//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: // Story: Another chance // by Ferencelvtars //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Darkness and silence surrounded me. I didn't understand where I was. However, I found solace in the silence. In my mind, I began to play a song. Strangely, the music didn't play within me but outside. I didn't understand why, nor did I care. Light broke through the darkness, turning it into a tunnel. It approached slowly, and then I understood. I realized that I was dead, and this was the gateway to the "afterlife." I didn't know what to do, but suddenly... I opened my eyes, and everything disappeared. Instead, I found myself in an intriguing forest. I attempted to stand up, but suddenly fell back on all fours. As I looked around, I noticed something odd. Wait a minute, is everyone here a different species? No, this can't be the afterlife since I didn't reach the light. Then what is this? I began to examine myself. It was evident that I was a pony or a horse. On my back, in the middle of my spine on both sides, protruded two stubby things. On my head, there was a broken horn, probably not a horn, but rather an antler, and strangely, it sparkled a bit. My fur was a slightly dark red, like the Soviet flag. However, my mane was a blondish-brown, similar to my hair. Based on my size, I was a foal or very tiny. This wasn't important at the moment, but I was still curious about why. I began to explore my surroundings. Surprisingly, it reminded me of my beautiful hometown, the forest where we lived among the trees in little treehouses. As I crawled under a bush, I noticed a treehouse built on a tree. Following that, I saw numerous apple trees. Now, these ponies sure know about planned food cultivation, I thought to myself. However, a loud noise from the treehouse interrupted my thoughts. Suddenly, a large brick flew out of the door, smashing it, heading straight towards me. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In the small treehouse, which belonged to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they were planning their next stunt to earn their cutie marks. Sweetie Belle with music, Apple Bloom with gadgets, and Scootaloo with construction. However, they quickly started arguing. "Sweetie Belle, understand this, we're not going to play music because we can't. Let's try my..." I lifted the brick from under Scootaloo and threw it, accidentally smashing the door. But it wasn't my fault. "Scootaloo, I told you this won't..." Suddenly, a loud thunderous explosion and a crack of a beam interrupted me. We thought it was over and someone was just messing with us, but then another batch hit, shaking us. We looked out with Scootaloo at the door, or rather the crater where it used to be, and saw a young colt whose horn seemed to function like some kind of strange lightning emitter. "What's going on here?" He asked, frightened, trying to hide behind his own horn, flapping his weird featherless wings. Then suddenly, his horn was filled with energy, forming a ball of lightning which he shot, creating a nearly 10-meter crater where an apple tree stood. "What just happened?" Apple Bloom famously had a bad time with electricity. We found out when we tried to be lightning tamers and a stronger bolt knocked her out for a whole week. She seemed a bit dazed now, only fully coming back to her senses after the explosion. "Is everyone alright?" Apple Jack asked. Twilight landed directly next to her, just two steps away from Apple Bloom. "What in tarnation happened here? is anypony hurt?" She asked, her attention drawn to the crater. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The young colt groaned as he regained consciousness, causing panic. As we turned towards him, we saw that he hadn't left the land of the living, he had just knocked himself out. When I first saw the little colt, I couldn't decide what I was looking at. Based on his horn, he was an injured unicorn, but he had two "wings" on his back without feathers. However, it was clear that a hospital was the place for him. I couldn't understand how he could release so much magic. As I approached, I saw his horn start sparkling again. "Apple Jack, do you still have that rubber horn cap they use for swimming?" (To this day, I don't know why she had such a thing.) While I pondered this, Apple Jack ran off to get it. As I picked up the little guy, I felt a ticklish sensation from his wings, which was the most sensitive part of my body, but I had to hold myself back. Once I got the rubber piece, I put it on his horn, finally stopping that terrible tickling feeling. Then I hurried him to the hospital as quickly as possible. The doctor was equally astonished as when we found him. Despite having examined me already, he said he had never seen such a pony. He said it resembled more a half-Pegasus, half-unicorn pony than an alicorn. However, it was determined that aside from rest, he didn't need anything else. So, although they attached a life-sign monitor just to be safe, I went home peacefully. The next morning started with an unwelcome visit from the doctor, who was quite upset. He said the colt woke up, but there was something wrong with him, he was behaving strangely. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "pip, pip what is this sound?" I wondered. Then I remembered the hospital monitors and my heartbeat. Although it was higher than normal, it seemed calm. Eventually, I got bored and opened my eyes. My prosthetic eyes remained, as my nose was still covered, which didn't bother me much. As I looked around, I didn't turn back into a human because that weird horn, or whatever it was, was still vibrating on my head. As I glanced around, a pony entered. It definitely couldn't be called a horse since it hadn't even reached foal size. I didn't turn my head to face it immediately, which was strange, since it didn't have an eye on the left side. Usually, I slightly tilt my head to the left to see better. "Well, how's the little patient?" she asked so sweetly it almost made me climb the walls. As I looked at her, I felt better. "You seem to be feeling better," she continued. I thought, 'nice honeyed words, but that's no reason for me to be disrespectful.' "Thank you, but I feel perfectly fine. Could you tell me how I ended up here?" I asked. She raised her eyebrow as if I had a third eye on my horn. "Excuse me!" I waved, placing my hoof on my forehead, and she finally reacted, as if waking from a trance or from being stunned. "Would you kindly tell me who brought me here and why? I only remember a brick being thrown at me and then my horn or whatever this rusty gutter bottom is going mad. Look," I pointed to the growth on top of my