Reality
"It's hard to see the good in people, when you're only looking for the bad." -- Unknown Author
<<<==>>>
It was the next day and Twilight was back at the hospital for another visit. She had spent a lot of time thinking and had decided to ask if she could study the creature's belongings.
She had seen it wearing some form of clothes, and it had a saddlebag of sorts on its back. Being, Twilight, she wanted to know what was in there. She really wanted to know what was in there.
So here she was, at the hospital, looking for a certain somepony.
After a few minutes of searching, she found who she was looking for.
"Ah, Nurse Tenderheart," she called, getting her attention. "I've been looking for you."
"Oh, yes of course," she started. "Hello Ms. Twilight, nice to see you again, what was it you needed?"
"Well, I've been doing some thinking," Twilight began. "And I'd like to study the creature's belongings."
"Oh, I see.. I'm not sure I'm allowed to let you do that Ms. Twilight," Tenderheart explained sympathetically. "There's a strict policy about a patient's belongings if they have no confirmed next-of-kin visiting."
"Oh... Well, can you make an exception?" Twilight asked hopefully. "I might find something that could save his life, or stop him from going on a rampage when he wakes up."
Tenderheart thought on this for a moment, then she buckled. "Okay, I'll see if I can get them."
She walked off as Twilight hid her excitement.
Yes! I can learn more about this mysterious creature! She thought. Twilight loved the thrill of learning new information on anything.
Tenderheart shortly returned with the creature's things.
"I really shouldn't be doing this, but here you go," she said as she handed the items to Twilight.
"Thank you!" Twilight squealed as she teleported home.
As she appeared in her main room, she laid the items out on a table.
"Alright, Spike is spending today at Rarity's to help her with dresses and he's spending the night. So it's just me and this stuff. Well then, let's see here..." She began listing the stuff off on a piece of parchment.
"This looks like a cloak with a sleeve ripped off. This looks like a shirt, same sleeve ripped off. These look like pants. I think these are shoes. These look like short pants, but...plaid? Huh. This looks like a belt with a little loop on it. I think that's all of the clothes. Moving on."
She grabbed the lightsaber in her magic, trying to see what it did.
"Weird metal thing- unknown use."
She picked up the backpack and set it on the table as she put the clothes on the ground.
Twilight didn't see any clasp on the bag, but she did see a zipper like on dresses. She grabbed it and pulled it open, revealing a few plastic bottles full of water, and some plastic packages.
She pulled them out and set them aside, marking them down.
Then she unzipped another part of the backpack and was met with a wonderful sight.
"A book!" She exclaimed.
She grabbed the book in her magic and turned it to see the cover.
"The Chronicles of Narnia," she read. "By C.S. Lewis. Hmm, never heard of them, and what an interesting name..."
She was about to open it and start reading when she remembered the backpack wasn't empty.
She pulled out the next item and looked at it.
It was a plastic brick about two inches thick, nine inches wide, and eleven inches long. She didn't know what to make of it, so she marked it down similarly to the last unknown item.
She checked all of the other pockets and found two more plastic bricks, both with glass on one side, but they were smaller. One was about three inches wide, six inches tall, and very thin. The other was about two inches wide, five inches tall, and even thinner. She had no idea what the purpose was, but she could find out later.
She also found a piece of laminated paper on a lanyard. She didn't know what it was for, but it read "Comic-Con International Attendee Pass."
Twilight marked them all down on the parchment, her thoughts moving to the book.
"Now," she said as she turned to the large book. "It's just you and me."
She picked it up and turned to the table of contents.
Seven books in one? She thought. This is going to be so much fun!
She turned to the first page of the first book, The Magician's Nephew.
"This is a story about something that happened long ago..." She began.
<<<==>>>
"...in which every chapter is better than the one before," Twilight finished.
It was late. Or maybe early. Twilight had lost track of time reading the book.
As she put the book down, she didn't know how to feel about how the series ended. She couldn't think of a better ending herself, but she didn't know whether to feel happy or sad. It was the best ending anypony could hope for, but she had loved the books too much for them to end.
Also, in reading the book and looking at the scarce illustrations, she could tell that the characters had been the same as the creature in the hospital. They were called humans.
If all humans were like these ones, then Twilight didn't know what to think of the one in the hospital. Almost all of the ones in the book had been so kind, even some of the Telmarines had been friendly.
Could I have been wrong about him? She thought. Peter had killed his enemies, what if this human was just protecting himself?
Twilight's mind was so twisted that she didn't even know what to think about anything anymore, so she decided to sleep on it, and think more when she woke up.
