Trixie struggles to open her eyes, but it seems that every time she opens them they slam shut on her like a bear trap. Each time she tries, her eyelids get a little farther up and her vision clears just a bit more. Finally, after an exhaustive, literal eye opening experience, she is able to see clearly. The very first thing she sees is the stone ceiling and the dim light above her, buzzing with electricity. She groans and tilts her head to the side, wincing from the pinches and sharp tugs all over her sides and limbs, and she gingerly presses her hoof against her head to stop the throbbing. She is not too surprised when that does nothing to help, though. After rubbing her head and releasing a pained sigh, she notices Gray Muffin sitting on a stool with his eyes closed and his head bowed. To Trixie, it looks like the old stallion is sleeping, and just to make sure she extends her hoof to poke him.

“Don’t touch me,” grumbles Gray Muffin.

Trixie retracts her hoof, and immediately regrets it because of the sharp pain that shoots up her hoof and forces her to bite back tears. She swears under her breath and Gray Muffin lifts his head to look at her.

“Did you enjoy your nap?” asks Gray Muffin, his posture relaxing slightly and his voice softening.

“It was... Pleasant?” says Trixie hesitantly.

“That sounded more like a question than an answer.”

“Well Trix-” Gray Muffin’s eyes narrow. “I would have enjoyed the nap better if I wasn’t nearly beaten to death.”

“Roar Shock is like that. He believes the best way to train somepony is to test them when they least expect it. But it is quite surprising to see you are awake after your trials. Our specialist hasn't even arrived yet to heal you and you are already awake.”

Trixie can't help but feel a little bit proud of that, and it shows through her thin smile. “I guess that's good, then. But couldn't that guy cut me some slack? I just got there and he acted like I was Tirrek's daughter.”

Gray Muffin remains silent and Trixie looks back towards the ceiling, groaning and rubbing her face with gentle motions of her hooves, but even then those movements cause great discomfort.

“Am I going to be experiencing a lot of those sneak attack things?” asks Trixie, hooves still over her face and tears building in her eyes as she questions just what the Hell she got herself into this time.

“You will experience Blitz Training Sessions, but not for a while. Now, you need to rest and heal, and only when I think you are ready will I allow the Sessions.”

Trixie tries sitting up on her cot. “How badly am I-Yeeeoow!!!”

A surge of pain rips through Trixie's ribs and limbs and her head feels like it is going to explode into flaming shard. She whimpers and slumps back in her bed, covering her face to hide the fresh tears as her body quivers from the pain while Gray Muffin towers over her, looking down at her sympathetically.

“This sucks,” sniffles Trixie.

“I warned you,” remarks Gray Muffin instantly.

“It hurts to breathe.”

“Then stop breathing.”

Trixie glares at Gray Muffin and he gives her a quick, teasing smirk before he strolls towards the exit.

“There will be a specialist coming to help you heal, shortly,” he says casually, his voice echoing plainly off of the walls. “In the meantime, stay in bed until you are excused by the specialist.”

“Got it,” grumbles Trixie, turning her focus back to the ceiling.

“And when you are out of bed you are to refer to me as ‘Sir’.”

“Got it, Sir Muffin.”

Trixie chuckles at her lame joke, but quickly winces and clutches her side while mumbling colorful words as the pain returns to serve her a nasty reminder of her condition. Gray Muffin keeps walking and smiles thinly at her joke, though, and once he leaves the room, Trixie huffs painfully and decides that while she’s bedridden she might as well have a quick look around.

Gritting her teeth to stave the pain, she lifts her head up to get a better view of the room, but it quickly becomes too much and she slumps in the bed, seething from a mix of anger, annoyance and pain. However, she does catch that most of the beds in the infirmary are empty, except for a couple of ponies lying in the back in full body casts. The room also appears to be carved directly into the mountain, and electrical lightning and strategically placed heaters give the room figurative and literal warmth.

Trixie tries to relax in her bed, but with the growing pain over taking her body it’s next to impossible. She groans and tries to think of anything to keep her mind off of her broken state, but when she does, it is replaced with emotional torment as she remembers the Hell she narrowly escaped from. Just when Trixie is ready to scream out of sheer aggravation, the door to the infirmary swings open and Trixie hears Terra walk in with someone else.

“Redheart, it’s not our place to question him, alright?” says Terra irritably.

“I’m just worried is all. This organization has changed a lot over the past ten years,” says Redheart sadly.

“Grow up, Redheart. Nothing ever stays the same.”

Trixie glances at the approaching mares out of the corner of her eye and she sees Terra escorting a white earth pony mare with a tied back pink mane.

