Earlier….
There wasn’t any noticeable changes even after the medicine had time to get into the diamond dog pup’s system. Dr. Touch let out a sigh of relief. “He doesn't seem to be reacting negatively, that's a good sign.”
“Doctor, are you sure it's wise to use those on him?” An earth pony decked out as the security officer voiced his concerns as the two doctors, Stable Horse and Good Touch, took note of the young one’s vitals.
“Wiser than letting him stay under much longer,” Dr. Stable remarked. “At this point it would do more harm than good to keep him under any longer.”
“But what if he becomes aggressive?” Night Watch was concerned about the safety of the other patients.
“He has recovered enough that he is past the danger zone,” Dr. Stable said as he adjusted the IV line. “And as I said, we could cause more damage if we kept him under.”
“We just gave him a shot that will rouse his system and wake the son up fairly quickly.” Dr. Touch didn't look the most confident in his comment. “Well, it should.”
“But he's a diamond dog,” Night Watch insisted, looking at the figure on the bed in distaste. “I've seen how lively a pony gets when you use those. What if—”
Dr. Good Touch cut him off before he could get into the hypotheticals. “Night Watch, he is a foal. A patient. I will treat him like I do any other foal in the care of my department. And I expect the staff to do the same.”
Night Watch couldn't help but take a step back at Dr. Touch’s intensity. He cast a glance at Dr. Stable. Dr. Touch was the lead for pediatrics, but Dr. Stable was the dean. Unfortunately, there was nothing to help him refute Dr. Touch to be found from him.
“I understand that, doctor.” Night Watch frowned.
“Good. Assuming he responds to it like any other foal, he should wake up within an hour.” From the sour expression of Night Watch's face, it was clear he had more to say, but Dr. Touch simply moved on. “I'd like to have a nurse and maybe one of our trainees watching him.”
“Seems fair,” Dr. Stable agreed. He made a few notes on the clipboard chained to the foot of the bed. “I'll have nurse Joy come down. And Patch Kit. He’s training to be a doctor.”
“Security should be there as well,” Night Watch said cooly. “The zebra woke and was agitated. This one might be as well.”
“Jali was understandably confused when he woke. ‘Spots’ might be as well,” Dr. Touch agreed. His tone was a trace cynical as he continued. “But do you really think our staff can’t handle one unruly child?”
“I’d like to request, in an official capacity, for hospital security to have a presence,” Night Watch said, just as resolute as Gentle Touch. “It is my department’s job to do the handling, isn't it?”
Gentle Touch frowned at him, but Dr. Stable interjected. “That's fine, Night Watch. You can assign a pony to be here as well.”
Andy-Rae felt sluggish and his body stiff and numb as he woke, making him feel like little more than a sack of potatoes. His heart was pounding in his ears, head spinning and eyes too tired to open. For a while, he was content to lay there, motionless on the soft crinkling bed, chest moving slightly with his shallow breaths. Truthfully, he was confused and preoccupied with the fearful realization that he had no idea where he was.
The bed and covers felt too large. Something was strapped oddly over his face and the air coming from it had a smell that was stinging his nose. He could pick up the faintest murmur of what could be voices and footsteps, though most of what he heard was a regular wheezing and beeping that struck him as familiar for some reason. Not to mention it didn’t hurt anymore.
It made no sense. The last thing he remembered was the tree. He had tried fighting it. His little crude club had been useless. The moon had been blocked off when the grove sealed itself off. In the dark, the branches had pummelled him badly. He remembered bones snapping and it being hard to breathe before a one last root pointed at him and—
His sluggish muscles reluctantly moved his hands to his neck, but he didn’t find a ragged hole, a shaft of wood, not even bandages. Just… fur? He forced his heavy eyelids open and his confusion only grew. The sheets were off white. The walls had blue and yellow panels. But his hand… Thick and stubby digits tipped with a claw, black and orange pads on the underside. A mess of tan, black, blue and white made up what covered his limbs and likely body. Almost idly he noticed he was short one finger.
