=BiE 16=

>Hospital smell isn't new to you.
>You've been in them often enough, usually by Anon dragging you to them after you got yourself hurt.
>You sat in the exam room waiting for this doctor.
>The painkillers you took earlier had been keeping a lid on your pain.
>This "Horse M.D." was taking his sweet time getting here.
>At this rate, you were going to heal before he showed up.
>This room wasn't too different from ones back on Earth.
>Anatomical posters of various body parts hung around the room.
>A mock skeleton was in the corner.
>A doctor was walking in the door.
>Wait, shit.
>"What's up, doc?"
>Nice. That shit would get you smacked back on Earth.
>"Hello, Mr. Mous. What seems to be the problem?" he asks.
>This guy has some ridiculous hair.
>It's all red and poofy.
>He asked you a question, dude.
>You snap back to reality.
>"I got clawed up pretty good by a manticore a few days ago, I got fixed up by some tribal goo a friend of mine made, but it still hurts pretty bad."
>These painkillers are making you weird.
>Had to stay on top of that.

>The doctor looks over a form you saw the nurse filling out.
>"Hmm...Well, let's take a look, shall we?" he says as he makes his way over to you.
>That's your cue.
>You hop off the examination table and remove your shirt.
>The doctor makes his way behind you.
>You can hear him sighing, thinking, everything but telling you why you were in pain.
>It eventually becomes too much to bare.
>"So, what's the damage doc?"
>"Did you see what kinda of treatment this friend of yours gave you?" he asks.
>You had apparently lost a lot of blood that night, you didn't remember much after you got hit.
>"No, I was pretty out of it after the manticore got me."
>"Hmm...I'm going to have to take some blood for a quick test." he says.
>Great. Needles.
>You don't like needles.
>"Alright, fine."
>You roll up your sleeve, gotta bite the bullet here.
>The doctor looks at you. "In order to confirm the theory I have, I need a blood sample from as close to the wound as possible."
>...bite the bullet here.

>Fifteen minutes later, you're laying on the examination table trying to rid your body of the pain it had been through.
>That idiot doctor had missed the vein three times.
>Being stabbed in an already painful wound wasn't a fun time.
>That general anesthetic hadn't done shit.
>You're thinking about how you would go about burning down a hospital when the doctor returns.
>"Does it still hurt?" he asks.
>A grunt through gritted teeth was all the reply he was going to get.
>You were gonna kill him.
>You were gonna rip that fucking stupid hair off his fucking head and force feed it down his fucking throat.
>"Well, I can see why. Your blood tests showed us why you're in so much pain." he says.
>Is it because you're fucking incompetent you idiot ha-
>"You were poisoned."
>Wait, what?

>You turn to give him your full attention.
>Zecora didn't seem the type to poison someone she never met.
>"What?"
>The doctor looks at his clipboard again.
>"Manticores have a poison they use the incapacitate their prey. The one that hurt you must have had it running through its claws when it hit you.
>He puts down the clipboard and prods you to sit up.
>He rotates a mirror to show you your back scars.
>Three jagged marks are carved into your back, one glowing an angry red after being stabbed repeatedly with a sharp needle.
>He raises a hoof to your back. "When the manticore slashed you, it released a poison into your wounds to paralyze you."
>That must have been why you were so out of it when Anon dragged you to Zecora's.
>"Whatever treatment you took closed up your wounds, yes, but also trapped the poison inside you. The pain you feel is your nerves inflaming around the infected areas."

>Well shit.
>Poisoned.
>That's never happened before.
>"Can you fix it?"
>Okay. Fuck.
>This could be serious.
>This could be "stop your heart" serious.
>You can't die yet.
>Not before Anon.
>"Stop worrying." the doc says.
>Fuck.
>Was it that obvious?
>"We wouldn't live near a manticore's habitat without having some sort of antitoxin." he says smiling.
>He starts writing on a small notepad and rips the piece of paper off it.
>"Give that to the pharmacy to pick up your antitoxin pills. Take them three times a day with water." he says, handing the prescription to you.
>"What about my pain?" you ask. 
>Don't want to not get treated for the reason you're here.
>"The pain should subside when the swelling goes down, take those pills and that should happen in about a week." he says as he walks out the door "Have a nice day Mr. Mous."
>He shuts the door before you can answer.

