//------------------------------//
// 2 — The Great Escape, Pt 2. 
// Story: If Wishes were Ponies . . . . 
// by tkepner 
//------------------------------//

The next thing Harry, knew he was waking up in the softest bed he had ever felt. It felt more like a cloud than a bed, actually. Was he dead and this was heaven? It had to be — he wasn’t in severe pain like he should be after the beating Dudley and his gang had delivered. He did have a few aches and pains, but nothing like he would have expected from his cousin and gang. Well, it couldn’t be Heaven then, as he couldn’t believe that Heaven would allow pain to disgrace the experience. And that meant he wasn’t going to see his parents. He still was stuck in this miserable life.

He sighed.

But for the moment, he just wallowed in the feeling of not waking up in a cramped cupboard on a rickety and uncomfortable camp bed in horrible pain.

There seemed to be a light in his face, so he decided to roll over.

That was a bit of a challenge, as he discovered. He ended up thoroughly tangled in the sheets, but at least he was facing away from the bright light. He sighed contentedly and tried to go back to sleep. He’d never had that chance with the Dursleys. His Aunt always woke him at dawn to fix breakfast during the week and expected him to wake himself on the weekends — she didn’t trust him with an alarm clock, she had said, and didn’t want to waste the money for something she knew he would break. And promising he would take good care of it earned him a hard cuff upside the head and no dinner.

If breakfast wasn’t waiting when Uncle came downstairs on the weekends there was hell to pay, and Harry was always given the bill. His recovering from a bad beating was no excuse to slack-off, in their opinion. He had learned to always wake just before he needed to. And, today, he didn’t need to.


۸-_-۸


Princess Celestia stepped elegantly from her chariot, leaving her mid-morning raspberry snack-bowl behind. She was a pure-white pony who towered over all her subjects, easily three times an average pony’s height, with over ten times the mass. The six Pegasi Guardponies were doing their best to stifle their heaving sides in a vain effort to show their ruler that they were unaffected by the flying sprint they had made from Canterlot to Ponyville pulling the Princess’s coach.

She offered a soft, “Thank you,” and nodded as she gracefully stepped past them, tactfully ignoring the sweat dripping off their sides. She could have made the trip faster herself, but it always depressed her little ponies so much when she showed she didn’t need their assistance.

Another dozen were spread around her, keeping the civilians at a respectful distance, not that there were any in the area. It was, after all, a normal day in Ponyville and the hospital didn’t attract crowds except in dire emergencies. And the news of her planned arrival hadn’t been made public.

On the other hoof, every window on this side of the building had one or two ponies observing. For the residents, it was always an honour for her to show up in Ponyville. There were many towns larger than Ponyville which had never had a visit from their Princess. But Princess Celestia had visited Ponyville several times in the last year, and the little ponies were proud of one of their rulers’ attention to their little dale.

“Captain Armor, what more do you have for me?” she said to the white-coated unicorn stallion waiting outside the hospital, her soft voice making him shiver slightly.

“The unicorn colt was found at the edge of the Everfree forest yesterday in the late afternoon by three fillies. They were in their treehouse after school, in Sweet Apple Acres, section Sierra forty-two, when the Pegasus filly noticed what looked like an injured deer near the forest at the edge of the orchard. Applejack, the mare in charge of the farm, was able to show us where they found him. She had already explored a short way into the forest, following the trail the colt had left as he dragged himself to the farm. Four guards were able to backtrack his trail for almost half a mile into the forest before they lost it. When I arrived this morning I sent a decade with an experienced woodspony, but they were unable to track the trail any farther. The rain late last night possibly obliterated some of the signs of his trail. No trace of any other ponies were discovered, nor was there any evidence of whatever injured the colt.” The two of them walked to the hospital doors.

“The unicorn colt was being held unconscious by the doctors until your arrival, to keep things simple and to allow him sufficient time to recover. They cancelled the spell when your chariot was spotted and he should be waking soon.

“He is severely malnourished due to chronic starvation and somepony has savagely beaten him, leaving him with damaged kidneys and a crushed testicle — his injuries were not inflicted by an animal as there are no bite marks nor any claw marks. He was near the point of death when he was brought in.

