I was lost in my mind. I couldn't focus. Snatches of conversations past and memories not my own whirled around my head in a symphony of chaos. I tried to center myself around what I knew were my own thoughts but I was snatched away moments later. This went on for what felt like an eternity before I gave into the madness. Minutes or seconds later, I couldn't tell, I felt something brush against my mind. Something familiar. Latching onto it I screamed with all my might: "Help Me!"
I sat up panting, my whole body covered with sweat. A snort next to me caused my head to whip to the side so fast I got dizzy. Slumping over my arm nudged the lump in the chair causing it to stir.
"Huh? What's that?" The voice belonged to the brindle mare that was in my mind.
"Audi?" My voice was dry and frail.
"Evan?!" She shot up and looked at me. Holding up a hoof she got up and turned on the lights causing me to wince and hiss.
"I-it... H-hurts," the unfamiliar words jumped to my lips, mentally echoed by hundreds of voices conveying the same meaning. Squinting at her I could see her mouth was hanging open. "Light...bright...need...off." I struggled to force the strange words out. Each movement of my mouth dropped a syllable heavier than anything I have ever held. "Need..." My jaw clenched in pain as a lance of pain shot through my temples. I began to lean back, knowing I was about to loose my grip again. "Need.."
I was lost in a cacophony of voices and memories. My senses were assaulted from all sides. I could feel it all. It was overwhelming. I fell to my knees with my hands clasped against my head as another vision assaulted me. I was kneeling on the ground, covered in glass and soot stoned marble that was stained red, my ears were assaulted with a cacophony of explosions and scream all muted beneath a low buzzing. I felt something drip down my face, causing me to wipe the liquid.. I immediately knew what it was. Blood. The same blood that coated my hands and clothes. The blood that pooled out from the fallen form of a pony. Horrified I reached out to touch the body. My hand shook and each heartbeat thundered in my ears, as my hand finally touched the body to roll it over I screamed when I saw-
"Evan?" I felt a gentle tough on my arm, making my eyes open slightly, seeing that the room was dimmer I opened my eyes completely.
"No... Big..White...One...feel..." I curled my hand into a fist and brought it down on the bed. I knew what I needed to say. I knew the word in my native tongue but I struggled to find it in this new one.
"Feel?" Audi had her head tilted to the side and shook her head slightly. "Sanyah? Lotesh?"
I couldn't understand those words. I gripped my temples in frustration. Multitudes of words jumped to my head but they were gone moments later. My head began to throb as I continued my inner battle between English and this odd pony tongue. I felt something wet on my lip making me freeze. I numbly touched it and brought it to my eyes. At first I thought that it was blood but after seeing that it was a deep blue instead of red I was thrown off. Rubbing the viscous liquid between my fingers I blanked out and I said the first thing that came to mind. I didn't know if what I said made sense, hell I didn't even know if I spoke that in English or not. Looking up from my fingers, which were somehow clean, I saw Audi staring at me with her mouth open. The only sounds after that were the heart monitor and the gentle scratching of a quill from in the corner of the room.
Audi was the first to recover. She blinked a fer times before motioning to the table next to me. "Drink." It was a gently spoken command said slowly as if she was talking to a child. Which in a way she was. Once I was finished she began to slowly speak to me. "Can you naavsh el?"
Scrunching my face up I tried to reply. "I...yes...you..little.." My finger went to my temple and tapped it with each word.
Squealing with what I would assume was delight she tapped her front hooves together. "You are maiq. Hai tol try to move qui."
I am maiq? Weak, that's what it means. I nodded slowly. "No.. know.. much..words... only... little..." At that point I began to feel myself nod off. "Be...here...when.. awake?"
She nodded and smiled sadly. "Yes, I'll be here when you wake up."
I slipped in and out of consciousness for what felt like a week, it was hard to tell though. Every time i opened my eyes I saw that the amount of ponies in my room would change dramatically. First there would be two, then six then one and so on. Every time my eyes opened I saw that the little brindle pony, Audi, stayed next to me. My unfocused eyes would meet hers and she would smile warmly before her face drained back into a state of worry that aged her severely. After lapsing into another restless dream state I became aware of the feeling of someone in my dreams- again. It's kind of hard to describe, it's similar to when someone walks up behind you and you feel their aura before you hear them. Kind of a subtle discomfort.
"Æther cannot exist on the mortal plane without a conduit. An empty vessel will collect Æther until it cannot anymore. When that happens all worlds shall bow inwards and for a moment the vessel will become the center of all existence."
The voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere all at once. I sensed someone behind me so I whirled around, my heart hammering. A hand slid over my left shoulder and a deep, breathy voice began to pur in my ear.
"Oh look at the little time bomb. Ah, I remember when everything was simple." I froze, the voice sounded wet, like the speakers mouth was full of blood. I felt my body freeze as a shriveled blackened hand slowly crept across my face, not shriveled- burning! The hand clamped down on my face, the palm covering my mouth and nose and I felt this horrible pushing sensation, it was as if someone was shooting water into my skull. I began to jerk and gargle, my mouth suddenly full of whatever the thing was pumping into my system.
