizer into. The thrashing around of the thing slowly stopped until it laid there unconscious, taking deep rattling breaths. The three medicos moved away from the thing with a sigh. Doctor Pipe whipped his brow before turning to the nurses. "I want two armed guards by his side 24/7, I want blood drawn and tested immediately, I want him clean up the best you can, and he is to remain sedated until I say so, understand?"

Both nurses nodded in agreement. "Good. Since Doctor Osmosis seems to be a bit, shall we say 'under the weather' I'll be taking this case personally. Report only to me and the Chief, got it?" Another nod settled it and the two started following the orders. Blue Pipe stood up and stretched out his back. "Going to need another cup of coffee before anything else. Oh, except Cotton Ball."

"Nurse, is Cotton Ball still here as well?" he said, directing his attention to the nearest mare, Nurse Coldheart.

"Yes Doctor. She's down in room 12."

Doctor Pipe spun around and headed down the hall in a brisk trot. At the end of the hall, he stopped in front of room 12. He sighed before straightening his coat and pushed the door open. Inside there were only two ponies, but only one bed occupied. Cotton Ball was curled up under the covers of her bed, and her mother standing over her cooing and brushing a hoof through her mane.

As soon as she spotted Doctor Pipe, Cotton Ball jumped up in her bed, only to grimace and wrap a forehoof around her stomach. The Doctor moved quickly to her side and with her mother gently eased her back under the covers. "Hello Cotton Ball," he said with a warm smile. He looked up to her mother. "And you too Doctor Macmillan."

The mare smiled in return. "Oh Doctor, please just call me Mac. And it is a pleasure to see you too."

"How are things up at Memorial Pone Cancer Center in Manhattan?"

"Same old, same old, although we might have figured out a way to direct light particles to kill cancer. We direct and focus the photons using a magically powered device called a 'Photon Magus-mechanical—'" A small whimper cut her off from under the covers. Both doctors smiled sympathetically at the covered filly. Doctor Mac lifted the covers to reveal the little nurse, who was trying to make herself look as pathetically hurt as possible.

"I'm sorry Cotton Ball. I just haven't seen your mother in a long time now. How are you feeling?"

A tiny voice barely escaped the little filly's lips, "M'okay."

Blue Pipe smiled. "I'm so glad to hear that. I was very worried when I heard you had been hurt, you're the best nurse in my Foal Care Ward, and a good friend."

Cotton Ball's lips moved but neither grown ponies could hear it. "What was that sweetie?" her mother asked softly.

"It was so scary. And it hurt." A lone tear tracked its way down her cheek, which was brushed away by her mother.

"I know my dear, he is a bit scary looking. But I am pretty sure he didn't mean to hurt you." Doctor Pipe said reassuringly.

"I heard yelling." Cotton Ball squeaked.

"Yes, he has been in considerable pain. I think that's why he accidentally kicked you. He broke into the pharmacy and tried taking a lot of pain medication. He probably wasn't looking where he was going trying to get there as fast as possible." he said, nodding his head sagely.

"He's still scary."

"Yes, he is a little bit scary," Blue Pipe admitted. "But I promise you, he won't hurt you again."

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Twenty minutes later found Doctor Pipe in the lounge, chugging his third cup of coffee. A little dribbled down his chin onto his pristine white lab coat, but he barely noticed. The last dribble went down his throat and he tossed his foam cup into the garbage with a belch and a groan of pleasure. "Ahh, that's the good stuff."

"Doctor Pipe?" a voice said behind him. He turned to see Nurse Sweetheart.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I took his blood sample and sent it to the lab, but the hematologist is out of the building, so it may take a few for her to get here." The doctor nodded as a response as the nurse continued, "also, when I was taking his blood, he seemed to be a bit delirious. Not like he was dreaming, more like he was awake but not lucid."

Blue Pipe rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment. "What was the sedative we gave him again? Xylazine, right?"

"Yes, and it was a strong dose. Doctor Osmosis thought it best since his body size greatly shadows ours."

"And it was a stupid idea too, not knowing this things physiology. I want you to switch from that tranquilizer to benzodiazepines, that way he might sleep more naturally. Wait until he is nearly fully lucid again before giving it to him."

"Yes Doctor." Nurse Sweetheart nodded and walked out of the room. As soon as she left, Blue Pipe plopped himself into one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs nearby. He wrapped his hooves around his head and groaned. "Why would he react like that to the Xylazine? Every mammal it's been tested on simply went unconscious. Unless he's been abusing it like those foals down in Pinto Rico..."

Blue Pipes head shot up from under his hooves. "That's it!" he said aloud. "Abdominal cramps, sweating, vomiting, and those trackmarks... he's an addict! But he said he wanted pain killers, not tranquilizers." He jumped up from his chair and ran into the hallway, seeing Nurse Sweetheart still walking down it. He ran full speed down the hall, calling after her. She turned and looked as he came up in front of her.

"Nurse Sweetheart, I want you to drop everything you're doing right now, and go get the hematologist from her house. If she's asleep, dump a bucket of water on her, stick a wet hoof in her ear, slap her flank, I don't care. Just get her up. Then drag her here if necessary. This is vitally important. And to make that clear to both you and her..." He pointed at a clock on the wall which read 7:42 am. "If you two are not back here before eight am, you're both fired. Without severance pay. Do I make myself clear?"

His only reply was a soft outline of dust where she stood a moment before, the clopping of hooves going down the stairs ahead were his only indication that a mare was in front of him before. "Good," he said to himself.

