A man lies beaten and bloodied in a field. Lungs whistling from puncture wounds he could not quite explain. He prayed to the heavens with his suspected last breaths. "God, I need an angel." His voice was cut off by the other holes the air was prioritizing. He heard the sound of grass under foot, a sound so alien, yet familiar. He hoped to god that it wasn't one of them. He vainly strained to turn his tunnel vision to the direction of sound before completely blacking out.
The dry leaves crunched under the hoof of ponyville's favorite Zebra, taking a stroll through white tail woods. The cold autumn air filled her lungs as the sweet smells of persimmon tickled her nose. She stopped, twitching her ears, listening for that strange whistling sound. She stretched her tongue to taste the air, a faint copper coupled with iron.
She followed the breeze and found the man laying limp and unbreathing. She was curious, how did this creature get here and why was he so injured. She pushed that aside and dug her head under and lifted him onto her back. She was not ready for the 200 pound dead weight, but quickly adjusted. She slowly trudged back toward the town.
Twilight stood on the bridge in the middle of the town, looking for anything out of the ordinary, and a Zebra dumping a body at the side of the river was indeed out of the ordinary. "Zecora!" Twilight lifted off with a mighty flap of her wings, and landed with a cocked head. "Wait a second! That's one of those mirror world people, but he looks different."
"He was hurt so I did what I should, Carry him here from white tail wood."
"Why dump him in the lake?"
"Combined with the horn of the Unicorn, water heals all wounds pierced and torn," Zecora nosed open her bag and picked up a cone between her teeth, causing the alicorn's eyes to become even wider.
"What happened to the Unicorn that was on?"
"The answer to that I do know, but you would not want me to show. Back where I call home, it sometimes pays to go out of your way to cure syndrome."
"So what's this cure?"
"Even a single chip is enough to heal along with some power, a dip in the river, his lungs fill with water, and he will be well within the hour."
"Really? Our horns are that powerful?" Twilight asked.
Zecora simply nodded as she thrust the severed horn right below his sternum. "But to return life to a tortured child, requires much more, wild." Zecora mustered all the strength she could to force the horn further up into his chest.
"Oh gosh, I think I'm gonna be sick." Twilight rose her hoof in front of her mouth and looked away. "I thought medicine was just simple mortar and pestle, not this hands on."
"My young one, I still have much to teach, but could you help, that ginseng is just out of reach."
Another pony noticed the spectacle from afar, they pink pony took a swig of her coffee, and walked over. "Hey, whatcha doin?"
"Practicing medicine."
"Y'know, it's easier if you push the ribs up so you can shove that Alicorn up in there. Here lemme help, scootch over." The pink pony nosed the exposed bone and the horn slid in without incident. "Now the fun part. getting back up without getting cut." She took a deep breath and backed away slowly. "This smells different," She licked the blood off her nose. "Tastes different, like gold."
"How do you know what blood tastes like Pinkie?"
"Not all rocks on a rock farm are round silly, I've had plenty of bloody noses and hoof cuts." Pinkie was interrupted by a loud splash soaking her back sending chills up it. "Cold!" Pinkie shook herself off soaking her friends, before looking down. "Um I don't think he's supposed to heal that fast." Just then she was once again interrupted, by screams. They tore through the air piercing the very hearts of the three. Not screams of terror, but agony.
Princess Twilight disappeared in a flash of pink light. Seconds later the two could hear her screams as well. Pinkie galloped toward the screams only to find her friend standing over a limp body. "She just ran at me, I had to." Pinkie looked down at the body, it used to belong to a dear friend of hers. "I tried to blink her away, but my magic wasn't working." Twilight felt a warm sensation running down her face. "Blood on my horn, I killed her?" She winked away to a bush and emptied her stomach.
Zecora turned away from the man in the river, hoping her companions were alright. He threw himself up as he tried to empty his lungs. Gasping for air he clutched his side as it filled in. "Where the Hell am I? Who are you?" His eyes darted around the town. "No rubble, no walls, sunshine, am I?"
"I don't think you did it," Pinkie inspected the mare lying on the ground, and the trail coming from behind it. "The trail's coming from White Tail, She ran screaming from something. already bleeding real heavy." Pinkie jumped back as the body took in a sharp breath and began screaming again. "What the Hell!" The pink pony screamed as she slammed he hooves down. The Crunch of the Mare's skull echoed in her mind. The same scream played on and on until the body ran out of breath and fell limp once more.
Back at the river the soaking wet human heard the familiar screams of agony and struggled to stand. "I have to get outta here, they're after me." He groaned, still in pain from the healing process. "There's only one, maybe I can kill it before it spreads."
"This place works different from where you were, here violence is never the answer!" The Zebra shouted.
"It is when they don't speak your language," He pushed aside the talking Zebra and limped toward the now silent hill. As his foot drug along the ground he couldn't help but feel dazed and confused. He shouldn't be alive, but he wasn't dead. The fresh air was off putting, it had been years since he smelled something other than rotting bodies and the copper stench of blood. One final scream shattered his concentration as his legs fell from under him he heard a loud crunch followed by silence.
