Sunshine

A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction

By Mr.Sandman

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fanbased work of prose. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro, and the reinvention of Lauren Faust. No copyright infringement is intended.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Wha... What's going on?

"Blood levels are stabilizing, Doctor Stable."

What's happening? I can't see anything. What were these voices? Who are these people?

"Doctor, the patient is waking up!"

Doctor? Patient? Am I in the hospital? How in Great Greens did I get here?

"Splendid, Nurse Redheart! You and I will go notify the guests in the waiting room."

Finally coming to when the sound of a closing door hit my ears, I opened my eyes groggily to the flickering florescent light fixture attached to the ceiling. I couldn't help but lie still for a moment for my eyes to adjust and admire the weak flashes that were given off by the lighting. The moderately uncomfortable mattress beneath my back, and somewhat itchy comforter that covered me up to the mid-section of my chest let me at least know that I had woken up in a bed of sorts. By how those voices were speaking earlier, I had already half-assumed that I was in a hospital. That being said, I think that I could easy deduce that I was now lying in a hospital bed. The constant beeping of the heart-rate monitor beside my bed only confirmed my assumption.

Deciding to have a better understanding on my current state, I examined myself. The first thing to notice would be that my clothes were replaced by a lime-green hospital robe. Next would be the fresh bandages that were now wrapped around almost every part of my body. Along my left arm, I could clearly see a small patch of flesh where an IV was implanted into its mid-section. By how there was a blood bag hung upon a IV rack, I could only guess that there was blood being injected into my body at this very moment. Beside the IV rack had been the same monitor that gave off musical pinging noises like a metallic metronome. Following the wires that came from the monitor, I could see that a couple of strange devises had been placed on my chest while underneath my robe. Somewhat like stethoscopes, these strange devices must have been for monitoring my heart rate a bit more closely. In the way that they were taped down, it told me that I probably shouldn't be playing with them lest I call in a nurse for making my heart rate appear to have stopped all together.

That would only land me in the hot-seat.

Taking in the state that my body was in, I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable. Seeing myself so banged up wasn't really something that I preferred to bare witness to. Placing a bandaged hand over my chest, it rubbed the surface gently as I questionably watched to make sure there weren't any tender spots underneath. I could already feel a minor head-rush brought on by my head lifting itself from its pillow, but that did not matter at the time. I'll tell you what mattered though. "What in Great Greens happened to me? Was I hit my an sixteen-wheeler?" Taking the only arm I had without a needle sticking into it, I rested it behind my head.

Well, I would have if not for the immense stinging sensation I felt after it made contact.

The pain alone being enough to send me bolting into an up-right position, it wasn't long before I could feel a second pain beginning to rack my body. The surge striking through my upper torso, I was forced to double over and hold my chest in an attempt to alleviate myself of the sensation. All the while, I could hear my monitor having a sudden spike in rhythm before slowing back to normal. Closing my eyes tightly, I clinched my teeth to try and drown-out the pain.

"Guh! Not going to toss the whole 'hit by a truck' hypothesis out the window just yet."

Too bad that my pain had nothing to do with being hit by a vehicle of any kind.

My memory came back to me just as slowly as the pain did when leaving my body.

Once I could finally sit up straight to mentally picture what had happened to myself, I couldn't help but stare off into space to make a worrisome realization. "Wait...No, It wasn't a truck..." I muttered to myself while vividly picturing Discord throwing me around like a rag-doll. Smashing me through walls, and slamming me into metal bars; the last thing I remember after that was being left for the darkness. "It was Discord, but..." There was nothing that I could make of this. It did not make any sense. "-he hurt me pretty badly. Didn't I die?" I could have sworn that I did, but here I was; still alive and breathing.

Thoughts swarming around within my mind, I stared intently at my body with the utmost intrigue. Holding my arms out in front of me, I turned their palms to me to try and understand what could have happened. "What if..." I trailed off uncertain of my own assumptions. There was only one thing that I could think of to properly explain what was going on. What if... "What if it really was just a dream?" Could that have been it? Could it have been true that everything that I experienced over the past few days has been merely a dream? I was unsure myself, but there was nothing else to logically argue against any other point. Any person in the situation I was in back there would be dead, yet I was not.

"What if I really was just in a coma the whole time? The moment I died in my sub-concious, it must have jump-started my brain or something to kick me back to reality."

Was Equestria really just some fictional world that never existed at all? A world with such vibrant colors and people was false? I guess it would have to be just my imagination when you really think about it. Still, this did not mean that the trip was any less enjoyed. Granted, the morning started off terribly but in the end, I got to meet some of the most interesting people that anyone could have. I was going to miss them all, even if they were never real in the first place.

None-the-less, feeling the need to get a better look around the room, I took advantage of my now-sitting posture to do just that.

The room had been what you would expect from a hospital. The walls were painted a light cream, while the smooth floor tiles were a coconut cream-like color. It was a decent matching color palette that seemed to enjoy being within the same spectrum of each other. A decently sized mahogany door had been the only way to enter and exit the room. It definitely was nice to see a human-sized door again. There was a second bed lying only a few feet to my right. The only thing separating the two beds had been a small table with a flower pot set upon it as the furniture lightly pressed itself against the wall. A single sunflower had been placed within the pot.

It was beautiful.

To the left side of the room, I could see a large picture window that had been half-covered by a set of twin curtains. The middle area that had been left uncovered allowed for a soft light to enter the room. What light did enter made sure to provide what the fluorescent bulbs above me could not in warmth.

Putting subjects like this aside, my mind couldn't help but return to what happened while I was comatose.

Fluttershy and her friends had been all that I could think of. Those smiling faces, and welcoming nature. How we all came to be familiar with each other in such a small amount of time, and our final goodbye. A relieved smile turned the corners of my mouth upward, but my eyes had begun to look somewhat heartroken. "So, it really was a dream, huh?" I let out a single raspy laugh. "Strange... I'm not sure if I should feel happy or sad." Placing both hands upon their respective knees, I pondered to myself over the strange world that I had seen. Talking ponies, magic, and flying; it was a real nut house when you threw Discord into the equation.

"I'm back in my world, so shouldn't I be feeling happy?" That was actually a good question. I was out of harms way, so why was my stomach still in knots? "There is foreseeable wars coming, so why am I not relieved to be home? I wonder why..."

Looking out the window to try and get a good look at the surrounding buildings, I was unfortunately not in the proper position to be doing so. All that I could see had been the sky and the tops of some buildings. Nothing to really spend your time looking at. So taking in a breath, I did my best to lie back down without any further pain. Feeling my head hit the pillow, it was only then that I noticed the bandages that wrapped around the front and back of my forehead. Strange, all of this bandaging made me remember Fluttershy. She was the one to treat me with the most kindness that I had ever been subjected to. With a heavy heart, I rubbed a hand against the strip of medical gause before looking up at the ceiling. "I'm going to miss those ponies." Giving a soft chuckle, I tried to smile before I closed my eyes to get some rest.

"Aw... We missed you too Jacob."

My eyes shot open.

That sounded like...

Sitting up in a flash, I soon came to be familiar with the same pain in my chest that had been encountered before. bending over seemed to be the only thing that could be thought of to try and alleviate myself of even the slightest bit of this agony. At the moment, this pain was not my number one priority. That voice had come to be the superior of the two as I tried to push myself back up in a proper sitting position. The voice was definitely one that I had heard before, and it only took me seconds to know who it belonged to.

I don't know why, but I was praying that my ears weren't trying to trick me. For some reason I was relieved to hear the voice, but doubting myself because of where I now was. Slowly looking up, I was unsure just what could be the outcome of doing so.

"Pinkie?"

Standing before me now had been six teary-eyed ponies that stared at me with a relief that was indescribable to someone like me. As strange that it may sound, I can't say that I wasn't a little happy to see them. My gaze lightened while I watched them stand there. I could see Pinkie sniffling a little as she struggled to keep herself together. By how they looked, I could only guess that they had caught wind of what that letter from Celestia had to say.

None of this made sense. I was back home, right? Equestria was all just a dream, and none of it was real. Right?

The clueless expression that was left on my face almost seemed permanent while I sat in my bed. The initial shock that I felt was something that I wasn't sure how to explain. It wasn't bad, but more like a neutral kind of surprise. "You mean that all of this is real, after all?" My question to nothingness went unanswered as the next thing to happen would probably be terrible for my current health.

One after another five of the six ponies in the room had tackled me down on the bed either in a sobbing mess, or somewhat angered. This... Pony-pile that had begun to stack up on-top of my torso was excluding Twilight whom had been watching from the side-lines with a caring smile. She gave a soft laugh when watching her friends pile on-top of me in an emotional mess.

