Dead on Arrival

They were in the morgue of the hospital, but right now Danny wished he was in the atrium. Nice open space, the huge skylight; it's just what he needs after witnessing something so disgusting. But Danny couldn't just abandon his new friends when undertaking something like this, especially while he was in the possession of one of their smartphones. The tight hallway didn't help with his nausea, either. He didn't know they were going to harvest her organs, he never agreed to that. They know how she died now. The entire reason why he came has been fulfilled, and now he's stuck with the camera.

He noticed something a little bit off about Matt. He just seemed a little too excited about all this, more than any normal person should. But if that were the case then why did he hesitate at first? Why did he almost cry right before the cut? Matt was seemingly a nice guy, but he was confusing to Danny. His philosophy was to be happy and to make others happy whenever possible, but Matt wasn't happy as far as he could tell; he wasn't unhappy, either.

Danny was walking down the white halls to the bathroom, bathing in silence, when at the end of the hallway he saw a strange glimmer just hovering in the air; just where two hallways met in a T intersection, right in the centre. As he came closer he noticed something else in the shining twinkle: an ominous dark-ish blur that made strange motions beneath the twinkling. He couldn't see much, but it seemed like it was beckoning something. Danny continued on to his journey to the bathroom with his head cocked in curiosity -- still enveloped in silence -- when that silence was broken.

By the whirring of fans.

Danny was confused. With a cocked brow, he lost interest in the glimmer and cautiously approached the source of the strange whirring at the end of the hallway, the T intersection. gentle fear was gripping at his heart but he pressed onward, but he was determined to discover the source.

The strange noise grew stronger as he stepped closer. It was still a ways away, but he saw something coming around the right corner: It was a strange, white suited, four legged figure with strange brown packs adorned with a symbol that he couldn't make out from this distance, followed by five others that look very similar, except for a strange stubby lizard creature accompanying the one with the brown satchel. All of them had patches on their sides that were all too familiar to him as he came close enough to recognize them. Danny froze when he saw these symbols, and the strange aliens halted their progress when they noticed Danny.

The equines and Danny stared at each other for what seemed like ages, until the lizard one broke the silence:

"Uh, Twilight!?" The lizard began. He was dressed in the same fashion as his peers but with no mark, yet was as still as a statue next to the one with the saddle bags. "Sh-should we start running?!" It squeaked with terror, still staring at Danny, who was staring right back.

"Not yet, Spike. Let's see if it can understand us," the equine with the purple star patch whispered back to her quivering companion. The strange white suited creature cautiously approached Danny, and began to speak to him.

"G-greetings! I'm Twilight Sparkle, from the land of Equestria! H-have you seen our friend? She looks a lot like us, but she's more yellow," She was practically shivering in fear, struggling to make herself heard to Danny. Danny still just stood awestruck by what he thought he was seeing while the horse attempted her first contact.

Twilight noticed the silver rectangle in his palm and tried to be friendly; if it even knew what that meant. "What's that in your, uh, claw thing?" Twilight could've asked Fluttershy what they were called, but she's a little bit too dead right now. Danny looked back at Matt's phone and gasped in fear; his eyes bugged wide in terror. The video of Fluttershy getting gutted like a fish was still on display.

"Oh, fuck," Danny clicked the phone off and blurted without thinking, "No, I- I haven't seen Fluttershy anywhere," Danny immediately recognized his mistake, and his stomach dropped.

"Oh, that's oka- wait, how did you know her name was Fluttershy?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"Fuck," Danny muttered to himself. He could feel his legs revving up and his guts floating light as air as his fight or flight response kicked in. Danny chose 'flight' and turned on the ball of his foot in the other direction, using it to kick off his sprint.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!" He panted to himself in intervals as he dashed at top speed back to the dissection room, gripping Matt's phone tightly in his fist as they swung.

"Wait! What do you know about her!? Have you seen her!? Answer me!" Twilight and company started sprinting in persuit. He knew something about Fluttershy, and whatever it was it wasn't good; maybe even worse than death. The rest of her skeleton crew in tow, Applejack tried to convince Danny to slow down mid-gallop.

