Five Seconds to Midnight...
Sunrise… sunset…
Moonset… Moonrise…
With days and nights being the same length year round, time was a blended river since I had arrived here in Equestria, broken only by the shifts I had to perform for Celestia at her Sol Dome as the Chief Specialist of Plasmic Majicka. The calendar on the wall showed it had only been a month since my wedding to my dear Tammilya, but even then, it seemed that it had been a full lifetime. In a world of magic, a world that I now considered my home, I had found everything that was missing from my previous life back on Earth. I had friends, I was now appreciated in my work duties, and the sweet loving mare that protectively held me every night was my soul mate.
I knew that the next step of my life, moving into a new permanent home in Canterlot, was still two months away, but deep down I had a feeling that it would be here before I knew it. In the present, however, I had a lot on my mind as my gaze fixed on the simple sapphire mane clip that I held in my hooves like a delicate crystal rose. Fluttershy had asked me to be her maid of honor for her wedding to Eris, mainly to prevent a massive fight from her fellow element wielders, and the Goddess of Chaos had given me the enchanted item to help fulfill the role. I had been a mare once before, deep in my dreams so long ago when Princess Luna had done it to give me a brief experience on what being a mare felt like. That had been when I was still in danger of merging with my beautiful wife, but being a mare in the waking world came with its own set of responsibilities. Yet, I never was one to let down a friend who came to me asking for help, so with one last deep breath I snapped the hair clip into place.
The wild magic that was in the hair clip sprung to life, washing over my form like a slow shower as it went to work. My mane was the first to show signs of change, growing longer and more vibrant in the light as I watched the changes occur in the mirror. Unlike in the dream when the changes were quick and I had no time to process them until after the fact, I could actually see the strands of my mane grow and change from a silver blue to mahogany brown, and soon other changes started to make themselves known. My normal reddish-orange coat lightened in a cascade starting near my maneline and worked its way down and out, the color bleeding away as if it was never there to begin with as the fur itself softened and completely covered my hooves.
From there, the more drastic changes started to occur. An immense pressure started to build around my body, and I could only grit my teeth as it started to reconfigure into a smaller form. Muscle that I had built up with a daily workout routine smoothed away into a more slender nature, with fat starting to gather around my barrel, hips, and plot to manifest the beginnings of my feminine curves. Every nerve in my body felt overworked as they rewired and changed, with some areas becoming less sensitive and others increasing. The wings on my back convulsed, the larger feathers of my stallion form falling to the floor as the more dainty feathers of a mare took their place. Overall, it was an odd feeling, and I had no control of my responses until after it was over. The lump in my throat suddenly deflated, making me squeak as my vocal chords reconfigured into a higher pitch, but my attention was soon drawn to my face.
Fighting back the urge to scream, I slammed my eyes shut in agony as my skull heated up. My square muzzle rounded and shrunk as my body fat continued to reorganize, but feeling the structure of the skull itself being warped was an experience that made me sweat in fear for when the time came for the process to occur in reverse. My eyes themselves burned as they began their transformation, reshaping into those of a mature mare as my eyelashes grew thick and luscious. For a brief moment, the feeling subsided, but I knew it was just a reprieve as the main change was still to occur.
Sure enough, the process started. Beginning as a churning deep in my stomach, I could feel my organs shifting around as my prostate slid closer to my rear and split into two smaller glands. This empty space, I knew, was only temporary as the organs that defined me as a stallion began to shrink and move. The pleasure of the experience made the previous uncomfortableness be worth it, and soon I could feel my new mare reproductive system bloom to life as my tail grew to cover the delicate organ. With the transformation complete, the clip powered down due to its magic being spent, and gave me a chance to take stock of the finished product.
For the time being, my name was Sundae Melody, pegasus mare.
Even with me being male for most of my life, minus that one dream sequence and the brief time being inside of Tammilya’s form while she was still a suit pon, I was surprised to find myself having no negative thoughts about my body or how it felt. Back on Earth, I had known several acquaintances who were transgender, so I knew to some degree what dysphoria was based on their testimonies and the research I did in my spare time. Yet, I felt no such feelings, instead I felt a certain degree of completeness as Princess Luna’s words from that dream came back into my mind.
I just simply made your appearance that of your inner pony.
“Hey love, is that you?” Tammilya said from behind me, snapping me out of my inner reflection as I turned to face her. Shock was evident on her face, with a careful guard up around the edges as she slowly approached. She knew what Fluttershy had asked of me, and had pledged to give her full support, but I knew that she had never seen me in this form so her reaction was reasonable. “There is still a year until Fluttershy has her wedding day, why are you already a mare?”
