Resurgence

by BronyWriter

Into the Unknown

It wasn't more than about ten minutes before the medics came over. The two campus security people stayed with me and tried to keep me calm the entire time. It wasn't as though I was actually going to do anything, though. I just stared at the ground and limited myself to grunting and maybe nodding or shaking my head whenever they asked me a question. I barely paid attention to a word they said. I tried to think about my situation and what I could do from there, but came up with absolutely nothing. I was stuck with no magic and no real way to get home. Unless Discord came back to get me, I...

I lost another home.

This time, in a gesture of cruelty that I'm certain was deliberate on Discord's part, I'd been returned to the home I'd lost and essentially given up on. The people around me kept calling me TD, but that wasn't who I was anymore. TD didn't have millions of subjects. TD didn't have a wife and children. TD didn't lead a nation to war. TD didn't kill thousands.

Now I found myself back on Earth. Did that mean I'd never see Equestria again? Would I live the rest of my days here, looking back on the past five years of being in another land as just a bizarre phase? If I lived a full human lifespan, the amount of time ruling a nation wouldn't even match the years I spent in high school. Leading a war, creating new races, raising the very sun... all just minor memories in the grand scheme of things.

I barely glanced at the medic who came up to me. He gave me a friendly smile and knelt down in front of me. "Hey, buddy. How are you feeling?" I managed a small shrug as he took my pulse. "Yeah, I'll bet. You having any nausea? Pain? Dizziness?"

"No, I feel fine," I muttered.

"Good. So..." He chuckled weakly and glanced over at his partner, who was talking with the officers. "Where have you been?"

"Not here."

He chuckled again at that. "Yeah, so I've heard. Did they tell you about the frenzy your disappearance had?" I nodded. "Yeah, that was kind of crazy for a while, especially once the security footage of the crosswalk cameras got leaked. A car comes close, there's a flash of light and boom. You're gone."

"Yeah, somebody mentioned that."

"Lots of theories going around about that," the medic mused. "Up to and including alien abduction, of course."

Eh, close enough, actually.

"But you don't remember what happened?" I shook my head, and the medic gave me a look that told me that he didn't quite believe that. "Not a single memory of the past roughly five years? One second you're crossing the street, and the next you're lying on the bench here five years later."

"Guess that's what I'm telling you," I replied. What? Was I going to tell him that I spent the last few years in a magical talking pony land where I ruled over them as an immortal sort of god figure? Yeah right. He'd think I was completely crazy, or that I dreamed it all.

Did I?

No, no, that was all real. It had to be. It's been five years, after all. Right. It's all Discord.

I gotta get back. I need to get back to protect my wife and children. If Discord does anything to Nymeria or my unborn child... well, he'll find out what it's like to die painfully. I can promise that.

"Okay, Mr. Powell, here's what's going to happen..."

Oh, right, there's someone talking to me.

"We're going to take you to the hospital to make sure you're okay. I'm a bit worried about your memory loss, so we'll probably have you evaluated by our on-staff psychologist. Sound like a plan to you?"

I shrugged, my gaze not leaving the ground. "Whatever."

"Alright."

I glanced up to see him beckon his partner over. She nodded and they went over to the ambulance to get their stretcher thing. They wheeled it over to me and directed me to lie down on it. I did so without complaint. Hopefully I could get out of the hospital soon. As far as I was aware, there wasn't anything wrong with me. Other than the whole, you know, gone for five years thing.

The medics lifted me into the ambulance and shut the doors behind us after the female medic exchanged a few words with campus security. I didn't pay attention to anything they said. What would be the point?

Home. I had to go home. My family was waiting for me. They were in danger.

"So, any changes in how you're feeling?" the male medic asked. I shook my head.

"Just a bit shocked, is all."

"Yeah, I'll bet. I can't imagine what you're going through." He snorted and pulled out a needle and some vials. "A word of warning: if I had to guess, the press is going to be all over this. It's not like we're still obsessing over your disappearance, of course, but we all wondered what the heck happened to you."

"Yeah," the female medic chimed in. "I read the Wikipedia entry about it. It's not too long since we had pretty much nothing to go on. Same with the Cracked entry."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "Cracked entry?"

"Yeah, something like Five More People Who Just Disappeared. You were number one."

I actually managed to crack a tiny smile at that. "That's kinda neat."

"I'm sure they'd interview you if you wanted to. They do a lot of personal experience articles now."

My smile faded just as fast. "Yeah, I'm not sure about that. I don't really want to talk to the press. I'd rather keep this as private as possible."

"Makes sense to me, but I'm not sure how well that's going to work," the male medic said. "I'm sure you know how... invasive the media can be."

"I can handle them."

"Really? You've had a lot of experience dealing with the media?"

Yeah. Tons. I think Equestrian media might almost be as motivated as Earth media.

"Not really, I suppose," I reply instead.

I flinch back when the medic pokes me with the needle. The last things to actually pierce my skin were ancient weapons made of dark magic. From what I heard from the doctors, they had to take blood samples from my actual wound because the needles wouldn't go into my foreleg. I don't know what it is, though, but it's the small, sharp pains that hurt the most. Stubbing your hoof or getting poked by needles? Somehow they are less tolerable on the pain scale than having your shoulder sliced open in battle.

The medic ends up taking five vials of my blood. He ties the vials together, then takes a piece of medical tape and tapes the vials to my leg. I raise an eyebrow at that, which elicits a grin from the medic.

"Best place to keep 'em. They're going with you, after all."

