Sebastius slowly came to. At first he thought he'd gone numb.
Then he realized that his numb feeling was really the most beautiful feeling known to ponykind: the absence of pain.
This realization made Sebastius giddy for a few seconds. For the past two days he'd been in terrible pain with each new resurrection, and the last ten minutes of his, well, afterlife subject to Winchester's torture had been more agonizing than anything he'd ever experienced. Ever.
The sensation almost made him cry for joy, but he checked himself and settled for weak, relieved laughter. His second eye had even started working again.
Only after he tried to move his legs did he realize something was wrong.
He was strapped down to a board. His hooves and neck had bands around them, holding him in a splayed out position. The board was propped up to hold him upright, but supports beneath his hind hooves prevented him from being crucified.
This was feeling horrifyingly familiar…
Then a bright white light came on, illuminating the room. Sebastius was strapped to a stretcher, facing a wall lined with hypodermic needles, and a pony in a white doctor's coat stood in the doorway.
The shock made Sebastius scream. No, he couldn't be back in the sanitarium! He just couldn't be! He wasn't sure he could stand it again-
"Sorry about that," the pony in the white doctor's coat said. The lights dimmed.
Sebastius laughed weakly again. That was silly. Of course he wasn't in a sanitarium. Why would he be in a sanitarium?
"At any rate, glad to see that I was successful yet again." The doctor came closer to Sebsatius, who gasped.
It was Doctor Zerato.
"Do your moods usually swing this violently?" Doctor Zerato asked, leaning closer to study Sebastius' face. "I mean, first you're relieved, then you scream, then you laugh, and now, dear me, how pale you look. Like you've seen a ghost!"
Why, yes, he had. Two of them. Both of ponies he'd murdered.
If Nagridge's ghost showed up Sebastius was sure he'd just have a heart attack and drop dead.
"Oh, right," Doctor Zerato said, sighing heavily and rolling his eyes. "I suppose an earth pony might refer to me as a ghost. Honestly, did you really expect that killing me would be effective? I'm an immortal alicorn." He unfurled his wings and shook them a bit.
Suddenly Bravado laughed. "Oh, I see, you mean I'm in hell figuratively, not literally."
"Neither one," Doctor Zerato said, looking offended. "I hope you understand I'm not very vengeful by nature, so despite the fact that you two brothers murdered me-"
"I didn't do anything!" Bravado shouted.
"I harbor no feelings of ill will," Doctor Zerato said. "In fact, I intend to give you the opportunity of a lifetime."
Using telekinesis, Doctor Zerato pulled down a slideboard picture. It showed a pony much like Celestia, drawn in a medical diagram that showed measurements for wings, legs, horn, head size, and more. The main difference between the pony in the picture and Celestia was that the picture had griffin talons.
"I am not merely dabbling in the nature of life and death to satisfy my own curiosity or to benefit only me or my own," Doctor Zerato said. "I have a much loftier goal. I intend to transform the entire equine race to maximize their supremacy. For as we all know, while horned equines in general are more powerful than the other races in general, there are a large number of horned equines that, through accident of birth, are unable to make full use of their potential, and many members of lesser races who, through a matter of luck, manage to excel above the skills of many horned equines. I intend to fix this problem."
"Oh, sure," Sebastius said. "It's luck that allowed me to slay you without getting a scratch from you in retaliation."
"Hold your tongue or I will hold it for you!" Doctor Zerato snapped.
"Oh, sure," Sebastius said again. "Because there's no better way to prove that you horn heads are better than us earth ponies than for a 'horned equine' to beat up an earth pony who is strapped to a stretcher. I am in awe of the power you hold over me. You know full well that the only reason I'm not breaking every bone in your body right now is because you attacked me while I was dead. La-ame. Next you'll be telling me that Deborah Nagridge only died at my hooves becaaauuu…"
Sebastius found his mouth held open by telekinesis.
"I told you to hold your tongue," Doctor Zerato said, levitating a scapula over to Sebastius' mouth, "or I would hold it for you."
The scapula came to rest on Sebastius' tongue. Sebastius managed to restrain himself from screaming. No need risk driving that blade any further into his flesh.
"Do I have to actually do so, or can I rely on you to keep your comments to yourself from now on?" Doctor Zerato asked.