“A variety of reasons honestly,” Moving over to her, I nuzzled under her chin, made easier by the fact I was slightly shorter than her at the moment compared to normally being taller. With the roles reversed, I could see why Tammilya enjoyed nuzzling me as she rested her head on top of mine. I felt safe, secure, and protected as I felt her hum. “I want to be as comfortable as possible in this body for when the time comes, and this also allows me to experience what a mare normally does every year.”
“Oh Jim,” I could feel her cheeks heat up at the implication, not that I did a good job hiding it. “Does that mean I got to be the stallion for you? My last heat was my first true one, and we both know how that went.”
“I know,” My own cheeks colored as the memories, wonderful ones that did not leave the confines of our bedroom or my office, replayed in wonderful detail. However, considering that my body and mind were currently the same gender as Tammilya, I had to clamp my tail over my rear as I imagined what it would feel like in her place. “L-lets drop that topic for now and worry about it when the time comes. Please? Also, for the time being, my name is Sundae Melody. Being called Jim while in this body just feels… wrong, no offense.”
“It is ok Sundae,” Tammilya said, moving the two of us to the bed to cuddle, her draping a wing over me as she took up being the big spoon. “This is going to be an adjustment for me too, but if you are happy being a mare, you can remain so as long as you feel like.”
“Thank you dear,” I felt relaxed as Luna’s realm started to carry me away to her Land of Nod, a small smile escaping my lips as I felt Tammilya kiss me on the forehead. “Sweet dreams Tammi, love you, and thank you for supporting me.”
“It is I who needs to thank you,” Her reply made my heart flutter in my chest, and a pleasant warmth spread throughout my body. “But, for now, lets enjoy the moonlight’s embrace and have a pleasant rest. May the moonbeams help give you insight and reassure you of the future.”
I had grown used to her normal goodnight message, a carryover from her time as a suitpon at the end of her shifts during that time, but I could not help but feel like this time was different as I finally let sleep embrace me.
I heard the familiar alarms of my past as I looked around, finding myself in the reactor room of the nuclear plant on Earth, but something felt off. For starters, I did not understand any of the signs or levers. Even though my memories told me what each of them said and were for, they still were beyond the reach of my visual comprehension. Despite that shortcoming, I could tell from the gauges that the reactor was in the initial stages of melting down, and despite being just a dream my fight or flight reaction kicked in. The levers and buttons, designed for human fingers, were tricky to work at first with my hooves, but after spending a few minutes adjusting I was able to breeze through the protocols. Much to my relief, the alarms soon ceased and the gauges returned to normal, but I was startled when I heard the door open behind me.
“What the fuck are you?” A voice, that I recognized as my own, demanded as my former human self entered the room. He was clearly terrified, and grabbed a nearby wrench for self defense purposes just in case I dared make a wrong move. “How did you get in here, and how do you know how to shut down a reactor?!”
“You are probably going to find this unbelievable, but I am you,” The moment the words left my mouth, I realized that I was still Sundae Melody, which I knew was only going to make the remaining human part of my subconscious harder to convince. “So, please, put down the wrench and lets talk this out like adults.”
“You are me? Ha!” Moving like a cheetah closing in on its prey,” The human me slowly approached, making me back away until I had no more room to run. “You mean to say that I am some miniature, female talking horse with wings? Why would I dare betray my humanity to end up as some animal?”
“Because we both love Tammilya,” I knew that stating our wife’s name would have some effect, but the human backing up several steps and glancing to the side was not on my list of expected outcomes. Thankfully, it was one I could work with. “We both know that we were unhappy here, but she gave our life a purpose. Deep down, you know it is true.”
“She has made life more tolerable,” Jim acknowledged, putting down the wrench as I spotted Tammi’s silhouette on the other side of the reactor glass. “I will admit that much, but still, what would mother think if she saw me in that form?”
“She will be happy to know that we found our true calling,” I said with a smile, pulling down the zipper that I felt manifest down the middle of my back. “We found the love of our life and are happy, she would want nothing more. By being happy, she would be happy because that is all she ever wanted.”
“I suppose you are right,” Jim said, stepping out of his clothes and approaching me once more, sliding his feet into my rear hooves. “It is just… slightly terrifying knowing that there is no coming back from this.”
“The future is terrifying,” I giggled, both from my statement and feeling Jim fully insert himself into my form and the zipper closing shut. “But with our wife and friends, it is a future that we do not have to tackle alone.”
“Masterfully done Sundae,” Luna’s voice preceded her physical presence, the Vanquisher of Nightmares causing the entire dreamscene to freeze like a video being put on pause. “I was worried that I was going to have to step in when the former you grabbed the wrench, but it puts me at ease that you were able to resolve it without my interference.”