For me, the entire ordeal was a mesh of pain as these ponies latched themselves onto my body. Tightening her grip around my right arm, Dash glared burning daggers at me. Every couple of seconds I could feel her bashing a hoof against my shoulder. "Baker Boy, you moron!" She scolded. "Who do you think you are? If we knew what was going on, we could have vouched for you!" Riled up as ever, Dash had no intention of letting me off easy. "You think that we would just sit by and let you die? You bucking moron!" Through all of her anger I could hear Dash becoming rather weepy. Holding back any attempt to let a tear be shed, Rainbow did all she could to up-hold her macho appearance.

"How could you be so brash, Mr. Froster? Did I not advise you to tread more carefully? How could you make a mare like me worry? That's not polite in the slightest!"

Her front legs wrapped around my waist, Rarity held onto me tightly as her mascara smeared against the top layer of bandages in a wet mixture of make-up and tears. I could hear her voice cracking up in an almost pathetic whimper as she constantly squeezed my hips. "We never even got to bake anything together! You never got a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, or even a song from the Welcome Wagon!" Holding onto me for dear life, Pinkie squeezed my right leg enough to where it felt like she were about to cut off blood circulation entirely.

"Ya gosh dang igit! Ah can't believe that ya would be so bull-headed to stick this out alone! To do somethin' as stupid as leavin' a note to tell us ya left burns me up to the core!"

Scolding me all the while she held onto my left leg, Applejack wrapped all four legs around it as if she were about to start wrestling. Her angered state was brought on mostly due to her worry, but it felt more like I was being scolded by my grandfather. Catching this half-way through softened sobs, Pinkie turned her head to Applejack a little bit lost in her own scolding. "-But you did that before too, didn't you?" Even through an eye-full of tears, Pinkie still knew how to be random. Her ears perking up for a moment, Applejack narrowed her gaze to Pinkie.

"Pinkie, this ain't the time or place."

The last of the five that had decided to join this pony-pile had been none other than Fluttershy. Tackling me directly in the chest caused my body to bounce somewhat upon the bed with an uncomfortable 'whump'-ing noise. I could feel her front and back legs digging under the comforter and behind my back to deliver a tight squeeze. While it didn't hurt too badly, what made up for it was the condition the pegasus on my chest was in.

As she pressed her face down into my chest, a muffled whimpering emitted from her. I could already feel my bandages coming to be even more soaked by the second. "You scared us all so much." Her sobbing had brought me to ignore the other ponies that had piled on top of me. Even the constant aches that I felt could not distract me. "We thought you..." When Fluttershy looked me in the eyes, there was a sudden sinking feeling within my chest. Her beautiful blue eyes had begun to turn pink from weeping. "We didn't know what to think!" The volume in Fluttershys' voice made my heart skip a beat.

Not long after Fluttershy pressed her face back into my chest did I lay my head back down on its pillow. Taking my only spare arm, I ran a hand through Fluttershys pink mane with the utmost care. My tongue had been tied beyond my comprehension, so I did my best to say the only thing that I possibly could right now.

"I'm sorry."

The thought of this being a dream popped into my skull once more, but I dismissed it. There was no way that something like this could be a dream. Even if it was, I no longer cared.

"Come on now, girls; if you all don't let go, Jacob may never recover."

A magical Lavender aura covering the five ponies, I watched as each one of them levitate off of my body. Granted, Fluttershy stuck to me almost like super-glue, but Twilight did manage to pull her off with a little effort. It took a couple of tries, but eventually Twilight was able to rip Fluttershy off me like a bandage that used crazy-glue. The pain was just about similar.

While things had come to calm down, Applejack had taken the liberty of helping me up in bed. A hoof being pressed against my back wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was much more efficient than what would have needed to be done alternatively. It was still painful enough to cause a flinch, but nowhere near intense as before. "Careful there, partner; Doc says you ain't in the best shape." The truth in her words were all too real. Too bad this truth came in the form of pain.

My face scrunched slightly when letting out a moan. The moment I could, I let not a moment pass by before I could grab my knees for complete support. I was sure to keep my legs crossed to lock my body into place. While this did cause me to shed some of my covers, it was a measly price to pay for stability.

Sitting up again was nice, but the assistance I received was even more appreciated. Letting out an exasperated breath, I hung my head to try and relax. "Thank you, Applejack." By her willing assistance to those in need, I could see a few more shreds of light beginning to show just how Applejack had come to be so trusted by the ponies living back in Ponyville. Any efforts to see further into this were cut off short unfortunately by how Applejack carelessly slapped my back to the flattery.

"No worries, Jake. Ah'm sure ya would have done the same for me."

My spine thrusting itself forward, the unintentionally harmful slap caused me to bend backward with my face nearly blanking out at the ceiling from the short streaks of pain that made impact with my body. Letting out a winded shout, my voice cracked as if any scream or yell had overloaded and reduced to a pitiful squeak. Jumping at my sudden response, Applejack pulled her hoof back quickly. "Gosh dang, Jake! Ah know that the doctor said that you were hurt, but you're darn near fragile!" Adjusting her hat, Applejack watched me bending back to my casual sitting position ever-so-carefully. "Ah'm sorry 'bout that. Didn't know that things were this bad." My rapid beating in my chest had only quickened the heart-monitor beside Applejack, but not for any longer than a second or two. Even if it was through bated breath and a hand gripping my chest, I wanted to try and accept the apology.

"No... No... It's fine. I'm fine. I'm just a little banged up, is all..."

Already making an effort to derail my argument, it did not take long for a certain yellow pegasus to begin trying to lay me back down in bed. It seemed that she was against Applejacks intentions of keeping me up in bed. A hoof pressed gently on my chest while another supported my back, I could feel my body slowly lowering to the surface of my mattress with unsuspecting eyes. "No, it's not fine. You're in terrible condition. You're lucky to still be with us, I'll have you know." Fluttershy had already been standing on the opposite side of the bed as Applejack as she did her best to force me back town to rest. Not much resisting on my part, I went down rather easily.

"Fluttershy is right, Jacob. Even with the advanced magical techniques used in medical doctoring, it was nothing short of a miracle that you're still alive. That alone is not something that you can brush off like a scrape or bruise." Twilights informative criticisms did not stop there. "Even now as you lie there, you still have three broken ribs and a cracked skull. I'm really just glad that the doctors were able to stop the internal bleeding in your lungs and heart before you bled out. All you need to do is stop moving for a little while and let the medical magic do its' work."

Now, I will admit that was peculiar. I had heard about magic before, but never something like medical magic. Twilight seemed to know what she was talking about, but this was her world after-all. Not exactly like I could point out any flaws with her argument in this topsy-turvy world. This did not mean that I wasn't able to show interest in the matter however.

Allowing Fluttershy to cover my chest with blankets, I turned my head to allow Twilight to come into view. My curiosity had been perked at the mentioning of what kind of possibilities that this new magic could offer. "I'm sorry, but... Medical Magic?" At first, Twilight seemed puzzled with my remark; seeming to try and make of what she could of the statement. However with a little time, everything seemed to come to her. A scholar-like smile came to her which comforted me much more than Discords.

"Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Everyone made sure to tell me that you don't have magic where you come from, so I would guess that healing to the power of magic would be something new for you."

Healing to the power of magic? Why did she make it sound like a algebra equation?

Lifting a hoof up as to give a proper explanation, Twilight spoke clearly so that I could understand.

"You see, unicorn doctors are equipped with a special variety of spells that are primarily used for healing and treating their patients; this type of magic can be commonly seen being used in medical practice. These spells help doctors and nurses obtain an understanding about what could be ailing a patient and the healing process. Even the hospital has been enchanted by this kind of magic so that the healing process of patients are quickened whether the case is dire or simple."

Wow, to think that something like this actually existed. Medical buildings actually having the ability to heal you just by standing inside of it? It was a phenomenon like one that could only be read in a story book. "So, the doctors in this world are like White Mages?" Humming to myself, I confirmed this in my head with a slight nod. Twilight acknowledged the assumption by passing off the remark as if I was a child speaking to an adult.

"If you want to be that practical about it, then yes."

