Prologue Two: Still Alive… sort of.
I slowly begin to come to after a dreamless sleep. I don’t remember much. All I know is that I took a bad fall on my driveway. My head hurts like a motherfucker as well, but that’s kinda what happens when you land head first on concrete. I try to open my eyes and immediately regret it as some of the brightest sunlight I have seen in my entire fucking life blinds me.
“Ugh…” I groan in annoyance after that unexpected flash bang thwarted my attempt to see. While I wait for my eyes to recover, I remember that I still have my other senses. Taste is a bit useless at the moment since my tongue is still in my mouth, but hey, at least I still have my tongue. My mouth feels a little odd, like it was larger than is used to be, but that could’ve been the concussion talking.
Touch is telling me that I’m covered in blankets and on something soft. After further investigation (and by that I mean lying there motionless for a few more seconds), I can tell that I’m on a mattress and under someones bed sheets. Smell is telling me that, wherever I am, it has a faint scent of cinnamon.
‘So, clearly someone found me lying in my driveway and took me to their home. Depending on what they plan on doing with me, it could either be very good or very bad for me.’
Finally, hearing comes in and tells me that someone must’ve heard me since there seems to be what sound like a pair of footprints walking up to my bed.
“I think he’s waking up.” Said a rough male voice. The guy sounded like he was on the older side, maybe fifties or sixties.
Or maybe he was just a heavy smoker. Who knows?
“Yes, it would appear so.” Said a female voice. It kinda sounded like the one in my dreams, but softer. Almost motherly. “It’s ok, you can open your eyes. We’ve closed the curtains.” She added, clearly addressing me.
‘Well, at least I won’t get flash banged again.’ I thought as I slowly opened my eyes. They took a moment to adjust to the lighting in the room, but this time I could actually see clearly. Looking around, it looks like my initial assumption about being in someones bedroom was correct. The bed I was in was pretty large. In fact, I’m pretty sure that at least eight people could sleep in this thing at the same time and still have some personal space. I could see the window that initially blinded me just behind my saviors, directly across the room from me and now covered in a curtain.
Finally I focused my gaze on my saviors, and oh boy did I almost jump out of my bed and try to make a run for it.
They were horses. One was wearing golden armor that reminded me of a roman centurion and had a pair of wings. He had a white coat with blue eyes and a blue mane. The expression on his face seemed to indicate that he was rather bored. In his defense, I would be to if I was stuck waiting for some random ass guy you dragged all the way to your house to wake up for God knows how long.
The other one was a little larger. For comparison, the guy in the guard cosplay only made it up to her shoulder. She had a white coat of fur and wore golden regalia. Following her giraffe like neck, my eyes eventually met her magenta ones. She had both wings and a horn, and her rainbow mane seemed to defy gravity and flow in a nonexistent breeze. As I was questioning how that was possible in my own head, I heard the mare (I assume that’s the correct term, right?) clear her throat.
“Um, are you alright, little one?” She asked. I could tell that there was a touch of concern in her voice.
“Not really.” I replied. I resisted the urge to put my hand over my mouth when I heard that my voice sounded both higher and younger than it should’ve been. “Pretty sure I have a concussion.” I added.
I decided to keep any comments about hallucinating to myself, for fear of offending the sentient horses.
“Well we can tell you that you don’t have a concussion. The doctor already checked and it seems you’ll be fine outside of a really bad headache. That should go away in a few days at most.” The stallion said. “Though if you don’t mind, I want to ask you a few questions.”
“Sure.” I replied. I really didn’t want answer a talking horses questions, but the look he was giving me told me that saying ‘no’ wasn’t an option. And if it was one, then he definitely wouldn’t take it as ‘no and never come back’, but rather as a ‘no but keep coming back until I finally cave in and answer your questions anyway’.
“Alright. Can you tell me why you were in the royal gardens?”
Royal gardens? The fuck was this guy talking about? “Uh… I don’t know.” I eventually said. The confusion must’ve been obvious in my voice, since the mare seemed to give me a look of sympathy.
“You don’t know?” The stallion asked.
“Nope. No clue.”
“Do you remember how you got into the royal gardens?”
“I don’t even know where those are.” I said. “In fact, I don’t even know where I am right now or who you two are.”
The stallion seemed to get a little annoyed at that, based on the look on his face as I said it. The mare, meanwhile, continued to look at me sympathetically. Well, at least I know one of the hallucinations doesn’t want to kill me.
“Your in Princess Celestia’s bedroom.” He replied. “She found you lying unconscious on a pathway in the royal gardens during her morning walk and brought you up here to her room.”
“And I assume that she is Celestia?” I said, pointing a- wait a second. Where are my fingers? Actually, where’s my hand? Why is my arm a stub? Why is it covered in white fur? Oh God oh fuck I’m missing my hands. I can see that other one is gone as well. They’ve been replaced by hooves. Shit shit shit shit what the fuck happened?
I was broken form my train of thought by who I assumed to be Celestia speaking up. “Is something wrong with your hooves?” She asked.