//------------------------------// // Chapter Three - Waiting Game // Story: Summer Bound // by Windsocks //------------------------------// My eyelids were held tightly together, even in my dreams I was plagued with the pain. If you can even call floating around in the void a dream. Once again, the pain shot through my back and up to my head as if it was pounding for relief. Was this even a dream if it could inflict me physical pain? My whole body twitched as the pain increased to a point I couldn’t take anymore. In a matter of seconds my eyes snapped open revealing a posh bedroom. The pain from my dream gone only to be replaced with a sense of confusion. I should be next to a fireplace, not in a bed? I thought to myself. Maybe someone had come to the cottage and helped me out. Reaching my hand up to my head I ran my fingers through my hair. I soon came to feel a bandage wrapped around my forehead. That was enough evidence I needed to tell that someone, indeed, helped me out, but whom? Clearly it must be someone outside the family seeing as I have no correlation with this room. Letting out a large sigh I slowly start to get up from the bed, using the wooden headboard as a support. My forehead still pounded, but at least the pain in my back was gone. I could probably ask for some Advil assuming they haven’t already given me some. As I sat up, I took in the full extent of the bedroom. Lavish white drapes partially covered the windows allowing small rays of light to enter. The polished stone walls were well decorated with a multitude of paintings, small mirrors here and there. A plush rug lay beneath the bed which rested against the middle of the back wall. The tiled floor continued out from under the rug to all corners of the room, seemingly made out of marble. The furnishing itself looked as if it was built just for this room. The colors and trim melted with the walls and floor. From here I could see a desk by the window, dresser by the front door, and lastly a large bookshelf spanning one of the large walls. The detail and craftsmanship on each were impeccable, definitely, all hand crafted. Whoever lived here was seriously rich, I thought to myself as I got more comfortable under the covers. I didn’t really want to move from the spot, I felt like I would contaminate the purity of the room just by touching it. Nevertheless, that would not help out my situation. I had just met a pony that kept me in a padded room. Yet, I knew that was just a dream. Such a preposterous thought would definitely have me placed in a padded room here on earth. No matter how real it felt I knew this was reality, a place where talking ponies did not exist. Shuffling over to the edge of the bed, I placed my feet on the rug. It held a nice warm touch to it, in contrast to the marble flooring. Which would no doubt be a great deal colder upon my barren feet. Standing up I pushed myself off the bed and started towards the two oaken doors situated in the corner of the room. Placing my hand on the door knob I gave it a little twist and shove, only for the door to remain still. It was clearly locked from the outside. The person who saved me must still be a bit cautious about me. Then again, I was a completely random person they found clinging to the edge of life in a cottage. I would give myself some extra ‘padding’ room as well if I were them. Against my earlier judgment, I heard some shuffling on the other side of the door. It almost sounded as if they were hooves clopping around on the marble flooring. I took a large gulp and fell right on my ass. I knew what that sound was, and my mind wasn’t ready for what was about to reveal itself. “No, don’t do this to me,” I claimed to no one in particular as I started to shuffle back on the ground. The doorknob started to glow an eerie gray color as it slowly began to turn. Before long the large oaken doors swung open revealing my worst nightmare, a pony with golden armor. Closing the door behind him, he started to walk my way. Still, in denial, I continued to shuffle away from him until my back was up against the cold stone. I was about to speak up, but before I could get a word in the stallion's horn lit up and I found myself being pulled sideways. It felt like I was being stretched and compressed at incredible speeds as I twisted around every plane. The headache I had came back with a vengeance as the sensation had gone as quickly as it came. The feeling of nausea started to set in as I toppled to the floor. It was too early for this kind of beating. As I lay there on the marble floor I couldn’t help but let nausea win. Unable to hold it back any longer I vomited next to me. I could see a bit of blood in it, which to my vast knowledge was never