Sebastius couldn't reply. His head was being held still with telekinesis and he had no intention of moving his tongue as long as the scapula blade was touching it.
After a moment, Doctor Zerato removed the scapula and stopped holding Sebastius' head. "You're very intelligent. I think I can trust you," he said.
Sebastius nodded vigorously. Know when to fold 'em.
"Anyways." Doctor Zerato turned back to his diagram. "As you can see, my supreme being would have the head of the horned equine that I set out to improve, along with several modifications so that the brain and horn are housed in the optimal body. The main body and legs will come from a horse so as to maximize the strength, with griffin talons instead of hooves to improve attacking and picking up objects without telekinesis if this becomes necessary to conserve energy or for other reasons. The wings will be those of a pegasus- which you may question, seeing as these wings are too small for a horse body, but I've come to the conclusion that these wings are more conducive to magic than griffin wings, which, soon as I discover the way to improve horned equine magic, will cause the pegasi wings to perform better than griffin wings." He pulled the handle at the bottom of the picture, and it slid back up into the ceiling. "Any questions?"
There was an anxious pause. Then one of the guards cleared his throat.
Right, Sebastius had forgotten about the two guards who'd died with them. It was easy to forget them because they hadn't turned into ghosts. For some reason. But both of the guards were with them now, strapped down just like him and Bravado. One of them must have been the pony Bravado had been talking to.
"If that's your plan," the guard whispered, "then… why do you need us?"
That was true. None of the parts of the alicorn-esque creature Doctor Zerato had dreamed up came from earth ponies or earth zebras. What did he want with the four of them?
"Various purposes," Doctor Zerato said, shrugging. "I mostly use your species for minor experiments because earth equines are inferior to, well, everything." Doctor Zerato rolled his eyes heavily. "I mean, I suppose I ought to give you more respect, since you are the link between non-sentient horses and sentient unicorns, but seriously, you traded the impressive strength of horses to gain an intellect that is of virtually no value because it's so… pathetic!"
Sebastius gritted his teeth together. He's trying to rile me up on purpose!
But no. The doctor was wrong. Sebastius was the superior one. And he would get his revenge eventually, he swore. But rushing things would not help.
He would watch and wait. Yes, he would watch and wait. He would lay his plans until they were foolproof. And then- oh, then- this doctor would regret the day he'd crossed Sebastius Mareton!
"In fact, how about I introduce you to some of your friends right now?"
The four stretchers were telekinetically wheeled into the next room.
The room was completely dark. When the door closed behind them, Sebastius could see nothing.
The doctor growled. "What idiot turned off the lights?" His horn began to glow with a faint light.
The light revealed a pony leering at Sebastius.
Sebastius gasped slightly. And then nearly screamed.
The pony had eight legs.
The creature gripped the sides of Sebastius' stretcher by means of two griffon talons per hoof. He scuttled up over Sebastius' head and slashed at Doctor Zerato with one taloned hoof.
Doctor Zerato ducked under the swipe and blocked with his own claws. Both of his forehooves were occupied in blocking. Two more of the freak pony's clawed legs slashed at Doctor Zerato, but they were shorter and couldn't reach the surgeon. Sebastius thought they might be foal's legs.
"Aureli?" Doctor Zerato asked.
Another pony loomed out of the dark. At first Sebastius thought it was a headless zebra, because of the lousy light, but he soon realized he was wrong. It was a zebra with a ridiculously long neck; the head was way up by the ceiling.
Then he felt a bit pale when he realized the neck was striped.
Not striped like regular zebra stripes. Striped with bands of color. Some of the bands were typical pony colors- red, blue, pink, etc. Other bands had stripes. Others had feathers. One even had scales.
It was a neck made from many different necks.
Sebastius wondered how many ponies the surgeon would have had to have beheaded to make a neck that long. Not to mention griffons and dragons.
"Aureli!" Doctor Zerato said again. His horn glowed brighter. Then, in a flash, the multi-legged pony and the long-necked pony vanished.