“The fillies no doubt saved his life. If they hadn’t noticed him he probably wouldn’t have survived the night, especially that close to the Everfree.

“His recovery has been unusually rapid, however. Most of his minor injuries are already healed, His kidneys and testicle will be by the end of the day.”

The Princess stopped at the doors and looked down at him. “His kidneys would normally take at least a week, and the other should be permanent without extensive and powerful healing magic,” she said in mild surprise.

“Yes, the doctors say it is absolutely certain that he is using his own magic to aid in his recovery, something which has never been seen before in a unicorn pony so young nor anypony when they were unconscious. If this is common for him it might explain how he has survived his many past injuries.”

She nodded in understanding, and said, “Past injuries. One of the reasons I am here.”

The Captain of her guard opened the doors for her as she entered the building.

The Ponyville Hospital had not been designed with Alicorn Princesses in mind, so she had to duck her head and crouch slightly to go through the doors. Once inside she had to keep her head level with her withers as they were only a hoof-length or so from the ceilings inside. She expected that should she ever visit this hospital again she would find all the doors rebuilt to accommodate her easily. A larger town would build a new, higher-ceilinged hospital to avoid the embarrassment of forcing their beloved ruler almost to crawl on her knees in order to enter!

Doctor Well Heart was waiting for her just inside, bowing deeply with the rest of the reception area staff, as she approached. He and the others looked chagrined at seeing her undignified entry to their hospital.

She rolled her eyes. “Rise, my little ponies.” Naturally, whenever she entered a room, everypony bowed. Some even prostrated themselves on the floor. It was so tiresome. And it wasted so much time. After a thousand years she knew the futility of trying to convince her subjects that such acts were unnecessary in all except the most formal of occasions.

Nervously, the Doctor said, “The patient is this way, Your Highness.”

Considering how tall she was, that wasn’t an honorary title.

He started down the corridor ahead of her. “As I mentioned in my report,” he swallowed, “the colt has many scars under his fur and most of his major bones — skull, scapula, femur, pelvis — it would be simpler to list the exceptions — have been broken at least once. He shows signs of chronic starvation and poor bone development. Body-fat ratio is almost zero.” He sighed. “All told, I think his condition is not something new and is something he has lived with for a long time. He appears to be only four, but could be as old as five, six, or seven.” He shook his head sadly, “It’s just criminal what the ponies responsible have done to him.

“Anyway, we’ve been using a feeding tube so he is properly hydrated now. He should have gained a bit of weight from the feedings, but the extra calories are disappearing as fast as we can get them into him. We think his phenomenal recovery rate is linked to that. In any case, at least he hasn’t lost any additional weight.”

He stopped beside a closed door with two guards, one either side of it. They moved out of her way, the second one grabbing the door handle in his magic and opening the door. She again had to crouch down to enter the room.

It was a standard single-bed hospital room. She stared at the pitifully small figure huddled on the bed, a neatly arranged blanket covering most of his body but leaving his head and withers exposed. His cheeks were sunken, his bones vividly outlined, and his coat dull, clearly showing the signs that he hadn’t eaten well for some time.


۸-_-۸


Harry woke again as he heard a door open and the clanking of people entering — why were they wearing metal shoes? Two sets were evidently bigger than the others as their steps were deeper in sound from the larger shoes and heavier weight. And touched floor at much longer time intervals — obviously taller with a longer stride and not simply extraordinarily fat like his Uncle.

Harry was not a fool. That had been beaten out of him years ago. He kept his eyes closed and his face relaxed as if he were deeply asleep. It was important to get as much information as possible before the others (at home it was the Dursleys) discovered he was listening — or in this case, discover that he was awake. Knowing what was going on and what to expect before anyone noticed him had saved him from many a beating from the Dursleys.

“And this is the poor colt?”

“Yes, my Princess.”

“Oh, dear. I was hoping that your reports exaggerated a bit.”

“Unfortunately, no, my Princess. Much as I might so wish it,” came Doctor Well Heart’s response. “If anything, the reports fail to disclose the seriousness of the issues.”

