Friendship is Volatile

It was one thing being in pain, another having to deal with a variety of ponies, but did they really have to kick him when he was already down? That rainbow colored asshole was lying on her side laughing her little head off so hard that he really hoped she would just choke to death.

"Har har har. Yuck yuck yuck. I'm pretty sure you assholes in the white coats are supposed to be digging something out of my back and fixing me up instead of laughing."

One of the assumed doctors made a show of clearing their throat, and as Locks took a closer look at it he realized that this was in fact the first male pony he had seen. Out of the six Luna had brought only two of them were male, which started heckling his nerves a bit as he looked at all of the ponies surrounding him. Each introduced themselves as respectively as Dr. Winters (The man behind him.) and surrounding him doctors Marevell, Newhope, Sunrise, Hooves, and finally Nurse Redheart who was currently examining the gash on his forehead.

"Is it just me or is there a distinct lack of men? Why are there so many females in this room?"

"Awwww What's the matter Lockette? Don't like the mares? I'm sure we can find some strapping stallions who'd love to treat you with tender loving care."

"Go eat a bag of smashed dicks you Rainbow colored turd."

Celestia was giving him the same look his mother would have if she happened to hear those particular words. Luna was the one who answered him though. That is after she finished snickering and trying to hide it behind a cough.

"I assure you Locks that there are plenty of stallions inhabiting Equestria. There is a higher percentage of mares but still enough for you to find some male friends.

"At least hell isn't completely filled with estrogen...."

His thoughts were interrupted by another lance of pain shooting through his right shoulder as one of the doctors behind him carefully examined the object protruding from his back. Strange thing though while the others began unpacking various supplies from their little bags he felt a strange tingling throughout his hurt shoulder and back before Winters spoke somewhat grimly behind him.

"Sir... I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it appears the object is imbedded in one of your bones. Do you know of any particular pain medication that can be used by your species? We've taken the liberty of bringing a wide variety of both strong and mild agents."

"I Lockette Hekmet hereby decline all forms of pain relievers regardless of their application during the course of my treatment."

That seemed to stop everyone of them from moving about. Some of the doctors looked like they had stopped breathing.

"Not sure if you ponies have the same protocols for concussions, but I'm pretty sure my bell got rung a little. So that means nothing that might mask symptoms of brain injury. Cut the shirt away."

While Newhope began snipping away at the sleeves of his shirt Marevell placed a hoof carefully on his left shoulder before speaking.

"Sir... I understand your course of thought but the injury to your shoulder.... It warrants some kind of pain relief before removing the object. We cannot force you to take anything against your will but are you completely sure? It may be safer to stabilize the object until we are certain you can take something..."

He interrupted her by pressing two fingers over her lips.

"Applejack? Can I borrow your hat for just a moment?"

Looking slightly confused and a little nervous she trotted up to him and carefully took off her hat, placing it in his left hand. After resting it over his knees he took a deep calming breath.

"The six of you were brought here to treat my injuries to the best of your extent. I refuse to take any medication for the time being and will continue to refuse any further care if you can't comply with simple requests. I won't risk infection from that thing in my back remaining where it is, and I'm giving you five seconds to yank the object out the moment I bite down on this hat. When the thing is free I want you to wait another four seconds and watch how the wound bleeds then describe the bleeding so that I can determine what action needs to be taken afterwards."

Turning his head carefully to look at Winters behind him he tried not to smirk at the way the poor fellow was sweating bullets.

"I'm not asking you to do anything doctor. I'm telling you exactly what to do. If you have any problems with this then you are free to leave. It will be extremely difficult to treat my own injures, but I would sooner take the risk than waste anymore time."

Luna stomped towards him with a hard look on her face, but the moment she opened her mouth to say something he bit down on the edge of the thick leather hat and relaxed his body to the best of his ability. His vision seemed to collapse inwards as thick black rings closed in towards the center of his sight. The sound of something being yanked from his bone and muscle caused everyone in the room to flinch and nearly knocked him out. Time seemed to stretch itself out in agonizing sharpness until he heard Winters muffled voice.

