Brightness in every direction, that's all I knew soon as I awoke. I squinted and lifted my right arm up to block out as much light as possible. Still felt crazy being able to move my arm within only a couple weeks, the medical practices of these ponies are amazing. They claim it to be unicorn magic, and I'm inclined to believe them.
"Well, look who's finally awake" Someone said from, I assume, the doorway.
I groaned and turned my head to see a white and pink fuzzy blob walking towards me. I knew who it was, but my brain still wanted to freak out.
"It's your lucky day, you get to leave in a little bit," Redheart said.
I just groaned again. Least I could see somewhat clear now.
"I know, you can't wait to get out and stretch your legs," She said with mock hurtfulness. I like that about her, she likes to joke around from time to time.
A brown unicorn walked over shortly afterwards. His horn started to glow blue, and a beam of light washed over me, like one of those full body scanners you see in sci-fi movies. It kinda tickled. When he was done, he turned and gave Redheart a nod before walking out.
"Well, are you ready?" Redheart asked.
"Yea, I'm ready, been ready," I said horsely, "I want to see the world I'm going to be calling home from now on."
"Well, follow me then," She said, "And take care. Your bones are good again, but you might be... ok, or maybe you'll be perfectly fine."
She was surprised when I got out of bed on my own. My legs felt pretty numb, but I wasn't about to let that stop me. I shook each leg a bit and stretched both arms over my head as high as they'd go. God, that felt amazing!
"Crazy and reckless is ok, just don't let it put you back in here," She said.
"No worries there, I don't plan to live in a hospital," I said, rubbing Redheart's head a bit, "Then again, I might just if you'll be the one taking care of me again."
A hard bump against my hip helped me realize what I'd said. Why I said it, I don't know. She's cute, yea... but not like that. I apologized, then she led me out to the front so I could check out of here.
I turned the first corner and bam! Ran right into a light blue pegasus with a rainbow colored mane.
"Hey, watch where you're," she said after dusting herself off. Cutting herself off from her original statement, she immediately jumped into bombarding me with questions. Redheart had to step in and cut her off so we could move on.
"So sorry about that. That's Rainbow Dash, Ponyville's newest Wonderbolt, with a desire to know everything about anything she considers cool," Redheart explained.
"Can I expect that to be the norm for a few days?" I asked, silently begging the answer to be no.
"With some ponies, I'm afraid so, but most of them will probably steer clear of you till they know they can trust you," She explained, "Don't take it personally, though. They dragged you and your friends out of the Everfree Forest... Not much comes out of there with a lack of taste for pony."
Right... I'm glad I'm already friends with Flitter and her sister in that case.
The next door we passed through took us right to the main lobby where I spent the next minute (yea... that quick) signing the discharge paper before Redheart signed (with her mouth, I might add) to clear me under her authority. After saying our farewells, I immediately made a fool of myself by walking right into the not automatic door. Weird being on a world without those. At least it got a few chuckles.
Once outside, I fully took in the world around me. "So much color" was the first thought in my head. I'd seen the world through a window near my bed, but that could never do it justice. As expected, my presence was met with pleasant and less than pleasant results. Most ponies looked like they couldn't decide whether to be curious or terrified.
<i>CRACK BOOM</i>
Have I mentioned I hate thunder? No? Well, I hate thunder. I must've jumped a few good feet in the air before booking it right back inside the hospital. I got a quick cup of water and sat down to calm my nerves. I didn't even see Flitter walk up till she prodded me in the side.
"I didn't scare you too bad, did I?" She asked, "Cloud Chaser dared me to do it."
"Wait, you did that? How?" I asked.
"A saturated thunder cloud. Just had to punch it and bam, thunder," She explained.
"Right, ok then," I said, skeptical, "Well, could you maybe not do that ever again? I have mild astrophobia, so thunder scares me more than the average person... er, pony."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I had no idea," She said.
"Now you do, so don't do it again," I said, reaching over and patting her head, "So, you used an actual cloud? Want to show me how?"
"Sure, though you might want to take your pants off first," She said, "It looks like you peed yourself a bit."
"I'll be alright, really. Besides, It's not like you ponies will have any clothes for humans, and I'm not as comfortable with being publicly naked as most of you are," I said.
"I know somepony who'd love to help with that," she said.
"One thing at a time," I said, "First, the cloud thing. And no thunder this time."
With that, she quickly grabbed? I'm not sure if grabbed is the right word, but oh well. She grabbed my right hand and pulled me up and out of the building. She may seem fragile, but she's pretty damn strong when she wants to be.
Once outside, she went and grabbed a small grey cloud and brought it over to me.
"So, you take a cloud like this and punch it to make lightning and thunder, or bounce on it to make it start raining," she explained.
She then bounced on the cloud and rain started to fall. It rained on that little spot for a few minutes whole I just stood in awe. The fact that I just saw her force rain out of a cloud was beyond impressive. Once the rain stopped, she pulled back and, before I could say stop, she punched the cloud and made it disappear.
"I thought punching clouds made thunder," I said, baffled.
"When they're rain clouds, yes. Once the moisture is all gone, punching them makes them go pop," she explained, "What causes thunder is the concentrated force from a punch striking the dormant lightning, driving it through the cloud. As the lightning passes through the cloud, it heats up all the moisture, causing it to rapidly expand. The sound of thunder comes after the lightning is gone and the moisture cools and constructs like a rubber band."
"Long winded much?" I asked jokingly, earning me a jab to the shoulder, "Joking aside, that's pretty interesting."
"Yep, now let's go get you some clothes!" She said as she grabbed my arm and started pulling again, "I'll tell you more on the way."
The way there, Flitter explained to me how they make the lightning that goes into the rain clouds. It ignites on contact with oxygen, so has to be made in a vacuum chamber. After it's made, the bolt gets placed into a special container that can only be opened again when a certain concentrated pressure value is breached. No wonder she's so strong...
As we're moving on about through the town, I can't help but notice all the looks I'm getting. The number of fearful and confused faces dropped... probably because I was being so peaceful with Flitter by my side happily explaining weather stuff.
Before long, we reached a giant circus tent. It's called the "Carousel Boutique"... oh boy.
<i>Jing-a-ling</i>
"I'll be with you in just a moment," came a voice from... somewhere.
"That's Rarity, she's Ponyville's sole fashion designer," Flitter explained.
Fashionista... got it. Oh boy.
"Terribly sorry about that, I had a bit of," she said, cutting off soon as she saw me.
I braced myself.
"It's ok, Rarity. This is Jack, and he's a friend of mine, he's safe," Flitter explained assuringly.
"Right, well no offense Flitter, but has Twilight seen him yet?" Rarity asked.
"Yes, she even had Spike send a couple letters for him," Flitter said.
"Good enough for me," Rarity said before levitating over a rather small tape measure, "I assume you're here for some clothes, so stand still with you're forelegs away from your body."
Welp, here we go...