His breathing was already shallow, but it was getting shorter as he tried to make sense of things, panic building. He opened his mouth slowly and let out a slight whimper before he pulled at the mask that was over his face. His arms didn’t feel right, like they weren’t in the right positions, moving just a bit off. His frantic motions pulled the IV line from his arm and might have done more harm had someone not stopped him.
“Don’t do that, you’re going to hurt yourself!” They grabbed his arm and tried to hold him back, only to pull back in surprise when he turned and tried to bite them with a growl. “Yeah! Easy, kid!”
Andy hadn’t realized he wasn’t alone in the room, but he wasn’t sure why he reacted the way he did either. And to cap off the onslaught of unknowns, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at. Violet fur with an orange and yellow mane, wearing a nurse’s hat and nothing else aside from a stethoscope on his back, standing on all fours with a pair of wings at his side. There were two others in the room. One was pink with red hair and a kind smile, the other yellow with a security uniform with piercing icy blue eyes. The first one, the pegasus, spoke again, startling Andy.
“I know you must be confused, but you shouldn’t bite ponies, especially ones trying helping you,” he said, mildly lecturing. He held out a foreleg, one that ended in a hoof, to Andy. “Come, let me help you, okay?”
Andy shied away from it, his panic likely clear in his eyes as he backed away, crawling on the bed with uncooperative limbs that were not working as he wanted them to.
“I think he's scared,” the guard offered. Andy flinched again, shifting his retreat to avoid the guard as well. He tried to stand up, but found it hard to keep his balance on digitigrade hindlegs and paws that were shorter than the forelegs, falling over onto his back and tail.
His tail, a limb he hadn't realized he had. It got his full wide eyed attention. He bounced back and forth on what to focus his panic on; the weird things in the room, the weird room, the fact that he was naked, the fact that was some weird body. He didn't realize the pitched whining in the room was coming from himself.
“He's confused, it might be from the daze of waking up,” the one with the wings suggested. At his voice, Andy snapped out of his daze and started retreating again. “Joy, can you see if his brother is available? He might help calm ‘Spots’ down.”
The pink mare nodded and hurried out of the room. Andy's retreat stopped when his paw found empty air. He looked at the edge of the bed and the ground below it and back at the two remaining individuals in the room.
“Maybe I should introduce myself.” The winged one said suddenly. “I'm Patch Kit, a nursing doctor. This is my friend Sunflower Seed. The mare that was here is Joy Song.”
The guard, Sunflower, trotted forward. Perhaps he intended for it to be a bright smile but it instead came across intense and quite intimidating. The sharp scent of urine joined those already in the air. Andy chose to risk the fall, leaping off the bed only to dart under it.
“And you scared him more,” Patch Kit said as he let out a mildly frustrated breath. He cast a disgruntled look at Sunflower. “I keep telling you to tone it down.”
Sunflower shrugged helplessly while Patch Kit crouched low enough to look under the bed. “Hey kid, you don't have to worry about Sunflower. He only looks like he wants to arrest somepony.”
Andy had crawled to the furthest corner and cowered against the wall, his whining the only sound coming from him. Patch Kit extending a hoof toward him only had him scoot closer to the wall.
“I don't think this is working.” Patch Kit rubbed his nape after getting up again. “How long do you think it will take Joy to find—”
“I found Jali,” Nurse Joy said as she edged the door open. The zebra foal in question could be glimpsed behind her legs. “How is it going?”
“Not well,” Patch admitted.
Nurse Joy trotted in with Jali trailing. The empty bed, and damp linen, didn't escape her notice. “Where did he go?”
“Under the bed,” Sunflower supplied.
“Like I said. Not well.” Patch rubbed his arm.
Looking out from behind the nurse, Jali took a few steps forward, his head held low as he looked under the bed. “There is no need to hide. To you, these ponies have not lied; they will not stab you in the backside.”
Andy didn't have anywhere else to back into, so he remained cowering against the wall, panicked eyes locked on Jali. Something about him was familiar, despite everything. Like a smell.
“Is he prone to panic attacks?” Patch Kit asked suddenly.
Looking up at Patch Kit, Jali nodded quickly before looking back down at Andy as he stepped closer. As long as he had known Andy, he’d been prone to stressing himself into panic induced anxiety attacks. He had mostly gotten over them by the college years though. “It is alright they will not bite,” he said in as soft a tone as he could manage.
