“Damn it! They’re right on our tail!”
“They must have been waiting for us after we left!”
“We can’t keep dragging this guy around with us. We have to ditch him.”
“What if they find him?”
“We didn’t do this to him. Not our problem.”
“The boss isn’t going to like this...”
“It’s one messenger. Big deal. Boss didn’t even like this guy that much, anyway.”
“...Alright. We’ll toss him over there.”
“Sorry, buddy. You’re timberwolf food now.”
“Hurry up! We don’t have much time!”
“Okay. Now let’s get out of here!”
~~~~~
You slowly open your eyes, a little disappointed that you could. Light stings your retinas, making you fight to keep your eyelids open as the rest of your body begins to come to life as well. An aching feeling seems to have spread everywhere, from your neck all the way down to the ends of your hooves. In the middle of your stomach is the worst where the pain feels like a cold, yet burning sensation.
More senses start to kick into motion as you begin to feel what you’re laying on. Something soft, like a bed, but the wall of the same material you feel against your side tells you that you’re probably on a sofa of some sort. Your head is on a plush down pillow and there is a light but warm blanket coming up to your midsection.
Struggling to lift your head to take in your surroundings, you realize your body is not quite up to speed for that at the moment. Letting a small grunt through your nose, you instead let your head fall to the side to see where you are. The sight you are greeted with is interesting to say the least.
The room is normal enough with all wood floors and walls with a pink rug laying in front of you. However, there are small animals running around all over the place. Birds fly through the air to different houses and feeders near the ceiling. Some of them stop to give a quick glance at you before returning to their own business, except for one small white rabbit. He’s been looking at you since you started moving. His expression shows that he’s not at all sure what to think of you at the moment. Before you can raise an eyebrow at him, he hops away into the other room.
Man, even your apartment doesn’t have this bad of an infestation problem.
As more feeling returns, you notice something around your midsection. Your hooves to your sides can feel something there as well. You’re barely able to lift your hooves enough to look underneath the blanket. Sure enough, it seems that your torso has been bandaged up. Quite expertly, if you may say so. They even had the care to leave your wings unconstricted. While it looks rather thick, you can see some faint traces of red through it.
“Are you awake?” you hear somepony ask. Their voice is very quiet and meek.
You turn your head as you try to sit up once again.
“Oh no, please don’t!” they suddenly say, putting a hoof against your chest to keep you from getting up. “Please don’t exert yourself. You, um... you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
Blood? What?
Before your mind comprehends what was said, you get a good look at the pony talking to you. They’re a light yellow mare with soft blue eyes and a long flowing pink mane. They’re looking at you with a good amount of worry.
“You need to conserve your strength,” she says. “So, um, try not to move, if that’s alright.” As she talks, you can’t help but stare at her mane. Such an amount of hair all seemingly clean, brushed, and well kept. It descends down like a silk curtain around her face, playfully dangling down her forelegs before sweeping back up in a small curl. It nearly glows in the light from outside. It’s nearly awe-inspiring.
That reminds you. Against the wishes of the pony beside you, you begin to lift a hoof upwards.
“Oh dear, um, please stop. Please?” she asks, but you continue.
Slowly pulling it up towards your body, you let your hoof come to rest on top of your own head. You feel back and forth within it, assessing the damage to your own hair. Knots are everywhere and you feel multiple small foreign things within it. Probably dirt or something else. Oh, your poor mane... It’s one of the few things you can take comfort in and now it’s all a mess. You’ll probably have to skip a meal or two to afford the water and soap necessary to get it clean again. Letting out a low, disappointed groan, you let your hoof fall back to your side.
“Does your head hurt?” the mare asks. She leans up and places a hoof on your forehead. Her touch is gentle as you feel a tiny bit of weight pressing down from it. As she’s feeling your forehead, you can see down the length of her body. It appears that she is a pegasus, like you. Three pink and blue butterflies as her cutie mark. “You don’t feel too warm... That’s good. It means you don’t have an infection,” she says, taking her hoof back.
“Are you still sore?” she asks. “You probably had quite the accident considering where, um... you were found.”