I Remember

The thick forests were filled with sound, birds chattering away, woodpeckers knocking away at dead wood looking for the morsels that lay beneath, and the sound of two bucks vying for the attention of a doe in heat clacked and clattered off in the distance. Perfect serenity for the three figures hiking along the Rocket Range Trail in Upper Michigan. At least it was for the elder two of the group. The youngest tagging along was bored out of his mind since the battery in his Nintendo 3DS died near an hour previously.

"Daaaaaad! Can't we take a break? Or go back? Please?" the young boy begged.

The one known as "dad" chuckled and cast a knowing look at his other hiking partner. She smiled a similar glance back before turning to her son. "Oh Logan, you were the one who wanted to go hiking to the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the first place. Besides I think I can hear the shore up ahead."

"Your mother is right, son. In fact I think I see the sun glinting off the water." Sure enough, as the boy looked ahead, a brief subtle glare shown its way through the trees.

"Finally!" the young boy yelled before taking off in a loping gait. After a moment he was beyond the sight of his parents. Neither of them worried as he left their field of vision though. Lake Superior was just ahead so he couldn't have gone much farther.

The boys father stopped and gazed after his son, a hint of pride building in his chest. A boy so young, yet so smart and athletic could only bring about such feelings in a man who knew what it was like. His own childhood flashed in front of his eyes, just as wholesome and loving as his own son's. A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his reminiscing. He turned and saw the beaming face of his wife, who brought her hand further along his shoulder, her other hand snaking its way along his chest. "Been awhile since we had a moment to ourselves, huh?"

He put his own hands on her hips and brought her in closer until her breath steamed up his sunglasses. "Oh yes. Might as well make the best of it don't—" He was cut short as her lips met his. It was a small kiss, but given the perfect surroundings, it was blissful to the loving couple. His fingertips brushed up her sides finding that one spot he knew would get the response he wanted. He reached it, and as he pressed the digits into her skin, her lips left his and she gasped and giggled at the ticklish feeling shooting up her spine. The two rested their foreheads together and stared into each others eyes. Those kind grey eyes filled with mirth gave him a happiness nothing else could give.

"Hey c'mon guys, the water is... oh get a room you two!" Logan peered around a tree trunk already in his bathing suit.

Without turning away from each other they both replied, "coming!" Although neither of them moved. Logan groaned in frustration and made his way back to the lake shore.

The two chuckled at their sons attitude. Finally after a moment of reveling in the peace and joy they brought each other, the woman sighed contentedly. "Okay Gordon, let's go make sure he doesn't get pulled under or something."

"After you, my dear," he said slowly removing his hands, but not before giving her hips one last squeeze. She giggled once more and walked around him towards her boy. Gordon stayed behind a moment to stare at the place she was before. He looked up at the old trees surrounding the trail they just came from, taking in everything the scene had to offer.

"Oh, and another thing..." his wife's voice came from behind him.

He stared ahead for one more moment before turning to face his illustrious wife. "Yes, my dear Abigail—" He was once again cut off, but instead of his wife's soft lips gracing his own, a knife blade was driven into his stomach. The air driven from his lungs left him unable to gasp as he stared up at the figure that was once his wife but now had taken the form of Billy Bong, his golden teeth glaring in a mirthless grimace.

—————————————————————

A scream filled the hallways of Ponyville Hospital once again. Inside a secured room, Rizzo thrashed around on his bed. His arms were lashed down to the sides and try as he did, he could not pull his arms free to clutch his agonizing stomach. "Oh sweet baby Jesus on Christmas, what the flying fuck with a side of mayo is happening?" he screamed into the empty room. He swung his body weight left and right, trying anything to get out of his restraints to clutch and press at the pain.

Light filled the small room as another one of those horse-dogs came running through the door. "Okay, okay, hold on please! We're going to get something to put you out again... NURSE SWEETHEART! WHAT THE BUCK IS TAKING SO LONG?" she yelled towards the door.

"Please..." The alabaster creature closed the distance between her and the bed and looked into Rizzo's tearful eyes. "Please just give me some morphine or methadone... or let me die. This pain! S-so much—" He gasped as another wave of cramps washed over him. "A-and the memories! PLEASE FOR CHRIST'S SAKE KILL ME ALREADY! I DON'T WANT TO REMEMBER!" He thrashed again, the leather restraints meant to hold hooves tore into his skin and a steady trickle of blood began to pool into the bleached white sheets underneath.

The four legged thing went to the sink in the room and wetted a few paper towels with cold water, which she quickly laid across Rizzo's sweaty and knitted brow. She ran over to a cabinet in the room and made to grab some bandages just as two more came into the room. Rizzo turned his head and strained one eye open. He recognized both of them from before. The slightly taller one made his way quickly to the bedside gave Rizzo a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry this is happening. I know what's going on with you and we want to help." The thing took a syringe from the one next to him and took the cover off its tip. "I'm going to give you some—"

"IS THAT... IS THAT SOME MORPHINE? GIVE IT! GIVE IT TO ME, NOW!" Rizzo's eyes were wide open now, both of them transfixed on the needle floating near him wrapped in a soft aura of light, something that went unnoticed by the struggling human.

"Please calm down!" the thing said urgently as Rizzo strained against the straps some more, cutting deeper into his skin. "This isn't—"

He stopped again as he noticed the sudden change in Rizzo's eyes. Filled with tears and longing for the liquid that could soon be coursing through his veins. The thing sighed. "Yes, this is some um... 'morphine' but I will only give it to you under one condition: you have to stay perfectly still and calm so we can take these straps off and attend to those cuts, okay?"

