- Vet Anon
- part 1 <crash>
- > They say Veterinarians have the highest rate of suicides of any profession.
- > I believe it. I spent the better part of a decade as an EMT and I thought
- > dealing with animals would be easier. Working on an overdosing crack-mom
- > is one thing, or stitching up someone who had been cut in a bar fight was
- > something I got used to fast...but telling little Sally Macdonald that
- > Precious the show pony had to go to sleep forever because she broke her
- > leg in a gopher hole somehow pushed all the wrong buttons in me. Maybe
- > I was always an animal person.
- >
- > I picked up some whiskey at the truck stop on the way home. The weight of
- > one bullet missing from my travel case somehow needed to be replaced and
- > I figured why not dull the pain with a bit of hooch?
- >
- > I broke the one rule I swore to myself I'd never break, moving out to the
- > country and taking this shit job, euthanizing cattle and birthing sheep:
- > Never drink and drive. Well, I kept seeing little Sally Macdonald's face
- > as she called me a murderer of the most magical pony ever...and I couldn't
- > keep it together without a sip of the strong stuff.
- >
- > It went down smooth, and I felt a lot better as I drove back out onto the
- > highway. Wasn't drunk, of course...one shot does not a drunk make. But
- > of course, the moment I got back up to cruising speed...
- "WHAT THE FUCK?!?"
- > I remember myself shouting it to the air as I saw the flash of purple
- > light. It was like someone had opened a barn door right in front of me
- > and there was this strange...feeling...energy...something...as my truck
- > sped helplessly into the open portal.
- >
- > I looked around frantically as the darkness faded, only to see a pillar
- > of black crystal towering ahead of my hood. I slammed on the brakes but
- > inertia is a terrible mistress who does not forgive lightly.
- >
- > The airbag deployed just as the hood crumpled into tin-foil. A chalky
- > white spray of powder from the mechanism filled my face and lungs with
- > the most vile taste, and even as I was thrown around against my seat-
- > belt, all I could do to react was cough and sputter.
- >
- > Finally, after what seemed like a thousand years...stillness. Then, a
- > new light. Deep crimson and flickering like the photo-negative of a
- > birthday sparkler...light enveloped me and picked me up. The seatbelt
- > was severed by the light and I was too stunned to resist. Eyes, mouth
- > and nostrils still caked with powder, and the sick feeling of a shot-
- > worth of cheep whiskey on my tongue was too much for me. When the light
- > let me go on the cold, shimmering floor, I threw up, hacking, coughing,
- > and generally praying for death.
- >
- > It didn't come, but in the peace and silence that followed, I slowly
- > regained enough sense to take in my surroundings. My truck was
- > next to me, intact but crumpled beyond repair; smoke still slithered
- > from the hood and brakes.
- >
- > The ground was smooth as glass...some kind of deep violet crystal.
- > It stretched as far as I could see in the dim candle-light of the
- > room I was now in. It must be a room, or a cave...the echoes of my
- > breathing are too close for another explanation.
- >
- > Finally, there is a sound other than my ragged breath.
- >
- > "crrrrryssstalllllss....."
- >
- > I look up past the puddle of up thrown whiskey and see a four-legged
- > monster. It might have once been an Icelandic horse, bread black,
- > hardy and small, but the eyes...the crown...the horn...? A unicorn?
- > But not like any unicorn from a fairy story. It grinned at me with
- > canine-like fangs and a dazzling, supernatural white smile.
- >
- > "Crrryyysssstaaalllllss...." it said approvingly, mostly in my mind.
- "What the hell?" I managed to gasp. "Crystals? What crystals?"
- > A new voice...a soft, feminine voice that was full of defeat and
- > sadness answered my question.
- >
- > "He says...that you'll do nicely. That you are a healer, are you
- > not?"
- >
- > I look up and see source of the voice. Another pony...one much
- > smaller and delicate...and with a huge, round stomach. Purple, if
- > my eyes aren't playing tricks on me. Also a unicorn, though there
- > is some kind of urchin-like black growth on her horn that seems
- > alien. She gazes at me with a flicker of curiosity that fades into
- > cold acceptance.
- >
- > "Lord Sombra of the Crystal Empire has chosen you for your healing
- > powers, traveller." the purple unicorn says quietly as her lord
- > watches her with a grin. "Your payment will be your freedom. Your
- > failure will be your death. Do you understand?"
- >
- > I feel the sickness coming back, but I managed to get to my knees
- > and face the two strange, multi-coloured ponies in front of me.
- "What...exactly...do you need me to do?"
- > I mutter cautiously; the words 'your death' are still ringing through
- > my brain.
- >
- > The purple one looks away and turns to the side with the urging of
- > the black and grey one. Her stomach is huge...unnaturally so.
- >
- > "M...My lord Sombra wishes an heir. You will deliver this colt unto
- > the land."
- >
- > I exhale gladly. An equine birth? Shit. I've done a hundred of-
- >
- > "YOU MUST RUN!" the purple pony suddenly snaps at me. "PLEASE! YOU
- > MUST RUN AND HIDE AND NEVER LOOK BA-"
- *CRACK!* A thunderbolt fills the air.
- > I feel all air leave my body as I see the black and purple angry light
- > pick the purple unicorn up by the neck like a noose. She lets out
- > a desperate sob, still trying to form the words to tell me to run...to
- > get the hell away from this insane image of two unicorns and a crystal
- > hall...but she can't seem to resist, and the black/grey one is raging
- > and her hooves are flailing as he picks her up higher and higher and-
- "STOP!" I shout, hands raised. "I'll help! I'll help! Just put her
- down!"
- > There is a moment where I'm not certain the male will listen. He just
- > growls, mouth turning more and more demonic...how the fuck can a horse
- > have fangs? But finally, he glances to me with all-too-human eyes...
- > the same eyes I've seen in the addicts and mad people of the streets...
- > the ones that don't give a flickering fuck if you live or die so long
- > as they get what they crave...
- >
- > "Crrrrrrrrrissstals....."
- >
- > The light fades and the purple pony is let down gently to the floor.
- > She begins sobbing, but between the sobs, she continues her translation
- > of her Lord's wishes.
- >
- > "V-very...good...g-give me...a colt...and...freedom...you...will have."
- >
- > With that, he shimmers and turns into smoke, leaving me and the purple
- > unicorn alone...
- "Hey...uhm..."
- > Of course, that's when my brain decides enough is enough, and I pass out
- > as her eyes go wide and watch me collapse.
- ** TO BE CONTINUED **
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