Twilight woke up feeling groggy. After Dread had once again shown her his book collection, the purple alicorn had selected a text book entitled ‘A history of machines’. True to its name, the book detailed various inventors throughout history who had revolutionized technology used by ponies. Twilight had spent the entirety of yesterday absorbed with the book, memorizing every detail it had in it. Twilight was so focused on the book that it wasn’t until Dread told that Administrator had announced ‘Nap time’ that she realized how long she had been reading.

As she was climbing out of bed, Twilight thought about what she dreamed of, only to find that she was unable to recall anything except muddled images of earth ponies wearing bowler hats and monocles. Then, Twilight thought about the last two dreams that she could remember; the dream of the four images, and the dream about her family. Twilight wondered why she could remember these dreams in particular. They weren’t anything special as far as dreams go, only a nightmare and a dream about a family that Twilight assumed was created by her imagination. Was there a connection between the two? Did the fact that Twilight remembered both dreams mean something? Or was she reading too much into her dreams?

It was her stomach that snapped her out of her thoughts. It emitted a low grumble and a feeling of emptiness that was almost like a dull pain. Twilight was so absorbed into her book that she must’ve forgotten to eat dinner yesterday. This wasn’t the first time she had done this.

Twilight exited her room and began looking for Dread, only to realize shortly that the android was out delivering breakfast to the inmates. Twilight began thinking of ways to satisfy her stomach until Dread came with breakfast. She remembered a technique that she used during her time studying under the princess. Whenever Twilight was feeling peckish and lunch wasn’t for at least another hour, she would drink as much water as she could to ward off the hunger. This usually increased her need of a toilet later, but Twilight thought that it was a good technique.

Without thinking, Twilight entered a random hospital room and looked through open its cabinet. Using two hooves, Twilight picked up a water packet and threw it into her mouth, practically swallowing it whole. Twilight swallowed two more water packets before her hunger was satisfied.

Twilight then went to check on Fluttershy to pass time until Dread returned. The now multicolored pegasus was still unconscious when Twilight entered her room, though her breathing seemed to be a bit stronger than it was yesterday.

Twilight took a minute to just look over the poor mare. The mismatched skin patches and odd anatomy made this Fluttershy hard to look at, but she still somehow resembled former self. Even though she knew that this Fluttershy was not the one she had known in her world, Twilight could not shake the feeling that she was looking at a friend who was on the brink of death.

After the minute was up, Twilight began examining the stitches that held Fluttershy’s skin together. Having spent so much time with a fashion designer, Twilight could immediately tell that Dread only had the slightest knowledge how sewing was supposed to work. Fluttershy’s stitches zigzagged haphazardly across her body; unnecessarily tight is some places, and not tight enough in others.

“I hope Dread knew what he was doing.” Twilight said softly to herself.

Twilight sat by Fluttershy for several minutes, after which she found herself unable to sit still any longer. Twilight began to leave the room, intent on wandering the halls until Dread returned with breakfast, after which she would return to sit by Fluttershy again. She was almost out the door when she heard a faint voice coming from Fluttershy’s bed.

“T-Twilight? Is that you?”

Twilight turned to find Fluttershy attempting to sit up in her bed, her remaining eye looking as though it was straining itself to stay open.

“Yes Fluttershy. It’s me, Twilight.” Twilight answered, “How are you feeling?”

“Where am I? Why can’t I open my other eye? And why do I hurt all over?” Fluttershy’s voice was faint, even more so than it was normally.

“You’re in a hospital. You were… There was an accident and you were hurt. I’m not sure how to explain this, but you’ve been asleep for a long time.” Twilight wasn’t sure how to explain Fluttershy’s injuries without breaking her heart. After all, how do you tell some pony that one of their best friends is a psychopath?

“What happened to me?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m not sure how to explain it.” Twilight answered, “When the doctor who has been taking care of you returns you can ask him. He knows the story better than I do. In the meantime, why don’t you tell me what you remember?”

Fluttershy thought for a moment, “I remember the mayor calling a town meeting. You and she were organizing search parties. I can’t remember who for though…”

“Was it Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked, already guessing where this was going. The Twilight of this Fluttershy’s world had known that their Pinkie Pie had gone insane and organized a sort of militia to bring her to justice.

“Yes!” Fluttershy said excitedly, “Now I remember; no pony had seen either Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie is days! At first, ponies thought that they were playing some sort of elaborate joke on the town, but after no joke was pulled they started to worry. That’s when you and the mayor organized the search.”

‘She has no idea!’ Twilight thought before asking, “What happened next?”

“I went into the Everfree with a group of five. After a few hours I somehow got separated from the rest of the group. I remember wandering around looking for them when something hard me on the back my head and then… nothing.”

