A Healing Hoof
By BarnardFILM
paul@barnardfilmproductions.com
Sleep being the current comfort, doused Lunus in restful dreams throughout the night. Wide-open fields of soft nourishing grass, warm healing rays of the sun, and muffins, steaming, sweet-smelling, mouth watering muffins. Night was the only time the active unicorn could let his mind wonder to places other than the small ice cream shop he and Lickitysplit had started in Ponyville a few months before. Quality thoughts and dreams persisted until his internal alarm clock rang and he slowly rejoined the land of the conscious. The first thing he noticed was his bed was gone and had been replaced with a long, cold metal table. He panicked as his eyes tore around the dark room filled with strange shiny objects. After his quick investigation, he determined it was an operating room. This sent him into a further panic and almost screamed in horror when he caught sight of the three numbers written on his dark-grey flank right above his crescent moon shaped cutie mark. He immediately tried to jump off the table, but was stopped by the bridle his head was encased in that was chained to the table. Being a young terrified colt trapped in a bizarre frightening place, Lunus began to cry uncontrollably. He didn’t care how much noise he made, he was hoping to attract the attention of somepony who could save him. He had read the stories written by other ponies on the Poninet about Pinkie Pie torturing Rainbow Dash and other ponies. He believed that could never happen, until now. These fears grew clearer when he noticed the sharp instruments surrounding him. He stopped tugging at the chain and laid down in defeat, sobbing quietly trying to accept his fate.
“Oh, he’s awake.” Lunus’s heart skipped a beat after a strange tall, thin creature burst through the door.
“How are you feeling?” the creature said.
“I want to go home,” the scared sobbing unicorn cried.
“Awwwww, it’s ok sweetie. We’re not going to hurt you. We just want to run a few tests, that’s all. Then you can go home,” the creature said taking a syringe and approaching Lunus. He shot back to the edge of the table but couldn’t make it any further because of the chain.
“Please . . . don’t . . . What are you doing . . . leave me alone!” Lunus shouted through he tears.
“Calm down, this wont’ hurt a bit,” the creature said grabbing his leg, her shear size intimidated him.
“Nooooo!” Lunus screamed shutting his eyes, excepting the worst.
“All done,” she said pulling out the blood filled needle. “All I needed was a sample of your blood.
“Now what are you going to do to me?” Lunus asked more curious than afraid.
“I was planning on amputating your legs now,” she said with a grin.
“WHAT!” the little unicorn yelled tucking his legs under his trembling body.
“No, no, I’m sorry, that was a bad joke. No, I’m not going to hurt you at all,” the tall creature smiled. “What’s your name little guy?”
Finding his courage, Lunus stood up on the table and demanded, “Who are YOU? What are you?”
“Oh, you’ve never seen one of us before?” she said looking confused, “I am human. My name is Dr. Alison Sanders.”
That word, Princess Celestia had mentioned the humans before; vile, destructive beings who seek to take what they need from other worlds. Lunus had been warned about humans, and now he was their prisoner. His rump dropped to the table as he acknowledged his shocking position. Plan after plan ran through his mind as he tried to come up with an escape, but nothing seemed like it would work. He knew from the stories, that humans were very sly and intelligent. With finding no way out, the little grey colt curled up into a defensive ball and remained silent. Dr. Sanders looked at him with pity and began to rub his exposed back. Lunus had never felt something so soothing before, he was used to a pony’s hard, abrasive hoof. The gentle nature of this human’s hand felt . . . good. He lifted his head to ask if the human could take off the bridle, but before he could say a word, Dr. Sanders undid the straps and relieved Lunus’s sweating face.
“Thank you,” he whispered wishing more kind acts would follow.
“What’s your name?” Dr. Sanders said softy.
“I’m Lunus,” he replied.
“You’re a male unicorn around what age?” she said taking out a notebook.
“Ummm, I’m 2 years old*,” Lunus shyly replied back. “Why, er . . . how did I get here?”
Dr. Sanders gazed into his big teary emerald eyes and said, “We have experimenting with travel to other worlds for years and finally we have succeeded via establishing a wormhole from our world to your’s. We found your pony world about a year ago and have been conducting surveillance and small recon missions. Unfortunately, the leaders of our world love live samples and you happened to be . . .”
“Where am I . . . in your world?” Lunus asked.
“I . . . I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell you . . .” she stammered, “well, you’ll know sooner or later. You are in a secure base famously named Area 51.”
*Ages are in horse years.
A Healing Hoof – Part 2
By BarnardFILM
paul@barnardfilmproductions.com
“So all you think of me as, is a ‘sample’,” whined the little grey unicorn feeling like nothing more than an object. “You’re going to experiment on me, aren’t you?”
