//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 - Bedridden // Story: A Changing Perspective // by Dragrace //------------------------------// Memories of climbing trees flooded Jack mind. He used to do it all the time; it was almost like a sport for him. Of course, there were the moments where he would lose his balance, but it was rare for him to ever fall. Something felt different about this particular fall, as if he couldn't grab anything nearby. He was forced to fall helplessly, without an opportunity to try and save himself. Leaves and branches blowing past and into his body, the pain was in no way comparable to the moment of hitting the ground. But what was so different about this particular fall? Certainly he had to be used to it by now, but... Oh yeah. He was a pony. Well, a changeling in this case, but the limbs were in identical locations, so he might as well have been a pony. But just the sense of falling in an unfamiliar way was enough to scare him senseless. Jack could not remember what had happened after he hit the ground. More than likely he hit his head first and knocked him right out. 'Wh... Where am I?' He thought. Wherever he was, it was dark. Not completely dark, though, it was as if there was a light attempting to pierce the boundaries of some sort of screen. Awakening and opening his eyes, he took a moment to regain his senses. A headache, multiple cuts scattered across his legs, and a large gash torn across his torso. His head was pounding, and he felt something resting on his face. 'This explains the darkness, it feels like some sort of blindfold.' With too much pain coursing throughout his body to move, he decided it would be best to simply lay where he was. On the other hand, it was quite comfortable; it was soft unlike the floor at Sugarcube Corner he had slept on the day before. He assumed it was the day before, when you sleep it can be quite difficult to keep track of time. So he lay there, on the cot, bed, or whatever the object was, just waiting for somepony to tell him what was going on. >---< Time seemed to pass at an extremely low speed, seeing as nothing had occurred since he had awoken. Unable to see if there was anypony else in the room, Jack was still a little curious to know if he was alone. "Hello?" He called out. "Is anypony there?" "Oh, you're finally awake!" A voice responded. "How long have you been there? Who are you? How long have I been asleep?" Jack asked. So many questions to ask and so many answers he awaited. It was weird for him, being in a blind, bedridden state, he had never been hospitalized before. Then again, he was assuming he was in the hospital, being knocked unconscious was not something you treat like an everyday cut or bruise. "Well, its barely in the afternoon now, you were here overnight. This morning I came in to check up on you, and I've been here for a couple hours reading books. I made sure to bring plenty seeing as nopony knew when you would wake up." The voice said. 'More than likely this is Twilight, nopony reads for hours on end but her.' Jack thought, smiling a little. "In that case you must be Twilight Sparkle. I remember you from the party!" Jack said. "You must be good at identifying ponies in that case, seeing as you can recall who I am from voice alone." Twilight said. "Did your career back in Itrot have anything along those lines?" 'Great, now I have to make up MORE history...' Jack thought. "Actually, no. I used to be a writer." He said. "Well... more of a scribe if anything." "Interesting, I've never actually met an earth pony who works as a scribe." She responded. "Actually over in Itrot earth ponies make up more than 98% of the population. It's not uncommon for earth ponies needing to assume positions meant for unicorns or pegasus." "How would the earth ponies be able to take care of weather then?" "Giant scaffolding and giant fans. It takes the entire day just to move the clouds!" Twilight giggled a little. "Seems pretty ridiculous, doesn't it?" "Oh, but that's not even the best part!" Jack said, the smile upon his face slowly growing. "You see, when there's a lack of magic in the area..." >---< The entire time Jack was explaining what life was like for earth ponies, Twilight gave her full attention the entire time. Claiming that the few unicorns and pegasus around were responsible for some of the largest tasks, Twilight never bothered to argue despite having lived in a community full of earth ponies for years. As Jack's imagination continued to expand his story, he was interrupted by the sound of an opening door and somepony entering the room. "I'm sorry to interrupt your story," The nurse said, "But the doctor said it was time for me to remove the bandages." Hearing hoof steps grow louder, Jack prepared himself for the light. He felt a little bit of tugging at the bandaging covering his eyes and he was blinded by the hospital lights. Keeping his eyes almost completely closed, he slowly adjusted to the new lighting. The room he lay in was quite small, about 2 feet away was a small chair in the corner of the room which was occupied by Twilight. The walls, floor and ceiling were all white, the floor being tiled and having small dots made it appear slightly darker. The bed itself had white blankets on the white mattress, and the pillow was white as well. 'This room certainly likes to reflect light.' Jack thought. His eyes continued to wander around the room. The nurse was standing only a few feet away from him. Even she was white, and had a scarlet red mane and tail. Her cutie mark wasn't a red cross like he was expecting, it was a stethoscope instead. Her mane was long and curled downwards and fell beside her left shoulder. Atop her mane rested a small white hat with a red cross in the center. The door behind her was a light blue, with a small shaded window near the top. 