Chapter 5
The empty void of unconsciousness wrapped itself about me like a thick dark blanket. It was a dreamless sleep. Nothing fantastic or implausible came to be. Instead, only the wisps of long forgotten memories kept me company and faded as silently as they found me.
A low, guttural moan escaped my lips as the pain of reality began to beat at my brain. My stomach twisted and growled from a lack of food, but soon flipped when the light hit my eyes. Had I eaten anything it would have quickly made for the nearest possible exit. “Dear God what was that that nailed me?” I groaned and instinctively covered my mouth, fearing I might vomit. It wasn’t until I looked to my left that I gave my stomach an entirely new reason to flip. Sitting in the chair next to me was none other than my pursuer, Twilight Sparkle.
My eyes grew to the size of dinner plates when I saw her. Twilight Sparkle had chased me from her castle all through Ponyville to the edge of the Everfree Forest and now she had me. I immediately recoiled and slid back toward the wall that my bed rested against, not caring how fast the world spun.
Twilight stood and reached out to me. I froze as her concerned gaze met mine. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you, but I’m glad you’re awake,” and gestured for me to return to my original place on the bed. “It’s okay. I promise nothing like what happened before is going to happen now.”
“Swear?”
She nodded and it was enough. Slowly, I sank back onto the bed. “I have to apologize for Rainbow Dash,” she said calmly, “She didn’t know that we were working things out.”
“Well, I guess when you’re flying at supersonic speeds conversations can be difficult.”
“This is true,” replied Twilight with a slight giggle, "Fortunately, you seem to have as hard a head as she and suffered a concussion from the impact along with some bruises and a mild separation of your shoulder.”
“No,” I replied, “I popped the shoulder myself when I ran into the door while trying to break it down.”
Twilight stared at me as if I’d grown a second head just then and said, “You ran around town with a bad shoulder? How? That must have really hurt.”
“I was scared. I popped it back in but, fear can make you forget a lot,” I paused as I glanced around the sparsely furnished room then asked, “Where am I?”
“Ponyville Hospital.”
“Good lord,” I muttered, “That’s going to cost a pretty penny. How long?”
“Two days. You’ll probably have to stay a little while longer for safety sake.”
I grumbled in irritation as I began to count up the medical bills and looked to the window, “I don’t think my insurance is going to cover this,” I muttered, plotting my next great escape.
“Don’t worry, it’s taken care of.” replied Twilight.
My mouth dropped open at the revelation. Given what I have put them through, this was the last thing that I thought they would do. “What? But how?” Twilight just looked back at me as it struck me. She was taking care of this! “You?”
Twilight nodded, “There were mistakes made on both sides. I put you into that situation which led to your decision to run. Then, at the end, Rainbow still wound up knocking you out, which wasn’t fair as we agreed to return to the castle. We also need to ask you some things about what you know.”
Well, it wasn’t like I was in any position to argue with anyone. “That’s fine with me. I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have once I can think clearly. But, I do need to use the restroom.”
As if she read my mind, Nurse Redheart appeared out of nowhere and helped me walk over to the attached bathroom. Upon first glance, it looked like any ordinary bathroom, but when I examined it closer, there were some differences. All the handles had been designed to be operated by either mouth or magic. The toilet was a different story. It looked similar to some toilets I’ve only heard about in Asia, except elevated and elongated a little to where one had to back over it. I won’t even get into more detail the sensation of going with my new…’equipment’. When I was done and at the sink washing my hooves, I caught my reflection in the mirror.
It was the first time I’d really looked at myself since my time at the pond. It was different now that I knew it wasn’t a dream. My heart pounded rapidly again as I ran my hooves over the strange visage that stared back at me. Slowly, I ran them through the brown mane and matching mustache, now clearly visible and attached to a blue pony face. I sighed deeply as my eyes began to well up. I was a stranger in my own body and as my ears folded back Nurse Redheart asked if I was okay. “If my mother could see me now,” I muttered.
“Well, I’m sure she’d be glad to know you’re okay.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“I could contact her and let her know if you want.”
“No, it’s okay. She’s...busy.”
“Okay,” replied Nurse Redheart, “Well let me help you back to bed if you’re done.” She then let me lean on her as we walked the short distance to the bed. My eyes drooped again when we reached the bed.