<<<==>>>
Twilight awoke to the sun though the curtains of her bedroom window. She turned over and glanced at the clock.
It read 11:37 a.m.
Twilight jumped out of bed and rushed to get herself ready for the day. After all, she needed to make another visit to the hospital.
She quickly sped through her morning routine before teleporting to just outside the hospital while holding all of the human's belongings.
She began to move inside when of the guards, Star Shine if she was correct, ran out and nearly barreled over her.
"Oh, Ms. Twilight," he started. "Hurry, he's woken up!"
Twilight followed him inside quickly, dropping all of the items behind the nurse's desk.
<<<==>>>
Paul came to and tried to bring a hand to his eyes and shield them from the harsh light, but as soon as he started moving it, a sharp pain ran from his upper arm all the way up through his shoulders and to his neck.
"Gah!" He yelped in pain. He lifted his head to look at his arm and saw a bit of blood seeping through the bandages.
"Ouch," he said in defeat as his head fell back to the pillow. His head hitting the pillow didn't really hurt him, it was more of a knee jerk reaction.
As he lay there, he finally noticed the room. It was a sterile and fairly colorless room, with a door opposite him and a window behind. There was no furniture besides his bed, which was strangely three beds put together, and a weird looking chair next to it. The only decor was a single oil painting of a vase of flowers on the wall.
I must have woken up from that dream now, but why am I in a hospital? He thought. Wait, how did I get this cut here? I thought that happened in the dream?
Before Paul could think much more on it, the door opened, and he expected a nurse to come in. Instead, a scared looking small pastel horse walked in, it was wearing what appeared to be a nurse's outfit, and it was accompanied by two more that were taller, wore armor, and had spears at their sides.
Paul groaned. "Ugh, I'm still in this dream... Why won't it just end?"
The guard-like ones looked at each other, seeming to have a nonverbal conversation before one of them quickly went back out.
The nurse still stood there, gaping at Paul. He noticed this and asked some snarky and rhetorical questions.
"You know it's impolite to stare, right? Are you gonna give me a check-up, or what?"
She nodded her head slightly, then spoke back timidly. "Oh, it's just that I didn't know you could talk... I was startled when you did speak, I'm sorry."
She suddenly had an air of strict professionalism, and she walked over to Paul before beginning her extensive tests by pulling the blanket off of him, exposing his naked body.
Paul didn't notice any of that, though. He was still shocked that the nurse had spoken back to him.
By the time he had recovered, the nurse and the guard were gone.
"What?" He asked to the empty room, then he passed out from the shock.
<<<==>>>
"No, ma'am, he seemed perfectly complacent," Star Glow answered Twilight.
"So, he talked, the nurse talked, then he sat there and let her do whatever she wanted to him?" She asked incredulously. She didn't understand.
She mumbled to herself, but Glow overheard. "I saw what that man did to those two Timberwolves, they were sliced to pieces like nothing I'd ever seen..."
"I understand, ma'am, but I'm just telling you what happened inside that room," he said.
"Thank you, Star Glow, I understand," she conceded. "You should probably go and find Star Shine."
"Ma'am," he said as he excused himself.
Twilight was left alone with her thoughts.
It's only been three days since he was admitted, she thought. There is no way any pony could recover that fast. I don't think any creature could recover that fast.
She turned to think more about what he could be waiting for inside that room. If he wanted to, he could have been gone already, having fought his way out.
"So why didn't he?" She quietly asked herself. "Was I really too quick to judge him?"
<<<==>>>
When Paul woke up again, he was in the same room as before. He groaned and cursed this dream that his brain had created, and that it wouldn't let him leave.
He had just finished a rather long string of colorful expletives when the door opened and the nurse walked in again, accompanied by the same two guards as well as a purple unicorn.
Please don't talk, please don't talk, please don't talk, Paul repeated in his head, as if it would work.
"Oh, you're finally awake. It's been a day or so since my last visit, four days since you were admitted, are you feeling well?"
"Why?! Why am I still in this dream? Why can't I leave? I just want to wake up and continue with my life please! Why do there have to be talking animals in my dream? Just let me wake up!" He roared at the walls, as if they would hear his plight and set him free.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to calm down, please don't strain yourself," she started. "We have no idea how that blood loss affected you. For all we know, that could be normal, or it may have caused brain damage. I need you to remain calm."
"Calm?!" He yelled. "I'll be calm just as soon as I get out of my own head, thank you! And since you're all just part of me anyways, you should listen when I tell you to shut up! Animals aren't supposed to talk!"
