Chapter 2: Field Notes on the Care and Feeding of Unicorns and Whatever-You-Ares

Before the winter season began, Twilight had taken a trip into Everfree forest for a day to spend time with Zecora, and also to collect various herbs and plants to keep the supplies in her research laboratory fully stocked through the winter season. While out discussing the merits of sustainable magic-free agriculture (as is practiced in Zecora's homeland) versus the ground magically maintained by earth ponies (by Equestrian custom). They came across a rather interesting bush with berries that Twilight had never seen before.
"Zecora, have you seen this one before?" she asked the zebra, who came over and took a closer look at the bush itself. Taking a berry in her hooves, she closely reviewed it, and after a moment, took a quick bite, only to immediately spit it out, tasting the remains while deep in thought. Then after a moment, her frown turned into a small smile, and she replied.
"A bush like this here is news to me, for I have not seen its kind before in the Everfree"
"So you don’t know what it is then?" Twilight responded with a frown, to which her companion gave a chuckle.
"Now I didn’t say that, my unicorn friend, I’ll tell you their story before our journey's end." she replied, while plucking large batches of berries from the plant and placing them in her rucksack.
Over the course of the rest of their survey, Twilight received a lesson in history and myth on the origin of the Zoomberries. Generations ago in her homeland, things were far from peaceful, as with the lack of a centralized government tribal leadership would occasionally squabble over territories and landmarks. Often, the leaderships of these tribes would gather together and small periods of peace were afforded the land, but often the task of managing so many smaller tribal groups, each with their own customs and traditions, became far too complex for the temporary leaders to handle, so inevitably a breakdown in the system would occur within a matter of months or years, and the groups would return to squabbling for another generation. When they arrived back at Zecora's hut, she proceed to finish the story while showing Twilight how to prepare the berries into a dark liquid with a robust taste.
"Finally a kinsman, asked the spirits of our leaders past, to provide us a solution to the problem that would last. The spirits heard the tribes hopeful plea, and provided a solution in a most interesting tree. The berries, you see, prepared in a special brew, would give the leaders the strength to see their task through. The drink they would consume would see them through their plight, even if the leaders had to stay awake all night. Though consuming the drink they found had a cost; for as much time they would gain, some would also be lost. So be wary, friend Twilight, and take heed from departed friends, that you balance your means so they are justified by the ends."

Twilight had taken that advice to heart, and had rarely had any of the rather strong drink since obtaining and preparing the berries for use, only consuming it when performing advanced star-charting or complicated potion work that required focus and late nights. In this, at least, she was fortunate, for her current predicament certainly required a level of focus that would have long since been lost had she not had enough of the Zoomberry brew to last through the night. Taking a sip from her third mug of the surprisingly bitter drink, she turned from the outside window again back to what she has designated her 'documentation zone' where the three logbooks were open, three specifically spelled quills poised over each book ready to write as directed by their enchantress.

"Current weather quill, new note entry: Day four, ten aey em, current snowfall at twenty one inches. deviation from predicted pattern less than a half an inch, no concern currently required. period." walking over to the logbook, she looked down at the logbook as the quill finished scratching out the record as she had dictated, and shook her head and sighed, saying to herself "it's so much nicer to have spike here to dictate, at least his writing is a bit more legible. I'm going to have to recopy all this later."

The dictation quill was apparently put out by her statement, as to her consternation, the quill proceeded to rear up and smack her across the snout. The feather being a feather, of course, this caused no physical damage to twilight, and instead caused her to frown at the offended inanimate object and huff in frustration. A quick application of her magic and the annoyed quill returned to its docile state by the logbook. Shaking her head, she went back to her cup and took another sip, once again thanking generations of Zecora's ancestors for finding this wonderful plant, when a moan from the couch nearby captured her attention. Trotting over to her visitor, she saw that he was tossing and turning, and had managed to twist the blanket off of his form again, so she carefully reached down, avoiding the sharp talons on his forelegs and wrapped the blanket around his body again, while looking to the washcloth and bowl, only only to find it nearly empty again. She took the bowl and balanced it on her back, while walking over to the sink, she gathered her thoughts, and began to speak.

"Patient Log quill, new note entry: Patient log entry number one." she said out loud, looking out of the corner of her eye to make sure the quill was scribing. Once she was sure it was writing properly, she continued.

"I have started this log as a record of my care for my new patient slash visitor, name unknown. Species... unknown. As we are currently under lockdown in the library, I am unfortunately the only one who is available to care for him, and based on my research into medical procedures, it is always best to keep a patient log, especially when there are unknowns. This log will be my record of treatment, and hopefully rehabilitation, of my visitor, referred in this log as patient Delta, after the Ancient unicorn glyph for change, at least until he is able to provide his name himself." While she was speaking, she had refilled the bowl with cool water, and now began to carefully walk the bowl back over to the table by the couch/bed.