“That was you I saw as Tammi’s reflection, wasn’t it?” I was slightly upset that Luna had chosen to wear the face of my wife, my suspicion being confirmed when she gave a light nod, but I could not fault her for concealing her presence considering the circumstances. It felt like a test of my own resolve, a test that I felt I passed with flying colors. “While I appreciate you keeping a vigilant watch just in case things got ugly, to what do I owe the pleasure of hosting you on this night?”
“Always the gentlemare,” Luna smiled, and soon I found myself outside of my normal dream bubble. All around us, the dream bubbles of other ponies filled the void around us like the stars in Luna’s night sky. “I actually wanted to talk to you about a matter of grave report, one that I am trying to limit to as few ears as possible.”
“Sounds serious indeed,” I mused, rubbing a hoof under my chin as I considered my options. The fact that someone in such a high position as one of the rulers of the land, and wielder of the moon to boot, would come ask me personally for an open ear was an honor. One that showed how much trust she had put in me. “Alright, I will hear you out, but on the condition that whatever it is, if I agree to it, I am allowed to tell Tammi in full detail.”
“We… suppose that is fair,” Luna’s pause showed her hesitance, but after a moment she eventually let out a sigh. “Very well, considering all you have been through and being recently wedded, you are allowed to tell her but if word gets out from her you have no idea how much trouble you will be in. Are those terms clear?”
I gave a simple nod in replay, words not being needed.
“Glad we are on the same page,” Lighting her horn, Luna summoned a folder, the bold CONFIDENTAL in bright red font reminding me of something out of a crime movie or television drama. It was almost comical, but it was not. “We have reason to believe that there is a weasel in the Sol Dome. Take a look at this, and tell me what your opinion is.”
“What?” A shiver ran up my spine at what she was implying. All employees of the Sol Dome were clamped under numerous NDAs, with the consequences being rather dire for anypony who foolishly broke the rules. Looking through the folder like a gemologist studying a diamond, my milky-white coat somehow managed to pale even lighter as I stared in horror at what I was looking at. “This stallion was not a victim of an unknown disease like the autopsy report shows, he was a victim of acute radiation poisoning. I am sure of it.”
“I thought that you would recognize what happened, considering the coroner died shortly after with the same symptoms,” Summoning a second folder, the coroner’s autopsy report, I scanned through it, and much to my total dismay the result was the same. “Considering the tomes you have written about radiation have not left the Sol Dome, the list of culprits is rather slim to start off with.”
“All it takes is one runaway neutron to potentially cause a really bad day,” I mused, sighing when Luna looked at me with evident confusion. “If someone broke the NDA and told one pony, then the number of ponies knowing doubles to two. Then four, eight, and so forth. The NDAs are like control rods, keeping the reaction in check, but all it takes is one for the chain to continue. Too much fission, the reactor melts down. What those two died from would pale in comparison to what a bomb would do. We are talking about vast areas becoming uninhabitable for centuries, or even millenia.”
“Your knowledge is exactly why I told Celly you were the right pony for this task,” Placing a hoof on my shoulder and whisking away the documents, she continued. “Your task is simple, and you have two routes to choose from. The first option is reporting to Manehattan as a nurse acting as a beneficiary of the throne. For this, you will be temporarily made into a unicorn and your cutie mark altered to prevent identification. Nopony outside of me and Mrs. Tammilya know of Sundae Melody, so it will be your best chance to put your skills to the test and track down the vile perpetrator. With the officers that tended to the original stallion all in a quarantined wing of Manehattan General, it will give ample cover. The second option is to stay at the Sol Dome, acting as a new recruit and sniffing out the original leaker the old fashioned way. Subterfuge from within.”
“Me not showing up for work with Tammi on the same day that Sundae starts would draw a lot of suspicion right off the bat,” Luna opened her mouth to say something, a surefire rebuttal that would have tried to cast my statement into doubt, but nothing came as I pressed on. “That being said, the best option out of the two is the first one that you proposed. It will give me more wiggle room with finding out information since I will be an unknown in a city that I have yet to visit. To me, it is perfect, so could you please put me in Tammi’s dream so I can discuss it with her?”
“You do not have to ask twice, my little pony,” Luna chuckled, guiding a singular dream bubble over and enlarged it so that it could encompass both of us. Much to my surprise, the dream that we entered was of me and her destroying tornados that were near the Sol Dome, an ominous sign that I did not like in the slightest as Luna made ourselves known. “Hello Tammilya, we need to have a little talk.”
