A Healing Hoof – Part 2

By BarnardFILM

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“So all you think of me as, is a ‘sample’,” whined the little grey unicorn feeling like nothing more than an object. “You’re going to experiment on me, aren’t you?”

“The other people may think that,” Dr. Sanders said bending down to Lunus’s eye level, “I promise, nothing bad will happen to you.” Still sensing his disbelief, Dr. Sanders said, “Here, I’ll show you around the base.”

She put the notebook down and walked to the door waiting for Lunus to make up his mind. The confused colt looked at her, stood up on the table, and stared at her wondering if this was a trick. Dr. Sanders smiled, understanding his situation, and opened the door in suggesting it was all right to come. Suddenly Lunus jumped off the table, bolted through the opened door, and galloped down the hall out of sight. Sanders grabbed her radio from her belt and warned security, “Security, there is a little dark-grey unicorn running through the halls. If you see him, don’t approach, just keep an eye on him and keep him in one location.”

“Ummm, Doctor could you repeated that? There’s a what running around?” answered a surprised guard.

Dr. Sanders chuckled to herself, then replied, “There is a little uni . . .”

“HOLY SH . . . what the . . . GRAB IT!” she heard big a struggle and yelling on the radio.

“NO, security, leave him be, I’ll be down in a minute!” Dr. Sanders yelled into the radio sprinting down the hall.

Meanwhile, Lunus tried to evade the snatching hands of the guards, blocking his way to freedom, but he was finally tackled to the ground, being crushed under the weight of two guards.

“Ow, get off, you’re crushing me! That hurt’s! Stop! Let go! LET GOOO!” Lunus cried, as the guards tried to restrain him. Then he remembered. He was a unicorn. He also remembered the last time he used magic and the disaster he caused because of it, but when his life hung in the balance, he decided to end his own magic ban. He concentrated, thought of being outside and shutting his eyes, he vanished in a bluish flash just as Dr. Sanders arrived at the scene.

“Where’d it go? We just had it!” the two guards looked at Dr. Sanders for answers, but she just stood there thinking, then ran back toward the examination room.

She reached the room and slowed her run to a stop right outside the door. Sanders could hear soft sobbing and slowly opened the door to find Lunus huddled in the far corner with his tail wrapped around himself. She knelt down beside him and stated petting his back.

“Why did you run, Lunus?” Dr. Sanders asked softly. Lunus looked up at her, and her heart almost broke seeing his small terrified face soaked from streaming tears.

“I just want to go home,” he croaked, having trouble speaking.

“Would you be comfortable if you had to call this home, just for a while?” Sanders tried to comfort him.

“How long?” he asked.

“One week, maybe?” she lied, knowing it would probably be longer.

“Are all the humans like you?” he said suggesting his liking her.

“The ones you will be with,” she said smiling.

Her smile and the continuous backrub reassured Lunus that everything was going to ok and he sniffed a couples times then laughed to himself. “My teleportation spell didn’t work.”

“Why do you say that, you went from being in the hallway wrestling with two of my guards, to this room? That is impressive.” Sanders asked confused.

Lunus looked at her with a smile now on his face, “I was aiming for outside, but I realized I didn’t know what your outside looked like. So I had to teleport to the only place I know in this world. Back here. Plus . . .” he said looking down at the ground, “I promised myself I wouldn’t use magic anymore.”

The two jumped when a loud growling sound came out of nowhere. “I think someone’s hungry.” Dr. Sanders said standing up. “How about I take you to the chow hall to get some lunch? Then you can tell me about your magic. Ok?”

“Ok. I have to admit, I’m always hungry after a lot of excitement,” Lunus said jumping up and trotting alongside Dr. Sanders.

****

Heads turned and a noisy buzz started when Lunus trotted into the mess hall. Fear caught Lunus again as he stayed close to Dr. Sander’s legs. He could feel all the eyes watching him as he and Sanders neared the food counter. “What do you eat Lunus,” Sanders asked noticing Lunus staring back at the humans.

With a soft kick from Sanders, Lunus shot back into reality and replied, “Do you have any muffins?”

The mess officer, who was already surprised that a little talking unicorn was in his midst, didn’t answer and his stare had to be broken by Dr. Sanders hand waving. “Ummm, we don’t . . . ummm, have any . . . muffins, we do have oats,” he sputtered.

