Linger

by Kronos Frostwind

Chapter 2:The Morning After

~Linger~

The Morning After

The light began to filter from the windows, vengefully into my eyes, intent on waking me this fine morning.

Ugh, 5 more minutes...

A tomboyish voice drifted into my ears, “So, this is the pony you met the other day?”

Or maybe not...

“Y-yeah.”

Fluttershy’s here? Then the other one’s probably Rainbow Dash.

The door opened briefly as another pony walked in, “Hello girls, you two should head home. He’s not due to wake up until tomorrow. We’ll send for you when he wakes up if you’d like.”

Oh, the timing’s too perfect.

I opened my eyes and rose up giving a brief wave, “Mornin’ doc!”

“...Or now works...”

I began to make a show of cracking my spine and other joints, my body was still painfully sore, so it hurt quite a bit, but it was worth the reaction. “I slept great, how long was I out?”

“...About eight hours...”

I cocked my head to the side a bit, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“You were supposed to sleep for sixteen more.”

I shrugged, “Good thing the tests are over, speaking of, how’d they go?”

He merely sighed, placing a hoof to his face, “A little too well, none of your scars are infected, some have even started to fade. Your blood pressure’s normal again, no internal damage.”

I smiled, “I always did heal quickly.”

“Nopony should be able to heal this quickly... Congratulations, if this keeps up, we can discharge you tomorrow.”

“Fantastic! Hey, where’d the pony who brought me in go? I thought I heard her voice.”

I heard a small eep, I turned to see her trying to hide behind Dash.

I smiled briefly at her, “Thanks for taking me here, where I’m from most people wouldn’t have cared enough to do anything. I may hate coming to the hospital, but it’s nice to know ponies around here care.”

She nodded briefly, “I-it was no trouble at all. I-I’m sorry I forced you t-to come.”

I smiled, “Nothing to be sorry for, my fault for being stubborn.”

I turned a bit to see Dash eyeing me suspiciously, “Are you new in town? I haven’t seen you around before.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I just got here.”

“What’s your name?”

I thought for a second before responding. “...Kronos Frostwind, call me Kronos. Yourself?”

She puffed out her chest and raised her head proudly, “Name’s Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria.”

“Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash and?”

The creamy yellow mare seemed to shrink back a bit, muttering her name just barely loud enough to be heard.

I smiled a bit, “Ah, nice to meet you too Fluttershy.”

A worried voice shouted from the other room, “Doctor Stable!”

He sighed loudly, “Excuse me a moment.”

He walked out of the room, leaving the door open. “Yes Nurse?” There was a brief pause, “...Oh not again.”

He called for another nurse, I could hear a loud clamoring and confused shouting, probably from another patient. Doctor Stable came back into the room and began leading the two out of the room.

“Sorry, but we need to bring another patient in, please come back tomorrow.”

They both nodded before leaving.

He turned to me with a sigh, “Looks like you have a new roommate.”

He left the room, probably to prepare as the clamoring drew closer. A slew of nurses hurried in a light blue unicorn that looked worse off than I did.

“FINE! Fine! I’m here! Didn’t have to drag my ass all the way to the bed.” He announced as they placed him forcefully in a bed.

I chuckled briefly, “They did the same with me, pretty rough treatment for injured patients.”

He smiled in response, “They didn’t believe me when I told them I just couldn’t figure out how to walk quite right, they thought I was dying or something.”

I cocked a brow, “You haven’t seen yourself yet have you? You’re kind of a mess. What happened to ya?”

“Yeah, I keep a vanity mirror in my back pocket for just such an occasion.” He responded sarcastically. “And as for what happened... huh, the last thing I remember was grabbing a few of my things at my ex-girlfriend’s place and...” He rubbed his head as if it would help him remember, “and I fell? That doesn’t sound right. The last thing I went to grab was... my peace lily on the balcony...” He let out an exasperated sigh, “Memory is fuzzy. What happened to your raggedy tail end?”

“A ca... An accident...” I coughed briefly.

“How long are they gonna keep us here? I want to explore!” He said happily, but still covered in dried blood.

“For me, tomorrow, for you? No idea how fast you’d heal. Gonna have to wait for the doctor and his tests.”

Doctor Stable walked in, as if on cue, followed by a white unicorn with a dark blue mane.

“Now I’ll need to have you anesthetized so we can run a few tests.”

“Why? I don’t want to get knocked out!” He said, looking a bit terrified.