“The other people may think that,” Dr. Sanders said bending down to Lunus’s eye level, “I promise, nothing bad will happen to you.” Still sensing his disbelief, Dr. Sanders said, “Here, I’ll show you around the base.”
She put the notebook down and walked to the door waiting for Lunus to make up his mind. The confused colt looked at her, stood up on the table, and stared at her wondering if this was a trick. Dr. Sanders smiled, understanding his situation, and opened the door in suggesting it was all right to come. Suddenly Lunus jumped off the table, bolted through the opened door, and galloped down the hall out of sight. Sanders grabbed her radio from her belt and warned security, “Security, there is a little dark-grey unicorn running through the halls. If you see him, don’t approach, just keep an eye on him and keep him in one location.”
“Ummm, Doctor could you repeated that? There’s a what running around?” answered a surprised guard.
Dr. Sanders chuckled to herself, then replied, “There is a little uni . . .”
“HOLY SH . . . what the . . . GRAB IT!” she heard big a struggle and yelling on the radio.
“NO, security, leave him be, I’ll be down in a minute!” Dr. Sanders yelled into the radio sprinting down the hall.
Meanwhile, Lunus tried to evade the snatching hands of the guards, blocking his way to freedom, but he was finally tackled to the ground, being crushed under the weight of two guards.
“Ow, get off, you’re crushing me! That hurt’s! Stop! Let go! LET GOOO!” Lunus cried, as the guards tried to restrain him. Then he remembered. He was a unicorn. He also remembered the last time he used magic and the disaster he caused because of it, but when his life hung in the balance, he decided to end his own magic ban. He concentrated, thought of being outside and shutting his eyes, he vanished in a bluish flash just as Dr. Sanders arrived at the scene.
“Where’d it go? We just had it!” the two guards looked at Dr. Sanders for answers, but she just stood there thinking, then ran back toward the examination room.
She reached the room and slowed her run to a stop right outside the door. Sanders could hear soft sobbing and slowly opened the door to find Lunus huddled in the far corner with his tail wrapped around himself. She knelt down beside him and stated petting his back.
“Why did you run, Lunus?” Dr. Sanders asked softly. Lunus looked up at her, and her heart almost broke seeing his small terrified face soaked from streaming tears.
“I just want to go home,” he croaked, having trouble speaking.
“Would you be comfortable if you had to call this home, just for a while?” Sanders tried to comfort him.
“How long?” he asked.
“One week, maybe?” she lied, knowing it would probably be longer.
“Are all the humans like you?” he said suggesting his liking her.
“The ones you will be with,” she said smiling.
Her smile and the continuous backrub reassured Lunus that everything was going to ok and he sniffed a couples times then laughed to himself. “My teleportation spell didn’t work.”
“Why do you say that, you went from being in the hallway wrestling with two of my guards, to this room? That is impressive.” Sanders asked confused.
Lunus looked at her with a smile now on his face, “I was aiming for outside, but I realized I didn’t know what your outside looked like. So I had to teleport to the only place I know in this world. Back here. Plus . . .” he said looking down at the ground, “I promised myself I wouldn’t use magic anymore.”
The two jumped when a loud growling sound came out of nowhere. “I think someone’s hungry.” Dr. Sanders said standing up. “How about I take you to the chow hall to get some lunch? Then you can tell me about your magic. Ok?”
“Ok. I have to admit, I’m always hungry after a lot of excitement,” Lunus said jumping up and trotting alongside Dr. Sanders.
****
Heads turned and a noisy buzz started when Lunus trotted into the mess hall. Fear caught Lunus again as he stayed close to Dr. Sander’s legs. He could feel all the eyes watching him as he and Sanders neared the food counter. “What do you eat Lunus,” Sanders asked noticing Lunus staring back at the humans.
With a soft kick from Sanders, Lunus shot back into reality and replied, “Do you have any muffins?”
The mess officer, who was already surprised that a little talking unicorn was in his midst, didn’t answer and his stare had to be broken by Dr. Sanders hand waving. “Ummm, we don’t . . . ummm, have any . . . muffins, we do have oats,” he sputtered.
Lunus, looking rather disappointed, asked, “What about apples?”
Dr. Sanders knelt down to Lunus, “Wouldn’t you like oats or something horse food like? What do you eat?”
“I’m not a horse, I’m a unicorn,” he said insulted, then he realized these humans have no idea what he eats, so he took full advantage of their ignorance, “I don’t eat oats, hay, and grass. I like apples, carrots, and muffins. Oh! And cupcakes! Ice cream is another important item on my diet.”
“Well we have plenty of ice cream here,” said the mess officer.
Dr. Sanders shot him a look, and he backed down. She had kids, they were grown up now, and knew these little tricks Lunus was trying to pull. “I think oats and an apple should do for now, no ice cream.”
“I don’t eat oats,” Lunus whined.
