Ungula

"Next we should examine the… um…"

"Darling, you're stalling. We've catalogued all we can, it's time for the internal examination."

Neither Rarity nor Fluttershy had expected to be performing an autopsy when they set out on this mission. The two of them were collectively the Fire of Friendship's medical team, with Fluttershy providing the medical knowledge and Rarity providing the magical dexterity to operate.

Between the two of them, Rarity felt that Fluttershy did most of the heavy lifting, what with having an actual degree. But the poor dear was still a bit shaken up from… attempting to become the cause of death.

"No, there's– There must be something. Go over what we have?"

Rarity sighed. She was absolutely stalling. But she indulged her.

"Subject has no pigmentation in the dermis or coat, and no mane, displaying both albinism and alopecia. The coat extends across the top of the cranium, but not the tail, leaving the dock entirely bald. Notably, the subject's lack of pigmentation extends to the rump, despite appearing to be adult in body. Additionally, the subject has no eyes, navel, anus, or primary sex characteristics."

Fluttershy nodded. "It's white, bald, and has no cutie mark. Or… anything back there. And it wasn't born."

"No evidence of past wounds, stretch marks, wear on the teeth and hooves, or other signs of… any form of prior medical history, past perhaps a few weeks. With the exception of several notable wounds."

Again Fluttershy nodded. "Growing up leaves marks, and it… didn't."

"The existing wounds were caused by the nails shoved into either side of its rump. Age of the punctures are indeterminate, as no bodily processes such as bruising or coagulation appear to have occurred in response. Because it doesn't have blood. Two of these punctures, the ones in which the nails were left, are roughly symmetrical to each other. The remaining six are all on the left rump, and appear to have been earlier attempts at placement which were judged insufficiently symmetrical. Based on the angle of entry, none of the punctures were self-inflicted."

Fluttershy visibly wanted to linger on those wounds instead of proceeding to the more recent ones. Before she could come up with something to anchor the topic, Rarity forged ahead anyway.

"The most recent and severe wounds are a clean skull puncture resulting from an arcane lance, and–"

"And where I held his head in an open flame."

Both were silent for a few seconds at that.

"...The skull puncture traveled all the way through, exposing the cranial cavity with both the entry and exit wound. The cranial cavity is empty, with no neural tissue present. As no neural tissue was present in the cranium at the time of injury, the precise cause of death is unknown." She glanced at Fluttershy. "However, it is most likely connected to the skull puncture, with the other wounds unrelated to the cause of death."

Her words were meant as a comfort. A reassurance that Fluttershy hadn't been the one to kill it. She knew they would fall short. For all that it was an abomination, while alive it had made Fluttershy feel it to be her friend, and no amount of rationalization could ease the trauma of making the decision to do what she had.

"Darling…"

"Make the incision."

This was not at all how Rarity would have liked her to stop dawdling. This wasn't coping, this was just the external examination growing more painful than the prospect of conducting the internal one.

Nonetheless, Rarity formed her magic into a telekinetic scalpel and opened a Y-shaped incision across the cadaver, from the shoulders to the chest and down to the groin.

Then Rarity frowned and went over the incision again, cutting deeper. And again, and again.

"Darling, it's– it's just more skin."

"Wha–"

Well at least it took Fluttershy's mind off of the wound she'd inflicted.

"There's– okay. Exceptionally thick dermis. Possibly extending throughout the body, with locomotion taking place via magic instead of muscles. Keep cutting until the ribcage is exposed."

Rarity kept cutting.

She should have reached the ribs by now. She could feel them by pressing on the skin from the outside, they should be right there, but–

Rarity's telekinetic scalpel was more like a knife by this point – no less sharp, but as she focused less and less on precision and more on it has to be here somewhere, she unconsciously adapted its shape to the new task.

There were no bones. It was just skin, all the way through. But there were clearly bones, she could feel them from the outside, so why as soon as she went looking for them on the inside–

Rarity came back to herself as Fluttershy hauled her backwards by the tail. She didn't quite process what exactly the dear was saying as she stared at her work.

Layer after layer after layer of dermis had been carved away. It was less an incision and more an excavation. The burrow had been carved deep, deeper than should be possible. Forget hitting bone, it should have come out the other side twice over by now, and yet there was still just more skin.

Wordlessly, Rarity shoveled the pile of loose scraps of skin back into the hollow. She sewed one of the larger scraps over the hole, and slid the cadaver into a body bag. Autopsy bucking complete.