Twilight let out a deep breath, “Well at least you’re awake now. In a few minutes we’ll get you some breakfast and explain everything to you as best we can. After that, we’ll look for a way to get you home and you can put this whole ordeal behind you.”

“Thank you Twilight.” Fluttershy said, “There’s just something that I’d like to know right now, if that’s okay.”

Twilight smiled, “What is it?”

“Did they ever find them? Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie I mean.”

Twilight dropped her smile, “Yes… They found Pinkie Pie.”

Fluttershy’s one eye lit up, “That’s good.”

Twilight forced herself to smile again for Fluttershy’s sake, “Is there anything I can get for you until the doctor comes back?”

“Actually, would it be okay if I ask for a glass of water?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight’s smile returned for real this time, “Coming right up!”

Twilight went over to the cabinet and used the scoop to pick up a water packet. She then carried the packet to Fluttershy and placed it on her stomach.

"Chew this and swallow.” Twilight instructed, “Don’t worry about the wrapper; it’ll dissolve in your mouth.”

Fluttershy winced as she stretched out an arm to pick up the water packet. When she noticed the patchwork skin replacement that made up the majority of her body, Fluttershy screamed.

“Twilight, what is wrong with my skin?” Fluttershy asked. Her breathing had become heavy, her body was shaking, and tiny beads of perspiration had begun to appear on her forehead.

“Your skin was badly damaged when they found you,” Twilight answered, “they had to replace parts of it so that you could survive.”

“But-But it looks wrong. Why does it look wrong?” Fluttershy was beginning to hyperventilate.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, “How does it look wrong.” As she said it, Twilight realized what a dumb question that was.

“Wh-When I move it-it-bleeds!” Flutteryshy let out a high pitched squeak when she said the word ‘bleeds’.

Twilight could now plainly see what Fluttershy was referring to. As she moved, the seams that crisscrossed across her body loosened, causing blood to seep through the patches of skin.

“Hang on,” Twilight said; springing towards the door, “I’m going to get help. While I’m gone I want you to move as little as possible. I’ll be right back.”

Twilight ran out to hall calling, “Layne, I need your help! Where are you?”

After a minute of frantic searching, Twilight found the crippled pegasus lying on sofa, sleeping. Twilight placed her front hooves on him and began shaking. A moment later Dr. Layne woke up, and glared at the purple alicorn.

“What?” the doctor asked grumpily.

“I need your help!” Twilight said, “Fluttershy is awake and…”

Dr. Layne interrupted her, “Oh, so sleeping beauty is finally awake is she? Well then I suppose it’s true, the kiss of Prince Charming does cure all manner of ills.” The pegasus laughed, “Although I suppose that in this case it was Princess Charming!”

Twilight had to stop for a moment to process what the doctor was trying to say. How could a kiss cure anything? Furthermore who would’ve been the one to do the kissing in the first place? The only stallion that had access to Fluttershy was Dr. Layne, and Twilight didn’t think that he was the kind of stallion to be romantic.

Twilight shook the thoughts out of her head. Now wasn’t the time to be pondering some strange joke made up by a bitter cripple.

“Something’s wrong with her stitches.” Twilight said, “They’re all loose and she’s bleeding.”

Immediately, Dr. Layne leaped to his feet and asked in a now serious tone of voice, “Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?”

The two ponies hurried to Fluttershy’s room. Once there, Dr. Layne began examining Fluttershy’s wounds. After a minute, the crippled pegasus began adjusting the patches so that the bleeding stopped.

When he was finished, Dr. Layne said, “Well it’s not a permanent solution… Buck, it’s not even a solution, all I did was move the skin patches back into place. But until we can find an actual solution it’ll have to do.”

“What is she going to do until then?” Twilight asked, “Lay completely still while we take care of her? What kind of life is that?”

“I don’t want to be a burden to any pony.” Fluttershy said softly.

“You’re not a burden,” Dr. Layne said then he turned to Twilight, “I have an idea, but I don’t think that it’s a good one, or at least not one that the cyborg will approve of.”

Twilight said, “Well whatever it is, it can’t be worse than having Fluttershy bleed whenever she moves.”

“It’s not, but it’s close.” Dr. Layne said quietly.

“Well what is it?”

Dr. Layne took a deep breath, “There is a pill that that the researchers used to sedate subjects for long periods of time. If we were to administer one to Fluttershy here, it would prevent her from tearing her stitches. The only problem is that without proper blood testing, I will be unable to calculate the dosage to give her. If I give Fluttershy too little the drug will not affect her, but if I give her too much she may never wake up again.”

Twilight asked, “Then how do we know how much of this drug to give her?”

