Prepare the 'Patient' for surgery
Starlight Glimmer snapped awake as the bright light above threatened to burn her eyes out of their sockets, she blinked a few times, giving her eyes time to adjust before staring terrified at the dimly lit room around her. As she examined her surroundings she found only a few things visible in the darkness, the ceiling lamp above her head, the table on which she lay and a small table on wheels beside her,on which rested a tray carrying upon it a collection of silver objects which she couldn't quite make out.
Starlight attempted to rise into an upright position to examine the tray's contents further, only to find that she could barely move at all.
As she looked down, unable to even lift her head she noticed a thick black strap around her body and just out of her vision several smaller but similarly thick straps restrained her limbs to the table and another one across her forehead.
"Nghh! hunnngh! w-wha?!" she stammered, struggling at her restraints in a panicked fit. "Ok Starlight, calm down." she said in an attempted to relax slightly,just enough to hopefully escape from her current confinement. "You're a unicorn, just focus on the restraints and-" but as she closed her eyes and began to concentrate, Starlight noticed something was... off about her magic.
Something didn't feel right, come to think of it, she didn't feel anything. "W-what?!" she cried in surprise, her voice almost a terrified whisper, she tried again with the same result. "W-what's going on?! Why can't I-?!"
Looking up, Starlight discovered why the restraints weren't springing to life and bursting off of her. There, just above her head where her horn should have been, was a small pink stump that matched the colour of her coat perfectly, the smooth flat end which had a slight outgoing grove in the middle suggested what had once been there in place of the stump had been cut off using some sort of saw. And that whomever had perpetrated the action had slipped somewhere in the middle and thrown off their direction.
"W-wha?!" Starlight stammered, the horror of this sudden discover now causing her voice to fully become a terrified whisper. "M-my horn! w-where's my horn?!" panting heavily Starlight looked left and right, searching in the darkness for some pony, any pony who might help her. "Hello?!" she yelled, her voice shaking and full of fear. "Is any pony there?!" she waited a few moments for a reply, then as she continued to struggle she called out again. "Please some pony! any pony! i'm in here please! help me!"
Then from the darkness, a small sound made Starlight fall silent and then eventually, also fall still. a slow, steady rhythm of quiet clacking, like hooves on the ground heading in her direction. No, no these were not hooves, how could they be, the rhythm was two slow and only accounted for two legs, no pony she knew could or would be so strange as to rear up on their hind legs and walk like that. "Hello?!" she called out to the sound. "I-is some pony there?! what is this place?! please can you help me?!"
as Starlight peered into the darkness in the direction from which the noise originated, her eyes soon widened at what she saw. A figure stepped out from the darkness, dressed in what looked like medical scrubs, a white apron wrapped around them and a pair of blue rubber gloves covered strange appendages that looked like griffon talons, but weren't nearly as sharp looking, the ends of each talon were stubby and round, like the edge of a smooth stone.
The strange creature wore a surgical mask over it's muzzle and it's long golden mane was tied back in a pony tail, the curls of which were a tangled mess suggesting the creature hadn't brushed it for at least a day or two, as it stepped closer to stand over Starlight, it became apparent it was fairly tall as it's head came very close to the light as it stood up straight, bareing over Starlight. "P-please!" Starlight pleaded. "W-whatever you are, Whoever! W-what is this place? Why am I here? P-please, just let me go and I won't tell any pony."
the creature simply closed it's eyes and shook it's head, then it's cheeks puffed up, as if under that mask, it was smiling. "Now miss Glimmer." the creature suddenly spoke. "Where would be the point in that? after all you're here because you want to be, you chose this remember?"
Starlight's eyes widened "Ch-chose this?! I-I did no such thing! L-let me go, now! W-what did you do with my horn?! What are MPH!" the pink unicorn was silenced as the strange creature took a cloth from the tray beside her, no not a cloth, gauze, bandages. It proceeded to wrap these bandages around Starlight's face, taking special care to leave the mane, eyes and nose uncovered, muffling any and all attempts at sound as Starlight's mouth was covered in a moderately thick layer of bandages.
"There now." the creature said calmly as he stood over Starlight."Just try not to move and this won't hurt... much."