"I guess that makes sense." I shifted to get more comfortable on the stretcher. "We close?"

"Yep, just another minute or so." The male medic jotted down a few things before responding again. "So we're just going to be doing some basic checkups on you at the hospital. We'll try to contact your family, too."

My family.

My family.

I should have been happier about that. Don't get me wrong: it's not like I didn't want to see them at all. For years I'd wanted nothing else. I didn't want them to see me like this, though. The pain it would bring up for all of us... I didn't want to even try to think about it. Especially if I managed to find a way back, they'd lose me again. I'd lose them. I don't know how either of us could handle that. They didn't belong in my new world.

Of course, I didn't think I belonged there either until after my ascension.

Before I could think about that further, the ambulance stopped. I took a deep breath as the medics opened up the door and wheeled me out. I tried my best to just lay back and let it all happen. I mean, what was the alternative? Although if they tried to stick me in some mental institution until I "remembered where I was" then they had another thing coming.

They wheeled me through the doors of the hospital, and I was immediately hit with the noise of doctors going about their business and the overly sterile smell of hospitals. A smell I really didn't care for, to be honest.

I took a few deep breaths as a pressure began building up in my chest. The smell was what did it. I finally became aware that I was in the hospital.

Three freaking months.

I don't want to anymore! Never again!

"A lot of them died?"

"I'm afraid so."

"How many?"

"Three hundred and fifty-five."

Hospital means bad. Hospital means fighting and death. The pressure in my chest became pain, and I grabbed the spot where I'd been shot by the Nightmare Weapon. My breathing became more rapid and my instincts screamed at me to run. Just hop off the gurney and run. Hitch a ride back to my hometown or something. I can't be here.

The medics noticed my breathing becoming more rapid and they stopped whatever conversation they were in the middle of with some nurse they were giving me over to.

"Hey, TD, it's going to be okay," said the male medic. "Just calm down. Slow your breathing. Just relax. You're not in any danger here. You're going to be fine."

My breathing increased almost to the point of hyperventilation. I can't do this again! I can't be in a hospital anymore!

Three hundred and fifty-five.

Three months of nothing but pain.

I just want to go home. I can't do this anymore. I just want to curl up with my wife and daughter, away from all of this hurt. I whimpered and began roughly massaging my chest. It hurt. I felt a twinge of pain in my shoulder too, but nothing like the chest wound. I could almost feel the arrow stuck in there while Celestia's admittance that three hundred and fifty-five ponies died fighting for me bounced around in my skull. I could vaguely hear the nurses telling me to calm down, but I couldn't focus on that. A small part of my brain tried to. I certainly wasn't doing myself any favors by freaking out like this. I disappear for five years, then come back for no reason they can figure out and freak out in the hospital. I hear the nurses talking to calm me down. I can't do that. Want me to calm down? Leave me alone. Get me out of here. Let me go home!

I can't go home.

Three hundred and fifty-five.

No, no, I can't do this. Calm down. I can't do this in front of everyone. I begin taking a few deep breaths and rub my temples. The nurses all around me are still talking about calming down. I take a few more breaths until I've completely calmed down. I smile sheepishly at them.

"Uh... sorry about that. I, uh, I don't really like hospitals."

One of the nurses smiles comfortingly at me. "Oh, don't worry about it. I don't like being on your side of it either. Nobody does, really."

"Yeah, but have you ever seen anybody freak out like that?"

She waved her hand at me. "Oh, yeah, dozens of times. Alright, we're going to get you to a room and get you all checked out, okay?"

I groaned and rested my head back. "Yeah, I guess."

"Good. We'll try to make this as easy as possible. We're really good at this. We'll get you settled in a room."

The nurses wheeled me over to an empty room and finally let me get off of the stretcher. I hopped off of it and sat on the side of the bed, moving around to loosen up a little bit. The ambulance nurses took their stretcher back and wished me good luck. I nodded at them and thanked them before one of the nearby nurses handed me a hospital gown. I chuckled at that.

"Did you make them with backs while I was gone?"

The nurse smirked at me. "Actually yes. Lots better." She motioned to the gown. "You want me to leave while you change?"

"I'd appreciate that."

"Alright I'll come back in a second."

She turned around and walked out the door, pulling the privacy curtain closed. I sighed and looked down the hospital gown. I'd never really been to a hospital before getting an arrow in my chest. I think I had bad pneumonia when I was eight, or something like that. Other than that, I'd never really been in a place like this. With great reluctance, I stripped down and put on the hospital gown and socks. With nothing else to do, I laid back on the bed and draped my arm over my eyes. After a few seconds the nurse returned. I put my arm back down and moved on the bed to get a little more comfortable.

"Alrighty, Mr. Powell, I'm afraid it's time for the I.V."

I stuck my tongue out. "Not the biggest fan of those."

I mean, I'd not had one that I could remember, but I disliked needles on principle. Last time I was in the hospital was when I was an alicorn, so getting a needle in my skin wasn't really an option. Still, I'd been stuck with far worse things than needles, so I extended my right arm so she could get the stupid needle in. I flinched back when I felt the pinch. Hopefully that would be the only time they stuck me.

"Alright, all done, Mr. Powell."

I smirked at her. "You can just call me TD..." I glanced at her name tag. "Annie."

"Alright, TD. We're just going to run a few simple tests, so if you could sit up..."

I sat up in bed allowing her to listen to my heart and lungs, reflexes, blood pressure and pulse.