Dr. Layne chuckled dryly, “I said it was problem didn’t I?”

“Could you do a blood test on me right now?” Fluttershy suggested.

Dr. Layne answered, “I’m sorry Fluttershy, but in your condition it would be too great of a risk.

Twilight asked, “Would it be possible to give Fluttershy the smallest dose of the medicine, then keep giving her stronger doses until we’ve found the right strength.”

Dr. Layne let out a low sigh, “No Sparkle, we can’t. That would be like feeding a foal whiskey shots so that we could see how many it could drink until it died of alcohol poisoning.”

“Well be can’t just leave her in this state!” Twilight said angrily.

Dr. Layne raised his voice slightly, “I know that, Sparkle, but I am not willing to risk a patient’s life in an half thought out plan to save her.”

Twilight’s ears fell flat, “You’re right, we need make sure of what we’re doing so that we don’t make the situation worse.” Twilight then turned to Fluttershy, “I’m sorry Fluttershy.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Twilight.” Fluttershy smiled weakly, “You were only trying to help.”

Just then Twilight noticed Fluttershy’s bed sheets. There’s nothing particularly interesting about the sheets, they were plain white and sewn from cheap cotton. It was what was on those sheets that interested Twilight. It was something that could very well be the answer to their problems.

Twilight asked, “Dr. Layne, would it be possible to perform a blood test from stains?”

Dr. Layne sighed, “A good thought Sparkle, but unfortunately I need a specific amount of blood to perform the test. The amount of blood that can be collected from these stains isn’t enough.”

The group fell silent. Twilight began thinking of a solution were they could analyze a sample of Fluttershy’s blood without risk, nothing came to mind however. Twilight hated how she was unable to come up with a solution, unable to help a friend in need. Being unable to help a friend made Twilight feel useless, and she hated it. Why couldn’t she think of a solution? Why was she so useless? Why?

Fluttershy asked in a soft voice, “Um, would be okay if I asked to just take the medicine without testing?”

Both Dr. Layne and Twilight looked at patchwork pegasus, thunderstruck.

“Why would you just take the medicine?” Twilight asked, “You don’t know whether or not it’s safe for you!”

“I have to agree with Princess Starbutt over here.” Dr. Layne said, “I cannot in good conscience give a patient medicine without knowing the effects that it will have on her!”

Fluttershy smiled, “Please, I don’t want to be a burden on any pony.”

“You’re not a burden, Fluttershy.” Dr. Layne said, “Any doctor who considers his patient a burden deserves to thrown onto the streets. That said I will not be changing my mind about the medicine.”

“Please, just give me one pill. Is that such a risk? I don’t want to bleed anymore.”

Dr. Layne took a deep breath, “All right. I’ll get you a mild pill.”

“What!” Twilight protested, outraged.

“If I give her a small enough the worse that can happen is that it won’t affect her.” Dr. Layne said, “And if that’s the case, we can wait until the drug has worked its way out of her system then try again with a larger dose.”

“That is completely unethical!” Twilight said.

“Perhaps, but so is skinning random corpses for emergency skin replacement.”

Twilight had no response to that. Ethics had been forgone by both Dr. Layne and Dread, either out of necessity or convenience. By what ethics did a doctor use a sewing needle to perform surgery, or use fishing lines to stitch together wounds?

When Dr. Layne left a few moments later; Fluttershy asked, “Can I still get a drink of water?”

A minute later, Dr. Layne returned with a plastic jar in his mouth. He placed the bottle onto a counter, twisted it open, and poured out a single blue pill. He then got out the scoop used to carry water packets and placed the pill on it.

Dr. Layne carried the pill to Fluttershy and placed it in her mouth. As he so, Dr. Layne said, “Swallow this pill and in a few minutes you should be fast asleep.”

Fluttershy swallowed the pill. At first it seemed as though the pill didn’t affect her, but then her eye began to droop and her breathing began to slow down. Once Fluttershy was asleep, Dr. Layne pulled a blanket over her, taking care not to damage her stitches.

“Well now do we do?” Twilight asked.

“We wait for Dread to come back from the inmates,” Dr. Layne answered, “then we discuss how we’re going to solve the issue of Fluttershy’s skin.”

The two ponies left Fluttershy’s room to wait in the hospital hall. Dr. Layne returned to his magazine and Twilight began wondering around. When she passed the room that contained the mutation device, Twilight stopped to look at it. An idea struck her.

It wasn’t long before Dread returned from feeding the inmates. The android greeted the two ponies and gave them their breakfasts. Twilight wolfed down her food so that they could begin discussing Fluttershy’s treatmeant sooner (she also took a mental note to eat her food more quickly in the future as her brain didn’t have time to process the taste).