Passing the subject of medicine and magic along Twilight made her approach up toward my bed-side. Clearly not as loose and calm as she had been a couple seconds ago, Twilight cleared her throat to tr and set a new tone. "I'm sure that the matters of magic and medicine can be very interesting, but there is something that we need to tell you." At this, I couldn't help but be a little suspicious. A brow arched already, I watched the mare questionably as she could seem to pick up on my uneasy feelings toward her words. "H-Hey, what's with that look?" For a pony that appeared so smart, Twilight couldn't seem to understand my on-going unfortunate technicalities when it came to hearing any kind of new information

"You do realize that every last bit of news I've heard over the past few days has either been devastating, life-threatening, or all-around horrid, right?"

Once you really thought about it, this really was true. Whether it was finding out that I was going to fight in a war or waking up in a brand new world, the only thing that I could ever hear about me being here was horrible. Twilight knew this, and folded her ears back when realizing this herself. "Oh..." Flipping themselves back up once more, the unicorns' ears tried to sync up with their owner to try and brighten my take on the subject. Her friendly smile was a welcoming one.

"Well, what if I told you that we've been talking to the Princess about bringing you back to Ponyville with us?"

Even with Fluttershys pressure on my chest, I couldn't help but rocket up into a sitting position. My eyes wide like dinner plates, I wasn't sure what I was hearing. My sudden movement causing a stir in Fluttershy, the little pony was hesitant on touching me by how I bent over in pain again. Even with the stinging that had begun to surge through my system, I managed to pick my head up enough to get a good look at Twilight. "Wha-What?" Her worry at an all-time high at this point, it took only seconds before Fluttershy was sitting up on the bed to help me sit up straight again. She placed a hoof on my back and one on my chest to steady my balance.

"Please, don't move so suddenly. You could hurt yourself even further."

Moving was already getting to be a task that was harder to get done. My breathing had become erratic from the pain, and the distinct taste of copper was lingering on the back of my tongue. Through a few coughs, I was finally able to say something. "-But Celestia..." It felt like my lungs were starting to spasm to get every last one of my coughs out while Fluttershy patted my back to try and help pass them. They burned in my chest like a pair of fireballs. "-Celestia said that I had tests." Aside from Twilights soft humming, all I received from my statement had been a note thrown onto the foot of my bed. It was a neatly rolled piece of parchment. A scroll might have been the most accurate term. Strange, I saw Twilight reaching for something, but where did she pull the letter from? Did ponies have pockets? If so...

How in sweet sarsaparilla did that work?

"I believe that this can help fill you in on everything you need to know."

Taking my mind off of the obvious zero division that was going on within my brain, I decided to leave that question unsolved until a later date. For now, there was the scroll on my bed that beckoned for my attention. With some strain I bent forward to pick up the letter, and clutched the paper with an outstretched arm before pulling it towards me.

Inquisitive as I may have been to reveal what this letter had to say, the golden seal with a familiar looking sun caught my attention. It being the same as the seal I saw back in the Golden Oaks Library, it was much easier to know who had taken the time to write this. It and a red ribbon had been what kept the piece of paper from unrolling and showing its contents to the world. Brushing a thumb across the sun symbol silently, I paused before continuing. "So Celestia sent me a letter?" I worded this quietly before removing the seal and opening the note. I prayed that this notification came with good tidings, and not anything less.

To Mr. J. Froster,

First things first, I feel the desperate desire to apologize to you for what happened during your captivity in Canterlot. I will admit, Discords' presence in the dungeon was something that I had expected to happen; however, the violence that soon followed was not something that I could have ever planned for. His arrival, though he was unknowing to me expecting him in the dungeon, was never meant to escalate beyond the point where I could confirm your true nature.

While I am grateful to how you refused any offer that may have come your way, any excuse cannot make up for the critical condition that you were put under for the past couple of days. I will handle any expenses so do not feel financially troubled.

Upon the matters of your' existence in Equestria; I am uncertain to how something like this could have happened, and I have yet to discover a way to send you home. At the time however, you will be prohibited from doing so. As the sole human of Equestria you have taken on the title of 'Vagnguard' whether you like it or not. I do not know why you were brought here, but I must guess that it was with good reason.

It would be a lie if it was said that I wasn't expecting that.

Secondly; as you know, I have been watching you even before you awoke in our world. My guards have made sure to keep a close eye on you for all this time, but were advised to keep a safe distance. At first, we were unsure what the small black device with you had been, and confiscated it before you could recover it. At the time, we were unaware that you had thrown the device toward a manticore nest and were very surprised at your confrontation with one of the great beasts.

So they were the reason my phone went missing? I wonder what happened to it.

I have watched everything that you have done in Equestria. The Manticore, escaping the Everfree Forest, and meeting the ponies that you have up to this point. I have known about it all, but the most that I had seen from you is that you are able increase your speed and agility under dire circumstances. Pardon me for saying, but even I had a good laugh when you forgot Manticores could fly.

Wow... So... polite....

nevertheless, you are far too weak for what tests that I have planned for you. Discords confrontation has shown that you have the will to strive for more, but it also had shown that you lack all physical requirements needed to succeed in these tests. I have seen who you are, but now you must build on what you must become. It will not be easy, but I have entrusted the six ponies you have met to ready you for any oncoming peril that could come your way.

Have faith in them.

They will teach you everything you will need to know so that you can be strong. I am entrusting you to follow their every order. If you do this I can assure you that if you learn from them success will follow at a later date. You and I will not be meeting each other for quite some time, but I will be expecting updates on your abilities both physical and mental whenever it is available for you. Until then get some well needed rest. It may be the last that you have for a long while.

Looking up from the letter, I was not sure what exactly to make of the words written in front of me. Was Celestia still dead-set to get me to be in this war of hers? "Geeze, that sunny pain in my keister is still at involving me in this war?" Resting a hand upon my face in disbelief, a familiar sinking in my stomach set in. After giving my head a soft shake, I could only guess that Celestia was not going to let me out of whatever kind of situation I landed myself in. All I could do now was embrace my new status as a Vanguard.

Something told me that I was going to regret this.

A heavy breath shooting from my nostrils, my hand finally took itself away from my face. Rolling up the paper with some disdain, my upper eyelids fell slightly when I let out a few inaudible mumbles. "So, you girls are going to teach me, huh?" With a flick of my wrist, I tossed the letter to the floor before letting out a loud groan. "Geeze, that stupid horse is hell-bent on making me do whatever she wants." Chuckling nervously at how I described Celestia, Twilight used her magic to pick my note up from the floor. Having the paper place itself carefully at my side, Twilight cleared her throat.

"Well, Celestia informed us about this a couple of days ago upon your arrival to the hospital, so I only thought that you already knew."

A couple days ago, huh? How long had I been asleep? Funny, that had to be the first question I asked that actually could be explained. It didn't make me feel any better, but it was a question that was able to be answered truthfully. "A couple days, huh?" Clapping both hands against my face slowly, I roughly moved them around in large circular motions. My mono-toned voice had been enough to pull a quiet apology from Fluttershy. She was so quick to do so.

"This is all well and good, but I'm afraid that I don't understand what any of you could possibly teach me."

Delivering a jab at me in the form of a stare, I could almost feel a bruise forming just by how two ponies eyed me with such malcontent. Flying up to me in an instant, Rainbow soon had my back up against the beds headboard. Meanwhile, a distinct silence had seemed to cancel out any sound as Applejack slowly tapped a fore hoof on the railing on the bed. By how her burning eyes looked upon me, I could see clear as day that what I said angered her.

As for Dash, anger could not begin to describe what I was looking at. Almost enraged, I could see the scowl showing on her face. A fore hoof raised at my chest as if ready to make an accusation. "Just what does that mean?" Feeling the cyan pegasus finally pressing her hoof into my chest, I began to sweat under pressure. Unable to guard myself, I stared at the hoof through widened eyes before letting my vision follow up Dashes foreleg and up to her face. "Thinking that you know more than us, Baker-Boy? Saying that you're better?" I could almost feel my tongue curling up to the back of my throat just to keep my from speaking. The constant prodding at my chest however brought forth a few good coughs that unfortunately loosened my tongue.

"It... It's not like that... I just-"

It had come to be somewhat difficult to talk with that itchy sensation in the back of my throat before I had gone into a coughing fit from the added feeling of Dash pressing her hoof into my lungs. In between gasping coughs, I forced myself to turn away to spare these ponies that courtesy. Doing so had effectively dislodged Dashes hoof while my own hand grabbed grabbed my chest. I could hear my monitor going crazy as there was a light patting on my back.

"Rainbow Dash, He doesn't mean anything like that. Jacob is just confused."