Twilight noticed that I’d become sluggish and said, “Why don’t you get some rest. You’re in good hooves here. We’ll see if you’re up for talking tomorrow.”
It wasn’t until the next afternoon that Twilight visited me again, this time with Spike. It was the first time I’d seen the little dragon since I had made my daring escape. Admittedly, he looked none the worse for wear considering I’d bowled him over a few days ago. Even so, I still felt bad about it. ”Hey guys I’m glad you didn’t forget about me. They only had a couple of books available, which I’m surprised I can read all things considered.”
Twilight smiled, “It’s good to see you’re feeling a bit better.”
“Well, I do still have the bout of nausea every so often, and I’m still tired, but all in all, not too shabby. By the way, Spike, I’m...I’m sorry for running over you when I was escaping. You’re one tough dragon.”
Spike answered, “Apology accepted, and thanks!”
“Good news!” said Twilight, “The hospital is releasing you today in my care. They say that while you may have some lingering symptoms that you’re out of the danger zone. However, if anything should go wrong we’ll bring you right back here. Probably via teleport.”
“Be still my aching stomach.”
“Don’t worry,” said Spike, “I got sick the first couple of times she teleported me too. You get used to it.”
“Anyway,” interjected Twilight, “You just need to promise me that you aren’t going to run away again. Can you do that?”
“Scout’s honor,” I said raising a hoof.
“Well then what are we waiting for,” said Spike.
“Nothing I can think of,” I said as I gingerly climbed out of bed. The world wobbled slightly but righted itself quickly. “Easy now world. Let me get my land legs again,” I declared as the other two watched.
“Hey,” said Spike, “How come you don’t have a cutie mark?”
“What?”
“Shh Spike.” hissed Twilight.
“Well, I mean he’d know, wouldn’t he? I mean he’s like your age. Don’t most ponies…”
Slowly, I turned my head and looked at my left flank, then my right. Nothing. No cutie mark, not even the hint that I might have one. “Aw nuts.”
“We’ll talk about it later, I promise. “ replied Twilight.
“I’m going to want some pants.” I muttered.
The sky was overcast as we exited the hospital. The summer breeze promised rain and with that promise the locals had their umbrellas at the ready just in case. As we walked toward the castle I noticed the odd stare from other ponies as they made note of the hospital scrubs I was wearing. “Couldn’t they find some sweat pants or something?” I asked my companions.
“It was all they had. I mean it is a hospital after all.” replied Twilight.
“Yeah, and it’s a lot less weird than that dress you took,” said Spike, “Why did you take that dress anyway?”
It took me a few moments to accurately describe the scene with the balloons from An American Werewolf in London to them in terms they’d understand. I’d never really seen a zoo in Equestria much less heard of any tales of werebeasts roaming the countryside. Still, somehow by the time we’d made it to Twilight Sparkle’s castle they seemed satisfied with the answer to that and a couple of other minor questions as well regarding where I’d hid and how I’d managed to evade them for as long as I did.
“Not to be rude,” I said after the explanation, “But hospital food is kind of bland and I could really go for something a bit more substantial. If that’s okay with you two.”
“I think that’s a good idea.” replied Twilight, “Then we can get down to the business of you: who you are and how you know what you know.”
“Figures. But, fair enough.”
Twilight asked Spike to make some sandwiches while we discussed matters in her conference room. When he hurried off she led me to a room with a large round table and asked me to have a seat. “So, let’s get this started,” she said as she took her seat, “I know that things have been a little confusing for you but, if I’m going to have you here I’m going to need to call you something.”
“Oh, I never did tell you my name, did I?”
“Things seemed to deteriorate pretty quickly when we first met.”
I nodded and sat quietly as I tried to think of a good name, “Well, the thing is…I don’t think my name would make a whole lot of sense to you. I mean it’s not a typical name that you’d have in Equestria.”
“I’m sure it will be better than Mystery Stallion.”
I tapped my hoof to my chin for a moment, then said, “Call me Maverick.”
“Is that what your name is?”
“Yeah.” I said with a smile.
“Okay, Maverick let’s cut to the chase. How is it that you can’t fly, don’t have a cutie mark and yet know all of the things that you know about my friends and I?”