It was Dr. Layne who brought up the topic, “There’s been a development with Project 6-19.”

Dread responded, “What’s happened?”

“The subject has been active within the last four hours.”

“That is good. What is the subject’s current status?” Dread asked.

“The subject has been sedated for its own health.”

“So the subject is inactive again?”

Dr. Layne answered “Correct. There was an issue with the subject’s repairs that needs to be addressed.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It would appear that miscalculated when assessing the damage to the subject’s body and what we needed to do in order to repair it.”

“Get to the point Layne!” Dread growled.

Dr. Layne glared at the android, “Whenever the subject moves, the repairs to its body begin to break up. We forgot to take movement into account while administering the repairs.”

Dread’s eyes dimmed and the android tilted his head towards the ground, “That is a problem… Do you have any suggestions for a solution?”

“Unfortunately I do not.” Dr. Layne answered sadly.

It took Twilight a second to get past the two’s odd manner of speaking. They spoke of Fluttershy like she was test subject, which given Dr. Layne’s history wasn’t that surprising.

“I have an idea.” Twilight said.

They looked at Twilight almost in unison.

Dr. Layne asked, “Well, what is it?”

“Do you have any way of getting into the room with the mutation device?” Twilight asked.

“Well, yes but…” Dr. Layne started to say.

Dread interrupted, “Miss Sparkle, you’re not planning on using the machine to try and fix Miss Shy are you?”

Twilight answered, “Well, yes. I think that if I took some time to study the device I’ll be able to use it to stimulate Fluttershy’s cells so that they rapidly heal her. It’ll take me some time to figure out how the device works, and even longer to learn how to safely use it, but once I do…”

Dread interrupted her, “I won’t allow it!”

Twilight blinked, “Why not?”

It was Dr. Layne who answered, “Because the device is too unpredictable! Simply being around it is dangerous, but actually using it is just careless! The researchers who designed the device couldn’t figure out a way to safely use it, and they were much more qualified than you are.”

“Dr. Layne is right, Miss Sparkle,” Dread said, “but I would like to add that using the device would put both you and Miss Shy in danger. Simply put, the risk greatly outweighs the possible reward.”

Dr. Layne glared at Dread, “Isn’t that what I just said?”

The pegasus and the android began bickering about whether or not Dr. Layne was clear in what he was trying to say. Twilight sat down and waited for them to stop. After a moment she finally had enough of the foolishness.”

“Are you two done now?” Twilight asked, “Because we still haven’t come up with a solution to fix Flut…”

Dread interrupted, “You are correct, Miss Sparkle, we do need to repair Project 6-19 as soon as possible. I apologize for becoming sidetracked.”

“Why do you keep calling her that?” Twilight asked.

“Calling who what?”

“Project 6-19, why do you keep calling her that? She had a name you know.”

Dread turned to Dr. Layne, “Do you mind feeding the patients today?”

The crippled pegasus glared at Dread, grumbled something, and then went to feed Pinkamena.

The android turned to Twilight and asked, “Would you like to take a walk with me, Miss Sparkle?”

“Shouldn’t we figuring out a way to help Flu…” Twilight began to ask.

Dread interrupted, “Please, Miss Sparkle, I just want to talk.”

Twilight reluctantly accepted the android’s request to walk with him. The two walked silently down the halls, away from their living quarters. Twice Twilight tried to start a conversation. That was Dread’s entire motive to go on to go on this walk after all.

It was only after they had passed the genetics lab that Dread finally said something, “We can talk now, Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight turned angrily to look at the robot's shiny black visor and LEDs, "Why do you refuse to refer to Fluttershy by name? You didn’t have a problem with it before.”

“That is because we were within the vicinity of Miss Pie.” Dread answered.

“Why would that be an issue?”

Dread took a moment before answering, “Dr. Layne and I are not sure how exactly Miss Pie will react to finding out about Miss Shy’s survival. During our early sessions, Miss Pie would tell me that Miss Shy and Miss Dash were both living in her stomach, and that they would sing to her when she was sad or hungry.”

“Pinkie told me something similar a few days ago, but she told me that she only felt that way for a little while.”

“Even if she’s over that mentality, there’s no telling how Miss Pie will react to Fluttershy’s presence. It would be best if we kept her in the dark for the time being.”

When the two got back from their walk, Twilight went back to her room to read the book she received from Dread the day before, opening it to a random chapter. The chapter in question was titled ‘Robotics and Medicine’. It detailed various theories on how ponies might one day be able to replace damaged body parts with robotic substitutes via surgery.

