Chapter 3: The Doctor's Exam
"After all these years, you've finally returned!" announced the mysterious mare. "We all thought you were dead! Where were you this entire time?" She paused for a second, then embraced him. "None of that matters now. I'm just so glad that you're safe," she said, allowing a tear to run down her face. Tiger Lily watched in utter confusion as the scene unfolded while Mr. Dough sat back down, casually sipping his lemonade as if this wasn't happening.
As he was about to question who this pony was and why she wanted to "examine" him, she spoke again. "Just wait until Blue Shield hears about this!" she said very excitedly. "She will be so excited! You two can finally have the wedding of your dreams!" She then stared off into space, imagining the amazing wedding of Gingersnap and the mare known as Blue Shield.
At this time, Mrs. Dough had returned, almost out of breath. Between her gasps for air, she managed to say, "I went to go get Dr. Redcross. When I explained what happened, she just ran off! Have you guys seen her?"
"Look up, dear," said Mr. Dough, not even watching what was going on.
She did as she was instructed to see the mysterious mare hugging somepony that she wasn't able to see because of how everypony was positioned. "There you are! You didn't let me finish. I was about to say that Gingersnap looks a lot like Nightshade did."
After hearing what Mrs. Dough was unable to explain earlier, she pulled away from him to get a better look at him. "Are you sure this isn't Nightshade?" she asked.
"Ooklay at the ankflay," she responded, looking away to avoid attention. Understanding Pig Latin, he looked at what he assumed was his flanks, only to find that he didn't have a "tattoo."
At least I have the chance to get something better than bread. I should probably get something on here so I don't get too many weird looks.
The mare sighed, rubbing her one eye. "You're not really Nightshade, are you?" she asked Gingersnap.
"I can't say I know. I doubt that I am this 'Nightshade' fella, though," he responded.
"Oh," she said. "I'm sorry about that. I just looked at you and assumed that it was really him. My name is Dr. Redcross. I've been taking care of this family and many others for at least 20 years. Given the situation, you must be Gingersnap, correct?"
"Until I remember my real name, that is correct," he replied. He was careful not to say anything that would make them doubt his amnesia.
"Nice to meet you!" she said cheerfully. She said it so cheerfully that it was hard to tell that she was crying only a few moments ago. She then turned to Mrs. Dough. "Do you mind if we borrow the guest bedroom?"
"Be my guest!" she answered.
Dr. Redcross turned back to Gingersnap. "Alright then. If you will please follow me, we can get started with your exams."
"Can I study first?" he said, hoping to stitch together a few more lies.
She chuckled a little, but then said, "Wrong kind of exam. Don't worry though; it's pretty hard to fail one of these."
"Not impossible though..." he muttered under his breath. He then followed her up to the guest bedroom, which was where he spent the past few days. He managed to walk up the stairs without too much difficulty, mainly because he remembered to use his hind legs as well. It also helped that Dr. Redcross was modeling how a normal pony walks up a set of stairs.
When they arrived, she said, "Would you mind if I just went over what's happened so far? As you heard, I ran off before Mrs. Dough could finish."
"I don't see why not," he replied. After all, he could easily change his story to fit what she knows, if necessary.
"Ok. You were found unconscious about three days ago and you didn't wake up until this morning. Upon waking up, we found that you seem to be suffering from amnesia."
I wouldn't call it suffering; I'd just call it a cover-up for the truth.
"A little later, you fell down a fairly large staircase. That's about all that I have. Am I missing anything?"
Outside the fact that this body was made within the past few days, that seems to be about everything. "Nothing comes to mind."
"Good! Let's first see how your breathing is." She then levitated her stethoscope toward him.
"Gah!" he yelled. He then swatted the stethoscope out of the air. He had learned not to trust flying doctor's equipment. "How were you doing that?"
"It's a simple levitation spell. Just about every unicorn can use it," she replied.
"Spell? As in... magic?"
"You really did forget everything," she sighed. "I am using magic. Most unicorns are able to use magic."
