Chapter 34: The Canterlot Medical Wing
The Mane 6 and the Princesses walked into the Canterlot Castle's Medical Wing, where debatably the most advanced medical care in Equestria was available. They opened a large door which revealed a large high ceiling hallway similar to the other halls in the Castle, except this hall was lined with various rooms that housed patients during their stay. There were many rooms, but there were not enough. Patients shared rooms, some even having 4 patients at once, with the only sense of privacy being divider curtains between patients. Some of the less injured patients were even on rolling beds in the hall, while various doctors and nurses tended to them.
As the mane 6 walked into the room, Applejack emerged from a room on the left side of the hall which had a sign above labeled 'Urgent Care'.
They hurried across the room, meeting Applejack just outside of the room.
"How is she?" Twilight asked
Applejack sighed and took a deep breath.
"She's in here restin, docs say her wing looks pretty bad."
They were all stepped into the room.
Various guards were also in beds in the room, some missing limbs, others badly scarred, and some with blankets draped over them, seemingly dead.
Dash lay at the far end of the room, laying in a bed by a window. Her left wing was completely bandaged up and in a cast, and an X Ray on the wall displayed her wing compared to a normal pegasus wing.
There was clear damage to the bones and nerves, with entire sections of the nerves and bones missing entirely.
2 doctor ponies stood nearby discussing her condition.
"Is there any hope for her doctor?" Celestia asked "we need all of the Elements of Harmony if we are to win."
"She'll live that's for sure, she's in stable condition. The real concern as your friend told you is her left wing. The injuries to it are severe" he said, pointing to the X-Ray "as you can see, the structure of the wing is badly damaged, with muscles nerves and bones being likely damaged beyond the point of total recovery. It would take a total miracle for her wing to heal properly."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Fluttershy asked
"Unless you have the ability to spontaneously regenerate tissue and bone, no, I'm afraid not."
Dash shifted in her bed and opened her eyes.
"Oooh…" she moaned in pain, trying to flex her wing
A nurse quickly rushed over and held her still
"I'm sorry , you can't move, you're still too injured!"
Dash grunted and turned her head to her friends, who offered her warming smiles.
Dash's face changed to one of concern.
"Where's Princess Cadance?"
"She was taken, by the machines!" Rarity said
"What?!" Dash exclaimed
She tried to get up again but was restrained by the doctors.
"Pinkie Pie and I were trying to escape with her when this ship came down, and they shot this blue thing at her, and she fell down. But she was still breathing, so I hope that she's still okay?" Fluttershy explained with worry in her voice
"Of well that's just perfect!" Dash said sarcastically "what the hay do we do now?"
"We will have to perform a rescue operation once you are able to fight again. I need all of you at your full strength if we are to rescue her and save Equestria. You should rest Rainbow Dash" Celestia said
"If thou would excuse us we must go see to see our other wounded." Luna said, walking away with Celestia.
There was a pause in conversation before Twilight asked the doctor pony
"What do we if she can't recover? Will she ever fly again?"
"Well we've been discussing that" the nurse said, walking over to join the conversation "and we have decided that the best course of action would be a prosthetic wing replacement or brace."
"What?!" Dash exclaimed looking at her wing in alarm "your going to do what with my wing?"
"A prosthetic" explained the doctor "it's like a pony-made replacement for a limb or wing."
"Aw pony feathers…" she grumbled, looking at her injured wing.
"If we must use this solution, we will try to save as much of your wing as we can." The doctor said.
There was the sound of crutches and the Mane 6 looked over to see Starlight Glimmer stepping into the room being guided by Trixie, her front legs on crutches and wrapped in bandages.
"Hey, you weren't planning on leaving without saying hello to me where you?" She asked
"We didn't know you were here." Twilight explained as she walked over. "Are you alright Starlight?"
"I'm alright. There was an explosion in Manehattan that broke my front legs, but turns out it isn't too bad, they say I should be good to go in a few days."
"That's good." Twilight said
"So, what are you here for?" Trixie asked
"Rainbow got hit in her wing pretty bad by one of their droids. They say it's likely she will need a prosthetic."
"Thats terri-er, that's unfortunate" Starlight said, not wanting to trigger a panic attack in Twilight.