"Aureli, get in here at once!" Doctor Zerato said, pressing a button on the wall. The room flooded with florescent light, revealing several ponies and zebras and griffins leaning against the wall strapped to stretchers and a few huge cages. Two of the cages contained the eight legged pony and the long necked pony, although the latter had a hole cut in the top of his cage for his neck. The other cages contained similar monstrosities, including one griffin with, apparently, no legs or wings. That was probably where Doctor Zerato had gotten his claws and wings.
"Aureli!" Doctor Zerato called once more. He scooted the four new stretchers into a blank space on the wall, then left the room.
All was quiet for a moment. The various prior victims of the doctor were eying Sebastius and the others intently. So far as Sebastius could tell, all of them were male.
Bravado gasped. "Azure Lightning!"
A brown pegasus leaning against one wall stirred. "Bravado? W-what are you doing here?"
"Er, funny story because, actually, I came to Marabia looking for you…" Bravado smiled sheepishly. "I guess I found you."
"I… I'm so sorry," Azure Lightning whispered.
"It's not your fault," Bravado said.
"Well technically you wouldn't have been in Marabia at all if Azure Lightning hadn't been stupid enough to get captured and, technically, you wouldn't have gotten involved with those girls if you hadn't had your own reasons to find the Surgeon, and-"
"Shut up, Sebastius."
Sebastius smirked.
Okay, gallows humor over. Time to plan his escape.
He wiggled around a bit to test the straps. They seemed pretty firm… for now, but he had no doubt they'd wear out if he constantly jerked them around. Leather wasn't meant for perpetual stress.
Though something curious was that his legs still felt pain in all their old places. It was hardly a prickle compared to all the various ways he'd been injured recently, but it was still there. And it would be enough to decrease his agility. That would be annoying. He hoped it wasn't permanent.
"The Surgeon doesn't keep us strapped to stretchers all the time, does he?" Sebastius said. "Or does his miracle tonic cure the call of nature?"
"He lets us out one at a time, twice a day," a random pony said. "And feeds us about as often."
Sebastius hadn't realized how hungry he was. It was stupid to feel hunger at a time like this, but he hadn't really eaten well these past two days, and what little he'd eaten recently had all been lost during that stupid princely pinball game. Urgh. Just thinking about it made him feel ill again.
"When does he bring the food?"
"Dunno. We don't really have the sun to tell time by."
"Is it still the month of Alab?" another pony asked. He was slightly out of Sebastius' range of vision; he looked like a zebra.
"Yes," Bravado said.
"Wh-what…" one of the guards who'd come with Sebastius started. He swallowed hard. "What will he…?" He couldn't finish.
There was silence.
"It depends," the pony out of Sebastius' vision said. "It just… depends."
A winged zebra started crying softly.
"Oh, sheesh," Sebastius said.
"Shut it," Bravado hissed.
"I w-want to go home," the winged zebra sobbed. "I-I just want…"
The door banged open, and Doctor Zerato strode back into the room. Behind him was an unusually small female abada with very beautiful eyes.
Ah, thought Sebastius. This would be Aureli. "Bright Eyes" in Marabian.
"Now to begin preliminary measurements," Doctor Zerato said. He pulled out a tray filled with papers, measuring tapes, and four scalpels. "Who is first? Oh, Maretons, please stop struggling against your bonds." He reached a hoof out to steady Sebastius's foreleg. "Your wounds will have dried in a day or two, but until then they'll still be weak. I don't really desire to have you injured. Except on my terms, of course. So, where was I?"
He turned to one of the new guards. The guard shivered.
"You'll do," Doctor Zerato said, levitating a quill and a measuring tape into the air.
The tape measure wrapped itself around the guard rapidly, measuring his foreleg span, his hindleg span, his height, the circumference of various round body parts such as legs and necks, and much more. Watching the tape flail about made Sebastius feel dizzy.
The quill moved just as fast, scribbling across the paper. Doctor Zerato didn't seem to be looking at either the measuring tape or the words he was writing.
Show off.
"There," Doctor Zerato said. "I'm done."
The tape fell to the floor. The guard sagged with relief.
"With the outside." Doctor Zerato levitated a scapula over.
Aureli screamed.
"Can't you finish with the others first?" she whimpered.
"You have such a weak stomach," Doctor Zerato scowled. "But fine. I suppose I ought to avoid upsetting you too early."
The measuring tape attacked the second guard, and then Bravado.
