Finding our Way Back Home

Twilight wakes up. Her body feels numb, but she feels like she is laying on a bed of some sort. She thinks she hears something above her and snaps her eyes open. Her vision is blurry and unfocused but she has the vague outline of somepony standing over her.

“You’re awake, it is about time,” says the male blurry figure, in a familiar accent. It sounds a bit… Shetlandish?

Twilight tries to rub her eyes, but her hands don’t seem to want to move. A sudden bright light is flashed in her eyes, causing her to blink rapidly.

“Reaction is alright,” he mumbles, confirming Twilight’s thoughts about his accent being Shetlandish, “What about vision? How many fingers am I holding? Blink the number I’m holding up.” Something moves in front of Twilight’s face.

Twilight tries, she really does, but her vision won’t focus no matter how hard she tries.

“It is as I feared,” he sigh, moving what Twilight believed to be a hand away, “The long time you spent in stasis has weakened your eyes.”

Twilight starts to panic. ‘Does that mean I won’t be able to see? I didn't foresee this problem!’

“Now where did I put that bottle of Resight?” he mumbles, walking off leaving Twilight alone, but he soon returns. “This should fix you up a treat,” he says, leaning over Twilight.

Twilight can feel a huge hand being placed on her forehead, he then forces her eyes open with his large fingers. Then something is dropped in both her eyes. Her eyes feels weird for a while, before it starts to burn like he dropped acid on her eyes! Twilight tries to scream but her mouth can’t seem to open and all that comes out is a high pitch moan. She tries to blinks her eyes in an effort to remove the liquid, but he continues to forces them open. Black spots appear in her vision and grow bigger. She is going blind!!

Soon she is completely blind, but before she has time to panic further it suddenly returns, but crystal clear this time! But before she can look at the figure a bandage is put around her head, covering her eyes. Sadly making her blind again.

“Now don’t open your eyes until I remove the bandage so that the Resight can do its work, right,” he warns, tightening the bandage.

Twilight can’t seem to talk or move any part of her body, so she can’t reply. But that doesn’t seem to matter to the now unseen figure.

“Now I’m going to check on the other pod victims, but when I come back we will try and fix the talking problem,” he states, as Twilight can hear him walk away.

‘The other pod victims? He must mean my friends!’ Twilight thinks, panicking. She tries and calls after him, to ask if they are alright, but all that comes out is a moaning sound.

“Also even don’t bother to try and speak or move,” he yells, from most likely the door, “Most of your muscles are deteriorated into atrophy while you were in the stasis pod. So I would just sleep if I was you.”

With those words Twilight hears the sound of something closing, leaving her in silence. Twilight starts to panic, what has happen to her friends and what happen to the pods, they were supposed to help them maintain their muscles. How could her muscles deteriorate to the point where she can’t move at all! How is she going to complete her mission if she is a cripple? With these thoughts in mind she somehow manages to fall into an uneasy sleep.

Twilight is awoken by a loud clapping sound beside her ears, startling her

“Wake up princess,” says the familiar voice of the unseen figure, “I managed to dig up an old ‘Thought to Voice’ machine and I got it hooked up to you. So let’s have a talk.”

“What does he mean?” Twilight thinks, but something beside her speaks it.

“Good it works,” he says, sounding happy with himself, “And what this means is that whatever you think I hear, ok. So be careful what you think.”

Twilight thinks she better be careful what she thinks.

“You better,” he says, hearing what she is thinking, “Now I am sure you have questions, but so do I, so let’s play a game, for every question you answer I will answer one, ok?”

Twilight answers, “Ok.”

“Ok, first off what’s your name?” he asks, sounding like he sitting down.

“Twilight, what’s yours?” Twilight replies and then asks.

“It’s Alastair, now where are you from?” he asks.

“Equestria,” Twilight answers, honestly, “Are my friends ok?”

“They are alive, but are in the same state as you,” he answers, relieving Twilight slightly, “Now where is your planet?”

“ummm… somewhere hidden,” Twilight answers, secretly.

“Hmmm… I see,” he mutters, surprisingly not sounding unhappy.

Suddenly Twilight remembers something, something really important. “Excuse me but was there a small crystal ball on necklace with me in the pod?” Twilight asks, nervously.

“Yeah, but it is right now on the desk beside you,” he answers.

Twilight makes a relieved noise. “Thank goodness.”

“Is that something important?” he asks.

“Yeah, it is our only way back home,” admits Twilight.

“I see, well it’s your turn now,” he says, sounding like he leaning back on his chair.

“How long until I can take off the bandages?” Twilight asks, hoping to see again.

“Possibly a few more days, the Resight needs a few more days to settle.”

“That’s good.”

“I should mention that whatever is said in this room is between us, I’m not writing this down on any report and only I will decide what others find out about this, so be honest with me… can you use magic?”