As she was reading, Twilight’s mind wandered away from vacuum powered hearts and copper spinal cords; instead she thought of Fluttershy. Try as she might, Twilight could not get the pegasus out of her head. Twilight imagined how it would feel to wake up with new skin, to find out that your body would tear apart with every move you made. It would be a miracle if Fluttershy managed to retain her sanity, assuming that they managed to save her from her injuries.

‘What am I thinking?’ Twilight thought to herself, ‘Of course we’re going to save her. We’re they good guys, nothing bad ever happens to us, at least not anything that can’t be easily fixed.’

‘Are we the good guys though?’ Twilight asked herself, ‘After all, at least one of us is a psychopath who is more than willing to kill other ponies, that doesn’t sound like something a good guy would do.’

‘Of course we’re the good guys,’ Twilight thought, ‘I mean we’re not the bad guys. It’s really only Pinkie who’s bad, and that’s not technically her fault. Well I suppose the experiments that Dr. Layne performed in the past would make him technically a bad guy.

‘But the way he treated Fluttershy while he was helping her wasn’t something that a bad guy would do. Just because some pony was bad in the past doesn’t mean that they’re still bad.’

‘Then again, is one display of kindness enough evidence to vouch for some pony’s goodness?’

‘I AM NOT THE BAD GUY!’

“How can you know that for sure?”

Twilight’s train of thought came to an abrupt stop when a sharp pain erupted in her head. She instinctively pressed her front hooves to her temples and began to rub. Twilight held her hooves in place until the pain began to subside.

When the pain was gone, Twilight put her book away and laid down on her bed. Using a hoof, Twilight pulled a blanket over her and closed her eyes. Even though, Twilight was now free to move as much as she wanted, it did not compare to the luxury of sleeping in an actual bed

Twilight laid on her bed for what felt like an hour. While she laid there, waiting for sleep to sweep her away from reality, Twilight thought about what she would do if she somehow managed to escape the nightmare called ‘Sleipnir’.

‘Not if, when.’ Twilight told herself.

Twilight thought about the family she saw in her dream the night before. Assuming they were real, would it be possible for her to return to them? If she did, what would her family think of her? More importantly, what would the others do?

Twilight thought for a moment about the friends she had made at Sleipnir. Would they go back to their worlds? Perhaps even reintegrate themselves back into society? Dr. Layne could probably blend in well enough, but Dread and Pinkamena weren’t exactly normal, even by Ponyville standards.

Twilight let out a small laugh. The image of a robot and bipedal mutant walking around Ponyville struck her as funny for some reason that she did not quite understand Perhaps it was because Twilight associated those two so much with the eternal grey that was Sleipnir that the idea of them interacting with the colorful town felt off to her. Or maybe Twilight was so humor starved that anything remotely funny was enough to get her to laugh.

Amused with the initial concept, Twilight began thinking about how exactly the others would interact with her Ponyville.

Twilight decided that Dread’s abilities would make him best suited for the task of educating young foals. Twilight pictured the robot standing in front of a busy classroom and lecturing the foals about basic arithmetic’s.

“Now remember students,” the image of Dread said to the imaginary foals, “when you are adding numbers together and you get an answer that is greater than ten, you put a one next to your answer. For example if you are adding five and six, you would put two ones next each other after the equals sign. Now, can any pony tell me what this number is?”

One of the imaginary students raised a hoof.

“Yes, Miss Peasebottom?”

“Eweven?”

“That is correct.”

Dread then turned his back on the students and began writing a few simple problems on the chalk board.

Dread then turned back to the students and said, “I want you to solve these problems using what we’ve talked about today. If you find yourself in need of assistance, simply raise your hoof and I will be with you shortly.”

The imaginary students all got out sharpened pencils and quills. Twilight could almost hear the scratching of paper as the imaginary students solved the problems Dread set up for them. A full classroom of children all perfectly behaved and excited about learning. Twilight was almost jealous of the imaginary version of Dread.

Coming up with how Dr. Layne might be able to integrate into the Ponyville lifestyle was difficult for Twilight. She didn’t know much about Dr. Layne other than that he was a scientist and doctor. Twilight assumed that Dr. Layne would do well working at the Ponyville hospital, but she wasn’t sure.

Instead, Twilight imagined Dr. Layne working in one of the Canterlot laboratories. The work there wouldn’t be too different from the research that the he had done at Sleipnir, sans pony experiments. Rather than finding new ways to kill ponies, Dr. Layne would be researching cures for rare illnesses, potions to improve the daily lives of ponies everywhere, and maybe even new forms of transportation to allow ponies faster travel across Equestria.

Twilight pictured Dr. Layne sitting in front of a desk, reviewing some designs for a device that ponies could use to cool down objects by slowing down their molecules.