Sebastius made a grab at the measuring tape when it was his turn. He was pretty good with a rope and might have been able to lasso a knife from one of the tables over to himself. But the tape eluded his grip.
"Don't squirm," Doctor Zerato said, "or I'll have to start over."
"No you won't," Sebastius said. "Why would you? That's-"
"Will you be quiet or must I make you?" Doctor Zerato asked.
Sebastius snapped his mouth shut. Don't tempt ponies holding scalpels when you are strapped to an operating table, he reminded himself.
"All right," Doctor Zerato said, levitating said scalpel into the air. "Time to check out what's on the inside."
He moved toward Sebastius.
"Wait, what?" Sebastius said, flattening himself against the stretcher. Forget being quiet. This was more important. "D-don't you have some sort of anesthesia or something? For all that's equine-"
Doctor Zerato smirked. "You don't need anesthesia. I'm going to slit your throat."
"That won't help anything!" Sebastius screamed.
"Don't be stupid," Doctor Zerato said, laying the blade across Sebastius' throat.
"But it'll still hurt!"
That last sentence had come from Bravado. Sebastius had no intention of talking while anything sharp was pressing into his throat.
Doctor Zerato looked at Bravado, amused. "You mean to tell me that you believe… that you still feel pain when you're dead?" He laughed out loud. "I knew Equestrians had weird religions, but that has to be the weirdest I've heard yet!"
"It doesn't hurt, really," Azure Lightning said. "Believe me, I've been dissected about… seven times?"
"Eight," a pony Sebastius couldn't see said.
"And it hurts a bit when he cuts your throat, but other than that, it's just like going to sleep," Azure Lightning said. "Don't worry."
"No it isn't!" Sebastius said. The doctor had absentmindedly let the blade slide aside when he'd laughed. "I've died three times and all three times all that happened was that I could no longer move. All my senses still worked. Really!"
"Maybe it's a family curse?" one of the guards next to Bravado said uncertainly.
"That makes no sense whatsoever!" Doctor Zerato said. "Do you expect me to believe that?"
"It's true!" Bravado said. "It happened to me too!"
Clearly, Bravado had decided that he would stand with Sebastius now to save his own skin.
"Really?" Doctor Zerato said, voice dripping skepticism.
"Really!" both of them shouted at the same time.
The surgeon shook his head.
"The things ponies will say to get out of experiencing a minor inconvenience," he said, glancing at the papers resting on the table. "It's positively-" he froze. "Huh?" He telekinetically lifted the papers in front of him and paged through them a bit. "I… I must have…" He telekinetically lifted the tape measure and measured around Bravado's waist. Then he measured Sebastius' waist. The tape measure was moving much more slowly this time.
Doctor Zerato's eyes grew wide. He quickly checked his papers, then measured again. Then he remeasured Bravado's forelegspan, and Sebastius' forelegspan. The doctor broke into a grin.
He slammed both papers on the table, examining them carefully. Then he measured one last dimension: Bravado and Sebastius' height.
Doctor Zerato started to chuckle. Then he laughed out loud.
"Yes, yes, yes!" he cheered, practically skipping out of the room. "It's perfect! Absolutely perfect!"
"Zerato?" Aureli said, concern marring her beautiful face. She followed Doctor Zerato out of the room.
Sebastius felt cold.
"Wh-why's he so happy?" Bravado asked.
There was an awkward pause.
"Dunno," Azure Lightning said. "I haven't seen him this happy before. Ever."
"Not even on that day he caught poor Iron Beak here," the long necked pony whispered, gesturing with one hoof towards the legless griffin in the cage next to him.
That couldn't be a good sign.
Keep breathing, Sebastius told himself. This was not the time to panic. No. He would calmly consider his escape plan. And he wouldn't be distracted by the possibility that he would have to be dissected 'alive' or else be attacked by Winchester Tock again. No. He'd calmly consider his escape plan. Yeah.
He strained against his bonds again. All that he learned was stuff he already knew: the leather straps might give way if he strained at them enough. But that would take weeks. They certainly wouldn't break in an hour, especially since pulling too hard put stress on his leg wounds.
Doctor Zerato raced back into the room, still chuckling maniacally. He was telekinetically holding two pieces of paper. Each had the vague outline of a pony on it.