"It's okay! We ain't gonna hurt'cha! We just wanna talk!" Danny didn't slow down; he kept up his sprint to the doors of the dissection room. Rainbow Dash was about to take off and tackle him to the ground for answers, but Twilight stopped her.

"Are you crazy?! You're gonna get yourself killed!" Danny overheard this, but ignored it. It wasn't really that high on his list right now; running away from the mane 5 was.

The horses were gaining on him just as he was closing in on the door. He tiptoed and leaned his centre of mass back to slow down as fast as he could; trying desperately not to overshoot the door. The interlopers were just a few feet behind him as he flung open the door, propelled himself inside, and back closed again, locking it just as Twilight tried twisting the knob. Danny pressed his back against the door, keeping it shut.

"Jesus, Danny! Where's the fire?" Matt asked surprised, and a little sarcastic. Twilight interrupted Danny's answer.

"It's okay! We just want to know where she is! We're not going to hurt you!" She shouted through the thick wooden door as the knob jiggled again.

"Is that-"

"Yep! All five!"

"Jesus Christ," It took a moment for everyone to process this new information, but Matt finally whipped everyone in gear. "Cover the body for God's sake! Mark, hide those organs! Danny, keep recording! This is awesome stuff!"

Everyone did as they were told with haste. Mark carted the glass jars to the far corner of the room, Matt covered the butchered Fluttershy with a white sheet, Andrew packed up the tools and hid them under Fluttershy's table, Danny clicked on Matt's phone and started the Camera app, swiped it to the video mode, and began recording the door and all the sounds from the other side. It wasn't a perfect plan, but it was the best one he could come up with in literally two seconds.

"Please?! We're really desperate!" Twilight pleaded, trying to make herself heard over the ruckus.

"That's it! I'm buckin' down this here door and askin' 'em myself!" Applejack announced. She spun around, reared on her front legs, winded up, and bucked as hard as she could at the door with a grunt. The door curved in and split halfway down the middle from the force of her buck with the loud, crunching KRACK! of splitting wood.

"Applejack, stop!" Twilight shouted at her in vain. She knew that using earth pony strength meant using magic. Applejack was wasting what little she had left bucking down a door. It was no use trying to stop her; she winded up for another strike.

"Fucking hell!" Matt yelled in the commotion. Applejack thrusted her hooves at the centre of the door, blasting it in twain with another loud KRACK!, sending splinters of wood flying into the room. Everyone inside shielded themselves from the blast of kinetic energy and shards of door while the dust was settling.

"Alright 'cha bunch a yellow-bellies, where's Fluttershy!?" Applejack trotted hastily into the room with a scowl upon her face, followed by the rest.

Twilight took a moment to analyze the surroundings: the steel tables, the kits of surgical instruments, the rubber gloves on their hands, and the white sheet covering something in the middle of the room. Slowly it dawned on her why Danny was running. He was hiding something grisly.

"What's under the sheet?!" She yelled at the group of dazed humans.

"Nothing!" Danny yelled right back.

"We were just doing an autopsy, it's nothing unsavoury!" Matt defended.

"Is that so?" Twilight trotted to the table.

"No, stop!" Matt tried to halt her investigation.

"Why? Is there something I shouldn't see?" Everyone in the room stood still in dread as the pony trotted cautiously to her mangled friend with the rest of her crew hanging back at the door.

Twilight was just at the edge of the table. She already knew what was under the sheet. The pink tail drooping down from the cover and coiling up on the floor was a dead giveaway.

"Is that?" Spike asked nervously from across the room. Twilight paused for a moment, contemplating whether or not to uncover it.

"You said you were doing an autopsy?" Twilight asked the group of petrified humans. None of them responded. Twilight finally made her decision.

"Okay, here we go," She said as she nervously yanked off the sheet, blowing them off their hooves with vanilla -- even through the filters on their backs -- causing Twilight to turn her head away from the corpse before she could even get a look at it.

