Stone Vault

Vault was slowly awoken by the steady beep of an ECG machine. He opened his bleary eyes to sterile white ceiling tile, and equally lifeless eggshell walls. He could smell industrial cleaner wafting in from somewhere beyond the seafoam green curtain surrounding his bed.

“I must be in a hospital…” he deduced, “Makes sense, I did get hit by a truck.” He was aware of a dull ache all over his body, as well as being practically mummified in linen bandages, but not nearly in as much pain as he felt he should.be. “Must be the painkillers,” he reasoned, “Might explain the weird dream with the stick dogs and adorable yellow banshee.” He chuckled softly to himself, what a weird hallucination. One thing, however, was still needling the back of his mind… Why were his feet touching the floor?

Walter leaned forward a bit, and saw his legs dangling off the end of the bed. “Am I in the children’s ward or something?” he puzzled, “Maybe there was a big disaster, and they ran out of beds?” As nuts as that sounded, it had to be the reason...right? The sound of hushed chatter caught Walter’s attention from beyond the door. Barely audible over the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor, was a man and a woman arguing in harsh whispers.

The door was closed, so Vault couldn't really make out what was being said. Listening intently, he could make out bits of the female voice.

“Giant...dangerous… patient!” he heard the woman hiss. That didn't sound good, maybe he was more hurt than he thought? Vault couldn't make out the male’s terse reply, but she continued to argue, a little quieter this time. A few moments later, there was a knock on the door.

“Mr. Stone?” it was a male voice, but older sounding than the previous one. “My name is Doctor Check-Up, may I come in?”

“Dr. Check-Up?” Vault chuckled to himself. “Definitely in the children's ward.” He turned his head and weakly called out, “Yeah, sure thing doctor.” the door opened and Vault heard… way more than a pair of foot steps. He wasn't exactly sure, but the way they echoed off the floor made it sound like at least a half dozen people. Someone pulled away the curtain separating him from the rest of the room, and Walter found himself face to face with two adorable tiny horses.

“How are you feeling, Mr. Stone?” Dr. Check-Up asked, his regal mustache bouncing with each syllable. Next to him was a pink-haired nurse holding up a clipboard with her right foreleg, jotting down notes via a pen in her mouth.

“Neat.” Vault took a picture with his imaginary camera, before turning his attention back to the doctor. “Well doctor, I'm not in much pain, but I think I may be having some kind of reaction to the medication.” he calmly explained.

The mustachioed old horse looked taken aback by this. “Oh my!” he exclaimed. “What are you feeling? Chills? Heart Palpitations?” The nurse set down her clipboard on the end table, and examined the machine next to Vault. The doctor quickly put on his stethoscope and began listening for his heartbeat.

Walter laughed softly, “No, nothing like that Doctor Check-Up.” he patted the stallion’s hoof, “This is going to sound silly but…” the nurse and doctor backed up and stared at him expectantly. “You look like little ponies right now.” he smiled out.

The two medical professionals looked at each other in confusion. Vault started laughing, this was the part they always laughed at right? He said something impossible, they all laughed about it, they gave him some different medicine, and everything went back to normal right? Except, they weren't laughing. Why weren't they laughing?

“Umm… Mr. Stone?” the pink and white nurse cautiously spoke up. Vault’s awkward laughter died off slowly. “We are ponies.” she finished.

“Huh. Imagine that.” Vault replied, nodding his head slightly. The machine next to him suddenly began to go haywire. Several alarms went off, lights flashed, and the steady beeping increased in tempo.

“Pulse is rising! Blood pressure dropping! He’s crashing!” the nurse called out.

“Mr. Stone? Can you hear me Mr. Stone? Stone Vault!?” Doctor Check-up yelled.

Not that Walter could hear him at the moment.

Twilight was up in her library, performing more research on the visitor. However, her research had taken a different turn. At first, she thought him to be some kind of animal, potentially dangerous, but nothing special. Then something strange happened. She didn't notice it at first, but after she took Stone Vault to the Ponyville hospital, she was exhausted. She felt like she had just carried a saddlebag full of rocks up a mountain, and this was highly unusual.

It… he was indeed heavy, that was for certain, but not anymore so than his size would reasonably indicate. And yet, Twilight felt like she had been levitating an Ursa Minor around all afternoon. This got her thinking, what if Stone wasn't a normal animal, but a magic creature? She began digging into her copy of “Mystical Monsters and You: A Bestiary.” While she still didn't find any record of whatever species Stone belonged to, she did discover something that may just confirm her suspicions.

“Zebrica hosts a number of exotic and dangerous plants, one in particular is especially dangerous to unicorns and other spell casting races.” Twilight read aloud. “Magisorum Syphonium, more commonly called ‘Mage Bane’, is a creeping vine covered in bright red flowers with large teardrop shaped petals. Mage Bane grows upon rocks, plants, and other stationary environmental features. While maturing, they feed upon ambient mana fields. However, should they come into direct physical contact with a unicorn or similarly magic creature, they will suddenly animate and attempt to root themselves in the victim's body.”

Twilight suppressed a gag, “The process is exceedingly painful, and can result in death by rapid magic exsanguination. This is not the only danger they pose. For they can also absorb mana via magical manipulation. Unicorns interacting with the vines or flowers with their telekinesis have reported feeling physically exhausted afterwards.”

Well, Stone obviously isn't a plant,and he didn't try to eat her, but this proves that such a thing is not unheard of. Twilight tried to ignore it, but maybe Stone was like Tirek? The very idea that another monster like that could be out there terrified her.

That's why she took the necessary precaution of stationing a few guards outside his room. At the very least, she could get a little warning should anything go wrong.

Just then, Spike came running into the library, his eyes tired, but alarmed. Twilight felt her heart drop into her stomach.

“Twilight!” he cried, “Something's wrong at the hospital! One of your guards rushed over here as soon as he could. They need your help!” the little dragon belted out, Twilight already galloping over to him.

“Spike, tell the rest of the guards to be on stand by.” Twilight, hastily scribbled a note, “Send this to Princess Celestia, then go get the rest of the girls and bring them back here.” She ordered.

“What's going on, Twilight?” the still drowsy dragon asked.

“Nothing, I hope.” she bit her lip, “But I want everypony ready, just in case.”

Spike nodded, a little unsure, “Okay, but please be careful.” he replied, before reaching up to hug her.

Twilight craned down her neck to nuzzle the baby dragon, “I will Spike, I promise.” Giving him one last encouraging smile, Twilight teleported away.