Doctor Zerato held the two pony pictures up in the air, one above Bravado and one above Sebastius. Invisible pencils added details to the outlines, until Sebastius was looking at two medical diagrams: one of himself, and one of Bravado.
"It's perfect," Doctor Zerato chuckled. "Just perfect."
His maniacal chuckles softened to slightly unnerving snickers for a while.
"What?" the spider pony asked. "What?"
Doctor Zerato took a moment to compose himself.
Oh, no, Sebastius thought. He recognized the signs. Doctor Zerato was about to start a monologue.
"You see," Doctor Zerato said grandiosely, "I've done very extensive experiments on creating the perfect physical form for a unicorn brain, but one thing always bothered me. Some unicorns are born with an imperfect brain." He tapped one hoof against his chin. "And that causes a serious ethical conundrum. I would hate to take pieces from another superior being to complete the imperfect brain, but at the same time I hesitate to take pieces from an inferior being, lest it should somehow damage the unicorn's brain."
Sebastius gritted his teeth. But he wouldn't let Doctor Zerato think he could manipulate his emotions. He would be perfectly cool and collected.
Most of the ponies around the room also seemed perfectly cool and collected, albeit very curious. Though that might have been because they'd heard this kind of supremacy hundreds of times before.
"I would need to do further study to see how brains are affected when pieces of it are spliced together," Doctor Zerato said. "Sadly, Marabia is horribly backwards, and I've been unable to find a brain surgeon willing to assist me in my studies. However, it doesn't take a genius to cut things in half."
With that, he ripped the two pictures in half. Then he flung one half of each picture aside.
"And once that's accomplished," Doctor Zerato said, smirking at Sebastius and Bravado's terrified looks, "it's a simple matter to turn two ponies into one, single pony!"
He brought the two halves together and used magic to make the picture whole. Half of the pony looked like Bravado, and the other half looked like Sebastius.
"Two minds, one body!" Doctor Zerato said.
Sebastius flattened himself against the stretcher. He could barely breath for sheer horror.
"But, but," Bravado stammered, "but who would… who would control the body?"
Doctor Zerato gave them a very blank look.
"Why, both of you, obviously," he said. "The two of you must come to complete agreement before movement can become possible. Think about it! The two of you will be feeling each other's emotions, thinking each other's thoughts! Doesn't that sound magnificent?"
"No!" Sebastius and Bravado screamed at the same time.
"Please!" Bravado said. "Have mercy, for Celestia's sake! Fuse me with any other pony- any other pony- but please, please not with Sebastius Mareton!"
"I'm sorry," Doctor Zerato said. "You are the only ponies that I've found so far whose shapes and measurements are similar enough for me to perform this experiment. If I tried it with another pony you wouldn't heal properly."
"But you can't make me live inside Sebastius' mind!" Bravado pleaded. "You have no idea what it's like in there!"
"For the record, neither do you," Doctor Zerato said. A malicious grin spread across his face. "But you will. Oh, yes, you will." He practically skipped out of the room, still laughing maniacally.
"Is he crazy?" Bravado cried.
"That is the general consensus," a horned zebra hissed. On second glance, the horned zebra turned out to be the one that had tried to buy Bravado.
Sebastius struggled to breathe. He couldn't even comprehend the horror he was feeling. This would be worse than anything he'd ever experienced. Ever. Worse than the sanitarium. Worse than Krastos. Worse than Winchester.
He forced himself to concentrate. He needed to escape, and he needed to escape right now.
But ideas fled from his brain like rats fleeing a sinking ship. There was nothing he could do. He was doomed.
"Oh, my gosh…" Bravado was whispering. "I can't believe…" he sighed. "This'll really ruin any chance of a relationship with Daring that I ever had…"
"Why?" Sebastius asked. "If it's that consensual thing you're agreeing about, you might be able to convince me to romance Daring a bit." He laughed weakly. Gallows humor.
"I would rather die than force Daring to be anywhere near you!" Bravado snapped. Then he sighed. "Which would mean I'd have to give her up forever. Adios, Senorita. Por todo el tiempo. Por la infinidad."
"You know I can speak Horsepanic, right?" Sebastius said.