Everything is still such a blur at the moment. You try to focus long enough to remember how you got here or why you hurt so much. You turn your head back towards the ceiling, but various pains in your head and neck cause you to let out another small grunt while doing so.
“Oh dear...” you hear her say. “I’ll go get you some medicine. It should help with the pain.”
She turns and walks away into the other room as you lay there to ponder the many questions on your mind. The immediate questions are ‘Where are you?’ and ‘Who is that mare?’ Unfortunately, you have no way to answer those questions at the moment. The next question would be ‘How did you get here?’
You close your eyes as you think back to the last thing you can remember.
You were in your apartment. Afraid to leave, as usual. There was something different about the fear, though. Something specific. You were afraid of something rather than just general fear. Was it an assignment? Must have been.
Okay, so it was an assignment that you were afraid of. That doesn’t narrow it down. One you must have known ahead of time. It must have been a delivery of some sort, that’s all you do. What did you have to deliver? Was it heavy? How big was the package?
You couldn’t remember. No such weight seemed familiar in your head. Unless... was there a package?
No, there wasn’t. It was a message you were delivering.
What was the message? Your boss must have told you. You think back to your last meeting with him. He seemed pleased with himself. You remember him chuckling. He said something about refusing something.
Refusal. That was the message.
He told you to deliver it. Two other rather large ponies came in. The boss told you what would happen if you failed.
You subconsciously wince as you remember a sharp feeling through your jaw.
There was more chuckling. You were lifted up.
Your head begins to hurt as you remember. The mare said something about medicine. Where is she? Turning your head to the side again, you see the critters of the house go to and fro. Birds sing a few notes here and there while mice and squirrels chitter amongst one another. The mixture of noise is actually kind of peaceful.
A squirrel curiously looks up at you. They make a tiny little tzh-tzh noise. All you can manage is a small smile at the adorable little animal. They scratch behind their ears for a moment before scurrying off, through the legs of the yellow mare as it goes.
Your eyes look up to see her. She’s carrying a small bowl by the edge with her mouth. Walking up beside you, she sits down on her haunches before taking the bowl with her hooves.
“This should make you feel better,” she says. Using one hoof to hold the bowl, she brings her other behind your head. You feel her pressing against your mane, which you would normally hate, but you know it doesn’t matter at this point. She probably couldn’t ruin your hair any more, you think with a bit of mirth.
With a gentle but still firm push, she helps you lean your head upward. She brings the bowl to your lips as you look inside it. Inside is a small amount of green sludge that smells a little earthy. You let out a little squeak of confusion.
“This is called harpagophytum,” she explains. “It’s, um... more commonly known as Devil’s Claw. Now I know that may sound scary, but it’s just an herb that can help with your pain. It’s perfectly safe.”
You have no strength to argue. As she tilts the bowl up, you let the liquid pass through over your tongue and down your throat. It’s warm and tastes just like it smells. Not too bad. You remember having to take worse tasting things as a foal.
The heat from the liquid itself is somewhat soothing. The mare sets the bowl down on the ground as she slowly lowers your head back down, sinking back into the pillow. Taking her hoof back, she leans down to pick up the bowl again before walking into the other room.
You can already feel whatever she gave you taking effect. The soreness throughout your body begins to fade, although the sharp sting in your midsection is still present. You feel a little numbness spread down your legs, which is a welcome change compared to how you felt moments ago.
After hear a small clatter from the other room, the yellow pegasus comes back, airborn this time. As she flaps her wings, she looks over you. Her mane still falling neatly without any sort of knot or tangle, only making you wish you could attend to your own mane as soon as possible.
“I’ll be right back, okay?” she says. “I’m just going to go find the nurse and let her know that you’re awake.”
You manage a small nod as she flies out of sight. You close your eyes as you hear a door in the room open and close. Breathing out a sigh, you lay there as you continue to feel the medicine she gave you taking effect. The whole of your body had a warm and numb sensation.
Wait... what did she say?
That she was going to get a nurse? Like a hospital nurse?
Panic alarms start to go off in your head. You’re still not a hundred percent sure why you hurt so much, but it’s a safe bet that you won’t want to answer to anypony about it. You need to get out of here.