"... alright, and we have one twenty over eighty for your blood pressure, so that's good. Your pulse is forty-five beats per minute. You play sports or something?"

I shook my head. "Nope, I run around a lot, I guess." I guess being something close to a god who is capable of flying a hundred miles was no problem. Flights from Baltimare to Canterlot tend to keep you pretty fit.

"So you remember running around a lot for the past five years or were you a health nut before all of that?" Annie asked.

"Walked everywhere. Not much need for a car in Greeley. My sister has a truck so whenever we needed to leave this place we'd just go down to our parents' house that way."

"You have a sister? Is she your only sibling or do you have more?"

"Just the one." I leaned back in my bed. "I remember... the last day before I lost five years of my life. I remember that I saw her on her way to class. I was on my way to work. Worked in the dining hall." I gave Annie a humorless smile. "Pretty crappy job."

"I worked at McDonald's once, so I know all about crappy food service jobs." Annie finished writing down what she needed in my chart before standing up. "Alright, you stay here and relax. That one is the TV remote, and the other one is the call button. Press that if you need anything at all. Do you want a warm blanket?" I nodded. "Good. I'll be right back with that."

Annie moved the curtain back, leaving me alone. I looked down at the TV remote. I considered flipping it onto the news. It might be a good idea to get updated on current events before somebody started asking me about stuff I had no idea about. Given my "five year memory gap" I had no doubt that they'd bring some psychologist in here to see if I was some total nutjob. Either that or they'd get Dr. House in here to see if I had some random brain problem that no one had ever seen before. I needed to find some way out of here. Then back to Equestria. I had to get back to Equestria. Nothing else mattered.

If... no, when I got back to Equestria, I'd kill Discord personally. I don't care if the Elements had put him back in stone, I'd take a hammer and chisel to his statue before throwing the pieces in a volcano. Or Tartarus. Let all of the worst monsters in the world deal with him.

Thankfully for my potential boredom, somebody else not dressed as a nurse walked into my room. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was coming next.

"So, you're the guy who's coming to see if I'm loony."

The psychologist gave me an amused scoff and shook his head. "No, nothing like that. I'm here to make sure that you're doing okay." He extended his hand and I shook it. "I'm Brian. Nice to meet you. You're something of a celebrity around here. You're all that anybody's talking about." He sat down on a nearby chair and took out a notepad. Oh this was going to be amazing. "So, I have a few simple questions for you. Just to get a baseline of how you're doing."

"And if I can't answer them you're throwing me in a mental institution, right?"

"I doubt it. People blacking out for five years is probably something more than a simple conversation would deal with. Like I said: I'm just getting a baseline here. Is that alright?"

I shrugged. "Well, I guess I'm not leaving this place until you get this info you want."

Oh this is so not going to go well.

"Don't worry about this. It's going to be fairly painless. So..." He clicks his pen and puts it close to the paper. "Alright. What is today's date?"

Somehow I doubt that the Earth calendar matches with the Equestrian one. I lean back in the bed again, not able to make eye contact with the shrink. "I don't know."

"Alright, do you even know the day of the week?" I shake my head. "Alright, don't worry about that. It's fine. So do you know who the president is?"

"Nope."

"State governor?"

"Nope."

"Alright, something easier then: when's your birthday?"

"November thirteenth."

"Do you know what town and state you're in?"

"Greeley, Colorado. Perfect place to wake up after five years of nothing."

Brian chuckles and nods at that. "Yeah, this place isn't the best place in the world."

"I take it it hasn't gotten better in the last five years?"

"Define better."

"Not Greeley anymore?"

"Fair enough." Brian clears his throat before going back to his notepad. "So, do you know what the name of the latest Star Wars movie?"

"Uh... trick question, there haven't been any more Star Wars movies since I've been gone."

"Gone?" Brian raised his eyebrow at me. "Interesting choice of words."

"Well I obviously wasn't on that bench on the campus for five years."

Brian shrugged. "Fair enough."

Not sure if he totally bought that.

"There have actually been two new Star Wars since you've been missing. They were pretty decent."

"Huh. I guess I'll have to watch those."

"New one is still in theaters, but maybe I can get you a copy of episode seven to watch while you're here if you want. At any rate, are you sure you don't remember a single thing about the past five years?"

"Positive."

"Well... hmm..." Brian tapped his jaw with his pen thoughtfully. "When was the last day you remember?"

"The day I supposedly disappeared."

"Alright. Who was the president then?"

"Obama."

"State senator?"

"Uh..." I frowned and tilted my head. "It was Hickenlooper, wasn't it? Or something like that?"

"Very good. Still is, by the way." Brian quickly jotted that information down. Before I could say anything else, he clicked his pen back and put it and the notepad on the table. "So, here's the thing. I'm sure you can understand our perspective on why this whole thing is weird. We have crosswalk footage of you almost being hit by a car, but just before the car impacts, there's a flash of light and you're gone. Driver just about slammed into the stoplight when he swerved to miss you, but he clearly didn't hit anything. If you hadn't disappeared, he would have flattened you, swerving or no."

"What happened to him, by the way?"

Brian shrugged. "Not totally sure. The most we know for sure is that he ran a red light. Not exactly going to throw him in jail for ten years for that. Can't prove that he had anything to do with your disappearance." Brian tilted his head. "So, it wasn't aliens, was it?"

I scoffed. "Oh yeah, totally was. Remember that Ridley Scott film that James Cameron made that sequel to? Totally them. Probably best that you do x-rays on my chest. We might only have a few hours before things get really messy."