The train ride to Manehattan felt like I had an anvil weighing down my saddlebags as I looked out the window to the soaked landscape. The limited visibility and the dark, gloomy clouds above felt like a physical manifestation of my thoughts, the rumbles of thunder being the clashing emotions that racked my brain. Armed with just a medical bag, anatomy and medicine tome, and a book of healing spells I felt more exposed than I did when I and Tammi had been put in the cage back on Earth. New gender, new name, new tribal attributes, it all felt too surreal.
Yet, I could not focus on those trivial matters, not when the fate of the world rested in my hooves.
Author's Note
Planned on making this longer, but dealing with another round of the Coronavirus kinda made this be cut short compared to what I wanted to do as a lead-in. However, health comes first... sorry ~Lily-Ann
The skyline of Manehattan soon came into view on the horizon. They looked, at this distance, like dark obelisks of black that stood out against the expanse of grey, jagged spires slowly reaching for the sky in a desperate attempt to escape their earthly prison. It also served as a reminder that time was running out on me to mentally practice my persona. While the Princesses had easily crafted the necessary paperwork and the train ride had given me time to burn my backstory into my brain, the level of nervousness I felt escalated by the second, to the point that it took a gentle hoof on my shoulder to make me realize that I had zoned out for the last few miles of the trip and we are already at the station.
"Are you alright madame?" The ticketer asked, his muzzle framed by a concerned frown that arched along the bottom of his well-groomed mustache. "You look as if you saw a ghost."
"N-no, nothing of the sort," I stammered, standing and straightening the ruffles out of my uniform with my magic amd grabbing my medical bag. "It is just, this is my first time away from Canterlot, and since I am here as a favor from the princesses themselves… I'm kind of nervous about bring in an unfamiliar city."
"The Princesses sent you? Must be serious indeed," The stallion mused, rubbing a hoof under his chin as he eyed my uniform in closer detail. As a stallion, I had often seen the look from my peers when they were discussing if any newcomers to the Sol Dome had any ill intent or not, so I knew how to handle myself. "Say, does it have anything to do with that mysterious illness outbreak at the hospital? Rumors are starting to spread of a possible epidemic, so folks are starting to become suspicious of anypony that comes or goes from there with as much as a sneeze. Dreadful times, if I must say."
"That is why I am here good sir," I smiled, a measure of confidence bubbling forth that I didn't think I had as I puffed my chest fluff and put a hoof over it. "Seeing as how I specialize in rare and exotic diseases when the Princesses leave for delegation tours, they figured that my skill set would be perfect for the task at hoof."
"Well, I certainly hope so," The stallion chuckled, taking my ticket and punching it. "Luckily for you, the hospital is close by, go up the platform to the street and walk five blocks to the left. Hope you are able to solve this before it gets out of control."
"I am confident in my abilities," I smiled, giving the stallion a slight bow as I collected my things and headed up to the street. The light rain felt good on my coat, and the reflections of the neon signs in the forming puddles nearly hypnotized me until I remembered my purpose. Following the ticketmaster's instructions, I arrived at the hospital and made my way up to the reception desk. "Excuse me, is a Doctor Stable in? My name is Sundae Melody, he should be expecting me."
"So you the new meat huh?" The receptionist, a hulking earth pony mare with a greying green coat and a frame that rivaled Big Mac's, huffed as she slid over a guest badge. "He has not left the building since those cops came in with those strange symptoms, so you should be able to find him in his office on the fifth floor. Just take the staff elevator up and welcome to Manehatten General."
"Thank you mam," Flashing a smile, I headed to the elevator with a spring in my trot, feeling good that my alibi had, up to this point, been left unquestioned. However, I knew that the hardest part was still to come since I had been warned that Dr. Stable was a very strict stallion who was often highly analytical of his colleges and was notoriously hard to work with. I had smiled when Luna had informed me of his style, and considering I had watched a certain television show with a similar individual, I felt that I had the upper hoof as knocked on his office door. "Dr. Stable?"
"In the flesh," Looking at me with his pale blue eyes, the brown-coated pegasus looked at me like someone judging a steak. His look showed years of experience and lonesome loss that bored into my soul, but I refused to lose my smile. "You are early, but unlike the Filly Scouts, that does not give you any brownie points with me."
"Every moment wasted is a moment that could be spent saving lives sir," I giggled, seeing the corners of the stallion's muzzle ever-so-slightly twitch into a smile at the reply. "Which is why, if you don't mind, I request to see my case patients as soon as possible so that I can get to work on trying to extend their shortened lives to at least give them a little time."
"Patient, not patients," Plopping a file onto his desk, and me subsequently levitating it over, I raised an eyebrow at him as he continued. "Despite being sent to me at the special request of the princesses, I still want to judge your abilities with this blind test. Save this mare, and you will have earned your right to work with the rest of the team on treating the cops."
