//------------------------------// // Traumatized // Story: The Jostled Flyer // by Josh Crapo //------------------------------// I had this huge headache waking up. I almost thought I was having some sort of sinus infection but it was a severe fever. A severe fever?!? How could this be?!? My eyes dart every which way until I see a rather light lavender pegasus with the wings spread out and with a huge mess of a mane right at the other side of the room. It was kind of hard to see her though since the walls are near white too. "Hi there." This pony waved at me, but I just groaned as the headache took my attention off her. Of all things that had to happen, my headache seems to take over all. My eyes blood shut, my neck is near sprained, and I can't feel my muzzle, not even my lips. "Ugh. Where am I?" "Well, you're in the Fillywood Hospital. As of right now, it's practically being run by all the recruits of the Wonderbolts Academy, as well as the Reserves and the Wonderbolts themselves, so you're in luck today. I'm Cloudchaser, one of the recruits." "Wait a minute, Fillywood?!? How long was I knocked out for?!?" For once my headache went a bit unnoticed as I started to worry. "I don't know. What day was it that you were 'knocked out'?" Cloudchaser was hiding some information about what happened to me when I was knocked out. I could tell. "It was July the 8th." I didn't think I could handle the pressure of how long I was knocked out. It only felt like one night. "That's weird. There was a tailload of injuries all across Equestria, and all of which happened during the eighth of July. By the end of that week, I would've figured everypony was awake, but I would've been right if I never knew about you." My headache then kicked in again. And i was breathing heavy from how bad the headache was. "What... is... today..." Cloudchaser flipped the calendar from July to September and pointed to twenty three. "I've been unconscious for two and a half MONTHS?!?" That's when I fainted. I couldn't see Cloudchaser anymore. I opened my eyes to see six ponies back at Hayseed Swamp. These ponies, I haven't even met before, yet they're still so vivid. Two pegasi, two earth ponies, one unicorn and one alicorn. And all in one split second they faded out of my sight. Then came a much larger pony that I remember seeing on my way to Manehatten. I felt like I was actively standing on the ground but I wasn't sure. When her horn glowed she also faded out of my sight. And there was the thumping of thousands of ponies around me. I quickly leaped into the air but a force grabbed one of my back hooves and pulled me the thumping ground. The rumbling got louder and louder, near deafening. Then a bright light cancelled out everything else that was going on as I screamed. There I saw Cloudchaser, more worried than I was. We looked at each other eye to eye. "Are you alright there?!? Sheesh! You scared the hooves out of me!" "Phew!!! That was some nightmare I had!" I groaned as I felt my headache again. Cloudchaser sat back down at her spot as I tried to think about that nightmare I had. "I think I should go get you some water. I may know what you've gotten." What was she talking about? I watched as Cloudchaser got to the bathroom with a cup in her hoof. Hearing that sink run took my mind off the nightmare I had. "Shouldn't there be a water bottle in this room?" I looked around for anything bigger than those puny cups that Cloudchaser got the cup from. "Hospital regulations, so not unless you have one with you, unfortunately." Cloudchaser came back in with a full plastic cup of water in her hoof. I instantly took the cup and chugged the water. I put it down next to me on the table once I finished. The water may not've been that cold but it was enough to diminish my headache temporarily. I was breathing heavily again from drinking so fast. "Wow! Done already. Called it." Cloudchaser took my cup and refilled it with the same faucet water. As I took the cup from her, I chugged the water down again. "Thanks." "Don't mention it." She started smiling at me but shook her head to cling herself back to reality when somepony else came in. "Hey Cloudchaser. Thought we'd have a bit of a check on how things are." It was a pegasus with a rainbow mane. It was just like one of the six ponies in my nightmare. It was uncanny how I've never met these mares before. Not once! "So, RD. How's being on the reserve so far?" I groaned again. The headache. It came back. "Not so bad. How's this patient doin'?" My hoof was my only hope. I put it over my forehead only to nearly feel the power of conduction going to my hoof. My forehead felt so hot I even felt like I was burning up. That fever hasn't lightened up once. "Welp, not only did he have a fever of a hundred and four," Cloudchaser started. "Not just a huge fever?!? There's more?!?" RD was intrigued. "but he also had just woken up from a nightmare about what happened on the eighth of July." "That tears it. I'll be right back." That had done it. RD had dashed out and within about ten seconds, she came back with a full pack of water bottles. In that time, Cloudchaser quickly shoved a thermometer up my mouth. What was that for? I may never know. "Also, that one-o-four temperature. That was from July eighth. Now, with the nightmare, I guess what knocked him out was the cause of that nightmare. But yeah that bad boy's set in if that's the case." I knew exactly what RD was talking about but not Cloudchaser only until she looked at me, seeing me very sad at the fact that I'll probably have nightmares of that same very day every single night now. Only time will tell whether I'd have one tonight.