"Right. I didn't think so. Problem is that we still don't have any idea of where you went. Heck, I believed the alien theory myself for a little while. Flash of light, you're gone, you wake up five years later on a campus bench not even knowing that that there are two new Star Wars films. Frankly I can see why people thought aliens. Made as much sense as any of the other theories. The police investigation returned with a conclusion of 'damn if we know'."

"I can see why that might be the case," I admitted. "I don't really know either."

Brian gives me a flat look for a second. Yeah, I can tell he doesn't buy it for a second. If I was only gone for a few days that would be one thing. Black out because of some brain problem, maybe. That makes sense. Five years, though? Unless I was in a coma somewhere, I probably knew what had happened.

"What I am pretty sure of is that I didn't just run away because of the stress of life, or something like that."

"It was an idea tossed around for a little bit, but the flashing light just before the car wreck put that one away," Brian admitted. "Same with the kidnapping theory. No way anyone around you could pull that off. We're still not sure where the light came from." Brian smirked and leaned back in his seat. "It's a weird scenario when alien abduction, spontaneous combustion and random teleportation don't sound so silly after all. When you do get out of here, expect to get non-stop messages from conspiracy nuts asking you to prove the existence of life beyond Earth."

Heh. About that...

"I see," I replied instead. "When am I going to get out of here?"

"Once we make sure that you're okay. I don't know anything about any test results yet. That's not my department. I'm only here to make sure you're mentally okay."

"And I'm sure the fact that I didn't even know that there are two new Star Wars films doesn't help my case in the slightest."

"It doesn't help matters much, yeah," Brian said. "But other than that, I'm not totally sure what to make of this. Are you depressed?" I shook my head. "Suicidal or homicidal thoughts?"

Not suicidal, but I sure do have some specific thoughts about where I'm going to put Discord's head once I'm finished taking him apart. That probably wouldn't sound the best, so I settled for shaking my head again instead.

"What are you feeling?"

"Confused as all else. That and I just want to get out of here."

Brian chuckled at that one. "Yes, I can understand why. I never liked being a patient in a hospital myself. On that note, though, is there anyone we can contact for you? Parents? Siblings, maybe?"

My breath died in my throat as I thought about that. Parents. My sister. What the heck were they going to think about all of this? Gone for five years without a trace and then I appear just as suddenly. What were they thinking about that? Did they blame themselves for it somehow? Had they moved on and accepted that I was dead? What were they going to think or do when I eventually found a way back to Equestria? Would I bring them with me? Would I leave just as suddenly, making them think that they had done something, or would it just re-open old wounds?

"I... uh..." I sighed and rubbed my temples, being careful to not aggravate the IV. "Yeah, my parents, I guess."

"Is there a good number to call them at?"

I rattled off the phone numbers for both of my parents and my sister. If they'd changed their numbers, unlikely since they'd had those numbers since they got their first cellphones, then there were other ways to get in contact with them.

Brian jotted down the numbers I rattled off and closed his notebook. "Alright, I think that settles it. I’ll try to get in contact with your parents. I'll let you know if I do."

"Yeah, that'd be great."

Brian stood up and made his way to the door. However, just before he slipped past the privacy curtain, he stopped. He tapped his jaw for a moment, almost as if he were thinking something over. Before I could ask what was up, he sighed and turned back to me.

"So... I wasn't sure if I wanted to mention this, and it's nothing bad, I suppose, but..." He grimaced and leaned against the wall. "Before I came here, I was a psychologist for the army. I talked to a lot of people who were over in Iraq and Afghanistan. People who had seen combat. Watched friends die or a truck in front of them blow up. Stuff like that. Changes a man."

"I'll bet. What's your point?"

"A lot of them had this..." He grimaced in thought and looked to the ground. "I dunno, I don't want to say aura, but just a way they carried themselves. Posture, body language, things like that. I could tell who'd seen some serious shit over there."

"Again, what's your point?"

"Maybe I'm wrong, but when I look at you I see that kind of stuff. Dunno why, but I see a guy who has been in combat. Not a small skirmish, either. I haven't heard anything about you being in the military before your disappearance, so whatever happened to you happened after you disappeared. Something big."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "This doesn't seem very professional of you. Are you implying something?"

"No, nothing like that. It's just an observation. I'm just seeing a few parallels is all." He paused and began idly tapping his pen. "So you're sure you don't know where you were?"

"Positive."

"Hmm." He shook his head and straightened up. "That's fine. I'm sure we'll get it all sorted out eventually. Although I'd like to say this..." He smirked at me. "You have an amazing poker face. One of the best I've seen. It's not so good that I can't tell you have one, though."

Yeah, well, I'd only been practicing for about four years or so. Celestia had been practicing for thousands.

"So you think I know exactly where I've been for the past five years and aren't telling you because, what, I think you'll toss me in some loony bin?"

"Oh, don't worry, we'd never do that. Wouldn't help anybody," he insisted. "And frankly we'd believe any story you give us because we can't figure anything else out. You say you were abducted by aliens and put in a zoo and probed for five years? Sure, I'll go for that. A lot of other people are."

"Well I wasn't in the zoo, that's for sure."

"If you don't remember a thing about the past five years then how do you know you weren't in some zoo a trillion miles away?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but realized that I didn't actually have an answer for that. In lieu of saying anything that would rouse his suspicions even more, I just shut my mouth. Should have done that from the start. Brian stared at me for a few moments, almost as if analyzing me, before shrugging and lightly chuckling.