"But sir-" I tried to plead, but a rap of his cane against his desk top silenced me.
"Here, I am your boss, so I deserve some respect on that front." Stable coolly said, continuing only after I gave a silent nod. "Good, now here is the thing Sundae, there are two very important things about me that you should know. The first is that I love puzzles, and as complicated of a puzzle the cops are, you coming in here hot and fresh by a referral from Celestia and Luna both has me deeply intrigued in figuring out your puzzle. The second thing is, everypony lies, and despite what a patient may claim, it is never lupus."
"That was three things," I smirked, Stable's own muzzle twisting into a grin as I pointed that out. "But then again, everypony lies."
"Everypony lies," Stable nodded, motioning to the case file that I now held in my magic. "Now, get to work, I am eager to see what you can do."
"Caddingtons Disease"
"Four hours, seven minutes, and forty-two seconds," Stable slowly turned his head from the clock to me with a flat expression, slowly tapping his cane against the floor as he did so. "I can think of several things that are wrong with your diagnosis, but I am willing to hear how you drew that conclusion considering that is four hours of the patient's life that he can not get back."
"Let's start from the beginning," Pulling my notepad from a pocket in my nurse coat, I flipped to the first page as I cleared my throat. "Indigo Eveningglade, male batpony, aged 34, recently took a humanitarian aide trip with his wife to the Far Lands. Two days after returning to Equestria from their three week journey he began to feel fatigued, with both of them attributing it to his body readjusting to here. However, the next day his symptoms rapidly deterriorated, including loss of flight, cutie mark talent, a high fever, and violent muscle contractions. At that point his wife teleported them here, where he has since slipped into a coma. The reason I suspect Caddingtons is because the timeline and progression of symptoms fit, his magika scan confirmed his mana network is practically eating itself, and his blood work shows that his white blood cell count is in the toilet."
"Impressive deductive work Nurse Melody," Leaning back in his chair to stare at the ceiling, he allowed his cane to twirl like a baton in his magic as he processed the information I had given him. "Yet, you still have not accounted for the fact there are roughly seventeen other diseases and ailments that mimic Caddingtons, not to mention that batponies have a general immunity to it."
"I had a talk with his wife while I was waiting on the blood work," I smiled, seeing the stallion's eyebrow raise at my remark and only served to fuel my confidence. "His grandmother was an Earth Pony, which are extremely susceptible to Caddingtons with the majority of reported cases being of that tribal attribute and he has the gene. Besides, the soil of the Far Lands is riddled with Minacoughis Coruli, and once she told me that one of their stops was a turnip farm that been basically reduced to mud, I conducted a Ferson Test. Sure enough, there was an entry hole under the fur of his left front fetlock."
"You're good, I'll give you that," Stable said, lowering his gaze until it settled back on me as one of his whiteboards was erased from the symptom list that he had written out. "I can also see why Celestia and Luna trust you with their lives, you did everything in a timely manner and covered your basis. Go tell Dr. Shire to treat for Caddingtons and tell the patient's wife that he will live. At this stage he might not be able to use his talent or fly again, but he will live at least."
"I will be right on it," Dipping my head into a bow, I turned to head out the office, but as I put my hoof on the door I paused due to hearing Dr. Stable clear his throat to get my attention. "Yes sir?"
"The lab work and tests," Stable's tone had a slight undertone to it that was different from the one that he had just seconds prior. "How did you manage to get them done since you are a new arrival and are just a nurse?"
"Oh it was simple really," I felt good, knowing that I was the cat and Dr. Stable was the canery in this situation. "I told the lab tech I was new and that I was being tested by you and did not want to lose despite the stakes being stacked against me. You gave a nurse the work of a full blown doctor, with a coma patient to boot so I was forced to think outside the box with my differential. Luckily for me, since my specialty is in ailments from outside Equestria, it was right up my alley. Now, is there anything else that you want to add or am I free to go about my duties?"
"Come back here in an hour to meet the rest of my team, you are dismissed," Nodding, I left the office, oblivious to the fact that Stable had been on a call via the miniature crystal holoprojector on his desk. "So love, what is your assessment?"
"She seems like she would do well on your team," A pegasus mare with a ruby red coat, a black mane and tail, and deep green eyes said as she straightened some papers offscreen on her desk. "To me, it appears that she is a combination of you and Camilla, your problem solving and her soft spot for patients and their families."
"Precisely what I was thinking," Letting out a soft hum, Stable looked at a picture on his desk. It was wrinkled around the edges and a little faded, but the vibrant smiles on the parents' faces at seeing the little filly in the mother's hooves had withstood the test of time. "What are your thoughts about giving her a temporary doctorate-level clearance so she can get things done without needing to run to me for every little thing that doesn't require paperwork sign offs?"