“I just don’t see it happening.” An orange earth pony stallion said from somewhere behind the doctor, “It takes too much power to get the darn thing to work right, and even then it takes hours for it to actually do anything. It would be cheaper just to use a fridge.”

Dr. Layne said nothing and continued to study the designs.

“Are you even listening to me? Darn it Layne, it’s bad enough that I have to deal with several workers complaining about ‘short lunch hours’ all day but to have my most valuable asset just sit there and blow me off…”

“It’ll work.” Dr. Layne interrupted.

“Excuse me?”

“I said it’ll work.”

“I never said it wouldn’t. It’s just not worth the effort to…”

“It is worth the effort, and it will work. Just not how we planned it to.” Dr. Layne gestured toward a part of the designs, “If we alter this part here we can reverse the effects of the device; cooking things instead of freezing them.”

“What good is that? Ponies already have ovens to cook things in. Why would they want to buy another device to do just that?”

“If my theory is correct, reversing the device’s effect will use much less energy than what we originally designed it for. In addition, we will be able to prepare food with having to pay so much attention to it, allowing us to do other things while our food is prepared.”

“That is a good point.” The orange stallion said thoughtfully, “But I still doubt that ponies will want to buy it. Ponies are used to ovens, not space age gizmos that heat food by irradiating it.”

Dr. Layne smiled, “Perhaps, but wait until they find out how cheap the new device will be to buy.”

Next Twilight began imagining how Pinkamena would react if taken back to a version of Ponyville. It went without saying that if Pinkamena were to be reintroduced to society, she would first have to be reformed of her psychopathic nature. Twilight decided that the Pinkie Pie she had known before Sleipnir would be perfect for the job.

Twilight imagined the two Pinkie Pies working together at Sugarcube Corner, baking an assortment of pastries for all of Ponyville to enjoy. In her mind’s eye, Twilight saw the two mixing ingredients into a batter while the oven pre-heated.

“I think it needs something.” Twilight’s Pinkie said after tasting a part of the batter,

“Something to really add an extra bit of oomph for when the cake’s ready.”

“It tastes fine to me,” Pinkamena said, “but I guess that it’s a bit too… bland. Maybe we didn’t add enough sugar?”

“We used plenty of sugar. Besides it’s the flavor that’s off, not the sweetness.”

Pinkamena sighed, “Well if it’s not the sugar, then what? What do we need to add?”

“I don’t know. Something that no pony would expect to find in a cake I guess; a surprise.”

Pinkamena’s lips stretched back into a sadistic grin, her eyes flashed red, and she began to giggle softly beneath her breath, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Pinkie Pie locked eyes with Pinkamena. Pinkie Pie’s grin was not as overtly evil as

Pinkamena’s, but it seemed to hide a much more sinister purpose than it let on.

“In the cabinet, over the sink.” Pinkie Pie said, letting out a soft giggle as she spoke.

Pinkamena crossed over to the kitchen sink were a pile of dirty dishes sat waiting to be washed. Pinkamena reached up over the sink to open a green and blue cabinet. She searched the inside of the cabinet for a moment, and then withdrew a small brown vial.

“Been saving this for a special occasion.” Pinkie Pie said when Pinkamena returned.

Pinkamena opened the vial and the two Pinkie Pies sniffed its contents.

“Yup, that’s the stuff.” Pinkamena said happily, “How much should we add to the batter?”

“Not much, the stuff is pretty strong and a little hard to come by in Ponyville. I think that four or five drops should be plenty.”

Pinkamena carefully tilted the vial over the batter. She took great pains to make sure that she was in control how much of the vial’s contents poured out. The first drop took almost half a minute to fall out. It hit the batter, leaving a crimson stain on the milky substance. The other four drops soon followed, giving the batter a diseased appearance. Pinkie Pie took a metal spoon and stirred the batter until the vial’s contents were thoroughly mixed in. She then took the spoon and licked it.

A split second after Pinkie Pie’s tongue made contact with the spoon her eyes began to water, the pigment of her facial fur turned from pink to a dark red, and smoke began to puff out of her ears. Pinkie opened her mouth, releasing a stream of fire the engulfed half the kitchen. She then rushed towards the kitchen sink and bit down on the faucet. Pinkie turned the sink on and stream erupted from the space between lips and the faucet.

“Good hot sauce?” Pinkamena asked.

Pinkie Pie smiled, “Yup! I can’t wait until our friends try this. They’ll love it!”

Pinkamena poured the batter into a pan and set it in the oven. After setting the timer,

Pinkamena looked at the now destroyed kitchen.

“We’re gonna need some paint.” Pinkamena said.

“A lot of paint.” Pinkie Pie added.

Pinkamena turned and smiled at Pinkie Pie, “Think Bright Pigments is still open?”

