Everything will be fine...

Chapter 02 - Our Ending

To say that I was surprised would have been a bit of an understatement, and if I told you that I wasn't absolutely stricken with terror, then I'd be outright lying. The entire situation was playing out like some cruel nightmare; the unicorns hadn't just taken over the hospital, but seemed to inhabit wherever it was that I had been sent. Added on top of it, there seemed to be pegasi and... normal horses, if only by their lack of wings and horns. Nothing else; just horses.

They all watched us like we were some alien creatures and, if I wasn't sure they were all ready to murder us, I'd have thought they were just as afraid as we were. The unicorns closed in on Elizabeth and I, their horns glowing and sending shivers down my back, but I swung a fist at the closest and, thankfully, they all took a step back. "Stay away! Leave us alone!"

"What happened, Cotton? They're acting crazy!"

"I don't know. One moment both of them were half-dead in their rooms and the next they're running like something was after them. I think they're scared."

I glared at the group as I slowly crept away, taking however much distance from those pointy horns as they would let me. It was strange that they hadn't attacked yet, but I didn't want to look a gift... horse... in the mouth; it was only a matter of time before they changed their minds. "Maybe they don't know where they are. Has anybody tried talking to them yet and, maybe told them to not run ponies over? That still hurts."

"What do you think I tried first? They just ran off screaming!"

"I-I think they're not mean, Sarah." I nearly jumped out of my skin when Elizabeth whispered in my ear. She had been screaming the entire time that I had barely noticed she'd calmed down with the ringing still jarring my hearing. I gave her an incredulous look, almost ready to tell her that she was crazy, when she pointed to the horse I'd cut my arm on. "Look. You hurt her."

I hesitated. Of course I hurt it; I wasn't trying to be nice when I plowed past it. Still, I couldn't understand why she was being so sympathetic. Isn't she as scared as I am? "How do you know?"

"She said so. They say that you're crazy."

I gave her a deadpan look as she giggled at what, apparently, the horses were saying. "You can seriously understand them?" She grinned and nodded, obviously having forgotten entirely about our situation in light of the talking horses. I still wasn't convinced, however, that they were friendly, but if the kid believed otherwise, then I'd at least play along until I could get us out of here and on our way back home. "Well... what are they saying now? Can they understand us?"

"Dunno. You could ask, yannow. Hey horsies!" I wanted to stop her, the unicorns were distracted by their own chatter at the moment and weren't paying us any attention, but would she have even listened? "Can you hear me?"

The mare I had bulldozed glanced back up to Lizzie and the look she gave her answered what the gibberish they were speaking couldn't. "What? Of course we can. Such a strange kid.” She turned back to the others and nodded her head in my direction.“Do you think we should get the princess? That one might be dangerous."

“I think the poor thing is just scared. I mean, look at how much it’s shaking.” One of the ponies from the crowd, this one lacking any additional appendages, stepped up beside the others and smiled at me. “Are you alright? You’re bleeding pretty badly.” She tried to step towards me, but I backpedaled into the wall, still unsure if any of these things were friendly. It wasn’t easy trusting a kid’s judgement, even if it seemed like she could understand them. “It’s definitely scared. Cotton, could you go fetch Princess Twilight? I’m going to try and calm her down.”

“Lizzie, what are they saying?” I hoped it was them planning on leaving us alone; my whole body, and not just the gash in my was sore, something about this place was making my skin sting like no tomorrow, and my arms were straining to keep from dropping Elizabeth. On top of it all, I was feeling woozy, like I was about ready to pass out, and my adrenaline high was wearing off. Luckily, as one of them turned and ran down the path from the hospital, they started backing away to leave the white mare that had tried to get close to me.

“Let me help to at least stop the bleeding, okay? You look like you’re about to faint.” She took another step closer, but my back was against the wall and I didn’t expect any of them to let me bum rush them a second time. “I won’t hurt you.”

“She wants to fix your arm. You should. You look sick and we won’t find mommy if you’re sick.” I shook my head and regretted it for a moment later. My stomach churned and the world spun as I staggered and fell to the ground before my vision went black.

