When I woke up, I noticed I'm shackled to a hospital bed, and currently I'm en route to unknown destiny. The two guys that have been pulling my bed had masks on their face, that looked like they were stitched to their faces or made off of a human's skin. They were wearing a bloodied, white doctor's coats and white gloves, also covered in blood of unknown origin.
I was in some sort of a hospital – or more like a sorry excuse of a medical facility. The days of this place's glory were far gone, the paint on the walls was peeling and falling off in big pieces, the windows were either dirty or missing, and whole floor was covered in blood, excrements and pieces of humans body. I noticed a wheelchair in one of many rooms, knocked back, rusty. It's wheels were still moving.
Two men have pulled me into another corridor, this one much brighter. Now I could see that I was propably in some sort of mental hospital, sharing my current place of being with it's more or less sane inhabitants. I passed a girl lying on the floor, dressed in the same bloodied coat as mine. Her body was totally pale, her eyes blindly fixed on some far object, and on her face was terrifying expression of surrender.
There was more guys and girls like her. I saw some guy looking at me from behind the bars with a sadistic smile. I saw a guy, rythmically smashing his head against a bulletproof glass, leaving a small trail of blood with each hit. I saw a girl being raped. I saw a terribly disfigured human being hanging from the celling, that followed me for a while until he met an air conditioner, ending as a few more limbs at the floor. I saw a mother, feeding her wounded, bloodied child. The kid wasn't crying. Maybe he didn't understand what was happening around him, maybe he grew numb to this hell. Or maybe he simply wasn't longer alive.
We passed through another corridor, and before I was pulled into a dark room, I noticed a figure of a man, legless, wrapped into some twisted form of a walker. His head was covered in a black linen, his hands were missing its fingers, and the whole corridor was filled in his high, loud, blood-chilling screams, as he twitched, desperately trying to free himself.
"So. You're here already."
I was freed, only to be shackled to another bed once again. I was blinded by a flash of light, and after a while I got to take a look at the room I was trapped in. I was in some sort of an operation room, filled with tools which destiny's could only be bringing pain and suffering to those unlucky enough to be treated with them. I also noticed many people standing around me, all dressed in those cursed coats and wearing masks. One of the nurses had strangely familiar face...
"Leah?" I whispered, trying not to cry "You have to help me. I want to go..."
"Where do you want to go?" One of doctors asked, taking gloves on.
"Home...?"
"This is your home now. You're dead, remember?"
I felt a surge of panic. Dead? No, this can't be, I can't be dead, I didn't die...
"What are you talking about? I'm not dead, I want to go!"
"Where do you want to go?" Doc asked again, looking into my eyes. His eyes were black and calm.
"...home?"
"This is your home now. You're dead."
"I'm not dead!"
"What are you then?"
"I'm alive..."
"So what are you doing here?" Doctor asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"I... don't know" I started to sob.
"This is your home now, Jeff." the nurse with the face of Leah spoke, in exactly the same voice as my friend.
"We all want to help you. But first, you need to understand. You need to wake up."
Leah nodded, and the doctor I talked to before leaned at me, holding a big-ass syrigne in his hand. He focused and pierced my skull with it. Immediately I started to feel like my whole head was filled with burning napalm. I tried to scream, but no sound came out of my lips. I started to throw myself in the bed, tears were flowing on my face, quiet sobs turned into a true cries of helplessness.
Wake up Jeff. Wake up.
It's time for a real nightmare to begin.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
I opened my eyes, greeting the real world with a curse and a loud, long groan. My whole body, every single cell, every single muscle hurt, I literally felt like I just wrestled with a fucking tank.
I looked at my body and yep, still everything in place. No limb lost, both eyes working properly, head still on it's place. I also noticed something more – all of my clothes were gone, except – praise the fucking lord – my boxers. I also took a closer look at my body.
My torso was covered in bruises and cuts, some of them still bleeding slightly, so were my arms. Many of the cuts were sewn, but some were still open, covered in bandages. I tried to get up, but my head refused to do so, resulting in blunt, blinding pain, lose of balance and falling back into the bed.
"Oh, you're awake. Thanks Celestia. It's about time."
My speaker was wearing a white coat and a pair of black pants. He had dark grey hair, though he didn't look like he was much older than me, possibly in his early thirties. He was smiling at me, his voice was deep and soothing.
Then I remembered all. The hospital, the screws being stuck in my head, the needle, the Leah speaking...
"What? Who are you? Where am I? What do you want from me?!" I started to panic. I didn't want to have a repeat.