"Ugh! What's that smell!" Pinkie blurted.

"It's the smell of death," Twilight answered grimly.

"That's what death smells like? It smells so good!" Pinkie expressed. Twilight shrugged off the disturbing comment and turned her head to the table, and immediately fainted.

"Twilight?!" Rarity galloped to Twilight's position, saw what was left of Fluttershy, and fainted right on top of Twilight.

"What the hay is going on over there?" Applejack trotted over to reconnect with her long lost friend and gazed down at her butchered corpse. "Oh, ugh, oh, that's, uh, urmph!" Applejack heaved in her plastic mask, sploshing it with mushed up apples spewing from her mouth. The bitter acidity biting at her tongue was a stark contrast to the saccharine taunt of vanilla.

"What's going on over there?" Pinkie asked curiously, cautiously trotting over to the crime scene. Rainbow held out a hoof to stop her in her tracks.

"Wait, Pinkie. Uh, maybe I should check it out first," Rainbow Dash cantered to the corpse and stared down at it with wide eyes. She was shocked at first, but that shock turned to sadness and a sickness of the stomach, and then anger.

"What is it?" Pinkie asked from across the room. Rainbow turned to Pinkie and yelled:

"Nothing you want to see! Just ... stay back there!" She knows that Pinkie would never be able to recover after seeing a sight as grisly as this, but Pinkie remained curious.

"Is it Fluttershy?"

"Uh, yeah. It's really bad. Don't look at it," Rainbow re-covered Fluttershy's butchered corpse with the sheet. Gradually, hate built up in her system. Fluttershy was the weakest of the group, and her longest friend, so Rainbow felt the incredible urge to avenge her. She was the element of loyalty, and she would live up to that title with gusto.

"How dare you!? Kill and butcher her for some ... science experiment?!" She screamed at the pinheads across from her, seething with rage. Rainbow revved up for a full cavalry charge.

"She was dead when we found her!" Matt yelled back.

"Yeah, well, you still cut her up, you pinheads!" Rainbow rebutted their claim to innocence.

"Who you callin' pinhead?" Danny asked in a challenging tone.

"Shut up! I'm gonna press you into jerk cider for this!" Twilight was regaining consciousness just as Rainbow propelled herself at top speed at the group of humans; her eyes shut and teeth clenched.

"Nyaa!" The startled group of med students collectively yelped and hopped out of the way of the charging bull of a pegasus. Rainbow Dash didn't stop running. Her eyes were shut as she bashed headfirst into the drywall, her head going straight through.

"Urgh!" She struggled to pull herself out of the wall, but she was having some trouble. Twilight regained her hoofing -- close to vomiting herself -- and stumbled back to the corpse. She tried to nudge the sheet under Fluttershy, trying to wrap her up like a Flutterito.

She muttered weakly: "Applejack. Help me lift her," Applejack's stomach was almost done convulsing the Applejack brand apple sauce out of her GI tract; she was crumpled on the floor as she finished. Eventually the farm-pony stood back up and wrapped her hooves around the corpse when she was done heaving the chyme out of her stomach. The vomit pooled down her front legs as she rose upright; soaking them in vile while breathing heavily. The foul scent of vomit nipped at her nose-hairs as she began to feel weak.

The vomit was leaking out of a tiny tear in her suit.

"A'ight, just, hrrngh! Just gimme a second," Applejack dug her hooves under Fluttershy, ready to carry her out back to her home world.

Twilight looked around for an available mare. "Pinkie, no, Spike. Find the organs," she asked the lizard in a weak daze.

"What? Oh, uh, alright," Spike scanned the room for any jars or any vessels that could hold butchered organs in. The very implication of Twilight's request made his stomach churn, but he eventually found a trolley with some full looking jars cleverly hidden in the corner of the room and dashed to them as fast as his little legs could carry.

Matt was finished giggling at Rainbow's hilarious blunder after hearing the pitter-patter of spike's feet running across the linoleum tiles. He snapped his attention to the source of the sprinting and snapped into action.

