Not Another Good Guy

I came back to reality to hear an angry voice barking out questions.

"...told you not to! What in the hay made y'all do it?"

"We're sorry, Applejack!"

"...siege warfare cutie marks..."

Just as I seemed to be coming around, I blacked out again. It was sometime later that my consciousness resurfaced.

"...anything like it..."

"...too much blood..."

"...should be dead."

That last statement managed to somewhat bring me out of my stupor. Dead!? Panic began to well up in my chest. My heart began to race and I heard more voices starting to become clearer.

"Get Fluttershy, she's the specialist on exotic creatures."

"Why can't we just fix him up with healing magic?"

"We already tried that, it's not working. Fluttershy's experience in nonmagical healing will be invaluable with this creature."

My senses were coming back, but only slightly. I could smell blood, and lots of it. Behind that was the smell of sterilization and antiseptics. I was fairly certain I had been in a place like this before. I tried to push myself up but my arms simply twitched in response.

"Sweet Celestia, it's moving!"

I could feel more of my body with every passing second. I sat up and opened my eyes but the glaring white of the walls blinded me.

"Keep it down, it's not safe to be moving!"

"Put it under!"

Uh-Oh. Before I could begin to protest I felt a sharp point stick into my leg and a cold feeling enter my body as something was injected into my blood. I fell back against what I assumed to be a bed as the cold spread through my body.

Wow. They used the good stuff. I chuckled to myself as I began to remember the last time I had been in a hospital. So close... to remembering... Too late for the memory to resurface, I fell back into the embrace of my induced coma.

It was some time later that I woke up for good. I braced myself for the harsh light to blind me, but it never came. I opened my eyes to find that only a small light on a desk in the corner and soft moonlight pouring in through the window. My head pounded as I sat up and gathered my bearings. The smell of blood was still present, though not to the same degree as it was before. I could see my backpack on the floor next to the bed and some lights on in the hallway outside. I reached up to scratch an itch on my head when my hand brushed cloth instead of flesh.

Curious, I carefully climbed out of the bed and over to the desk where a small mirror was placed and winced at my appearance. The cloth was a large bandage that wrapped around my entire head. It was soaked red from my blood. Against my better judgement I unraveled it and took it off to inspect the damage. What I found came as a shock.

Where is... well, anything? My head was curiously devoid of any bruises, cuts, or marks of any kind. I looked back at the bandage in my hand with my blood on it. How did I bleed without a wound? The more I began to assess the damage to my body, the more confused I became. How in hell did I survive a direct hit from a trebuchet without a single bruise?

I sighed, exasperated with this strangeness of it all. Why does the universe seem to take great joy in making me as completely confused as possible? I stared at the mirror again for a while until I felt tired again. Might as well get some sleep. It's not like staring at my reflection will do me any good. A yawn broke my thoughts. These creatures may have saved my life. I may as well stick around long enough to thank them, or at least learn more about them. Maybe they know me? As unlikely as it was, the hope that they could help me gave me reason to relax a bit as I climbed back into the bed.

The cool night air flowing in from the window felt perfect and the faint sound of a gentle breeze began to lull me into deep relaxation, until I looked out the window at the moon. For some reason, it unnerved me. That can't be the moon. I can't explain why but it just looks... different. The more I stared out the window at it the more frustrated I became with it.

It was then that I decided to try something new. Disregarding the advice of the mysterious voice, I steeled myself for the incoming headache and began probing my mind for a memory of the moon. After five minutes, my only discovery was disappointment. It seems that I can't recover my memories on my own.

Cursing my predicament, I rolled onto my other side so that the sight of the moon wouldn't bother me as I fell asleep. Sleep came quickly, likely due to the near death experience with the trebuchet and the 'not really bleeding' blood loss.

I felt great when I woke up in the morning. It may have had something to do with it being the first time I fell asleep by my own choice without a crazy voice in my head.

I heard voices in the hallway approaching the door. An instinct of some kind kicked in and I fell back into the bed, pretending to be asleep. Without even meaning to I had slowed my breathing and lowered my heart rate. When did I learn to do that? Before I could contemplate my actions further, the door opened and I heard two voices enter the room.

"Thank you for coming, Ms. Fluttershy. We're at our wits end with this one. None of our healing magic works and Redheart is out on vacation for the week, so we figured that you were the right pony for the job." So I wasn't going crazy yesterday, they really are a society of intelligent animals.

I felt something poke my side as the voice spoke up again. "I just hope we didn't mess up anything."

"Oh, I'm sure you did fine. Just look at how peaceful it is."

If any voice could melt hearts, this one had the potential to liquefy everyone within a mile. I almost felt guilty for tricking her into thinking I was asleep. Almost.

"Where did you find such an adorable creature?" I suddenly found it difficult not to smile. Aww, she thinks I'm adorable. Wait, what? Snap out of it, man!

