When Snow Falls

by Prophet Of Doom

Chapter 5: Midnight Awakes

-Beeb-Beeb-Beeb-Beeb-

The sound was grating against Midnight’s woozy head. He’d been lying asleep in a hospital bed for three days and was only now regaining consciousness.

-Beeb-Beeb-Beeb-Beeb-

One eye lazily opened and looked around for the source of the irritating noise.
After a few moments’ he found the culprit’ a heart monitor. It took Midnight a while to realise what it was and thereafter, where he was.
Midnight opened his other eye and started to lift his head off the soft pillows. The muscles in his neck and back were stiff, and it took considerable effort to sit upright. His body ached all other.
A slight wave of pain rolled across his head, causing him to rub his temple with his hand, oh so he thought. Midnight pulled his arm back and stared at where his hand should be. In its place was a pony’s hoof and he just stared.

Pain shot across his mind like a striking arrow, making Midnight flinch. When his eyes closed a memory surfaced in the forefront of his mind. It was a memory of what he was doing now, looking at his hoof in confused wonder. But it was not here. He was strapped into a chair, with cries and screams filling his ears

Midnight forced his eyes open and for a time, stared at nothing with his breathing rate increased.
As it's hard started to settle and his mind calm down he looked up towards the door of the private room he was in.
“Hello?” Midnight called. “Is anyone there?”
No-one answered.
“Hello?” He tried again’ and again there was no answer.

Midnight took in the room around him. Apart from the bed and heart monitor, there was a small cabinet with a jug of water and drinking glasses on it. An open window by his bed let in a gentle breeze and the sound of distant songbirds. Between the window and the door’ there was a wall mounted mirror’ but he could not see himself in from this angle.

Midnight rolled back the covers off of him. As he did, Midnight noticed that not also that his clothes were gone and that he was naked and that his new body was covered in bandages, the most notable of which was the one along his back.
He also noticed that his feet, like his hands, were now hooves. He swivelled round to the edge of the bed and tried to stand upright on two hooves, but immediately lost his balance and fell back onto the bed, sending pain through his back. He gritted his teeth, as his whole body ached.
Rolling onto his belly, Midnight slowly pushed himself off the bed until his rear hooves touched the floor.
Then he gingerly lowered himself onto his front hooves’ flinching when he put weight on his heavily bandaged right. He was wobbly, but he could move. Walking as well as a newborn foal, he limped his way over to the mirror. Midnight stared at his reflection for what felt like an eternity.
“I’m…a pony…” -placing a hoof on his horn- “I’m a unicorn!?!”
He began prodding and probing the features of his new face. A coat of Persian blue, bruised and patched up, most notable under his horn where a gash had been stitched up. He ran his hoof along the line of stitches.

Another arrow of pain stuck in his mind, followed by more memories. Screams, cries, shouts’ seeing his hand turn into a hoof, then thrown about by violent shaking.
Midnight snapped back to reality, his breathing becoming heavy with panic creeping in. It was at this moment that looked out of the window beside him.
It overlooked a small road leading up to the hospital with small fields either side. In the near distance sat the outskirts of a small town and in the far distance, smoke could be seen rising up high into the air.
But the thing that grabbed his attention the most was the ponies.

Many pastel coloured ponies were going about their business as if they were humans. Moving creates, setting up tents and strangest to Midnight’ talking. There was nothing in their demeanour to suggest any danger or threat. A number of them were brightly coloured and had bore welcoming expressions. But the majority of them that Midnight could see were stern-faced and unsmiling' and wearing military armour.
It was a detachment of Royal Guard that had set up camp in the fields around Ponyville Hospital.

The panic left by the flashing memories stepped up a notch and Midnight decided to go.
Pushing the door to his room slowly open, Midnight peeked down the corridor. It was empty. Taking a deep breath, he took his first tentative step out the room.
An alarm immediately rang out from behind him. Midnight had still been attached to the heart monitor when the cables pulled taut, ripping the electrodes off. This development only increased Midnight’s panic and he started moving with quickened pace.
Shouts and the sound of hooves started coming from the end of the corridor. Midnight dived into a un-light room and crouched down in the shadows.
Three ponies ran past, none the wiser of his presence in the room.

Checking that his way was clear, Midnight spotted what appeared to be fire escape and made a bee-line for it.
Bursting through the door, he found himself outside, behind the hospital.
Taking in his surroundings, Midnight gingerly walked off into this unknown world.