“I…” Andy, startled at his own voice, whimpered again. “I don't know where… what I am…”
“Brother,” Jali said as he stuck his head under the bed, his eyes filled with worry, “It's me; he who makes you groan with my mention of the crones.” Please get the hint Andy, please!
Andy didn’t get it at first, confusion in his eyes as he stared into Jali's. Something about them nagged at him until he figured it out. Bright green behind large glasses. “... Witcher?” The crones were from that stupid game. The glasses… made him think of the time back in freshman year. “James?”
“Jali,” he said quickly, before pulling his head back out from under the bed. “Can we be alone?” he asked, looking up at Nurse Joy. “This I thought he had outgrown.”
Nurse Joy looked over at Patch Kit. He nodded. “I don't see any problems with it.”
“Night Watch wanted me here to keep an eye on him,” Sunflower said hesitantly.
“You already worsened his panic attack,” Patch Kit replied. He motioned for Sunflower to leave. “Well be right outside if you need us, Jali.”
The three ponies excused themselves, Sunflower reluctantly, leaving Jali alone with the still cowering Andy.
“Yes, it is me,” Jali said in a quiet tone after a few moments, wary of anypony listening in on their conversation. “We need to be quiet; so please don't cause a riot.”
“Are… are you really James?” Andy didn't leave his hiding place, but had to ask.
He simply nodded.
Andy hesitated, then slowly inched out from under the bed. He paused just at the edge of the bed’s shadow and sniffed the air. A strange expression crossed his face before he lunged out and hugged Jali, burying his muzzle in his friend’s shoulder even as he whimpered.
Jali let out a yelp of surprise as he was suddenly hugged, his eyes widening for a moment before he realized what was going on. He let out a quiet sigh as he awkwardly sat down and started to rub Andy’s back.
Andy slowly calmed down, the whining fading away into sniffles. “What happened? I only remember the trees and… it ate you… I thought I was…” He subconsciously put a… paw to his neck. “What happened to us?”
“I...I do not know but I do know we are in the land of the show,” Jali sighed softly, “We are in Equestria: the land of ponies and the dream of bronies.”
“The show?” Andy's first thought was the show he watched, but it didn't look like anything he'd expect from Beach City. “That's... you watch MLP?”
He simply nodded.
“But what happened?” Andy backed away uncertainly, stumbling a little on the unfamiliar limbs. “I… why do I look so…” he looked at his paw, “different?”
“You are a diamond dog,” he said simply, looking down at his forehooves, “Be glad you have hands and won't have to deal with this slog.”
Andy cocked his head to the side in confusion. He looked down at his paws but decided something else needed addressing. “Why are you rhyming?”
“This limerick gimmick is involuntarily.” Pausing, he closed his eyes and his face started to scrunch up in concentration, “Zebra… speak in rhyme…” His eyes opened and he let out a deep breath he was holding, “To do this is not easy unless you want me to be wheezy.”
Andy swallowed and pawed at the ground, taking another look at his new legs. “James… should I be panicking more?”
“Jali is now my claim to a name,” he corrected, a hint of fear in his eyes at Andy’s question as he avoided it. He wasn't even sure if he should be panicking more himself. Sure, he'd been awake for two days but barely had a moment to let it sink in as he was almost constantly surrounded by the hospital staff who just kept poking and prodding him with questions and whatnot. And at night, he'd been plagued by that damn dream with its monster.
“Oh!” his fear vanished as he thought of a way to change the subject. “Don’t blame me, but you need a new name to claim.”
Andy whimpered a little. Part of him could somewhat see why, but he couldn’t help but ask. “What’s wrong with Andy? And what’s a diamond dog?”
“I can explain later, my little interrogator,” he said, “Andy is far from dandy. You heard how their names sound so lame and tame?”
“Your rhyming is annoying,” Andy grumbled. He tried to focus on his breathing and reciting the ABC in his head to keep from panicking again. “Are we kids here?”
Jali just nodded and sighed, “How did we anger fate to deserve so much of its hate?”
