Fractured

When Nathan finally awoke, he was pleasantly surprised to find he was lacking any pain in his body. In fact, he lacked any feeling at all in his torso and down. Forcing down his panic, he surmised from what he could remember that he was likely being held captive.

Well, that was stupid.

Silence greeted him instead of the snarky comeback he expected.

...Uh, you there, me?

Nathan jolted slightly as a cold sensation worked blossomed in his brain stem and worked it's way down his spine. It was not unpleasant, just unfamiliar.. Abruptly, a strangely familiar voice joined him in his head.

Art thou talking to thine self?

Nathan was shocked into silence for a moment before he decided he ought to at least try to reply back if he was right on his theory of who it was. If it was her, he had a sinking feeling he knew where he was. Sending a thought out, he decided to cut past the obligatory testing of the waters and simply ask. He was sickened by agendas and secrecy from his time as Chief Virologist.

I was trying to. I only have two- make that three- questions for you.

Very well, proceed.

The voice sounded curious at the notion, as if it did not often get questioned. That would certainly match the modus operandi of who he thought it was.

Are you Princess Luna?

Wha- Yes but how did thou know?

I'll explain soon. Okay, question two. Are we in Equestria?

The princess sounded perturbed, likely irritated at not immediately receiving an answer as she was accustomed to.

Yes. The quaint town of Ponyville to be specific.

Alright, final question. Why can't I move?

Luna was quiet for a moment. Then replied back with a slight sting in her voice.

When thou arrived, thou was in a strange state and appeared to be close to assaulting one of our ponies. Twilight Sparkle, to be exact. Soon after, thou collapsed and was rushed to Ponyville's hospital, as it was nearest. You are bound because, well, we had no way of knowing if you were dangerous. From this conversation, are we to assume you are safe to unbound?

Nathan chose to not reply in his mind. He had to see his predicament for himself. Opening his eyes and blinking repeatedly at the sudden influx of bright white light, he took in his surroundings.

He was inside a large, stereotypically-white hospital room, tied down to a bed in his tattered clothes with a length of rope. Looking around the room blearily, he quickly ascertained that there was, in fact, a midnight-blue alicorn sitting on her plot next to him, appearing strange to him in the fact that she was a strange mix of cartoonish and realistic, to a degree that thinking about it caused a slight pain in his head. Shifting slightly in his bonds and looking her in her eyes, he calmly spoke in his usual low voice, raspy from weeks of lack of use.

"I think I won't be a threat to you, Princess of the Night."

Luna simply responded with a smirk as her horn glowed, causing the ropes to slowly fade out of existence. Instead of allowing him a moment to relax, he panicked as a familiar ticking filled his ears. Jolting and beginning to try to unclip the geiger counter from his belt to check the reading as Luna watched on, his mind raced at what the ticking signified.

Ticking means radiation. Harmful radiation. Coming only seconds after that 'magic' means only one thing. This place is potentially deadly. I have to be careful.

Nathan's notions of imminent danger were dashed however, as he saw the geiger counter reported there was only a miniscule amount of radiation being released. Not enough to hurt him in the short run, but it would stack up, as he was painfuly aware. Relieved, he set re-clipped the geiger counter and turned back to the princess, adjusting himself against the pillows so he was sitting upright.

"What is thy doing with such a strange contraption.", she asked as she tilted her head in slight curiosity.

Oh, this'll just be great to describe. Let's see...

"That is a geiger counter. Where I'm from, it detects harmful radiation and displays the amount in the surrounding area in an easy readout so I know if it's safe in the area. Here, I'm assuming your 'magic' is mildly radioactive, because it barely detected enough radiation to give me a toothache.", Nathan explained, pointing out the readout as he explained before replacing it on his belt.

Should probably get out of this suit. It's hot and useless like this anyway.

Shall I turn away?

Nathan jolted and stared angrily at Luna as she looked at him in confusion.

"Have we unintentionally insulted thee?", she asked.

"I would appreciate it if you told me you where in my head.", he griped, to which she smirked in a decidedly playful manner.

"I never said I was leaving. I will exit now, however."

Good. That's better. I think.

Nathan threw off the covers to reveal the rest of the painfully yellow suit and sat on the edge of the bed, holding up a hand as Luna went to cover her eyes with her hoof.

"Relax, I do wear clothes underneath it, princess."

As she lowered her hoof, her eyes widened in surprise as he removed the torso section to reveal what was clearly a lab coat used by a scientist. In a stitched name tag on the breast, she could make out the words 'Nathan Harrison, Chief Virologist, CDC Headquarters'. As he started pull of the pants to reveal his gray slacks underneath, she raised a question.

"Pray tell, what is a virologist? And a 'CDC' for that matter?", she said, directing a hoof to the patch.

Shit. Better go with the public version.

As he rolled up the now-useless suit and tossed it to the side, he briefly recovered the public speech regarding his position he would give to visiting officials from his long-term memories.

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, worked to, as the name suggests, prevent the spread of diseases and cure them in order to protect the general public. As Chief Virologist, I work to prevent the spread of viruses such as influenza and cure them or produce a vaccine, as possible.", Nathan explained, watching as she grew confused.

"Influenza? Is such a 'virus' related to the flu?", she asked, not realizing it was one of the most commonly asked, and therefore most irritating, questions he heard from the public.

"The very same.", he confirmed, controlling his temper as he reminded himself that Equestria never seemed to suffer from widespread disease in the show. Following that line, it would be unlikely this Equestria would contain it.