"Eh, don't listen to me. Like I said: just a few observations. You have a good day, Mr. Powell."

I didn't say anything else as he left the room. I started to get the feeling that I needed to give them something. Something that made a lick of sense. I know Brian said that they'd buy alien abduction, but I didn't trust that. My goal was to get out of this place first and foremost. Being tossed into a mental institution did not fit within that goal. That would be several steps backwards. I groaned and banged my head against my pillow a little bit. Things had gotten a lot more complicated. I wanted them to give me a clean bill of health and just leave me alone. But then what? I didn't exactly have my magic with me, and even Celestia couldn't find Earth more than that one time. Plus even if I did find Equestria again, I'd need somepony on the other side to pull me through.

No, I can't think like that. I'd think of something to get back. I'd just have to do it without any magic or way to find Equestria. Easy.

After a few more minutes, Annie came back in. "Hello, Mr. Powell. We have a few more tests to run, if that's okay."

I shrugged. "Sure, I guess. I take it I can't just ask to leave."

"And go where?" Annie asked.

"Fair point. I guess I'll just wait here until somebody comes to get me, then."

"Which is hopefully soon. We just need to make sure you're not really sick. You know, contagious or anything like that. So you can stand up now." I did so, then she beckoned me to follow her. "We're not going too far. Just to another room a few doors down."

I followed her in silence until we reached the room. She opened the door for me and I walked past her into a small room with nothing in it. I frowned and turned around.

"What's this?"

"Just some place to check on people physically. It's not painful or anything, I just need to check your skin."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "My skin?"

"Yeah, just to make sure you don't have any big scars or sores or lesions or anything like that. No big deal. Although I am going to need you to take all of your clothes off. You can keep your underwear on."

I grimaced at that. I got the feeling that Brian had brought his suspicions up to a nurse or something. If I did this then they'd undoubtedly see the scars from the Nightmare Weapons. If I refused then that said I was hiding something, which would be a whole other set of problems. I chose the option that possibly allowed me to hide my past a little longer. If I refused and they asked why I couldn't respond with an "I don't know."

"Something wrong, TD? You look a bit uncomfortable."

Oh, right, she's still here.

"No, no, I... Yeah my clothes."

Figuring I couldn't hide it any longer, I slipped the hospital gown off. Judging by how fast Annie's eyes went wide, I could gather that the scars were a bit more visible than I'd like.

"I see then. One on your shoulder that looks like it was sliced open by a weapon of some kind. The one on your chest is a little trickier, but it looks like an entry wound."

"You can tell all of that just by looking at it?"

Annie nodded. "I've worked at a hospital for fifteen years. If a person can hurt themselves, I've seen them rushed in here for it. So yes, I know what pretty much every wound under the moon looks like." She paused for a moment to look at them some more. "Any others I should know about?"

I turned in a circle to show her the rest of my body. "Nope."

"That's good, I suppose." She stared at my injuries for a few more moments before talking again. "So I doubt you had those before you disappeared."

"Would you believe me if I told you yes?"

"If you had them before then where did you get them? Unless you don't remember the time before you disappeared enough that you don't remember where you obtained some pretty serious looking injuries. There's also the fact that the one on your shoulder looks fresher than the other one. I'd say that you got it sometime in the past, say, six or seven months or so? It doesn't look that old. So you got these after you vanished."

"You're about to ask me where I was again, aren't you?" I grumbled. "And can I put my clothes back on?"

Annie nodded. "Yeah, go ahead, we're done with this part. As for me asking you where you were again, that's not really my place. Yeah, I'm curious, we all are, but my job first and foremost is to make sure that you're healthy. I'll speculate on my own time if I really want to."

I rolled my eyes. "So you don't want me to tell you."

"If you did, I'd listen. Especially if you had any medically relevant questions. Like where those came from."

"Don't remember." I finished putting the hospital gown back on. "But you guys don't really believe that anymore, do you?"

"Like I said: not my place." She opened the door back up and stepped aside to let me through. "We can go back to your room now."

"Cool," I grumbled.

We didn't say anything on the way back to the room. When we did reach it, I slid back into bed without really acknowledging Annie. She offered to get me another warm blanket, which I agreed to, but other than that, I just curled up with my back to the door. I vaguely considered flipping the TV on again. I needed to figure out what had been going on in my absence. Two new Star Wars movies? That was probably just the tiniest tip of the iceberg for things that had happened since I'd gone to Equestria. Although to be fair, would it even matter all that much? If I was going back to Equestria again anyway, why bother with knowing who the past five Super Bowl winners were? Or anything like that. It was going to become irrelevant to me sooner or later.

I hoped.

I just need to get back. Get back and kill Discord. Hold my daughter again. Kiss my wife. Meet my new child. I couldn't do any of that on Earth. As much as it would pain me to say it, I didn't belong on Earth anymore. It almost felt like the time when I'd been brought to Equestria. The whole world felt alien. Right now Earth felt the same way. Sure there were a lot of recognizable things, but there were certainly changes that made Earth unrecognizable to me now.

I just want to go home. I almost missed Day Court.

Another half hour passed before someone came back into my room. This time it was a doctor, if his lab coat was any indication. One I hadn't seen yet. Looked to be in his mid-fifties or so. He smiled warmly at me and sat down on the chair beside my bed.

"Mr. Powell, I'm Doctor Chase." We quickly shook hands. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, you know, just trying to adjust."

"I'll bet. On that note..." Doctor Chase opened up my folder and flipped through it for a few seconds. "I've been looking over your file and I saw that some of the other staff here have some concerns. Nothing life-threatening, of course, but they brought up a few things that interest me."