With a loud grunt, you try to force yourself into a sitting position. All manner of soreness returns in full force, only with the added numbness now making it harder to move. There’s no way you could possibly get yourself upright and the bending made the stinging in your torso sting much worse. Maybe you could turn and roll yourself onto your hooves? Worth a shot.
Turning your body, you begin your struggle sideways. All the animals in the house stop to look at you, but you pay them no mind. They’re animals. They don’t know who you are and they certainly can’t say anything to anypony about where you’ve gone after you manage to get away from this place.
You manage to get a hoof somewhat close to the ground. It’s not much, but it’s enough to feel like progress. Another loud grunt causes it to touch the floor as you begin to work the rest of your body off the couch.
However, in your current state, there’s no way you could support yourself on one hoof. Your leg buckles the moment you put weight on it and it causes you to come crashing down to ground. Your hindlegs are tangled in the blanket and the pain you feel is much more intense than before. The stinging is enough to make you grit your teeth and your limbs almost feel as though they’re on fire. You think you feel something in your chest leaking.
No time to think on it. You take a moment to breathe and collect yourself. You try spreading your wings, but they just splay out uselessly on either side of you. Putting your hoof on the ground you try pushing yourself upward again, but your strength quickly gives out. Your breathing becomes heavier as you notice that it’s becoming harder to keep your eyelids open.
You just need a moment before you can get out of here.
Just need a little moment...
Just need a...
...just...
…
~~~~~
You begin to recognize the sensations around your body in the familiar darkness in front of your eyes. That’s the blanket over your legs. That’s the pillow behind your head. Underneath you is that sofa with its back against your side.
Something you don’t remember is the pinpoint spike of pain in your chest. You feel your entire body twitch involuntarily. A tugging sensation comes next as you begin to hear voices. One of which you’ve never heard before.
Taking a silent deep breath, you realize your attempted escape from the yellow mare’s house was a failure.
Keeping your eyes closed, you try to make out what they’re saying.
“...not totally unconscious.”
“Are you sure?” asks the pegasus from before.
“You saw how his muscles constricted in response to the needle? That means he can still register pain. He should be fine.”
“Oh, what a relief...”
“So, you said he had woken up. Was there anything to note when he did?”
“Well, he seemed like he was still in pain, so I gave him some medicine for it.”
“Okay. And what’s his name?”
You feel a little pang of terror. You had really really hoped that you wouldn’t have to answer any questions like that.
“He didn’t tell me. I don’t even think he said anything after waking up.”
“So all we have to go on is his cutie mark. Fortunately, it’s obvious that his profession is a mailpony of some kind.”
You inwardly groan to yourself. In the moment of whatever happened, you forgot about your cutie mark. Now they may be able to identify you.
“Unfortunately, we had been looking in our files all morning and couldn’t find anything for anypony with such a mark,” the nurse adds, much to your relief.
“Does that mean he, um... he’s not from Ponyville?”
“Probably. If he is, then he’s never checked into Ponyville General before.” The nurse’s voice changes to a more suspicious tone. “Any idea why he’d try to leave, tearing open some of his stitches in the process?”
Stitches?
“Well, he seems stable enough at the moment. I’d like to move him to the hospital for a few tests and to ask him some questions.”
With a small gasp, your eyes shoot open. The two ponies notice and look at you.
“Well, good morning again, sleepyhead,” the yellow pegasus comments with a smile. The other one with her is a white earth pony with a very light pink mane, somewhat frazzled reminding you of the sad fate your own mane has endured. She wears a nurse’s cap and has a red cross as her cutie mark. They look a little less than happy and have a brown medical bag next to them.
The animals that were around seem to have all disappeared except for the occasional bird or squirrel running through.
“Right then,” the nurse says. “Can you please explain to me what happened to you?”
You pause for a moment before shaking your head. If given a little time you could probably remember, but you also know that you’d probably not want to have to explain it.
“Oh dear...” says the yellow pegasus in her light voice. “He must've hit his head when he crashed.”
Crashed? You doubt that’s what happened, but it sounds like a good story. You can roll with that.