"Look on the bright side Twilight," Trixie said "It could have been a lot worse!"
"Gee, thanks, that's reassuring..." she said
"Excuse me, if you could leave now it would be helpful." The doctor pony said "Mrs. Dash is going to be needing her rest and we need some room to work here."
"Sure, no problem." Twilight replied
"Come'on y'all, the docs need some space." Applejack said, ushering the others out "and we need to hit the hay, we'll need our rest" she added.
Cadance was guided down a series of corridors that eventually came to an intersection. A squad of 4 Security B1s and an OOM Commander greeted them, appearing to be following a small black box on the ground that rolled on wheels.
"Take this prisoner to brig A-7" the Commando Droid Captain ordered "I must report to my other duties"
"Roger roger!" The droid commander said, before looking down at the small black box.
"You heard him, take us to brig A-7." He said, looking back up at Cadance "And you, follow us. And no tricks! We'll be watching!"
The box squeaked in response and began to roll down a hallway as the droids and Cadance followed behind. As they walked, behind her Cadance heard the sound of the droid commander speaking to someone through its radio, no doubt its commanding officer.
"Sir, the patrol has captured a prisoner and we are taking it to brig A-7."
There was a series of noises that sounded like a deep voice in response but it was too quiet to make out the words.
"Roger roger, we'll meet you there!" He said, before ordering them to speed up.
After several minutes of walking they came to a door which opened to reveal a narrow passage with large metal doors on the left side. A tall green droid with 3 yellow eyes stood ahead with 2 red security B1 droids next to it, along with 2 tall grey droids with glowing red eyes and another red light on its chestplate. Both carried staffs or prods of sometype in their hands.
"Halt." Ordered the security B1 droid that had been holding her at gunpoint as she was escorted throughout the ship.
Cadance did as asked, and the OOM Command droid began to squeeze through the squad of escorting droids, before stepping around Cadance
"Sorry. Sorry, excuse me" it said, before walking up to the tall green droid
"Sir, this is the prisoner the breakout task force captured."
"Well done OOM-58226, you may return to your duties." The droid said in a deep voice, before pressing a button on a control panel to its right. A door opened revealing a small boxy room with what seemed to be a pedestal in the center, illuminated by a red light originating from under the floor grated, creating a dark and sinister feeling. In the corner there was also a droid nearly identical to the one that had tortured Sunburst, but in a silver color as opposed to bronze.
Cadance was pushed down the stairs into the room by one of the security droids.
"OW! You didn't have to do that!" She shouted
"Quiet you" the droid said, stepping down the stairs and being followed by the other security droids. Moments later the 2 large red eyed droids stepped in, followed by the tall green droid with 3 yellow eyes.
"Magnaguards, activate restrictor fields and position the prisoner for interrogation"
Cadance was grapped by her forelegs and hoisted into the air by the Magnaguard droids, before being positioned with her front legs in the air in the cells restrictor field, meaning that she appeared in a bipedal position.
"I give you the opportunity to allow you to provide us with the Equine's tactical information, or you will suffer immensely. I want knowledge of your magic, how to utilize it, and Equine weaknesses. If you cooperate, you will not be terminated." Kraken said
"As a Princess of Equestria, my duty is to defend my home and its subjects. I will not betray my home!"
"Very well then" Kraken replied, activating the EV interrogator droid in the corner. The Droids photoreceptors lit up a menacing red color, and it walked forwards, examining Cadance.
"Such an interesting specimen…" the droid said in a raspy mechanical voice.
"EV-87-6, I want tactical data, her knowledge of magic, and her species weaknesses. You will keep her alive. Is that understood?"
"Yes Commander Kraken" the EV interrogator droid replied, and Kraken left the cell to return to the bridge, leaving the 2 magnaguards there for extra security attaching a collar around her neck which monitored her heart rate, breathing rate, brain activity, and other vital signs.
"This collar will monitor your vital signs…" he said, "whether you are being truthful, and my personal favorite" he continued, stepping behind a control console in the corner of the room "pain…"
A look of horror spread across Cadance's face as she tried prepared herself for what was about to come. EV-87-6 twisted a dial on the panel and Cadance began to convulse as electricity tore through her body…