Rizzo's eyes never left the syringe, but he nodded hastily and stopped thrashing, although his body wouldn't stop trembling. The creature nodded to the two "nurses" and they both went to either side of the bed, one with a pile of clean bandages in her hoof. Rizzo turned his eyes to the ceiling and tried to think about anything other than the vision of the inebriated bliss that was soon to wash over him. With both of the straps undone, his hands flew up toward one another, much to the surprise of the three creatures. Two more of those horses, clad in golden barding rushed in at the sound of the gasps the others made at Rizzo's quick movement, but a held up hoof stopped them when the calming horse with the syringe saw Rizzo rub and massage the muscles in his forearms.

"Thank you for being so calm. Can you sit up so we can properly see your wounds, please?" it said as a light was flipped on by one of the exiting armored horses. Rizzo complied, shakily turning around onto his rear. Upright, he jerked his body back and an echoing crack came from his back. Rizzo looked down at the three horse-things and extended his shaky hands palm up. He hadn't noticed how deep the straps had cut, the pain in his stomach far outstripping the pain in his wrists. Suddenly a warm feeling spread across his hands as they were enveloped by the soft glow that still held the syringe just barely out of arm's reach. An invisible force brought them closer to the taller one's face and one of the nurses wiped the area clean with one of the clean cloths.

"Well it doesn't look too bad, although they may need a couple stitches. We'll do that after we give you your benz...er 'morphine,' as you call it."

Unfortunately, the small slip up did not go unnoticed by Rizzo. "What did you say?"

The blue thing chuckled nervously. "I uh... said we will fix up your limbs with some stitches if need be."

"Noooo." Rizzo felt an unknown rage build in his chest. "You were about to say 'benzodiazepine,' weren't you?"

"I um... no?" The blue things eyes widened in surprise and he looked to his nurses for assistance, both of them shrugging not knowing what to say themselves.

"You lied to me!" Rizzo stood up, the pain in his stomach and the blood dripping down his hands forgotten. "You said you would give me some morphine! Not some fucking sleepy time drug!"

"Now, now, don't get too agitated, okay?" The thing backed up but the syringe, now pointed directly at Rizzo inched closer. Rizzo saw this and he grabbed the syringe out of the air. His free hand grabbed the throat of the blue horse and he lifted him up to his eye level.

"It's not smart to make me angry you little shit." His voice was quiet but the threat remained real all the same as Rizzo held the syringe directly in front of the things eye. "You two," he said, looking to the others in the room, but they were gone. He saw the tail of one of them disappear around the door frame and one of the larger horses came barreling in, the other he saw running down the hallway, most likely to get help.

Rizzo threw the blue one to the floor and charged his attacker, throwing his body into it at the same time driving the needle into its face. The thing would have screamed in pain if were not for Rizzo's body slamming the air from its lungs and the knock out drug now flowing in his blood. It slid to the floor in a heap, the syringe still sticking out from its face just under the eye. Rizzo jerked the syringe out and turned to the blue one again, just as it tried standing up on its hooves. He gave it a good kick in the side to keep him down and he ran to under the sink. In the cupboard he found some cleaning supplies, one of them being a bottle of bleach. It was full, so Rizzo pulled the cap off and filled his new weapon with the abrasive cleaner. "Let's do this Sarah Connor style." He tossed the bottle to the floor and went back to the blue horse trying to get up again. Rizzo grabbed him by the horn thing sticking from its head and stuck the needle in its neck.

"Don't... move." He said threateningly. The blue thing tensed up as it realized what was in his neck. "It's filled with bleach. If you so much as make a noise, or try to get away, I'll fill your head with it and watch you squirm, got it?" The thing blinked in response and Rizzo picked him up, wrapping an arm around its neck the other still keeping the syringe steady. Its back legs dangled a good foot and a half off the ground.

He looked around for his pants, but not able to find them, he grunted and figured it was okay to just roam in his boxers. He could steal the pants off some bum or shoplift a pair from Wal-Mart when he got out of this hell hole and he stopped seeing people as horses. Rizzo peaked his head around the door frame and found the hall empty once again. The other armor clad horse must have cleared it. He ran down the hall to the stairs but stopped at the top. "They'll be waiting down there for me... I'll use the fire escape!"

He ran back down the hall and found the door he came in through what seemed like an eternity beforehand. He flung the door open and found a horse in each of the two beds. The two screamed in terror at the sight before them and hid under their bed sheets. Rizzo ignored them and ran to the open window, the bright light of the afternoon sun making him squint. He looked down at the thing in his arms and let out a sigh of realization. He set it down and pulled the needle from its neck. It coughed and choked trying to fill its lungs back up with precious oxygen but was thrown into the wall. Once again when he opened his eyes he saw the needle hovering in front of his eye.

"We need to go down this ladder, but I can't do it with this stuck in your neck without killing you. You're my ticket out of here, and maybe a ticket to nice fucked up night of partying. But for now your life is in my hands. So this is what's going to happen: I'm going to hold you like I just was as we go down. If you try and wiggle free, I'll break your neck. When we get down there, the needle goes back in your neck, but that's for my safety. You understand me, horse?"