“You do now,” Sanders said ending the argument.
Lunus sat across from Dr. Sanders at an empty table. He could not eat with all the curious eyes with their solid stares. He shrank in his seat and looked at his tray playing with the oats with his hoof.
“Stop that and eat,” Sanders said placing a spoon down in front of him.
The spoon sat there untouched, the only thing it received was a dirty look from the nervous unicorn. Lunus put his head down and opened his mouth to eat but was stopped by Sanders’ glare.
“What?” he asked trying to look confused. “This is how I eat.”
“Not here,” Dr. Sanders shot back. “Use the spoon.”
“I can’t,” the little unicorn said, knowing what Sanders wanted him to do, “My hooves can’t pick that up.”
Dr. Sanders leaned back in her chair and took out the notebook, “Use your magic.”
Lunus’ fear came true and he pushed his tray away, “NO! I promised myself I won’t.”
“You just teleported from the hallway to another room. I think that is considered using magic,” Sanders said smartly.
Lunus realized there was no getting out of this one, “Yes, but I did it in the heat of the moment. I won’t do it again,” he said with huff.
“Why are you so afraid of using your special gift Lunus,” she said softly leaning in closer.
“I hurt my mom the last time I tried. Magic scares me and I promised myself I would never do it again,” he replied turning away.
“What if I promised you, that nothing bad would happen?” Sanders whispered.
“NO!” Lunus shouted causing the room to gain an eerie silence. He brushed the spoon off the table, grabbed his tray and chowed down ignoring Dr. Sanders’ defiant stare.
“When you’re done eating like a dog,” she said disgusted, “I would like to show you around, so you can get your bearings. I want you to know, Lunus, you are not a prisoner here. You will be going home soon. All we need is some more tests and you can be on you way home. I have convinced the Board that it is safe to allow you the walk around on your own. That is if you don’t run away again. Please don’t make me regret me decision.”
“Only if you and the other humans promised not to do anything to me,” Lunus said through he oat filled mouth.
****
After a long day of the tour around his temporary home, Lunus asked where he would sleep. “I hope I don’t have to sleep on the cold hard table. You’re not going to chain me up, are you?”
“No, no. You will have your own warm bed tonight,” Dr. Sanders smiled, “We just have to sure you don’t try to leave us, ok?”
“I make no promises,” Lunus said coldly.
“I thought that would be the case,” she said showing Lunus his room. He trotted in and Sanders said, “This room has cameras, so please don’t try to teleport out,”
“I won’t, I’m too tired,” he said yawning.
Sanders closed, locked the door, and said through the small window in the door. “Good night Lunus, I’ll to see you in the morning.”
The idea of teleporting again sent shivers down his back. Once Dr. Sanders had left, he glanced around the room and spied the bed. It was much larger than the one he was use to. It and the whole room had an awful musty smell that stung Lunus nostrils. Due to complete exhaustion, he ignored all of this and jumped onto the bed. He walked around in a small circle until he found a position he like and dropped down into a ball. His little young body was not use to so much excitement, giving a pony the wrong ice cream was about all the excitement he ever got. Though his body was tired, Lunus’ mind raced with that day’s events and what the future days held. Thoughts of his parents galloped through along with the vivid memories of the accident he caused with his magic. He did not mean to, it just happened. His mom was trying to teach him how to heal a hurt bird, a spell she made herself, and he . . .
BANG! A loud pop startled Lunus, interrupting his reflection, as the base’s lights were turned off. He lay there in the complete darkness and cried himself to sleep.
A Healing Hoof – Part 3
By BarnardFILM
paul@barnardfilmproductions.com
Sorry about the wait. I have been extremely busy with a few film productions I am currently working on including a brony production that is growing into a much larger project than I anticipated. Thank you for your understanding and enjoy.
As the days turned into weeks, so the frail relationship turned into friendship between the human and her little unicorn. Tests took a fairly large chunk out of Lunus’ day, but it was all worth the exhilarating back rubs he would receive after each test. All this took some getting use to, but Lunus was actually enjoying his time with his entertaining hosts. Nighttime still brought mixed dreams and tears for home, but the little colt was slowly beginning to accept the possibility that he may never see home again. Lunus believed it better to make friends with everyone he could and get on their good side, just in case.
Unfortunately, this mind-set landed the little troublemaker in positions he would usually have to rely on Dr. Sanders to get him out of. Jumping out and shouting “hello” to a visiting congressman, causing him to fall backwards into a table severely injuring his neck, did not bowed well for the friendly unicorn. Stealing a twenty-dollar bill from one of the guards to give to the mess officer to get some ice cream landed Lunus in his room for the day. Trying to befriend the bases’ guard dogs only ended with Lunus in the infirmary with large bit wounds all over his body. The overconfident colt carried these painful reminders until one day when two Airmen approached him.