a good sign. Rolling back onto my back, I looked towards the ceiling. All my energy used up from the previous days, my mind still a mess. The sound of clopping hooves made themselves known. Turning my head to the right I come to see Celestia trotting up to me; a look of horror upon her face. “I am so sorry Mr. Kenneth, I had no idea the spell would affect you like this,” Celestia stated. “You’re not real,” I claimed in a whisper, my voice was shot. “What was that?” Celestia asked. I looked at her with as much determination that this pounding head would allow, “You’re not real, you’re just a figment of my imagination! I’m laying down right now, in my cottage, by the fireplace!” I yell out with my course voice. The dryness of my throat makes me enter a coughing fit, more blood spraying against the pure white marble. “We need to get you to the doctors. Guard!” She barked at the pony beside her, “Take him to the infirmary!” The pony nodded as his horn started to glow that same gray color, “Without teleporting this time,” Celestia reminded as I found myself levitating off the floor. This was just not my week, was it? And just like that, I fell back into the black. Cracking my eyelids open I come to see a bland white ceiling. The sounds of hushed talking in the background with more hoof steps. Great, I was still in this ‘pony world’ I claimed to myself as I slowly turned my head to the side. Celestia was talking to some pony dressed in a nurse’s outfit. As soon as the nurse met my gaze she stopped her talking and nodded towards my location. Following her nod, Celestia’s eyes greeted mine, “Ken, great to see you awake. Please accept my apology for the teleport. I had no idea it would affect you like that.” “No,” I state looking at her with a blank stare. Even I knew that magic and I don’t really seem to get along. So, you would think that the princess here would catch the drift. I guess it really is hard to make due without something you lived your whole life having. Celestia’s ears droop, “I see, I’ll just leave you to your own devices then.” She claims turning around towards the nurse. “Leaving someone in the hospital is not how you gain their forgiveness,” I commented causing Celestia to stop in her tracks. Turning around she once again rests her magenta eyes on me, “Since I don’t have any other friends, you’re going to be here till I recover.” This gets a small smile to form on her lips, “You consider me a friend?” “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves sun butt,” I comment catching Celestia off guard. “Sun butt?” Celestia questions with an amused look on her face. I nod to her question, “Yeah, you got that sun tattoo on your flank. I can see it’s a fad here as that nurse has one too.” I state while Celestia once again walks up next to the bed and sits down on a cushion that was placed there. “They’re called cutie marks Ken,” Celestia answered sporting a smirk. I give her the best ‘really’ expression I can muster, “And what are these ‘cutie marks’ for?” I prod for information as the nurse goes off to probably look after another patient. Celestia then goes on a lecture about what they are, when they appear and so on. To tell the truth, it was pretty interesting learning about this special quality only ponies have. She, however, didn’t seem surprised when I told her that humans didn’t work the same in regards to special talents. “You still think we’re a figment of your imagination?” Celestia changes the subject. “I don’t know what to think anymore, I mean I just vanished out of thin air. Humans aren’t supposed to do that!” This seems to peak Celestia’s interest. “Where did you vanish off to?” “I appeared back at my cottage in the middle of a frozen lake. It seemed like I skipped two seasons in the span of a couple of hours. How long was I gone here?” I ask. “Only a couple seconds. You reappeared with a pretty bad head wound, so I took you here to get patched up before placing you in my own chambers. The scans I took came up with nothing, which is strange. I think what ever is effecting you only appears right before you fade away.” My mind immediately sprung two things. One: time was not relative between the two places. An hour here seemed to span multiple days back on earth. Secondly: why the hell did she store me in her own chambers? I looked at her with an odd expression, “Your chambers? Why not just place me in a guest room? Or do what you did before and chuck me into the padded room?” “I wish I could, but with us trying to keep you a secret I couldn’t place you in any normal guest room, ponies would start to get suspicious. As for the padded room, I myself thought it would be nice for you to stay in an actual bed, rather than laying down