“I’ve told you before, Fluttershy, I don’t think he crashed,” says that nurse.
So that’s the yellow mare’s name.
“He may be a little battered, but not in any way that shows he was dropped from any significant height or speed.”
“But... maybe he hit a tree or something? And a branch caused the cut on his chest?” Fluttershy asks.
The nurse gives you another long look. “While I must admit, given how clean the cut was, I doubt it,” she says. With a shrug she looks back to Fluttershy and follows with, “But I don’t want to jump to any conclusions.”
Fluttershy nods silently while the nurse turns back to you.
“So please, sir. Can you remember anything about the incident?” she asks.
You shake your head again. She lets out another sigh.
“Okay then. What’s your name?”
You open your mouth, but don’t let any words come out. A noncommittal noise slowly comes out as you try to think of something to say, or if you should say anything at all. Eyes slowly travelling back down to your own chest, you opt to remain silent.
You hear the nurse let out a frustrated groan as you see the stitches they were talking about for the first time. The bandages are gone, giving you a good look at a long bloody line going down your body, held closed by string you only see in segments before it disappears into your own skin. The sight makes you grimace a little.
“Nothing about that ringing a bell?” the nurse asks. A bunch of bells, in fact. The incident is so close to barrelling into the forefront of your mind.
Another pony in a dark room. A knife. You were being carried.
You clench your eyes shut and force yourself to hold the rest of the memory back.
“Are you in pain again?” Fluttershy asks, her voice full of concern. You shake your head as you let the muscles in your face relax.
“Well, we can find out more about him and his condition when we get him to the hospital,” the nurse says, wheeling in and unfolding a travel gurney. “A physical check up, a check on his blood, and when he remembers we can get the full story.”
Your eyes go wide as your furiously shake your head, only to immediately regret it due to the ever present stiffness and ache in your neck.
“No? You don’t want to go to the hospital?” the nurse asks. “Why not? We can help you recover much faster.”
You shake your head.
“We can monitor you, make sure everything is okay.”
You shake your head again. She lets out a frustrated sigh again.
“Look, I know you may not remember what happened, for whatever reason, but here’s what I know...” She leans in close and looks you square in the eye. “Earlier today, I just had to give you a magic-to-blood transfusion while you were in too bad of shape to move past the home of this kind mare,” she gestures to Fluttershy, “who you nearly gave a heart attack when she found you. The least you owe her is to make sure you get well, isn’t it?”
This actually makes you pause. Sure enough, Fluttershy was kind enough to find you help and take you in while you were hurt, but you’re still afraid of the consequences of going to a hospital and them finding out too much about you. You take a moment, fear and guilt battling in your heart. Eventually, your head sinks down as you shake it, too afraid to face the nurse.
Hearing a couple hoofsteps towards you, Fluttershy begins to speak. “I know hospitals can be scary,” she begins, “but it would be best for you to get proper care and treatment. Please?”
You don’t even look up. Breathing a long sigh through your nose, you just shake your head once more.
The nurse lets out a low groan.
“So... what should we do?” Fluttershy asks.
“We can’t make him go to the hospital if he refuses,” the nurse says. “If he’s not from Ponyville then maybe we can check him into somewhere near his hometown. Where do you live?” she asks.
You remain silent. If giving your name is a bad idea, giving them your residence would be even worse.
“What town are you from?” she follows up.
You shake your head.
Hooves lightly touch themselves against your temples. You open your eyes to see the nurse looking closely at your scalp. She takes time to examine every part she can see, although her breath blowing through your mane annoys you. Even with how bad it must be, you still don’t want anything more happening to it. With gentle guiding, you allow her to bend or twist your head slightly to help her. Every now and again, a thoughtful hum escapes from her lips as a hoof comes up to brush away some hair obscuring her vision, which irks you even more. Her examination goes down the back of your head as you feel one of her hoofs travelling down the back of your neck.
Keeping one hoof on the side of your head, you see her appear again in front of you. You can feel some of her weight leaning against your side. She holds up her other hoof directly in front of you.