Magic, huh? Does this involve a gathering of sorts? Wait a minute... I'm a unicorn. This idea made a wide smile break out across his face. Yes! I can use magic! Real magic! Not that birthday party magician type of magic, but real magic! Things are finally starting to take a turn for the better! His years of playing JRPGs caused him to wish he could use magic too. "Sorry about the stethoscope," he said.
"Don't worry about it. But promise me that you won't try to break any more of my equipment." She then grabbed her stethoscope and pressed it to his chest.
"Ok, I promise," he said, allowing her to continue her exams.
"Deep breath in... now out," she ordered. This helped him calm down a little bit. He no longer felt worried about how these exams could go.
"By the way... who's this Nightshade person?" he asked, hoping to clear up this morning's events.
Dr. Redcross suddenly looked a bit depressed. She stopped what she was doing and looked out the window. "Nightshade is the name of the Doughs' son. He disappeared about 7 years ago." She paused for a second. "Now that I think about it, it would've been 7 years three days ago. He had proposed to Blue Shield, my daughter, the day before he disappeared, never to be seen again.
"Were there any leads as to where he went?"
"There was one. About a week before he disappeared, the Doughs took in a stranger who happened to be in a situation similar to yours. He disappeared at the same time, so we believe that he may be involved with Nightshade's disappearance. Using that clue, we went on an Equestria-wide search for him, but we couldn't find anything."
I guess it will be harder to get the Doughs to trust me than I thought. "Is there anything else known about what happened?"
"We do know that Tiger Lily was the last pony to see him before his disappeared. She seemed to be fairly scarred, so we can guess that something happened that night. We haven't been able to get her to tell us, so it must have been pretty traumatizing. It seems that she's also repressed anything related to the incident lately, so we have no idea what happened and where he might be, assuming he's still alive."
"Oh..." he said, the depressing vibe she was letting of was starting to get to him. "Sorry I asked."
"It's okay. Let's just finish these exams." She then continued to press the stethoscope against him. When she had finished, she placed it back around her neck, but not before accidentally brushing a more "sensitive" area.
"Hey!" he said. "Watch where you're swinging that thing!"
"Sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" she said apologetically.
Wait a minute. A rather disturbing fact had occurred to him. I'm not wearing any clothes. And now that I think about it, Dr. Redcross was the only person...er pony that was wearing some kind of clothing. When this is done, I'm going to get myself some clothes. There's got to be at least one clothing store in town.
The rest of the exams went on in silence, with the exceptions of Dr. Redcross's occasional orders. When she was done with her exams, she made note of the results on a clipboard.
"Outside of a few bruises from when you fell down the stairs, you seem to be fine. You're muscles are dealing with a bit of exhaustion, so I would recommend that you stay in bed for the rest of the day. You should also make sure to have a large dinner tonight to make sure you fully recover your energy."
"Thanks, Doctor. I'll be sure to do that." And with that, Dr. Redcross left the room. Gingersnap went over to his bed and laid himself down.
Why do I have this strange feeling that this Nightshade pony has something to do with my sudden appearance here? Although, now I can see why Mr. Dough doesn't seem to trust me so much. Whatever the case, want to get some clothes to wear. Just because they walk around au naturale doesn't mean that I will too. At this time, he noticed something from under his pillow.
"Huh? What's this?" he asked himself, pulling out a sealed envelope. Printed where the recipient's name would go was "Jason." When he read this, he asked, "Why is my name on here? I never told my real name to anyone here." He opened the envelope, revealing two things, a letter and a small pouch. He took the letter and read it to himself.
"The day of judgement has almost arrived. Prepare yourself." Maybe I'm here for this "day of judgement" thing. He then opened the pouch and emptied its contents out onto the bed. It contained about 100 small, golden coins. He figured it was the currency of this world.
He spent his afternoon laying in bed, pondering why he was here and what this "day of judgement" could be.
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Note from the author: Any comments, questions, critiques, etc. are greatly appreciated. It also wouldn't hurt to like or favorite. While I'm at it, I'm thinking about changing the cover image. The "Welcome to Ponyville" postcard is fine and all, but some original art could be a bit better. I imagine there are some good artists out there (better than me, anyways) who would be willing to make a new cover image. Please?