//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Waking up in Someone Else's Bed // Story: Knight's Prompt // by Mister Hypothetical //------------------------------// Chapter 3 -- Waking up in Someone Else's Bed -- Gradually, Folan's mind came back to him, the slow and dull ache of a migraine infected his body. Gently, he moved to feel at his surroundings, but stopped almost immediately; with nausea and blindness beginning to peck at the insides of his system, he figured it would be best to hold off on the whole "moving" thing. Instead, deciding to relax his muscles, and sink back into the surprisingly comfortable sheets that now wrapped around him. Wait... Sheets? His mind was awake now, His eyes shot open, causing his head to seize up at the sudden brightness, and make him close his eyes to barely a squint. After his eyes adjusted, he tentatively opened them further and surveyed the surroundings. He wasn't where he'd fallen asleep. In fact, the blank and stainless whitewashed walls were a stark contrast to where he remembered getting pummeled into the dust. His immediate thought was, that he was dead and that this was some sick interpretation of the afterlife. Fearing the worst, Folan looked around for anything, anything to disprove that theory as fast as possible. His eyes fell on the black legs that he had gotten used to looking at for the past day and a half. If he was dead, then why would he still be in this form, this body that had caused him so much pain – most of which he had done to himself – over the last few days. Rather than continuing to jump to conclusions, Folan merely deduced that he had been sent to the local hospital sometime after he'd been beaten to a pulp. That would explain the equipment that came with a standard hospital's patients; the basics, like a heart monitor, and an I.V. Following the tube, he noticed that it wasn't connected to his arm via slow and careful insertion; instead, it looked to have been stabbed directly into his leg with enough force to crack the armor-like substance coating his body. Deep in thought, Folan began to wonder if that was a necessity to get the IV in, or it was just the work of some offensive staff, that orange pony had said that "his kind" wasn't welcome "here." Though whether that meant her land specifically, or the populace of the town in general, was yet to be seen. *Click* In the silence of the room, the small click of the door's inner latch catching was almost deafening. Folan froze, laying as still as possible, keeping one eye open slightly, in case he would need to make a bolt for it. The door opened fully, letting whoever opened it stand in the center of its archway. Tentatively, a white mare, – of average build – approached through the open door with her eyes glued to a clipboard. Slowly, she walked, crossing the spacious room, and came to a stop at his bedside, not stopping to look at him. On the mare's back, was what seemed to be another IV bag, well, at least she's not screaming, yelling, or threatening me, he thought to himself as she reached up to replace the bags. He made a move to thank the mare for her hospitality, and that he was feeling much better. Only for his words to catch in his throat, once again. Instead, he chose the next logical option, poking the mare on the shoulder with one of his black, chitinous appendages. Upon contact with the mare's shoulder, she turned almost full circle to face him, her eyes shot open, and she let out a terrifying shrill cry. Dropping her clipboard and the IV bag, she sprinted out the door, "It's awake! It's awake!" she howled down the halls of the hospital. Sigh... Why was it, that everyone he met here yelled and screamed at him? Sure, he had only ever seen two ponies, but that still didn't invalidate his point! Sighing, Folan made to slip out of the covers but found that the needle lodged firmly in his legs not only penetrated the thick skin he had gained, but also that the layer of flesh just beneath the hard and black chitin, was incredibly sensitive. The slightest pull of the tube that was now firmly strung to the floor filled his leg with excruciating, piercing pain. Not wanting to deal with the pain, he decided to wait for someone to come – that is, if they came – to help him. Allowing his body to sink into the bed, he let his mind start to wander. One thing had been bothering him since the fall he had taken not only a day ago. What had happened to his voice? He had been talking just fine when he'd woken up the first time. So, why was his voice nothing more than a shy whisper of its former self? Not even letting any syllables or cogent sound get by his maw. Had his vocal chords been damaged in the fall? Had they been shattered? Wait! No, that was stupid. Vocal chords couldn't be shattered. Could they? His mental tangent was cut short, however, by the sudden presence of, not one, but four mares racing into the bedroom with extraordinary speed, before coming to a halt in front of his bed. After recovering from their sudden stop, the mares glued their eyes to him. Fixing his own eyes with glares as cold as ice. He gave a sheepish grin and tried to wave one of his holed hooves, before getting a sharp, and somewhat painful, reminder that his arm was still connected to the floor. He decided that it would probably not be the best idea to move, he didn't want to frighten