“Well?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Oh!... Uh.. Certainly ma’am.”

He was surprised by being Shankhaied into medical practice in the service of other ponies; he decided to follow the Alicorn deity regardless, whilst questions running through his head like wildfire. He was disappointed in the destruction of valuable biological material but he guessed he might get another chance, or perhaps even a boon from the Alicorn which could be used in his research. She was quite imperious in her own way, but the ageless look in her dark blue eyes lent credibility to her right to be so, although he hoped she would be easier to deal with away from the crisp remains of the town.

They soon reached a clearing of sorts after a walk in near complete silence and upon the sight of the injuries his mind focused into the medical professionalism. As he neared the injured ponies he suddenly backpedalled two steps in shock, going slightly pale in the face.

[i]Inquisitors![/i]

He looked back at the Alicorn and gulped, was she working with the Inquisition? It did not seem likely, Twilight was more forceful and had more power than he did, and she was much more likely to send them on hunts for the “False Gods” and extract viable research via force. What should he do? He doubted he’d survive long if he ran, indeed that might be taken as a sign of some sort of guilt on his part, and he didn’t trust his chances against Alicorn magic. Coming to a decision he steadied himself, bolstered his courage, and got to work on the injured ponies.

Outright it was obvious that three of the ten ponies were dead due to the trauma inflicted upon them, ignoring them he entered the zone of sorts in regards to the others, the matters and history of the world faded away in the name of medicine and science. A deep intensity settled over his face, there could only be the doctor and the patients, and within minutes he was furry of medical motion, seeing to the most badly injured first and sealing their larger wounds with both physical and non-physical means.

 The prime issue seemed to be the extraction of large and small slivers of some sort of magically cast stone, which made magical healing much more difficult. Luckily for him the rock had fragmented into numerous larger parts which proved easier to extract, still he needed instruments more precise for the smaller pieces which could not be extracted current without making their wounds larger. Pulling out a small tray from his bag he poured surgical spirits into it and set about cleaning of his equipment before extracting the pieces and applying appropriate medical magic, sutures and bandages, as well as cleaning the wounds with saline solution.

 With more difficult ones including the more delicate surgeries he bandaged and treated as much as he could, before he sent a spell to encourage more white blood cells to the location of the wound, and then slowed the pulse of red blood cells to that limb until suitable clotting occurred, moving on to other serious injuries. Many of the ponies had suffered cracked ribs and broken legs, and he set about splinting them, for the meanwhile, although doubtless they would require casting later on, once again he utilised magic and casted long term regeneration spells which would increase natural growth of bone, as well cut the clothing off the inquisitor assist with lung expansion in regards to rib injuries.

All in all, he had managed to circumnavigate the injured in a incredibly short amount of time, mostly thanks to the experience as once working as conscripted a field doctor in a particularly bloody Moon and Star campaign with the Earthborn last year. By the time he had almost finished they were in better conditions they had previously been in, although he had been thankful they were all asleep, he doubted that this Alicorn could cast that type of magic… she must have had some assistance.

He turned his gaze up for the first time in a while and directed a question.

“Some of these wounds” he gestured to a collection of about three ponies, “contain fragments that I cannot extract without precise tools, if you would be willing, I have some companions with these tools on the edge of town. Given each god I have heard of has had some sort of entourage, I would be much obliged if you could send someone to direct them here, they are on the east side of what is … what once was, Old Hoof, they are a young disabled foal and a large earth pony.”

 He ran a hoof through his hair casually, unaware that he had smeared some blood through it, “If not extracted the wounds could become infected and the patient could die or enter a high fever” he said, washing his hooves in a basin to get rid of the blood as he did so, “This act would make my job much easier if you could, they’ll follow if you tell them my name and our codeword, ‘Silver Scalpel, Ambrosia’s delight’.”

He turned to her, doctor mode still in control, an eyebrow slightly raised and a twitch of a smile on his face, “Well?”

[i]Careful there Scalpel, she is a god after all, don’t get too flippant[/i] he mentally scolded, still it didn’t stop the smile from twitching slightly upwards.