//------------------------------// // Not as expected // Story: A curse in disguise // by Dream Quill //------------------------------// When her vision returned it was like she was dreaming. Everything she saw was blurry. Her ears declined to take in any sound and her body felt limp and numb, there was not an ounce of strength in any of her appendages. Yet she was defiantly moving on what she thought could be a bed. Something felt really wrong. She was not able to put her hand on it. Her subconsciousness was practically screaming at her. Yet she found herself completely incapable of understanding what was going on. There was a weight on her chest she did not recognize. What the hay was going on? She felt an icy fear take grip of her heart. Why couldn’t she move any part of her body but in the same time felt herself moving in the blanket? It dawned on her. Someone must be moving her. Maybe she lay in bed for quite a time and someone just tried to roll her over to prevent her body from developing bedsores on her back or something. Then again… why was she moving up and down on the bed and not rolled over? Something just felt really wrong. She blinked, trying to turn her vision less blurry but she suspected it could be for her missing contact lenses. She always kind of felt it if they were not in her eyes. So she tried to awake her other senses but was only met with deaf numbness. All she could do was staring at the ceiling above her which was moving up and down due to her own movement. Then his face appeared over hers. There it was, kind of labored but with the most possessive grin she had ever seen. Did he sweat? Was he doing something that strained him? The screams of her subconsciousness finally broke through her and her mouth opened for the most terrified and painful scream she ever screamed in her life as she shot up in her bed. But Discord was gone so was the light around her. Everything was dark. Her heart raced and her blood rushed deafening in her ears. She looked around in horror but no one was there. “A dream…?” she muttered to herself, her voice somehow bringing her ears to readopt their function and process the sounds around her. The first sound she heard was a quite fast beeping noise to her left. She looked over just to be greeted by the spiking line of a heart monitor. By the view of something as familiar as this her heart rate noticeably calmed, which was announced by the far slower beeping of the machine. As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness surrounding her it was even more obvious that she was in a hospital. Suddenly she felt very tired. No she was far beyond tired by now. She sunk back in the pillow closing her eyes, realizing just now that her body felt utterly off. Not bad or even pained, just… off. Maybe she was on sedatives? Yeah… That’ll explain the sudden tiredness she felt overwhelming her. And just like that she succumbed to sleep once more. Her senses came back to her the moment she heard the door opening. The sound of something hard clopping against the floor approaching her, passing by and then came to a stop. She was ready to drift off again as the sound of parting curtains penetrated her ears and a way too bright light invaded her eyes through her closed lids. She groaned loudly and turned over in her bed to escape the pain the light brought to her seemingly oversensitive eyes. A surprised gasp came from the direction of the window. “Oh my. I did not know that you were awake.” It was female, quiet and kind of fragile. Like if it could break if the owner of this voice would strain it too much. Where did she have heard this voice before? She shook the thought away and grumbled under her breath. “Well I was not.” Surprisingly enough the other person did hear what she said and let out a relieved sigh. For a moment there was the clopping sound again and the voice was clearly closer now. “I’m glad you are. Because you seemed to never recover from whatever happened to you.” At this her ears perked up. She was about to say something but then what just happened hit her with enough force to let her thoughts screech to a halt. Did her ears… just move? She opened her eyes and although she faced away from the source of light she could feel the pain it caused. She blinked confused. In the night she did not notice but everything around her was just too colorful. Even the sterile white of the blanket she was wrapped in seemed more brilliant, more… shiny. Did Discord stand up to his words in the end? Was there any possibility she was in Equestria right now? And if she really was in Equestria did that mean she was a pony right now? Just like that? Suddenly in a haste she tried to move her fingers and as they did like they were supposed to her heart fell. She had fingers not hooves. Then this feeling that something was utterly off came back to her. She could tell that she was on sedatives now because all she felt was a dull ache