“So Lunus, we’ve noticed you’ve been getting into some trouble here on the base,” said the first Airman.
“Yah, so Jeff and myself were wondering,” the second Airman said bending down and lowering his voice, “would you like to get off base with us tonight and go to a bar?”
“Scott’s right. It will be really fun,” Jeff said with a quirky smile.
Lunus considered their offer. Yes, it would be really fun to get off base with some of the guys, but Dr. Sanders would blow her top if she found out. This would be a perfect opportunity to make some more friends especially with two Airmen; maybe they could Lunus for a ride in their plane some time. The little grey unicorn thought for a minute with the two men waiting patiently for a reply.
After weighing the negative and positive outcomes Lunus shouted, “Ok, that sounds great,” and was immediately hushed by the two Airmen.
“Good choice, tonight’s gonna to be a blast, we’ll meet you by the hanger 2 at 2100, we’ll have a truck waiting,” Scott whispered nodding to his partner.
“Before you leave you have to put theses on,” Jeff said handing Lunus a pair of small pants and a hooded sweat shirt. “We’ll see then.”
“I have one question guys,” Lunus looked up at the two men walking away, “What’s a bar?”
Jeff looked at Scott and grinned, “You’ll find out tonight. Be there.”
****
“I look ridiculous,” Lunus said to himself looking at the human dressed unicorn standing awkwardly in the mirror. The pants barely fit around his plump belly and the bottoms dragged on the floor making the walking on two legs even more difficult. The maroon Norwich University sweatshirt, on the other hoof, fit perfectly, wrapping snuggly around his shoulders. He glanced at the alarm clock sitting on his nightstand. “I guess it’s time,” Lunus stammered feeling pretty nervous about going off base without permission. His gilt was soon replaced by the excitement of being asked to spend a night with some of the guys. He quickly trotted quietly down the halls, making sure to duck into a room when someone passed, and made his way outside to the hanger where a black SUV was waiting for him. He approached with caution until Scott rolled down the window and Jeff appeared and open the door letting Lunus hop in.
“Glad you made it, Lunus. You look good,” Scott said sitting behind the wheel adjusting the rearview mirror, starting the truck and driving toward the bases’ main gate.
“Maybe you’ll be lucky tonight and score one,” Jeff joked.
“Score one what?” Lunus asked genuinely puzzled.
“A lady,” Jeff said grinning and raising his eyebrows.
“Hold on, Lunus you need to hide under the seat now,” Scott said as the truck neared the guard post at the main gate.
Lunus obeyed and lay under the seat. He saw Scott and Jeff handing the guard their ID cards but couldn’t hear what they were saying. After a quick minute the guard handed back their cards, saluted them, and Scott drove away.
“All right Lunus, you can come out now,” Scott shouted into the backseat.
Lunus popped out and shot to the window raging with excitement to see the outside world, but all he could see was more familiar desert.
“Are we there yet?” whined the bored unicorn in the back sit.
“It’s hasn’t been that long Lunus,” Scott said turning to Jeff, “God, can’t any kid have the patience to sit quietly for more than an hour.”
“Hey Lunus, we’re always there, don’t worry we’ll soon be enjoying some great drinks, with rockin’ music, and hot girls, we’ll be there in another couple of hours,” Jeff said hearing a moan come from the back seat. “I’m gonna be honest with you Lunus. The reason why we’re taking you is . . .”
“We made a promise to friend to bring you so she could see you,” Scott interrupted.
“Don’t worry she has a higher security clearance than we do, so we won’t get in trouble there,” Jeff assured the worried colt.
“But we do have to lay some ground rules; number one no talking to other people, number two you must stay with us the whole time, and number three you must have that hood on at all times. We don’t want people having heart attacks if they see you.”
“Yah, plus we would end up with a court marshal and prison too,” added Scott.
“Why are you risking all this on a bet then and why doesn’t she come on the base to see me?” asked Lunus.
“She works in Washington and is just visiting. Area 51 is not one of those places you can just visit when you’re on vacation,” Jeff said, “And she paying us ten grand each to see you, so I think this is worth it. You have to make sure you don’t get seen and you can’t say anything about tonight to ANYONE. Got it.”
“Got it,” Lunus said in a small voice.
****
Scott and Jeff exited the truck with an open-jawed unicorn. Lunus had never seen anything outside the base and he was liking it. The flashing lights, the loud music, the people! The shear number of people astonished and intimidated the little colt. As they three crossed the street, Lunus tried to keep up with his two friends, but he still wasn’t use to walking on two legs like a human. Almost tripping twice, the grey unicorn reached the other side of the street, stared at the beautiful and colorful display of neon signs and asked, “What is this place?”
Scott beamed at the star struck unicorn and said, “Lunus, welcome to Las Vegas.”
