"I fail to see how this qualifies as surgery!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. For the fearsome Queen of Changelings, destroyer of the Seventh Pegasi Army, Menace of the Royal Wedding, and all her other assorted titles, Chrysalis was acting surprisingly fearful. Then again, a phobia of hospitals was something her own brother had, and he was the bravest person she knew. Besides Celestia, of course.

Twilight didn't really see why. Hospitals were always so nice and organized. That fact remained constant, even on this universe. Sure, the clipboards were replaced by those weird glass screens, and the lighting was a bit more intense, but the basic principals were the same. Even the paneled ceiling reminded her of home.

"A surgery is when you're asleep! Not awake!"

Right. Chrysalis did have a point there. Twilight initially thought that the phrase "awake brain surgery" was a joke, but it turned out to be fascinatingly real. Their reasons, of course, made perfect sense. No need to accidentally cause brain damage to the queen. Not while she was on their side, at least.

Personally, of course, she would have found the procedure fascinating. Not many ponies got to see their own brains. Of course, that was just her initial reaction, and she probably would have had a different one when she was actually on the table.

"This is a vivisection! A vivisection!"

"Chrysalis," Twilight sighed, placing a hoof on her shoulder, "it's perfectly safe. Try to calm down."

Hm. The changeling was actually shaking. Perhaps Twilight underestimated her level of fear. . .

"I promise, nothing bad is going to happen," she stated, trying to sound sincere. "They do this all the time."

"To other humans! I just know they are going to—"

One of the doctors near the stretcher cut Chrysalis off. "M'am, would you like me to give you something for your anxiety?"

"Anxiety?"

Chrysalis' eyes darted to the doctor, but she did not sit up in her stretcher. She squinted as she read his nametag.

"What exactly do you mean, Dorian?" she spat.

"I want to give you an anti-anxiety drug," he replied, "Even though this entire wing is closed off, you're screaming loud enough to scare our other patients."

"You mean to sedate me?" Chrysalis snarled.

"Yes," the doctor said.

"The Queen of the Changelings is not sedated!" Chrysalis exclaimed. "...Unless she wishes to be. Administer the drugs."

The doctor pressed a button on the white machine that was rolling along next to Chrysalis. It hissed as it released something into her IV.

Within seconds, Chrysalis's expression melted from one of terror to one of serenity. Her eyes widened, and any wrinkles of stress disappeared. She even smiled. Not the triumphant smile Twilight had seen before, full of ambition. One of real happiness.

"That's nice..." she giggled. "That's really nice! I need some of this stuff back on Earth."

Chrysalis blinked. "Wait, this is Earth. I don't live on Earth. I live on... uh..."

"Equestria?" Twilight suggested.

"Oh, yeah, that. That's the place. Land of the equines!"

Twilight, mercifully, was saved from further drugged rambling by the opening of a door. This had to be the surgical theater. It looked like one, anyway. Huge lights overhead, empty space in the center. She'd been in a few of these before, mostly while doing research on magical health spells. The most notable difference between the rooms was all the machines in this one: at least six white boxes, each with various implements sticking out of them.

Twilight slipped the facemask around her neck onto her muzzle, turning to the doctor. She'd observed a few surgeries before as part of her studies on magic, but had never been an active participant in one. Of course, in this case, she was acting as more of a magical consultant than a biological one. Hopefully nothing would go horribly wrong.

The lead surgeon—Dr. Janeway—turned to the rest of the group: a few other surgeons, several nurses, the anesthesiologist Dorian, two armed guards, and Marshal. Acone was also supposed to be supervising, but he had bailed at the last minute due to his haemophobia. Her voice was simple, efficient, and powerful, not unlike Mrs. Harshwhinny's from back home.

"Ok, people. You all read your briefings, right?"

The group made various noises of agreement.

"Good. So, as you all know, we're doing a surgery that's quite literally never been done before. And not just removing some tumor in a weird place—we're operating on an alien being," she stated. "I've chosen this team because I know you can all handle the stress. Before we start, though, let's review the plan."

Janeway pressed a glove finger against a button on the top of a nearby machine. The overhead lights dimmed, as several other machines suddenly sprung to life. Within a minute, a three-dimensional projection of Chrysalis' head appeared in the center of the room. Janeway picked up a small metal device and approached the image.

"This is the result of some of the scans we did. Now, as you can see..."

"That's me!" Chrysalis explained, voice slurred from the drugs.

"Yes, it is," Janeway responded, smirking.

The screens flickered as the image changed. Chrysalis' familiar mug was replaced with a detailed diagram of blood vessels, floating in space.