"Hey! You can't take those!" Matt ran to the trolley, intercepting the purple-green thief and grabbing the jars containing her lungs and stomach before he could. "Off limits!" Matt tried to run to the door and make his escape, but Pinkie tackled him down to the floor before he could.

"Oh no you don't!" The ball of furry pink knocked the wind right out of him. Matt fell down on his back; the jars sent crashing to the floor in front of him, spilling broken glass and preserving fluid all over the floor. The organs slid like a melting block of ice across the ground, slipping around to who knows where.

Rarity was regaining consciousness now. She was used to fainting -- if only for the sake of drama -- so she recovered quickly to see her pink friend in a struggle with one of the locals.

"Don't worry Pinkie! I'm coming!" She got up and galloped to her position.

"Grab the organs!"

"What?" Rarity asked confused as she slipped on Fluttershy's lungs mid gallop. She flew backwards into the air and slammed down on the floor on her back with an "Oof!" Rarity rolled back to her hooves and got up. When she did she saw what Pinkie was asking her to do, and what she slipped on. "UuueeeEEEW!" She sucked up her disgust quickly. She had to grab these or else there was no chance of bringing Fluttershy back to life, so she used her hooves to scoop up the lungs and stomach, cringing and almost throwing up the whole time. She'd love to use her magic, but she didn't want to kill herself trying to revive a dead pony. The living came first.

"Urgh! Get offa me!" Matt grunted as he overpowered Pinkie's pinning maneuver; lifting himself up to his feet. He saw rarity scrunching her nose, eyes shut tight, as she was scooping up Fluttershy's insides timidly. Matt didn't mind getting up close and personal to innards, so he snatched them right out of her grasp.

"Hey! Those were ours!" Rarity yelled.

"Finder's keepers!" That's when Rainbow Dash escaped from her makeshift prison and shook off the bits of drywall from her coat. Mark, Andrew, and Danny stepped back and out of her direct field of vision. Danny made sure to record every single moment. She was readying herself for another attack, and Matt being the only target in her immediate vision, chose him.

"Alright you barrel of horseapples! Time to bring the pain!" She was about to start her second charge when Mark and Andy piled on top of her while Danny recorded it.

"Hey! Hands off!" Rainbow yelled with rage. She bucked and bucked, but the two humans stayed firm, clenching the folds of her suit to keep themselves from getting flung off.

"Get outta here, Matt! Run to ... uh, a scientist or something!" Mark commanded. Matt sprinted to the door following the wise guidance of his friends when Pinkie charged at Matt once more.

"Hey, get back here! We need those!" She said as she was gaining on him.

"Why? She's already dead!" Pinkie leaped into the air -- arms and legs wide -- and landed right on top of him again, knocking him to the ground with another "Umph!"

"We need them or else we can't bring her back to life! Have you tried eating without a stomach? Or breathing without lungs? I haven't!"

"What are you talking about?!" Matt rolled onto his tummy, tucking Fluttershy's insides under him just as Pinkie reached for them.

"I just told you, silly!"

"Whatever!"

Twilight and Applejack were just about ready to carry Fluttershy's body back to the TARDIS; the pungent carcass was now wrapped in her own Shroud of Flutter when Applejack collapsed from weakness, dropping Fluttershy back down on the table.

"Urgh!" Applejack grunted as her face met the floor. A terrible pain was starting to grip at her chest as she clutched at her heart. Twilight pretty much totally regained her bearings after fainting to notice this and take action.

"Applejack! What's wrong?!" She asked.

"It's, urgh! It's my chest!" Applejack moaned in choked gasps, lying on the ground in pain as tongues of darkness licked the corners of her vision. Twilight scanned her body for any evidence of damage, and to her horror she found a pool of vomit leaking out of Applejack's leg, gushing out a bit of vomit with each convulsion she made.

Her suit was compromised.

