Taken, 7

You awake to the sound of someone turning over the pages of a book. The sound is barely noticeable above that of Orchid's heavy breathing, but it's strange enough for your ear to flick at it in an annoyed fashion.
It's not like they're leafing through it at a fast pace, or flicking through the book while holding their thumb on the side of the paper to create more of a sound than they already are, but it breaks the silence in the room at odd intervals and it just gets on your nerves.
You flick an eye open and blink oddly at what you see. You need a second opinion. Your other eye opens up and gives you the same view however, be it a little lower as your head rests sideways on the floor. You blink the both of them a few times, but are faced with the same vision each time they open.
You slowly lift your head up and find yourself stifling a yawn before you can say or do anything else. Nope, what you saw before is still there.
You stare in confusion at a female doctor, wearing a lab coat, sitting on one of the beds. A stack of My Little Pony books are set beside her to her right side, and she's reading through one she has on her lap. You spot a folder laying on the bed on her other side, and a ceramic mug is placed on top of it.
She hasn't spotted your movement yet, and you carefully nudge Orchid with one of your back hooves.
Where you woke up without much of any sound, save for the yawn into your forehoof, Orchid quickly reveals herself to be waking up by yawning out loudly and proceeding to stretch herself without a care for who may be around to see it.
You facehoof at her antics as the doctor looks up from her book and raises an eyebrow at the both of you.

"Ah, ich see you are awake, yes?", she speaks with a thick German accent, "Then can we begin."
You push yourself up into a standing position and feel your tail flick restlessly. "Begin what?", you ask, and the doctor smiles at you while holding out her hand as one may to a pet for them to catch her scent.
"We will test you properly, yes?", she starts, and you slowly approach to sniff at her hand. It smells like a flowery kind of soap, but with a clear tinge of disinfectant on it.
"It is no use with the old doctor's data," the new doctor continues, and you perk up at that. "It is all bad. He was a bad man, ja? Ich bin doctor Gerste, but I'm not for the eating, yes?"
You find yourself just staring at all that, your right ear flicking a bit as you try to make sense of her way of speaking. Orchid soon joins your side and sniffs at the still held-out hand as well, smiling up a bit at the woman.
"You smell nice," Orchid simply states, and gets a soft pat on the mane in return.
"Ich hoffe you don't feel bad to me," doctor Gerste starts, looking between the two of you. "Ich only come in to help with the pferde and it is not soon ich get asked for this. But we need you healthy, yes?"
The twitching of your ear is getting to you, and you end up shaking your head in the hope it will make it stop.
"Nein?", the woman asks, looking straight at you.

"I don't," you start, trying to find the right words. "I don't quite.. know what you're talking about, sorry."
"Ach, it is mein accent, yes?", she realizes, leaning in a little and putting her right hand beside her mouth, shielding it from sight from the glass panes. "You have any question, you ask, ok? Ich try to make good on the speaking, but you just say 'Ingrid, ich not get this, can you explain?', ok? It is mein name."
You blink at her frankness, sitting your butt down on the ground and nodding slowly at her expectant look.
She smiles as she sits back up again, reaching beside her for her mug and moving it from the folder on to the precariously balanced stack of books on her other side.
"Ok, ich want your names please?", she starts, opening the folder and leafing through it until she finds the right document. She pulls it out of the folder, closes it, and puts the paper on top of it.
"I'm Orchid!", your little sister pipes up happily, watching doctor Gerste with interest as she, too, sits down on her butt while her tail flicks excitedly behind her.
You chuckle lightly as the doctor pats herself down in the hopes of finding a hidden pen in one of her pockets, and speak up just as she finds a blue ballpoint in her right one. "I'm Lavender."

Doctor Gerste nods quickly to the both of you, moving to write your names on the document in front of her. It doesn't appear that the pen is wanting to work right away, and she frowns at it while muttering something in German that you can only guess are cuss words as she tries to get it to work by rubbing it heavily on the outside cover of the folder.
When a blue stripe finally appears where the pen moved over the surface, she relaxes again and puts the pen back to the document. "Ah, can you repeat, please?"
You can't get your smile to leave your face after the doctor's antics, and you happily repeat your name to her, with Orchid doing so a moment after. Your pony sister grins over to you after answering doctor Gerste, and you share a quick glance between yourselves. A mistake, as you both end up having a giggle fit from each others' expression.
Doctor Ingrid Gerste just looks between you two as you try to calm down again, pen held between her thumb and index finger as she wobbles it in mid-air. "Was ist so funny?"

You are about to respond, when you realize that this doctor, however amusing her behavior, is still part of the group that is keeping you captive. While she may not look down on you and your sister, like the other doctor, she's still in charge of evaluating you for the purpose of the upcoming trial.
"We're just glad that doctor Ashborn is gone," you say instead. "He was a mean man."
Orchid frowns at that, but you put a hoof to her mouth before she can speak up. The only reason he was even remotely nice toward her was because she gave him the expected response to his "tests".
"Ach so, ja that I can understand," doctor Gerste nodded. "Aber you don't have this feel with me, doch?"
You shake your head at the question, and the human smiles up.
"Gut! Dann können we beginning with the tests," she grins, putting her pen to the paper again and looking over the first few questions.
"It's easy," she trusts to you and Orchid. "It's nicht zuviel questions. You can take your time for the answering of them. Gut?"
You're not sure if you like the idea of more tests, but the idea that you at least aren't rushed into things helps you to accept it's just part of being stuck here.