>You're walking in to town holding your antitoxins and a fresh bottle of painkillers in a bag.
>You had taken your first dose on antitoxin as well as some painkillers already.
>Feels good man.
>Feels REALLY good.
>You've been in pain for the past few days, to be rid of it felt incredible.
>Damn.
>The town got FUCKED UP.
>Everything was broken and shit.
>Ponies were flying around and running all over the place.
>You should help, probably.
>But how?
>You try to find Twilight, she'll know what needs to get done.
>You wave at Derpy as you walk by and get a wave and a smile back.
>Derpy was so cool.
>Shit, you could really go for some of her muffins right now.
>You wonder if you'll run into Lotus, you wanna give her your clean bill of health.
>You come up on Twilight's tree house thing.
>There's Twilight and everyone else outside, Twilight was probably coordinating everything again.
>But she isn't coordinating, it looks like.
>She's walking around Anon, it looks like.
>Anon looks like he's sitting on a box.
>Was he...bleeding?

>Big Bro mode: Engaged.
>Anything that was on your mind is pushed to the side as you stomp over to Anon.
>Applejack hears you approach and starts walking towards you.
>"Well, howdy ther-"
>"Move."
>You don't have time for her shit right now.
>You blow past her and approach Anon.
>He's getting bandaged up around his head.
>You grab his chin and turn it up before he can talk.
>"Uh...dude?" he starts.
>"Look at me."
>Twilight and the girls stand in shocked silence as you examine Anon.
>You turn his head to get a look at the back of it.
>Bloody, a small gash on the back of his head was the cause.
>"Bro!" Anon shouts and he waves you off him.
>You crouch down and meet his eyes as he turns back.
>You hold up a finger.
>"Follow."
>No chances, he could be concussed.
>His eyes are narrow in annoyance, but he follows your guide all the same.
>Satisfied, you stand up again.
>"How did this happen?"
>"Dude, it's nothing, I'm getti-"
>"How?" you interrupt.
>He was your bro, you had to protect him.
>You can do that if he's bullshitting you.
>He still looks pissed.
>"I was out cleaning up debris on the edge of town, I started goofing off and hit my head on a barrel, you happy?" he says.
>Your eyes drift to Rainbow Dash.
>She looks guilty.
>Of course these two were together, they're best friends.
>But you were his Bro.

>You could care less that Dash was there, you got the answer you needed.
>You could push the point, but that would just get him pissed off and make him lie to you when this happened again.
>You let out a sigh.
>"You can't be so reckless, bro."
>His good cheer seems to return to his face
>"Excuse me? This coming from the manticore wrestler?" he says as Twilight finishes wrapping his bandages.
>"That's different. I can take a manticore, barrels are too far out of your league." you quip.
>"Oh please! Which of us had to go to the hospital because he couldn't take his old man back problems?" he shouts with a smile.
>With the situation back in friendly territory, the two of you plus the girls get to work on the town.
>With everypony working, you finish before sunset.
>Rainbow heads back to your apartment for the most recent movie night.
>Tonight was Terminator's I and II.
>Rainbow liked the chase on the motorcycle, good times were had by all.
>She left shortly after the second movie, work in the morning.
>You popped some of your pills in your mouth as you got ready for bed.
>"Yo, bro." Anon stopped you in the hall as he was taking off his bandage.
>"Hmm?"
>"What was the deal in town today? You kinda freaked." he said.
>Great. This.
>Best to just get it out there.
>"I'm the older bro here, it's my job to protect you."
>Anon leaned against the wall. "Well isn't that sweet? I'm only two years younger than you dude, I can handle myself."
>Shit. You knew.
>But you've been protecting this kid since you were seven.
>"Sorry..."
>You don't wait for him to respond, you just head inside and go to bed.