Consciousness slowly returns to you gradually in small doses. Your head rolls to the side and you feel a soft pillow lying underneath it. Your eyes open a small fraction and yet you still see only darkness. Confused, you open them even further. You can see small patches of light seeping through something that seemed to be blocking your vision. Were you blindfolded?
You hear the clopping sound of hooves on tile, accompanied by voices. The first voice sounded distinctly masculine.
“It’s not good Miss Sparkle,” says the voice. You want to speak out, but you’re still so tired. You take a calm breath before your eyes close once again.
“Please, just give it to me straight doctor,” Twilights voice is the last thing you hear before you fall back into a dreamless sleep.
When you’re roused from unconsciousness for the second time you hear a number of different voices in mid conversation.
“Ah just can’t believe she’d do somethin’ so reckless!” That voice and familiar country twang belongs to Applejack. She sounds quite angry. From experience you know that an angry Applejack is a scary Applejack.
“I agree darling, but you know I think it just goes to show that this whole ‘pranking’ thing has outstayed it’s welcome! I mean we’re all full grown mares! I think it’s time to put such foalish behavior behind us!” That was Rarity’s voice.
“I…I just can’t believe something like this would h-happen…I mean the number one rule when it comes to pranking is, nopony gets hurt….” That was Pinkies voice, which stands out to you the most. Even in dire times Pinkie Pie is usually able to maintain a cheerful and optimistic demeanor. But with what you just heard, she sounds like a completely different pony. Her voice was so shaky and melancholy that if you didn’t recognize the voice as being hers, you would have thought it had come from a completely different pony. They all sound so sad and upset. Why though? You feel as though it has something to do with you. Where are you right now?
You open your eyes fully and see that you’re staring through some sort of cloth. You try to raise your hand to your face to remove it, but when nothing happens you let out a groan.
“-elp,” you try to ask for help but it comes out a laborious gasp.
“I think he’s awake!” You hear Twilight say. “Applejack, can you go get the doctor?”
“Sure thing Twi,” you hear the farm pony reply as she leaves the room. You hear the sound of multiple sets of hooves approaching you.
“Anon, are you awake?” Questions Twilight.
“Y-yeah,” you reply softly. “I can’t…see…anything…where am I?” you gasp out.
“Oh, you’re in the hospital darling,” says Rarity.
“Yes, and the doctors put bandages over your eyes. We have to leave them there for the time being,” explains Twilight.
“W-why…what…hap-pened?” There’s a moment of uncomfortable silence as you wait for a reply.
“There was…an, there….there was an accident Anon.” A spark of panic shoots through your veins. Twilight sounds so broken. Something terrible has happened, but it happened to YOU. It’s clearly serious as you’ve never seen any of your Ponyville friends sound this sorrowful before.
“Accident?” You manage to get out. “With…me-e?”
“That’s right.…”
“H…how bad?” You wait for a response and receive none for several moments.
“I think that’s it’s best if the doctor explains it to you.” You breath openly through your mouth. You don’t like this, not at all. You try to remember what had led up to this moment. You were in an accident, that you’ve been told. But what happened? You can only recall bits and pieces of lying on the ground, and being found.
“H-w, how long ago?” It’s the most you can get out.
“Y-you’ve been in a coma for almost a week,” explained Twilight.
A week? You’ve been lying on your ass for a week? You obviously have bigger issues at the moment, but you’ve never felt as lazy as you do right now. So much time wasted. But that’s just you. You obviously needed time to recover but you hate wasting time and lazing about. You wonder to yourself when you’ll be able to get back to your normal routine.
Before you can ask anymore questions, you hear two sets of hooves entering the room.
“Ah, I see Mr. Anonymous is awake,” states a masculine voice. You recognize it from earlier from when you were barely conscious. You hear him approach you. “How are you feeling?” He asks.
“Th-thirsty,” you reply.
“Ah, of course, let me,” he is interrupted by Rarity.
“Oh please, allow me!” You hear the sound of magic being used, and your pillow being elevated enough to crane your head. You feel a cool glass being placed to you lips and water pours down you throat. You gulp it down before letting out a refreshed sigh.
“T-thanks,” you say as you are lowered back into a full lying position.
“Oh course, think nothing of it dear.” The doctor then speaks again.
“So, Mr. Anonymous, other than that how are you feeling. Are you in any pain?”
“N…no I…I-I…I don’t….I-I can’t…feel…an-an-any….anything,” you struggle to get out. You hear a few sniffles, and if you listen closely you think you can hear the soft sound of Pinkie crying. “I…I can’t…move….” You hear a few sad gasps.
“Yes, well um…uh first things first,” he says and you can hear the sparkly sound of magic being used. You can feel whatever was covering your eyes being gently removed. When the masking is peeled away, your eyes are overwhelmed by the fluorescent lights above. You reel away with your eyes closed.