"Patient arrived at the library by surprise in an intense snowstorm, and was significantly malnourished and quite ill, though whether it is from the cold outside or from his aforementioned state, I am currently unaware. Patients characteristics are... difficult to describe. When he arrived, he appeared to be an injured alicorn, however while caring for him overnight, I was rather shocked to discover that parts of his body would actually... change form, especially during his fever dreams. Patient has displayed body parts from multiple species, even as his torso appears to remain statically that of some sort of pony. In addition, the patient does appear to have a cutie mark, of sorts. However, the marks description... eludes me. Not because it is difficult to describe, but rather the fact that the mark itself seems to... obscure itself. Anytime I look at it, it almost appears to shift out of my field of view, or blur in such a way as to make it impossible to see clearly. Sometimes I see it out of the corner of my eye and it appears clear, but anytime I do, focusing on it just causes it to fade away. I have entertained the possibility that the patient might be a changeling, however other than Crysalis, no changeling has been noted to be able to channel the magical power that Delta has..."

Setting the bowl down, she took the cloth in her hoof and dipped it in the water, and laid it on the visitor's head, the cooling cloth causing the patient to moan softly in his sleep.

"In addition, rather than absorbing energy, as changelings do, the patient seems to be emitting energy, very similar to that of any given unicorn, though the composition of this energy is... different. The magic itself seems to counteract everything I know about magical theory. Any time any significant quantity of magic is brought into close proximity with Delta, the magic changes somehow, becoming something different each time, though in general it appears to be more... interesting" --she looks over at the violent quill from earlier-- "than harmful. Other than the rather significant burst of magic that occurred upon his arrival, no large upwelling of magic has occured short of small bouts of uncontrolled magic, which usually manifest while he is appearing to be in the throes of a fever dream."

"Admittedly,", she noted, dabbing the cloth again "Delta has managed to raise more questions that I would have thought possible for someone who has said less than a dozen words to me, however I am confident that between the herbal remedies I have at my disposal thanks to Zecora's vast knowledge of medicine, and time, Delta should be okay long enough for this storm to pass and for him to receive some real medical attention. I would normally transport any other sick pony directly to the hospital and have them treated there, but given the reaction that happens when Delta comes in contact with simpler magicks, I may end up getting him to a hospital in Appleloosa, after three months wandering through Tartarus The next safety check is scheduled to come through in less than two hours, I will request some additional medical supplies or a possible consultation from one of the doctors if they are available. In the meantime, I will continue to observe and assist in his recovery. Period."

Twilight looked up to see the quill finish up the last of her dictation, then looked down at her patient, who had now started to mumble softly as the cool washcloth seemed to calm him slightly. Twilight would try to understand what he was saying when he mumbled to himself, however she could never make heads or tails of it. She guessed it was just one of a multitude of questions she would have for him when he awoke. Suddenly, she felt a gentle build up of magic coming from her guest, and stepped back as he yet again went through a metamorphosis, this time losing his dragon claws and growing a pair of Gryphon wings, albeit ones that didn’t look like they could actually lift him off the ground. The sudden growth caused him to roll into an obviously uncomfortable position, which she quickly stepped forward and nudged him with her hooves, causing him to roll back into position. This time, his groans were accompanied with what appeared to be a small smile, one that was matched on her face as well. It appears that her houseguest was on the mend, albeit slowly. She then stood, and walked over to another shelf, this time pulling out more of the historical weather data and calculation books from before and started to read when she yawned deeply. It appears that the long night she had was starting to take its toll, zoomberries or no. Grabbing the alarm clock from her bedroom, she set herself an alarm with enough time to get up before the safety patrol would be doing their rounds. She then set a monitoring spell on her patient, and settled down for a quick nap.
--oo00WW&&WW00oo--
**BBRRRIIIINNNGGG**
**THUD THUD THUD**

Twilight groaned and sat up, holding her head with a hoof as she screwed her eyes shut against the noise. Blindly reaching out and slamming her other hoof against the nearby table she struggled to find the first source of pain in her head, eventually finding it and silencing it, possibly forever, by pitching it across the room, where it promptly fell apart. She sighed in relief as the noise stopped echoing in her head, only to groan again in frustration as the second noise persisted. She must destroy the noise, there was nothing else to it. It must be dissasembled and made to not make that noise.
**THUD THUD THUD**

"Twi? You alright in there?" Darn, the noise is coming from a pony. Ponies should not be disassembled, no matter how annoying they are.
**THUD THUD**
Probably should not be disassembled. Probably.
"Hold on a second, I'm coming!" Ugh. Even when its coming from the self, it is painful. Self cannot be disassembled. If self were to be disassembled, no one would be around to reassemble.