Twilight stays quiet for a while before answering, “Yes…”

“I thought so, earlier scans showed it but I had to be sure,” he sighs, “I would keep quiet about it if I was you.”

“Why, is magic something forbidden or something?” Twilight says, feeling worried.

“It is not bad as such, but trouble follows magical races, and people don’t like to be caught up in it,” he explains, sadly.

Twilight wonders if this trouble is the same thing that got Twilight and her friends in this mess. Nevermind it can wait until later to find out, but it is her turn now, “How long have I been out?”

“I don’t know how long you been in stasis for, but you have been on this ship for about one solar week,” he explains.

Twilight wonders how long she has been in the pod for? She will need to check the stasis pods computer to find out… that is if she can ever move again.

“Ok, enough questions, let’s talk about your treatment,” he says, sounding like he is standing up.

“Will I be able to move again?” Twilight asks, scared of the answer.

“Of course, it just a matter of time,” he says, walking to another part of the room.

“How much time?” Twilight asks, relieved but worried that she may not have much time.

“Usual treatment would take months of muscle therapy and use of some powerful drugs,” he explains, sounding like he is moving equipment, “But I believe I can cut it down to about a week.”

“Really, how?” Twilight says, relieved that it won’t take months. But that doesn’t last.

“By using Extra Powerful Drugs,” he states, sounding like he picked something up.

“What…?”

“Basically I will be loading you down with huge doses of Regen and also pumping Boost into every part of your body,” he says, walking towards Twilight side.

“What is Regen and Boost?” Twilight says, now feeling very scared for some reason.

“Regen is made by the Yellons, it is mostly just water, but that water is full of millions of Nanobots whose job is to rebuild or repair damaged or dead parts of your body, in this case your muscles which have wasted away,” he explains, placing something large next to the bed.

“What’s the catch?” asks Twilight, feeling like there is one.

“Well since it is technically tearing apart and rebuilding your muscles, you will be in constant never-ceasing agony all over your body.”.

“What about Boost?” Twilight says, now totally terrified.

“Oh, that is just a muscle boosting drug made by my own race,” he dismisses, “It’s also quite painful, but you won’t be able to feel it over the Regen. It is made to increase the strength of weakened muscles.”

“Is that safe? It sounds like steroids?” Twilight says, worried.

“Don’t worry, I don’t know what this steroid is but Boost is safe in controlled amount, so how strong where you originally?”

“I don’t know? About average I guess,” Twilight guesses.

“Average eh… Able to lift one standard Star Fighter,” he seems to write down.

“Wait, what!?” Twilight doesn’t know what a standard Star Fighter is but she doubts she can lift one.

“Oh sorry,” he says, with a slight chuckle, “I was thinking of the average strength of my race and got confused, sorry sorry. I guess what I should ask is how many times your own weight can you lift?”

“Maybe one times,” says Twilight, not really confided in her own strength.

“Man, that sad,” he sighs.

“So how does this treatment work?” Twilight says, trying to move the subject from her own strength.

“Well I have this machine with me that will take care of you while the treatment is happening. It has the Regen, Boost and stuff in and will take care of doses.”

“Will I be awake for the treatment?” Twilight asks, scared of the constant never-ceasing agony part of the treatment.

“Don’t worry, I will keep you knock out with Hammer.”

“You’re going to knock me out with a hammer!?!” Twilight exclaims, now scared for another reason.

“No, Hammer is a sleeping drug also made by my own race,” he explains, “It is quite powerful and will keep you dead from the world while all the constant never-ceasing agony part happens.”

“Oh, that a relief… why is it called Hammer?”

“Because it knocks you out instantly and when you wake up you will feel like you were hit by a hammer,” he laughs.

“Great…” she says, sarcastically, wondering why all the medicine causes pain.

“No pain, no gain. Now excuse me,” he says, as Twilight hears the sound of walking closer.

“Excuse you for…” Twilight is about ask when it answered for her. He suddenly pulls down the sheet that covered her, for as the sheet is pulled away she realizes that she is naked. Twilight wants to cover herself up but of course there is no strength in her hands. “Why am I naked!?!” Twilight asks, her face most likely going red.

“That’s the way we found you,” he answers, finishing removing the sheet, “My guess is that your clothes deteriorated after being the stasis pod for so long.”

Twilight sighs, she didn’t think this would happen.

“Also we don’t have any clothes that would fit you. Not to mention for this treatment I would need to strip you if were wearing clothes anyway.”

“I see,” says Twilight, still very embarrassed.

“Now I am going to restrain you.”

“Wait what?!?”

“So don’t move at all, I mean I am going to be shoving over two dozen needles in ya.”

“Over a two dozen…” Twilight says, worried, she is not very fond of needles.

