They Came from the Everfree

In spite of what should have been a happy moment, we were not so lucky. The hope was interrupted by a fast paced throbbing of a high pitched EKG wail, blipping at a much faster rate than I expected. An orange light lit up and began to twirl around the machine.

The room went apeshit as everyone panicked. There was no one shout that could be picked out from the crowd.

"Clear the room! Out, now!" The doctor shouted over the noise, suddenly returning from the dead. He leaned his head out of the door and yelled down the hall. "It's a 7-R emergency, we need adenosine!"

There was a large shuffle in the room, doctors poured inside. Ponies of all colors of the spectrum poured in, all wearing hospital uniforms similar or identical to the doctor in the room currently. They immediately began chatting away like geeks as several of the doctors shoved us towards the door.

I resisted the motion for a moment, taking a while to look back at Fluttershy. She hadn't moved at all, not a muscle. But her eyes were immediately to mine. They seemed to have shifted to a darker color, giving them a more sinister appearance. She appeared to merely be gazing in my direction rather than actually at me at all. It didn't make me nervous, or strike me with fear, I had seen stares like this for years. Hundreds of people have grown this nasty syndrome, the thing is, I never saw any of those people again.

The metal door that sealed off the hospital room was slammed shut in front of us, the pale blue window curtain shook as it fell to rest over our view. The sounds of shuffling hospital workers were hardly audible. The girls pushed back against the door, squishing me, but it was locked tight. Whatever was going on in there, we weren't invited.

I never get invited to cool stuff...

We stood in silence for a long time, we cast each other similar glances. We were shit out of luck. Nothing to say, we had no choice but to wait until she was in better condition.

I decided to break the silence. "Hey, it's not exactly a good time, I know. But there isn't going to be a better one. Alot of people are going to die if I don't get helping these doctors. They're bumshit clueless on this sort of thing." I reminded them.

"I'll help too, I know what I'm doing. I can't sit around and watch lives go to waste." Elliot was at my side. He wasn't the dumbtwat he pretends to be. That's just his persona, who he chooses to be. He chose to be "that guy", the one who's a comedic relief. It's something I took onto. But deep under, he's nothing but an excellent soldier. He's smart, quick on the spot, and has an unbreakable spirit. I hope one day he'll pass me, and become a Master Sergeant or Sergeant Major.

The girls paid us mind, but seemed to just be looking in our direction without listening. Only Twilight seemed to pay attention to what we were saying.

"Go do whatever you can, I'm not going anywhere." She spoke in a whisper. Something about her tone was too flat. Her voice carried a spirit that shattered mine.

Elliot nodded firmly and spun around, running into the room just beside himself. I could hear chatter. I was positive he knew what he was doing, so I looked down the hallways.

At the end of each corridor there were blue doors propped open on wooden door-stoppers, chipped from years of use. I decided if he started on the first floor, I should be on the second. I spun my head and yelled into the room as I walked away.

"Elliot, I'm taking second, you stay down here until every room is seen to!" I ordered, accidentally bumping Rarity as I made my way for the end of the corridor.

"Number one, take your platoon, I want you to organize an aerial ambush for any evading pegasai." He pointed a hoof firmly into the officer's chest.

"Yes Colonel." The platoon OIC turned and ran back into his formation, quickly directing individual squads into various trails.

"Good, now number two..." He turned and faced a much more frail commander. "I want you to instruct your troops to show no mercy, to kill all opposition to our cause. Use any means necessary, we will not fail, regardless if morals must be violated today. When that order is given, you will have no hesitation, you will immediately have everypony from here to the Griffon Empire in the sky, and they will slay everything they need to in order to secure the VIP. Do you understand?" She ordered.

"Yes, Colonel. I'll rally my squads for assault immediately." She rendered a brief salute, returned by the Colonel, before scampering back down the forestry towards her platoon.

The Colonel turned back down the mail trail, smirking to himself. This would be the day he proves himself. The day that he shows the world what he can do. A chance at power like this has never before been seen in any empire of any sort. Today, the glory would be claimed in his name. He would be feared for centuries, he would be remembered.

Ponyville Hospital, 1800 hours... Day 12.

My feet were so heavy I was going to collapse. They were hardly supporting my weight at all. My feet thumped loudly through my ripped socks as I stomped down the marble stairs. I slid my hand on dusty railing to prevent myself from falling face-first into a world of pain.

Ironic, because it's a hospital.

I climbed the last stair, and looked forward. Elliot was coming through the doorway, he stopped.