"I'm not trying to be secretive."
There was a pause.
"I don't get it," Bravado said. "I don't want to hear your evil thoughts for obvious reasons, but why don't you want to hear my thoughts? I would think nothing could shock you."
Sebastius didn't answer for a bit. He wiggled around, praying that there was some weak spot he hadn't noticed. He wasn't sure he knew the answer himself- or at least, not that he could put into words.
"I don't want to get your permission before I move so much as a hoof," Sebastius said.
"That's not worth getting so panicked over," Bravado said.
So he'd noticed.
"I… well…" Sebastius thought for a while longer.
"I don't want your Normie thoughts infecting me," Sebastius said finally.
"My what?"
"Normie thoughts!" Sebastius said. "I mean, I can't imagine how much you ponies must suffer, since apparently you have this thing called a conscience that makes you suffer when you do something 'immoral' and you somehow feel the pain of those around you. I can't understand how Normies become murderers and thieves and things like that if they can't do it without getting hurt. And I don't want any of those things in my brain. Not ever. Could you imagine what would happen if I suddenly started empathizing with my victims? After all I've done?"
Bravado didn't answer for a moment.
"No."
"Neither can I, and I don't want to learn what it feels like," Sebastius said, tugging on the straps vigorously. "So…"
A small cut appeared on one leg. Sebastius stared at it thoughtfully.
"You know consciences aren't like that, right?" Bravado said.
"How so?" Sebastius asked.
"It's not that we feel agony or anything, it's more like, uh… like when you forget something and can't remember what."
"Oh." Sebastius stared at Bravado. "Then why is it a problem?"
"Okay, maybe a bit worse than that…"
The door banged open and Doctor Zerato reentered, pushing a tray full of knives and potion vials in front of him. One of the knives was Sebastius' own ice dagger. Oh, the irony.
"I'm so glad you found this for me," Doctor Zerato said, picking up the ice dagger with telekinesis. "It'll make slicing you in half just that much easier. Now seriously, hold still or I'll have to start over." He rested the blade on Sebastius' forehead.
Sebastius caught himself praying again.
Hey, God, I know there's no reason why you'd do anything for me, but for the love of yourself- you can't possibly let this monster do this! It would be… It would be…
"Zerato!"
The dagger jerked, scrapping Sebastius' flesh.
"Aureli, how many times must I tell you-" Doctor Zerato started.
"You promised to give me flying lessons today!" Aureli whined.
"I thought you didn't want them!"
"I changed my mind."
"But, but, now?" Doctor Zerato looked like a foal being denied his favorite toy. "I said four o'clock!"
"It is four o'clock!" Aureli said, pointing at the clock.
It was, indeed, exactly four.
"Oh, well…"
"Come on," Aureli said. "It's not like they're going to escape while we're gone."
Doctor Zerato whimpered. "Oh, fine." He stomped to the other side of the room, telekinetically seizing a vial of potion as he went.
"W-wait," Azure Lightning said as the surgeon approached him.
That was as far as he got.
Using the ice dagger, Doctor Zerato hacked off Azure Lightning's wings, but poured potion on the cut so fast that it looked more like the wings were falling off. Azure Lightning gasped and tears appeared in his eyes, but small red stains next to his body were the only signs that he'd even had wings or been injured.
"Now let's go!" Doctor Zerato said, telekinetically seizing the severed wings and stomping into the next room. The ice dagger and potion vial hovered back to their places on the tray.
They were tantalizingly close. If only Sebastius' hooves weren't strapped down, he could have grabbed his ice dagger and made his getaway.
Before Aureli left, she seized a sharp scapula and put it in Bravado's mouth.
"Be free," she whispered. "Nopony deserves what my brother makes them go through." With tears in her eyes, she turned to Azure Lightning. "I'm… I'm so sorry…"
"Oh, Aureli," Azure Lightning whispered tenderly. "It's not your fault. My wings were doing me no good anyway, but you- you're just the right size for them. My wings were meant to be yours even as my heart was meant to be yours. Fly to freedom."
Aureli giggled a bit, then quickly left the room.
"Oh, for crying out loud," Sebastius said. "Stockhorse Syndrome Deluxe!"
"Shut up," the horned zebra hissed.
