//------------------------------// // Treatment // Story: Almost Equal // by REDMAMBA //------------------------------// My eyes shot open in a panic, I immediately began to gag, it felt like someone shoved their fist down my throat. I shot up immediately and reached for my open mouth. My hands began to explore the foreign object, it was round and felt like plastic, without hesitation I wrapped my fingers around the object and forcefully removed it from my mouth. As I pulled my head back and the object forward, I could feel the thing crawl up my throat. I let a load, throaty moan once it was finally removed from my esophagus. I held the object like a poisonous snake; I didn’t want it to get away. I sat there and breathed heavily while I looked at the object. “Is that… a… a breathing tube?” I said between breaths. I took a moment to look at my current situation. It would appear that I was in a hospital bed in a hospital room. Besides the tube I just yanked from my throat, I had an IV tube in my right arm, which had a long, clear tube going to an IV bag hanging on an IV stand. My left arm had a heart beat monitor gauge around it which was attached to a very annoying heartbeat monitor, which sat on the table next to me. Other than a chair and a table, the room was completely empty. “What happened?” I said while rubbing my face and head with my left hand. I couldn’t remember anything, everything was a blur, but whatever happened, was obviously bad enough to land me in the hospital. I sat there in silence as I tried to remember anything on what happened or how I got here. I heard the door knob to the room giggle, and what stepped through wasn’t a nurse. A small, purple, winged unicorn walked in with its head hung low, like it was thinking about something. After taking two steps in, it looked at me and froze. We locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity. “Oh… you’re awake,” it said slightly surprised. I began to chuckle at the site… it talked. My laughter became more uncontrollable, “Hahahahaha! I either hit my head really hard, or the pain killers you’re giving me have some wicked side effects.” I kept laughing. “Uh… the IV is just regular fluids, and you have no injuries that I know of,” it said. My chuckling stopped. “Wait… what?” “You’ve been recovering for a long time,” it said. My eyes went wide, not only did she, or at least from the sound of its voice it was female, talk, she was serious. “Holy Shit!” I began to panic. “Please calm down!” she said in a panic. She began to approach me, but I retreated, I tried to crawl away. While I pushed away I fell off the bed, landing with a good thud. I could barely see over the bed, but I could see that she began to approach with fear and worry in her eyes. I started to shake violently in my retreat, I felt the IV in my arm tighten. I was still attached to the bag, but it was on the other side of the bed. I was restrained and trapped in a room with a talking horse. She continued to slowly walk around the bed. “It’s okay you’re safe,” she said calmly. “GET BACK!” I screamed if horror. She froze. “Please, if you’d just take a deep breath, and let me explain,” she said. I curled up into a ball and began to rock back in forth. “This isn’t real, this isn’t real,” I said trying to wake up from this twisted nightmare. But a hard, yet soft object laid itself on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and found what looked like a purple hoof, my eyes followed up the appendage and to the face of the purple creature. I thought that in that moment… I was going to die. I swallowed the fear filled lump in my throat. She gave me a warm and welcoming smile. “It’s okay,” she said calmly. I did my best to control my breathing, but it was very difficult to get my breathing under control. “Here, let’s get you back in bed… okay?” she said. “…okay,” I mumbled. She gave me another smile. “Here let me help you up.” She began to work herself under my left arm; I couldn’t believe how soft she felt. I used her and the bed as support, while I tried to use my still trembling legs to walk. Slowly, and shakily, I was able to walk the few inches to the bed. I crawled in and laid down, but I never took my gaze off of her. She walked to the right side of the bed and stood there. “Well I’m glad to see that you’re awake,” she said. “Uh… yeah,” I mumbled under my breath. An awkward silence filled the rom. “Um, maybe I should introduce myself,” she started, “my name is Twilight Sparkle… but you can call me Twilight.” “… okay, my names…” I was having a hard time