Awakening after a deep slumber.

He frowned at the ceiling, not recognising the colourless drab paint that always seemed to make up these sorts of places. The question of 'Where was he?" was joined by more, including "What happened?" and "What would happen if you folded time onto space?"

Hmm. A pen is needed. Paper as well.

Calling his glasses towards him, his eyes adjusted further to the lightless room. This was not his study. Or his bedroom. Or any room in any of the houses he had lived in. Another question that needed an answer.

Rolling out of bed, he checked his surroundings more thoroughly. A hospital?
Was he caught up in a magical accident again? One that induced amnesia, no less? He didn't feel the magical burns that came with such things, so he wasn't exactly...

He shook his head. Pen. And paper. Before the ideas run away. He hated when they did that. Why couldn't they stay still?

Because nothing was 'still', of course, he thought as he lit a lantern, blinking against the sudden brightness. The world was in a constant state of change, vibrating, spinning, dancing...

Paper. Pen. Writing.

A proposal on the construction of a perpetual motion engine...

The only thought that ran through Topo Rifiuti's mind was "Don't breathe, don't breathe, breathe and he will catch you. Breathe and you're going to jail. Breathe and horrible things will happen."

The filly quivered under the newly awakened stallion's hospital bed, having a row about probability and a miniature existential crisis, concerning a higher power and how much it must hate her. She clutched a musky old lab coat and a older briefcase, neither containing anything of value she would be able to pawn off to her buddies back in Manehattan, except maybe the briefcase itself, not the number of stupid scribbles on paper that was inside.

As the noise of rustling bedsheets increased on the topside of the bed, Topo's mind raced through all the possible escape plans she would normally already have planned out. Keep on maintaining she was a long lost daughter? Maybe if she could convince the staff he had alzheimers... She could always just feign being lost, and play the innocent filly card. But the staff already knows her because of the way she introduced herself. She could always run, at the risk of getting in MORE trouble for theft and taking advantage of a coma patient.

Of all the comatose ponies in the world, the one Topo decided to rob HAPPENED to awaken today.

"Buck me..." She breathed out, scared that even that near silent curse could be heard above.

His mind was akin to train when it got going; impossible to divert and highly dangerous to anything that might end up in its way. Muttering under his breath, he did not notice anything amiss as he scribbled a mess of symbols, equations, graphs and diagrams. As he went on, his mutterings became louder and one could understand the sentences, if not the thoughts behind them.

"They said I was mad when I used peanut butter to oil the hinges of the hyper-dynamo. They scoffed at my proposal to construct an underground sun. But I shall solve all of Canterlot's energy deficiencies!"

This sentence was followed by an evil laugh, perfected over years of attempting the impossible and the strongly discouraged.

"The giant death ray? The Ultraviolet Catastrophe? All will be overshadowed by my proposal to change the fate of Equestria as we know it!"

He paused scribbling. "Or was it face of Equestria? Both kinda work. Sorta? Maybe? It doesn't really matter, for not a single pony will remain unaffected!"

With that exclamation, he made a single dramatic swipe of his pen, and dropped it. "Oh, damn," he breathed, as it rolled under the bed.[/i]

Topo didn’t believe in god. She does, however, believe in a evil draconequus that she must have vexed something aweful in a past life.

Not only had she decided to steal this guy’s stuff on the day he woke up, not only was she stuck under the bed of a mad scientist who could… could… remove her horn and replace her head with a cow’s, But his stupid pencil decided to stupidly roll under the stupid bed.

She she inched as far to the opposite side of the bed as possible, hoping in vain that he would reach down, and pick it up without seeing her. “Stupid, fricken, sonuva…” She whispered fervently as she looked to the exit. Maybe... when he leans over...

As she felt the weight of the stallion shift on top of her over to the other side of the bed, she instinctively burst out from under the bed, briefcase and lab coat flying, making a mad dash for the door. Unfortunately, her hoofs got tangled in the long lab coat and she toppled, missing the door and slamming into the wall. The filly struggled in silence, desperately trying to get the coat off of her, like a animal caught in a noose.

"..."

"I've heard of monsters that come under the bed, but I don't think you would be one of them," he commented dryly. Horn glowing, he slowly unwrapped the distressed intruder.

"So, not a monster. A rat, perhaps? A thief?" His voice was one of curiosity, a foal examining a Hearth's Warming present. "If you did want to steal something, you would have probably done better than my meager possessions. If you are a thief, then you would be an incompetent one. I wonder if..."

The soft lilting tones gave way to a small grin, one that held secrets, one that caused concern to all those who had an inkling of what would be behind it. His eyes missed nothing as he examined the curious foal, mind tinkering away, analyzing, considering, plotting...