in her back and haunch. This kind of dull you only feel when there is a soaring pain which is numbed by painkillers. She felt hollow at once her voice but a terrified whisper. “What did happen to me?” There was an anxious shuffling of what she suspected to be hooves now but was accompanied by another sound she did not recognize. It almost sounded like ruffling feathers? “For that… we do not know. Twi-“ She stopped a second, then went on. “A friend of mine said that it is up to you to explain yourself. The doctors only treated your injuries, which really weren’t severe, but you just did not wake up. They said you were in a state of shock, both physically and mentally.” ‘Well being tossed into another world can do that to you’, she thought and sighed. What alarmed her too was that her memories came back hard on her. The walk in the night, the breakdown, the signed contract with the god of chaos himself and last but not least this dream. Something about it bothered her. It was like her subconsciousness was flinching away from the memory, hiding in a corner of her soul and began crying. What the hay was up with her? While she lay there obviously zoned out the other person began walking again rounding the bed until it stood straight in her line of view. The waving yellow hoof in front of her eyes snapped her back to reality but all she could do was stare at the Pegasus she saw standing right there like it was the most natural thing ever with a slight worried look on her ridiculously cute face. “Are you alright? You did not fall asleep with open eyes, did you?” What the hay was Fluttershy doing here? Sure she was always displayed as the most kind and caring pony. But why would she tend to some random human being? Was that her element that hung around her neck? Sure as Tartarus it was! “N-no… I’m still awake.” She smiled and put her hoof back down on the floor just as a thought crossed her face. “Oh! I should tell the others that you woke up.” A dumbfounded stare met her smile. “Others?” The yellow Pegasus turned around and left the room leaving a confused being behind. She stared at the door that was not closed completely and tried to listen for any sound which made her ears swivel towards the direction. A shudder ran down her spine caused by the new and strange feeling of her moving ears. Ok, maybe she was not entirely human anymore. For quite a time there was no sound but the clip clop of hooves passing by. Probably some busy nurses or something. She was in a hospital after all. Just as she started getting bored of the situation and pondered the thought just going back to sleep even more hooves could be heard approaching. Hay it sounded like there was a whole bunch of ponies coming her way. Wait, what if they actually were heading her way? What if there was a whole division of guards to take her under arrest or something? As the sound grew closer she could hear a firm voice of a female pony answering questions that seemingly came from nowhere. She could not understand what it was saying but it sure as Tartarus sounded mad. Fear set in and was even more fueled by the sound of metal clattering. The heart monitor at the side of her bed rocketed into a furious beeping. Only one thought was allowed to surface through the haze of panic rapidly building inside her. She had to leave like RIGHT NOW! But as she struggled to get out of her bed her vision blurred and albeit the strong painkillers her body flared with pain. A groan of pain left her lips and she felt her body spasm uncontrollably what only caused her more pain. Her panic peaked as the door swung open and none other than Twilight Sparkle, the lavender unicorn and protégé of her highness Princess Celestia, accompanied by a very scared looking Fluttershy and a minimum of five royal guards entered the room. The unicorn was clearly upset by something and if she had to guess that would be her squirming form on the bed. “It tries to escape! Grab hold of it, now!” The guards flooded the room and pinned her down on her bed. Totally horrified she glanced around. “Leave me alone! I’ve done nothing wrong!” Her voice sounded so high pitched in her screech that even the guards flinched, but not Twilight. “Your kind is not welcome here, dragonequus.” Her struggling ceased and she stared dumbfounded at the sinister face of what she thought was a friendly unicorn… …and she laughed. First a genuine laugh but soon it turned higher in pitch indicating the panic in her mind. “What are you talking about?! Are you crazy?!” Twilight was not amused at all. Her horn glowed with her trademark aura and she felt the blanket fly off from her body exposing it for everyone to see. Especially for herself. She froze solid as her mind could not process what her eyes told her was there. Her brown slender figure ending not in two different but two similar draconic legs and her tail twitched once more before going completely limp as she fell unconscious.