"Celestia and Luna sent her here to help get our police force back on their hooves, nothing else," The mare replied, a bite on her tone that bore no room for argument and made Stable slightly gulp. "While I agreed to giving her that test run to see how she would handle being here at this medical facility instead of the luxury of the castle, and agree with your request about the temporary doctorate, she will not be used as a lacky to get you out of your backed up clinic hours or running around doing busy work. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes dear," Stable sighed, his eyes having not left the picture, a sense of longing piercing him like a hot knife. "It's just-"
"Look," Relaxing both her tone and posture, the mare mirrored the look that had cemented itself on Stable's face, her soft voice attempting to provide the comfort only an aching wife knew how to use. "I get that Mrs. Melody has the same investigative excitement for puzzles that you and our filly oh so fondly bonded over, but nothing can bring our little sun lily back honey. Would it help if I was there when you and the rest of the team bring our new doctor up to speed?"
"Sure you can spare the time? I would loath to pull you away from kissing the plots of the medical board," Stable smiled, finally looking away from the tiny reminder of the brief few years in his life when he was genuinely happy. However, he could tell his wife was not amused by the quip. "Oh come on Heart, you know that I mean nothing by it."
"And we both know it is necessary that I, as you put it, kiss their plots so that you can still have a job." Heart huffed, a bit of annoyance making itself present but it quickly vanished after a few silent exhales. "Anyway, I will see you in an hour."
The hour came and went faster than I had anticipated, giving me just enough time to do my rounds and get a fresh apron before I had to meet back up in Stable's office. While I had seen the differental on tv, never in a million years did I think that I would be actually taking part in an alternate dimension of one. Emotions flowed through my brain in waves, but as I took my seat and Stable tapped the list of symptoms that the police force experiencing, I knew it was time to get to business.
"Morning everypony," Stable said, a round of 'morning' being returned in kind from the rest of us. "Before we get to the update on our patients, Director Silk Heart has some important news to discuss."
"Thank you Doctor Stable," Silk Heart said, a smile crossing her face as she looked in my direction. "I want to welcome Doctor Sundae Melody to our team, she has been semt to us to help with this difficult problem from Celestia and Luna, but I expect each of you to give her the same degree of respect that would would give anyone else here."
"Thank you mam," I said, standing up and taking a small bow as the others clapped their hooves. "However, I am just a nurse on the castle payroll, so why did you introduce me as a doctor?"
"Your specialties and the fact you solved that case yesterday by yourself, with the correct diagnosis. You went in blind to the case, with little resources, and saved the stallion's life so tou deserve the recognition while in these halls," Heart smiled, making me deeply blush at the praise I was given. "So, not to put you on the spot here, but I want you to have a go at the current problem. The floor is now yours."
"While I appreciate you calling me a doctor, this does count as putting me on the spot," I giggled, moving over to the white board as I took the marker in my magic, my bag landing on the floor beside me. "Before we begin, I just want to make clear that I will not tolerate being given special treatment just because
I am on the princesses' staff, that would just feel wrong."
Everypony nodded in agreement, and I could feel the tension lift from the room, for the moment anyway.
"Glad that we are in agreement, because the next thing I have to say will ruin the mood." I sighed, mentally steeling myself as I prepared to deliver the hammer blow. "Considering how far the symptoms have progressed, each of these unfortunate souls have less than two weeks to live. At most."
"You have got to be joking," Dr. Trotson, an Earth Pony with a chocolate brown coat, black mane and tail, and a cutie mark consisting of a stethoscope and a sickly green medical cross, said as he leaped to his hooves. "Each of them have responded well to antibiotics and have stabilized for the moment, what makes you believe that they have a date with the Pale Horse?"
"Because I have seen this very same thing before," I sighed, closing my eyes as I tried to keep my emotions under control. "During a recent diplomatic meeting in Germareny between them, Equestria, and Saddle Arabia, one of the Saddle Arabian officials grew ill. Passing it off as a stomach bug, nopony thought better until his body stopped responding to antibiotics, lost all his fur, and immune system became nonexistent. We were all placed in quarantine as a precaution, but the poor stallion's condition deteriorated even after the summit had been called off. I stayed behind so I could give the princesses a first-hoof account on what occurred, and what I saw still haunts the edges of my nightmares."
"W-what did you see?" Silk Heart said, my explanation serving to silence the whole room and forcing her to be the one to speak up. "If you don't mind me asking anyway."