on the floor.” I couldn’t argue with her there, “I guess, so how long am I here for?” I ask Celestia. Firing up her horn, she levitates the clipboard from the end of the bed in front of her. A few page flips later she places it back. “You have a minor concussion, you should be out within a couple days.” “Well, get comfortable because you're going to be with me every minute of it,” I state. I wasn’t just going to stay here in the hospital all this time without some form of entertainment. This pony owed me one and if she didn’t want to pay me back then she could say goodbye to any cooperation. Celestia gave out a large sigh, “Ken, I’m the princess of Equestria. I can’t just take a couple days off whenever I want. My ponies need me.” “No they don’t, plus I’m sure you can get some ponies to do your work for you. Back in my world if the president took a day off nobody would really care.” I comment. She seemed to be battling something within her mind as she looked down at me, “I thought it was you that was supposed to follow my orders, not the other way around.” Celestia commented as she levitated her tiara off her head before placing it on the stand next to the bed. It’s funny how differently she looks without her tiara, she gives off a more relaxed vibe. “You’ve probably just realized that maybe now is not the time to be bossing a person in the hospital bed around,” I reply with a small smirk. “I take it that you decided to stay?” Celestia rolls her eyes, “Yes, I feel it is important that we repair our relationship. After all, we will be spending a lot more time together.” Celestia, however, doesn’t stop there, “By the way, when you came into our world for the first time you brought this with you.” I was pretty sure that I had nothing on me when I got flung overboard. So, this revelation was quite surprising for me. Instead of levitating it like you would expect, she grabbed a small thin black box from the nurse's table. Bringing it closer, I come to the realization that it’s my phone. “Just like you this ‘device’ is immune to magic. It unlike you, seems to completely resist magic altogether, rather than hold a resistance to it.” Taking the phone from her hoof, I turn it around in my hands. Nothing really looked off with it, but if it did fall into the lake like me then it's probably toasted. Once again you never really know for certain until you try it out. With that thought in mind, I held the power button, hoping that it would by some miracle turn on. Surprisingly it did turn on, but not in the way one would think. The phone immediately shocked me causing me to drop it onto the floor of the hospital. With the screen still facing up, both me and Celestia stare at the screen which to my disappointment displayed static. “Incredible, a picture of some sorts,” Celestia comments going to pick it up. Sadly, when her hoof came close to it an arc of electricity zapped her. Recoiling her hoof, she looked at the phone with a stern expression. One that a parent would give a kid for eating their dessert before their meal. “Why do you have such a useless device with you?” Celestia claims rubbing her injured hoof. It was my turn to roll my eyes, “It’s not supposed to do that. I guess the water did something to it. It’s supposed to be a device that lets you talk to other people around the world. Now, however, it looks like its nothing but a glorified electrified paperweight.” The pain in my head was starting to increase again. Maybe they did give me some medication that was now wearing off. “Then how do we move it if we can’t touch it?” “Get rubber gloves or something, I don’t know,” I claim taking my eyes off the phone and back onto Celestia. Celestia looks at me with a confused expression, “and how would rubber gloves help?” “They’re poor conductors,” I state resting my head onto the pillow. As I laid there I could hear Celestia open her mouth, “And before you ask I’m not going to explain what a conductor is.” There was silence for a moment before she spoke up again, “do humans read minds?” “Nope,” I state turning my head towards the door that was now opening. The same nurse from before came in levitating some pills next to her. “Come to give me some pain medication?” I ask. The nurse looked at me with a confused expression, she then turned to Celestia and started speaking the same gibberish I heard when I first arrived. Of course, I almost forgot for a second there that I’m in a completely different world with a completely different language. Letting out a sigh I return my gaze to the ceiling, closing my eyes I attempt to listen to their conversation. The words sounded really long almost as if they were all jumbled up. Maybe their language used a lot of suffixes instead of