Her words bringing Dash to set herself back down on the floor, Fluttershy continued to aid me through my exasperated gasps for air. Slowing her pats until they were reduced to a soft rubbing along my spine, the yellow pegasus made sure to keep me calm. Excitement was the last thing I needed right now. "Try to be empathetic for him. Intimidation is not doing any favors." Applejacks tapping on the railing of my bed came to a slow halt as her gaze lightened with Dashes. "His question was sincere, and purely out of curiosity. It was not to spite us in any way. We have not known Jacob long, but we know that he wouldn't speak to hurt someone." Seeming to have straightened out all misunderstandings, Fluttershy sat by my side while still doing her best to keep my coughing fits to a minimum.

"Everything is going to be fine. Just take deep, easy breaths. In through the nose and out the mouth."

Seeing this all as nothing to linger upon any longer, Applejack and Dash did show some minor embarrassment for their behavior but chose to try and put it behind them. A hoof behind her head, Rainbow scratched her multicolored mane in her own awkward way. It was clear that she still at least somewhat lingered on how she had physically confronted me only moments ago. "So, uh..." Automatically looking to Twilight for answers, Rainbow spoke. "How are we going to teach Baker-Boy anything?" If I could, I would have face-palmed myself into next year.

Taking pride in how she spoke, it surprised me to see yet another piece of rolled up paper appear from Twilight. Encased in lavender magic, I watched the paper only as I started slowly sitting up while letting out my last few coughs. At first, I wondered if Ponies had pockets, but that would just be ridiculous. How could something like that even work? "Well actually, I have taken the liberty of creating a schedule for who will teach Jacob and when." Upon Twilight unrolling the piece of parchment, I could already see the lengthy roll hitting the floor while the top remained to be held weightlessly by magic. I almost felt my jaw beginning to mimic the list and drop as far as it could. Shaking my head to stop such an action, I instead sat there speechless with my mouth somewhat agape. "I've planned your daily regimen for the next five months, so it shouldn't be too difficult to keep up with." Just how this little lavender unicorn had things under such control was worth recognizing. She must have been good under pressure, or a complete mess when it came to the matter. It was usually one or the other.

"Each of us will be your designated teacher for one day throughout the week, and a day off will be assigned to you after every six days of teaching."

Twilights ability to plan so far ahead was more than impressive. It was kind of like she was a teacher of some sort. I suppose that Twilight may just have her share of training settled already if she had gotten this far in her planning. Continuing, Twilight softly placed a fore hoof on her chest. "Out of the six of us, I will be in charge of educating you about how to identify and create strategies, while still being able to work through difficult situations." Something about that told me I wasn't going to enjoy any of it, but I'll just have to roll with the punches.

Whipping her hair back to catch my attention, Rarity stood in place rather elegantly. Seeing how a make-up compact was floating in the air with the aid of magic and how Raritys' face no longer leaked eye-liner like a faucet, it seemed that Rarity found the time to tidy herself up while I wasn't looking. Her eyes displaying their womanly sheen to them, you could see their azure color much more clearly. Her fashionista-like self was more evident than ever as I could see her lifting her chin. The action wasn't snobbish, but more like she had the confidence of three other ponies crammed into her. "Just as Twilight Sparkle has said, I will also be teaching you. Although I will be teaching you on how to keep your wits sharp." Lowering her chin before giving me a look of displeasure, Rarity motioned a foreleg toward me as her informative explanation slowly turned into a light scolding. "Not to mention how to properly take care of your clothes; I mean, rea-" Rarity would have gone on to continue pointing out flaws in how I take care of my own clothes if not for Pinkie Pie chiming into to successfully silence her if not only for surprising Rarity.

"I'm going to be a teacher too! I'm going to teach you how to keep cool under situations that could make you angry."

Pondering to herself for a split second, Pinkie sat on her haunches before patting her hooves on both sides of her head in a rather funny manner.

"I still don't understand why I would be in charge of that. I mean seriously, I got nothing! I can't even think of what I can do for teaching that!"

The ringing in my ears from Pinkies rather high-pitched rant gave me a few ideas.

An uncomfortable chuckle left me as I struggled to force a smile from how Pinkie thought and thought over what she could possibly do to teach me whatever she was supposed to. The pink pony could not be observed for long as Rainbow made the effort to flap her wings to zip upward in the air and float in front of me. Caught off-guard, I would have stumbled back if not for the head-board supporting me. Sliding beside me, Dash landed on the opposite side of the matress as Fluttershy. Proudly patting my shoulder, Dash seemed to already be petting her own ego by how the pegasus looked at me. "Not to mention that you'll be having yours truly as your' personal trainer." Slapping my thigh with her other hoof, Dash listened to the fleshy sound underneath my covers before giving a sly remark.

"I'll turn these tubes of jelly into speed machines!"

I did not like the sound of that. From what I had already picked up about Rainbow Dash was that she was a stereotypical jock. Athletic in every sense of the word. She may be smaller than me, but there wasn't a doubt in my mind that she could beat me to a bloody pulp in the time it would take me to say 'Please, stop hitting me'. Now seeing her turn all attention back to me with a dastardly grin, I couldn't help but let out a pathetic squeak of certain defeat.

"The princess was more than happy to tell us about your little race with a manticore. Not bad, but if you don't move as fast as I want I may dump you back in Everfree."

The way Dash said that was enough to make me go into a silent panic. My heart monitor racing like crazy, I could already picture myself caught underneath the paw of another one of those man-eating monsters. It was a frightening thing to think about. Pulling my blanket up to my chest in a trembling hand, I tried to put such a thought out of mind. The thought of being pulled deeper into that forest.

-And deeper....

-And deeper....

-And deeper....

I could almost feel my blood beginning to leave my face to leave a sickly shade of pale. The very thought of going back to that place gave me chills. Not even the constant comforting pats and rubbing I got on my back from Fluttershy could bring my mind away from the idea of going back. Almost in a panic all her own, Fluttershy stared at Dash from over my shoulders during her fretting.

"Rainbow Dash, don't say such things!"

The silent exclamation being somewhat laughed off by Dash, it took a rough shove in the kidney to get Dash to shut her mouth. The thudding noise that came from the impact made things sound like Dash had been hit with a blunt object rather than just pushed. "Now, don't you go gettin' Jake 'n' Fluttershy wound-up." Standing beside by heart monitor, Applejack gave Rainbow Dash probably the most serious stink-eye I had ever bore witness to. Pulling her hoof away from Dashes side, Applejack set it on the floor with a soft 'clop'.

"Jokes like that ain't funny, Dash. Fluttershy told ya how bad Jake got hurt in there, and Ah happen to remember a certain pegasi that had quite the difficult time herself the first time she went in them woods."

Rubbing her side as a certain soreness began to set in, Rainbow grumbled and muttered to herself. I could tell already what ever kind of stinging that had been left for Rainbow to live through, it was not comfortable in the slightest. Raising a brow when hearing what she said was a 'joke', Dash rolled her eyes nonchalantly; A smart smirk forming with her lips. "Joke? Oh yeah, it was a joke!" Her sarcasm made Applejacks ears fold back, frustrated by the cyan pegasi's actions. Directing her gaze to me, Dash still kept a hoof over her kidney for good measure.

"-but maybe I will throw you in there if I feel like-."

A hoof slammed into Dashes' shoulder causing the pegasus to curb her body according to the impact of the blow. To watch the pegasus that I could only suspect to be an over-powered jock to be subdued by the southern speaking pony left me wondering just how strong these little creatures were. Their power was frightening. Having cut off the cyan pegasus completely from her words, Applejack was left to continue where Dash left off. In the meantime, Dash was left to try and recover from this second blow. "You keep tellin' jokes like them, and Ah'll be the one deliverin' the 'punch-line'." Applejacks' threat went a little more than heard as Rainbow seemed to have completely given up any desire to intimidate me any longer. Instead, she leered at the orange earth pony with a tongue sticking out. Applejack was less than amused. "Oh so you want me to bop ya there too, huh?" Dash pulled her tongue back behind her lips in a flash.

Giving a stern nod to approve of Rainbows current silence, Applejack eased up in her gaze to look at me. A friendly smile coming to her once more, the warm and welcoming she showed me was so different from what she had just shown Dash. "Sorry 'bout that, partner; Dash doesn't know much about how to stop flappin' her gums on a delicate subject." The blank nod I gave her was all that I could think to do for a response. In turn, Applejack let out a soft breath to ease any tension left within her. "At any rate, Ah don't think that it takes an apple to the head to make ya know that Ah'll be teachin' ya to build some upper-body strength." Letting her words run through her head, Applejack realized it was a little too late to catch herself on her wording. Memories of my first 'encounter' with Applejack was all that came to our minds when taking her words into account. By that, I mean that I remember being pelted with produce to the point of its' own liquidation.

