Rest for the Weary

"There's a time and place for everything. So, on account of how fucked up this occasion seems to be, I would like some vodka and a shot of jet." -Legend of the Lone Wanderer, Brotherhood of Steel east coast chapter, Citadel archives

Rainbow Dash had been sitting by Fluttershy's side for most of the operation. It would have been a more serious affair had the operation to remove the 'magical residue' didn't consist of a unicorn soaking up some of the residue, then letting their horn send off a display of fantastic colors. She tried not to giggle, Fluttershy was in pain after all, but the look on the nurses faces as the light show went on was just too funny. Rainbow Dash decided it would be better for the nurses morale if she left the room.

Walking down the hall from Fluttershy's operating room she concerned herself with other things. Dash started to hover in the direction she thought she saw them take the thing. She didn't know what to call it yet, but it spoke equestrian for some reason, so once it woke up that wouldn't be a problem.

Thinking about the creature Dash let her mind wander: She didn't know what to think about it yet. It had been the main reason they were in the hospital now! It had appeared in that freak storm with all of the chaos stuff, then Fluttershy got herself hurt trying to help it. But something told Dash it wasn't bad. If it had wanted to hurt any of them it could have just done it while they were distracted by the timberwolves.

Rainbow Dash shivered.

It had scared all those beasts away by looking at them. Then it went and saved Rarity by killing the big one with a sword and it's arm-things. It threw itself at the wolves when it easily could have let them eat us.

What angle was thing playing?

Dash saw Twilight down the hallway. She seemed distant, 'Probably thinking exactly what i'm thinking.' Dash told herself.

"Is it in there?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight looked up and Dash nodded to the door she stood in front of.

Twilight nodded wordlessly as she muttered to herself.

She had been like this ever since the fight. Her mind must have been in overdrive the entire walk back to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash chuckled to herself thinking about what could be going on in that mind of hers. Heck, she had went back in time to tell herself to relax because she was being to paranoid (then ended up being more paranoid because of it).

"Whatya thinkin' 'bout Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked trying to sound like Pinkie Pie.

"It." She said simply.

"Care to elaborate?" Rainbow Dash made a mental note to stop spending so much time in the library, it was starting to get to her.

Twilight looked up. She looked like she was back in Equestria as she answered Dash's question, "Well... I sent the princess a letter telling her everything that happened. She said it was dangerous, but she wants me to see if it's a threat."

"So?"

"So!?" Twilight said with a new-found fury, "The ruler of Equestria is counting on me to see if an alien that killed a timberwolf with its bare hands is a threat!"

"Hands?" Rainbow Dash asked slightly perplexed.

"They're exactly like what Spike has, so that's what i'm calling them. BUT YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT!" Twilight screamed, "What if I mess up!?"

Rainbow Dash was about to tell Twilight she needed to calm down when they heard a commotion from behind the door. They heard lots of loud screaming, and the sound of nurses running about. Twilight and Rainbow Dash exchanged nervous glances before they pushed the door open, determined to fixed whatever was going on.

"Let me go you sick freaks! What the fuck did you do to me!?"

The creature that saved them, minus all the strange clothing except for a strange metal thing on its foreleg, was bound to the hospital bed. It pulled at the bindings and screamed at the doctors and nurses. It's slender form warped and bent as it put everything it had into getting off the bed. It had a blindfold on, Rainbow Dash didn't know why, but she could tell the thing hated it.

One of the doctors tried to soothe the flailing creature from the side of the bed, "Shhh, we're trying to help. Please stop moving you could make it worse."

This only seemed to make the creature convulse more. It pulled, kicked, and lashed out with angry, unreadable screams.

Rainbow Dash isn't a doctor, she doesn't even know what the creature a few feet in front of her is, but she made up her mind.

"Take off the blindfold." Rainbow Dash commanded.

"What?!" The doctors asked incredulously.

"You heard me. It's scared, just let it see us, we might be able to calm it down." Rainbow Dash tried to reason.

"We can't. We have no Idea what it's reaction would be-"

"For the love of Celestia just take off the blindfold!" Twilight yelled from behind Rainbow.

The doctor looked at Celestias personal student for a moment, then back to the now still and listening creature, then against his better judgement pulled the blindfold loose with his teeth.

It flinched as the light assaulted it's eyes. It blinked a few times to adjust to the light, then it looked around. It scanned the room with a blank stare, all previous notions of anger or fear wiped from its face. It caught sight of Rainbow Dash, and its gaze stayed there.

Rainbow Dash took this as a sign she could come closer. She slowly clicked across the marble floor to the bedside. It was at that time Rainbow Dash got to actually see the creature without being in a hurry or in the dead of night.

It would be taller than any pony in the room if it stood of its legs like it did in the fight. The legs it stood on ended in small pads with little stubs coming off the end. The legs were toned with tanned skin and muscle that had stopped rippling against the bindings. Rainbow moved her way up, then up some more as she confirmed it was female, and made her way to the creatures abdomen. Much like the rest of its body it was toned and muscular, not a trace of fat anywhere, almost like the creature only ate what it could burn. She kept moving up, taking note of the 'hands' as Twilight called them and then finally made it to her face.

Then something clicked in her brain.

Rainbow Dashs eyes shot back down to the body. She had idly looked at it before, only acknowledging the creatures muscle and physique, but now she saw it under a whole new light.

There were scars everywhere.

They ran up, down, left, right, and diagonal across the creature. Some of the scars were merely large holes that looked like they had just sat there until they healed, leaving the skin a much lighter color. It looked like somepony played a sick game of connect the dots on her body, lost, then kept wanting a rematch.

Rainbow turned her gaze back to the creatures face. It's mouth was opened slightly in a childlike manner, and its eyes were wide in curiosity, "So many colors..." it said with a soft voice.

Rainbow Dash tried to think of a response to that, but was cut off when the creature coughed blood onto the table and passed out a second time.