"Like the scars, right?"

"Yeah, that's one of them for sure. And you say you don't know how your shoulder got sliced open or how you got the other one." I shook my head. "Right. Can I see them?"

I inwardly sighed, but decided that I might as well cooperate. Make this all go much quicker. I pulled my gown down enough for Dr. Chase to see the scars. Doctor Chase leaned in and examined them for a few seconds. Yeah, go ahead, Doctor. Poke and prod them if you want.

"Alrighty, then. Interesting." Doctor Chase leaned back and jotted something down in the file. "So I know not many doctors in Greeley, Colorado of all places would recognize it, but this isn't the first hospital I've worked for. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the one on your chest there looks like some kind of arrow wound."

"Isn't that just interesting?" I deadpanned.

"Yeah. One of the towns I worked in had an archery range. Every now and again we'd get someone in who didn't listen to the rules and neither did his buddy. I've seen one a few times. Although the scarring is a bit off. Something close to an arrow, but not quite. You wouldn't happen to know what that's from, would you?" He waved his hand before I even opened my mouth. "On second thought, don't answer that. We both know how you're going to answer."

"You're perceptive."

"Comes with the job." He took a deep breath and set the file down on the counter next to him. "Right, so here's my concern: I have a psychologist who looks at you and is reminded of soldiers who have been in battle. Then a nurse looks you over and we find what appears to be an arrow wound and, if I've guessed right, some sort of slashing weapon. They appear recent enough to have happened during the time you were missing. Unless you've been at some kind of renaissance fair with abysmal safety standards, I'm left wondering just what happened. If I'm hedging my bets right, you know exactly where you were and what you were doing. But you won't tell us. You mention not wanting to be locked away for saying something ridiculous."

"Hmm..." I crossed my arms. "How very perplexing for you."

Doctor Chase managed a small smile at that. "Yes, it is, isn't it? In all seriousness, though, if you know where you were, I need you to tell me. I can't help you fully until you give me a little something. We're not going to throw you in some nuthouse if you give a weird answer. Your disappearance was weird. Nobody on Earth has even the slightest clue as to what happened. You were about to cross the street, a car near you ran a red, flash of light, and then that's it. You're gone. And that's all of the concrete evidence that we have. That's literally all of the information that anybody seems to agree on, and that's only because we have the footage. Yeah, you get the people who say it's all computer generated, but even that went away pretty quickly. Not fully, of course. Everyone had their own little pet theory. Then you come back. Just as suddenly as you disappeared."

"An interesting story," I mused. "I'll have to watch the movie adaptation."

"Depending on what info you give or how the next few years go, there could very well be a movie about this. I mean why not? Especially when you take the final perplexing factor into account."

"And what might that be?"

"I've seen pictures of you before you disappeared. Ones taken pretty close to the time you were gone. I looked at those and looking at you now..." Doctor Chase stared at me for a few seconds before continuing. "TD, you, ah, don't seemed to have aged that much, if at all. You disappeared when you were twenty. So you'd be, what, twenty five now?"

"Something like that."

"You should have physically aged between now and then, but it doesn't look like you have. I'm a doctor. I've learned to see the subtle nuances in the ways people age over different time periods. You still look like you're twenty. If I put a picture of you now side-by-side with a picture of you the day before you disappeared, I'd wager that they'd look almost exactly alike."

"That does sound confusing," I admitted. "Wonder what you'll do with that information."

Doctor Chase groaned in frustration. "TD, we both know you know what happened to you. I'm not going to go blabbing it to everybody. We're not going to send you to a mental institution, no matter what you say."

I shot Doctor Chase my best glare. "Okay, here's a start: I'm physically fine except for two wounds of unknown origin. I'm not homicidal or suicidal. You have no reason to keep me here. I'm betting half the reason you came in here is because every test you've run so far has come back with nothing."

"Eh... not quite."

"Really?" I frowned and tilted my head. "What do you mean?"

"Some of your blood work came back a little wonky. There's just something about it that's a little different. All of the normal stuff is there at the normal levels, but there's something else in there, too. We're not sure if it's harmful or benign, or even if it's beneficial."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "So you found something weird in my blood. Big deal. If it becomes a problem I promise to come back so you can poke and prod me some more. Unless you can prove it's an issue, I'd like to get out of here."

"We'll talk about that in just a second, for right--"

"No, we're talking about it now," I growled. "I don't want to be here anymore. I'm not crazy and I'm not dying. Even if I was dying, you don't have a legal right to keep me here."

"I do if I believe the patient is incapable of making his own decisions," Doctor Chase countered. "You woke up on a school bench after five years, of which you claim to have no memory of whatsoever, as if you were just sleeping and then woke up five years later. Then there's the added fact that when you did come in here you had some sort of panic attack, during which you were grabbing at your chest wound, if the testimonies of the staff are any indication. Trust us, Mister Powell. We just want to help you."

"By calling me a liar and keeping me here against my will," I grumbled. "So helpful. Are you sure it's not because you want to solve a mystery that everybody's been wondering about for the last five years? You'll write some book or call a conference or do some talk because of all of the theories, you're the one who figured it out."

Doctor Chase frowned at that. "That's not what I'm trying to do here. I'm just here to make sure that you're okay."

"I'm fine except for the fact that I'm in a hospital where people keep asking me questions that I couldn't possibly know the answer to. At this point I'm done answering any more questions. Just let me get out of here."

