Cold.
The waking world hurt. The small and annoying spots of frost covering his face stung unnaturally and leached his body of heat. The cold, soft, fluffy stuff around him didn't help either, however, it did help dull the pain that surrounded his chest.
His ears picked up a faint sound and his bleary, unfocused eyes saw three pillars of black walk into his vision before he blacked out.
Brown Hermit dragged the younger stallion into his cabin and over to the fireplace. The old stallion then levitated some firewood over and lit it with a practiced spell, bathing the one room cabin with a flickering heat. He then hobbled over to his Medical cabinet where he pulled out his needle and thread, rubbing Alcohol, bandages, and Penicillin. "Damned leg." He grumbled as he nearly tripped over his carpet to get back to the unconscious pegasus lying in front of his fire.
After making sure the gash in the pegasus' head was clean, he dabbed a bit of rubbing alcohol onto a bandage and wrapped it around the wound and tied it off, securing it in place. Due to the gash being on the left side of the Pegasus' head near the temple, he had to wrap the bandage around it's eyes to make sure it would stay.
Brown hermit then rolled the pegasus onto his side (making sure to not pin it's good wing) and took a look at the still bleeding puncture wound in the pegasus' chest. The unicorn slowly concentrated his mind and sent in tendrils into the wound, careful to not spread it too wide. After an agonizing minute, Brown pulled out the jagged piece of rock that had stuck itself into the ribcage of the Pegasus and broken three ribs in the process. Thankfully, the ribcage had done its job and protected all the organs underneath, barely.
Brown levitated the needle and thread over to the wound and proceeded to sew the wound closed. In a more relaxed situation he wouldn't have used just normal thread but given the circumstances he didn't have much choice. The wound was closed after the third stitch went in place and he sighed in relief.
Brown looked at the awkward angle that the left wing was positioned and winced, even if he didn't have wings he knew that that must have been painful. Brown carefully straightened out the feathers as best he could and paused at the next step of the process. He was about to jam the dislocated and broken wing back into place and pin it to the stallions body to keep it from moving.
Brown jerked the wing, heard a pop, grinding of bone on bone and then nothing. He had managed to reset the bone and proceeded to bandage it. The stallion let out a pent up breath and sat back on his haunch, silently scanning the stallion for any other injuries. He found a small cut underneath the left cutie mark that looked like it had partially healed but it had been re-opened so that a shiny little object could be seen poking out.
Brown placed his front hooves around the small cut and pressed down slightly, the object protruded more and he grabbed it with his magic. He examined it closely with his dull eyes and found that it was a small cylinder with a screw cap on it. He opened the cylinder and found a rolled up piece of paper with the words:
Crystal Empire
Shine st. 9567
1784-874-1005
-Mind the lamp-
Brown re-rolled the paper and replaced it in the cylinder before looking at the unconscious pegasus in his home. Questions running around inside of his head that could only be answered when the stallion woke up.
He opened his eyes to only see black, he tried to move his hooves up to his face and find what was blocking his vision, only to groan in pain as fire lanced up his chest and over to his left wing.
"I wouldn't move if I were you..."
He looked to his left where the voice had come from and wondered who it could be. The voice was masculine and gruff, so an old stallion, and judging by the clink of a cup on a saucer it was a pegasus or a unicorn. He heard a grunt and then the sound of hooves hitting the wooden floor, as well as the unmistakable tingling that spread through the air when magic was in use.
So his... Captor? Helper? Was an old unicorn stallion with what sounded like arthritis in his knees. "Where am I? How'd I get here?" He asked, keeping his voice as neutral as possible. The unicorn snorted before sitting down in front of where he was propped up against something squishy, keeping weight off of his chest and wing.
"The more important question is who are you?" The old unicorn questioned, which he responded almost immediately.
"I don't know...Oh buck me...I don't know my name!"
He started panicking and scrambled to get ahold of something to help his mind calm down and for him to wake up. He felt a magical touch wash over his body and restrain him without causing discomfort to him. He didn't know how long it took but eventually he calmed down to slight shivers here and there.
He started crying into his bandage and he couldn't stop, he didn't even give the scratching at the door a second thought until the old unicorn stood up and opened it. When the door opened he heard the unmistakable sound of a blizzard raging outside. A wash of cold air plowed into his body causing his shivers to become more violent. He didn't notice the small scritching sounds of claws on wood until a soft fuzzy muzzle pressed lightly against his bandaged chest.
He pushed the muzzle away from his chest non too gently and was surprised to hear a soft growl in response. The muzzle then pushed itself into the crook of his neck and snorted, sending a light spray of wetness to cover his neck. He tried to push the muzzle away but was met with a defiant growl and a rock solid shoulder to resist him.
"She likes you, probably because you are hurt. Say hello to my good friend Sasha, the Runt of the Litter." The old unicorn said as he shuffled over to a chair that he scrapped across the floor to the front of the fire. "I wouldn't fight her, she will eventually get what she wants, especially in your situation."
He reluctantly let the persistent Sasha start liking at his face and then was surprised when she lay down in his lap and bathed in the fires heat. Unsure of himself, he reached down and softly dragged his hoof through her course but thick fur, he was met with a consent sigh. Feeling more confident, he used both hooves to pet her from her head down to her tail, feeling her as well as pleasing her.
He paused when he felt three uneven lines and no fur greet his hooves, they felt lumpy and soft.
"Those are scars that she received as a pup when the pack tried to kill her, I wasn't kidding when I said she was the runt. I found her in the snow with those scars still bleeding, she was half dead half frozen. I didn't think I could save her..."
The old unicorn went silent for a couple minutes where He resumed petting Sasha. He continued to do so until he felt like he was safe to ask a question.
"What is your name?" He could hear a shuffle in the chair and assumed that the unicorn had turned to face him.
"'name's Brown hermit. Mr. Hermit to you. While you are staying here I expect you to help an old Stallion out, least you could do."
"Of course. I haven't thanked you, and I feel I should, not only did you save my life as a stranger, but you risked your own to do so. The least I could do is become your servant for the rest of your life."
"Ha! Wouldn't be long of a sentence would it?! No, I choose to live up here by my self, no pony else believed I could do it, if they could see me know... I will fix you up and then you can be on your way back home." Mr. Hermit paused and he heard a scuffling before the stallion spoke up again, "here, this is yours. Found it in your leg actually."
Mr. Hermit pressed his hoof against his and he grabbed the object that was given to him. "What is it?"
"It's an address actually, in the Crystal Empire. Must be where you live."
He shrugged his shoulders while he felt the metallic cylinder, it had been in his leg? He tried to reposition himself better but Sasha let out a growl when he tried, he would remain uncomfortable for now.
"Hmph, she likes you better then me already. You are going to have to get used to her bossing you around though, she thinks of you as her hurt cub."
He felt a small smile touch his face at the thought of the wolf being his mother, then he asked himself who his mother was. Who was his father? Did he have brothers and sisters? Was he married? Did he have kids? How could he not remember anything?! Thankfully Mr. Hermit spoke up and distracted him from his depressing thoughts.
"I'm gonna call you Nest, mostly because your cutie mark is of a nest with one egg in it, positioned on a rock ledge. Just until you remember your real name though."
Nest. He liked it.