“You said diamond dog?” Andy asked suddenly. His countenance fell and there was a clear whine in his tone, but using curiosity to distracted him was one of the things that had helped him control his anxiety when it was bad. “I pee on a tree and I wake up as a dog somewhere? Is that irony?”
He just let out a dry laugh and after a few seconds stopped to look at him. “But you do need a new name to claim. Being called Spot doesn't sound too hot?”
“Spot? That’s a horrible name, where did the—” Andy trailed off and frowned at Jali. “You told them my name was Spot?”
He shook his head, “We were called Stripes and Spots and it didn't seem so hot t-”
Andy would have retorted but a knock on the door interrupted it. “Are you finished now, Jali? Has he calmed down?” It was Patch Kit. “We still need to check to see if your brother is okay.”
Andy looked at Jali in confusion. “Brother?”
Jali just looked over at Andy with a look of I'll explain later in his eyes. Andy’s confusion didn’t ease any. Even if he planned to push for an answer, he didn’t get a chance to before the door opened and Patch Kit’s head poked in. “So, are you?”
Andy’s ears dropped and he glanced at the bed, though he forced himself to stay where he was. For the most part. He couldn’t help but partially hide behind James. Jali.
Jali's eyes followed Andy’s and he couldn’t help a small grin as he saw the damp spot on the sheets before turning his attention back to Patch Kit. Patch Kit re-entered since neither child refused him, Nurse Joy behind him. It looked as if Sunflower was going to follow but a glare and a shake of the head from the mare stopped that, leaving the guard to watch the door she closed on him in bemusement.
“My brother without a mother would like to tell you his claim to a name,” he said with a subtle smirk on his face as he stepped aside letting Andy have the spotlight.
“Jah—” Andy’s eyes widened and he shot James a look that was one part terror to two parts fury, starting to hiss his name but stopping at the last moment.
“Jah?” Nurse Joy asked sweetly. Andy swallowed nervously but shook his head. Nurse Joy smiled at him. “You can tell us, sweetie.”
Andy whimpered again. A name wasn’t something he could just come up with on the spot. So he said the first name that came to him, one he came across before that sorta meant the same thing Andy did. “Ja—Janga…”
“Jah Janga?” Patch Kit nodded. Andy, now Janga, glared at him. Patch Kit chuckled a little. “Oh, so it’s just Janga? That works. Janga and Jali. Kinda matches.” Nurse Joy was frowning at him too. “What?”
“If you start on making sure everything is fine with Janga, I will fetch some fresh bedding and let Dr. Touch know he’s woken without issues,” Nurse Joy reported. “Maybe a glass of water and a snack for him as well. You’ve been on a drip for so long.”
“Something light for now,” Patch Kit said, getting the clipboard from the foot of the bed. Janga was a bit embarrassed at the reminder of his earlier ‘accident’ and didn’t protest too much as Patch Kit checked him over. Part of that was likely due to him still coming to terms with everything. He did find time to glare at Jam—Jali, daring him to say something.
Jali returned the glare with faux innocence as he just watched with curious eyes, a small smirk on his lips as he did so. The look in his eyes just screaming of future blackmail.
The bed was large enough, particularly considering An—Janga’s smaller size, that enough of it remained untouched to be used for the check-up without any form of impairment to the young doctor-to-be. By the time Nurse Joy returned, a folded bundle of cloth on her back pushing a small cart with a covered tray before her. The comparatively thorough check up was mostly complete, and Janga, now with red cheeks, was more intimately aware of his body. Check ups were embarrassing enough when everyone wasn’t naked.
Patch Kit helped the somewhat embarrassed Janga down with a wing before turning his gaze on the Nurse. “Welcome back, Nurse Joy. I think the little guy is fine, aside from being a little dehydrated and weak.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Nurse Joy said with a cheerful smile. “I had a word with Dr. Good Touch on my way back. He says we can go ahead and move him to the general care room with his brother if he’s up to it.”
“So Janga, up to going to room with your brother?” Patch Kit asked in a friendly manner. Still confused with what had happened, and the brother claims, Janga just nodded hesitantly. Patch Kit ruffled what passed for Janga’s mane. “Great! Come on, then. Jali and I can show it to you while Nurse Joy finds something for you to eat.”