"Twilight if you don’t open up this door, ahm gonna have to open it myself."

Stumbling to the front door of the library, Twilight turned the locks and opened the door inwards, grimacing at the light and blinking tears from her eyes, until finally the form of Applejack became mostly clear, a wide shovel in her hoof and a smile on her face.

"Well Twi, don’t you look a bit under the weather today. you alright?" The noise from the pony with the hat was too loud. Must. Not. Disassemble. Into. Base. Components.

"Hey AJ. Sorry I'm a bit out of it. I think I better understand Zecora's warnings about the ends justifying the means. Come on in, we'll talk more after I’ve done something about this headache." Twilight said, leading the earth pony inside the library and shuffling past her towards her laboratory, and her sweet sweet headache relief potion. grabbing the first bottle on the shelf, she took a bleary look at the instructions she had painstakingly written on the bottle about dosing, then promptly ripped out the stopper with her teeth and chugged half the bottle. A moment later a wave of relief washed over her and she sighed. The potion was not enough to completely eliminate her headache, but now at least she should be able to interact with other ponies without feeling a strong desire to remove their vocal cords. Now she was ready to interact with the world.

"Sorry about that Applejack, I had a long night and took some of Zecora's zoomberry brew, apparently its not wise to use it to stay up all night." she said, walking out of her lab and back into the main floor of the library to find her friend just standing there staring at the sleeping form on the couch. "Ah, I see you've met Delta. He's the reason I didn’t get any sleep. Um... Applejack?" She waved her hoof in front of her friend's face causing her to blink, then turn back to Twilight.

"Um... sugarcube... who... exactly is that nappin on your couch there?" she said, gesturing towards the currently pegasus-shaped patient. Huh,that one is new. Twilight made a note to put that specific change into the next log entry.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure Applejack.. He came up to the door of the library last night, and he was in a really bad state. Collapsed just after getting inside, and has been out like that ever since.” she conveniently skipped over the immediate aftermath of his arrival for now, it seemed silly to mention it, at least until she had a better understanding of what exactly happened. “I've been looking after him, but he's still pretty feverish."

"Ya reckon he may be dangerous? He was wanderin around in the middle of a snowstorm." she asked, her eyes not leaving the couch. Twilight frowned.

"I'm fairly certain he isn’t, or if he is, he's sick, so regardless it's our duty to make sure he gets better. Thats what good ponies are supposed to do."

"Well, I figure you’re right about that, but are ya sure you can handle it? This is kinda out there even fer you Twi."

Twilight nodded her head. "True, it is. I was actually hoping you would pass on word to someone at the hospital, see if they can't answer some of the questions I have or send some extra supplies tomorrow in the next round."

"Well sure, but why dontcha just magic him over there y'self?"

"I would, but magic doesn't quite work right recently. I tried to get a book off of the shelf on practical medicine, and my spell got redirected and pulled over a book on techniques for building proper birdhouses. I don’t know what a teleportation spell would do, to me or to him. So, I’ve been doing things without magic, at least until this snowstorm passes. Unfortunately, carrying him is probably not an option." Twilight replied with a laugh. "Anyway, you should get going; you still have rounds to make before the snow picks up again, don’t you?"

Applejack nodded and headed towards the door. Twilight handed her a quick list of questions which went into the rucksack at Applejack's side. As the pair of friends were walking out, Applejack turned to her friend with a smile.

"Ya know what, Twi, I just realized somethin'. You prolly got off the best out of everyone in town here in the library."

"Why do you say that AJ?" Twilight replied as she held the door open.

Applejack walked out and looked back over her shoulder towards her friend and replied "Stuck indoors for three days in a library with no one for company but a stallion that yer slowly nursin’ back ta’ health? I think I might be jealous, sugarcube."

Twilight's face turned a bright red and she started sputtering denials to a laughing Applejack as she trudged through the snow towards her next destination. It was only after she had shut the door that Twilight realized that none of the strangeness that had been commonplace over the last eighteen hours had been visible during Applejacks visit. She glanced over again at the form wrapped up in blankets on her couch, who had just sprouted a beak..
Curiouser and curiouser...

Author's Note

I've decided to try something new with this story. If I write something, at the end of the day, I'm going to post whatever I have up long as I have a story-logical stop of any kind, good or bad. Hopefully that will help with the whole "leaving half written chapters to waste away in my GDrive" problem that plagues my FF account. I should also note that while I do go through and correct for major spelling and grammatical mistakes, these chapters will not be beta read. Read at your own risk. Thanks for reading, liking, disliking, or commenting in advance.

Also, zoomberries. Think triple espresso energy level with the potential for a mistake whiskey level hangover. And yes, I just introduced a high caffine analogue to Equestra, Celestia help us all if Dash or Pinkie find it.

Peace.