“Yes, five will be going into your neck, four will be going into each arm, three into each leg, four into your hips and four into your chest.”

“Why so many needles?!?” Twilight says, panicking.

“Nearly all of them will be Boost except for five of them. Now stay still,” he warns.

Suddenly metal clamps grab her around her head, chest, hips, upper and lower arm and leg before lifting her off the bed. Luckily the clamps seem to be padded so they don’t hurt at all. But these clamps made it impossible to move, not that she could anyway. Suddenly the clamps which seem to be slightly automated, moves Twilight body into a laying down star position.

“Why am I like this?!?!” Twilight yells, feeling very embarrassed at this very shameful position.

“Oh do you creatures never stop whining?”

“But what is this?!”

“It is just the bed’s support function. It’s made to help keep the patient rigid or can help hold them in certain positions that will help the patient heal faster and the doctor, which is me, treat them better. It can also realign bones and fix disjoined ones. In this case it will be holding you up so I can put needles underneath you and reach other places.”

“But won’t I get cold?” Twilight asks feeling really really embarrassed.

“Do you feel cold?”

“Well, no…”

“Good, because if that was the case the bed wouldn’t be doing its job, part of its design is to adjust the room temperature to your idea temperature, so don’t worry. Instead worry about the 27 needles I am about to put in you.”

“What…”

Suddenly Twilight hears the noise of something that sounds like an electric shaver.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asks, worried.

“I will just be shaving off a small bit of hair around the areas that I will be putting the needles in, so it doesn’t get in the way.”

He starts with very carefully shaving two small areas around her arteries in each armpit, elbow, wrist, upper thigh, knee, ankle and the two ones in the neck, he also shaved small areas around her necks two veins. He also shaved a bit around each shoulder blades, a bit right under each of her breast, a bit around the top of each butt check and finally two areas in front of her pelvis. If you can’t guess by now, Twilight face is redder than one of Applejack’s apples due to embarrassment. He is shaving around Twilight’s very private parts.

“Now let’s put these on ya,” he says, placing some sort of strap around her neck and then around each armpit, elbow, wrist, upper thigh, knee and ankle, the final ones are placed around her hip and chest.

“What are these?” she asks, as he places them on her.

“These are just to hold the needles and to make sure they don’t fall out,” he explains, placing the final one on, “Now comes the needles.”

The first two are placed into each of Twilight’s veins in the neck. Twilight groans, slightly, they are big needles.

“These will be pumping in the Regen,” he explains, “The vein will take the Nanobots right to your heart and then it will be spread everywhere else.”

“I see,” replies Twilight, she imagine that if she could speak her voice would be very pained.

He then puts needle into one of her necks jugulars. It isn’t as big as the last ones, but it is still hurts.

“This one will be keeping you under with Hammer.”

Twilight doesn't say anything this time and waits for the next.

The next two are placed in each of her jugulars. Now Twilight has five needles in her neck and is only keep in place by the strap… it hurts like hell!

“Those two will be supplying Boost for the muscles in your neck and head.”

He then places one into each of her wrists.

“These will be supplying you with all the nutriment you will need, and you will need a lot. After this you will lose a lot of weight, so don’t be surprised. After this all the needles I will be placing are for Boost, ok.”

“Ok, just get it over with please.”

He starts by placing another needle in each of her wrists, then another one in each of her elbows, armpits, upper thighs, knees and ankles, he places two more near her shoulder blades, one under each of her breasts, two in front of pelvis and finally one above each of her butt cheeks.

“Done, how do you feel?”

“Pained… why do I need so many Boost needles?”

“Sad to say that Boost only can affect a certain area of muscles before it becomes impotent, as it is usually only used to strengthen a single group of muscles.”

“I see, so that why I need so many needles.”

“It is quite a bother for cases like this, but we can’t improve it much for it is a purely natural drug. It is extracted from a fruit from my homeworld.”

“I see, that’s pretty amazing.”

“Hmmm, I will start putting the Regen and the Boost on soon, but I won’t put you on the Hammer yet, until I am sure everything is working as it should. It will be painful, but you have to deal with it, ok.”

“…ok,” Twilight says, scared.

“Here we go.”

Twilight can hear the sound of a machine start up with a soft hum, she can also feel liquid being pumped into her. It feels weird at first, like the Resight, and just like the Resight it suddenly starts to burn, like acid being poured into her blood, and keeps getting worst! Twilight wants to scream but like before she can only make a high pitched moan.

“Hang on, Twilight, I nearly got all the data I need,” he says, trying calm Twilight but she can’t him over the pain she is feeling, “Let’s see, Regan has spread nicely, all muscles are receiving Boost… ok, I’m going to put you under.”

He hits the button and the Hammer enters Twilight system. A ‘Goodnight’ is the last thing Twilight hears before her world suddenly goes black.