"Er, uh... No offense, Jake."

Feeling the lightest of pressure on my arm from Fluttershy leaning in on it, I could hear her soft cooing voice trying to obtain my attention. Of course, she did her best not to look directly at me; she was rather shy, after all. Fiddling with her delicate hooves, I could hear some nervousness in her voice. "I hope you don't mind me being a teacher as well." I'm not sure why, but she looked a little down on herself; like she was feeling ashamed, or something. "I understand if you don't, I'm certainly not the best one of us that could be a teacher. Neither am I the most qualified." Man, just seeing Fluttershy like this was enough to yank at a few heart-strings. A part of me wanted to pull this sweet little pony in a hug to try and comfort her, but I needed to stay professional. No need in making her feel any more uncomfortable than she was already. Instead, I wrapped an arm around her shoulders to pull Fluttershy close. I'll admit that this was a similar tactic to a hug, but it wasn't as bold. It was a more delicate way to do what I wanted.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. People like you can do whatever you set your mind to, so I bet you will do amazingly."

Having pulled her against my side gently with my hand on her shoulder, my compliment seemed to have left the yellow pegasus flustered. Her eyes staring out into space with a red hue starting to tint her cheeks. Fluttershys' wings ruffled themselves underneath my arm. "I-If you think so, I will do what I can..." I could see her expression was somewhat undecided as she could not decide whether to smile or not. "... I will be teaching you to be careful, and the benefits of being gentle with others." Out of all the others, this one seemed a little strange. There was the need for me to be gentle in a war? How odd.

Already looking through what I could only expect to be a schedule book of sorts, the dark blue book floated in the air with the help of Twilight Sparkles' magic. The lavender power flipped the pages of the book one-by-one before the book floated itself up to me. "I hope that you do not mind, but I purchased a booklet for you as a quick reminder of who will be teaching you and when." Not one to decline a thoughtful gift, I took the small book from the air. Keeping the page that it had been on, I could see a written schedule on the pages in the most well-polished of English handwriting. That alone was impressive.

"Wow, you wrote it in my language and everything..."

Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash leaning over my shoulder to have a better look at the writing, the two stared at the page a little lost. Trying to decode the unknown language, Dash was soon left to rubbing her head. "Geeze Baker-boy, that stuff is giving me a head-ache just looking at it!" Fluttershy wasn't done examining the written symbols on the paper, but it seemed that she was having a difficult time reading as well.

"Every morning, you will be escorted by one of us to your place of practice." Twilight spoke. "Pinkie Pie will be teaching you first, then the order goes Rainbow Dash, Rarity, myself, Applejack, and Fluttershy. The next day of the week is when you will be allowed one day to yourself."

Dang, this was a full-time deal, wasn't it?

Who knows, maybe this won't be so bad? If something like this was really going to happen, could I really have asked for any better teachers than the six people that I knew the most in this world? I was stuck being this Vanguard thing, but I suppose that it wasn't that bad. Who even knows when this war was coming up? It could be tomorrow, or ten years; I suppose that it didn't matter when it all came down to it. I was stuck here no matter what.

"Ngh...Uhg...Nnnngh..."

The constant dancing in place from Pinkie had been enough to draw my eye to her.

She was acting... Strange. Well, stranger than usual. She was all twitchy, and looked like she had been holding in a lot of pent up energy. Biting her lip as her dance came to be more intense with quickened leg stomping, it appeared that the pink pony was doing what my mother always called 'the potty dance'. This was not the case however, as it came to be rather apparent that the only thing being observed at the time was Pinkies impatience. Slamming all four hooves down on the floor, Pinkie took in a gasp of air.

"Twilight! Can I do it now?"

I watched the pink pony crawl on her knees to Twilight with her front hooves clapped together in a praying motion. Did ponies even have knees? They're legs worked and looked different than mine, but that's what I was looking at. "Please, please, please, please, pleeeeease?" Somewhat annoyed by the action alone, Twilight refrained from looking at pinkie as her head sunk down somewhat as the unicorn gave a will breaking sigh. Whatever Pinkie was talking about, it most certainly was not the first time that it was asked. Twilight looked too worn down by the question for it to be the second time asked. It was like a parent being subjected to their children in the all too familiar torture of the 'Are we there yet' question on a long and bothersome road trip. Still, it seemed that Twilight had enough of this as she rested a hoof over one of her eyes to express her growing frustration. "Twilight, you promised that once Jacob was awake that I could do it! You pinkie promised!" Dragging the hoof down slowly from her face, Twilight forced a smile by the time she was able to look at her pink friend.

"Oh, did I?" Her smile twitched for a second before turning and walking back to accompany Rarity as the white unicorn sat prestigious-ly by the door. Twilights' farce smile already began to give way to a frown. "Then go ahead. Don't let me stop you."

Okay, I could let the question pass by as much as it possibly could have, but now I needed an answer. Just what was the it that Pinkie was talking about? The mystery alone was enough to bait me on to try and ask the question myself, but I was simply too slow for this hyperactive pink bolt of lightening.

The moment that she was given the green flag to do whatever she had planned for me, Pinkie squealed through a grin composed of the majority of her pearly white teeth. Clapping her front hooves together only long enough for me to hear the distinct clopping from them, the earth pony jumped up from her knees before speeding out of the room like a bullet fast enough that I could even feel a breeze of wind being pulled with her out the door.

The sudden quiet felt almost out of place by the events that had just unfurled before me. The squeaks and giggles that came from Pinkie had vanished as I was left holding Fluttershy a little closer than I had been before. Letting my arm slide off of Fluttershy, I couldn't help but lean forward to try and get a closer look at the door as it now had been blown open completely. Although I could see the white tile floors outside of my room, I did not stay on the sights for long. Instead, I leaned back against the head of my bed once more before trying to scratch my head; this time with my left arm. "Where did she-" Unfortunately, I was met with the uncomfortable feeling of having my IV jiggling around in my arm before I could even finish. Wincing at the stinging, I couldn't help but grab my arm as if it would aid in relieving myself of this pain. Seeing how it did nothing at all, I resorted to probably a horribly stupid move on my part. "Stupid freaking needle..." Taking hold of the IV, I tore it from my arm if not purely out of anger for the device causing me pain at such a time of my life.

The action caused some alert to the girls, but nothing they seemed willing to panic about. Instead, in response to my sudden impulse, I received what I could only call a 'shoosh pap' from Fluttershy. It seemed to be my turn to be the surprised one now as I sat there. It was weird, that action. Being quietly shushed and patted on the cheek wasn't exactly what I had imagined to happen at some point today, but it happened and was even making me forget why I was so worked up in the first place.

"Be calm, Jacob. Now is not the time to over-exert yourself."

Unable to disobey Fluttershys' orders in any way, my body became relaxed.

Untying my head bandage, Fluttershy took my arm before wrapping the strip around it tightly. I actually wasn't sure anymore just what I was looking at, but it gave me butterflies in my stomach. Not nervous butterflies, but something else. Something nice. Next giving the bandage a light kiss, Fluttershy looked up at me with her eyes filled with kindness. "There, does that feel better." Feeling a warmness filling my face, I mindlessly nodded before feeling a light nudge from the other pegasus that sat beside me while she gave a few good natured laughs my way.

Giving a couple more pats on my face, Fluttershy leaned herself onto my arm once more.

"Here comes the party train! Whoo-Whoo~!"

The blasting voice that bounced off the walls of the hall just outside my room was one that I could easily identify to be Pinkies. By the large amounts of thuds, crashing, and yells I could tell that whatever Pinkie was doing that anyone in the hall had to dive out of the way just so that they couldn't be run over by the insane pony before she sped into my hospital room and successfully causing Rainbow Dash to roll off of the bed in shock and landing on her head. Picking herself up off the ground, Dash muttering a few inappropriate words under her breath while rubbing the crown of her skull.

Having skidded into my room due to her sudden stop, Pinkies' hooves screeched against the floor like tires on asphalt. Behind her was a strange, small cart of sorts that connected to Pinkies back with a harness. It wasn't exactly small, but more or less narrow enough to squeeze through the door without trouble. On Pinkies' head was a dark blue train conductors cap. Having been clutching the back of my bed for dear life upon Pinkies dynamic entry, I could feel Fluttershy squeezing my arm with the same intention as I had. Twilight and Rarity had stumbled backward and out of the way of Pinkie while Applejack steadily helped Dash to her hooves as if the entrance didn't effect her at all. Sure, the apple pony shot Pinkie a somewhat wide-eyed look of confusion, but other than that she was not rattled in the slightest.