prefixes, that would make a lot more sense. However, if that were the case, it would cause a lot more trouble on my end to learn. Attempting to relax a bit I heard the door open and close again, then the clopping of metal on marble. It was quite obvious that Celestia was once again walking up next to me. “Do you humans have any games you like to play while you wait?” She asked causing my eyelids to open. “Chopsticks, but you have no fingers so there goes that idea,” I claim sitting up once again. “we could play a question game like, ‘I spy’ or ‘two truths and a lie’,” I state looking over to Celestia. “How do you play this ‘two truths and a lie’?” She asked the most obvious question ever. “Easy, say three things about yourself two of them being real and one of them being fake. The other person has to pick out the lie.” Celestia smile widens at this. “Alright, you go first,” Celestia ushers forth. “shouldn’t we be integrating me into society instead of playing games?” I ask causing Celestia’s smile to waver. She nods, then seems to perk back up, “Think of this as me learning a bit about your culture.” “Alright, if you say so. Just give me a minute to think,” I comment. A couple more minutes’ pass before I begin, “I have two older sisters and a brother, I’ve traveled around the world three times, and never failed a test.” Almost immediately Celestia called out, “Traveled around the world three times is the fib.” “Nope, I’m an only child,” I stated with a little smile upon my face. “You must be an adventurer then? Did you spend your entire life for the soul purpose of exploring your planet?” I let a little chuckle escape my lips, “No, we have these things called planes that take us around the world within hours.” “Amazing,” Celestia claimed her eyes glossing over. “It’s your turn now,” I commented shaking her out of her current stupor. Just like me, Celestia mulled over the possible things to say. For her, however, it took much longer. It wasn’t till ten minutes later that she came up with what to say. “I prefer living in the country, I’m scared of dark places, and I love red wine.” She listed them all off without changing her expression. It looked like I would have to rely on my use of deduction. It would be ironic of her to be scared of dark places, and living out in the country seems plausible since she lives in the city. What I could not wrap my head around was her drinking red wine, it just didn’t suit her for some reason. “Red wine,” I relayed. “Impressive,” Celestia commented raising an eyebrow. Sprouting a curious look, I asked, “Do you drink wine?” “I like a nice aged white wine, to me it has a fruitier taste.” She stated. As she continued to talk about white wine the door to the room once again opened. The nurse, however, was not the one to come barging in. Instead, a rather annoyed looking Luna came in. She looked as if she had just woken up. She barks something at Celestia in their natural language. As she does so she shoots me a couple of daggers from across the room. I respectively glare back at her, the tension in the room was so thick you could almost see the electricity escaping our eyes. Then I got an idea. Celestia looked over at the clock and gasped, “I can’t believe it's already 9!” as she said that Luna walked up next to Celestia. “Hey Luna you mind picking me up that box down there, I accidentally dropped it,” I comment pointing to my phone which was still displaying static on the screen. “Thou should be more careful when handling items,” Luna claims picking it up with her hoof. What I didn’t expect was for her to not so much as flinch when she picked it up. Holding the device in her hoof she held it out to me. “Here, next time you can get it yourself.” Smiling sheepishly, I took hold of the phone only for it to once again zap me. “OW! Jesus fuck!” Of course, this would all somehow backfire on me. Luna let out a large chuckle, “It should be wise not to prank the goddess of the night.” She then leaned in closer to me, “For we don’t like thou.” Backing away Luna helped her sister back to her hooves. Celestia looked over to me with the same smile she had worn since we started the game. “I’ll be right back, I and my sister just have to do the nightly ritual.” Before I could even ask ‘what’ they meant by ‘nightly ritual’, the two of them were gone. Leaving me to wonder what it was they were doing. The only pictures that seemed to flow through my mind, was them both sacrificing a goat or somethings. Obviously not the ideal picture to have in your mind when they’re the ones taking care of me. Flopping my head back down onto the pillow I shut my eyes once again. The phone beside me playing idle static in my ear as I slowly started to drift away.