"And go where?" Doctor Chase questioned. "It's best that you don't leave for the moment, if for no other reason than that your family is on its way. They'll probably be here any moment."

My eyes widened and I sat up in the bed. "Wait, my family? All of them?"

"Your parents and your sister, yes. I'd be a poor doctor if I just let you go while they looked for you here. Why don't you just relax and maybe watch some TV or something until they get here. Then we'll decide what we want our next step to be."

"It'll be me getting out of here."

Doctor Chase shrugged. "Could be. We'll talk to your parents when they get here. For now, just sit tight. Everything will work out fine."

"Easy for you to say on your side of things."

"Fair enough, I suppose, but I believe that of your situation, too." Doctor Chase stood up and put my folder underneath his arm. "You know where the call button is. If you need anything at all just let us know. Could I maybe get you something to eat? When's the last time you ate?"

"Not hungry."

Okay, that wasn't true. I was starving, but I just... didn't feel like eating right then.

"Alright, well if you change your mind, just let me know. I could even get you something not from the cafeteria, if you wanted. You seem like you've had a hard day."

"Yeah, I have. Maybe later."

"Alright, I'll talk to you later, then."

I hoped not.

Doctor Chase exited my room, leaving me once again with only my thoughts. Truth be told, him asking me about food made me even hungrier than I realized, but I'd get something with my family later.

My family.

Some small part of my brain almost didn't feel like they were my primary family anymore. I hadn't seen them in so long and I'd gotten another one for myself that... I dunno. I hated the idea that if I had to choose between them and my Equestrian family I couldn't choose them, no matter how much I wanted to. But I almost didn't want to. They were still my family and I loved them, but I had responsibilities now. I had a whole country to rule over, possibly until the end of time.

I just...

Man, the thoughts sounded hollow to me even then.

Before I could think about that much more, I heard my privacy curtain being pulled back. I looked up to see who else was coming to prod me and ask where I was but then... I saw them. I barely had a moment to make eye contact before I was pulled into a crushing hug by my sobbing mother. I blinked in surprise, but once I took a second to get my bearings and realize that no, this wasn't a dream, I hugged my mother back. Looking past her, I saw my father and Kristen. Dad looked like he couldn't decide if he wanted to cry or be relieved that I'd come back, and Kristen was holding back tears of her own. I smiled at her and she let out a half laugh/half sob and returned it.

"So... uh, hi everybody."

My mother sniffled and somehow hugged me tighter before whispering to me.

"Where were you?"

Author's Note:

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Comments

[Sylicath]

Aaaaaaaah!
Bronywriter is here!

Awesome.
Yeah, the reemergence of Star Wars is pretty big. Makes sense that that'd be a question you would ask if someone disappeared before the movies started coming out.

[Moongaze14]

Wow, that was quite the emotional chapter. Great way to start the third book.

[vorxil]

Yeeess... Excellent...

[Frosty3]

Must resist reading until finished with the story before it!

[Asheram]

Aaaand, we're back!

[WesFox134]

Hmm, I wonder what will happen if Discord decides to bring TD back to Equestria. I do wonder how his Earth family will react to such a thing. Heh, hopefully by kicking Discord's ass for messing with TD.

it certainly would be something to see what would happen if say the entire town was accidentally teleported to Equestria with TD due to someone attacking Discord or something like that. Perhaps with something that can harm magical creatures from earth. There are legends that faeries and the like were weak against iron...

I wonder, could there be a bit of magic left in TD that could help him get back to Equestria?

[crazyone]

Awesome... That being said I'm going to need more.

[EchoWolf31]

Fucking Awesome. Personally, I would come clean if I was TD, but that's just me. I mean, if people were legitimately considering alien abduction, his story isn't so out there.

[gauthh]

more i can t wait for more

[Emtu]

if for no other reason than that you're family is on its way.

your

[NeirdaE]

One minor complaint: as stressed as TD was, his blood pressure and pulse should be higher.

You were really good at showing TD's reactions and emotions. I personally wouldn't have responded this way, but TD's core personality is different from mine.

[Witchery]

IT'S HEEEEEEERE!!!

[James Fire]

The feels! Have been shattered!

[everydaygamer]

Excited for this new story, though I hope he doesn't keep the secret for too long. As it's been explained saying he went to a world of talking magical ponies would probably help him more than staying quiet.

[Not Tom]

The spin-off now has half a story more than the original storyline (if you count the first half of the first story) and I'm not sure which one I love the most!
This is a great start to - what I'm sure will be - a great story and I can't wait for the next update!

[ssokolow]

7867625

Not necessarily. The "something" in his blood is clear indication that he's not 100% back to pre-Equestria condition. Maybe alicorns turned human have a modified stress response or an even lower resting blood pressure and heart rate.

[Alondro]

I shall send Mob to help TD...

He's rather effective against weird chimeric monsters with strange powers...

Always look to anime for all your powergaming and godmoding tips!

[Alondro]

"Alright. Who was the president then?"

"Obama."

"And who's President now?" TD asked curiously.

"Donald Trump."

"..." It was then TD suspected Discord had already arrived on Earth. Unfortunately, the reality was far worse. Alondro's Plan had come to fruition and humanity was F'd in the A.

[Alondro]

Oh, and I'd wager this Grimdarker version of Discord is currently raping and murdering and eating alive slowly all the ponies and mutating some into cannibal monsters so that when TD does make it back it's just a horrific scene of blood and gore and demons... kinda like that WTF scene in "Berserk" when the writers obviously had a really bad acid trip combined with all the most graphic and brutal scenes from "Blood-C" combined.