head. Again, she froze for half a minute, then spoke again. "Do you always talk a bit strangely? And where are your parents? If you tell me their names, we can call them here. In fact, we'd be glad to. We need some signatures from them." This time, I raised my eyebrow. "Excuse me, now?... Just to clarify! Are you making me out to be stupid or is your behavior always like this?" She looked at me strangely again and soon stormed out. "Courtesy is appreciated, you uncouth boor!" I didn't say the last part out loud, or at least I hope I didn't. As the room emptied, I began to feel bored, and then I noticed a few old-looking books on my desk. They weren't scientific books, but I thought it was worth getting to know the culture. The first book had an interesting title, it was in English, but it didn't bother me, as I mostly understood what was written in English. Its title was "Mare on the Moon," or it could have been "The Moon Mare." The story was very interesting, a battle between sisters, but it immediately struck me that this was not just a fairy tale, as the end of the book said, "not long ago, this thousand years passed, and then the sister came back, whose name is now known: Luna." I thought, great, so these local tales are real stories, I thought to myself. The next two were the ponyfied versions of "Vuk" and "Cipollino," but I really liked their titles. "Vuk," which is a shortening of the phrase "vadászom utamból kotródj" was replaced here with a clever fox name, or rather with Red Ravass. In "Cipollino," instead of vegetables and fruits, flowers and leaves played, and its title became "Apricot Petal." Which made sense, as ponies surely consume such things as well. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ As I arrived at the hospital to my room, Fluttershy was with us, as her good friend Paper Cat broke his leg a few days ago and had to be put in a lying cast for a few weeks. However, there was nothing extraordinary in the ward, just a Little Colt reading, just "The Big Guastit," which used to be a personal favorite of mine. "Doctor, let's clarify please! What's so extraordinary about someone reading a book?" The doctor glanced into the ward and then scratched his head. "I don't understand, when I was here, he just stared out the window, I started talking to him, and it was very strange, come on, let me show you." With that, he dragged us along. "Hi there, what are you reading?" "Oh, is that you? Thank you for your question, it's a very exciting story, although it's quite mediocre to me," said the colt, putting the book aside and looking at us, but not the way he should, not turning both eyes, just one. "Good day!" He looked at me. "Hi! Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" I asked, a little nervously. The colt looked at us questioningly, then nodded. "Of course, I don't mind, but only if you answer a few questions for me too." With that, I got the green light, although I couldn't really maintain eye contact with him. "So first of all, what's your name?" I had heard a few things that sounded like strange names before, but I didn't dare to say the real one, so I thought to myself, let them tell their names, and based on that, I'll come up with my own, but how should I do this? Then it hit me! "Excuse me, but here it's customary for the one who asks first to introduce themselves, would you mind respecting this?" He was taken aback for a moment, then sighed eventually. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and yours?" This already gave me an idea, apparently everyone here is some kind of pun or English expression. Well then, what characteristic could I have been named after? "My name is Thunder Bender." I thought, surely there's something like this in the avatar, but it sounded even cooler than medium cool, and it really meant something too. "Bender! This sentence brought me out of my thoughts. Tell me exactly what are you? Our doctors say you don't resemble any pony species." "That's a very good question and the answer is, I have no idea. Anyway, I would like to know why I'm here. I mean, how did I end up in the hospital?" I got a short answer to this, when the alicorn told me that she brought me in. Well, if that's how it turned out, when can I leave? The doctor then recovered a bit from his daze. "Well, there's nothing stopping you from leaving right now, provided your parents sign a few papers." At this point, the realization struck me, my parents can't be here! Now what if I tell them my real age, they might laugh at me. Now what should I do? It seemed the best option, but then I saw that Yellow Pegasus, she seemed so helpless yet lively. I returned to the story and told them that where I came from, a terrorist organization ruled, it was interesting that they didn't fully understand what that was, but they believed me. "Well, if that's true, then I think you're free to go. The doctor said, then it was a bit difficult to stand up, uh hoof, but eventually I made it out finally. The hospital was relatively modern, but it reminded me more of a World War I setting than ours. As I stepped out, I saw that it evoked more of the 19th century in terms of development rather than the 21st, but I always liked this era. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ As I walked out, I stumbled a bit, but soon I walked steadily, admiring my surroundings, and Ponyville, if I'm not mistaken. However, even if she seems as lively as she is, many times this city doesn't provide 100% protection, especially since the Everfree Forest has become more active than usual. "Um... sorry, but where are you going to sleep tonight?" I asked with great difficulty. She turned to me, then thought for a moment, and finally shrugged. "I have no idea, I've just spent too much time in the hospital, I didn't want to stay there, but your question is justified. Hm, forgive me, but the name memory, what is it..." "My name is Fluttershy, if you're curious about that." She nodded approvingly, but I didn't notice, in the corner of her eye, a tiny tear, and I finally understood. I judged her very strangely, just like the doctor, but she's not strange, she just doesn't know, or maybe doesn't want to express her feelings. Perhaps, if I'm kind enough to her, I can help change that in her, as so far she has spoken in a kind of hypnotized manner, with perfect emphasis, but insensitively. Well, if you have nowhere to go, you can sleep at my place tonight! With that, she raised her eyebrows, or maybe it's better if she didn't... I don't know... "You're not only charming, but where I come from, no one would offer such a thing, but thank you, I accept the invitation." As she said this, her mane sparkled a bit more, I guess this meant she was excited.