"Please, explain yourself."

Topo squeaked as the labcoat was removed, inching back towards the wall, staring wide eyed at the stallion. Her emerald eyes stared directly into his, never breaking contact. Her brown Chullo hat mussed her orange mane down.

"So, not a monster. A rat, perhaps? A thief?" His voice was one of curiosity, a foal examining a Hearth's Warming present. "If you did want to steal something, you would have probably done better than my meager possessions. If you are a thief, then you would be an incompetent one. I wonder if..."

The small foal frowned, and her brow furrowed slightly. Wonder if what? Her eyes continued to meet with the scientist's, devoid of fear.

"Please, explain yourself."

Topo's eyes snapped to the floor, and she stood up, keeping the briefcase under her. She took a deep breath before speaking clearly and curtly.

"Don' know what ya want s'plained. Ah tried tah rob ya. Nat very well."

They would probably jail her. Or banish her. Or maybe execute her by firing squad. Or send her into the sun or something. Topo briefly wondered if Cazzo and Fonz would look for her when she was gone, but didn't let the distracting thought show.

Her breathing grew deeper as her lower lip curled stiffly into a defiant glower. Her eyes shot back up to meet his, full of animalistic energy, a cornered creature.

"So... so Whaddya gunna do, huh? Get th' guard?"

"One would think that the risk to reward ratio of stealing things from a hospital would be undesirable to say the least," he smirked, "Unless, of course you take a particular thrill from taking from those that do not even have their senses, which is quite sadistic, honestly."

He looked into the filly's eyes to scout out her thoughts but he was never really good at empathy.

"So I wonder if you are a sadist, or merely foolish. Calling the guard would cause them to take away the curiosity before me, though I might if the situation requires me to."

He shrugs. "If you are interesting enough, I might just let you go on your way. Do you wish to be arrested? If not, then here is your opportunity. Tell me why I shouldn't alert the authorities to your presence."

"One would think that the risk to reward ratio of stealing things from a hospital would be undesirable to say the least," he smirked, "Unless, of course you take a particular thrill from taking from those that do not even have their senses, which is quite sadistic, honestly."

“As ‘posed tah stealin from ‘wake ponies. Shlestya forbid ah’d steal from somepony who’s got their wits bout ‘em…” The filly muttered under her breath. Discord! Who the buck was this shmuck? Waxin all poetic and shit at her. Topo had half a mind to clock him in his lousy snout, and scowled ill-tempered at him.

"So I wonder if you are a sadist, or merely foolish. Calling the guard would cause them to take away the curiosity before me, though I might if the situation requires me to."

Topo seethed, not only was this ill-mannered sonuvamule giving under the belt insults, but he was straight up calling her names. She didn’t… really know what a ‘curiosity’ was, but it couldn’t be good! She didn’t care if the guards were going to come now, she just wanted one or two good smacks to mess this sucker up.

“You buckin…” She started, but was cut off.

"If you are interesting enough, I might just let you go on your way. Do you wish to be arrested? If not, then here is your opportunity. Tell me why I shouldn't alert the authorities to your presence."

“I… huh?” Topo raised a hoof to question, but slowly set it down.

Oh buck he might actually get the guards. “Uh…” she started, hesitantly. “Mmm… well, it’d be a pretty dickish thing tah do. Ah jus…” She stopped and furrowed her brow in thought. “Ah jus don’ get what…”

“Hey, buck you.” She said, with finality and sincerity. “ah don’ gotta prove jack tah you bub. I don’ know who you think yous Ah, but… but I’m jus tryin to keep me and mine fed!” She took a deep breath, a little sniffle, and she continued. “So… so maybe its dumb tah steal froma hospital. But… but does it look like ah got mucha a choice?” the filly displayed her blank flank, her matted mane and ratty fur. Her normally yellow fur was more of a shade akin to brown from dirt.

“Now Ah aint gunna give ya a sahb story bout how hard and sad my stupid life is… cus you probably don keh bout that stuff.” She hiccuped. “B-but ah ain’ no thief. Wish ah was but ah aint. I can’ just go robbin banks and rich muckety mucks. Ah mean…” She sniffed up and wiped her nose with the side of a hoof. Her eyes were watering, but she tried to hide them under her mane. “Ahm…” she hiccuped again as she sat down on the floor and let out a muffled sob.

“Ahm jus a filly.” She said. A filly. A useless little kid who can’t even provide for those she cared about. “An fillies can’t do anythin.”