His head fell back to the pillow, and he saw that the purple one held a pained expression.
"What's wrong with you?" He asked.
"Me?" The purple one asked.
"Yeah, you, Purple!"
"My name is Twilight Sparkle, thank you very much," she stated flatly.
He began to laugh, because he thought her name to be ridiculous, but she cut him off.
"Fine, have fun in your state of illusion, living as if the world is nothing but a figment of your imagination," she said as she turned to leave.
He just stared after her, confused.
The nurse came up and started to pull back the blanket to begin her tests when Paul stopped her.
"Woah! That's a big negatory there, chief!" he exclaimed as he pulled the blanket back over himself.
She looked confused. "Why?"
"I'm not wearing clothes, so you can't uncover me," he answered slowly like was speaking to a child.
"You were fine with it yesterday," she said, confused.
"What?!" He yelled. "You did that yesterday while I was awake?!"
Nurse Tenderheart stepped back, shaking a little bit and the guards stepped forward, raising their spears a little bit. "Um, y-you didn't seem t-to m-mind, so I assumed it was alright."
Paul anger calmed a little bit as he thought on it. "Well, you can test on me as soon as you get me some clothes to cover my groin area. In fact, where are the clothes I was wearing?" He asked.
"I have them in storage, I can retrieve them if you want," she answered shakily.
"Just the pants for now," he answered before muttering to himself. "No use wearing a bloody shirt with only one sleeve anyway."
"Okay," Tenderheart answered as she crept out of the room, followed by the guards.
She returned not long later, gave him his boxers and his pants, as well as some time to put them on, then proceeded with her tests.
Not long after, she left the room, and Paul was alone with his thoughts.
This dream feels off, he thought. I can't place it, but something feels wrong.
<<<==>>>
Twilight paced in her library.
"Why would he think it's a dream?" She asked aloud. "He has to have read the book, or at least known the general idea, or he wouldn't have it!"
She sighed and plopped herself onto a couch. "How do I convince him he's not in a dream? He clearly thinks that we know everything he knows, but how do I convince him that I don't? How do I convince him he's not dreaming?"
She turned and saw a book on the shelf that seemed to catch her eye.
Princess Luna: Nightmare Moon, Maiden of the Night, Dream Warden
"That's it! Princess Luna is the Dream Warden! She would know how to convince somepony!"
She turned to the kitchen and called to Spike, who was still making lunch.
"Spike! I need you to take a letter!"
Spike appeared at the door to the kitchen, parchment and quill in hand. "Ready!"
"Dear Princess Luna..." Twilight began.
<<<==>>>
Princess Luna was enjoying her mid-afternoon nap when she was awoken by the ring of magic.
She sat up and noticed a rolled up parchment floating in front of her.
She looked at the letter before grabbing it in her magic and unrolling it, silently reading. Her expression did not change throughout the letter, but when she was done, she vanished in a flash.
<<<==>>>
Twilight waited nervously in her library for the arrival of Princess Luna. She didn't have very much experience with the Lunar Diarch, and didn't really know what to expect. She also wondered how she would convince the human the he wasn't actually dreaming.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a flash, signifying Luna's arrival. Twilight turned to greet her, but stopped when she saw Celestia standing in the library with Luna.
"Oh, hello Princesses," Twilight greeted as she bowed. "I wasn't expecting both of you to be here."
"Twilight, you know that you don't have to be so formal with us," Celestia said gently.
"Sorry," she replied sheepishly as she stood back up.
"Enough pleasantries," Luna stated loudly. "If you could take us to the human."
"Of course, Princess," Twilight responded with a little bit of hesitation.
As Twilight walked out of the library into the bright early evening sun, Celestia turned to Luna.
"Remember to tone it down a little bit Lulu, you're being rather loud," she said as she followed Twilight, leaving Luna to grumble as she followed suit as well.
<<<==>>>
After a short walk through the town, passing bowing ponies at every turn, the Princesses and Twilight arrived at the hospital.
When they walked inside, Nurse Tenderheart bowed. "Y-your Majesties, we weren't expecting a visit. What can I help you with?"
"Please rise, Nurse Tenderheart," Celestia said. "Would you take us to the human's room please?"
"O-of course Princess, right this way," she responded as she made her way down one of the hallways, stopping at the room with the two guards outside of it.
When they saw the Princesses, the guards bowed, then the nurse turned to the visitors.