"She doesn't have many blood vessels. Compared to humans, at least. Additionally, her skin isn't even really skin, it's more of a hard, armored plate. Not actually living tissue. That simplifies our approach in some ways, but complicates them in others."

Janeway gestured at the image with the device. The image swirled as it displayed Chrysalis's muscle structure, then zoomed on the back of her neck. The muscle became transparent, highlighting the parasite in red.

"We're trying to take a examine this growth. We believe it to be mostly organic, with some crystalline components. Twilight thinks that it may be a type of magic-storage system. So our initial primary objective is to let her look at it. More specifically, Twilight here is going to, uh..."

Twilight jumped to her aide. "Use several divination and detection spells to find enchantments!"

"...Yes. That. She needs direct contact for this to work. So we have to expose the parasite."

Janeway took a deep breath. The image in the air pulled inwards, changing to a normal view of Chrysalis again.

"This is my projected approach. We make an incision downwards, just to the side of her artery on the neck."

The hologram projected a red line on Chrysalis's neck, then peeled back the simulated skin. The Changeling squirmed uncomfortably, even with the anti-anxeity medication.

"From here, we have to get into her skull. I think a circular incision around the ear is the best possible route here. It's incredibly invasive, yes, but we need to expose enough of the parasite for Twilight to perform her inspection. Twilight, what will that entail?"

Twilight swallowed, taking a step forward. "Well, I'll have to touch it with my horn. Direct contact is needed for my magic to be as accurate as possible. Even more so since I suspect it's a magical storage device—something that stores spells within it, and then either casts them at set intervals or in response to stimuli."

"And what exactly are you looking for?" a doctor asked. Twilight recognized him as a nervous system specialist, although she couldn't remember his name.

"What sort of magic the parasite is using," Twilight replied. "Hopefully, with direct contact, I'll be able to figure out the exact spells it's enchanted with. That should illuminate several points as to the nature of the intrusive body, as well as its intended purpose."

Janeway smiled and nodded, turning from Twilight to the rest of the group. "After that is where it gets tricky. If Twilight determines it to be an immediate threat, we have to remove the parasite. I believe we should start with an initial incision, here—"

"Remove?" Chrysalis shouted, the word piercing through the drugged fog in her brain. "You said you were going to—"

"We lied," Janeway responded. "Twilight thought it would be easier to convince you to go along with it if you didn't know the full extent of the operation."

Chrysalis weakly struggled on her bed. "I—You tricked me! I am going to—"

"You're restrained," Janeway said, voice completely devoid of emotion. "There's a giant parasite in your brain. There's a chance it's going to notice that we're trying to get to it. We don't want to let it hurt you."

"Hurt me?" Chrysalis shouted, voice closer to that of a scared filly than that of the terror of Canterlot.

"It's next to your brain stem. It could try to sever it," Janeway replied. "Thankfully, Twilight here has a method to prevent that. Twilight?"

"I—I know a magical null field spell," the alicorn said, suddenly finding her throat very dry. "I can prevent it from doing anything magical for around an hour and a half. They said that would be enough time."

"I—Traitor!" Chrysalis screamed. "You promised me you'd—you pretended to be—the entire time you were going to—"

Dorian pressed another button on his anesthetic machine. Chrysalis sank back into her bed. She may have been a furious changeling queen, but she was no match for morphine.

"Chrysalis, we're trying to save your life," Marshal said, glancing down at her. "We'd appreciate it if you cooperated."

Chrysalis made a small gurgle of protest. Marshal sighed and took a few steps forward, stopping when he was next to Twilight.

"Give her a hug," he muttered.

"What?" Twilight responded, whisper more like a hiss in surprise.

"Just do it," Marshal said, voice barely audible. "Trust me."

Twilight awkwardly trotted forward, approaching her bed. She dipped down and laid a wing over Chrysalis' struggling form.

"I'm sorry, Chrysalis," Twilight stated. "I was just trying to help."

The Changeling instantly froze, as if struck by lightning. She sank back into the bed. The heart monitor behind her increased the rate at which it pulsed. Dorian tapped it a few times in confusion, squinting at the gauges.

"Our scans indicate that this parasite operates by static contact—that is, very little tissue actually goes into the brain," Janeway continued, as if she had never been interrupted. "As such, removal is simple. The main roadblock is the lack of time. As Twilight stated, we only have one and a half hours. Normally a removal like this would take at least five. So we'll have to work fast."

Janeway cracked her knuckles. "Okay. I'm going to go get on some gloves. Smith, Anderson, prepare the equipment. I want to start within ten minutes."

Author's Note

This took a depressingly long amount of time to write. And re-write. And re-write. Sadly, I am still not really satisfied with how it came out, but at this point I don't think it's really going to get better.