"Massive bone marrow loss, making his face look like a skeleton with eyeballs," I continued, my description making even Dr. Stable uneasy from the fact he stopped toying with his cane, choosing instead to listen to what I had to say with interest. "From there, it only got worse due to rapid onset cancer and multiple organ failure. As one of the nurses, I was in the room when he was given hjdadt rights, but before he succumbed to his ailment he told us that he had been hoarding some strange blue glowing rocks he found in the desert. At first, we thought there was no correlation, that is until one of Mr. Jim's co-workers filled me in on the concept of gamma radiation when I asked her about what her job detailed during a visit to the castle."
"Gamma radiation?" Dr. Glider asked, ruffling his tan-colored wings as he spoke and readjusted his posture. "I have heard whispers from my colleagues closer to Canterlot that there were supposedly different variations of what we use for X-rays, but nothing definitive."
"Interesting, this might be my first lead…" Keeping my thoughts to myself, I gave a quick nod to avoid drawing suspicion. However, I did have the awareness to make a mental note to bring the claim up to Luna. "Yes, well, what Ms. Stephanie told me confirmed the whispers, for in fact there are different types. While our x-ray machines use a non-harmful form of it, there are variations that are deadly. Alpha and Beta radiation are low energy and easy to protect against for the most part, and gamma has the same energy as an x-ray and can go through the body. On their own, they are non-lethal, but throw in neutron activation and you have problems."
I briefly paused to catch my breath, mainly to see if I had a captive audience but in the back of my mind a rather disturbing thought started to form. Here I was, giving information that I knew by heart while retailing a real event that I was not a part of, but the emotions surrounding the event felt far too real. I had watched the Chernobyl series, and found the situation a highly ironic mirror, but the main thing that was bothering me was that I actually felt like one of the nurses in Pripyat on that fateful April night as the firefighters were rushed in following the explosion at Reactor Number 4.
It was then I knew I was likely to have a visit from Luna that night, and not just to have a correspondence.
"Hey, Sundae," Dr. Phoenix Dew, the only changeling and only other mare on Stable's team, said as she booped my snoot, pulling me back to attention. She looked worried, as did the others, but there was something in her hybrid purple eyes with teal itises that felt comforting and allowed me to calm down. "Sundae, you ok? You spaced out on us."
"Yeah, I'm fine, just told you that this was a difficult memory for me to think of," I shuddered, trying to shake off my zoning out as I took a deep breath, the others nodding in sympathy. "Doesn't help that I immediately got slapped with a case I was not prepared for upon arriving right after getting here from the train station. My apologies."
"That was mainly my fault, if anything I am the one who needs to apologize." Stable said, much to my shock considering that I knew the human version of him only reserved apologies for the rarest of situations. "Dr. Dew will show you to the quarters that you will share with her, and while you two take the rest of the day off, the rest of us will see if there is anything we can do to try and ease our patients' pain while their bodies slowly die."
"Thank you," Following Dew out the office and into the residential area where the full-time staff stayed, I couldn't help but notice the leading mare was walking with a bit of a wobble. Knowing what I did about changeling anatomy, I smirked. "Feeling a little love drunk are ya?"
"Can't help it," Dew muttered, pulling me into the room that I had been assigned to. The first thing I noticed was there was only one bed, which made my cheeks color for more than one reason. "Make yourself at home, this is your room too for your time here."
"While true, it is only temporary," I giggled, trying to avoid the polka-dotted elephant in the room. "With that being said, I have no issue sleeping on the floor."
"Oh no, you will be bunking with this snugglebug and you will like it," Faster than I could react, she had teleported me onto the bed, opting herself to be the small spoon as she wrapped her hooves around me and nestled into my neck. "So! Who is the special creature that has you so full of love that I can bathe in it?"
"Wow, just met and already want the juicy details?" Seeing Dew blush in embarrassment, I gave her a light boop on the snoot and a smile to show there were no hard feelings. "But, seeing as how you can sniff out emotions, I have a wife who works in San Francoltsco. Sure, I rarely get to see her because of my position on Celestia's staff, but that just makes the time I do get with her all the more sweeter."
"That's nice," Despite dealing with a love buzz from drinking in my love of Tammilya, Dew was still able to maintain enough focus to hang on to everything I said. "How did you two meet?"
"It was through Celestia actually," Closing my eyes and letting my mind drift, the necessary pieces of information clicked together like opposing magnet ends. I knew that I had to be careful, keeping my story as solid as possible to dilute my discreteness. "She had fallen sick with the feather flu while taking her yearly vacation, so I had been flown in by chariot to tend to her condition, and it was by pure Fate that I ran into her while getting some personal supplies. It was practically love at first sight, and got married last year."