Speaking of which; WTF, Japan? W...T... F???

[BronyWriter]

7867957 I intentionally left that out because I didn't want a hundred comments about it.

7867979 No.

[fluffyunicorns]

7867979 Anime was toned down in terms of violence

[Alondro]

7867986 You should have known I'd notice the omission and make full use of it. After all, I am...

1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7bfeaSEwDg/UopVOI2d5-I/AAAAAAAAErE/bSpfOGGBJv8/s1600/haters-gonna-hate-dancing-troll-face-trollface.gif

The body's right too: pasty, white, scrawny, and no musculature to speak of!

[BronyWriter]

7868003 I will sell you out to Denmark.

tjing tjang tjing nutilej!

[Kuroy]

Finally!!!!

[WorldWalker128]

Bronywriter is in da HOUSE!

[HoneyBadgerr]

Soooooooo awesome. More!!!!!

[whitedorumon]

7867957 I'm sorry that you couldn't get a communist or a warmongering old hag for president instead, here, take some Kleenex and wipe those salty tears away.

look on the bright side at least you don't have Theresa May or that ignorant wannabe marxist Fud Corbyn... unless you're from the UK.

[Forward-Unto-Fiction]

Scrolls through Main page... wait a minute... sees "Resurgence"...

Mother of god... its here...

[BronyWriter]

7868081 Not here. No non-Antaresverse politics, please.

[Alondro]

7868014 You silly boy, who do you think is running Denmark?

vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/southpark/images/2/26/LennartBedrager.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/300?cb=20161015021913

He's one of mine too.

It's too late, don't you see? My agents run almost every nation on earth. And soon, I shall broadcast Order 67 and become Emperor of the Earth.... and then, THE GALAXY!!!

And how can this be? For my TRUE form is the super villain, Bastard Man! Nyah ha ha!

[Aprion]

pre09.deviantart.net/ed4c/th/pre/f/2016/318/c/1/more_of_this_by_aprion-daog3rt.jpg

[DerpyDucks]

7868099 I for one welcome our new overlord Alondro.

[KamLong]

7868099 As long as you stay clear of the finnish, they are scary.
Russia found out the hard way
forestfriend.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/20120613-2107571.jpg

[harts fire]

dang now this is how to kick off a sequel.
love it.
this is looking to play out fast passed with a hole bunch of cliffhangers.

[dinoding]

I wonder if he will be any more forthcoming to his family, maybe give them a very, very vague overview of what happened, even if he doesn't tell them exactly where he was. Telling people exactly where he was might do more harm than good.His story matches a popular fiction people know for a fact he has consumed, a good enough reason to dismiss it. He might as well say that the flash was Son Goku getting him out of the way, and he's been gone for so long but aged little because time flows differently in Narnia. No matter how much he insists on it, people will still think he's being cynical and fucking with them to hide the truth.

[Tethered-Angel]

This raises an important question: How do nightmare weapons work against Discord? I hope they saved a few.

[Paperbag Wizard]

Oooo! I'm excited to see this story get updated. TD has a lot in store for him. I can just imagine him sarcastically saying that he was in a magical land full of ponies where he became the prince of the ponies.

[Speven Dillberg]

7868455
If they do work, I can see Antares and Celestia spending a lovely day together with a few Nightmare bows and using Discord as target practice. Once Antares gets back, of course.

[Krazyfan1]

Wonder if you have any magic....

[dinoding]

7868556 I am thinking he might, It is certainly a possibility he should pursue, since he knows something is up with his human body, something detectable. I mean really what other options does he have, how else is he going to get back?
If he can demonstrate magic it's far more likely he'll be able to get people to assist him, both because it removes most doubt for his story and gives him something to bargain with.

[Midknight Defender]

I approve of this sequel!

At last!

[damnaion]

BronyWriter
me: is alive
G.witter : i see Mr TD is having some PDST with hospital with is good for that OC then there the way back you sneaky devil if now one pick up the thing in the blood being one of the biggest hints on about 3 to 5 ways it may go if you went that path and time on that one would be about a month to a year before Mr TD gets back....

[zoruatrainer66]

It's here! Hallelujah!

[Rhombicosidodecahedron]

7868455 the curse of being unable to read spoilers on mobile :(

[Sir_Victanius_XVI]

7869336 if you copy the spoiler part and paste it in the search bar you should be able to see what is written inside

[Balnar]

I just remembered that in TD's world MLP was a thing .
Where were you ?
TD: Oh you know in alternate dimension where MLP is realety

[PrinceJonathan]

I would have tried to find some middle ground with the doctors.

You can't tell them "where" you were for the simple reason it sounds impossible. So leave out the specific details that make it impossible.

Yes you know exactly where you were for five years.

For a while you tried to find a way home but eventually gave up. Five years is a long time.

Your scars are because you fought in a war. You had given up hope of returning to Earth and became a citizen of your new "Home", of course you're going to fight to defend it.

The reason you are so hostile is because you left behind a wife and child with a second one on the way. Every thought, every breath, every fiber of your being is desperate to return to them.

[honeyhoneyhoney]

You stop at the goood parrtt awwww

[Lysander Shadowheart]

I love this chapter and I'm very excited to see what will happen next.

[Slayerseba]

Brain stood up and made his way to the door.

orig15.deviantart.net/b98f/f/2008/040/d/4/a_walking_brain_by_warufuzake.jpg