"One needs only a little sister to know that isn't true," Intel said, taking a deep breath, "What disappoints me is the fact that you are stealing from a hospital." He paused. "I recognise the smell of the place. But the point is that you are literally stealing from the sick and dying."

His horn glowed a hazel aura. "Now, coming from someone who just woke up from Celestia knows what sort of unconciousness, having the first thing I see is a thief steal all my possessions really should make me angry. If I had any sort of sanity, I would have alerted the guards five minutes ago. If we are talking about dickish things to do, you have crossed that particular line a long time ago. Because you always have a choice, and you must always deal with the consequences of such..."

His voice trailed off ominously before his stern expression faded to a tired smile.

"Fortunately for you, sanity is not a blessing I possess," he sighed, collapsing back into his pillow, "Steal from a mentally broken stallion if you must...I mean, if you must steal, why not from somepony too broken to fully care?"

He closed his eyes. "Thieves. There are worse than worthless. They are of negative worth. They take things from those who need it most. If you rob a bank, would it be the bankers that suffer? No, it would be the tellers they fire and the ponies that are in debt forced to repay. There is nopony that can't do anything, just ponies who waste themselves on the wrong thing." His speech was more of ramble directed nowhere and left hanging in the sterile hospital air.

Topo decided that she shouldn’t worry about whatever stupid test this guy was trying to pull on her, so she was free to argue. Although he was most certainly a rambler, she certainly couldn't let some of the things he said go unchallenged.

"I recognise the smell of the place. But the point is that you are literally stealing from the sick and dying."
…
"Steal from a mentally broken stallion if you must...I mean, if you must steal, why not from somepony too broken to fully care?"
…
"Thieves. There are worse than worthless. They are of negative worth. They take things from those who need it most. If you rob a bank, would it be the bankers that suffer? No, it would be the tellers they fire and the ponies that are in debt forced to repay. There is nopony that can't do anything, just ponies who waste themselves on the wrong thing."

Topo sat and listened, she sniffled a little here and there, and was still crying. She and used the time to chomp back down on her arm. When the weird stallion was finished, her arm was red and the skin was broken, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“O-kay.” She started. “I thinks yah jumpin tah conclusions, guy.” She snorted, trying to suck up the last bits of mucus. “Blech… but I ain’t stealin from… the like… the cancer ward or nuthin. Just the… mmm… coma ponies. Like yaself. They jus sit there day in day out sleepin, an what I’m stealin aint gunna harm them none. If ya hadn’t woken up right now, ya’d still be fed an cared for an what havya. An if ya NEVER woke up, then ya’d certainly nevah miss it, wouldja? Matter o’ fact ya’d probably wouldn’t had noticed at all if ah didn’t just go barrelin into th’ wall. Plenty o junk goes missin everyday from ponies lives but they don’t miss it none, or if they do they forget sooner or later.”

“A-and it wasn’t like I ‘spected you’d wake up, so you can’t say Ah was stealin from somepony who ‘ad their wits bout them, cus I weren’t.” She said, thinking gesticulating with her hoof. She didn’t really talk like this to many ponies, dare she would say she never had conversations like this at all.

“An yous can’t say nuffin bout theives or anythin.” she angrily proclaimed, “Cus Ah bet yous nevah been hungry or sleep in the cold or had to share a room smaller n’ this one with a fam’ly ah six.” She chuckled to herself as she examined the hospital room. “I betcha didn’t know, but theres a place on the other side of ‘Questria that ain’t as nice, or clean, or happy, or ANYTHIN s’much as this place, or even this hospital!”

“An I lives theya! Thats the place where a ponies got to work some 12 hours a day fa six days a week tah get enough tah pay for just their daily bread! and that aint countin rent, aint countin medicine, aint countin if ponies is stealin from one another.” She tapped her bitten hoof on her temple. “An… you talkin bout yah bank an how it hurts all tha ponies that work for the bankers and all that…”

“If, les say I robbed a bank. Ah gots like a billion bits or somethin, however much they gots. Ah could give less than a cats piss bout some poor office junkie workin for a rich mukety muck. I only care bout my family an friends. An… I kno that sounds a lil selfish but that’s jus how ah work. Like… A friend acksed ‘bout a thing… a Hyper-thatty-Kill or somethin.” She sighed and scrunched her face, trying to remember what Fonzemi once asked her.

“Like… so you gots four ponies, three of em are little fillies that ya don’t know for squat. The last one is a older friend a yours. An, ya can only save either the three or the one. An I says ‘Why’dya save the three squirts? In th’ end of tha day, you’d be outta a friend an they’d go home an you’d nevah see em again. Sensa moral Speariority or nat, at the end of the day I still got my friend, and life would go on.”