remembering. I closed my eyes and tried to get my brain to operate, I saw a 'B' slowly the rest of the letters came to the light, “… Brian… yeah that’s it.” “Well Brian it’s nice to finally meet you… well the awake you at least,” she said. “Uh… yeah, you too… I guess.” This was awkward; I’m talking to a small purple horse, with wings and a horn. I swear I’m on something and it’s potent. “I just have a few questions I’d like to ask you… if that’s alright?” said Twilight, knocking me out of my thoughts. “Uh… okay.” “Are you in any pain?” she asked. “Uh, a little, that fall from the bed and the jerk I did with the IV, but otherwise I’m fine,” I answered. “Okay good… and how is your breathing?” I furrowed my brow, “Uh fine… I guess.” “Are you having any issues with your motor functions?” What kind of question is that? I think I need to be out of a cast to be asked that. I raised my hands in front of my face and gave my fingers a wiggle, “I’d say pretty good,” I looked down at my feet and wiggled my toes. “How’s your eye sight?” Don’t you have to be an eye doctor to ask that? “I can see you clear as day.” “Can you feel this,” she said as she placed her hoof on top of my hand. “Yeeeah,” I said hesitantly. She removed her hoof, wouldn’t a doctor do more tests on something like that? “Do you remember anything that happened?” She must be wondering about the accident. “Uh… no,” I began to rub my face with my hands, “everything’s a blur.” I let my hands go limp and fall on the bed. “Well those should come back in time,” she said. “I hope so,” I said felling depressed. Silence filled the room yet again. “Uh… can I get you anything?” she asked. I let out depressed sigh, “I could use something to drink, a glass of juice or milk would do.” “Is apple juice fine?” she asked. A talking horse has apple juice, what a coincidence. “Yeah that’s fine with me.” “Okay, I’ll be right back,” she said. She turned and left the room; I just sat there in my bed and stared at the ceiling. I couldn’t believe what was happening to me. Okay so being unable to remember a possibly horrific accident, not the worst thing in the world. But not being able to remember anything, now that had me scared. What of my family, my friends… my life? I could see faces, but no names with them. A man, taller and older, embracing an older woman, along with a young female. I think... they were my family, I mean they looked like it. I could also remember falling, but not in a panic, it was on purpose, I... I couldn't put my finger on it. Why would I do something like that? I guess I'll remember in due time... I hope. But what I’m really confused on is how a winged unicorn became my nurse/ doctor and how she can talk, and she’s getting me a glass of apple juice! That and that was an odd game of twenty questions, who asks how my motor functions are? … … … Then again, she’s a talking horse and probably doesn’t know what I am. … No I’m human I know that much, I just hope she can give me some answers. A few minutes passed, she came back into the room and, was she levitating the glass? “Here’s your juice,” she said happily. The purple tinted glass worked its way in front of me; I raised my hand to it but didn’t grab the glass immediately. “What’s wrong?” she asked. I looked at her then back to the glass. “How are you doing that?” “It’s just a levitation spell,” she said. “So, it’s not gonna like… zap me or anything?” She let out a light giggle, “No, it’s safe,” she said with a smile. “… okay,” I slowly reached out and wrapped my fingers around the glass. The purple aura faded away once I had the glass in my grasp. “Thank you,” I said with a weak smile. I placed the glass to my lips and took a small sip, surprisingly enough, the stuff was pretty good, but then again I had nothing to compare it too… or at least… not yet. I set the glass down on the table that held the heartbeat monitor, which was off. I wasn’t paying attention to when she turned it off. I gave her a hesitant look, and a weak smile. She had proven that she wasn’t going to harm me, but still, who wouldn’t be afraid in this situation? I just sat there in silence while my eyes darted all around. Twilight took notice fairly quickly. “What’s wrong?” she said. “It’s just… this is all really hard to comprehend,” I started. I just felt like crying. She put her hoof on my hand, “I know that this is a lot to take in all at once, but I promise it’ll get better.” I let my head drop, “I hope so.” “I know so,” she said confidently. “Is there anything else I can get you?” I looked at her, “Uh no I think… I