"The wound is bleeding steadily, appears as dark crimson, no signs of spurting or bright red splashing over the back."

His own words sounded distant even in his own head. It was difficult to move any part of his body but after spitting out the hat he answered.

"Stop the bleeding..... treat like a regular puncture....."

"What about the damaged bone?"

"Nothing.... Can't do anything....."

More pain followed as he felt something press firmly against the wound. His whole body was shaking though he was glad his face was against his knees. At least they didn't see the tears leaking out of his eyes. He felt Marevell's hoof on his left shoulder before hearing her voice.

"Mr. Locks? Can we at least use antibiotics? I've completed some very basic magical tests and you seem compatible with what we have."

"Topical.... topical only.... low grade..... Hand it over..."

They looked at each other in confusion until he placed his left hand over his shoulder and wriggled his fingers.

"Give me that thing."

It was a heavy piece of metal about five inches long and warped from the car exploding. Other than hurting like hell he didn't feel any difficulty breathing, so at the very least the thing hadn't punctured his lung. Lucky for him that it stopped at the bone and stuck there. He was breathing hard, and with each passing moment he felt himself drifting closer to the inviting blackness that would take the pain away. Warm hooves carefully wrapped around his head and heard a soft crooning against his ear.

"It's ok Mr. Locks... You're alright now. You did a very good job, just let the doctors take care of the rest and you'll be just fine."

Looking up with he could barely make out the pink hair and yellow fur of Fluttershy through the white and black spots obscuring his vision. Letting the object thud against the floor he lifted his shaking left hand up he placed it against her cheek and with a gentle smile she placed her hoof over the hand, rubbing it softly.

"Your still a pony... You're supposed... to be another human... it hurts too much... for this to be a dream..."

"I promise you Mr. Locks. We're here to help you. I'm so sorry that it hurts, but it will be over soon."

"Your not.... supposed to be.... real... You're a pony."

"We're all ponies. Please try to relax... The doctors are working as fast as they can."

Outside of his vision one of the doctors signaled to Fluttershy to carefully lay him down on his uninjured side, and from his left Rarity gently slid a pillow under his head. Locks' mind was shutting down, there was simply too much for him to consciously deal with, but as his eyes slowly closed the last thing he saw was the worried face of Fluttershy with her cheek streaked with blood from his hand and tears leaking out of her eyes. His last words came in a pained whisper before reality withdrew and left him in comforting blackness.

"Thank you Flutters... but I miss my kind."

The pegasus looked up pitifully at Celestia and murmured sadly.

"Can't we send him home....."

The princess walked softly over to her and gently placed her wing around the distressed pony.

"Fluttershy... We don't know how he came to be here... Even if we could send him back we can't even try with him in this condition. If these injuries are a result of being transported here sending him back could end his life."

"...... He acted bravely.... but I think he's scared...."

"It won't help him if he sees you crying like this Fluttershy. If he is scared then he needs you to be brave more than anything."

Giving the strange creature on last small hug she sniffled and drew away from him letting Rarity lead her into the back room to get her face cleaned up. The doctors cautiously labored over their patient, but after finishing with his shoulder and bandaging his head they packed away their equipment to leave. Dr. Winters addressed the princesses and Twilight before their small group left through the entrance.

"Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? Twilight? Can we have a word with you outside for a moment?"

The three looked curiously at the doctors before following them outside into the cool afternoon air.

"I... hazard to say that this creature isn't a known species in Equestria correct?"

The three of them nodded slowly.

"Has he... expressed being able to use magic? Or shown any use of the arts?"

Looking at each other in turn all three shook their heads slowly. Luna asked the question on all of their minds.

"Does Locks have something that resembles our magic? I would think if he did have some kind of knowledge in that regard he would have used it by now..."

The doctors looked nervously at each other and shuffled their hooves into the dirt.

"While we were examining the subject we noticed something fascinating about the creatures brain. The diagnostic spells used showed very mild damage. Nothing that could threaten his life, but its the... extra data that's... strange. You are familiar with the way a unicorns horn is attuned to magic, allowing us to wield it through the appendage correct?"