“Follow with your eyes, please,” she prompts you before slowly moving her hoof to the left side. You follow it with your vision and again when it starts moving to the right, where you can see Fluttershy out of the side of your vision, sitting quietly while rubbing her hooves nervously in front of herself. Once more, you keep the nurse’s hoof in the focus of your sight until it returns to its starting position directly ahead.
“No sign of any physical head trauma, as far as I can see,” she says, taking her hooves back and standing up away from you. “At least, without proper equipment,” she adds with a hint of emphasis towards you. “And certainly can’t check anything about his blood here.”
“How, um... important is it that you check his blood?” Fluttershy asks.
“Very important. We’d have to do a test with a blood sample to make sure he doesn’t reject that transfusion in one way or another. Magic can be... rather fickle in medicinal use, especially when not administered by a unicorn.”
You raise an eyebrow in concern which the nurse notices.
“Don’t worry, I’ve been especially trained for the situation, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a chance. In fact, one moment.”
She rummages around in her bag for a moment before pulling out a pamphlet which she gives to you titled Magical Transfusions: All You Need To Know. You fold open the pamphlet and information about how magic energy can be used in the blood stream. Skimming over a few lines, you read:
New ethereal packs can make a magical transfusion possible for any pony race (not just unicorns) to administer. This magical energy can be substituted as a life source, filling the body with a sort of typeless blood, if need be. This blood is compatible with all other types as current research has shown, but sometimes complications can occur, depending on how much is used. Symptoms range from clotting to thinning, or in extreme cases, sudden outbursts that can cause internal hemorrhaging.
You suck some air in through your teeth as you read that last part. How could they in good conscious do this to ponies?
“Yeah,” the nurse says, seeing your reaction. “Now you know why I want to check your blood. It’s easy to catch early and treat if need be.”
Putting the pamphlet down, you consider your options. On one hoof you have the chance of getting found out. On the other, you have the chance of random internal exploding. As scary as it sounds...
Before you can shake your head again, Fluttershy steps forward.
“She just wants to make sure you’re okay,” she says before turning to the nurse. “How long would he have to stay at the hospital?” she asks.
“Well, that would depend,” she replies. “If there’s any other injury other than... that,” she says, gesturing towards your chest, “then we’d keep him to administer treatment. But if the cut is all he has, then we’d probably check him out the same day. Even if there’s blood complications, a quick treatment and a prescription would fix it.”
“Really?” Fluttershy asks, as if reading your mind and asking for you.
She nods with a genuine smile before turning to you. “I’ve seen a lot of patients that are afraid of hospitals. And mister, I promise we’ll try to get you up and out of there as soon as we can, even if you can’t remember who you are at the moment. All I ask for is a little cooperation.”
Fluttershy turns back to you. “So, um, how about that? Just one day? Please?”
One day? And you might be able to continue faking amnesia and get out of there? For proper treatment, that was certainly a nice offer. But what if you had an additional injury and had to stay longer? Picking up the pamphlet again, you pretend to read as you force yourself to remember the events that happened before you woke up...
~~~~~
The two ponies who were sent with you leave the room. The ones who were your supposed protection are now gone. A musty smokey smell fills the room and the only light comes from a single bulb overhead seemingly casting you in a spotlight. You fidget with the edge of your vest as you wait for a response.
The pony gives a low rumbling hum before scooting back in his chair and getting up. He walks around his desk and begins moving towards you. Your mind is screaming for you to run, to fly away, but like in many other instances, fear glues you to the spot and holds your wings tightly to your sides.
“Well, that is rather unfortunate,” he says. Thankfully, he walks right past you, which allows you to release the air you hadn’t realized you’d been holding. Your eyes stare straight ahead, fixed on the now empty desk.
“Tell me...” he continues. “Do you think you could give him a message back for me?” he asks. After his statement, you hear a drawer behind you opening. Still staring straight ahead, you hear a little rustling before the sliding wood sound of it closing again.
Licking your lips, you merely manage a shaky nod. You can almost feel all of yourself shaking on the spot as a bead of cold sweat runs down your forehead. The lack of sound in the room nearly drives you insane in the moment as all you hear are the hoofsteps of the only pony in the room now walking back towards you.