the mares, or for them to start beating him. He took the time that they were glaring at him to make some observations about the five. There were all – as he had come to expect – mares, all with rather average builds for the typical small horse. The first he laid his eyes on, was a pony of a color roughly between purple and lavender. She hadn't seemed all that different from the orange pony he'd seen the day before; she even held the same venomous stare. To her right and left, stood three more ponies giving equally hard looks towards Folan, burning a metaphorical hole in his not-so-steely resolve. The pony to the purple one's immediate left was a very vibrant pink, with a mane and tail only a slight shade darker. Folan could have sworn that it was made of cotton candy, or maybe that was the immense lack of food he had eaten in the past few days. To the pink pony's left was an all-white mare with a flowing and curling violet mane. Looking just past the hair, Folan was shocked to see that there was a slight protrusion from the front of the pony's head, almost like a horn of sort, more like a narwhale's tusk than anything. Glancing to the other side of the lavender mare, he noticed that she too had this conical extremity extruding from the top of her head. Then, Folan was met with a fantastic sight. The last of the four ponies had a coat the shade of cyan blue; her mane was ablaze with every color of the rainbow after the rain, her tail shared these fantastic colors, but seemed to go in reverse order to a regular rainbow's pattern. This, however, wasn't the only thing that caught his eye. Unlike all the other mares who had been firmly planted to the ground, the cyan pony did not seem to care for the laws of gravity, suspending herself in the air with the aid of two large blue wings. A pegasus. All Folan could do was gape at the strange creature, he had heard of pegasi from his mythology classes, but he had never thought they were real. He must have been staring for a while, but after a good few seconds, the lavender mare was the first to speak. "So, you've finally woken up." The words were dry of emotion; it was only a stated fact that was said, lacking all feelings and bias. Though the weight behind them was clear, this was a dire situation, whether Folan knew it, or not. Finally? Folan thought, making a confused face. Just how long had he been in the hospital? He turned his head to look at the mare who spoke, she still wore that heavy frown, as if she was expecting an answer to the statement. Not wanting to anger any of these ponies anymore, Folan gave a slow nod to the lavender unicorn. She looked about, scanning the changeling's every move and flick, trying to gauge whether or not he could be trusted. She made to say something, but before she could, in walked another pony. Folan's eyes graced the mare for only a second, but that's all it took. It was her. The blonde mane, the orange coat, the green eyes, that dastardly stetson. Folan reeled, she was going to hurt him again for sure, she was going to turn his face into a pulp, he just knew it. He no longer cared for the pain in his forearm, Folan pulled on the IV with all his might, the cored stretched, but held. He pulled even harder until he heard the loud snap of metal tearing in half. Leaping to his arms and legs, planning to hit the floor and make a break for it. He braced himself for the rush of pain, but it never came. Instead, Folan began to feel weightless, as if he had been suspended in space and time. He cracked open his eyes and was met with a bright lavender glow that seemed to envelop his entire body, keeping him aloft. "Applejack! What are you doing in here, I told you to stay outside the room!" the lavender one said in a somewhat sharp voice. "So-Sorry Twilight! It was just gettin' so quiet in here, Ah' got concerned." The orange pony, now known as Applejack, said in a slightly sheepish tone. "And you know how Fluttershy gets when her friends are in danger, she just told me to take a peak is all, honest." She remarked, rubbing the back of her neck with a spare hoof. The lavender unicorn... Twilight, seemed to relax her anger down to the point of mear annoyance. "Well now look at what you've done, you almost scared him out the window!" She barked in a calmer voice. She put a hoof up to her face to caress the bridge of her nose. "Just tell Fluttershy that we are alright, keep her calm, we may need her eventually." She released her nose to look back at Applejack sternly, "and next time, could you knock please?" Applejack once again held that sheepish grin for a second more, before turning a cold glare on Folan, making him squirm in the lavender glow. "Sure thing, Twilight." was the last thing she said, before promptly turning around and departing through the door she came in through. Looking back on the changeling, Twilight dropped him on the bed with a flick of her horn, causing Folan the writhe in agony from the sudden contact of his holed hoof to a hard surface. It felt like the syringe had broken inside his arm, sending little shards and follicles of torn metal throughout the appendage. He laid back on his back, to not hurt his arm any further. Staring back up at the group, Folan was surprised to see that Twilight was ushering out the rest of the group of mares. Leaving only her and the changeling in the sterile white room.