“Ah yes, sorry about that,” the doctor apologizes. “Give your eyes a second to adjust.” You do just that, gradually separating your eyelids to let in small portions of light. Eventually you are able to open them all the way, allowing you to stare up towards the ceiling. You attempt to crane your neck in order to make out the ponies in the room.
“Let me help with that,” says the doctor as he uses his magic to hit a button near your bed, causing it to recline upward, raising you into a sitting position. Now finally, you can see all those present in the room. But something was wrong. You were having a horrible case of double vision. Everywhere you looked there where two of everything, with objects overlapping each other. You look at Twilight and see Rarity occupying the same space as her, with them both also being completely separate.
Your eyes felt both relaxed and strained at the same time. Turning your head was nauseating. But though your vision was now split, you were able to focus one at a time on the individuals in the room enough to make out their expressions.
There was the doctor, a brown unicorn stallion with an auburn mane and a pair of glasses wresting on his muzzle. Then there was Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Despite you having just woken up, none of them seemed particularly happy to see you. They all have looks on their faces ranging from anxious to downright miserable.
Twilight and Applejack look the most put together, Twilight giving you a look of worry, while Applejack looked at you with…pity.
You didn’t like that look, you don’t like being pitied.
Rarity was trying to keep a brave face, but you could tell her mask was slipping. And Pinkie…Jesus, she looked the worst of all. You have never seen her this way before. Her bright pink colors were dulled and darkened, her mane and tail were hanging strait down. She looks like she’s just recovered from a bout of crying.
“Now, I’d like to run a quick test with you Anon, if that’s alright,” said the doctor as he used his magic to raise up a small spoon shaped object.
“S-sure,” you reply. The stallion uses his magic and places the testing device a few feet from your face.
“I want you to try to focus your eyes on this right here.”
“O-okay.” You try to align your eyes to focus on one single spot. Though you are able to catch the object in both of your eyes, you are unable to merge the two sets of images into one.
“My…ever-everything is double,” you say. “My eyes…I can’t….”
“I was afraid of that. You’re eyes are experiencing some misalignment from the accident. I want you to follow the paddle as best you can, alright?”
“…kay.” The doctor raises the testing device upwards. You are able to follow it, and then when he lowers it, your eyes still manage to trace its movement. Up, down, left and right. Though you are able to follow the movement accordingly, your eyes remain unaligned and independent of each other.
“Well your eyes still work independently, but the rectus muscles in your right eye have been severely weakened,” said the doctor as he put the testing paddle away. “But fortunately that is something we can work to correct at a later date.”
With the test complete, you let out a shuddering breath and wait for the doctor to tell you what happened to you.
“Well Anon, I think it’s about time we told you what was going on.” You can see the other ponies in the room tense.
“I am not sure how much you remember, but well…you were struck by a bolt of lightning.” Your eyes go wide, and you let out a weak gasp. “You were brought here by Twilight Sparkle, and you were rushed into the emergency room.”
You remember a bright flash of white. Pony faces were looking at you in alarm. Twilight was one of them. She looked so afraid. And why wouldn’t she be, you were struck by lightning after all. But you survived. Perhaps that was a feat to be proud of. But no one back on Earth ever just shrugged off a lightning strike, if they survived at all. But how did this happen? It wasn’t storming out. In fact, you remember the skies being clear as day.
“How…am I…how bad?” You struggle to ask through heavy breaths. The doctor opens his mouth for a brief moment and then exchanges a look with Twilight. Judging by her expression she knows the diagnosis and they are wordlessly deciding who should break the news to you.
“I-I can tell him,” concedes Twilight, who steps up closer to your bed. She looks you in the eye with a solemn expression.
“I’m so sorry Anon, but the damage was severe. A few of the nerves in your spinal column were overloaded and damaged to the point that they are no longer functional.”
You jerk as much as you are physically able to, with your eyes wide as can be.
“I’m sorry Anon, we did all we could,” said the doctor as he stepped up. “But you’ve been paralyzed from the neck down. There might be something we could attempt down the line but as it stands the damage seems to be indefinite.”
“I…I’m paralyzed?” It all hits you hard. Your head is dizzy and on fire, your breathing is erratic. You can feel tears start to flow down your face as the world around you stops turning. Pinkie Pie embraces you in a comforting hug, which is joined by Rarity and Applejack. Twilight remains near the Doctor, staring down at her hooves, forlorn. The doctor appears to be trying to explain something, but you can’t hear him. All you can focus on is the new reality that has been forced upon you.
‘How did this happen? What are the odds of being struck by lightning?’
“Para-al-al…alyze….ed,” you manage to get out. You aren’t sure who’s crying more, Pinkie Pie, Rarity or yourself. You think they’re offering their condolences but you can’t hear them. The world has separated itself from you and all you can focus on is this moment. But then you remember something. Another face staring down at you as you lay on the ground.
“W-where…is…Ra-rainbow…Dash?"