Getting no protests from either of you ponies, doctor Gerste taps the paper with the back of her pen.
"What ist your pony age?"
You stare at the woman before you, this doctor with her curious accent, but no accent would have made that question less than what it is; She asked you for your pony age. Not your human age.
"Can I ask," you start cautiously, your tail flicking nervously behind you, "if you mean our age from when we were born, or born anew?"
"Ach, ja, the latter bitte."
You share a glance with Orchid, but neither of you is feeling like laughing this time. Your sister looks troubled, as if trying to remember something that's impossible to recall.
"I've been a pony for half a year now," you offer to the doctor, "Seven months, or eight. I'm not exactly sure of the date."
Doctor Gerste scribbles your answer down, and you give Orchid a soft nuzzle.
"Orchid was already a pony before me," you continue. "It is difficult to keep track of time when all you do is play around and have a good time, miss doctor."
Ingrid looks up from her paper and looks between the two of you. "Ich see. Das ist unfortunate."

You tilt your head a little and stand up, taking a step toward the doctor.
"Is something wrong?"
She wipes her forehead with the back of her left hand for a moment, then frowns thoughtfully toward your sister.
"There ist kein data about her. Und kein data for some of the others."
No data?
"What does that mean?", you ask, feeling Orchid nuzzle up to your flank.
Ingrid Gerste places her pen down flat on the paper in front of her and sighs out.
"It ist not easy to give you the identity for you as witness if we can't know you original name," the doctor explains.
"Is it gut for you to be a pony? Ich weiss it not. Is it gut to make you owners mark as slavers? Ich weiss it not either."
She reaches out with a hand to gently cup your muzzle and strokes you softly.
"You ist happy, ja? Ich think that is all that is matter for it. But without giving you identity, we can't give you chance for make justice right, understand?"
You nod a little at the doctor's words, and turn your head to look back at Orchid. She's looking down in a depressed manner and you move to gently nuzzle your muzzle up to the side of hers.

"It's ok if Orchid doesn't know anything other than being a pony, right?", you ask, more for your sister than the doctor. "She's always been my pony sister."
Doctor Gerste hums thoughtfully, then you hear her write something down again. "Ja, ich think it should be fine. We are not going to push, ja?"
You smile back at the doctor's willingness to see you ponies as individuals. Creatures with feelings and the right for them to be respected.
She gives a careful smile back at you.
"We are not bad people, ja? It ist just our job."
You nod and sit down next to Orchid.
"I understand, miss doctor. I just hope we come out of this alright. Both Orchid and myself are missing our Master."
You pause a moment to swallow back the emotions that come up at saying that, but then continue, "I think this goes for the others as well."

Doctor Gerste sighs and starts to move her document back into her folder, her right arm moving back just a little too far as she does and her elbow makes contact with her coffee mug.
The precarious balance of the stack of My Little Pony books finally gives way and they move like a landslide, sending the mug toppling over onto the bed.
"Mein Gott!", the doctor exclaims in surprise, a nervous giggle escaping her, "That would have been so bad if there was still kaffee in there."
You find yourself and Orchid giggle as well, mostly in relief, while the doctor cleans up around herself.
"Ok, ich have to see the other ponies today as well. But ich will be back tomorrow, ja?"
Before you can answer her, Orchid presses past you and latches her forehooves around the doctor's legs!
You watch in confusion as Orchid looks up with tears in her eyes, holding onto the only human in the room.
The doctor herself looks to be quite surprised as well, her hands held up in the air a bit off to the side as if trying to figure out what to do.
Her face soon softens however, and she moves one of her hands down to gently tousle Orchid's mane. Your sister needs no further explanation and lets go, nuzzling up at the hand a moment before breaking away and smiling up through her tears.
What just happened here?

The doctor continues picking up her books, holding them under her left armpit together with the folder, her mug held in her left hand, and the pen stuck in the cup before she stands up.
"Ich will see you two tomorrow again, ja?", she offers with a smile, then walks past you toward the door and opens it.
Orchid pads on after her, and you get up as well, trailing behind your sister as the doctor gives a small wave before closing the door behind her.
You stare at Orchid as she sits herself down on her butt and waves back at the closed door with her right forehoof, then nudge her in her flank.
"What was that all about?", you ask, still trying to figure out what just happened. "She's not our Master, you know?"
Orchid turns around with a confused look on her face. "I don't know what you mean, big sis?"
"You hugging her legs like that?", you try.
Orchid stares dumbfoundedly at you.
You blink once, then shake your head and snort out. "Never mind. It's not important."
You canter past her and jump up on the bed opposite the room from where the doctor had sat and work your nose under a side of the blanket lying in a crumpled heap on it.
With a nudge up, you get enough of the material free to bite your teeth into it and flail it over your back, then fall down on the bed and close your eyes.
"I'm going to go take a nap, little sis. Wake me when there's food, ok?"