Luna was quiet for a moment, but came back with another question that he knew would lead to much explaining.

"What is a 'virus', exactly?"

Nathan sighed and stood, beginning to pace, as was usual for when he was beginning a lecture. Luna's eyes watched him like a child would a teacher as he began.

"Firstly, a virus is only one type of many pathogens all lethal in their own way..."

After a long lecture in which Nathan broke down the basics of Virology and the study of pathogens to middle-school level for Luna, they both sat rather haphazardly around the room and enjoying the moonlight streaming in through the windows. As the night began to fade. On the bed, Luna sat and studied the human, who was simply leaning back in a chair with his feet on the nightstand, twirling a capped hypodermic needle on a finger, a talent he'd picked up when waiting for test results.

As they sat in comfortable silence, both enjoyed the simple presence of another sentient being, both used to being alone for long periods. Albeit to a lesser extent for Nathan.

Huh. This is kind of nice.

We agree.

Nathan didn't show any signs of surprise other than the sudden tipping of the hypodermic to the side before he righted it again. Luna giggled from her place on the bed, sounding somewhat childish.

Not even a warning, huh?

T'would not be fun then.

Nathan smiled slightly and set the hypodermic on the nightstand before turning to Luna and mentally replying.

Just be careful running around in here, okay? You don't want to dig deep, trust me. There are some things that need to stay buried.

The comfortable mood was replaced with an awkward silence for several moments before Nathan finally let out a slight sigh and turned back to leaning back as far as he could go in the stiff hospital chair, propping his legs up on the bed a small distance away from Luna in case he had misjudged his odor. Walking the wastelands of Earth didn't leave a lot of room for any cleaning beyond baby wipes and bottled water.

"I'm a fucking idiot.", he muttered, eliciting a slight gasp from Luna at his coarse language.

"Why would thy say such a thing?", she asked, puzzled.

"Well, here we are having a nice bout of silence, with me completely used to being around a talking pony, and suddenly it's back to awkward because I'm a pessimistic ass!", Nathan ranted, leaning forward to set all four legs of the chair down and standing to look over Luna and out the window. There was a short silence as Luna constructed her response before speaking.

"We didn't find it out of what would be deemed normal in a situation such as this. As it is, I assumed we would be fine waiting until 'Tia awakes to continue telling your story." Luna spoke carefully, watching for Nathan's reaction, which was confusion in this case.

"Wait, we're staying up 'till Celestia is? I've had my share of study sessions, but I'm close to dropping. Unconsciousness is a far cry from sleep.", Nathan half-asked, half-griped.

Luna sat silently for a moment before jumping off the bed and walking to the door, simply holding up a hoof for him to stay before leaving him alone in the room.

Well. I'm assuming this is a sign she trusts me. Or I'm still charming as hell.

Nathan occupied himself with watching the sun begin to rise for a few minutes before he heard the door open. Turning, he found Luna levitating a tray with the most glorious sight he had seen in weeks.

"Coffee!", he practically squealed, rushing over and ignoring the slight crackle of the geiger counter as he rushed to take the tray and set it on the bed. As they both took a seat, he grabbed the coffee and tentatively took a sip, ignoring Luna's perplexed look.

Oh my... I've never felt so satisfied...

Sipping the coffee again, he finally noticed there was also several muffins on the plate of varying types and sizes. Grabbing a small chocolate chip flavored muffin, he took a small bite and practically melted as Luna began giggling at the faces he was making.

Oh... So... Good...

Finally, he looked up at her and put on a face of mock indignation, throwing caution and social awkwardness to the wind.

"You try going weeks without the stuff!"

Before Luna could comment, however, the door to the room opened to reveal the Princess of the Sun herself, Celestia. Nathan and Celestia were engaged in a staring match for a moment, both looking for weaknesses, before Celestia stepped aside to reveal a unicorn in golden armor charging a spell.

"Restrain him."

The next few seconds played out like a movie scene. As the unicorn released the shot, a shield of shimmering, interlocking, blue hexagons appeared in front of Nathan and protected him from the shot, inadvertently causing chaos as the shot began to ricochet about the room. As the shield dropped, Nathan fell to the ground out of instinct, coincidentally falling so he could see the rifle leaning between the bed and nightstand against the wall. Quickly crawling over as the two sisters attempted to restore order as more guards entered, Nathan grabbed the rifle, making a spit-second decision. What happened next stopped all movement.

Nathan sprang up and grabbed Luna's hoof, pointing the gun directly at her head in a threatening manner, causing everyone to freeze as the danger of the situation sunk in.

"Sorry about this. It was the only way!", Nathan whispered to Luna, noting her perturbed look. Turning back to the guards and Celestia, who seemed to be close to flinging fire, he tried to defuse the situation.

"How about we just talk, okay?"

Celestia grit her teeth in a rather un-royal manner before responding in a strained version of her usual calm voice.

"Lower your weapon and we may speak."

Nathan acquiesced and stepped away from Luna before speaking again.

"Alright, so can we talk."

It was at that point Nathan learned the error of moving away from Luna.

"No.", Celestia said, firing off a shot of energy, which quickly sunk into Nathan's chest, leaving a numb feeling as it spread from his torso, to his neck, and finally enveloping his head in a strange, muted world where his senses stopped working properly. He only had time to hear the indignant yell of Luna before he crumpled to the ground, unconscious once more.