“He looks as if he has never had a decent meal,” Harry heard her say as her deep voice came up to the side of his bed. “He’s almost all just skin and bones.” He heard her step closer.

Her voice came out softly as she said, “Open your eyes, little one. I know you’re awake.”

Damn.

He opened his eyes and had to blink several times to understand what he was seeing. Directly in front of him were two fur-coated knees. Fur-coated? Were they leggings of some kind? How weird.

Beyond them he could see an open door flanked by two small horses wearing golden armour with matching golden helmets. And the helmets had plumes atop them like the ancient Roman soldiers used to have. Where were the men who rode them? And why were horses in the hospital?

He turned his head and looked up. And up. This was not someone wearing fur-coated leggings. This was a giant non-human monster of some kind. On the monster’s . . . chest? . . . was a gold band of some kind with a purple, diamond-shaped gem  on it. Above that were shoulders so tall that they almost brushed the ceiling. She was easily four-times as tall as he was, making her at least fifteen feet tall — that meant this room had ridiculously high ceilings.

And it still wasn’t high enough for her. Her neck was far longer than a human’s and her face — her eyes were huge, each as big as both his hands together, with ears like a dog or cat on top and a long nose that was more of a muzzle, again like a cat. She was far too tall to stand upright and so she bent her neck low to keep from bumping her head into the ceiling, with her enormous mouth mere centimetres above his ear.

Her head was huge, he thought, as big as his entire body. Her maw was gigantic, more than big enough to snap off his head in a single bite and swallow it. But what grabbed his attention was the giant spike of a horn, with an indecently sharp point, coming out of her head and now hovering over him.

She could easily spit him like a pig on it and dine on his dangling arms and legs like some kind of unspeakable, mobile feast.

Absolutely, definitely, not human. Not even close to human.

She opened her monstrous maw for the first nibble.

Harry did what he thought any nine-almost-ten-year-old would do in such a situation.

He screamed in mortal terror and flung himself off the bed away from her. The window was too far for him to attempt a jump from the bed, and once he was off the bed he was too close to the window to build up enough speed to make it completely through and jump high enough to reach it. That meant he would miss the window and hit the wall anyway.

He used his legs against the bed’s frame as he launched himself at desperate speed towards the outside wall. He wasn’t sure if he could, but he was definitely intending on going straight through it. He just hoped it wasn’t a brick wall. And that he was on the ground floor. If not, well he would worry about that later.

It didn’t work. He slammed into the wall with a loud crunching noise that made every pony in the room wince. He rebounded from that wall, staggering. He next flung himself with reckless abandon at the wall that stood across from the foot of his bed. He twisted his body so that his other shoulder took point. He hit with maximum concentration of force. He almost made it through that wall. There were the sounds of the wallboard shattering and its supports breaking. That noise covered the sound of any injuries he might have suffered. Through the new cracks in the wall he could see the startled expressions of the inhabitants of the other room — all horses.

He would need to back up all the way to the bed for another charge to break through the wall. He doubted the monster would allow time for that. He couldn’t escape this way.

With a tenacity and determination gifted to Harry by many years of Dudley’s “Harry Hunting,” Harry looked towards the door as he fell back to the floor. The monster was only now starting to turn towards him and giving him a small opportunity at scooting between her legs and into the corridor. Unfortunately, even as he gathered his feet underneath himself for a third frantic charge to freedom, one of the horses by the door was already moving to block his escape route. He might have been able to dodge through the monster’s legs, but the much smaller horse could easily block and catch him.

He was trapped, just as Dudley and his gang had trapped him once before at school. This time there were not any convenient roofs nearby for a wind magically to carry him up. He didn’t try to stand up. He closed his eyes and dearly wished with all his might that he was back at the edge of that forest.

With a distinct POP, Harry disappeared from the hospital room.


۸-~-۸


Harry fell to the ground. He stared around himself at the grass, then craned his neck up to see where he was. Trees were not far away in both directions. On one side was the dark forest he had dragged himself through, on the other were clearly orchard trees. Miracle of miracles, he was right back where he had been when the girls had first found him!

