The Secrets of Caduceus

"Hey! Popo!"

Popo?

I find myself struggling to open my eyes, and a blinding white light engulfs me. I hear the sound of… Laughter? And… Splashes of water? Cheerful chatter… Just where am I?

My eyes adjust, and I find myself sitting comfortably in a pool chair. Wait, a pool chair?

"Popo! Come on in already!"

I look around for the voice calling me, but all I see is an outdoor swimming pool full of ponies, and other characters sprinkled amongst them. That explains the noises, but it still doesn't explain what this place is…

"Hey!" A voice shouts from behind me.

I quickly jump out of the chair and spin around to see who it was. A grey earth pony, with silver hair and a silver spoon for a cutie mark.

"Who…?" I begin to ask, until being interrupted once again by another voice.

"Hah, Apollo what's wrong? I thought you knew how to swim?"

I turn to my left, and a white earth pony with brown spots and a brown mane approaches me, dripping with water from the pool.

"Who… Who are you?" I ask, as I slowly back away each of them.

The sound of a pony emerging from water comes from my left, where the pool is. A dark cream coloured pegasus with a brown mane shakes off the excess water dripping from his body.

"Who are we? Hey man, are you having a heatstroke or something?" The pegasus, as he trots over to a nearby pool chair and bites down on a towel.

The silver pony continues, "Yeah, you've been acting pretty weird. C'mere for a second and let me check your temperature." She says, as she approaches me.

Whilst these ponies are trying to speak to me, I can only think to myself, "Who are they? Where am I? How did I get wherever this is?" These thoughts spin around in my head, and before I know it the silver pony has already got her hoof on my forehead.

I dare not make a move, thinking that she might be some sort of Caduceus spy, and that all of this is just some sort of illusion performed by a high level unicorn.

Holding my breath, my heart beats faster and faster.

The silver pony seems to take notice, blushing, she speaks up,  "Geez. Just… Just calm down already, it's not like you're not used to this. You're always getting sick, and I'm always there to clean you up."

With nothing else that comes to mind that I can do, I decide to play along with their charade, "I don't ask you to come and help you know."

As I finish my sentence, the cream coloured pegasus places his hoof up to his forehead, as if in agony, and falls backwards into the pool.

"What's his deal?" I ask the silver pony, who has just finished feeling my forehead.

"As if you don't already know." She says, rolling her eyes.

She turns around and struts away toward the white and brown spotted earth pony.

"Don't mind those two. Perhaps you should just go for a swim, and cool off." The white and brown spotted earth pony says, as he jumps into the pool himself.

Perhaps a swim will clear up my mind. With a running start, I leap far into the deep end of the pool. Swiftly, water engulfs me, and I find myself at the bottom of a swimming pool. Bubbles occasionally escape my mouth and float upwards towards the surface. Suddenly, I find myself unable to breath or move. My mouth automatically opens, as a sad attempt to gasp for air underwater.

Then, with my eyes just barely open under the water, I see a strange and blurry object, growing larger in size as it approaches me. Paralyzed and unable to move, I simply let the strange object get closer. Eventually, it grows close enough to touch if I were able to move. Whatever it is, it begins to wrap itself around my neck. My rump is slowly lifted off the bottom of the swimming pool, and I begin to float towards the surface.

Slowly, the bright light above the swimming pool begins to fade, and a black darkness is all I can see around me. Whatever's wrapped around my neck begins to tighten its grip, and I feel myself being pulled faster and faster out of the water until finally…

*GASP*

The moment I emerge from the water I take a deep breath. After catching my breath for a second, I begin to struggle out of whatever's gripping onto me.

"Let go of me!" I shout, as I try to squirm my way out.

I didn't expect one, but I actually received a reply immediately, "Stop moving! The current is pulling you down, you gotta lose the vest!"

A female voice shouts, and what it was saying was true. I could feel water pulling my vest, and my body, away with it.

"I can't move my arms with you holding them like that!" I shout over the noise of the raging waters splashing up against my face.

"Do I have to do everything?!" The voice asks.

*SHINK*

I hear the sound of a knife being pulled from its sheathe above me, "Wh-What are you doing?!"

"Saving your life!"

*RIP*

I can just barely feel the cold steel of her blade against my back, as she cuts the inside of the leather vest down the spine. I instantly feel a relief, as the water ceases to drag me along with it.

Breathing heavily, I'm soon lifted up out of the water completely. My rescuer falls backwards trying to pull me up, but quickly scrambles to her hooves.

"Alright… So… I saved you. Now… You gotta answer… Some questions." She says, taking a deep breath between words.

"Yeah. Yeah sure…" I say, mimicking her pauses in the same fashion, trying to catch my breath.

"Now. Answer me…" Her tone begins to soften, as if she's about to… Cry?

"Can you… Can you forgive me?"

"Who… Wait! That voice…"

*SCRATCH* *SCRATCH*

The sound of a matchstick being stricken echoes through the darkness. The flame is too dim to see anything. But the flame drifts off, and eventually grows brighter. Whoever is holding the matchstick has clearly lit a lantern to make the surroundings brighter. Then, the face of a grey pony is revealed from the shadows.

"It's me. Misaki."