Parallel

Chapter 4: Running Parallel

I tried not to let myself worry too much, after all, it made sense that something happened to Twilight, I saw her get hurt when I was awake, so naturally something would happen to her while I was dreaming.

Then again...

What was up with Rachel? Why had I meant her after Rainbow Dash in my 'dream'?

Not only that, but said dream was extremely vivid, and upon waking I remembered it as if it had actually taken place. The memories of the events that had transpired in 'Ponyville' were still fresh in my mind.

And there I was again, standing over a heavily breathing Twilight, tucked in her bed with a wet towel on her head.

"What's going on?" I asked Spike, who had just replaced the first towel.

He looked up at me and frowned, "I don't know, she just started running a fever, and when I talk to her it's like she barely hears me. I don't know what to do!"

"First of all, stop panicking."

"But..."

"I've panicked enough, and you have too, I think I saw this coming."

"You what?"

"It's a long story. I just had a feeling Twilight would get hurt."

"Who?"

"Um... Twilight."

"Who?"

"Spike are you even..."

"That wasn't me."

Spike pointed to the head board of Twilight's bed, perched there was a strange little owl. It spun its head around once and looked me right in the eyes, "Who."

I sighed and shook my head, "Right, whatever, do you guys have a hospital around here?"

"Uh, yeah."

"It might be a good idea to get her there."

The doctor and the nurse seemed like they knew what they were doing, and checked Twilight into her own room with no hesitation. There were no questions about insurance or being able to pay, they just tossed her into a room and made sure she had everything she needed. After that was done they sent for her friends.

Spike and I waited outside as they set everything up, and it was... awkward to say the least.

"How did you know what happened to Twilight?"

I sighed and sat next to the door, "I didn't say I knew, I said I thought I knew it was going to happen."

"Okay." Spike looked back and forth through the hall, as if he were making sure there was noone around to hear our conversation, "So how did you know it was going to happen?"

"Would you believe me if I told you?"

Spike smirked and crossed his arms, "You're talking to Twilight Sparkle's number one assistant, I've seen some crazy stuff."

"Alright, I warned you. You already know that I'm human."

"Yep."

"What if I told you that I met Twilight before arriving in Equestria?"

"You what?" Spike shook his head and dug into his ears with his claws, trying to make sure he heard me correctly.

"I said I met her before coming here. Honestly, I'm not even sure if this is all a dream or not."

"Wait, but you can't go back home."

"That's the thing, I did go back home... last night when I was asleep. Let's say this isn't a dream, when I go to sleep in one world I wake up in the other, you know anything about that?" Spike shrugged, and I sighed, "I figured you wouldn't, and as knowledgeable as she is I doubt even Twilight knows. Let's say that, hypothetically, I'm not dreaming, and these worlds are somehow connected. I was walking home when I ran into Twilight, she was human, like me, but it was definitely her. Last night she got injured on her way back home, and I went to see her in the hospital with her friends, we fell asleep there, and you know the rest."

"That's crazy."

"Thought you said you've seen some crazy stuff."

Spike crossed his arms and grinned, "Yep, but what you're saying is pretty out there."

I sighed, "I know, I still don't know whether this is all a dream or not."

Our conversation was cut short when I heard the echo of hooves on the linoleum tiles of the hallway. Around the corner came Rainbow Dash, followed by Fluttershy and three more ponies I didn't recognize... scratch that, one of them looked eerily familiar. A pink pony, her trot was almost like a bounce, and her mane looked like cotton candy... kind of like it could explode at any moment.

Before I had time to process where I had seen the pink one Dash spoke, "We came as fast as we could, what's going on?"

"Twilight's been hurt," I said.

The ponies looked worried, that was for sure.

"An' who in tarnation is this?" One of the ponies I didn't recognize stepped forward, she wore on her head what appeared to be an old fashioned ten gallon hat, and was orange with a blonde mane tied at the end.

"My name is William, William Jenkins."

"Well that's a rather odd name." This time it was the white one who spoke. Her mane and her tail were curled perfectly, and I had a feeling I'd seen her somewhere before as well, but I knew for a fact I didn't know her personally, "I'm Rarity," she said softly, "This is Applejack," she gestured to the orange one.

"And I'm Pinkie Pie!" The pink pony leapt forward and I was greeted with the enthusiasm of an entire surprise party, she grabbed my hoof and shook it up and down.

Ah... that voice. I would recognize it anywhere.

'Life is a party' indeed Phoebe.

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"Uh huh, we'll get you set up with a party as soon as Twilight's feeling better!"

I didn't think it was physically possible for Phoebe to rope me into two short notice parties, much less in different worlds.

"So what happened to Twilight?" asked Dash.

"Well, like I said, she's hurt."

