Celestia 1: An Account

Chapter 6 : Debaser

~

Gleaming hit the door frame with an almighty 'crack', Snapshot having scrambled back out of the room, slipping around on the polished wood floor of the apartment. Gleaming emitted an angry groan and came charging out of the room at Snapshot, slightly stumbling over his own possessions that now resided on the floor. Unfortunately, Snapshot found himself in the same situation. One wrong hoof placement sent him tumbling to the floor, having fallen over a pile of books.

Gleaming took his chance and bolted right at Snapshot, sending the both of them across the floor in a pony-pile. Snapshot backed up against the wall, keeping Gleaming away with his forelegs, not an easy task considering the amount of thrashing around. Gleaming snapped at Snapshot fruitlessly, he was being kept at too great a distance to land a hit.

There was a clang, and a yelp, and Gleaming was on the floor. The mare from the reception desk was stood behind Gleaming, frying pan in her mouth, and a terrified look in her eyes. She dropped the frying pan and helped Snapshot to his hooves, not glancing away from Gleaming for a second, lest he get back up.

"We should go get somepony?" She said.

"What? Who?"

"Medics, security, anypony!"

"Let just...lets just get out of here."

The two left, shutting the door behind them, should Gleaming get backup. The receptionist took up post by the door, and Snapshot ran off to go and get help. Help from who, he had no idea, but any help.

~

"Run this by me again, at a speed I can comprehend this time." Said the doctor.

"Okay, so I came up to check on Gleaming Waters earlier, and he wouldn't open the door. I went and got help and got the door open, but when I went in there was blood and sick everywhere. I found gleaming, but he was all pale and vacant, then he got violent and tried to attack me! Luckily the receptionist came in at the right time and clonked him out. Then, I came to find you two." Snapshot gestured to the doctor and the security officer.

"So then, why are we here?" Inquired the doctor.

"Well, we figured you're our best bet to find out whats wrong and how to fix it. And we wanted security here incase Gleaming got violent again."

The security officer grimaced. If it did get violent, there wasn't anything really he could do. Being a research base, there was really little to no need for any security, it was just an after though to deter minor offences like shoplifting and whatnot, not violent assault.

"Well, if something is wrong, I guess it is our job to help..."

Cautiously the two made their way to the door of room 335, Snapshot tailing them. The receptionist unlocked the door and took a step away from the door. The three made their way inside, closing the door behind them. Gleaming had not moved since Snapshot had left, he was a twitching heap on the floor. It was a rather unnerving sight, especially since his eyes were still open.

"Oh my..."

The doctor gingerly made his way towards Gleaming for observation. He was very pale, his eyes had no colour, and his coat was stained in places by blood. It was not a pretty scene.

Gleaming let out a grunt, and all three of them jumped back. After a few seconds of continued stillness, they returned to Gleaming, satisfied he wasn't getting up. At least, not right now.

"Well...we really should get him to the infirmary for observation, and to treat...whatever this is..."

An uneasy glance was exchanged, and Gleaming was loaded onto the doctor's back, separated by a sheet to prevent contact. They had also tied up his legs with a sheet, in case he started thrashing around again. The way they had it planned out, security would walk infront of them, and keep any ponies that might be about out of the way, for their own safety if nothing else. Once they got to the infirmary, they'd put Gleaming in a room by himself, again for the safety of every pony, and try to figure out what was going on.

~

"Excuse me Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to step aside."

Fluttershy did as she was told, not wanting to cause a scene, content to just observe and not cause any trouble. The security officer walked on ahead, followed by a doctor carrying somepony in sheets on his back, and a third, very nervous looking pony trailing behind.

"Oh dear, I hope everything is alright..."

The doctor stumbled slightly, jostling the sheets around, which revealed a little of the pony underneath.

"Goodness! Is that..."

"Mr. Waters?"

Fluttershy started to make her way over to the convoy, but was stopped by the pony on the back.

"Please, stay back Ma'am. Something...has happened."

"I-Is Mr. Waters okay? What happened?"

"I...We don't know. Its just dangerous, so please, stay back."

At this point Gleaming began to stir on the doctors back dislodging himself with a grunt.

"Snapshot! He's waking up! What do we do?!"

"Uhh...His hooves are still all tied, just stay back!"

Gleaming rolled and snarled on the floor, struggling to free himself from the sheets. Upon locating the doctor, he started fruitlessly snapping his jaw in his direction, still trying to get up.

"Ma'am, you'd better go!" Snapshot started pushing her away, he didn't want anypony else getting tangled up in this mess.

"O-oh, okay. Get well soon Mr. Waters." Fluttershy trotted off back towards her home, casting worried glances over at the scene until she rounded the corner.

"Oh, I do hope everything is okay..."

~

"Shit shit shit, what do we do now? I can't carry him like this!"

"Uhmm...what if we go find a unicorn to carry him with magic!" Snapshot offered.

"So what, we drag somepony else into this to, put them in danger? No, we can't."

"Well.." Snapshot pondered.

"What?"

"What if- What if we ask the princess?"

"Seriously?" The doctor shot Snapshot a glare. "You think we should ask royalty to haul a rabid pony around? Thats your idea?"

"Uh, guys-"

"Think about it, this is something new, yeah? And you want to observe it. What does the princess love doing, if not research and all that?"

"Guys!"

"We can't just ask her to come out here and perform manual labour for us! She's the princess!"

"GUYS HE'S GETTING FREE!"

The two turned to face the guard. He was freeing his baton from his belt, as Gleaming stood up having dislodged hid bindings. He had time to mutter a quick "Aw hell no!" before Gleaming pounced. The baton made contact with Gleaming skull and threw him off to the side. Gleaming was already recovered and ready to strike again just moments later. It was very much a battle of call and response, Gleaming going on the offensive, and the guard avoiding his attacks.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, HE-"

He was cut off by the impact of Gleaming bounding into his side, winding the guard and sending them both tumbling to the floor. Before he could get back on his hooves, Gleaming was all over him, furiously smashing his hooves against the guard's head and rib cage. The guard was using all his strength to push him off with his forelegs. He managed to roll Gleaming off of him, when Snapshot and the medic managed to pull him away.

This managed to break Gleaming away from is fixation with the security officer. However, now his attacks were aimed at Snapshot and the doctor. He manage to deliver a swift buck to the doctor's legs bringing him to the ground. Seizing the moment, Gleaming delivered a smack to the doctor's head, and a bite to his neck.

Snapshot managed to break off and retrieve one of the sheets. Acting swiftly, he wrapped it around Gleaming's head, pulling him away from his attack. Gleaming let out several aggravated grunts and batted his head around in a fruitless attempt to free himself. The security guard limped over to the remaining sheets, the two of them using the sheet to trip Gleaming over and ensnare him.

"...Shit.."

And so it was, the four of them: One rabid, one beaten, one bitten, and one barely any worse for wear, still had needed a way to proceed, and now a way to stop the doctor's bleeding before they reached their destination.

~

Snapshot entered the infirmary with the doctor on his back. The guard followed him in, dragging Gleaming behind him, still trapped in the sheets. This was far from ideal, but it was really the only solution they could think of. Gleaming was placed into quarantine, and after being patched up, the doctor also insisted on being placed in quarantine, being sure he had contracted whatever Gleaming had by being in such close contact with him.

The guard had two broken ribs, but was otherwise fine. He left after being seen to by the medical team. This left Snapshot, who was just sitting in the waiting room, contemplating what it is that just happened.

"This is bad."

"This is really, really bad."

~