“Only one way to find out!”

The two hopped out of the now ruined kitchen and into the streets of Ponyville. As they left they began to sing a song about spiced cake. Even in her own imagination, Twilight could not understand the enigma that was Pinkie Pie.

All that was left was Fluttershy. Twilight imagined that once her skin was repaired she would go back to her cottage with her animals. Specifically she imagined Fluttershy helping some baby otters learn how to swim. In her mind, Twilight saw Fluttershy showing the otters the various motions that they would have to learn in order to move through water. The otters themselves looked very happy to be learning this new skill. It was nothing special, Twilight had seen her Fluttershy do similar activities with animals before, but something troubled Twilight. The image somehow felt… wrong.

‘It’s not realistic.’ Twilight realized, ‘The otters shouldn’t be acting like that.’

‘They’re acting exactly the same way they acted back in Ponyville.’ Twilight told herself.

‘Except I’m imagining how they would react to the Fluttershy I knew, not the one who is in laying in the other hospital room. No matter what you do she’ll still resemble a on eyed rag doll. The animals would never accept her.’

Almost involuntarily, Twilight imagined the exact same scenario as before, but this time she saw a more realistic image of what Fluttershy would look like. She still had the mismatched skin, but her stitches had healed into thick, unattractive scars. Fluttershy had tied a bandana around her face to cover up the hole, though it was fairly obvious that it was missing.

“Okay little otters, today I’m going to show you how to swim to the deepest parts of the river so that you find all the tasty shell fish you can eat!” Fluttershy said enthusiastically (or as enthusiastically as Twilight had ever seen her). The otters on the side of the coin were trembling, seemingly paralyzed.

Fluttershy laid down on her stomach and began wriggling and flailing about. As she did so, Fluttershy kept giving various pieces of information as to what the various motions were supposed to do.

“You do this motion whenever you want to go faster.” Fluttershy said as she rapidly kicked her back legs.

While Fluttershy was distracted by the exercise, the otters began backing away slowly. Once they were a short distance away they turned around and ran, squealing as loudly as their little lungs would allow them. Fluttershy heard the high pitched screams and turned in shock to find her students fleeing her presence.

Immediately Fluttershy got off the ground and chased after the small animals.

“Wait, come back!”

The otters sped up when they heard Fluttershy’s call. Fluttershy in turn broke into swift fly, her bandana falling off as she did so, revealing a thin patch of skin where doctors had sealed up the empty socket. The added speed that came with flight let Fluttershy cover just enough ground to catch up with one of the slower otters.

Fluttershy tried to grab the small animal with a hoof but the otter rolled out of the way, avoiding capture by less than a centimeter. Fluttershy tried to grab the otter once more, but again it dodged her again. She was readying herself for another grab when the otter dove into a small burrow.

Fluttershy tried to land but she positioned her wings incorrectly. Rather than coming to the smooth landing that pegasi usually did, Fluttershy hit the ground face first and slid for several feet, kicking up a small cloud of dirt. When she got up, her face was scraped, the patch of skin where her eye used to be had been cut slightly, causing a thin trickle of blood to flow down her face.

A sudden sensation of pain in her head shook Twilight out of the daydream. It wasn’t as painful as her previous headache, but it was enough to disrupt her thought process.

‘Maybe I should just go to bed.’ Twilight thought as the pain subsided.

Instead, Twilight began thinking about Fluttershy again, this time concerned with how society would react to her. She imagined a scene where Fluttershy was in market district of Ponyville, shopping for food to feed the animals that hadn’t run away from her. At first the ponies didn’t much more besides avoid her. As she progressed through the market though, her treatment began to become steadily worse. Ponies began to whisper cruel jokes at her expense behind her back. If Fluttershy heard these jokes, she didn’t show it. A little further into the market, they began saying those cruel jokes to her face, calling her ‘rag doll’, ‘cyclops’, and ‘corpse face’. Still Fluttershy did not react. After a while the ponies became bored with petty insults and began spitting on her as they walked by. Tears were now beginning to build up in Fluttershy’s eye, but she wouldn’t give these ponies the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Eventually Fluttershy made it to her destination, a stand that sold all the necessary food required to keep most animals healthy. When Fluttershy approached the stand the vendor had his back turned while he organized his inventory.

“Um… Excuse me…” Fluttershy said softly.

“Just a minute dearie, I’ve got to make sure that two colts didn’t steal anything while they were back here.” The vendor said without turning around.

“Oh… sorry… I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I just need a few things to feed my animals.”

“Oh, well lucky for you I’m looking through my selection of animal foods right now. Just tell me what you need and I’ll have them ready when I’m done.”

“Oh I don’t need much, just some lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, spinach, and celery.”