"Oh no, we didn't find it. Applejack brought it in after some sort of incident with the crusaders." The voice let out a heavy sigh. "They were arguing about siege warfare again. I thought they learned their lesson after the ballista incident. Anyway, the major concern we had last night was the large wound across the forehead and the cracked skull."

WHAT?

Unaware of my imminent panic, he continued. "The skull fracture is not too severe, but it certainly was worrying. It was the amount of blood lost that had us most concerned. The creature really gave our cleaning team a workout with how much he bled out."

I felt gentle hooves pull the bandages off of my head. "Umm, I don't want to be rude, but I don't see anything."

"What do you mean?" The first pony got closer. "Strange. Later I'll go and check the log to see if somepony tried another healing spell after I left the creature with the nighttime staff. Sorry to bring you out here on such short notice for it to end up being nothing."

"That's alright. I'm glad that it isn't hurt after all," she said. She then paused for a moment, as if in thought. "What is it anyway?"

"Sorry, we have no idea."

Crap. There goes any hope I had of these ponies knowing who I am.

Suddenly the door swung open and another pony rushed into the room. "I can't believe nopony came to me about this sooner! The discovery of a new species is far too momentous of an occasion for me to miss. How is the thing anyway?"

"The creature is faring surprisingly well. We are just guessing at this point, but it appears to be fully healed and in perfect condition." The nurse replied.

"Oh. Well, I had hoped to dissect it, but I can still study it alive. It's good that the creature is doing so well."

Study me? Like some kind of dumb animal? I don't think so! I remained still as the three chatted about various things, seemingly unconcerned with the fact that they had a strange creature in the same room. Eventually, their conversation drifted to other topics that were meaningless to me. Missing ponies, a brother working for some sort of royal guard, and something about a 'party' were discussed. Thankfully, they left the room after a couple more minutes of idle chatter.

As soon as I was sure that they were far enough away to not hear me, I leaped out of the bed and grabbed my backpack before dashing to the window. I threw it open and looked outside. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone around to see what I was about to do. Carefully, I climbed out and stood on the windowsill. In a sudden burst of incredible finesse and grace, my foot slipped off the edge of the windowsill and sent me tumbling downward. Somehow, my shoe managed to come off and hit me in the face on the way down.

Just as I had resigned myself to becoming a chunky splatter on the ground, the impossible happened. As if I had been doing it all my life, I quickly righted myself in the air before I hit the ground feet first and rolled. I pulled out of the roll and came to a perfect standstill in the grass three floors below where I had started. Where the heck did past me learn to do that?

A moment later my shoe caught up with the fall and bounced off my head, interrupting my train of thought. As I went to pick it up, something odd caught my eye. During the fall, a large amount of small sticks with red points on them had come loose from somewhere in the shoe and were scattered in the grass around me. Putting my shoe back on, I knelt to pick one up and examine it closer.

I instinctively dropped them right away. I felt something stirring inside me at the thought of fire. It was a dark, impulsive desire mixed with pain and fear. I realized after a few moments that I must have been kneeling there for a decent amount of time, and shook my head to clear out the strange feelings.

"Lock down the building! Dangerous creature on the loose!" I suddenly heard a voice blare over the building's intercom. Looking back up, I saw the face of the purple pony peek out from the window and look right at me.

"Stop, creature!" the purple one yelled from the window.

"You forgot to say please!" I yelled back.

Her jaw seemed to drop a considerable distance, and she said, "It can talk?" just barely loud enough for me to hear. I rolled my eyes and started running. I was not going to be studied, thank you very much!

Alright, it's time get out of here. Where the heck do I go? I could either go back into the forest (not happening) or I could push through the town and hope for the best (bad idea). With no time to think I settled for the latter and poured on the speed. I passed right through what must have been the town square and nearly gave all the ponies a heart attack. I grinned as I passed the startled groups. I wish they could see the looks on their faces. This is too funny!

My glee was dampened as I looked behind me to see a small group chasing after me with the purple one leading the charge. They were quickly gaining ground on me even as I ran at a full sprint. Time to change the playing field. I turned sharply and ran through an alleyway. I came out the other side and quickly chose another alley at random before rushing through it as well. Just like the wolves, they outmatch me in raw speed but don't stand a chance against my agility.

After a few more alleys, it became clear that I had lost them. I'm not in the clear yet. I can't stay in the town, but where can I hide? It was then that I noticed a familiar sight of apple trees. I may as well work with familiar territory.

The sun was setting as I made my way through the trees, hoping to find that treehouse again. Instead I came across a large clearing with an old barn and a weathered and beaten house.

I suppose that a rundown house is better than none at all. Might as well- Movement in the house caught my eye and I dove back behind a tree. I hope they didn't just see me. With no further movement in the house, I set my sights on the only other building. Alright then, the barn it is.

I waited until night had fallen to make my way over to the barn. I reached the door and was about to enter before deciding against it. I experimentally gave a light push on the door and was rewarded with an explosion of sound from the hinges. Good thing I didn't barge in this way. Thankfully the windows were not as bad and I managed to enter the barn without any further noise. Closing the window behind me, I observed the interior of the barn.

