//------------------------------// // II // Story: Magically Saturated // by r4rBrok //------------------------------// So there I was, leg broken, under a deadly heat lamp and completely out of my gourd. Now, crippling insanity besides, I knew I was still going to die if I didn't get out of this heat. Unfortunately it appeared like I was going to be stalled in my flee to salvation when I saw my statement, or possibly pain filled screams, had attracted some of the wild life. A purple one of the donkey-things approached me. This one was obviously different from the others. The most striking difference was the addition of wings at its sides. They were the same color of its coat and looked vestigial at best. The animal itself was about five feet long and four high at the shoulders. The wings on the animal appeared to only be able to add four feet at most on each side in wingspan. After looking at its head I saw a small smoothed out horn in the middle of its forehead poking out between its darker hair right by a magenta streak. It started drawing closer but for some reason it stayed around 30 feet away. It looked right at me with its eyes. By god it's eyes. They looked easily over half a foot wide. There is no possible way that those evolved naturally. As it was looking at me its eyes bore a strange intelligence to them. It was looking straight at me, not the slight tilt or wayward glance but straight at me. "Hi there, are you okay little guy?" What. What? What! "What!" "Hey you can talk? Well that makes things slot easier, doesn't it," the animal replied. The voice was soft and high pitched, giving plenty of indicators that it was in fact a female. "I should be asking you that! This isn't possible a mule should not be talking. I have to be insane, that's the only explanation. If I were sane the entire world would be in turmoil. What are the doctors pumping into me, LSD? There is no way that they would-" "Sir!" thank goodness for my mental constructs or I would have just kept on rambling in insanity. "Are you okay sir, maybe you should get home." "No shit I should get home. Thank you for that." I responded snarkally. "Hey no need to get nasty. What is wrong with you any-ways?" "Well let's see, I am currently in about fifty degree weather, I appear to have broken my leg, I have no idea where I am, and for the topping on the cake I am talking to a figment of by mind brought about by my ever devastating insanity!" She appeared to frown menacingly at me before replying, "Actually it is closer to seventy-five degrees curren-" "Seventy-five?! Wait, what scale are you using?" I cut her off saying She frowned even heavier, "It's not nice to interrupt you know." After waiting a bit I had to wave her on before she continued talking, "Well I'm using the fahrneigheit scale, aren't you?" "No, no I'm not. Assuming the same scale then I guess that means it's closer to one-ten or one-twenty." "WHAT?! Sweet Celestia, we need to get you to a hospital quick. Here let me help you up!" "What, wait!" I tried to cry before she lifted me. Now I was expecting her to run into me in an attempt to get me on her back, but I was sadly mistaken. What she did do instead was cause her horn to emit some sort of glow, presumably bio-luminescence, and a purple field of light wrap around me. And that was the single most painful moment in my life. As the field wrapped around me it started to burn. The burn was not one of the sun variety, but closer to that of being poked with a cattle brand. Images were immediately sent to my mind of being burned at the stake. The girl-donkey-thing dropped me back onto my leg when she heard my scream of terror. "Oh my goodness, are you okay?" I looked down at myself. I was covered in black scars. Whatever she did to me did serious damage. So there was another thing on my list of crap that was wrong with me. I had significant burns over my body. "No." My voice was barely above a whisper. There was no snark, sarcasm or anger. My voice was flat and dead. "Get me a stick." "What?" "I said get me a stick, I need something to lean on so I can move." she simply nodded and ran off, leaving me to myself for a moment. I looked at my blackened self. A mockery of the man I used to be. It was there that my mind no longer accepted the possibility of this being my own creation. There was no way that any part of me, even my subconscious, would will this torment on myself. Yes being burned alive by a weird donkey-thing caused me to stop doubting myself. Shortly after the purple one came back with a long stick with substantial width. It looked like a simple wooden staff. She through it on the ground in front of me, probably thinking what would happen if she tried to hand it to me. "Thank you," I coughed out while standing up using the staff as support. She stood there nervously as if unsure what to next. I waved one hand and spoke "You said I needed to get to a hospital, so lead the way." She nodded again and slowly started to walk away with me close behind. "I'm sorry," she said. "I know," I responded. I knew from the way she was acting that she was truly sorry that she caused me harm. And while I knew what her intentions were it didn't stop the fact that she burned most of my skin black. I will probably forgive her after I get to the hospital and recover. That is if I recover. "I never got your name," she said breaking the silence. "Oh, um James, James Taylor. Though isn't it rude to ask someone else's name before you give your own?" I snarked. "Sorry, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. It is a pleasure to meet you James." She stopped for a moment and held out her... hoof? It appears like what I was assuming was flesh and a hock was