The air grew heavy in the conference room as I stared at the desk for what felt like a long time. Finally, I said, “Well, I wasn’t always a pegasus. I just kind of woke up that way the day you saved me from drowning.”
“Okay.” she said with a sigh as she began to take notes, “Then, what were you?”
“A human. Sort of like what you ran into in the mirror world but, less technicolor and no magic. Well...unless you count sleight of hand.”
Twilight paused briefly in her writing and looked at me, “How do you know about me? About any of this?”
“Well, in my world your adventures are a television show and a successful line of toys. Millions of people watch your exploits. Some even watch it daily.”
Twilight’s eyes widened, “Ar-are they watching right now?”
“I don’t know. TV doesn’t work that way.”
Twilight rubbed her temple and continued with her questions. Some of them were mundane like what kind of food did I enjoy. Some questions were more complex and centered around topics like world politics, technology and so on. Occasionally she would look nervously out her window wondering just who might be watching and how. No matter the question I answered it as best as I could until Spike walked in with the sandwiches.
“So, what’s for lunch?” I asked.
“Well,” began Spike, “Twilight usually eats a daisy sandwich at lunch so I made one of those for her. I didn’t know what you liked so I just went with peanut butter. Is that okay?”
“You know that’s perfectly fine.” I said digging in, “I don’t munch on grass, except for once when I was four. My folks had a fit.”
“Why?”
“Well, humans don’t eat grass.”
“Humans?”
“It’s a long story Spike.” said Twilight quietly as she leaned away from the open window.
“By the way Spike,” I said, “My name is Maverick. Nice to meet you. Officially I mean.”
Spike nodded as he watched Twilight continued to contort herself in order to avoid being seen.
“What’s with her?”
“Another long story.” I said.
“Regardless of who may be watching,” said Twilight, “Tomorrow, if you’re not feeling wobbly, you’ll need to apologize to the other ponies that you wronged. If you’re going to stay in this world, you’ll need to learn to get along with them.”
I thought about what happened and felt guilty for what I had done, “No objection here,” I said with a shrug, “I’ll also need to find a place to stay. I mean it’s really nice that you’re letting me stay here for a bit but, we both know I’ll need to find a place and a job at some point.”
“We’ll worry about that when the time comes but first things first. You’ll need to learn your way around town and, more importantly, how to fly and take care of yourself as a pony.”
“Wait a second,” interrupted Spike, “Who’s watching?”
“Spike,” replied Twilight as she rolled up her notes and scrawled a letter with them, “These need to go to the princess post haste,” Spike nodded and took them from her. She then turned to me, “I’ve got just the teacher for you.”
“Who,” I asked, “Rainbow Dash?”
“No,” replied Twilight, “But I can assure you that she’s very good at getting novice fliers off the ground.”
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Interesting so far, you really seem to be getting into writing this story now, keep it up.
Thanks! As I was writing it, I was feeling it, along with the suggestions from my editor. I'm really happy with how it shaped up.
I like the story I just wish that the mustache didn't look like a horn
YAY! NEW CHAPTER! I am just surprised i am NINE HOURS LATE to read it.
You know how i am...
or do you
8925934
I think the MOUSTACHE is very pronounced.
And I thought their eyes were ALREADY dinner plate sized. Unless a "dinner plate" is larger than your average plate, in which case that makes perfect sense.
I KNEW it was RD. Quite obvious, really.
Uh oh. Unintended consequences, beware! She knows about the fourth wall!
RED ALERT RED ALERT
Fluttershy!
I can't wait to see this chapter!
8926661
it looks like a horn thats used to shovel snow out of the way during winter
8926688
I thought that you used shovels for that? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
8926693
well hes a pegasus not a unicorn so how could he hold the shovel
Unless Twilight is more sadistic than I gave her credit for, this sentence is missing an "only." Even then, "fortunately" and "suffered a concussion" aren't usually found in the same sentence.
In any case, this chapter was rather talking-headsy, though Twilight's slow-burn existential crisis should lead in some interesting directions.
8926709
Well how do pegasi/earth ponies open doors? THAT HAVE HANDLES?!?!
8926908
'Tis only a flesh wound.
8927447
simple all doors are push open
8927463
I SAID doors with HANDLES!
But if they all are push open, how do they have handles?
8927469
maybe for griffons and Minotaurs?
This is so crisply edited. It's delightful and a joy to read.