One Reality

by Aburi

Chapter 2 - Waking

Chapter 2

Sam had woken up to pain before. He had woken up bleeding, bruised, drugged or drunk. Or some unholy amalgamation of all of the above. And since he vaguely remembered the explosion that had knocked him out, he was more than a little surprised to not be enjoying one or more of those joys of life.

As usual his mind was active from the moment he regained consciousness, before even opening his eyes. So he was able to truly appreciate the numbing sensation that usually came with strong medication. He was also a bit surprised to be so clear headed... most medications he was given required very high dosages to affect him, making him a bit loopy. At least until his high metabolism burned it all off, leaving him worse off than he started.

Sam took stock of himself as he woke up. Bruised ribs, perhaps fractured but I doubt it. Ringing ears; I’ll have to look out for other signs of a concussion, I hate those.... I seem to be ok for the moment. Moving on... Laying on something soft, feels like a bed. Looks like that portal actually worked. Well, that’s a surprise.

Sam was surprised to see the inside of a rustic brick building when he finally opened his eyes. He was expecting a more modern hospital room given his condition. He noted that Fero was awake nearby and seemed perfectly calm. No surprise there, he’s a 40 foot long lizard with a super tough hide. Not much in the world is a threat to him. Sam also saw with relief that Amber was asleep in another bed near his own. No one else was in the room with them.

Fifteen foot to the ceiling, squarish room roughly sixty foot each wall. One door, several windows. I can see plenty of green out there and it’s daytime. Bare stone floor with some carpets thrown in. Square as far as I can tell. There’s room for even Fero to maneuver in here... whoever built this place believes in their elbow room. Lots of earth smells, beds are new and linens smell freshly washed. Several people have been in here... they smell strange, can’t quite place it...

“Did Mark make it?” Sam asked.

“No Idea,” Fero replied, not even looking away from the door. “He didn’t make it through the portal though. And it’s a good thing. Damn thing spit us out over a thousand feet up.”

“Damn... So much for that idea. Where are we?”

“I don’t know that either. I haven’t seen anyone since I woke up, and I’m hoping that I was hallucinating before I passed out. Either way, you and Amber got a lot of very impressive medical work done, and I think we’ve been kept under for a while. Amber had a broken collarbone that’s almost done healing, and I think you managed to get your skull cracked in that last explosion.”

“How long do you think we were out?”

“Based on the bruising... a few days at most.”

“And what did you mean with that thing about hallucinating?”

Fero lost his stoic mask and managed to look a bit uncomfortable for a moment. “If I was then it doesn't matter, and if I wasn’t then you’ll see for yourself soon. In either case we’ll meet our hosts soon. Besides, if it was a dream you’d laugh your fuzzy ass off. I’d like to spare myself that.”

“I’m glad to see that you haven’t lost your sense of humor, Fero.” Amber spoke up from her bed. “I only caught the last bit - care to fill me in on the rest?”

Sam quickly looked away when Amber sat up. Whomever had bandaged her shoulder had neglected to replace her top.

Amber quickly brought the blanket back up. “You two please look around for my shirt. It seems to be the only thing I’m missing.” A quick check of the empty room turned up nothing though.

“Amber, allow me,” Fero spoke up after a moment's thought. “Sam, keep your eyes on the door.”

“Got it.” Sam tried very hard to ignore what was going on behind him. After several minutes of cloth tearing and small comments like “a little more” or “this part’s too tight” he was allowed to look again.

“That’s just not fair, regent.” He said after a moment’s appraisal. “Your hair’s a mess, you’re covered in bruises, and literally dressed in rags. You should NOT look that hot.”

“It’s a gift,” Amber said with a grin. Her expression soon faded into the serious tone she usually wore. “Ok, to business. What do we know? Fero?”

“Not much. After that explosion I didn’t trust that the portal would hold much longer. I grabbed you and Sam and jumped though. It was a rough ride, and it spit us out high in the air. I mostly remember landing, but it’s pretty vague. I woke up not long ago and Sam shortly after. If my memory of the landing is correct then there will be language issues.”

“Your dream. I see, and Mark’s team?”

“I don’t know.”

The look Amber gave him shifted from anger to fear and back again. Fero expected a much longer and less pleasant discussion in the near future. “Anything else?”

“We’ve been given some expert medical care. Your collarbone is freshly mended, as are several of Sam’s ribs and his skull. The bruising is still there, so we were not under long enough to heal naturally. There must have been something accelerating things.”

“Impressive. Do you have anything Sam?”

“As far as I can tell, this building is new. I suspect that it was built specifically for us. There are no scents older than a few days, not even cleaning smells. There have been people in and out of here recently, I can get at least three different scents, but I don’t recognize anything about them. They seem... off. I can’t pin it down though.”

The three continued to investigate their surroundings, but were soon interrupted by a knock on the massive door.

With a glance they arranged themselves quickly and silently. Amber sat upright on the edge of her bed with Sam sitting protectively in front of her and just to the side. Fero acted as a backdrop, covering their sides and rear with his bulk. Once everyone got to their customary places, Amber called for whoever was at the door to enter.

Sam instantly noted that the door swung inward, and that there was a short ramp up just outside. That’s as far as he was able to process when his entire attention was taken by the ... person? ... at the door.

Coming in the door was what looked to be a white horse. That thing can't even look Amber in the eye, Sam thought. Probably some breed of pony... if ponies had wings. It had a pair of wings that looked far too small to be functional, and was wearing what appeared to be golden armor. The pony bowed and spoke something unintelligible in a smooth flowing language. When there no immediate response came, it called out the door and a procession of several more identical winged ponies came in pulling a string of small carts. These carts were arranged along one wall and unfolded to display a large variety of foods. There was a selection of baked goods including several kinds of pie, fruits and vegetables both raw and cooked, salads, and oddly enough a basket of enormous gemstones.

Once the food had been set up up all but one of the ponies left. The one that had entered first stayed behind and gestured to the food.

“So... Fero... Did you hallucinate about talking pegasus ponies when you hit your head?” Sam asked.

“That’s right.”

“Am I having the same hallucination?”

“Yup.”

“Ok, Good... Just checking.”

Sam pushed his questions to the back of his mind and trotted over to the buffet. He carefully took a sniff of everything, sampling a taste here and there. “Everything smells ok. Very fresh, simple cooking. Also, there’s no meat of any kind. But this apple pie is really good.” Getting a nod from Amber he filled a plate for himself and Amber and brought them back to where Amber was sitting.

Fero pulled a cart filled with cooked vegetables over to him, and they all ate in relative silence. After emptying his cart, Fero also pulled the cart with the gems to him and examined some of them. “I wonder why these are here. They look and feel like real gems, but they’re a hundred times too large. And why present them the same exact way they presented the carrots?”

Amber looked up from her meal “Well, you two are pretty scary looking. Perhaps it’s a tribute, or some kind of bribe?”

They tossed around several ideas, by unspoken agreement avoiding the more stressful issues until they were more able to deal with them. They did not get that much time though. As they were finishing up their breakfast there was another knock at the door.

Sam glanced at the pegasus that had stayed behind. It was still standing in the same position it had held since the food arrived, just inside and to one side of the door. It had not reacted to the knock.

Amber again called for whoever was at the door to enter. Two more ponies came in. But this time they were not winged.

“Ok, that’s it. I’m dreaming.” She said. “I can somehow rationalize being fed by a flock of pegasi, but that purple unicorn is too adorable to be real.”

Comments

[Deathpony]

new chapter yay cant wait for the next