~{E}~{w}~{b}~{F}~

I woke with a scream as the intense needling sensation from before rippled through my body and centered on my right arm and rolled away to land on the cold floor. All at once, the pain slipped away to the more concentrated burning of a reopened wound and a light tingling in my skin, but my shaking lingered as I looked frantically about the room. I watched from behind the short hospital bed I had fallen from as two horses, both of them horned and winged, stepped around it. They were both larger than the half dozen I had already seen, one more reminiscent of the horses I had seen when I was younger, but, strangely, neither of them scared me nearly as much as the others and I felt myself slowly calming in their presence.

The smaller one, her coat a soft lavender, had a look of worry, almost as if she had done something wrong, and kept glancing between me and the larger horse. “I’m sorry, Princess. I didn’t mean to scare her. I just wanted to help.”

The mare with the pristine white coat smiled at her smaller compatriot and it felt like the stress in my body eased from the gesture alone. “It’s fine, Twilight. You couldn’t have known what would happen. I don’t think anybody would have known. For now, why don’t you wait outside with Elizabeth? I’m certain she would be more than happy to tell you all about herself.” She turned back to me, directing that comforting smile my way, and waited as the other horse bowed and trotted out, the door opening in glow of purple.

“You can understand me, right?” I nodded, too dumbfounded by the entire situation to respond otherwise, and she nodded back. “Were you able to understand my friend?” A quick jerk of my head, no, and she nodded again, her smile slipping just slightly. “I thought not. It seems she still has some growing left.” She replaced her radiant expression and gently reclined into a sitting position on the tile in front of me. “You must be rather shaken by this whole experience and I can not blame you; it’s not often that we get outsiders here. It can be a trying experience.”

She paused and watched me for a moment, and I took that time to find my wits and ask the question that had festering in my mind since the accident. “Where am I?” I felt kinda guilty that I hadn’t asked if Elizabeth was okay, but the way she had casually mentioned the kid earlier somehow set my worry to rest.

She chuckled, a melodious sound that made my heart race, and her horn lit up to throw open the curtains behind my bed. “I assumed that would be the first question you asked, and I was not disappointed, but I do not expect the answer is something that you would easily accept.” She motioned towards the window with a leg, never losing that warming grin. “This isn’t any land that you would know the name of, even in passing, but its residents like to call it Equestria.”

“Equestria?” I frowned, my skepticism hopefully showing in my expression. “Like horse? This isn’t earth?”

“Equestria, like horse.” Another chuckle rang out as she shook her head, causing her undulating mane to waver like a disturbed puddle. It was almost mesmerizing, how it moved, and I was surprised that I hadn’t noticed it before; it wasn’t inconspicuous. “I don’t quite remember when my little ponies started calling this place as such, nor can I remember its original name, but it just stuck one day. They can be rather silly at times.”

“So, not earth....” I looked down at myself, just barely catching the shake of her head, at my bare, dark-skinned body contrasting against the white tiles, tiles that could have easily been from any manufacturer back home, and thought about it for a moment. Equestria? How did this even happen? Nothing was making sense and, were it not for the oddly relaxing presence of this horse, I’d have probably started freaking out by now. Just the thought of it made my chest clench and it made me fear the moment either she or I left. “Th- then what is this place? A world full of horses?”

“Among other things, yes. Equestria is not quite like what you’re thinking, I believe. It’s not simply another world with ponies instead of humans.” Her smile shifted, almost imperceptibly, into a look of consolation, or, rather, a smile of pity. “If you wish, I can explain everything to you, but I have two conditions. I must ask if you are truly ready for the knowledge. If you do not wish to know, that is fine, but you must at least realize that you can never return to your home, at least in this lifetime. The other, and this is the most important, is that I must require you to never tell anybody of what I say. Is this acceptable?”

I almost nodded right away, anything would be better than being left in the dark, but her tone gave me reason to pause and wonder. It wasn’t the soothing voice she had used moments ago, but stern and reminiscent of my mother when she needed to keep my attention. It made me question my eagerness to know. Would I really be better off knowing about this Equestria, especially knowing that Elizabeth and I were stuck here? Maybe I should politely decline and just learn to adjust. It seemed like the most convenient route, more so since I wouldn’t have some secret I needed to maintain, but I was curious. Who doesn’t want to know other people’s secrets? “I... think I want to know.” I admit that I was worried, too. It was troubling for such a serene being to switch into a rather imposing voice, but I had to know.