The horse nodded and gulped, not happy about the circumstances but happy he was still alive none-the-less. Rizzo stuck the syringe in his mouth and picked the horse up again. He climbed out of his window but stopped as he looked down. There was no one down there, but only two stories up and not as desperate as the last time he used this ladder, it seemed like the trip down was a long one. He steadied his nerves and started down, the horse in his arm swaying like a sack of potatoes. At the bottom Rizzo sighed in relief and let the horse have a brief respite from his slow strangulation in his arm. After a couple of gasps and coughing Rizzo picked him up once again and stuck the needle in his neck.

"Hey! He's already taken the fire escape!" Rizzo whipped around to see another armored horse standing by the corner of the building. Not waiting a moment longer, Rizzo ran in the opposite direction toward an open field. "Wait! Stop now!" he heard it cry after him. He didn't bother to look back then, but the sudden rumbling under his bare feet made him give pause to his escape. Slowing but not stopping he turned his head and saw the frightening sight of nigh one hundred armored horses barreling after him, some on hoof and much to the horror of Rizzo, many had taken to the skies on large, powerful looking wings. He doubled his efforts, sprinting towards the other side of the field. Nearing it he looked out over the small dale covering the horizon and saw his sanctuary from the "help" from these animals: a small bustling town less than a few hundred meters away. His only problem? What he thought to be a small hill as he approached it turned out to be a small rise before cutting off to a very steep incline littered with sharp rocks and jutting tree roots, too high to jump down witho sustaining injury.

He skidded to a halt and swore at his bad luck just as a hoof swept by his ear. The "pegasus?" flew around for another swipe.

"STOP!" Rizzo screamed at the top of his lungs. He turned and the army of equines skidded to a halt even the ones in the air. Steam blew from their nostrils and a few scraped at the dirt, ready to attack. Rizzo was having none of that. "If any of you take one step... or uh, wingbeat closer to me, I fill this little shit up with a neck full of bleach. After that you can proceed to beat the living fuck out of me while his heart stops or he starts puking and shitting blood!"

"That got their attention." And indeed it had. Many of them drew back from their aggressive stances although a few remained obviously vigilant. The one that had taken a swipe at Rizzo flew back around to join the main group but gave him a wide berth. As it did, one of the main group stepped forward. However, instead of the golden armor the rest wore, this one wore a silver chest plate with an intricate pattern adorned on its front. It had no wings or a horn but wore an air of superiority, one that its fellows obviously respected.

It took two tentative steps from the group before Rizzo spat out, "No further than that!"

"Okay," it replied. "I'm Lieutenant Rusty Shield."

Rizzo rolled his eyes and scoffed, "of course it is."

"Is there anything we can do to make sure nopony gets hurt?"

Rizzo hadn't expected such a question to be asked so soon, and he was a little thrown by the "nopony" but guessed they were just making sure the one in his arms—the one barely conscious at the moment—didn't end up a seizing mess on the ground. He thought about it for a moment and decided on a list of demands. "First, I want one of you to go and get every single pain killer you can find in the hospital, put it in one bag and bring it to me."

Rusty Shield nodded to one of his subordinates and it ran back towards the hospital.

"Second, I need some transportation. A car or S.U.V. will work nicely."

Lieutenant Shield raised an eyebrow at this. "I uh, don't know what either of those are but I can see what I can do about getting you some transport somewhere."

"Whatever. If it has a motor and at least four wheels I'm good. Lastly, I want all of your men to back down. Leave. You can stay but I'm starting to feel a bit crowded here." Rizzo said. He was in fact feeling odd, but it was either the adrenaline pumping in his veins or the fact his head was starting to kill him.

Rusty Shield turned to his "men" and hollered out his order, "Alright Colts, move out! Assemble at the front of the hospital and wait for further instructions." The group gave a collective nod and a few "Yessirs" were thrown out. It turned back to Rizzo. "Now I need something from you. I need you to put the doctor down before he passes out."

Rizzo looked down at the "pony" he guessed he should call it, in his arm and realized he was bluer in the face than normal. Rizzo lowered him to the ground and sat beside him, the needle not leaving his throat. The doctor wheezed and rubbed at his chest, a tear streaking down his cheek.

"Okay, good. Thank you," the Lieutenant sighed in relief. "Now can you tell me your name?"

Rizzo mulled in his head for a second before deciding it couldn't hurt.

"Name's Rizzo."

"Okay Rizzo, we're going to keep working on what you asked for, alright?"

"Yeah."

Rusty scratched the back of his head absentmindedly before asking a question that caught Rizzo off guard, "Might I ask, what are you?"

"What do you mean, 'what am I?' I'm a man. A human. Ain't you ever see one before?" Rizzo chuckled darkly.

"No. Can't say that I have, Rizzo."

"Okay, and... you're all ponies?" Rizzo asked.

"That's right. Have you never seen one of us before too?"

"Oh I've seen a pony before, but nothing like you. First, they don't talk. Ever. Also, they're a lot smellier than you are. Truth be told I'm surprised there isn't shit just lying all over the place." he spat, malice lining his voice.

"Do you not have bathrooms where you come from?"

"Oh we have bathrooms. Horses are just too stupid to use one. Pretty much all they're good for are pulling wagons, carrying people, and shitting."

"That's... that's lovely, Rizzo." The Lieutenant deadpanned.

"Thank you," he replied.

The pony from earlier came running back with a sack in her mouth. The pony looked as if she was going to run right up to him so he put a stop to that. "Whoa there! Slow it down, girl!" It slowed down and looked to her superior for instructions. Rusty nodded and the pony moved forward slowly until it came to within a couple feet of Rizzo. "That's far enough, drop the bag there and leave." The pony complied, and after dropping it near Rizzo's feet, she trotted back to the hospital.