"Grayson, was just wrapping it up down here. I gave the staff a brief summary, and showed them some hands-on stuff. I had to use horse gloves, it's weird as all hell." He complained, grinning proudly.

"Hey, good to hear you did alright. It's all sorted out up there. There weren't many surgeons up there, but a lot of nurses. You get that down here?" I replied, Elliot moving out of my way to let me through.

"Nah, man. Exact opposite. Doctors had to stop what they were doing and grab stuff from across the room. Was really shitty, honestly." Came his reply.

"Good to hear you two had fun." Rainbow Dash trotted up to us from a blind-spot to my right, just beside the doorway. "Fluttershy's room is back open. They said it had something to do with blood sugar." She explained.

"Blood sugar? The hell do all the doctors go ape-shit for blood sugar for?" I inquired.

"Maybe she means blood pressure, Gray." Elliot clarified.

"Ah," Rainbow pointed. "That's right, pressure." She turned and started walking towards the room, we followed.

"You been following Elliot around?" I asked as we neared.

"Only for a few, then Fluttershy's room re-opened. I'm not a big fan of... Guts'n'stuff." Rainbow explained.

"Guts'n'stuff. Elliot?" I spoke aloud.

"No need to write it, I'll remember it." He answered.

We walked through the blue-ish doorway that lead into the room. It was now much darker, and I suspected the hospital would be closing to visitors soon. I also, however, realized now that a group of ponies were entering the halls.

"They must be letting visitors in." Elliot whispered to me.

"Hey, girls." Rainbow greeted. Several replies came. There was a new creature I didn't recognize in the room.

"Lizards, too?" I asked blankly.

He looked at me with wide-eyes. "I'm not a lizard!" He defended.

Huh, extra-terrestrial racism.

"Reptilian, sentient being." I smartassed.

"Dragon. His name is spike." Twilight corrected, a hint of assertiveness in her voice, ending our discussion.

I heard a murmur from the bed, I turned to look at Fluttershy, her eyes were now wide-open, she was staring at me.

"Look who's up from beauty-sleep. I thought you were going to be out for a while." Elliot commented.

"It'd suck if they kicked us out too soon to talk about anything." I joked.

She looked at us without saying a word. She turned away and looked out the window.

Elliot and I exchanged a glance.

"She hasn't been speaking. At all. It's been really boring, she hasn't smiled in forever!" Pinkie complained, poking at the bedsheets.

That was red flag number one...

"Hey, can you hear me? You know what I'm saying?" I asked, taking a step closer to the foot of the bed. All eyes were on me, but nobody objected.

She didn't answer, so I tried again. "Hey, Fluttershy? You there?" I pried.

She didn't move, her ears lay flat against her head.

There's two big red flags...

I moved to the side, Twilight had to take several steps backwards to avoid me. The dragon didn't move, so I bumped him.

Size has privileges.

I looked at her face, she didn't move her eyes to look at me, she was staring out the window. I moved to the side to block her view, and she didn't respond. She continued to stare forward, through my leg.

Well that's not good.

I nudged her with my hand in the belly, she looked down, but didn't move any further. She continued to stare downwards.

This is beyond 'not good', this is very, very bad news. I wasn't sure if I should diagnose anything, I never took any classes in phycology or anything.

"She'll be fine. Just give her a little while." I lied, I didn't look at them when I spoke.

"Grayson, you sure? I mean..." He moved his head in her direction, his voice was strained.

"She's fine, trust me." I continued, casting a stern glance in his direction.

The room was quiet for a few moments, I finally decided to turn around.

"Hey, where's the orange one?" I asked.

"Applejack?" Elliot corrected.

"That's the one, JackleApp, right. Where did she go?" I looked between the crowd.

"She said she wanted to go get a wake-up gift for Fluttershy! She went to get an apple for her!" Pinkie answered gleefully.

"How long ago was this?" I continued.

"Hmmm, I'd say about an hour ago, maybe a bit more." She thought to herself clearly, before nodding with confidence.

I processed that information.

"Does she live very far away?" I looked at Elliot, who also seemed interested on my little investigation.

"Nope! She's in the big red barn on the hill just outside of Ponyville!" She smiled.

"That barn? That's pretty damn close to here. What's the hold-up?" I asked to no one in particular. I turned my body around. "Elliot, you're the one with the obsession, you go get her." I ordered.

"I don't have an obsession! I hardly know her!" He put his hands up defensively, very defensively. We stared at each other. "I'll still go get her though, just out of courtesy..."

Uh-huh.

"Be back here in about twenty if she isn't there." I held up the number two to clarify.

"Got it, good luck waking her up." He preformed an about-face, and left the room. Quiet.