Surviving Equestria

by SailorBrony

Pain

I awoke the next morning to a small rabbit stomping on my chest. I jumped back in surprise, and the rabbit cocked its head. It held out its paw as if it expected me to give it something.

“I don’t have anything for you”, I told it.

Great, now I’m talking to rabbits, I thought. I’m not going to say I’m going insane, but...
The small rabbit looked at me with sharp eyes and pointed to my backpack impatiently.

When I shrugged my shoulders in confusion, he rolled his eyes and hopped over to it. After struggling a bit with the zipper, he began to rummage through the small backpack. Finding my berries, he devoured them in a split second.

“Hey!”, I shouted at it, snapping into a surprised anger, “Quit it!”

The animal threw the empty bag at me and gestured for more with an expectant and demanding stare. I threw the empty backpack back, trying to hit it. The backpack was far from its target.

“Hey, don’t expect me to get you anymore. Get them yourself, you damn rabbit!”, I shouted after it as the rabbit hopped out of the cave.

“Angel!” a soft feminine voice called from far off.

It surprised me to hear another human voice, and the bunny and I both turned to the direction it came from. We were silent until the melodic voice called out again. This time, the rabbit facepalmed and I turned to him.

“Is that you?” I asked him, not necessarily expecting him to understand what I said.

Then the rabbit nodded, rolling his eyes.

“W-... wait, you can understand me?”, I asked incredulously. It nodded.

“Holy shit! Can you talk too? Are there other animals like you? How does-”

Just then, a small yellow horse with pink hair came out from behind a tree beside us.

“ANGEL! Oh, I’m so glad I found-”

Then she noticed me.
Looking back on it, I must’ve looked very strange to her. My clothes were a torn and dirty mess, and my face and hair were smeared with just as much mud and grime as the cave. To be fair, though, she was a talking horse. With yellow fur. And a huge mane of pink hair. And massive eyes. Look, she looked weird to me too, okay?

Unfortunately, when she let out a shriek in surprise, I jumped back and hit my head against the hard rock ceiling of the cave. Hey, I’d been through a ton of freaky shit, and I was really high-strung. Gimme a break.

Pain shot through my head, and I fell to my knees.

"Ow!", I screamed, “My fucking head!”

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" I heard a faint voice say through the ringing of my ears.

I tried to scramble away, but a knife of searing pain shot through my head. It was too much; I started to black out. My head hit the grass, I looked up to the sky, my vision tunneling, the last thing I saw being the confused and fretful face of the weird-looking horse.

***

It’s a weird thing, being unconscious. Everything is dark, but somehow the darkness weaves itself together to form colors and sounds, reliving memories that you thought you’d lost. I remembered Rachel.

"Michael, come on! Lets go already!" Rachel called to me from shotgun seat as I neared the car.

"Alright, I'm ready! Allons-y!" I yelled, jumping into the driver seat.

“Nerd,” she said, shaking her head and smiling the cute little half-smile she does sometimes.

“Weirdo,” I reply, receiving a punch in the arm for it.

My jeep rumbled down the highway, at steady forty miles per hour. We arrived at Laguna Beach in twenty minutes. We got out and walked the streets. Laguna beach is one of the best beach towns in California. I surfed a little while she sat on the beach.
It was nearly sunset when I came out of the water. I walked up to her and dried off a little bit.

We sat on the beach watching the deep orange sun submerge below the dark blue ocean. I turned to her and she put her arms around me. At that moment we shared a kiss, one that I would never forget.

We laid on the warm sand for hours, or so it felt, before getting up to leave.
We jumped back into the car and drove home. The cool night air blew past us on the way home. I drove to her house, dropping her off. She gave me a quick kiss before jumping out of the car and walking inside.
I drove home and laid in my bed. My eyes grew heavy and I slipped into a world of darkness.

***

Am I dead?

My eyes fluttered open, I looked upon the sterile white room that I laid in. I noticed a small plant in the corner and my clothes folded on a stood beside the bed I am in.

Nope, not dead.
Wait, my clothes?

I looked down, I was wearing a patient garment. The kind people who stay in the hospital wear. It had a slight blue tinge to it and a tie in the back. It was far too small for me, just long enough to cover my mid-thighs.

Great, I’m in the hospital wearing a very small and uncomfortable garment. A slight panic began creeping up on me. I need to change, now!

I sat up and tried to swing my legs, but they were held back. I looked under the sheets and saw my left ankle bound to the bed, tied by a strap of black cloth. The other was lightly bandaged.

Just then another pony walked in.

“Oh, you’re awake!” she said cheerfully.

I let out a yelp, struggling against my bonds.

“Now, calm down. Don’t worry, we aren’t going to hurt you.”

“Just get back!” I yelled.

“Calm down, dear.” she sat down on a nearby stool.