Rizzo stuck the needle a little further into the doctor's throat to get his attention. "You. Don't go too fast, but I want you to take the bag and find me some liquid morphine."

The doctor hesitated a moment but still moved very slowly to the bag and began pulling bottles and syringes from within. He stopped however when the needle jerked deep into his neck as Rizzo had a brief spasm. "Hurry."

The doctor pulled a small vial out and read the label. "Marephine," he muttered to himself. He took a syringe and stuck the end into the bottle.

"Only two milligrams for now, Doc." The doctor nodded and filled up the appropriate dose. "I want you to administer it. Right now. Do it quick or I'll administer my own dose of medicine, eh?"

The doctor used his ability to float objects to bring the needle to Rizzo's arm. "No," Rizzo said as he moved his foot to the pony and pointed between the biggest and the adjacent digit. "I want it between the toes. Can't get too out of it right away, can I?"

The needle in the doctor's grasp shook. "I-I'm sorry, I need to do this with my hooves," he said nervously.

"Whatever," Rizzo said moving his gaze back to the Lieutenant. The doctor grasped the syringe in his hoof and made his way down to Rizzo's foot. It hovered just above the skin, the pony hesitating more. "Well?" Rizzo said not adverting his gaze. The pony gulped and moved his hoof back, ready to press the needle to his skin. But suddenly, two bright, purple flashes blinded Rizzo briefly and as soon as he reopened his eyes, he saw his hand still holding the syringe, but the pony it was stuck in no longer there. He looked back at the Lieutenant, who was then joined by the doctor himself, and a new pony, this one sporting wings and a horn, with another flash. This purple pony glared at Rizzo, not hatred but mild disappointment and curiosity etched across its features.

Another purple flash and the pony disappeared, but then reappeared right next to him. Rizzo made to jab it with his bleach filled syringe but was stopped as an aura of its own enveloped his whole arm, stopping it in its tracks. Rizzo swung his other arm but that too was stopped by a purple glow. The glow spread until in encompassed Rizzo's whole body, and with another flash, he was blinded again.

When he opened his eyes and they readjusted to the light, he found he was no longer outside, but inside a padded room, in the Psychiatric Ward of the hospital, he guessed. He looked to his side and the pony was still there, holding him firm in place. Another flash and the glow along with the pony disappeared and reappeared outside the small window in the door. Rizzo, having been dropped to the ground, scrambled up and placed his enraged face against the small piece of glass.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE, YOU BITCH!" he screamed.

"Oh no," a muffled feminine voice replied. "We're going to wait until you calm down a bit first. After that, well, that's up to you." Another flash and it was gone.

Rizzo slammed his fists against the door. "You fucking whore! You cunt! Come back here—"

The rest of his words were drowned out by a series of screams and what sounded like a dog barking resounding from next door. The screams intensified as he screamed himself and pounded on the door until the noise became too much for him and he resolved to curl up in the corner, his stomach cramps having returned now that he knew he wasn't going to get his precious pain meds. After a few minutes the screaming and barking stopped, and all that could be heard were the muffled sobs echoing inside the padded room. To the purple pony, it may have been a safe place, but to Rizzo, it was fucking hell all over again. And this time, he knew there were no more chances of getting the nectar he so desperately craved.

Full of Broken Thoughts

Dear Princess Celestia,

I'm sorry to report there has been no changes in the subject's condition. Such as the past two days, he still exhibits severe signs of withdrawal symptoms, constant vomiting and diarrhea has forced us to move him to two clean rooms already. Although we are both relieved and afraid of the fact we may not have to again, as every attempt he has made to expel his bodily fluids results in nothing but a slight dribble of sputum.

His stomach cramps seem to have worsened at an alarming rate; his constant screaming can tell us that much. His delirium seems to be producing some very vivid and apparently terrifying hallucinations as well. His quite small eyes appear to bulge from his head when the worst of them appear. During these he constantly cries out somewhat unusual names at nothing. "Abigail and Logan" seem to be the majority of the subjects in his hallucinations, but a few times we have heard the name "Henry," and a few times I am sure I heard him cry out "Max," although that sounds less like a name and more like the abbreviation of "maximum."

His blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, and temperature continue to climb, well above that of a healthy pony, but we have no idea if the rates he was at when he was first checked are his normal rates or not, so it is unclear whether this is a good thing or not. On top of everything else, it appears that he has not had one bit of sleep since being placed into the psychiatric wing of the hospital. I have suggested using a sedative once again, but Doctor Blue Pipe believes that it will only fuel his withdrawal symptoms rather than abating them.

We managed to get the one piece of tattered and might I say, disgustingly dirty piece of clothing off of him, and get him into a clean hospital gown. There are a couple of pockets, but we only found one thing inside: a single picture showing himself, much cleaner in appearance than his current state, and two others of his species. One appears to have mammaries under its clothing, so we assume it's a female. The other is much smaller and shares visual characteristics of the other two, so we have concluded this must be their offspring.

After seeing it without any clothes on, while very weird, is starting to excite me, as his anatomy appears to be very foreign to anything we may have seen before. His upper extremities seem to have amazing dexterity, able to grasp objects and manipulate them apparently without any magic, much like Spike's claws, yet with wider range of motion and lack of sharp points on the end. In fact they appear to be quite stubby on the ends. And much like a Minotaur it is able to balance, trot, and gallop on only his lower extremities... Oh dear! I'm sorry Princess, I digress too much!