He needed to get away from here for they surely would search this place again to find him. He braced his arms preparing to push himself to his feet. That was when he noticed that his arms were covered in red fur and instead of hands he had hooves. With a lump in his throat that felt like his heart, he looked at his legs to see the same thing. Still not breathing from the shock, he turned his head sharply and looked down at his side. He saw a field of red fur with gold-coloured splashes and a horse’s tail that was a solid black.

Horrified, he screamed again. He struggled to his feet, or hooves in this case, only to collapse back on the ground screaming at the unexpected pain as his broken shoulders, cracked ribs, and over-strained muscles failed to support his weight. What had happened to him? Had he died and then been reincarnated as a horse? Was he in Hell? How would he put on his trousers without hands?

He looked around wildly and saw nothing but the grassy field and the apple orchard in the distance. He dropped his head back down to the ground and just panted, hyperventilating, panic-stricken and too stunned to do more — both from his extreme exertions, magical shock, discovering his form, and the pain from his newest injuries. He passed out.


۸-_-۸


For a moment there was bemused silence in the hospital room. The Princess looked at the shallow colt-shaped depression in the plaster on the wooden outside wall and then the colt-shaped almost-hole in the other wall. She sighed. “I don’t believe I’ve ever had a reaction like that to my presence.” She turned her head to look at the flabbergasted doctor. Dejectedly, she said, “Do you think it was something I said?” Sighing, she awkwardly started backing out of the room.


۸-ꞈ-۸





—Omake — 




non-canon story stuff I couldn't resist — author





He turned his head and looked up. And up. This was not someone wearing fur-coated leggings. This was a giant non-human monster of some kind. On the monster’s . . . chest? . . . was a gold band of some kind with a purple, diamond-shaped gem on it. Above that were shoulders so tall that they almost brushed the ceiling. She was easily four-times as tall as he was, making her at least fifteen feet tall — that meant this room had ridiculously high ceilings. And it still wasn’t high enough for her. She was far too tall to stand upright and so she bent her neck low to keep from bumping her head into the ceiling, with her enormous mouth mere centimetres away from his ear.

Her head was huge, he thought, as big as his entire body. Her maw was gigantic, more than big enough to snap off his head in a single bite and swallow it. But what grabbed his attention was the giant spike of a horn, with an indecently sharp point, coming out of her head and now hovering over him.

She could easily spit him like a pig on it and dine on his dangling arms and legs like some kind of unspeakable mobile feast.

She opened her monstrous maw for the first nibble, her teeth gleaming an unholy bright white, with faint traces of red lining them at the gums — blood from her previous victims, no doubt.

Harry did what he thought any normal nine-almost-ten-year-old would do in such a situation.

He screamed in mortal terror and flung himself off the bed away from her. He used his legs against the bed’s frame as he launched himself at desperate speed towards the outside wall. He wasn’t sure if he could, but he was definitely intending on going straight through it. He just hoped it wasn’t a brick wall.

The window was too far for him to attempt a jump from the bed, and once he was off the bed he was too close to the window to build up enough speed and jump high enough to reach it. That meant he would miss the window and hit the wall anyway. He hoped he was on the ground floor. If not, well he would worry about that later.

He slammed into the wall with a loud crunching noise that made every pony in the room winch. They then stared in disbelief out the window at the rapidly disappearing colt. His legs were churning so fast they were circular blurs.

One of the guards softly said, amazed and impressed, “I’ve never seen anypony run so far so fast . . . and on twolegs! I can barely balance on my rear legs and take three steps without falling . . . but look at him go!”

Pinkie Pie poked her head out from under the bed, looked at the perfect profile outline of a colt in the wall, spiky mane and tail, and all, and disapprovingly said, “Hey, cartoonish behaviour is my shtick!”

For a moment there was bemused silence in the hospital room. Then the Princess sighed, “I don’t believe I’ve ever had a reaction like that to my presence.” She turned her head to look at the flabbergasted doctor. Dejectedly, she said, “Do you think it was something I said?” She looked back out the window to where the colt had vanished around a curve and frowned, thinking a moment. “Maybe he doesn’t like raspberries.” she murmured. Sighing, she awkwardly started backing out of the room.


۸-~-۸