"Watch the eyes. The eyes are the key to it all. Watch the eyes." The thing let me go and stumbled into my line of sight. It was vaguely humanoid, it was wearing what appeared to be boots and a taslets. Its upper body was bare other than a glowing circlet of some light metal with a large diamond shaped jewel embedded into it that was perched upon its head. It turned to me and I saw that the beings eyes were glowing with that same ethereal glow as the jewel. It opened its mouth and uttered a shot sad laugh. "I wish that it didn't have to be this way but when you're dealing with the unknown then you're taking risks. Just remember; the eyes are the key to all of this." It embraced me and gently placed a kiss on my brow. "I'm sorry for what's about to happen."
"Wha-"
It slammed a hand into my chest, its fingers slicing through skin and bone like knives. It grasped my heart and began to squeeze it whilst chanting in a dark echoing tongue. The language was echoing, the words staying in my consciousness for brief flashes like lightning. IT let go after a moment atd I slipped to the ground, my heart hanging heavily in my chest, unable to breathe. It looked at me one final time and laid its hand flat against my heart.
"CLEAR!"
"CLEAR!"
A bolt of what felt like fire lance across my chest and through my extremities. I tried to yell but my voice wasn't working. Something forced my eye open and shined a light into it, the process repeated itself a second later with my other eye.
"His pupils are irregular, heart started again as well."
"He's having trouble breathing."
"Are his lungs clear? Let's intubate..."
The rest of it faded out was something wrenched my head back and shoved something deeply into the depths of my chest.
I swam back to consciousness for the umpteenth time and blearily saw a random unicorn doing something in front of me. I tried to talk but all I could manage was a muffled grunt, I apparently was still plugged into a respirator- how I didn't notice that? I'll chalk it up to being unconscious for a while.
The nurse froze and looked at me, their eyes- a startling shade of blue- widening as i gently gargled and flexed my hands. "Don't move. I'll get the doctor."
It was my turn to freeze. That was english. I understood that! The doctor walked in a moment later smiling at me.
"Ah, Mister Wright, it's good to see you up and alert, we were afraid we lost you," his voice was quiet and pleasant but held the no nonsense edge to it. "For right now we ask that you don't move around very much. That spill from the window was more serious than we first thought." He produced a manila envelope from somewhere and pulled out an x-ray and held it in front of me. "You had a pretty bad subdural hematoma, which is a -"
Bleed within the brain
"-bleed within the brain," he finished indicating a large dark spot on what appeared to be a CT scan. "We were able to stop the bleeding, but we had to shave your mane off to get to the area. I apologize, we did not know if your mane style held any type of cultural significance to you, I-"
I held up a hand and gently motioned it away. Motioning from him to my mouth then finally to my ears, I asked him my silent question. How can I understand you?
"Ah, from what I was able to tell Miss Range was able to devise a spell that works on your mind to translate, its rough but it gets the job done. May I examine you? I would like to get you off of that respirator and back on your feet as soon as possible."
I nodded ever so slightly and relaxed my body and he stepped over me and began to gently prod and poke, stopping only to ask yes or no questions. After fifteen minuets he stepped back and nodded smiling. "I wouldn't say that you're going to be back in top shape but as of right now you're about eighty percent of the way there. Your lungs sound clear as well so we can go ahead and take you off of this and get some food in you, eh?"
The doc- i've been calling him Smiles because of his ridiculously white teeth and his Canadian accent- put me under again to remove the breathing tube and when I woke up again I had three guests in my room. Audi, the White One and the Blue One. Audi was right next to my bed and she smiled at me, her eyes full of tears. I extended my arms around her in a hug and held her tight.
"Thank you. Thank you." My voice was dry and brittle but happy. I pulled back and wiped the tears out of her large eyes. "No need to cry dear."
"It seems as though you already made a friend," SHE said. SHe was the large white one. Rainbow colored hair flowed gently over her shoulder and her deep purple eyes locked on my own. "It's nice to meet you Evan Kelsier Wright, I am Princess Celestia ruler of Equestria and tamer of the sun."
"That must be a hell of a job toots cause you look beat." The words left my mouth before I could stop them. I closed my eyes expecting to be vaporized but I heard a gentle laugh, it sounded like chimes. Cautiously opening an eye I saw the the blue one behind princess was giggling, her hoof covering her mouth.
"I told you 'Tia. You're getting old."
"Princess Celestia, excuse me for I meant no offense, i simply have never seen eyes that are so warm, or so tired in my life."
"Luna hush," Celestias voice was sharp towards the Blue one- Luna- but warm towards me. "It is quite alright Evan Kelsier Wright, I have been told that my eyes are a bit startling. But first allow me to apologize to you on behalf of all of Equiestria." Her head bowed and her eyes closed slowly. "You have been mistreated by agents of the royal crown without cause, and for that you have my deepest ap-"
"Please stop Princess Celestia." My voice was growing stronger now, mostly because I drank the water that was offered to me. "I hold no ill will towards you nor your people. What is done is done, we cannot change it. I just ask that the offenders be punished."
Celestia looked at me solemnly before nodding. I agree, however since you are the one they assaulted I shall leave their punishments to you."
"I'm sorry. What?