"But seriously, does love ever make you stupid," Sebastius said. "See, Bravado, this is why I consider being fused with you a fate worse than death. I don't know how you even retain brain cells with the way you go after Daring Do."
Bravado didn't answer, of course. He was too busy cutting one of the leather straps. The scapula blade was short, but he could just barely scrape the leather with the tip.
The fact that the scapula had been given to Bravado and not Sebastius didn't really bother Sebastius one bit. Bravado was a do-gooder hero type. Even if he set everypony free but not Sebastius, Bravado would never let Doctor Zerato remain free to inflict his torturous plans on others. At worst Sebastius would end up in a Marabian jail again, and this time he already had a couple of ideas for an escape plan. So everything would turn out all right for-
The door banged open again. The scapula glowed with a green aura as it was yanked from Bravado's mouth.
"That could have been disastrous," Doctor Zerato said casually, trotting into the room. "Fortunately for Aureli, I'm in too good a mood to punish her too extensively."
Bravado's expression was one of shock and dismay. Sebastius felt ill.
"I came back to bring you these." Doctor Zerato levitated two shiny orbs on strings into the room.
"Those are mine!" a zebra stallion snapped.
"Not anymore," Doctor Zerato said. He hung the strings from the ceiling so that the balls were about eye level, one in front of Sebastius and one in front of Bravado.
"Touch the balls with your nose and whisper the magic word to activate them," Doctor Zerato said. "I'll carry the transmitter with me, and if I learn you've whispered the magic word I'll hurry right back." He winked. "The magic word is 'Tagam'."
Marabian for 'please'. How amusing. Doctor Zerato was as brilliant as punning as he was at being kind.
"Now be good and don't leave," Doctor Zerato said. "Aureli will pay for her deception. It isn't even four o'clock." He stomped out of the room.
"Does he ever walk normally?" Sebastius asked.
"Shut up!" Bravado shouted with a ferocity that shocked Sebastius. "This is all your fault!"
"Nope," Sebastius said. "Not my fault you made the stupid mistake to trust Swinn and Dell. Maybe other parts were my fault, but you would never be here if you weren't so darn gullible."
Bravado screamed with rage and thrashed wildly against the straps.
Sebastius calmly examined the ice dagger, just out of his reach.
Clearly, Doctor Zerato had counted on his and Bravado's rivalry to keep them in place. He'd probably assumed that one would escape without helping the other, prompting the one left behind to call Doctor Zerato as revenge.
Obviously he was as good at psychology as he was at punning. This set of circumstances was more likely to cause both of them to escape together rather than keep them in place.
"Torn your straps loose, yet?" he asked Bravado.
Bravado had stopped thrashing and was panting from exhaustion. Sweat and tears ran down his cheeks. Sebastius decided not to call him a cryfilly. Then maybe Bravado would be more charitable towards him in the near future.
Sebastius had a plan. It didn't make him very happy, but there seemed to be no options left.
He sighed and gritted his teeth, doing some mental prep work.
You are strong. You are resilient. You are a survivor. You do whatever it takes to survive. And you know that if you stay here, if you fail to escape, the consequences will be dire. Don't think about sparing yourself pain in the present. Only think about the future.
Sebastius bowed his head and leaned forward. His nose touched the alarm sphere, but he had no intention of saying the activation word.
Alpha, beta, gamma, delta…
Sebastius began to pull against his bonds. As he had expected, they stayed strong.
His forelegs, on the other hoof, did not.
He snuck a peek at his forelegs. Long red gashes had appeared on them, and blood started flowing from them.
He quickly closed his eyes again; seeing how much blood he was losing would only make him panic or stop, which was the last thing he needed.
Delta, epsilon, digamma…
…Sweet Celestia, this was painful…
Zeta, theta, iota, iota alpha, iota beta…
Tears streamed down Sebastius' cheeks, and he prayed nopony would notice. His forelegs felt like they were on fire, but he kept pulling.
Iota gamma, iota delta, iota epsilon, iota digamma, iota zeta…
The bone cracked a bit. The shock made Sebastius gasp, and his eyes flew open, but the sight of the red pool on the floor made him quickly close his eyes again. He felt dizzy.
And he'd lost count.
