//------------------------------// // Second Wind // Story: Sideswiped // by Smoogy //------------------------------// YEAR: 2018 MONTH: OCTOBER DAY: FRI. 19 TIME: 5:08 LOCATION: UNKNOWN OXYGEN SUPPLY: 100% WARNING: BLOOD LEVEL LOW You open your heavy eyes to the sight of small amounts of sunlight creeping through a window. You slowly rotate your head to get a full view of the room. It appears you are in a hospital bed with some sort of foot rest at the end; they probably don't have any beds your size. Probably the same reason why you still have the same clothing outfit on. There is an IV in your right arm, but it is much smaller than any IV you've ever seen. You follow the line up to a blood bag and saline hanging on a stand. As much as you know you should probably stay in the bed to get better, you also want to speak to a doctor, and it seems there is no way of doing that here. You drag your right leg off the bed, followed by your left. Once you shift your balance onto your legs, it takes a moment to adjust. You grab the stand with the bags and head out of the room. It is still early in the morning, so you try to be as silent as possible. Taking a look down the hall to the right, it seems to be a dead end, while on the left side, some doors down, it looks like the exit. You walk left with the intention of speaking to the receptionist, if they're still awake, about talking to a doctor. You'd also like to have a little talk with them about where the hell you are and why there are ponies and wolves made of wood! Unfortunately, as you feared, there is no one at the desk. You could ring the bell a couple of times, but seeing as this place helped keep you alive, you'll give the benefit of having a good rest. You do find it odd, though, that a hospital doesn't have an on-duty receptionist at all times. You make your way back to your room, figuring that you'll have to wait until later in the day to have your little chat. Anyways, it's not too big of a deal as you could always use some more sleep. .......... You awake once again in the small hospital bed, this time with more light flooding into the room, as well as without a blood bag on the stand, but there is still saline. There's also a cyan pegasus resting quietly on a chair, with her cheek buried in her hoof and eyes closed. You recognize her as your hero, although in full color and up close, you can now make out her "unique" details. Unique is putting it lightly. For starters, she has a rainbow colored, with all six colors evenly balanced in stripes across her mane and tail. She also has magenta eyes, that almost go too well with her cyan coat. As for her body type, she is on the smaller side, but what she loses in size she makes up in muscle, you can see this even while she is id- "Uh, hey there champ, glad to see you pulled through!" She says this with a somewhat awkward smile while trying to be as enthusiastic as possible. You can't blame her, though, as you probably look as strange to her as she does to you. "Well, I think you had a hand in helping with that." A confused expression suddenly spreads along her face. "A hand?" You then hold up your right hand, as she closely examines it, as well your five fingers. "Woah, what are those five pointy things?" Her eyes wide, she is practically hypnotized by your hand and fingers. "Fingers. Have you really never met a human before?" You find it hard to believe you're the first human she met, considering all the other exotic creatures living here. "So that's what you are, huh? You have a name?" "Jacob. Jacob Cooper in full. I could give you my full title as a soldier, but that would probably just lead to more questions." "You're a SOLDIER?! That is so cool! Have you killed anypony?" The realization hits her like a train. "Oh, you're not supposed to ask that question, are you?" She then looks down and obviously feels bad and embarrassed. "Relax, I haven't killed anybody or any ponies for that matter. I was only there for a short time, and we left on our first mission just two days ago if I'm correct." You then ask her, "So, now that my name's out there, what's yours?" As much as you feel the need to ask her about where you are and what's going on, you want to get to know her first. "I'm Rainbow Dash, and I'm the most awesome pony and best flier in all of Equestria!" She also seems to have the highest ego. "With that display you put on back there against the wooden wolves, I can't argue with that." "Those are called timberwolves, and yeah, I totally kicked their butts!" While smiling with a nearly greedy grin, she blushes out of embarrassment and says, "I mean, I was just trying to save you, they nearly killed you for pony's sake!" She does have her limits on gloating after all. "I owe you my life for that, thank you, I will forever be in your debt." Now onto the important question, "If you don't mind telling me, where am I? As far as I knew there wasn't a single planet that could support life like this before Earth." She looks at you with a semi-puzzled expression before stating, "This is Equestria, on the planet of Equus. And what in the hay is earth, doesn't just mean like the ground or something?" "Earth is the planet I was born on, as for this Equus, I've never even heard of it." You then press a button on your wrist which pulls up a holographic HUD. You proceed to search for "Equus" as well as "Equestria", but in the end get no results. "As a matter of fact, Equus isn't even a registered planet. What the hell happened?" She sits, frozen with mouth agape. "Uhm, Rainbow, hello? Can you hear me?" "What the buck was that? Thatstuffjustshotfromyourthingandyouwereabletolookforplanetsandstuffonitandohmycelestiathatwassocool!" "You've never seen a watch before?" You ask this as a watch is pretty much as simple as it gets, when it comes to today's technology anyways, no matter how new the tech actually is. "I've seen a watch you foal! That's not a normal watch!" "I'll have to show you what it can do later, but right now, I have more important things to focus on." After saying this, she gets a slightly angry expression. "I? You mean we, right?" "What? No. I mean, why? You've already saved my life, why help me even more?" "Because that's what friends do!" She is no happier after you said that. "Friends? You consider us friends?" Instantly, you realize how bad that sounds. "Wait, that's not what I meant. I'm just trying to say, we just met, although you did save my life." You wait for a response, but all you get is an expression as if she is waiting for you to say more. "Why would you even want to be friends with me anyways? I'm an alien here, I'm surprised you even saved me in the first place." After this, the expression on her face goes from anger to more of a depressed or sad state. "Wait, no. Ugh! I keep saying it wrong! I just want to know why you would even associate yourself with something like me!" You swear the room is getting warmer, as you're starting to sweat. Before she begins, you notice an emotion go across her that looks like relief with a mix of annoyance. "Are you kidding? Who the hay cares if you're not from around here? You look super cool and have all this cool stuff and you even took on a pack of timberwolves!" Yeah, let's just go with that. "My point is, you're an awesome, uh, human, and I WANT to help you and be your friend!" "Seriously, you want to be my friend? If you're going to offer, then hay yeah!" Did I really just say hay yeah? "Awesome! I can't wait to go around town and introduce you to all my friends! I just KNOW you're going to love them!" Almost as if it was scripted, a doctor enters the room with a clipboard in hand. "So, erm, patient, how-" "His name is Jacob!" Well, thank you, Rainbow. "Er, please forgive me, how are you feeling Jacob?" "I feel much better," You reply, "speaking of, when do I get out of here?" "Well, as we have never treated a species of your kind, we aren't exactly sure. If a pony was in your situation, it would probably be at least another two days." You let out a sigh. "But, you are not a pony, and your body appears to have healed itself much faster than that of a pony's." "So does that mean I'm free to go?" "Well, that is up to you. If you feel ready, then yes, by all means." "With that, I'll be heading out then. Thank you very much for helping me." You stand up, this time slowly and taking your time putting your weight on your legs. You take the IV out of your arm and head towards the door, Rainbow waiting. "Come on you big foal, hurry up!" "Easy for you to say!"