As my eyes adjusted to the dark it became clear that the barn had seen better days. The wood was old and falling apart from years of wind and rain. The interior was filled with machinery and farm equipment that was covered in a thick layer of dust. The barn had a loft that was empty so I decided it was as good a place as any to get some rest.

I pulled one of the capes from the treehouse out of my backpack and used it as a blanket while I rested my head on the backpack. It wasn't luxurious, but at least it was a roof above my head and a somewhat decent place to sleep.

Just as I was getting comfortable, a voice yelled from outside. "We know you are in there, monster!" I think I liked 'creature' better. I peeked over the edge of the window to see a small group of ponies. They wore dented armor that was missing some pieces and were armed with bent short swords that were so dull they probably couldn't cut butter. It must have been a local militia of about twenty. Even if they had no experience with those worn down weapons, I had no hope of getting past them all. In front of the group was a brown pony with a hourglass tattooed on its flank.

"Come out slowly and surrender!"

"What's with the sudden hostility?" I shouted back.

The surprise on his face was absolutely delightful to witness.

"I'm just doing my job. Come on out here and surrender peacefully so we can get this over with."

I chuckled. "What are you going to do if I don't, Timebutt?"

His face reddened as he went livid in response to his new nickname. I could only imagine his humiliation at being insulted by a strange creature in front of everyone. I did my best not to laugh out loud at him as he yelled, "Surrender now or we will use necessary force!"

I knew I had to stall for time until I could come up with something. "Sure, sure, I'm on my way out now."

I climbed down from the loft with the backpack on my back. The first thing I did was to push a piece of metal machinery part through the barn door handles. Why does the door have handles, anyway? They can't grab them with hooves. Anyway, I hope they aren't smart enough to use the window. If they do, I'm screwed. I desperately looked around for anything I could use to help me escape. Aside from the machinery, the only things there were a large pile of sawdust and a small catapult.

A small bit of memory tugged at the corner of my mind. Something about sawdust and fire. Without stopping to consider what I was doing, I ripped off my shoe and began investigating it. The matches from earlier had to have come from somewhere in there. When I looked closer at the back of the shoe, I noticed something odd. The heel on my left shoe had been stripped of padding and had been filled with miniature matches. There was also a convenient rough patch to light the match head on.

"What is going on in there?" I heard from outside.

I allowed myself to leap into action, not thinking but instead allowing my inner pyromaniac instincts to burst forth. The sawdust went into the catapult, which was aimed at the door of the barn.

"You agreed to come out and surrender, now do so and save us all the trouble."

I didn't bother to respond as I cranked the rope around the wheel of the catapult, securing it when it was taught enough. I'm not going to argue with how well this has gone, but past me had some serious issues with pyromania. I paused for a moment as my crazy grin grew wider. Maybe the backpack has some gasoline-

"That's it, you have taken long enough. We're coming in!" With no time to waste, I took the metal out of the door and kicked them wide open. I struck the match and threw it onto the sawdust pile, then released the rope. The sawdust shot out of the barn and the ponies dove out of the way. Timebutt had barely managed to get out of the line of fire (no pun intended) as the flame took hold and a giant fireball lit up the world.

The sawdust was consumed by the inferno and the flames died as quickly as they came. I strolled out the barn doors with a smile on my face. The ponies stared at me as I stepped out onto the scorched ground, seemingly unsure of how to react.

Sawdust is fun to set on fire. When compacted, sawdust does not have any interesting properties. The best thing about it is that when dispersed with enough oxygen and an open flame, it creates a massive fireball that disappears shortly after combustion. I had assumed, judging by the lower levels of technology I had seen in the town, that they would see the fireball as some sort of advanced power.

"Arrest that monster!" one of them shouted.

Okay, maybe they aren't so easily fooled. I turned and fled back into the barn, the only place I could go. As I passed the catapult I kicked some of the glowing ashes on the floor behind me to try to ward off anyone that was too close. That was the biggest mistake I had yet to make, barring anything from my lost past.

The kick itself was perfect. The natural curve of my foot scooped and flung burning ashes directly towards the militia pony that had gotten close. The dodge performed by the pony was equally beautiful. It was a clean roll directly out of the way of my projectile. This roll carried the pony to a harsh impact with a large pile of sawdust, which was flung into the air.

It only took a moment for me to see the danger. The ashes had been reignited by my kick, which had delivered it directly to oxygen and fuel in the sawdust now falling through the air.

"HIT THE DIRT!" I yelled as I dove straight through the pile of sawdust. My bound carried my directly into the pony already there and I shoved with all my strength. Just as I had shoved the pony away, heat seared my back. Orange dominated my vision as pain became my world. I thrashed in agony but nothing could save me from the inferno. It was a few moments later that I could no longer hold onto consciousness and let everything slip away into darkness.