“Is that all? Well I should have all that in a minute. Please be patient.”

A minute passed and the vendor turned around with the vegetables Fluttershy requested. The vendor was smiling kindly, but when he saw Fluttershy the smile twisted into a look of horror.

The vendor dropped the vegetables onto the ground, “You? What are you doing here?”

Fluttershy took a step back, “I was only shopping for some vegetables.”

“Well you won’t be getting any here! I don’t do business with monsters, so go away!”

Tears began to form once more in Fluttershy’s eye. She tried to say ‘I’m not a monster’ but was interrupted when the vendor threw a ripe tomato at her face, missing her eye by a hair.

“I don’t care what you are! As far as I’m concerned you’re a ghoul who’ll frighten away all my other customers. Now go away before I call the guards.”

Fluttershy was now crying, “Alright, I’ll go away. I’m sorry, I won’t bother you again.”

Fluttershy turned to leave, but not before threw another tomato at her, this time hitting her squarely on the stomach. As Fluttershy retraced her steps through the market, other ponies adopted the vendor’s actions and began throwing various items at her. Unlike the vendor, these items were not strictly food; paints splattered against Fluttershy’s skin, glass bit into areas where they had managed to get past her fur, and rocks threatened to break every bone in her body.

Fluttershy dove into an alley and hid there behind a dumpster. After a few minutes the jeers of angry ponies died down and Fluttershy risked poking her head out. When no pony attempted to assault her, Fluttershy stepped out of her hiding place. She took two steps forward before tripping on an empty wine bottle. When she hit the ground Fluttershy’s crying became louder.

“I’m not a monster.” Fluttershy said, her words were almost lost in her crying.

“I’m not a monster.” Fluttershy’s words were clearer now.

“I’m not a monster.” Fluttershy’s crying was beginning to subside.

“I’m not a monster.” Fluttershy had stopped crying entirely.

“I’m not a monster.” Fluttershy looked at the wine bottle she had tripped on; her eyes were still red from crying.

“I’m not a monster.” Fluttershy reached for the wine bottle.

“I’m not a monster.” Fluttershy slammed the wine bottle on the ground, shattering the bottom half.

“I’m not a monster.” Fluttershy pointed the jagged end of the bottle toward her throat.

“I AM NOT A MONSTER!”

Twilight forced herself out of the daydream.

‘That’s not going to happen. That’s never going to happen!’ Twilight told herself, ‘The citizens of Ponyville wouldn’t act that way; it’s not in their nature. Ponies don’t hate each other just because some pony’s different.’

‘What about Zecora? Ponies lived in fear of her for months before they accepted her, and even then some still avoided her whenever possible.’

‘Zecora was different; she only visited Ponyville once every few months and never stayed long enough for ponies to get used to her. Fluttershy lives just on the edge of town and has to interact with ponies constantly to make a living.’

‘Doing what though? She can’t be a vet, at least not a successful one. Animals are more easily frightened than ponies, and are much more violent when they fight. If they don’t run away they’ll tear her apart.’

‘Yes, but animals aren’t afraid of the same things as ponies. Animals don’t register damaged flesh as a sign of danger, you could keep a mouse in a cage made of mouse bones and it wouldn’t even notice. The animals would accept Fluttershy as if she had no scars at all.’

‘But that still doesn’t solve the problem of getting ponies to accept her. Zecora was just a zebra, basically a white earth pony with stripes. Fluttershy on the other side of the coin looks like the nightmarish offspring of a zombie and a rag doll. It’ll be a lot harder to get ponies to accept her.’

‘Not necessarily… If we can get Fluttershy to her world’s version of me, she could take care of Fluttershy and slowly reintegrate her into society. Friends are there to help each other after all, no matter what they look like.’

Twilight’s mind was beginning to grow fuzzy as it prepared for sleep. ‘Well in any case, I’m thinking way too much about something that I won’t have to deal with for some time. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Right now my priority concerning Fluttershy should be making sure she gets better. Reintegrating Fluttershy into society won’t matter if she dies.’

‘How though? The hospital isn’t equipped to repair severe flesh damage, or if it is no pony knows how to perform the operation.’ Twilight’s thoughts were beginning to become unfocused.

‘Maybe not this hospital, but maybe we can get Fluttershy to another one.’

‘But how? It’s not like we can just call a taxi and go to the nearest hospital, we’re all trapped in Sleipnir!’

Just before Twilight was fully lost in the realm of sleep she thought, ‘Perhaps not though… After all, Dread had to get us here somehow.’

Author's Notes:

Fun Fact: When I first started writing this story I planned it to be a "Monster of the Month" themed horror story. How it became a psychological mystery, I'll never know.