"My name is Red Aid, and I am a main doctor in the Ponyville Hospital, where are you now. You were found in a terrible shape, with many major lacerations, cracked skull, a concussion and a serious blood loss. If it wasn't for Miss Sparkle who bringed you here, you would be six feet under right now. You were unconscious for around a week."
I blinked. And then all the memories went back. The dog, our escape, that beast jumping at Sweetie Belle, me trying to protect her, shouting to her to run... Wait, where is she?
"Where is Sweetie Belle? Is she okay?" I asked, wincing, as doc was right now cutting my bandages, and every touch of his hand resulting in a surge of sharp pain from my freshly healed wounds. Doc smiled.
"If you're talking about that little girl, that jumped out of forest, screaming like a spectre, then yes, she's all okay. A few bruises but nothing serious. I believe she's at home now, as she spent quite some time here, waiting till you wake up." Doctor scratched his cheek "I also believe that Miss Sparkle would like to talk with you. She's waiting outside, so I can call her when we're done. If you feel like you can handle a longer talk."
I chuckled, which turned into a hoarse cough. I looked at my hand and noticed a small splatts of blood. Crap. This ain't good.
"I'll be fine..."
Doctor nodded and said "Well, as soon as I'm done with your dressings, I'll call her."
I slowly nodded "Tell me, doc, how did you manage to keep my ass alive? I mean, I guess I was in pretty bad shape."
Doctor chuckled, wrapping bandages around my chest "Again, Miss Sparkle helped us here a little bit. She either likes you, for some reason, or you're a damn lucky dog. Magic does miracles."
"Come again?"
"Magic." Doc was done already. "So, that's it. As long as you won't get into a wrestle with a full-grown dragon or blast yourself with a crossbow, you'll be fine. You're recovering very well, mister..."
"Bennet. Jeffrey Bennet." I said, trying to move my arms a little more. No problems, bones and joints working just fine.
"You're recovering very well, Mr. Bennet, even considering the help of magic. I think that in a 3-4 you will be able to go back home."
I dejected a little bit. "Yea, sounds good."
Doctor took his gloves off and walked to open the door.
"Miss Sparkle? Mr. Bennet here is awake, and he said you can enter." He turned to me "I'll leave now, as I have some work with other patients here. I'll send nurse by the everning to look after you. Good luck, Mr. Benned, I hope you'll get better soon."
I smiled "Thank you, doc. Have a nice day"
"Same." With a smile, doctor left my room, allowing a young woman outside to enter.
I looked at her. She was young, propably in her very early twenties, or maybe in late teens. She was wearing a white, short-sleeved t-shirt, a purple, sleeveless vest, a blue trousers with a purple and pink belt and a pair of purple sneakers. Her hair was purple with a single, pink flock.
She was also wearing glasses, that were giving her face more studious look. She was beautiful, I always found intelligent women attractive. Sure, glasses doesn't mean shit, but still...
"So, you're back with us." Her voice was sweet, melodious, very pleasant to listen. She smiled a little. "I was worried we're going to lose you, you were hurt so badly..."
I chuckled "It ain't so easy to bring me down. Still, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your help, I would be, as doc said it, six feet under.
Miss Sparkle smiled again. "I didn't really do that much..."
"Well, if saving one's butt isn't much, than I fear to think what might be considered as helping here. Maybe defeating some evil creature, god of darkness possible?"
Miss Sparkle giggled, and I felt strange tingling inside my stomach. "That would be a good start, Mr..."
"No need for formalities. Name's Jeffrey Bennet, but you can call me Jeff." I smiled.
"Twilight Sparkle. Good to meet you, Jeffrey. Twilight said.
I looked around, and then remembered something.
"Twilight, do you know where are my clothes? It's a little uncomfortable, lying here almost naked when a pretty girl is sitting next to you"
Twilight blushed, which made her look even cuter than she was already.
"Everything was torn to pieces, so I guess doctor had thrown them away."
I groaned, and Twilight quickly added "But that won't be a problem. We can get you some clothes from my friend when you're cured."
"Uh-huh. But I'm not going outside only in my boxers. Hell, I'm not leaving this bed without clothes."
Twilight giggled "You could ask doctor for some spare clothes. I don't know, a coat or something"
Walking around, being wrapped in a coat, like a patient of a mental hospital. Bright future, isnt it...?
I sighed "Guess that will do. For a while, at least."
In the meanwhile, Twilight pulled out of her backpack a notepad and a pen. She looked at me and opened her notebook.
"Would you mind me asking you some questions?" Twilight asked.
"Not at all. Go on."