"Whoo-Whoo! We have arrived at Party-Central! All luggage will be distributed in the unloading area!"

Peeling myself off the head board, I tried to catch my breath from that sudden surprise. Another one of those shoosh-paps would have been greatly appreciated right about now.

This cart was not something you would normally see out in the open. It was more or less like something you would see at a carnival. The light blues, pinks, and yellows painted upon the wood complimented each other as you would have expected. A cylindrical dome concealed the insides of the cart and only left my mind to ponder what could have been hidden from prying eyes. Why was it here though? All of Pinkies' efforts were to pull a cart into my room? Unable to hold my questions any longer, I did not hesitate before relentlessly asking each and every last one of them to the grinning earth pony.

"Pinkie, what in Great Greens is that thing? What are you doing? What's going on?"

After shaking off the hat on her head, the giddy laughter Pinkie made only distracted me from whatever chance there was to keep on subject. Instead, I was left speechless at the antics brought on by the crazy little horse. "Well, after you left, I was reminded of something terrible." Before speaking the word 'terrible' Pinkie pulled her hooves down on her face. It was strange to see that Pinkies' skin almost stretched with her pulling, but literally snapped back into place like rubber. "Then I remembered that you never had a welcome to Ponyville party! It was just so sad, but then I had the idea of bringing the party to the hospital!" Oh, there was no possible way in my mind that this could possibly end well. "Just leave it to Pinkie to make my new friend feel welcome back at Ponyville!" Unbuckling herself from the harness of the cart, Pinkie lifted a hind leg to deliver a quick tap to a bright red button located on a side of the device.

'HONK'

I deadpanned at the noise.

Following after Pinkie pressed its' button, the carts' cylindrical dome peeled back with such a force that it caused the cart to jump off the ground before letting a platform of multiple gizmos and gadgets spike up from the inside of the colorful contraption. First was a platform of many varying colors of pinks and yellows that jumped out of the center of the cart to reveal what sat on top of it. A miniature oven rested in the frame on the platform as what sat on both sides of it had been a set of racks that held an assortment of baked goods. Lining the frame above the oven had been a line of light bulbs that flashed in a pattern like this was all some circus attraction.

Multiple pipes of different sizes and lengths bounded from the sides within the cart. Some looked like peppermint sticks while others seemed made of gold while sitting on a cake-like pedestal. An assortment of vuvuzelas shot out of the cart just as a couple mini-train whistles did just the same while colorful triangular flags shot out of the cart before waving themselves like crazy.

Over the chaos of this cart, I could distinctly pick up the sound of the music box that had been built directly inside the crazy carnival cart. There was a light in Pinkies eyes at about this time, and by the music playing I could already guess why.

Bouncing wildly around the room, Pinkie began to sing.

~Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!~
~A fine welcome to you!~

Her bounding coming to be less wild, Pinkie bounced herself in a line in-front of her cart; never once letting her eye-contact break from mine.

~Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!~
~I say, how do you do?~

Somehow losing track of the little pony, it wasn't long until I could feel a vuvuzela blasting in my ear at full force. The sound alone shocked my ear-drum, but how it left me stunned prevented me from any sudden movements. Instead, I shook off the feeling only to see Pinkie toss the horn aside and pick up a marching bass drum and banging it wildly as she paraded across the room.

~Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!~
~I say, hip-hip-hooray!~

Tossing the drum to join the vuvuzela, Pinkie jumped in the air to land at the very end of my bed on her knees to finish up the remainder of her song. With the finale, Pinkie held her fore-hooves in the air while she stood on her knees.

~Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!~
~to Ponyville to-day!~

I was quite literally left speechless by what had just transpired before me. Pinkie stood before me, on her knees with a smile on her face while she breathed through her teeth in an act to catcher her breath. I actually had to rub my eyes a good couple of times just to confirm what all I had just seen. "Ooo! Hold on a sec, this part is my favorite!" Barely even able to lift a finger at this pony before Pinkie could turn on her rump to get a good look at her cart, I could sense the excitement in her voice.

The cart sputtered for a split moment before a 'ding' sounded from inside the oven. With it, streamers and confetti shot from the door and littered my bed with each spectrum of the rainbow.

Not exactly what I was expecting to be inside an oven, but this was Pinkie so...

Then there was another sound coming from the cart. A coughing and wheezing that originated from it as a slight feeling of uneasiness gripped me. In a mere instant, a sweet smelling substance shot out from cart pipes only for it to splatter against the ceiling and coating the entire room.

No spot in the room had been left untouched by whatever shot from the cart. The sweet smell of it was familiar, but it was rather difficult to see with my glasses covered in this gunk. After removing them, it had revealed that the only part of my body that wasn't hit by the explosion of this material had been my eyes as the two circles had been the only thing visible of thing on my body underneath whatever I was covered in.

The slurping sound coming from the blob in front of me soon revealed itself to be Pinkie Pie as her tongue swerved in an impossible circular motion around her head enough to free it. I never knew that a tongue could stretch that far. By the smacking and delightful hums she gave off, I was half tempted to try the substance myself. So dragging a finger across one of my glasses lens, I placed a small sum of the gunk in my mouth. The sweet smell finally becoming clear with the taste, I removed the finger from my mouth a little dumbfounded by my discovery.

"Is... Is this cake?"

The giddy laughter from Pinkie soon calmed itself to show her cheezy smile. By the looks of things, this didn't quite go as planned.

"Yeah; as it turns out, all of that was supposed to go in reverse." Bobbing her head from one side to the other, Pinkie tried to explain her intentions. "Confetti out of the pipe-organ, and cake out of the oven. I just keep getting those two mixed up in the wrong parts."

Of course she did. You know, half of me thought that Pinkie did that on purpose, but that was just the mystery of Pinkie Pie. How could someone like Pinkie get something like this to go the way it did? Pinkie only knows.

Bursting through a pile of cake beside me, Fluttershy gasped for air before coughing up some of the mixture that managed to sneak its' way in her mouth. Managing to shake most of the cake off, she wiped her face to rid it of the substance. From what I could observe, Fluttershy wasn't the only one that had been covered in cake. Looking around the room, I could see that every last one of the ponies in this room appeared to be statues of baked goods. Every last one of them were covered in the gooey, sugary mess. The most comical of them had to of been Rarity. The look on her face was priceless, but the way she froze up was perfection. I couldn't help but burst out in laughter.

"Pbffft, Bah-ha-ha! You all look ridiculous!"

I lolled my head back while holding my gut. My hysterical laughter had been the only thing that could be heard in, and possibly outside of the room. At first not understanding my laughter, the girls looked from one to another before unable to hold back their own laughter at the sight of their friends covered in the cake muck.

"Hey, what's going on here!?"

A feminine shout boomed in the room, effectively cutting off everyones laughter. By the looks of it, our laughter had gathered some unneeded attention as a white mare with a pink mane and coat stood in the doorway. Furious by what she was looking at, the pony nurse refrained from stepping inside. Behind her was a light amber stallion with a brownish tangelo mane in a doctors coat and glasses. Holding back his own laughter, the doctor pony chuckled to himself before the nurse shot a glare at him; at which he quickly fell silent before innocently whistling to himself. Shooting her gaze back in the room at us again, a low growl could be heard coming from the mare.

"Everypony, out! Now!"

So we were kicked out of the room. That's not even a metaphor; we were quite literally kicked from the room by that mare nurse. You would think that a nurse would treat her patients with a little more care, but let it not be said that she couldn't open a can of whoop-ass on someone. I can still feel the hoof-prints on my keister.

A shower later in the neighboring hospital room, I was left drying my hair on a bench located just outside my room door. While I had to discard my cake covered bandages, this did not mean that I was without clothing. Rarity was kind enough to deliver an extra set of clothes for me, so that was nice. I believe her exact words were, 'I would say that I cannot believe you would leave your clothes in such rags, but a lady knows better than to fib'. Blue seemed to be a trendy color for me from what it seemed as I had once again received a blue shirt and denim jeans. The exact same design of inter-looping circles came painted on the shirt, so it seemed that Rarity had come to have a bit more confidence when it came to painting on clothing.

Discovering that my hospital room was at the end of the hallway had its' benefits. I had a large window to look out of to peer out to the city. Even though the sun had already set at the time, the shine of the moons light majestically showed me the city in silence. To be looking at Canterlot and know that there might not be a way to go back home was quite the predicament, but it no longer bothered me. It seemed that I had a job to do now in this world, and now even I convinced myself that I needed to stay.