"Aww, you had your fairy tale moment," Dew said, making me blush as she made a noise that was a combination of a giggle and a chirp. Something that I thought of as adorable as her face turned serious. "Though, something tells me that the fact you are married and work for the princesses are the only truths you have told. While the love you have for your wife is no doubt true, everything else has come across as forced."
"Busted," I sighed, wishing that I was safely back home with Tammy safely secured in her loving embrace. "Knew better than to try and lie to a changeling."
"That was your first mistake yeah," Dew nodded, a calmness in her demeanor that spoke an understanding of doing things that she did not like to do. "So, why do your gracious leaders have you here snooping around?"
"That unfortunately is classified," While lying outright was no longer an option, having felt cornered and vulnerable by the fact Dew had sliced clean through my alibi, I silently hoped microbits of truth were enough to keep her from blabbing. "However, what I can disclose is that if I don't get to the bottom of this soon, what is happening to those poor cops will be the very least of anyone's concern."
"Sounds serious, anything I can do to help?" Taking a deep breath, Dew's horn, and the air in front of it, shimmered a bright pink as something flowed from her horn tip like strawberry taffy. The mystery goo condensed into a solid sphere the size of a large pearl, which Dew put on her desk as she looked at me perfectly alert. "Seeing as how you are on a mission from the princesses, it is the least I can offer."
"Not blow my cover?" I weakly chuckled, but immediately relaxed when Dew nodded and gave me a soft nuzzle on the cheek. "Tell you what, don't let my true purpose slip and I will let you feed on as much love as your body can handle."
"Sneaky pony," Dew giggled, resuming her previous position as the life-sized cuddle pillow and pulling the blanket up over us. "We have a deal, now do you mind if I cast a sleep spell on us? I got a feeling in my ichor that we are going to need as much as we can get."
Nodding, and soon drifting off to sleep, I found myself in a busy hospital as the staff ran around in a controlled panic. Looking out the window, I felt my ears droop and my blood turned to ice as I saw a beautiful blue glow light up the sky above a raging fire coming from a building several miles away. Only, I knew it was not just any building, it was that fateful night in Chernobyl, Ukraine and I was looking at the most infamous nuclear disaster in history.
"Nurse Melody!" Leaping in place, I turned in place to find Tammilya behind me, wearing an identical sterile-white uniform to the one I possessed. For some reason, I knew she was speaking in Russian, but I shrugged off being able to understand her as dream logic. "Come on love, we got an influx of wounded coming in from Chernobyl, Dr. Dew has gone ahead and got the ICU prepped, but it is all hooves on deck."
"What is she-" Catching my thought mid-sentence, I shook my head to focus as I followed her through the halls as fast as my hooves could carry me. Luckily, the other hospital staff gave the two of us a wide berth, but my heart sunk when we galloped into the awaiting room and saw the firefighters being wheeled in and screaming in pain. Each with very recognizable, shiny black splotches on their uniforms that made me want to turn tail. "Oh no…"
"Melody, Tammilya," Dew's tone carried the fire of a commander barking orders, appropriate seeing as how it was a doctor ordering two nurses in an emergency. "I need your assistance in getting their uniforms off so we can assess the degree of their burns, and take the uniforms down to the basement so they are out of the way."
"I-" Words failed to form as my pupils shrunk to pinpricks. I knew those black splotches were fragments of graphite that had been blown out the core of the reactor and turned into a fine dust, and were currently giving off massive amounts of radiation that were slicing apart the DNA of me and everyone else who was currently in the room like a million invisible paper cuts. Reading and watching about the disaster was one thing, but considering my entire life after high school revolved around the deadly force of nature I had the foresight to know what was going to happen. Even when being in the reactor room on Earth with the tornado bearing down I had tried to keep a degree of composure, but this time I didn't, I panicked. "LUNA SAVE ME!"
"Tis a good thing we were not busy," Luna said, appearing in front of me with Tammy in tow, my wife latching on to me and securing me in a feathery embrace. "From the look of things, bad day in the hospital?"
"N-no Your Highness," My reply was shaky due to trying to come down from my adrenaline high, but after a few moments I managed to compose myself. "But I know that if you had not interfered, within a few hours dream time all of us in this room would have started feeling the first effects of acute radiation sickness."
"Um, not to interrupt, but where are we and what are these creatures?" Dr. Dew's question made the rest of us jump from being startled due to her not being frozen like the rest of the dream. "What, was it something I said?"
"More along the lines of you not freezing with the rest of the dream," Tammilya said, a degree of nervousness in her tone. "How did you end up here in Melody's dream?"
"Funny story about that…" Dew replied, shuffling a hoof as I had a feeling that shit had come nowhere close to hitting the fan.
