Staying Neutral

by NeutralZ1

Painful Entry

Far above the land of Equestria, the mildly cloudy yet ever so bright sun shined down upon the land below. With the rays of light being brought down, there was a grey unicorn. He was unconscious from the beginning, but a few moments from the ground, he opened his eyes in horror; he was falling to his death. He might as well have been unconscious throughout the fall to his demise, he thought.
Raising his hands, or in this case hooves, he discovered he changed into something he wasn't familiar with. It didn't matter much, since soon he was going to meet his end. As he raised his hooves, he gained more momentum toward the ground at an alarming rate. Passing through the clouds, he swore he could have heard a voice calling out to him. He set aside the thought as the ground grew closer and closer like a realistic zoom function.
Between the ground and his body were trees, blocking his view of the ground below. He heard another voice calling out to him, and again he set it aside thinking they were possibly flashes of his memories, his last thoughts before it was over. He made contact with the tree, bouncing heavily on each branch. He could hear his bones snapping and breaking as he came close and closer to the ground. He finally made contact with the earth, rolling down a very small hill where he finally came to a painful halt. He heard fading and distant voices of worry as he looked up in the sky. His vision was also blurring away, but saw a stream of fire heading toward him. The voice was moving closer, but before he could see its source, he blacked out from the extraordinary pain he felt, his vision now a wall of solid black.
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Waking up, he wondered if the whole ordeal had been a dream; he began to move only to feel the pain remained throughout his body. The grey unicorn cried out, but he grit his teeth and continued moving, attempting to figure out where he was. As he squirmed, a white figure dashed out the door before he could get a good look. Realizing he was at a hospital, he relaxed a bit before remembering that something wasn't quite right. He tried to find a mirror or reflective surface in the small room. He finally found a shiny metal tray, and leaned over to grab it--- despite his pain--- to have a good look at his seemingly new self.
Where his hair had been was a black mane with a white streak down the middle. His eyes had stayed the same brown, but his body was strangely reminiscent of a horse's and covered in grey fur. Instantly the word “neutral” came to mind, thanks to his art classes in high school. He thought that should be his name, Neutral. He was so busy admiring his own new self that he almost missed the... stick of some kind covered by bandages on his head. He reached a hand--- or hoof, now--- up to touch it and the worst pain he could have ever imagined went up and down his spine, making him yelp out loud.
Someone barged in the room at the sound of his cry. He had cringed at the pain, but he still had enough willpower to look at the intruder. A white pony with a pink mane tied up in a bun wearing a nurses hat looked back at him with concerned eyes. "Sir what's wrong?"
"Nothing," was all he had the ability to mutter after the extreme pain he had just felt. He tried shaking it off, but his whole body was damaged from the fall. Adding the pain in his body was his... horn? The new appendage felt damaged somehow.
The nurse shook her head, tsking, and trotted towards him. She slowly and gently pushed him back down into the bed. "Sir, you need to rest before you do any sort of walking around! Or magic." She spoke kindly, and he knew she was trying to help him.
He was clearly going to be forced to stay in bed; she had the upper hand, seeing as she wasn't injured from her tail to her ears. He tried to relax, thinking about the last word that had come out of her mouth. "Magic," he said, just loud enough for her to hear.
She nodded her head at his reply. "Unicorn magic, Mr...?" she trailed off with a questioning tone.
Despite the fact this would probably be his name for the rest of his life, he responded quickly, albeit weakly. "Neutral."
She nodded her head once more. "There was somepony here that wanted to see you, about two weeks ago while you were still in your coma." Well, that answered the question of how long he had been here. Before he could ask anything else, she continued. "But you have two guests that have been waiting for you since your arrival." She trotted off, disappearing out the door. Moments later, a white pegasus and brown unicorn in gold armor took her place.
The pair looked at him with cold, serious faces that gave him the impressed that they were not to be messed with. The unicorn closed the door behind them, then surrounded the walls in a purple glow that confused Neutral. The pegasus looked down at him with a look that made him feel like he was naughty child in school. "Neutral, is it? We have orders from the princess to bring you directly to her once you awoke." His voice was stern and serious, and it made Neutral angry. He was absolutely serious about moving him to meet not only royalty, but a princess?!
"And if I refuse...?" he replied with an equally serious look that made the pegasus raise a brow.
"You won't have a choice. You can't do us any harm with your elemental magic, and you won't be able to run off with your body crippled." That was true. Neutral couldn't escape from these armored ponies, even using whatever magic he may hold. And even if he did manage to escape, where would he go? He knew nothing about the outside world. He realized had no choice but to follow this strange pony's command.
The unicorn walked out, the purple glow fading from the walls. Neutral overheard him call for a wheelchair once outside the room. They were moving him now? After he just woke up and was just told this information less than five minutes ago?
The nurse with the pink mane came back and tried to explain to him his current condition. The doctor eventually showed up, arguing with the armored ponies about releasing Neutral from his care while he was in such conditions. The doctor, Neutral saw, was also a unicorn, tan with a short brown mane and tail, wearing glasses that re-enforced his stern expression.