"Yes....."

They seemed to be having a difficult putting their thoughts into words, but after a quick conversation amongst themselves Dr. Marevell continued.

"It is a hard concept to come to terms with Princess but I want you to imagine if you did not possess a horn in any regard. Think of it as having the same magical connection completely enclosed within your skull without having the obvious outlet the horn serves as.

Twilight shook her head slowly before venturing a question.

"I don't understand where you are going with this doctor. We don't know if he can use magic or if his species are capable of wielding it at all but what are you trying to get at with the analogy?"

"We have come to the tentative hypothesis about this creatures brain. It would require a great deal of further testing but since the five of us repeated the diagnostic spell and had Nurse Redheart compare their findings we may have found something."

Redheart trotted over to them and presented a clipboard that had carefully drawn out notes. Luna was the first to voice her concern.

"This cannot be correct. I do not doubt your abilities as medical professionals but these notes say that creature, even in pain and still functionally talking to us was..... using a tenth of its brain."

"That is the problem we are having princess. While it isn't centralized in any one part of the organ it appears that a majority of it's faculty is for magical application. Very similar to the connection our horns share but on a much more advanced level."

"Your telling me that thing.... that human. Uses a tenth of its entire brain to talk and function? What if humans can't use magic? Then the rest of it's brain is what? Just vacant space?"

A hard nudge from Celesta got her to stop for a moment while the doctors thought of an appropriate answer.

"The whole of this creatures brain is utilized... just at a level that doesn't match the information we've received so far. I would venture one last hypothesis from the data we have right now. I believe that if this creature were to possess the ability to use magic it could do so without the necessity of channeling and directing that magic through a horn. We could not locate any organ or appendage that would act as a channel point, and we believe it could be capable of casting spells from any part of its body. He should be fine resting here for the time being but we will return first thing in the morning to change his dressings and if you... would allow us to gain his consent for further testing...."

The implications were staggering. If what the doctors were alluding to was correct Locks could very well be suited to wielding magic in a way that no pony had ever before witnessed. Twilight blinked slowly before an excited smile broke out over her face.

"I don't think he would have any problems with a few more tests but I also don't believe it would be a good idea to tell him about this... potential for the time being. I'm not sure he would be the safest creature running around with magic."

Oddly enough all present ponies had a different variation of Locks running around starting fires, lobbing lightning bolts at hapless citizens, and generally causing havoc and chaos throughout Ponyville. Both princesses and Twilight instinctively started rubbing their temples with Luna voicing their opinions.

"Yeah... I think it would be best if Locks didn't know any of this, but I also forbid any pony from preforming tests against his will. He will not be subjugated to studies without full consent."

"Of course Princess Luna. I assure you that our patients safety is our utmost concern. I will see to it that he is adequately compensated for his compliance. Not only is he a brand new species of intelligent life but one with so much potential!"

As excited as Twilight was she couldn't help but continue to imagine Locks running about laughing insanely and casting spells all over the place.

"I don't like the idea of him using magic."

"I have to agree with my student. He seems somewhat... unstable for such a delicate matter."

"Oh come on sister! He was hurt and the doctors did say he had some form of brain injury! It would be wrong to deprive him of something as wonderful and beautiful as magic!"

"You only think that way dear Luna because he might turn out a bigger prankster than yourself. I don't think I can handle another issue similar to what happened last week.... Twilight? Can I ask you to house our wayward guest for the time being? I think it would be best to keep him isolated in Ponyville until we can release any sort of news about him. This town is rural enough not to have his presence spread too far... but to be on the safe side I'll instruct the guards to post my personal intervention in the matter."

Nodding her approval the Princesses departed with the doctors in tow, and after taking a deep steadying breath she turned back to head inside. She would have to handle her new guest very carefully in the days to come and monitor him closely. There were just some ponies that didn't need to have magic and she was almost positive Locks would be the leader of such a group.