The two stop talking when they are in front of Trixie’s bed, and the earth pony speaks in a kind voice. “Hello, Trixie, I am Nurse Redheart and I’m going to be treating you of your injuries.”

Redheart walks closer to Trixie and gently brushes her hoof over her body, and Trixie immediately tenses up and her breathing becomes ragged as she remembers Sunshine feeling her up in a very similar way. Trixie trembles as she watches Redheart's hooves move along her ribs and when she starts going down towards her flank, the unicorn bats the earth pony's hoof away and scrunches up on her bed, snarling with terrified tears forming in her eyes.

“Just what do you think you are doing!” yells Trixie.

Redheart takes a step back and holds up her hoof defensively. “It's okay, I'm just trying to do my job.”

“Feeling up Trixie is your job!?”

“Wha-what! Oh, dear Celestia, no! I’m checking the extent of your injuries!”

“Use an X-Ray machine. Don’t touch me.”

Redheart looks at Terra curiously and the brown unicorn stomps towards Trixie with a murderous look in her eyes. Trixie meets the hostile gaze with one of her own, but pulls the sheet up closer to her chin, still shaking and eyes now getting red and puffy as the tears build from remembering Sunshine's hooves all over her.

“Listen here, you little tramp, get over yourself and let Redheart do her job or I will use these rocks to hold you down!” yells Terra.

Trixie wants to chew out Terra for calling her a “tramp”, but a part of her is afraid that the unicorn might stab her if she does. That, and she also notices some mushrooms poking out of the evil unicorn's saddlebag.

Trixie levitates one out and holds it up to her eyes, and Terra makes no objections to her actions. “What is this?”

“It’s a healing mushroom,” replies Terra coolly.

Trixie pales and throws the accursed fungus away from her as far as possible. Then she scrunches up tighter on the back of her bed, thus inviting an ungodly amount of pain to attack her body, and her heart beating too near exploding point as her throat clogs. She knows exactly what those things can do and she will be damned if she ingests another one ever again.

Redheart steps forward, a look of worry clear on her face and hoof extended carefully. “Trixie, you need to relax. We only want to help.”

“No! You are not giving Trixie any of those abominations!” screams Trixie, her voice cracking and quivering with tears drenching her cheeks.

“The mushrooms will help you heal quicker,” says Terra sternly.

Terra and Trixie spiral down into a heated argument that eventually draws Redheart in. All three ponies bicker amongst themselves with Trixie wanting healing magic to fix her, Terra wanting Redheart to fix Trixie with the healing mushroom, as ordered, and Redheart wanting to do things her way, which does not include magic or healing mushrooms. They only stop bickering when the infirmary door flies open and Gray Muffin stomps in with a mechanical gauntlet covering his forehoof. The odd device has little Tesla coils around the bottom and gems running up between them, stopping short of his elbow, and little sparks of electricity snake their way between the coils, jumping from one to another every so often.

“What’s going on!” bellows Gray Muffin, the sparks seemingly growing with his volume.

Terra points at Trixie accusingly, whining childishly. “Trixie is being difficult.”

Trixie gives Terra a dirty glare, but it only gets worse when Redheart backs up Terra’s statement, though in a more professional wanner. Gray Muffin looks at Terra and Redheart, and then at Trixie, who is staring at him, sniffling with watery puppy eyes.

“Is this true?” asks Gray Muffin.

“Well... um I-I-I wouldn’t um-” stammers Trixie nervously while pushing her forehooves together.

“Trixie, we need you fixed as quickly as possible.”

“But Trixie doesn't want to use-!”

Trixie doesn’t get the chance to finish her sentence because Gray Muffin shoves the hoof with the weird gauntlet into her chest and she gets the shock of her life, blacking out a second later.

Redhear stares at Trixie, eyes bulging and jaw gaping. Gray Muffin had zapped her with enough power to have her fur and hair stand up, and now she is lying limp on her bed with her tongue hanging out and thin smoke rising off of her body. She blinks, clamps her mouth shut and looks at Gray Muffin with a little voice in her head that is demanding she lecture him about possibly doing a great deal of harm to a fragile patient. However, she decides it is a better idea to keep her mouth shut seeing as how the areas around his eyes appear to be darker because of his scowl.

“Fix her up with the mushrooms as ordered, then give me a report of everything in Ponyville,” orders Gray Muffin.

“Yes, sir,” says Redheart quietly.

Gray Muffin snorts and leaves the infirmary without saying another word, leaving Redheart alone with Terra and Trixie. Once the door shuts, though, Terra breaks the silence with a snicker.

“That was cool.”

Author's Notes:

Edited on 20 Jul 2014