He sighed, “Sorry, but it’s necessary, Ms. Soothing Remedy?”

The nurse merely nodded as her horn began to glow.

“Please?” He said in a groggy voice.

I merely waved at him, “Night, bud!”

He began thinking deeply, I knew that the next words to leave his mouth would bear the intelligence and experience only one with years of knowledge would make sense of, let alone speak for themselves. I listened closely, in hopes of attaining the knowledge he was about to utter.

“Don’t trust doctors, they feel you up when you go under!” He managed to get out as he finally passed out.

Or he could be delirious from blood loss... wait...

“You didn’t do that to me did you...?”

The doctor looked taken aback, “Of course not!”

“‘kay, are there any books here? ...Preferably any about Daring Do...?”

“Yes, there are a few in the table by your bed.”

I turned to the nightstand and pulled out a book titled , Daring Do and the Emerald of Equagga. I opened the book and waved towards the doctor who was performing various tests.

“Have fun testing him and feelin’ him up, I got reading to do.”

I could feel the doctor glaring at me, but he continued his work. He would occasionally mutter about physics and impossibilities, at a few of the results.

Sounds like we got another human here.

<Sounds interesting.>

I merely sighed and continued reading, hoping that knock to the head hadn’t caused brain damage. The doctor left soon after, still dumbfounded. A nurse came in and placed a peace lily on the table next to him before stepping back out of the room.

“Huh, so he did have a peace lily...”

I finished reading the book late around dawn. I set the book on the table with a sigh.

“And now everything gets boring...”

“THAT BITCH KILLED ME!” The stallion next to me yelled as he sat up.

“...Or not...”

The pony next to me threw off the covers as he tried to stand, ultimately ending with him on the floor.

“Nurse! I need to get out of here!” He yelled from the ground.

I rolled my eyes, “...So, you died too then?”

“NO! I was MURDERED!” He said as he pushed himself towards the door.

“Dude, you’re already dead... and in a different world. What could you possibly do about it?”

He stared at the ground for a moment, “Yell? Scream? Cry? She... she killed me...” He stated, sounding depressed.

A nurse began to walk in, I motioned for her to leave and walked up to the stallion.

I sighed, “Personally I tackle it with a smile seeing as where I ended up, but the decision is yours to make. Then again, my death was an accident. Come on, you need to rest.” He didn’t resist as I helped him back to bed.

He let out an exasperated sigh, “Thanks... I’m... I’m Tim by the way.” He said half smiling.

I smiled, “Name’s Tyler, I’m going by Kronos though.”

“Right, right. Time for a fake pony name...” He rubbed his forehooves together in a thoughtful, almost evil fashion, “Satin.”

I got settled back into my bed, “Like the fabric?”

“Yeah, so?”

I grinned briefly, “Just curious, oh lord of the cloth.”

“Oh stuff it, you freaking time lord.” He threw back, not missing a beat.

“So... you a brony?”

A big, toothy grin appeared on his face, “Come on man, I’ve been in bed a day as a pony and I didn’t freak right the fuck out... well about being a pony anyway...”

“One, you were only out for about nine, ten hours. Probably gonna piss the doc off with that, and two, we have Daring Do books!” I said, tossing the book over to him.

“I think I’d rather figure out how to walk without falling over every third step.” He responded flatly as he tried to get out of his bed again.

“How did you get here without knowing how to walk...?”

“Slowly, very slowly.” He said as he kept his forehooves on his bed as he began trying to balance build his balance.

I shrugged, “Better question, you were adamant that you were perfectly fine... Why would you come to a hospital?”

“You think I came here of my free will? Doctors freak me out!” He turned towards me very suddenly, his face a mask of seriousness, “Did the doctor do anything to me? You know, sexually?”

I chuckled, “Hell if I know, I was reading. Though I don’t think I remember you having that tear in your ear.”

“Rough bastards...” He said as he stood in the middle of the room, not leaning on anything.

“Who brought you in anyways?”

“Oooh that may be a problem later, I woke up near the edge of town and uhhh the first ponies I met, I may have scared away with the... you know, the blood.” He seemed kinda ashamed about this.

After a few moments of silence I sighed, “...go on...”

“I may have traumatized three little fillies...”

I gave him a deadpanned glance, “So you woke up... and traumatized three... fillies... My god, it was the CMC wasn’t it!?”

“Uhhh, yeah. But, it wasn’t my fault. I kinda fell down a hill and landed behind them. Still covered in blood, mind you. It was, an experience. They went for help, and long story short. Big Mac dragged my ass here.”