If I was some sort of being that could settle something catastrophic like the apocalypse of this world, then shouldn't I be obligated to try my best at helping Celestia protect her kingdom? Every one of the ponies in this world would be depending upon me to become stronger to protect them, and I won't lie to you; the thought of that is scary. To have all of this responsibility thrusted upon anyone would be frightening.

"Well, it looks like somepony is enjoying their time out of bed."

Turning my head away from the window, I could see the same unicorn doctor from earlier making his way toward me. Taking a couple glances at the clipboard magically floating in the air, he planted himself on the bench beside me with a relaxed sigh. After adjusting his glasses, his clipboard tapped against the bench surface as it now lay flat and motionless against it. "Whew, what a day." He seemed relaxed for someone that was a doctor. "A Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery, Ganglionectomy, and dealing with you and your' friends all in one day can take it out of any good doctor." By the friendly nudge he gave me, I could tell he was trying to joke around with me. Letting a laugh breath itself from my nostrils, I nodded my head in somewhat approval.

"I'll tell you something, kid; you are looking a lot better than you did a couple days back. Nearly broke every bone in your' blasted body, and had internal bleeding like you wouldn't believe. I don't know what kind of ruckus you got yourself into, but it was important enough to have Princess Celestia herself bring you here in a hurry."

So, Celestia did care. Well, at least she did enough to take me to a hospital. That meant something. That she didn't want me to die yet, I guess.

I suppose that I was lucky to be alive. The healing magic of this hospital really worked wonders for me. Keeping a straight face, I stared at the doctor with an arched brow. "Was I really in such serious condition?" Yes, I realize how stupid this question was. "I mean, I feel fine right now." Doctor Stable sarcastically smirked at me. It almost felt like the look he gave was some form of insult by how he seemed to question the judgement I made on my body.

"That's the miracle of medical-magic. It speeds up the healing process without any sort of side-effect." Tapping his chin to give his statement slight thought, Mr. Stable smirked. "Granted, we had to slow it all down for your surgery or your' body would have closed up with all that blood and puss still locked in it. Not to mention how we spent half a day fixing broken bones. I never thought that I would get to work on carpals, but you proved this veteran of the art wrong." Knocking the back of his head, the Doc looked at me from his peripherals. "Had to put a metal plate in back here too. I actually added that myself, free of charge." However generous that this had been, I couldn't help but graze my hand behind my head to feel a stinging that caused my body to flinch.

"So that's why it hurts so much..."

A slight nod came from the doctor before continuing.

"Yeah, as I said; you look a lot better now than you did when you first got here, so count your blessings. It was like you were in the worst train wreck Equestria had ever seen from how much blood you lost. We were lucky that you had any left for us to sample for a compatible blood type."

The two of us fell silent for a brief moment while listening to the soft buzzing that came from the over-head florescent lights. The two of us stared at the wall in front of us while trying to think of what we could possibly say next. "Soooo,-" The doctor began; slowly turning his head in a circle before stopping it to look at me the second time around. "It took some convincing, but I managed to convince Redheart to let you keep your' clothes. They look alright, but no-one ever really likes to wear those robes." So that was the name of that nurse? Redheart? To tell you the truth, the name only made me think of the medical red cross from my world. Casting aside any possibly comparisons for later, I wanted to try and thank Doctor Stable for his efforts.

"Thank you. I mean no offence, but they were a little too small for me; if you catch my drift. I had to squat down just to keep myself decent when she booted me out of the room."

Nearly busting a gut, Doctor Stable bent over in laughter and almost fell to the floor from sheer enjoyment of my words. He rocked back and forth while tears leaked from both eyes. The Doc actually had to stop himself before he went as far to actually rupturing any organs. I could see he was still feeling a bit ticklish in the chest from how the occasional snicker or snort would leave him. Unable to contain himself, Stable nudged me with his elbow once again. "I know. Remind me not to drop the soap around you, big-guy." Listening to the doctor bursting into frantic ha's and guffaws once more, I couldn't help but feel my face redden at these words. Having to wipe his eyes from the hard laughter, the doctor looked at me. "Oh, come now; someone would have needed to put you in that robe. Would you have preferred it be me, or Redheart?" The choices that I had been given caused me to jump to Doctor Stables somewhat disturbing smirk.

"Yeah, I thought so."

Looking away from the doctor in a frantic attempt to find a new subject, I coughed into my hand to try and end my blushing.

"S-so I heard that I was asleep for a couple days."

Choosing to let the past subject stay exactly where it was now, Stable took his clipboard in a hoof before examining it. Having to adjust his glasses, the doctor eventually found what answer he was looking for upon the sheet of paper. "Yep, that's what it says in black and white. Tomorrow will be your third day." Almost looking back at me, Doctor Stable had to double take back to his clipboard. "Wow, I forgot just how much tranquilizer we kept you on." Raising a hoof when looking back to me, Stable looked almost excited to explain his actions. "I swear, we put you under enough sedatives these past two days to knock an elephant unconscious." That was... Horrifying to know. Leaning away from the doctor, I tried to keep a good at least a foot in distance between his face and mine when he actually began leaning toward me. Pressing a hand on his forehead, I pushed Doctor Stable back into a upright sitting position so that I could do the same.

"That's great, Doc. Let's try to keep things professional though."

Doing just that, Stable looked back down at his clipboard. A long humming sounded from his throat. "Looks like you're going to be stuck here for a few more days. I hope that you do not mind that." Not really a problem. Celestias' note said that I would need to rest up before getting back to Ponyville. "You will also have to take prescription pain killers before your release." Again, not really a problem. Hearing what sounded like shaking marbles in a jar, I looked to the doctor once more to see him holding a large yellow prescription bottle in his hoof. It was like you would expect. A can-like bottle with a twist-off top. A white sticker label slapped on the side to tell what it was. "Not sure why, but the Princess insisted that we printed the label in Aquastrian text. I'm not sure why since you clearly speak fluent Equestrian." Tossing the bottle to me, I caught the jar of a pill bottle in my hands to get a good look at the label. Whatever the Aquastrian language was, it appeared that it was nearly exact to the English language. The font was a bit sketchy, but I could make out what was written. The name of the medicine was difficult to pronounce, but I could already tell that these were a sort of painkiller that had been non-existent in my world. Instead of bothering to read that, I skipped down to the instructions.

Do not take on an empty stomach. Take only as prescribed.
Side effects may include (but are not limited to) Hallucinations, and Night Terrors.
DO NOT TAKE BEFORE SLEEP.

By how the last sentence was printed in red ink and in all capitalized letters, it would be in my best interest to keep that in mind.

Twisting off the top of the pill bottle, I dumped one of the pills onto my hand and stared at the spherical pharmaceutical creation. Aside from looking like a comically over sized jawbreaker that you could barely fit in your mouth, the pill was a bright purple that had its own sort of gleam to it. The bumps along its' surface only made me wonder just who would manufacture a pill like this. As I held one up to the light, I closed an eye to examine it like a jeweler would to a diamond. "What's up with these pills, Doc? Did your daughter embroider them?" Stable gave me a look while I continued to examine the pills with a comical smile. "Seriously, how am I supposed to swallow these things? I bet I can't even fit one in my mouth without choking." Thinking that the doctor just grabbed the wrong bottle at first, I dismissed any thought that these pills could have possibly been mine. It was impossible. As I said, how on earth would I be able to swallow these?

"Actually, those are suppositories."

Freezing up, I had hardly even noticed how I dropped the large pill on the floor as my face cracked into a deadpan expression.

Ever so slowly, I screwed the lid back onto its' bottle in an emotionless silence before sitting quietly and still.

Almost as if it came out of nowhere, I grabbed onto the collar of Doctor Stables coat with a sneer before yanking him close with the doctor pony giving a quick yelp as I did so. My forehead pressing against his, I could already see how he had come to be fearful of my actions. Not happy to hear this bit of news, I gripped the doctors coat tightly as he sweated bullets. The enraged look in my eyes sent a chill riding up and down his spine like a roller coaster as I shoved the medical bottle into his gut.

"...No..."

Letting out a long exhausted yawn, I leaned back on the bench while my head tilted forward to watch the colorless white sheen on the hospital floor. It was a while after getting the doctor to grab me some pain killers that I could use normally. The two of us didn't really talk much after that. I was just left by myself while listening to the sound of cleaners washing the cake off the walls of my room behind closed doors. There wasn't much to hear; just the occasional cleaning tools scraping cake bits off the floor. Doctor Stable told me that if it came down to it, I would just have to stay in another room until mine was clean enough to be considered to be safe for anyone to sleep there. It was just cake; why did the doctors here make it sound like it was some sort of deadly disease? Yawning once more, I could feel my eyelids drowsily beginning to droop on themselves.