I do have one bit of happy news! Little Nurse Cotton Ball was released yesterday, much to the joy of the staff of the hospital, and especially her mother. I'm sure you remember Doctor Macmillan from Manehatten Cancer Center? She was the Doctor who administered the treatments for Rarity's mother, probably saving her life. Cotton Ball still has some bruises on her ribs but she says she feels just fine. Unfortunately she is still wary to return to work with this "human" still on grounds, however secure his room may be. Doctor Macmillan said she would try to convince her but Doctor Blue Pipe, since he's the current acting Chief, has given her some paid time off.

If you happen to have any advice for us before you arrive in a few days that you could send via Spike, it would be much appreciated. I wish you could be here sooner to help this poor creature, but I understand that the fate of Equestria comes before that of an unknown species dealing with an unknown substance abuse. I assure you Doctor Blue Pipe, the nurses and myself will do everything we can to help this human. I look forward to your arrival!

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight finished dictating before Spike rolled the scroll up and sent it off to the sun monarch. He sighed and pinched the scale between his nose with two claws and yawned.

"Spike, you don't have to stay here every night. You can go home and sleep, I trust you to not get into much trouble while I stay here."

"Oh no Twilight! I wouldn't be your number one assistant if I left you hanging h-h-here." he trailed off, stifling another yawn.

"Really, it's okay Spike," she said, placing a loving hoof on his shoulder. "Actually, I'm pretty sure Rarity said she wouldn't mind at all if her 'little Spikey-Wikey' came to spend a few nights at her house. I'm sure Sweetie Belle wouldn't mind a playmate while she's staying there too."

All traces of exhaustion left Spike at the mentioning of Rarity. "R-really?" Twilight nodded in response. Before another word could be spoken, Spike wrapped his claws around Twilight's foreleg in a brief hug before running out the door of the hospital break room. "ByeTwiI'llseeyoutomorrowgoodnight!"

Twilight chuckled at the dragon's enthusiasm but stopped when she realized she wasn't the only one chuckling. She turned to see Doctor Blue Pipe levitating two cups of fresh brewed coffee towards the table she sat at. She smiled her thanks and took a cup in her own magic. Blue Pipe sat down next to her as she gingerly sipped from the styrofoam cup. She groaned both in satisfaction and distaste.

Blue Pipe chuckled again. "Sorry about the taste. I'm used to it being like mud."

"It's okay. The taste is bearable, and at least I know it's strong enough to do the trick. Any news from down the hall?"

"Nothing to report. Somehow he's still screaming loud enough to nearly overcome our sound wards on the room. I shudder to think what could be making him scream like that."

"I keep thinking the same thing. It must have something to do with these people he keeps apologizing to. What he's apologizing for is what makes me lose some sleep at night. It's gotta be what caused him to start using. He's probably going to need some serious psychiatric help when all this marephine is out of his system. Plus, I can't even imagine where he could have gotten that much marephine to cause such a dependency. Perhaps overseas? Saddle Arabia perhaps? There's a large amount of poppy production there."

Blue Pipe Rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps. But how could he have made it overseas without attracting attention? I would think an unknown species crossing into Equestria would be hard to miss, even if he did stowaway on a ship."

"Hmm. Although my mind keeps wandering to where in the world he could have come from? Perhaps Kanem-Burro? Maybe Zecora has seen something like it before."

"It would be a good place to start. She might even know a little bit about it's anatomy," Blue Pipe said hopefully.

Twilight sighed deeply and drained her cup, ignoring the burning sensation on her tongue. "Well, I'm going to go read to him again. It really seemed to calm him down last time." She got up and levitated a book from under a stack of medical journals on the table.

"What is it tonight?" Blue Pipe asked.

"New Daring Do. I had to borrow this one from Rainbow Dash. They're on back order and she actually did the smart thing and pre-ordered her copy."

"Oh, well let me know when the library gets a copy! The Sword of Poegling totally left me hanging!"

Twilight shot him a sweet smile and trotted out the door with book in tow. As she made her way down the hall towards the psychiatric wing, her smile slowly slid off her face as the screams and cries of the mentally disturbed fell upon her ears. She stopped in front of the door, before drawing in a deep breath and opening the doors. The moment a crack appeared between the doors the screams increased in volume and assaulted upon her sensitive ears.

She forced herself not to shed a tear at the constant barrage of pained voices from all around. Finally she came upon a door at the end of the hall with two royal guards flanking either side. Both unicorns, they pulled earplugs from under their golden helms and bowed to the purple regent. "Going in to read again, your Highness?"

"Yes, please remove the wards gentlecolts."

They both nodded and shoved the plug back into their ears so as not to go insane themselves from the never ending noise. They both stepped aside, and after a moment of quite muttering and shimmering of magic around their horns, the door opened and a new sound was added to the din pounding against Twilight's head. She stepped inside and the door closed behind her, slamming shut and making her jump a bit. After a moment it was clear the wards were put back up, as the noise from outside was reduced dramatically down to allow the new noise to permeate the small, padded space.

In the back corner, curled up and clutching at his head was Rizzo. The stubble on his face was much more pronounced, as were the bags under his eyes and fresh scratch marks across his face from his overgrown fingernails. His eyes were clamped shut but tears continued to steam from them. He was softly muttering to himself, his word intelligible. She spoke as softly as she could so as not to startle him.

"Rizzo? Hello, Rizzo? It's me, Twilight..."