"I have to warn you," she began hesitantly. "He's very different, not just in physiology, but he tends to act out and can be a little bit rude at times. I only mean to tell you that he may not know any better, and he is still recovering from blood loss, so please be... gentle with him."
"Thank you, Nurse," Luna said as she opened the door. "We will take the utmost care."
The other two visitors followed her inside, assuring Tenderheart that he would be fine.
<<<==>>>
Paul couldn't sleep. He just couldn't close his eyes and lay down. He also wasn't able to get up and move yet, he still felt too light headed. His only reprieve from the bed was when that nurse came in to take him to the bathroom or bring him his meals.
So he had fallen to counting the stitches in his blanket. He was doing so for the fourth time when he felt two powerful presences approach, along with two more, one more powerful, and the other more familiar.
He was pondering who or what they could be when the door opened and a large dark blue horse with a starry blue flowing mane, wings, and a horn walked in.
"We will take the utmost care," she said to someone outside.
Paul looked at her quizzically when another large horse walked in. It was the same as the first but larger and white with a multi-color flowing mane. This one was followed by the purple one from earlier that day, Twiddle Sparkler or something, who shut the door behind her.
"Greetings human," the dark one said. "We are Princess Luna, Maiden of the Night, Dream Warden, The Moon's Vengeance."
The white one spoke up. "I am Princess Celestia, Ruler of the Day, The Sun's Fury."
"Hello again," the purple one said.
Paul was unimpressed. "Oh, hello your highness, my name is Paul and I'm so very honored by your presence," he commented sarcastically.
"Mind your tongue, knave. We are no apparition of your mind. We assure you that this room is as real anything you ever known," 'Princess Luna' said firmly.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. And my name is Mark Hamill. No, try again, she tried to convince me of that one already," he said, pointing to Twilight.
"However false you believe this reality to be, Paul, you will respect my sister, myself, and my student," 'Princess Celestia' said.
"Okay, then," Paul said, dropping some of his sarcastic tone to have a serious debate with what he believed to be his subconscious mind. "It seems we are at an impasse. I think that I'm right, and you think that you're right, but neither side has any sure way to prove that they are. Though, if I'm correct, then you're just a part of my subconscious and knew that anyway. Make sense so far?"
Paul looked around the room at the three visitors. He got three nods.
"Might I suggest we do a one-for-one trade, a question for a question?" Celestia asked. "You may start.
"Okay," he agreed. "How did you know what I was?"
The two Princesses looked hesitant to answer, but the purple one spoke up.
"You're a human, more specifically, a human male. Also known as 'Sons of Adam' or 'Daughters of Eve,' which I know because I..." Twilight stopped and seemed hesitant for a second. "...I looked through your things and I found a book, so I couldn't help but read it."
Paul didn't know what to think. On one hand, this dream horse had rifled through his stuff and of all the things he had in there, his laptop, his phone, his iPod, she read the book? On the other hand, she had gone through his personal belongings. Those were his, she had no right. Though, it could be his brain making an excuse for her having that knowledge.
"Right then, a deal's a deal," he said. "Ask away."
"We have a question, Paul," Luna stated. "What explanation do you have for your senses such as sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch? You say you are in a dream, how do you think you are interpreting them?"
Paul had to think on that one for just a second. "Well, that's a very good question, so I would have to try and give a very good answer, not that you wouldn't know the answer already.
"I would think that any physical interaction with the world would have to be based on past experience. I can't see, smell, hear, taste, or feel anything that wasn't something, or a combination of somethings, I haven't before."
"We see," she responded. "Well said."
"Thank you," Paul said. "Now another question for me. Hmm... Oh, why do you have wings and a horn, instead of one or the other?"
"I'll answer this one," Celestia said to Luna and Twilight before turning back to Paul. "We are alicorns. We are a combination of all three pony tribes. Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. Thus we get the magic of each, mana-based magic, weather magic, and crop magic."
This only raised further questions for Paul, like what magic was, but he abided by the agreement that was made. He nodded and motioned for the next question.
"How do you think the world will behave in regards to logic, reasoning, and physics?" Luna asked.
"Oh, another good one," he said. "Let's see, so based on my twenty seven years of experience in the real world, I would say that a lucid dream would behave the same way. If it would cause pain, I would feel pain. If I splashed water on a bird, it wouldn't lecture me on how that was rude, it would fly away because it's a bird. And if I dropped two objects of differing weights from the same height, they would hit the ground at the same time, as long as they don't reach terminal velocity.
"In short, my dream world works based on how I know the real world to work."
He was going to finish at that, but he thought about it for a second.
