Long Hike here, back with another day on my Great Equestrian Journey. I have to tell you, I feel amazing! My head doesn’t hurt, my back feels less uncomfortable. I just can’t wait to wake up and get started on my journey!
Opening up my eyes, I notice something’s immediately off. I was expecting to wake up surrounded by blue sky, the only thing I liked about pegasus weather was that they never planned two days of rain in a row. This is probably the one thing that gives Pegasi a benefit over us Earth Ponies.
Earth Ponies get such a bad rep. We don’t get magic, we don’t get to fly and work weather, we aren’t Alicorns. I think Earth Ponies are completely fine! We could buck your teeth out if we so wished. Of course, we don’t because that would result in a class action lawsuit. Of course, not that I would know anything about it...
Anyways, instead of getting blue sky. I got steady beeping in a florescent room hooked up to some machine, lying down on some bed. With my Celestia-forsaken preserved dandelions on my bedside.
I blink just to make sure my concussion isn’t messing with my head again. Indeed, I am in a hospital.
Why? How? I don’t know, I’m fairly certain I don’t sleepwalk. I might be able to climb up a mountain, but I shouldn’t be able to climb down it in one night. It had been one night, right?
I’m remarkably more confused than usual, until some pretty dark blue mare in a lab coat walks in. She carries a clipboard in her magic, and looks me over.
“Ah, Long Hike, it seems that you are awake. We have been awaiting any response from you for a while now,” she says.
This doesn’t answer any of my questions. Where am I? How’d I get here? Why have I been hooked up to a machine? Where’s my saddlebags? Why is this nurse not using a single contraction?
Come to think of it, I’ve never been severely injured before. I have been to a hospital, however. It was a long time ago, I might’ve been a teenager. I accidentally tripped on a skateboard and fell down. I got a major cut on my knee. I’ve never really liked hospitals anyways.
So, I have to start my questions over, the nurse seems to have answers for each. I won’t bore you with her oddly meticulous way of talking. But essentially, I’m at the Ponyville general hospital, I fell down the mountain and miraculously survived, Celestia must’ve been doing overtime that day, I fell into a coma and have been asleep for a time I deliberately blocked out of my mind.
Seriously, I don’t want this to be too long, because I might not make it back to the university. I could’ve been knocked out and used all that time to discover the Undiscovered West, that’s the reason I set out on this in the first place. I really hated not getting things done. Unfortunately, I tend to not get things done because I have a tendency to go off-topic and rant about whatever bothers me. Haven’t got the chance to do that much, I’ve kind of already told you about my pet peeves.
Anyways, back to the questions. So, my saddlebags were being kept in storage, upon my inquiry, they handed the, to me. Thankfully, they kept my journal intact. However, they said that the third and fourth chapters were not as good as the first two. I guess I apologize for having a concussion? It’s not like I can think straight when I’m in a state of dizziness and constant head pain. They also said my handwriting was impossible to read.
What gleaming praise.
So, upon my asking about contractions. She quickly reverted to normal pony speak, explained her name was Deep Jade, and explained a long and storied campaign in one of those ‘In Chaos’ games, where Discord destroys the world and you have to rebuild it.
Honestly, I didn’t really pay attention, I’m still comprehending my situation, but good for her, I guess? I swear, this all sounds uncannily familiar. That aside, I had apparently suffered ‘multiple lacerations, fractured legs, a heavy concussion, and a cut on my back that had recently re-opened and almost got infected with all the rocks that had wormed their way in there’. Also, I suffered broken glasses. They managed to figure out my prescription and get me new ones.
“Seriously,” Deep Jade finished,”you really shouldn’t have tried climbing a mountain at your age.”
As I’m about to argue her statement, I hear a voice cry out,”Jade, are you still back there? I thought you would’ve been done by now!”
Deep Jade looks flustered for a moment and then quickly runs out of the room to the sound of the unknown voice.
“I’ll have you know that the greyscale’s natural!” I shout back at her.
~~~~~~~~
I spent the rest of the day waiting for some nurse to come help me. I was bored, they didn’t have any good geography books.
Finally, Deep Jade walks back in.
“Sorry,” she apologizes,”I get carried away sometimes. Anyways you should be good to go in a few days. Your injuries mostly healed during the comatose state, but you still need to gain your bearings to go again,” she waves goodbye.
Well, that was a bust. That means I’m going to have to stay here for three whole days. Then, I can finally head out on my way.
At least I can use this time to figure out what to do. But hold up, I see a calendar on the wall. I notice what month it is; September. It looks like I’ll be skipping school this semester. I didn’t want to, but sometimes we fall down mountains, you know?
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So, it’s been three days, I’m about ready to head back to where I would’ve been and set out with a clear head. The good mews is that Ponyville’s a pretty big city. Hasn’t always been this way, but the Elements of Harmony living here tends to encourage expansion.
So, I’ll be heading out now, off to hopefully see the world.
-Long Hike