think I’m good.” “Okay, if you need me,” she made a bell appear out of thin air, “just ring this bell.” She placed it on the table next to the heart monitor and my apple juice. “Okay, I will,” I said. “Just try and relax,” she said. “I’ll… I’ll do my best.” She turned and walked out of the room, she closed the door behind her. I sat in silence for a moment, that’s when I felt tears form in my eyes. I began to whimper as the small drops of water trickled down my cheeks. I lost everything even my memories… what does a man do in this situation? _______________________________________________________________________________________ Twilights POV As I stood outside the door I could hear him crying. I couldn’t help but feel bad for him. He had been through so much for the short time he was awake. He was scared when he saw me, I mean who wouldn’t, I don’t know what would have happened if I woke up in his world. I just need to give him his space and check up on him every once and a while. I began to walk down the hall of Friendship castle. I don’t know how he’s going to react when he learns that I’m the Princess of Friendship. Let alone that I’m not a doctor. But I needed monitor him and learn more about him, I promised that I’d save him… and I did. After a short walk I walked into my private study. I had stacks of papers, most of them were my princess duties, but those could wait. I wanted to write down his health, as I sat down and grabbed a quill and ink with my magic and placed them in front of me. I pulled a piece of paper full of medical notes in front of me. It would appear that creature known as Brian is healthy and doing well, besides the memory loss he should be able to leave the medical room in a few days. Hopefully he will be able to eat here in the next few hours. His motor functions, eye sight, and breathing appear to be normal, further testing and examinations are needed. As of right now he’s awake and talking, I hope I can help him become accustomed to life here in Equestria. As I finished my brief notes I placed the paper back on its stack and looked at the clock. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon. Hopefully I can get him to eat something here in a few hours. What is his species eat anyway? I guess I’ll have to ask, I hope that he can remember. I let out a loud sigh and grabbed a book. I really didn’t expect him to wake up today, or ever for that matter. “I hope nothing bad happens.” _______________________________________________________________________________________ Brian’s POV As I laid in the bed, my eyes still burned from all the crying I had done. It had been over an hour if not more. I had tried to sleep but it was not use, and I didn’t want to talk to Twilight, so I just sat in silence. The more I concentrated on remembering the more things came to the light... sort of. I began to remember words like 'crazy', 'stupid' and 'reckless', but they weren't insulting they were...joking. they were just bits an pieces but most of them seemed... exciting of all things. I don’t know how long I had sat before the door my room opened. Twilight walked in and approached the bed. I just grabbed my sheet and turned away from her. “Hey,” she said. I didn’t respond. “It’s about 6 o’clock, I was wondering if you wanted something to eat?” she asked. “I’m fine,” I replied. “Are you sure? I’m mean, you should really eat something,” she said. “I’m not hungry.” “Okay,” she said, I heard her hooves hit the floor as she began to leave. She stopped at what I assume was the door. “Well I’m going to bring you an apple or something anyway.” “Okay,” I mumbled. I heard her leave the room and close the door. I just laid there once again. I don’t know how long I was there but the door opened once again and she walked up to the bed. “Here’s that apple I promised,” she said. “Thanks,” I said flatly. She didn’t leave like I had expected. “Look…” she paused, “I know that this is a lot to take in but... I want to be your friend, I want to help you anyway I can,” she said. She wants to be my friend? How can she help me? I can’t remember anything, I barely know my own name, and I’m sitting next to a talking horse. “I… I just want to be alone,” I said with sorrow. “Oh… okay,” she paused, “I’ll check up on you again in a little while.” Silence filled the room. “Quick question… does anything hurt?” she asked. “No.” “Okay,” I heard her approach the door yet again. “Can I get you a book or something?” “Sure,” I said flatly. “Okay,” she said. I heard the door close once again. I began to cry once again.