The muttering increased, but only a soft "no, no" could be heard clearly.

"It's okay, Rizzo. I'm just going to read to you again, is that okay?" No response.

Twilight inched her way closer to Rizzo, daring herself to get closer than she had before. She got less than a foot away and gently placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Rizzo?"

His eyes snapped open and he glared at the purple unicorn, now standing shocked with her mouth agape. She flinched back quickly but he made no movement towards her. He just continued to stare. His breath began to quicken and a low growl escaped his throat.

"Rizzo, can you hear me?" Twilight asked.

Slowly, after a long moment of silence, Rizzo nodded his head. Twilight's small smile returned and she held up the cover of the book for Rizzo to see. "I'm going to read to you again tonight, is that okay? Maybe it will help you get some sleep tonight."

Rizzo stared at the cover of the book. The words "Daring Do and the Hornring of Dragnir" were etched across the top, and a grey-maned, tan pegasus held in its hooves a sword, swinging it towards a huge green dragon. The sword had a jewel encrusted hilt and about half way up the blade the end was snapped off. Rizzo's eyes moved back and forth between Twilight and the book, all the while never stoping the muttering, before his eyes snapped shut again and he nodded once.

Twilight studied his face and body before gasping. "Oh Rizzo, you pulled your I.V. out again!" She dropped the book and dug around in her saddle bag, pulling out a sanitarily wrapped, fresh needle. Rizzo had stopped listening at this point though. In fact he hadn't heard a word Twilight had said. By this point his only focus was on the images swimming past his eyes. He knew that at this point he should just nod at whatever this purple thing asked him. She put him in there, most likely only she could get him out.

He barely registered his arm being enveloped by a warm glow of light. He certainly noticed it, however, when what was normally less than a mosquito bite to him was a red hot poker being stuck in his arm. His eyes squeezed so tight, lights danced in front of his eyes briefly before the images fully took over his mind and the colorful world of equines was lost to him once more.

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A sunny day in an open pit mine in Minnesota couldn't shake the nagging headache in George Rizzo's head. After a nasty fall off a bit of scaffolding the month before put him in a hospital bed for a few weeks it was nice to be able to get back to work, but even the small amount of morphine tablets the doctor gave him for his fractured shoulder blade wasn't enough to drive the pain away. And the apparent lack of intelligence coming from everyone he had met that day wasn't making matters any better.

Rizzo stood upon the cab of a recently reassembled dragline crane, supposedly checking the cables and other machinery for improperly assembled parts. This was not the case as the noise of the mine hurt him more than nails on a chalkboard. He put his clipboard between his knees and rubbed at his temples. A ringing was starting to work its way into his ears. He would have to talk to the doctor about that. He was getting snippy with his family as it was, and a constant noise on top of the pain wouldn't help.

Yo! Rizzo!

Rizzo peaked his eyes open and look around

"YO! RIZZOOOO!"

Rizzo groaned and looked down at the ground. The crane operator was looking up at him expectantly. "Yo, you got them cables inspected yet?"

Rizzo looked around and his eyes fell upon the cables he was supposed to be looking at. Pfft, these guys have put these together a thousand times... "Yeah, they're go to go."

"Good, cuz I gotta get that new kiln put in place!"

Rizzo nodded his response and he climbed down the ladder at the back of the cab. On his way down he passed the operator. "Jeez, Rizzo. You look like shit."

Rizzo snorted. "Gee, thanks Henry. You know you always look like a bright ray of fucking sunshine when I come by too."

Henry laughed a little too loudly for Rizzos tastes, but he tried to hide his pain. "Oh baby, you know you don't care. You only come by to stare at my sexy ass, not my ass face!"

Rizzo actually laughed at this 'crack.' "Oh you know it, sweetums. Where's Max today?"

"He's going to be down below directing me into position." Henry pointed a level below.

"Well tell him I said 'hi,' and that we all need to get together for some cribbage next time I come this way."

"Will do Rizzo. And hey, good to see you back in the game." He held his hand out.

"Thanks Henry." Rizzo grasped his hand in a firm and friendly shake. "Feels... good to be back."

They gave each other a briefly nod before going their separate ways. As Rizzo walked away he heard the large engines fire up behind him, and he rubbed his temples again at the noise pounding his skull. I need to get the fuck out of here... Eh, I'll go say 'hi' to Max first.

Rizzo grabbed the side handle of a slowly passing truck and hopped up on the running boards. "Going down?" he hollered to the driver, who nodded.

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Down below he hopped off the truck that made it past Max before the lane was closed off so the kiln could be moved into position. He walked up and tapped the miner on the shoulder. He in turn spun around and grabbed Rizzo in a bone-crushing hug. "Rizzo, you old dog! Good to see you back on your feet. Although I bet they got you on some awesome drugs right now, don't they?"

"Heh, you know it Max. They make me a bit queasy but it's better than searing pain."

"Yeah, anything is better than that." He nodded in agreement. "Hey, you might wanna back up, that kiln is about to cross above us."

"Will do. And gimme a call next week. You, me, Henry, a bottle of Jack, and some cribbage. Sound fun?"

"How could I say no to a mug like that?" Rizzo knocked him on the shoulder, waved and walked away. Man, I need to hang out with them sooner, never thought those two loud mouths could make a headache go away. he thought, smiling to himself.

A siren blared overhead and the headache returned in full force. The noise however, managed to block out the conversation Henry and Max were having over their radios.