“I must have an exact answer. This is not information to be taken lightly, I’m afraid.”

I steadied myself and finally looked back up into her eyes to find a trace of sadness in them. For a moment, it unsettled my resolve, but I felt I needed to know. “I want to know.I swear that I’ll never tell a soul about what you’re about to tell me.”

Her sad, pitying smile returned as she nodded and motioned towards the bed. “Please, lay back down.” She waited as I climbed up onto the hospital bed, crinkling the plastic mattress as I moved, and turned to face me when I had finally situated myself on the sheets. “Never tell a soul....” I looked up at her, surprised that, for a moment, I couldn’t understand what she was saying, but she simply shook her head and closed her eyes. “It was nothing. Just an old mare lost in her thoughts. Now....”

~{E}~{w}~{b}~{F}~

My hands trembled as I walked under the fluorescent lighting of the hospital’s halls, only aware of the alicorn beside me from the wing she was using to guide me along. My whole body felt numb, but it wasn’t something I was concerned about. How could I be? It was hardly an issue anymore and I knew what was causing it. Of course, I wasn’t really worried at all, not with the princess beside me, but how long would that last?

She led me towards a familiar door, it was where I cut my arm on that unicorn’s horn, and a feeling of dread washed over me. Elizabeth was out there. What would I tell her? How would she react? I silently hoped that Celestia would talk for me, but I didn’t feel that I could ask her to. It had to be me. The doors were enveloped in the soft, golden glow of her magic and opened, slowly, to reveal the lavender mare from before sitting in front of Elizabeth and eating up everything she was spouting.

I managed to crack a smile, even as Celestia released me and stepped towards the pair, drawing the younger pony’s attention. She stopped before fully stepping away from me, however, and spoke just loud enough so only I could hear. “If you wish, we will be more than willing to find a home for the child. I know that she is not yours, and don’t wish to unnecessarily burden you with a task you are not up to, but know that you will be provided everything you require regardless of your choice.”

I jerked my head, keeping my eyes on the little girl. “No. I-I’ll do it.”

“Very well. Twilight, follow me for a moment. We need to find miss Sarah a place to stay for a while.”

“Yes, princess!” Twilight jumped to her hooves and rushed after the regal mare as she made her way towards the exit, but not before pausing to address her newest friend. “You’ll have to tell me more about these airplanes later, okay?”

“Yup! I promise!”

The pair giggled and I felt my smile widen, even as the princess’ comforting presence faded away. Elizabeth seemed so innocent just then, and I took a moment to watch her. She turned to me, her bright, childish eyes homing in on mine as if they were a beacon, and I swear I saw them flash with worry. She stood from her spot on the ground, holding the slightly-bloodied blanket I’d wrapped us in earlier around herself, and rushed over to latch onto my waist. I jumped at the sudden contact, but rested my hand on her head, still keeping up the stupid smile I knew was plastered on my face. “What’s wrong, Lizzie? Are you okay?”

She shook her head and squeezed me tighter. “You’re sad.”

I chuckled, and ruffled her hair as she looked back up into my eyes. “What do you mean? I’m not s-” I paused as a drop of moisture landed on my breast, and watched as another fell to splash against Elizabeth’s forehead. “Wha-?” Slowly, the tears increased in volume, trickling down my cheeks against my will.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

I glanced back down at her, my smile wavering as I fought back against the feeling of helplessness welling in my chest. “I’m....” I’m fine, I tried to say. I wanted to say it. I tried nodding my head, but, no matter how hard I worked to keep the motion going, all I could do was shake it weakly, back and forth. I choked back a sob, trying to keep what little composure I had left, but it was pointless. I fell to my knees, cupping my face in my hands, and bawled like I had back when I was just a child.

Barely even a second passed before Elizabeth’s arms were back around me and she, too, was crying, but this time, I hugged her back.