I just shook my head, “Wow... Just wow...”

“But it wasn’t my fault!” He repeated, as if he were trying to convince himself.

I merely rolled my eyes in response.

He took a hesitant step forward, “This is awful, I had no balance as a human. You think four points of contact would make my balance better. This is making me feel like a drunk two year old.”

“I’d try to walk upright out of boredom... but I have no pants...” I looked down to see the necklace still hanging around my neck, “Huh, I figured they’d need to remove it for the tests, guess not.”

“Ponies don’t wear pants usually.” He responded matter-of-factly.

I responded, “But I do.”

“A world where you don’t have to wear pants. This doesn’t sound like an issue to me.” His walking around the room getting more confident with every step.

I shrugged and began contemplating ways to attain said pants.

Need a job first... Maybe Rarity can make some. Still need money though... Wait, how am I paying for this hospital room and the care...? Are they going to try to get Fluttershy to pay it when they find out I’m broke? Or maybe they have free health care... Just like Canada! Well I was a baker for a while, I could try Sugarcube Corner.

“Oh hey, they brought Kevin.” He said breaking my train of thought.

I turned to him curiously, “Kevin?”

He went to point but ended up crashing on the floor again, “...My plant...”

“Ooookay then...”

“Does that mean he died on Earth? Why is his flowerpot in one piece? I don’t understand interdimensional travel.”

“Maybe the massive amounts of blood his roots probably soaked from your corpse linked him to you... maybe he even possesses part of your soul! In all seriousness though, hell if I know.”

“Well, there are worse things to be soul linked to. You know, like a cat, or a housefly, or a sarcastic jackass.” He responded with a smirk.

I smirked, “I know that feel, sarcastic jackasses are horrible as friends, to have your soul linked to one...” I feigned a shudder.

“Alright, I’ve got walking down. Next, magic!” He announced as he flicked his horn and winced a little. “That is sensitive...”

“Quit feelin’ yourself up. Wait, what am I...? Why in the hell haven’t I checked yet!?” I merely groaned as I threw the covers off of me, there was a pair of jet black wings folded over my sides, there was a white trim extending from the base to the tip of each wing. I poked a few spots on them, they weren’t particularly sens... I lied... in every aspect of the word. There were a few... sweet spots, but otherwise they were fine.

“So no objections when the doctor is doing it, but when I’m doing it, it’s suddenly awkward? Sounds like someone likes the male on male action.”

I merely shook my head, “Shut up, stupid.”

“Not my fault you would colt cuddle all up in my business! That’s a personal thing, I’ll never fault someone for their sexual preference.” He let loose a mocking laugh.

“My god, do you even think before talking...? Ever? How does that have anything to do with... Ya know what? Fuck it, I quit!”

[Kill him... please.]

“And the gold for witty banter goes to... Drum roll, please! Satin!” He announced as he jumped back in his bed.

I glared at him, “Hate you... and everything that you stand for!”

He merely chuckled, “So how we figurin’ out this whole ‘new life’ situation? I figure we’re in the same boat so we should probably stick together. You know, even if you want to ‘stick together’.”

I just shook my head, ignoring his idiotic comments, “The way I figure it, when we get out, Pinkie will probably throw us a party if the fanon/canon has anything to do with it. I’m probably gonna try to work at the bakery with her, what about you?”

“You know... I don’t think anything I did on Earth translates to much here. I was an electrical engineer in school, I was an eagle scout, and... I don’t think either of those turn into a practical job here...”

“Ya could always try The Acres.”

“Ewww that sounds like manual labor. Do I look like the kind of guy... stallion that bucks trees all day?”

I just sighed, I couldn't think of a better reaction to that statement if I tried, just, sigh. “Well, ya might wanna start thinking up some ideas then.”

“That sounds like a problem for future Satin, let that jackass take care of it!”

“You are that jackass...” I facehoofed, yeah all you bronies out there, I legitimately facehoofed, eat your little hearts out!

“Future jackass Satin.” He corrected.

I resolved to let him lay in the hole he was digging, merely responding with, “That dipshit’s gonna have his work cut out for him.”

He rolled over in his bed, “His problem, not mine.”

“Screw it, Present Kronos is going to bed since past Kronos was up all night reading. Tell me the doc’s reaction when I wake up.”

“G’night buddy~” He responded happily as he began to go through the books on his nightstand.

I laid back in the bed and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to take me.