"Oh, sweet Celestia," She muttered under her breath. She had to get back to the TARDIS. Fast. She searched the room for another available pony. Pinkie was busy batting her hooves at Matt's sides trying to get him to turn over, Spike was too small to carry her, Rarity was, uh, crying? But what about,

"Rainbow Dash!" She shouted to her friend. She was still busy bucking off the stubborn humans while one pointed his aluminum rectangle at them from afar. She stopped bucking and snapped her attention to Twilight, then to Applejack, and knew something was wrong.

"Get Applejack back to Time Turner as fast as you can!"

"You got it!" Her momentary rest let the two young men on her back ease up their grip just enough for her to take them by surprise and escape, sprinting out of their grasp like a greased hog. "Don't worry Applejack! I'm comin'!" She shouted as she scooped up her limp person with her outstretched wing and flung her on her back. "Hold on, Applejack!" She encouraged with determined loyalty. She galloped as fast as she could out the door and followed the glimmering star that led them there back to the TARDIS. She'd get the Doctor. He'd know what to do. Now that Applejack is in serious condition, Fluttershy has been retrieved, and the locals being less than cooperative, it was time to get the buck out of here.

"Rarity! Stop crying and get over here!" Twilight commanded. She was still propping up her side of Fluttershy with her hooves.

"What?" Rarity sniffled to Twilight, confused.

"I said get'cher flank over here and help me carry Fluttershy!" Twilight commanded. This was not the prime time for her drama right now.

Rarity sniffed and got up on her hooves, "Alright, I'm coming!" She trotted back to the corpse to assist Twilight. She dug her hooves under her side of the body, taking comfort that she was at least wrapped in a sheet, and lifted her up with a grunt.

"Hrrng!" They both emoted as they lifted their fluttery friend off the table and stood up on their hind legs. They trotted off to the door with haste, careful not to let the corpse fall out of their weak grips. Twilight called spike back to her side,

"Spike, stop whatever you're doing and get over here! We're going right now!" Twilight and Rarity were halfway to the door -- trotting as quickly as they could -- when Mark and Andrew tried to make a motion to stop them, unsure if they even should, when Danny stopped them with a sympathetic gaze and an outstretched arm.

Danny raised Matt's phone to keep recording. It worked, they both agreed to let them have her. Pinkie was now trying to lift Matt from his side, attempting to roll him over like a turtle, but every time she did, he just rolled right back over again. Twilight and Rarity stopped at Pinkie's position.

"Pinkie! C'mon! We have to go, like NOW!"

"But we can't leave without her stuff! Oh, c'mon! Give 'em up already!"

"Never!" Matt shot up from the floor, caught Pinkie off guard, and dashed to the door. Pinkie followed suit, and so did Twilight and Rarity. Danny ran after them to keep recording and Mark and Andy just followed to see where this'd go. Matt sprinted down the hallway past the bathrooms and took a right at the intersection at the end of the hall to make a speedy escape out the fire exit. It's too bad that the TARDIS was parked right in front of it.

Rainbow Dash had taken off her cumbersome suit and the Doctor was standing over Applejack, administering some kind of medical treatment. Both were clearly visible through the open doors. They were only a few feet in. They were standing above Applejack, who was lying on the ground unconscious with a medical-looking device hooked up to her. Her suit has been removed as well as Rainbow's.

Rainbow's hoof comforted her cheek as she slept, worry and sorrow sinking into her, until she heard something from out of the TARDIS. She tilted her head out the doors and her eyes grew wide with surprise at who was there. She saw Fluttershy's organs in his arms as he ran. Matt realized who was in the TARDIS, and he promptly spun on the ball of his foot 180 degrees and sprinted away from the enraged sky-blue mare to find another way out.

Dashie's face quickly scowled in anger as she rose from Applejack's injured body, and got ready to brawl. Full bore. "Hey! Get back here and fight like a stallion!"

"No!"