Spike looked up at me and frowned, "Are you sure about this?"

Under the scrutiny of her friends I became slightly less sure of my theory, but honestly, with everything that had been happening what I pitched to Spike wasn't that hard to believe. The question was whether it was the truth or not. I had no way to test the theory, and I wouldn't want to anyways, considering it obviously required someone to be hurt in the process.

"The short of it is this," I said, "I'm not from this world."

"He's a human," said Dash.

Rarity tilted her head, "A human? What is that?"

I let out a laugh, "If I described what we looked like to you then you would probably think I was ugly or something."

"They're like monkeys," said Dash.

I sighed, "There are... better ways to put it. Anyways, passing on that for a moment, I told Spike exactly what I'm about to tell you. I'm not sure if I'm dreaming or not, but it looks like there are human versions of you guys in my world."

"This is all fine an' dandy, but what's it got to do with Twilight bein' hurt?"

"She... her um... human version, was hurt. I went to the hospital to see her with her friends and fell asleep there, when I woke up in Ponyville she was like this. This is just a random thought, I don't know if that's what's really happening, I don't even know if all this is real."

Pinkie Pie frowned at me and sat on her haunches, "Well obviously it's real Billy! You're right there, and I'm here, and if I'm not real then that would mean I'm just a figment of your imagination and that would be weeeeeiiiiird, and honestly I think that it would be cool if you were right because that means there's another Pinkie out there and maybe we could meet and we could..."

"Slooow down there Sugarcube. Ain't there anythin' we can do to help?"

"I don't know. It'd probably be safer to leave it to the doctors, and make sure she knows you guys are here for her, but other than that there's not much you can do. I'll do what I can on my side of things, and hopefully this works out for the better. I can only assume that if she gets better on my side then she'll be okay over here."

Fluttershy, who had been quiet up until now, stepped forward and kicked her hoof on the ground, avoiding eye contact with me, "Um... when you said you went to the hospital with her friends... who was there?"

"You and Dash, why?"

"That's odd," mumbled Rarity, "Wouldn't we all be there?"

I shrugged, "I don't know if you all know each other."

"Alright," said Applejack, "This is gettin' a bit weird for my tastes."

Before we could continue our conversation, the doctor stepped from Twilight's room and let out a sigh, "She's not responsive, it's like she's somewhere else entirely, I could..."

The door shut behind him, and I could hear the echos of an EKG.

The medical tent was packed to the brim, I could tell that much.

The ambush had been brutal, but somehow, most of us had survived.

Medical personnel rushed to and fro trying to keep up with the injured soldiers.

I shook my head and took a few deep breaths.

"Are you okay dear?" asked Rarity.

"Yeah... yeah I just need some fresh air."

With that I made my way down the hall and out of the hospital. The fresh air really did help. Hospitals weren't exactly my most favorite places, and I was surprised at myself that I was more than likely sleeping in one at that very moment.

I didn't need to be in another one unless absolutely necessary.

I made my way to a patch of grass nearest the hospital and let myself fall into a laying position. I took a few deep breaths, "Shit I need a drink."

"Well I can't help you with that, but I AM deathly curious as to who you are."

I closed my eyes and sighed, trying to get comfortable on the grass, "Rarity was it?"

"Yes."

I could hear her close to me, probably standing right above me. "Well," I said, "Not much to tell really, you know what I am and that I'm not from around here. Shouldn't you be seeing to Twilight."

"I already did," she said softly, "Not much to say to somepony that can't hear you."

"Aren't you worried?"

"That depends on whether or not she's in good hooves."

"Or hands in my case. I can't do much, she's already been checked into the hospital, we're sleeping there right now."

"Who is?"

"Me, Fluttershy, and Dash."

"Well, regardless, you must understand that Twilight is the one that brought us all together William, and if she's in danger we'll do everything we can to help her, and I would hope that you'd be able to understand that."

"JENKINS!"

"WE'RE GETTING THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

"You have no idea," I muttered.

Rarity giggled, "I'm glad then, I would hate to have somepony who wasn't confident in themselves looking after her."

"So you trust me, just like that?"

"Twilight and Spike trust you, do they not?"

"I guess so. I'm just hard pressed to meet people like you. Trust is a hard thing to come by where I'm from."

"Well I'm sure it has its merits."

"It doesn't hurt to be a bit more defensive I suppose. I'm not guaranteeing anything, but I'll do everything I can to help Twilight."

"You act tough, but your rather tender on the inside aren't you?"

"That's me."

Rarity went back inside, and I closed my eyes.

I wondered if I fell asleep would I wake up in my world again? My stray thought wasn't satisfied, I wasn't tired enough to slip into a nap; I quickly became bored though.