instead fur covering up her hooves. I looked at her hoof and started walking past it. "Please don't, I really don't trust what ever it is you did and I don't want another first hand experience." "Understandable and it was magic by the way." she said in response. That is what made me snap. Strange bio-luminescence is one thing, freaking magic on the other hand is another entirely and simply not okay. I immediately turned around with a scowl of disgust on my face. "You used magic. To. Light. Me. On! FIRE!" She could tell from the look on my face that I wanted nothing more than to strangle her. Yes I know I said that I knew she was sorry. Still doesn't change the fact that she lit me on fire using magic! She leapt back using her wings to stabilize herself allowing her to keep her hooves off the ground. I was shocked momentarily that her wings had actual use, but the majority of my mind was still on pure rage at the fact that she. LIT. ME. ON. FIRE! And no I cannot stress that enough. She continued to wave her hooves to get me to back off. "It was just a simple levitation spell, honest!" "ON. FIRE! Listen Miss Sparkle, have you heard of the term mens-rea?" "No, I do not believe I have" "Well it is a term used in law that roughly translates to 'guilty mind'. It means that you intended to do the act that caused the harm regardless of the intended outcome. That my friend is what happened here; you intended to help but instead LIT ME ON FIRE!" "Alright, alright I get it. I lit you on fire, how was I supposed to know that would happen." Twilight's voice began putting an edge on it that started to make me more careful where I tread. "Let's just get to that hospital, I'm tired of arguing anyways." After walking for awhile longer we came it a town. The general architecture looked like a cross between Hobbiton and candy land, even with a full on gingerbread house. The streets themselves were quite barren, though there were a few donkey things on the streets. I thought that the town would be a bit more alive it being about the middle of the afternoon which got me thinking. "Excuse me Miss Sparkle." "Hmm?" she dumbly replied breaking out of a daze. "Please call me Twilight." Naturally I refused to call her that. "Miss Sparkle, would today be a day of worship per chance?" "What do you mean?" "Well I don't see many people on the street so I was wondering if today was a religious day or something." "Oh, no not a religious day, but it is the Running of the Leaves today." "I beg your pardon? What, if I may ask, is the running of the leaves?" "Well that is the day we usher in the start of winter by having a run trough Whitetail Woods to shake all the leaves off of the trees. This is the first time in a couple of years I have dome it myself." "So that stampede earlier was a celebration of the seasons?" "I guess you could say that yes." Twilight then stopped fairly suddenly and turned to me and said, "Here we are, Ponyville General Hospital." "Wait, what?" "I said Ponyville General Hospital, please tell me that wasn't lost in translation." "Ponyville, as in named after the animal called a pony, correct." "You might want to refrain from saying it like that; somepony might take offence to being called and animal." "Pony, you guys are ponies." "Yes...?" I proceeded to burst out into laughter at that thought. I'm sorry but the idea of them being ponies was just too funny. Though on reflection the idea of them being donkeys or pigs was kind of hilarious as well. "Excuse me?! What is your problem!" "I-I'm sorry, it's just so funny." I said in between dying chuckles. "Here I was thinking for the longest time that you guys were some strange misbred donkey." "Well I know a couple of donkeys if you want to meet them later." "Maybe, doubtful, but maybe. Anyways let's get me checked in." We both walked in the front doors into what appeared to be a waiting room. The walls were a basic sterile white with some simple animal and butterfly pictures to liven up the place. There were a few ponies in some chairs around the room. The hospital probably doubled for a walk-in clinic. At the front desk was a white pony with a light pink mane. On top of her head was the most stereotypical nurse hat I have ever seen. If not for an assumption of very different cultures, I would think today was Halloween. Wait a second, they live in an old style village, yet they have a full on hospital? What sense does that make? And if they have magic wouldn't that cause a severe drop in technological advancement. I'll have to ask that later. Twilight and I approached the nurse at the front desk together when she began to talk. "Well hello there Twilight, how can we help you today?" "Nice to see you too Nurse Redheart, well we are here about my friend. He needs to be admitted quite quickly for treatment. He currently has a broken leg, severe burns over a large portion of his body, and appears to have an adverse reaction to magic." "What?! So you mean to tell me that with a broken leg and burns like this that you let him walk here?!" Well the nurse seems to have a fury. "Actually... when I found him he just had a broken leg and was complaining of a feeling of intense heat. Speaking of which why haven't you said anything about that for a while." "Hey don't look at me," I responded defensively, "Intense general heat isn't very important after you have been LIT ON FIRE!" "You WHAT! You lit him on fire. You know I don't care. Twilight get out now before something else happens! You," Redheart said pointing at me, "let's get you checked in." "Works for me, thank you for getting me her Miss Sparkle." I said simply before following the nurse, "Well let's see where I will be staying for the foreseeable future."