Lunus, looking rather disappointed, asked, “What about apples?”

Dr. Sanders knelt down to Lunus, “Wouldn’t you like oats or something horse food like? What do you eat?”

“I’m not a horse, I’m a unicorn,” he said insulted, then he realized these humans have no idea what he eats, so he took full advantage of their ignorance, “I don’t eat oats, hay, and grass. I like apples, carrots, and muffins. Oh! And cupcakes! Ice cream is another important item on my diet.”

“Well we have plenty of ice cream here,” said the mess officer.

Dr. Sanders shot him a look, and he backed down. She had kids, they were grown up now, and knew these little tricks Lunus was trying to pull. “I think oats and an apple should do for now, no ice cream.”

“I don’t eat oats,” Lunus whined.

“You do now,” Sanders said ending the argument.

Lunus sat across from Dr. Sanders at an empty table. He could not eat with all the curious eyes with their solid stares. He shrank in his seat and looked at his tray playing with the oats with his hoof.

“Stop that and eat,” Sanders said placing a spoon down in front of him.

The spoon sat there untouched, the only thing it received was a dirty look from the nervous unicorn. Lunus put his head down and opened his mouth to eat but was stopped by Sanders’ glare.

“What?” he asked trying to look confused. “This is how I eat.”

“Not here,” Dr. Sanders shot back. “Use the spoon.”

“I can’t,” the little unicorn said, knowing what Sanders wanted him to do, “My hooves can’t pick that up.”

Dr. Sanders leaned back in her chair and took out the notebook, “Use your magic.”

Lunus’ fear came true and he pushed his tray away, “NO! I promised myself I won’t.”

“You just teleported from the hallway to another room. I think that is considered using magic,” Sanders said smartly.

Lunus realized there was no getting out of this one, “Yes, but I did it in the heat of the moment. I won’t do it again,” he said with huff.

“Why are you so afraid of using your special gift Lunus,” she said softly leaning in closer.

“I hurt my mom the last time I tried. Magic scares me and I promised myself I would never do it again,” he replied turning away.

“What if I promised you, that nothing bad would happen?” Sanders whispered.

“NO!” Lunus shouted causing the room to gain an eerie silence. He brushed the spoon off the table, grabbed his tray and chowed down ignoring Dr. Sanders’ defiant stare.

“When you’re done eating like a dog,” she said disgusted, “I would like to show you around, so you can get your bearings. I want you to know, Lunus, you are not a prisoner here. You will be going home soon. All we need is some more tests and you can be on you way home. I have convinced the Board that it is safe to allow you the walk around on your own. That is if you don’t run away again. Please don’t make me regret me decision.”

“Only if you and the other humans promised not to do anything to me,” Lunus said through he oat filled mouth.

****

After a long day of the tour around his temporary home, Lunus asked where he would sleep. “I hope I don’t have to sleep on the cold hard table. You’re not going to chain me up, are you?”

“No, no. You will have your own warm bed tonight,” Dr. Sanders smiled, “We just have to sure you don’t try to leave us, ok?”

“I make no promises,” Lunus said coldly.

“I thought that would be the case,” she said showing Lunus his room. He trotted in and Sanders said, “This room has cameras, so please don’t try to teleport out,”

“I won’t, I’m too tired,” he said yawning.

Sanders closed, locked the door, and said through the small window in the door. “Good night Lunus, I’ll to see you in the morning.”

The idea of teleporting again sent shivers down his back. Once Dr. Sanders had left, he glanced around the room and spied the bed. It was much larger than the one he was use to. It and the whole room had an awful musty smell that stung Lunus nostrils. Due to complete exhaustion, he ignored all of this and jumped onto the bed. He walked around in a small circle until he found a position he like and dropped down into a ball. His little young body was not use to so much excitement, giving a pony the wrong ice cream was about all the excitement he ever got. Though his body was tired, Lunus’ mind raced with that day’s events and what the future days held. Thoughts of his parents galloped through along with the vivid memories of the accident he caused with his magic. He did not mean to, it just happened. His mom was trying to teach him how to heal a hurt bird, a spell she made herself, and he . . .

BANG! A loud pop startled Lunus, interrupting his reflection, as the base’s lights were turned off. He lay there in the complete darkness and cried himself to sleep.

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