The sun was at mid sky by the time all of Twilight's worried friends had exited and met outside the hospital. Really, who could blame them? They knew as much about what was happening as I did, and explaining my flawed little theory to them didn't do much to help.

Ultimately their friend was still sick, and possibly in danger.

I looked up at the group and they all waved at me. Pinkie Pie grinned and bounced up and down before hopping off, presumably to set up a party for when Twilight got better.

They scattered, all except Rainbow Dash, who walked straight to me.

"It would be the normal thing to do... letting the hospital handle it that is," she said.

"Your friends don't seem too worried."

"That's because I told them what I'm about to tell you. You said she was injured right? Let's say for a second that I believe you, what happened?"

"She was hit by a car."

"A car?"

"It's like... a drawn carriage that runs by itself with a mechanical device, no horses required, just a guy in the driver's seat and a key to get it started. They can go fast, and when they hit someone it's usually lethal."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"There are rules so things like this don't happen, but you know... accidents happen, the best that people can do is minimize them. Anyways, you were going to tell me something?"

"Yeah, the veil."

"The what?"

"Ugh..." Dash rolled her eyes and kicked me softly with her front hoof, obviously wanting me to get up. "Listen up! There's a reason I knew about you."

"Oh yeah?"

She cleared her throat and looked around, almost as if she were slightly ashamed of something, "I like to read okay?" I didn't think I would ever see a pony blush, but there it was.

"Yeah?"

"And you know... Twilight kind of lives in a library. It started small, with these awesome books called Daring Do."

I couldn't help but let out a chuckle, "Daring Do? Are you serious?"

"Shut up! Anyways, the point is that there's this veil. The only reason humans have been written about is because a pony crossed it a long time ago, but ever since then it's been forbidden."

"And why's that?"

"Well I mean think about it," she said with a glare, knocking me lightly on the head with her hoof as I stood up, "Would you let anypony you knew randomly go to a world where they didn't belong?"

"Where did this veil even come from?"

"Nopony knows, all we know is that it's bad news, but..."

"But?"

"If there's a version of Twilight hurt over there, and it's affecting our Twilight like you said, then maybe we could send you over with something that helps."

"You've got to be kidding, would that even work?"

"I don't know, but it's worth a try, I hate just sitting back and doing nothing."

"More prone to taking action, huh?"

Rainbow Dash nodded, "What you said in there is crazy, but I've seen crazy before, we all have. We've agreed to take you to the veil, but I don't know if we have anything you don't. What's wrong with her?"

I let out a sigh and scuffed the ground with my front hoof, "Well, she might have some broken bones and a concussion, maybe even some lacerations, even with help it'll be a few weeks before she's let out of the hospital."

Dash raised an eyebrow, "It takes weeks?" Then slowly, her look of confusion was replaced with excitement, "Oh man this is GREAT! I don't know how different you guys are but this means there's something that can help!"

"Wha..."

"Broken bones are a cinch. I broke my wing and I was only wrapped up for a few days! Might as well have been a month though..."

"How?"

"I don't know how medicine works! Do I look like a doctor to you?"

I smiled, "You raise a good point there."

"Okay, so we'll just give you a handful of stuff..."

"And then throw me through the veil. THAT'S not risky at all."

"Do you want to?"

"I didn't say I wouldn't."

"AWESOME!" Dash jumped in a way that reminded me of Pinkie Pie, then tackled me to the ground in a bear hug. After a moment of me not being able to breathe she had composed herself and we were standing again, "One problem though..."

"That is?"

"You still can't fly, and it'll probably take a few days to actually get you going."

"So we pack up and head out. We'll hoof it, you can teach me to fly on the way. Our priority right now is helping Twilight, and I can't make you guys stay behind just because I need to learn to fly. Get the medicine we need, pack up for the trip, and we'll just go."

Dash nodded and ran to the hospital, and I was once again left waiting outside.

The rest of the day passed quickly in preparation for the trip to that veil thing. Everyone packed, and there was even a bag prepared for me, given to me by Rainbow Dash. Everyone was in agreement that we would head out first thing in the morning, so Dash decided to spend the remainder of the day trying to get me to fly.

I managed to make it off the ground, but I couldn't stay up for long, so we called it a night.

Spike lead me back to the library, and before I knew it I was in bed, trying to get to sleep.

It was easier than I thought it would be; exhaustion crept up on me and I drifted off.

When my eyes opened the first thing I noticed was the pain in my neck. I brought my hand up and rubbed it, twisting my head around to get a crack out of it.

Letting out a yawn, I opened my eyes and saw Felicia and Rachel perched against each other a few chairs away from me, sound asleep.

I found myself hoping that the dreams I was having were real...

Because if they were, then I could help Tammy, and we could all have one less thing to worry about.