"Yo, Max, how's things looking down there?"

"Shit... Henry, why do you have it hanging so low above the edge?"

"I don't know, hold on... FUCK!"

The sirens slowed just in time for Rizzo to hear a loud, resounding *snap, snap, snap* as a couple cables broke from the crane. He spun around to see the massive kiln swing wildly into the pit wall, causing the rest of the cables to snap. The kiln fell and smashed into the ground with an earth-shaking force. It stood still for a moment before Rizzo realized it was starting to roll his way.

He looked down to scream at Max to move, and found him directly in front of him, screaming an inaudible warning. As Max reached him, Rizzo turned and headed with him to the safety under a huge mining truck. It seemed like forever but Rizzo finally reached the truck and dove under it. He turned to make sure Max had dove with him, only to see him nearly half a football field away, his foot wrapped in bits of snapped cable, bleeding profusely. He looked passed him and saw the cylindrical kiln smash into the ground rolling toward Max.

Rizzo jumped back up and sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him. He was 40 yards away from Max, the kiln 10. He was 30, the kiln 5. He was 20, the kiln almost on top of Max.

"Rizzo, please hel—"

Wide eyed, Rizzo watched as Max disappeared beneath the behemoth, spraying him with his own best friends blood and viscera. He stood, horrified, unable to contemplate what had just transpired before him. The only thing he could do is scream. He screamed and screamed, until someone grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him back underneath the truck. The kiln rolled up to the truck and smashed into it, nearly knocking it over. But the weight of the truck trumped the kiln, and it began rolling back toward the wall.

As it made its way away, Rizzo spotted a large red spot on the pale grey of the kiln wall, and he screamed louder. The man who had grabbed him took him by the collar and punched him once, bringing Rizzo out of his stupor. Suddenly, his mind shifted over to someone else.

"Henry..." Rizzo stood up and started sprinting again, this time toward the ramp up to the next level of the pit mine. It took nearly 20 minutes, and by the time he got up there, a large group of people were gathered around the crane. The crane itself... well it couldn't really be called a crane anymore. Two of the snapped cables had broken with enough force they wrapped themselves around the cab of the crane, effectively crushing it like a child squeezing the middle of a juice box.

Out of breath, he collapsed next to the crowd. Someone turned and looked at him. He bent down to Rizzos eye level. "Is-is... guh... is Henry okay?" He yelled as loud as his oxygen deprived lungs could allow, tears streaming from his eyes. The man stared solemnly into Rizzos face and shook his head slowly.

Suddenly, the tears stopped. An eerie look of calm washed over Rizzos face. He stood slowly, turned and walked away. He kept going, not bothering to answer the questions of the workers and ambulance crew rushing past to see what had happened. He pulled out his keys, got in his car, and drove home.

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"Honey, we're home!" Abigail called into their modest home. Logan was right behind her, face buried in his 3DS. She looked around the corner and saw a flame flickering in the den. She turned to her son and said, "Logan, you better be going to do your homework."

"Uhh..."

"Logan, don't you 'uhh' me! Do your homework, or no Nintendo for a month."

"Oh come on, Mom! Fine, I'll get it done. Can Dad help me though?" his head perked up, suddenly hopeful.

His mother chuckled. "Go get a start on it and I'll ask him, okay?"

Logan turned his game device off and ran up the stairs. Abigail laughed some more and shook her head, walking to the den. Walking down the hall, she stopped, hearing what sounded like someone choking back a cough. "Honey?" She felt something under her shoe crunch against the hardwood floor. Looking down, she saw a little blue powder and what remained of a morphine tablet. "Honey, you dropped one of you—"

She felt it again. Looking down, she saw another blue pill crushed beneath her shoe. And ahead another one. And a foot after that, the orange, plastic bottle, completely empty. Her eyes widened. She whispered, "Honey, are you... okay?" She turned the corner into the den to find her husband. She found him, but not as she expected. A bottle of whiskey lay empty on the floor, and she recognized it as a previously untouched fifth he got as a 'get well soon' present.

"Honey, what are you doing?"

Her husband spun around from in front of the fire, a fist full of crumpled pictures of his friends, half burned, and his eyes deep red with tears still flowing freely from their corners. "Well, if it ain't the whore!"

She gasped, "What did you call me?"

"Oh you heard me alright! That's all anyone is to me! At least, might as well be! Life is gone... ruined. FUCKED UP, is what it is!" he was practically screaming.

"George, what's going on? What on Earth has gotten into you?"

"Oh, just all my pills, and some whiskey, and the blood of my best friends on my hands."

Another gasp left her mouth. She whispered, "George, what are you talking about?"

"Oh nothing. Y'know, I watched Max be squashed—and it really was like a bug—underneath a massive steel and concrete kiln today!" he said, way too cheerfully. "OH! And at the same time, a massive steel cable sliced Henry in half!"

Abigail had her hand clasped over her mouth, tears streaming from her face. "Oh my God, George I'm so, so sorry!"

"SHUT IT, YOU WHORE! It's my fault! I killed them! I was too fucked up on pills, too annoyed by my head and shoulder... fuck it, I'm done, I'M DONE! I'm fucking done with this nonsensical bullshit!"

He walked past Abigail. She put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He spun and punched her as hard as he could in the face, knocking her out cold. She hit the floor hard.

"MOM!" Logan appeared behind Rizzo and ran past his father crouching next to her.

Rizzo stared down angrily at his son. "No job. No friends... No family." He turned once more, and walked out of the house for the last time.