The moment they come back into your vision, it nearly causes you to jump. Now in the light, you can get a good look at them. Black fur with matching mane, which seems almost unnatural. They have almost a full head over you in height while standing and they’re shoulders are nearly twice as broad as yours.
Those eyes, those piercing yellow eyes, like a predator causes you to look at them and only them, afraid to look away lest the beast strikes. Out of the corner of your eye, you see that he has something in his hoof.
“Just a little something saying that I don’t appreciate the... disrespect,” he says. He begins tapping whatever he has in his other hoof, but you still don’t dare look down to see what it is. Whatever it is, light reflecting off of it flashes in your eyes while it’s moving. “You understand, don’t you? Surely you’d realize that I wouldn’t like such bad news.”
You gulp around the lump that has formed in your throat. Before you can get any words out, he stops tapping and puts a hoof on your shoulder.
Before you could register what’s happening, he brings the object just below your shoulder. A tip of something cold pricks through your fur and against your skin, causing your breath to catch in your throat.
“...Nothing personal.”
A quick swipe of his hoof causes a burning sensation in your chest. Letting out a gasp, you grit your teeth and try to keep up on your hooves, but the pain quickly makes you double over and fall onto the floor.
“I’ll be sending a bill for the carpet cleaners as well,” he says. Looking up at him, you see a finely polished knife in his hoof. You could see yourself in the blade, writhing on the ground.
Clutching at your chest, you feel something warm and sticky begin to cover your hooves. The pony standing above you walks back towards the door and you hear him open the drawer again. You don’t hear much more as a ringing begins to resonate in your ears as you close your eyes as tightly as possible.
Vaguely aware of what’s going on, something picks you up and slings you over their back, doing no favors for your chest wound. Getting roughly carried out of the room, the rest of your senses begin to fade as the ringing becomes louder and louder and the burning sensation spreads.
Soon, it is all you can feel or hear.
~~~~~
You shudder as you come out of the memory.
Looking up from the pamphlet, you see the two mares beside you still waiting for an answer.
“Well?” asks the nurse. “Trip to the hospital, nothing to lose.”
Yeah right. Still, thinking back, you can’t recall anything that would give you injury past getting cut. You breathe in deeply and hold it for a couple moments before letting it go slowly.
Then you turn to the nurse and begrudgingly nod your head.
Both her and Fluttershy smile. “Excellent,” the nurse says as she wheels the gurney closer. “Just hop on up and we’ll get you there. Fluttershy, can I ask for your help?”
“Of course,” she replies. She walks around behind you while the nurse takes your hooves. Both of them are gentle as they push and pull you up into a sitting position. All the while, your sore body protests the movement.
Guiding you still, they help ease you on to your hooves and support you when you’re off the couch. The nurse lowers the gurney for you to easily lay down on it. Rolling onto it, you place your head on the cool pillow with a pillowcase that seems to almost crinkle around your head like paper. She also pulls up a thin sheet to cover you up to your chest as you close your eyes again.
The nurse walks to the end of the gurney and begins to wheel you out of the door. The road from the house seems to have a couple twists in it as loose dirt and pebbles against the small wheels make the ride a little bumpy. You stop again as you hear something dragging against wood before thumping on the ground. Being pushed again, you feel yourself going upwards at an angle before leveling out again. After a couple more scrapes and thumps, you feel not yourself, but something all around you moving.
Opening your eyes, you see that you are now inside of a cart with a white cloth cover. You can barely make out the shape of another red cross on the side of it. The nurse from before is here along with another beside her.
You feel something pat against your shoulder. Looking over, you see a yellow hoof going up to Fluttershy.
Wait, why did she come along? Why is she here?
“Don’t worry,” she says in her calm, hushed voice. “You’ll be just fine. Everything will be okay.”
The questions in your mind are silenced, even if unanswered. Looking up to her gentle smile and tranquil blue eyes makes you begin to smile as well, melting away the last of your worry.
Closing your eyes again, you just let yourself be wheeled away. The nurses begin talking about something or other. You hear noises outside the cart from whatever town you’re in. They don’t matter to you.
Her hoof is still on your shoulder as her words repeat in your mind.
Everything will be okay.
...Right?