"Well, plus a few quirks, such as talking animals and magic," he added.
"We see," Luna said. "We are to understand that your world has no magic then?"
"That's correct," Paul answered. "Also, I'll let that question slide."
"So then you've never experienced--" Luna suddenly flashed her horn.
Paul felt a sensation that can't quite be put into words, he just knew that it didn't hurt, but it certainly wasn't comfortable. He was suddenly standing on a mountain top next to Luna. His eyes went wide and he was vaguely aware of her horn flashing again before he lost all sense of everything as the sensation happened again.
As quick as it started, it ended, but he felt some of the after effects. Things like the world ringing in his eyes, his heartbeat pounding in his nostrils, and the taste of ozone on his ears.
"--teleportation," Luna finished, a small smirk evident on her face.
"What was that?" Paul asked, dazed. "It was like my senses were all jumbled up."
"Oh, you must have had you eyes open during the teleport," Twilight explained. "You saw the raw space-time energy in transit. That will really mess with you, but it only lasts a few seconds."
"I hope so," Paul said. "That was unlike anything I've ever experienced and I don't want to..."
Paul stopped, frozen.
"Paul, are you alright?" Twilight asked.
"I've never experienced anything like that before... Which means that..." Paul faltered. "That this, all of this, is real. I'm actually stuck in a land of magical horses. God help me. I've got to get out of here."
Paul tried to get out of the bed and leave only to get halfway off the bed and almost collapse to the floor. However, he was caught in Celestia's magic and placed back on the bed gently.
"Get some rest Paul, you've worn yourself out already from that attempt alone," she said as they left the room.
Paul lay there, struggling to move much at all, but only managed to tire himself out more, and sending him into a deep sleep.
Stats
Page generated in 0.017 seconds
Total duration
599 users online
985,459 hits today, 2,782,760 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Nice, nice.
Twilight, no respect for personal boundaries hn? All for the higher good of learning somethng new? You know, little horsey, wars has been started "for the greater good". On a side note, am I a sick/bad person because I think it would be well deserved if Twilight accidentaly had activated the Lightsaber and hurt herself with it?
Oh, and why is half the story in italics? It confuses me a bit.
6566041
I probably missed an "end italics" in there somewhere. I'll fix it now.
6566060
Ah, okay.^^
This is certainly going in a different direction than it did "last time." If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're farming your writing out, as this is MUCH better than it was before I pounced on you. Excellent work.
6567795
This is true. The first attempt was very... Sophomoric is the word I would use. I just kinda thought that it was similar to the general events that happen in the first chapter or so of an HiE, so I justified it to myself that way.
I now realize just how stupid that was. A writer should strive to be original.
Thank you for giving me the push I needed.
you are getting a favs because starwars/mlp fim
6574792
I honestly couldn't care less about faves. I only really care for people who will read and enjoy because it's good and not just because of the content base.
I've seen a lot of authors that care about faves and treat them like a huge deal, but I just see them as a free handout from most people.
Thanks for your comment though.
Not that it was productive in any way.
6577065 eeeehh I tend to wait and see more of the story in further progression Before making suggestions and comments. Not only that but I hardly favorite a story unless its really good, even more so if its just starting on its first handful(hoof-full?) of its chapters. It kinda also has to do with being a fan of Star wars the old republic game and the mlp tv show. I've been waiting for someone to come up with something close to this for a while and for it just beginning its on a really goooood~ start.
6577821
Oh, cool, I understand that. I actually don't really see any point to faves, but that's just me, so... Eh.
And thanks for the compliment, but I can't take full credit. Without Lycanthromancer, this story would suck. Like a lot.
Also, I thought you came off a little condescending in your first comment, but upon further review, you seem like a nice enough person. My bad, I judged you too quickly and based off of limited information. I sincerely apologize.
And again, thank you.
Every time i read one of these and they go through the human's things while they're in hospital i can't help but think how much of a massive breach of a person's privacy that is, not to mention it probably breaks a fuck tonne of their own laws, yet nobody seems to care.
Dammit, Twilight. Your curiosity’s gonna be your death.
Love it so far! Two of my favorite things, the Jedi and MLP😀
Respect is earned. If you demand it, you do not deserve it. And it must he earned from each individual. So far, none of them deserve his respect except perhaps Nurse Tenderheart.
Dreams rarely work the way you know the real world works.
This only raised further questions for Paul, like what magic was, but he abided by the agreement that was made. He nodded and motioned for the next question.
I'm sorry which human does not know what magic is??? And didn't he read Narnia????