She chuckled to herself at the challenge, "You're on!" Rainbow flared her wings and bolted out the door, leaving a rainbow trail behind her and taking the Doctor off guard before he could warn her about the lack of magic. She knew about the risks, but what mattered to her right now was taking back what was theirs, grinning the whole while. Her bull rush was funnelled by the tight hallways leading directly to her target. She closed in on Matt. There wasn't any chance of barging into any walls this time.

"Eeep!" Matt shrieked as Rainbow Dash lurched her head at his legs and bit his leg, pulling him off balance, "Urgh!" He emoted as Rainbow tugged at his pant leg, sending him plunging to the floor face down, causing Fluttershy's insides to fly through the air.

Rainbow gasped as she jumped into the air, catching them before they even fell to the floor. "See ya!" Rainbow wasn't even feeling anything wrong, but chose not to test her luck. She booked it as fast as she could back to safety in the TARDIS. Pinkie, Twilight, and Rarity were just coming up around the corner. Pinkie had her nose pressed against the floor in front of them; sniffing vigorously for Matt's scent.

"Pinkie, that's not going to work. You've even still got your mask on," Twilight said.

"No wait! I think I'm getting something!" Pinkie turned to her left, and bumped her forehead into the wall. "Ouch!" Pinkie rose from the floor, nursing her head with her hoof and looked around. "Where'd he go!?" She exclaimed. She turned her head around to find Matt down the hall, resting on his back, seeing stars. "Ah ha! Found you!" Pinkie ran to her target, leaped into the air, her hooves splayed out to her sides, and landed right on Matt's chest.

"Hoogh!" Matt grunted.

"Where'd you hide 'em?" Pinkie pressed.

"Rainbow Dash took them, you prick!"

"Oh, okay!" Pinkie leaped off his collapsed body and hopped back to Twilight and Rarity as they were entering the TARDIS with Fluttershy's body still carried by their front hooves.

Twilight groaned as she dropped Fluttershy to the ground, the body making a thud noise when it hit the steel floor.

"Oh, thank goodness that's over!" Rarity exclaimed. "Now let's head home!"

"Wait! How's Applejack?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, she'll be just fine. Just extreme tachycardia and some minor outrageous vasoconstriction is all," He explained, his voice dripping with blasé.

"Well, at least she's alright, right?" Twilight asked in concern, staring at the orange lump lying on the floor.

"Right."

"Let's go home, gang! We've got a friend to reanimate!" Pinkie encouraged. Twilight hoped to Celestia that she had a book she somehow didn't know about that could actually bring somepony back from the dead. "Let's get a hoof on!" Pinkie exclaimed with her hoof in the air.

"Right!" The Doctor trotted to the control panel and began flipping levers, turning cranks, and spinning flywheels as the TARDIS revved up. It screeched and whirred in intervals. After about 10 seconds, the ear bleeding grinding stopped as the TARDIS finished its interdimensional journey with a thud.

"Alright, everypony!" Twilight exclaimed as she levitated Applejack, Fluttershy, and her organs off the floor and out of the TARDIS. The rest of her friends followed suit out the double doors, when Twilight was greeted by an extremely peeved Starlight Glimmer.

----------

"I can't believe we lost the whole thing," Matt whined. They were back in the dissection room cleaning up and putting away the stuff they took out for the dissection that only just got started with. "We had the world's greatest treasure in our hands, we were literally in it! And then some horses in a TARDIS just shanghaied it from us!"

"They didn't shanghai us into anything, they just stole her," Andy corrected.

"Whatever! You know what I mean. She's gone, with nary a stomach nor lung to our name," he continued his woes.

"Uh, are you forgetting something?" Mark questioned.

"What?" Mark asked frustrated. In response, Danny held out Matt's phone, "This, the tooth and feather in your pocket, and the jar of black stomach slime to be exact. There's also some of Applejack's puke on the floor if you feel like mopping that up."

A grin crept its way across Matt's face. An Idea popped in his head as he remembered the last stage of the plan. He grabbed the jar of vile gut fluid and jogged to the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" Mark asked.

"I've got to upload one helluva YouTube video!"