I pushed myself up, tugging at the bonds . She watched me as I recollected myself.

“Ponies cannot talk!” I said, more to myself than her.

“Of course they can. All ponies can talk.”

“But where are the people?” I asked.

“What people? Are there more of you?” she said concerned.

Okay, so no people here? And ponies can talk. I am just getting more and more freaked out by the second.

“No, I guess not,” I said with a sigh.

“I understand if you’re surprised, though. I sure was surprised when you were brought in! I’ve never seen anything like you before.”

A tense silence held the room as we regarded each other with equal amounts of caution and curiosity.

“So, what is your name? I need you to fill out your papers.”

“It’s Derek,” I said bluntly as she handed me a few sheets of paper and, oddly, a quill. Really? I raised an eyebrow at her. “What about you?”

“I’m Nurse Redheart.” she smiled gently at me, seemingly trying to defuse my slightly heated temper. It didn’t work too well.

Regardless, I took the papers and the quill and started to read the packet.

I fucking hate filling these things out.

With a growing sense of distaste in my mouth, I filled in my name, height, weight, and all the usual stuff. What really struck me as odd was the “species” box. I looked at it and saw three checkboxes each labeled: Earth, Pegasus, Unicorn.

Great. More mythical creatures. What is this, a freaking zoo world?

I crossed those over and instead wrote HUMAN in big, obnoxious letters. Allergies, no; prior injuries, plenty; address, not anymore.

As I filled that box in I couldn’t help but reflect on something that had been nagging me for a while. Yes, I’d been in a jungle filled with impossible creatures, but there’d always been the possibility of me having been randomly kidnapped by some mad scientist operating a spin-off of the Jurassic Park or something in that venue. Now, I’d begun to realize that I probably was a bit further away from home than that.

Having finished the four page packet, I laid down in the bed and closed my eyes. I didn’t get to rest for long, though; soon enough, Nurse Redheart came back. I sat back up and gave her the papers.

“Derek, just to let you know, you gave yourself a concussion. We had the doctors put a few healing spells on you, and we’ve given you some analgesic. We’ll need to make sure you’re stable though, so I need you to stay off your hooves for a while. I’m going to go put these papers away. If you need anything, just call out.” she smiled and walked out the door.

I sat back against the wall. I inspected the ankle lock again, seeing if I could pull it off somehow. No such luck. I twisted my ankle seeing if I could slip it out. Not that I was trying to escape, but the bonds kept rubbing up against my ankle which was extremely annoying.

“Hey!” I called out to the hallway.

Nurse Redheart walked back into the room, she gave me a strange look as I fumbled with the bonds that held me to the bed. I looked up at her with a pleading look.

“Can you help me? This is getting on my nerves.” I said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, yes. Just let me get the key, there is no point to have it on you anymore.”

She pulled out a key with her mouth and unlocked the lock on the bonds. The straps fell off my ankles and fluttered to the ground. I sprung up and out of the bed. I immediately regretted it seeing as how I just gave myself a concussion.

As soon as my feet came in contact with the ground I fell to my knees. The pain in my head forced me onto my hands and knees. I stayed motionless before I finally pushed myself up with the help of the nearby stood and sat back on the bed.

“Now Derek, that is not going to make your concussion heal any faster.” she said in a matter a fact tone.

I got out of bed, much more carefully this time, and put on my clothes. I wore a pair of jeans with a red belt that held my hatchet, a plain black shirt and a leather jacket. I had a pair of adidas running shoes, which I had just gotten for track season , but that wouldn’t matter anymore

I signed out of the hospital and walked out of the door. It was midday when I walked outside. I saw more ponies walking around, buying food and talking.

I started down the street towards the center of the town, or at least I hoped thats was the center of town. I got strange looks from them, but I kept walk trying not to make eye contact. I think I made a couple foals cry. Oh well. As I expected, I was in the center of the town. Now, I just need a place to stay.

Author's Note:

Special Thanks to Muffinman and NejinOniwa for your help editing and proofreading my story! You have helped me out so much!
Thanks!

Comments

[skultech]

Every HiE fic has 1 thing in common. BLACKOUTS (a lot of other fics too)
Although this one is quite original.
Giving himself a concussion

[SailorBrony]

1832088 Thanks! I am trying to go against the grain of all HiEs. I hope you enjoy my coming chapters!

[Adam95F]

Awesome story so far. Though I'm one to talk since I've never made a story so I got nothing to back myself on and shiz.

Anywho neat story and I will patiently wait for more chapters.

[StockyDwemer]

A vast improvement from the first chapter. I'm liking how you're taking this story.
I can't decide much yet, some plot needs to deployed yet.
Try pacing things a little bit more.
Otherwise, this looks amazing, really interested where this is going.
Good work!