'At least there's something else that isn't white or red.' "So how are you feeling today? We heard you took quite a nasty fall the other day." The nurse asked. "I'm fine, but I'm pretty sore right now." Jack replied. "What was with the bandages over my eyes anyways?" "Well, when you fell you took a nasty slash right between the eyes. We had to put the bandages on in order to control the blood. It was also done to ensure you still had full vision." She said. "He seems to be doing fine at a mental level. The injuries only appear to be physical." Twilight said. "As much as I would like to take your word for that, Mrs. Sparkle, we do have to do our standard testing to ensure he is in fit condition to leave. If the fall was enough to knock him out, there could be damage to the brain." The nurse said. "So..." Jack started, to be interrupted directly after by the door swinging open. In the doorway stood two mares, one red and the other light purple. Instantly, Jack's mind began to race. He had almost forgotten about Wings and Biggs! Where had they stayed last night, how did they find him, and what did they do all day? More questions flooded his mind once more, making his headache return. "Domina, Cienna, good to see you two again! Where have you been?" Jack asked. "At the park." The purple mare said, without even a hint of emotion in her voice. 'They really need to get used to adding inflection to their words. I feel like I get bored after one word from either of them!' "I see. Well, what have you two been up to recently?" He asked. No response from either of the two changelings. "Do they always stare into space like that?" Twilight whispered to Jack. "Yeah, they aren't big on talking." Jack replied, whispering as well. "They are kind of shy around ponies they don't know. You and the nurse probably don't help much." Twilight nodded in agreement. "If you all don't mind, I'm going to have to take you down to the waiting room. We are to serve meals very shortly." The nurse said. Without a single word, the four other ponies in the room left. Jack lay there, staring at the ceiling, carefully avoiding the lights with his eyes. Now that the nurse had mentioned it, he realized he was hungry. Now all he had to do was wait for the food to arrive. >---< The food took at least fifteen minutes to arrive. Fifteen minutes was an accurate guess at the time, or so Jack thought. Without a clock in the room, he had to rely on his poor time skills to determine what time it was. If they were serving dinner, it would be sometime between 5:00 and 7:00, but without any windows in the room Jack couldn't get a look at the sun for a more accurate estimate of the time. A small metal tray was brought in by the same nurse that had removed his bandages. On the tray there were a couple carrots, a slice of bread, and small glass of water. After thanking the nurse, Jack quickly consumed the food within two minutes of its arrival. His cuts and bruises weren't bothering him that much; most of them were shallow safe for the one across the front of his torso. Jack wanted to go back to sleep, since there was absolutely nothing to do, but he wasn't tired after being unconscious for so long. *Knock Knock* Somepony was at the door. "Who's there?" Jack asked. "Twilight." Came the response. "Twilight who?" "Twilight Sparkle, may I come in?" 'Aww I was expecting her to go along with the knock knock joke...' Jack thought, disappointed with the results. "Yes, of course you can." Jack said. The door slowly creaked open, and in the doorway stood the same purple mare than had stayed with him while he was recovering. 'Why does she keep coming to me? I feel like she knows something about me, but she just doesn't want to say anything...' "How are you now? Feeling better after having eaten some food?" She asked. Jack nodded, continuing to question why Twilight was always around him in his mind. 'She's always around me, or finding a way to be around me. Like the work over at the Tree-brary, was it really necessary to remove all those branches? At the party, why did she introduce me when Pinkie had already done so before my arrival? No... It can’t be that… Jack's thoughts trailed off, he didn't want to believe he could make that sort of impression on somepony so easily. "So, why are you here anyways? There are all your friends you could hang out with, but you'd rather hand out with me?" Jack asked. "Well, my friends are great and all, but you ARE new around here. I thought you might need a couple friends of your own as well." Twilight responded. "But I came here with Cienna and Domina, they're my friends. I've met a couple other ponies around town as well, and I guess they could be classified as friends. You know Pinkie and Applejack I've hung out with a little. But they always seem to be so busy doing something. There HAS to be another reason for you to be here." "When Cienna and Domina didn't come to take care of you, I thought I should take care of you." "But I'm in a hospital; there are plenty of doctors and nurses here that can help me! What in specific could you help me with!" Jack was getting a little upset with the responses, all of them were decent responses, but the theory he had in his mind was still not proven. "Who else would be here to make sure you weren't lonely?" Twilight asked. "It's not really about being lonely..." Jack replied. "But you are lonely, aren't you?" She asked. "Well, sort of... I guess." "In that case it's settled. I'll stay with you until I have to leave." "But that doesn't answer why you in particular came, anypony else could have come to keep me company. Why do you think that you're so different that every other pony?" Jack asked. There was a long pause. Twilight's eyes seemed to be pleading for Jack to say something, but he had no idea what she wanted him to say. She gave Jack a smile before finally answering his question. "It's because no other pony likes you as much as I do."