The armored ponies must have gotten their way, because the nurse soon reappeared with a wheelchair. The armored unicorn gently lifted Neutral up from the soft, warm bed and placed him onto the hard, cold chair. They had lifted him into the air as easily as one would with a rag doll. He felt more inclined to follow their orders; that unicorn could have easily thrown him out the window.
As the armored ponies rolled him out, he saw many different ponies of varying color, race, and gender. After seeing them sneaking glances at him, figured these armored ponies weren't commonly seen, and certainly were not often here for simple social interactions. As he was rolled outside, expecting a city to greet him, he instead found cobbled roads leading down to a nearby small town. In front of the hospital was an open carriage with a small couch in the middle, one seat on each side accompanied by a door. Again hovering the crippled pony over to the small bed, they strapped him down so he couldn't fall out... or escape.
The wagon moved the instant the armored unicorn stepped in the cart. The wagon was being pulled by two other pegasi who seemed to know ahead of time about Neutral's departure. The unicorn spoke loudly as he gave out an order: "Do not fly, we do not want to risk losing what Her Majesty ordered. She does not want this pony harmed more than he already is. We need to get back safely." He then took a seat in the cart. The two pegasi pulling the cart nodded and slowly began to move toward their destination.
What did this princess want with him anyway? It occurred to him they may not refer to her as a queen in this dimension, though she may be the head honcho. He had plenty of time to think as he was carried off to this princess; the unicorn didn't bother making conversation.
As they passed a golden bridge, he saw other armored ponies realized that must mean they were almost to their destination. The “couch” levitated and it occurred to him it was similar to a cot used by the military in his old dimension. He was being carried by the two guards who pulled him there.
They entered the castle, and as expected, it was classy; red rugs with fancy decorations and stained glass windows all over. He was carried toward a double door which seemed to lead to an infirmary for the guards, since there were multiple beds side by side. Once more he was lifted by what he assumed was magic onto the bed, hoping to get some more rest. But he knew he would not be napping as soon as he saw a tall white pony of some kind had walked into the room. Her mane was constantly flowing, and it reminded him of the Northern Lights. The guards, noticing her presence, bowed to her in respect.
Neutral only lifted a brow and wondered if this was the princess everyone had been talking about. The pony was beautiful, he had to admit; her coat was pure white and she had both a horn and wings, which he had yet to see on any other pony. She spoke with a soft, gentle voice. "You are all dismissed... except for you, Alchem.” The guards left with a nod, leaving the princess, the doctor, and Neutral alone. The doctor, light blue with black, neatly combed hair and a cutie mark of an open book and medical needle, stood away from the bedside to let the princess by.
She gracefully trotted over to the bed, taking a closer look at the grey unicorn. "Neutral. Is that your name?" Neutral was suspicious of her question and simply nodded in reply, worrying that saying the wrong thing to this princess who had total power and control might yield bad results. She smiled at his toleration of the situation. "I am Princess Celestia. I brought you here to protect you, but also because my ponies need my protection. I had to take you out of the hospital because of your new found... ability." The way she described his condition made him more confused than ever. She carried on the conversation after he had soaked up what she'd said. "Alchem, will you please give full details about this ability and its dangers?"
Alchem nodded respectfully. "Yes, Your Majesty." He turned to Neutral with a small smile. "Like all unicorns, your horn is stronger than bone. However, you managed to damage it in a way that causes a rare event to occur. By damaging your horn, you gained an extremely rare form elemental magic that was hidden away long ago. You control the element of fire." Neutral could only blink at what he'd just heard.
Celestia spoke up once more. "That is why I summoned you here; not only to protect my ponies, but also to help you control it. You may leave us now, Alchem. Thank you." Alchem bowed before leaving the room.
Neutral looked away for a moment, getting all of this processed. They knew he was from another dimension and they wanted to help him? "What are the terms?" he finally asked, making the white-coated mare raise an eyebrow.
"Terms? Hmm." She looked deep in thought for a moment. "If you don't cooperate, if you choose to decline my offer to help you, I'll have no choice but to throw you in the dungeon to protect my subjects."
Neutral already felt imprisoned and being watched by the guards; he did not want to make the situation worse. "I accept the terms on one condition," he ventured, pushing his luck. Celestia gave a faint “hmm” in response. "I bow down to no one. I'll respect you as a boss, but I will not respect you as a leader," he answered boldly, surprising Celestia, who quickly flashed a smile.
"As long as we understand each other. Now, get some rest; you look like you've had a rough day," she added as she walked out of the room, leaving Neutral alone with his thoughts.
"This elemental power of fire... what does this mean? And how did I survive the fall? Wait, there was a fire trail before I blacked out! Was that me? No... it couldn't have been, the doctor said the fall gave me the elemental power, so I couldn't have had it before. Was I just seeing things, or was that someone else? Argh, what a day this turned out to be." He closed his weary eyes and slept the rest of the day away.

Author's Note:

After discovering the ability he has will he able to control it? Who or what was following him to his fall and why didn't they take him out of the hospital before he awoken?

I hope you like the intro of this.