Alpha, beta…
Sebastius took a deep breath. Just a little further.
He whispered the numbers to himself while pulling with all his might.
"Alpha-beta-gamma-delta-epsilon-digamma-zeta-theta-iota-iotaalpha-"
With a crack and a pop and a rather wet sound, Sebastius fell forward, free of his bonds, until his forehead touched the table.
Everypony in the room gasped loudly.
"Madre del sol!" Bravado cried.
"Sweet Alab!" Azure Lightning said.
Sebastius opened his eyes slightly and saw a black blob on the floor. Probably his own recently severed limb. Ugh. He quickly averted his gaze upward.
The vial of potion had been knocked over and was pouring its contents on the ground. Sebastius wildly swung his head to knock the other vials to the ground, then lowered himself slowly. His head was pounding and he felt like he would lose consciousness soon if he didn't stop the blood flow.
Squinting so as not to see anything too clearly, he lowered the stump of one foreleg until it touched one of the dusty blue limbs lying on the floor.
Immediately that leg stopped hurting. It didn't help that much, but it was enough. He swung around until he found the other severed leg and reattached that one, also.
The pain was completely gone. Not only that but his legs seemed to have reattached themselves correctly, even though he'd been sure he'd be stuck with one of them at an odd angle. Even better, his headache was gone and he didn't feel nauseous. Like somehow all the blood had been regenerated immediately.
Perhaps Swinn and Dell hadn't made the potion up properly. Maybe that was the only reason why Sebastius had been in so much pain after each resurrection.
He felt a powerful urge to kill both of them in hideous ways.
But on the other hoof, he was in too good a mood for that. For the first time in several days, he could move normally. It felt nice.
He started to walk away and then was reminded that his back legs were still strapped to the stretcher. He quickly whipped out his ice dagger and cut the straps; only then did he look around the room.
Everypony was staring at him, completely stunned.
Sebastius had officially cemented his position in life as the most hardcore pony in the universe. He grinned.
"Well, it's been real fun, but not that fun," he said. "Ta-ta. Good luck with the doctor."
Bravado reacted like he'd been electrified.
"Wait, what?" he said. "You can't just leave!"
"Can, and am," Sebastius said, turning away.
"Oh no you don't!" Bravado said. "You get back right this minute and unstrap me, or your escape will end here!" He leaned forward and touched his nose to his alarm sphere. "You can't possibly kill me before I can get the words out, and then you'll be sorry."
Sebastius sighed. "Bravado, Bravado, Bravado. Clearly I must explain how this works." He turned around again and smirked at Bravado. "If you sound that alarm, Doctor Zerato will show up and, perhaps, stop me from leaving. If Doctor Zerato stops me from leaving, well, then you know what will happen." He pointed to the chart on the wall, showing the creature that was half him and half Bravado.
"But if, on the other hoof, I escape, well… Doctor Zerato cannot possibly fuse the two of us together if one of us isn't here. So you see, Bravado, nothing you do in this situation can possibly gain you your freedom. You truly only have two choices here. Either you don't sound that alarm, and you stay here for maybe a month or two before you figure out a clever escape of your own. During that time you will be dissected, mutilated, and otherwise treated horribly. Or, you could sound the alarm…" Sebastius pointed to the chart again. "And you'll have my voice stuck in your head for the rest of your unnatural life."
Sebastius paused to let that sink in. Bravado slowly backed off from the ball, lying against the stretcher again. He glared at Sebastius, but Sebastius could tell that he'd made his point.
"And with that, I'll be taking my leave." Sebastius turned around and found himself facing a battle ax.
"That was worded quite cleverly," Doctor Zerato said. "Thank you for your assessment."
"But I didn't sound the alarm!" Bravado half-cried.
"See, that's what I can't figure out," Doctor Zerato said. "You've proven, over and over, that you are a clever pony, Sebastius Mareton. So why would a clever pony be stupid enough to sound the alarm on his own escape?"
"I didn't sound the-" Sebastius thought for a second. He had been counting in Greek out loud….
Alpha, beTA, GAMma…
Oh, the irony.
Author's Note to Tropers:
Feel free to list any and all of my stuff under Did Not Do The Research. You have my word for it that I didn't do any.