"Excuse me... Jacob?"

After my gaping maw had come to finish its' current yawn, I rubbed an eye before turning to see Fluttershy standing just a few feet from the bench I sat on. On the ground beside her had been a small straw basket with a red and white checkered piece of fabric covering whatever contents could have been inside. Tilting my head with a somewhat tired expression, I had to admit that I wasn't expecting to see Fluttershy up at the hospital this late. "Huh, Fluttershy? What are you doing here at this time of night?" Not even the slightest bit sleepy, Fluttershy scuffed a hoof on the tile floor. Her eyes on the backet basket when pointing her nose at the ground, Fluttershy took a tiny step closer to the bench.

"Um... Well, it's just that... I really wanted to come check on you." Her eyes occasionally glanced up at me, only to look back down at her basket. "The girls and I are staying in a hotel just a few buildings away, and since it really wasn't that far of a walk... Not that distance was ever a matter... I just thought that you would like some company."

My eyes following hers, I eventually found myself staring at the straw basket at Fluttershys' hooves. Seeing this, I could see the nervous pegasus jump with a soft gasp. "O-oh yes, how could I forget?" Picking up the basket by its' handle, Fluttershy lifted it up to me while taking another small step towards me. Seeing how Fluttershy wanted me to take it, I slowly took the basket in my hands with the utmost care. "Pinkie made you some cookies, but she forgot to bring them earlier today." Pulling back the fabric of the straw basket, I was met with quite the peculiar sight. A variety of cookies that looked an awful lot like people. Funny, they sort of reminded me of gingerbread men. It actually managed to pull a smile from my sleepless self.

"Well, I'll be dipped in frosting."

Taking one of the cookies and pulling it out, I showed one of the cookie people to Fluttershy happily. Playing with it like it was walking made her giggle. "Look, it's just like a little me." That wasn't an exaggeration either. The cookie person had everything that I did. Blue clothes, black hair, glasses, and even my shirt design. It was an exact cookie replica of me! How quaint.

"Pinkie always works hard on her baked goods. She wanted to make sure you enjoyed them."

Well, it looks like even I might have a few tricks to learn from Pinkie when it came to baking.

The thought popping in my head after taking my first bite, I tried not to speak with my mouth full. They were soft baked cookies. A little sweeter than I liked, but that didn't keep me from enjoying the first bit of real food I had gotten in literally days. I can only expect that I've been fed through a tube while staying here, so this was a nice change of pace. Thinking to myself for the moment, I gazed up at the ceiling before swallowing my cookie. "She did, did she?" I looked back down at Fluttershy partially confused. "I'm curious then; where is she to confirm this? Where is everyone else for that matter?" Innocently rolling her eyes at me, I could tell she was trying to already avoid the question.

"A-ah... I-I t-think that they went to..." She was trying her best to think up an excuse. "-see a play?"

What a terrible liar. She was almost worse that I was.

Leaning forward to put both elbows on my knees, I cupped my hands before resting my chin upon them with a smile.

"They had other plans, didn't they?"

A quiet 'Eep' came from Fluttershy after realizing that she had been found out. Recoiling back on her haunches, the pegasus lifted a forehoof to her chest while trying to keep the other planted firmly on the floor. It seemed my accurate assumption had taken her back quite a bit. "I'm so sorry! P-please don't be mad with them. It's not that they did not want to see you; they just wanted to have everything planned for you when you got back to Ponyville." So I take it that they never left the hotel? My guess was that the other five mares were sitting in a hotel room while Twilight made a list about everything that will be needed to be done. Boy, won't they have a fun night? I couldn't exactly dwell on the thought right now while Fluttershy was about to have a miniature freak-out; So easing my hands in a calming motion, I tried to keep everything relaxed.

"Hey, hey; it's fine. I understand completely."

By how the mares' eyes were beginning to well up with tears, I could see Fluttershy was on the verge of crying. The poor girl must have been a real sensitive one. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm alone most of the time so your company was well appreciated." Seeing how Fluttershy was sniffling, it seemed that I managed to calm her down at least somewhat. To try and keep her relaxed, I patted the area on the bench next to me as an invitation for Fluttershy to sit.

She took to it like moths to a flame.

Settling down beside me, Fluttershy leaned against my shoulder softly. She did her best to not look at me when speaking her next words.

"I'm used to being alone too..."

I wasn't exactly sure what I could say about that. Never having met someone who had usually been alone, this was a new experience for me. "Do you think..." Looking down at the floor from her seat, Fluttershy struggled to find the words she needed to say. "If you aren't able to go back to your home, I mean. Maybe you could make Ponyville your' home?" Bringing herself to look up from the floor at me, I could see the regret she had to her question almost instantly. Hanging her head back down, Fluttershy kept her eyes to the tiled floor. "Sorry, that was not a good question. I guess that I can be stupid enough to ask strange things like that..." Stupid? That wasn't stupid at all! How in Great Greens was something like that stupid? If anything it was the most sincere question I had heard for quite a while!

Wrapping an arm around Fluttershy, I pulled her close to my side. I could feel a spark in my belly being drowned out by a sea of sadness. "Please, don't ever call yourself that. You're not stupid." It felt like something was squeezing my heart to hear Fluttershy call herself stupid.

"You're so smart. Smarter than someone like me will ever be. Not only that, but you are kind, strong willed, and incredibly helpful. You saved my life, and now you even put aside time to come check on me. You're a good person, Fluttershy. You're not stupid in any way."

Releasing her from my hold on her, I let Flutteshy sit close to me in a sort of shocked stupor. I could see that it took some time, but Fluttershy made a speedy recovery from my actions. "To live in Poyville doesn't sound that bad though. All the ponies I met there seemed alright." I really did enjoy watching all of the ponies in Ponyville. They all seemed like nice people when they weren't carrying suspicions about me. Only trying to focus on positives though, I tried to deter my mind from this with a joke. "Except for that Nurse Redheart. She's kind of a buzz-kill." My words managed to bring a smile to Fluttershy, and that was enough for me. It felt nice to see her happy.

After a couple strokes on my beardless chin, I had begun to picture my life in Ponyville in my mind.

"Living there sounds nice. I think that I would enjoy it. I bet that I could even find an open apartment and a job, if I tried hard enough."

Yeah, I bet that could work out. I would have to live close to the girls so that they could teach me, so living in Ponyville was really the best option I had. "Um... Actually..." Even if she was speaking quietly, I could still hear Fluttershy clearly. I wasn't sure if it was just because of how quiet the hospital was, but it came through clear as a bell. "I was wondering if you would like to stay with me for a while; if it wouldn't be a bother, I mean." A little out of the blue, I was a little skeptical at first of this offer. Was Fluttershy really asking me to live with her? We barely even knew each other, and now she wanted me to stay in her home?

The time I spent to think about this may have been a little more than disheartening for Fluttershy by how it looked. Her hope filled eyes loosing their joy as her ears flopped down. Having looked away already, I was not having to look at such a sight. Instead, I watched the hallway wall somewhat concerned for any possibly answer. "Are you sure you want to do that?" Breaking Fluttershys despair, she kept silent to allow myself to speak. "We barely know each other, and I don't want to burden you." Having understood that my pause was not out of refusal but uncertainty, Fluttershy took one of my hands in her hooves.

"Jacob, you are the only pony I've met to do what you have in the time that I've known you. You allowed my voice to be heard when the world tried to shut me out. You carried me on your back when I was in need of assistance. I have not known you for very long, but I can see already that you have a beautiful heart. You are a kind, considerate, and caring individual that does not want to wish anything bad on anyone else."

In a thoughtful, quiet pause because of the words that were spoken to me, I could feel my body shiver not from cold but from the warmth that filled me at the moment. Holding my hand tighter than before between her hooves, Fluttershy gazed at the bandages that wrapped my fingers. "Don't feel like you would be a burden. I genuinely wish for you to come stay with me." My body kept still when Fluttershy looked up at me with her blue-green eyes that shimmered like an ocean. "You could keep me company, and I can do the same for you." Finally blinking when the pegasus released my hand, I kept my arm floating in place unsure what to do with it.

I flipped my hand over to stare into my empty palm, before slowly closing it gently. I then pressed the hand against my chest happily. With this action came a soft smile.

"That sounds wonderful, Fluttershy. I would love to."

Author's Note

Okay, so I sort of re-did the ending to this chapter, but I'll be gosh darned if it didn't make me feel all warm and cuddly inside!