Author's Note

This is a very short chapter, as it is only supposed to serve as the setup for the next chapter.

Hope you enjoy it regardless.

Yes, this was heavily inspired by a TV show. Bonus points if you know which one!

Among The Living

An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is an experience that typically involves a feeling of floating outside one's body and, in some cases, the feeling of perceiving one's physical body as if from a place outside one's body (autoscopy).

The term out-of-body experience was introduced in 1943 by George N. M. Tyrrell in his book Apparitions, and was adopted by researchers such as Celia Green and Robert Monroe as an alternative to belief-centric labels such as "astral projection", "soul travel", or "spirit walking". OBEs can be induced by brain traumas, sensory deprivation, near-death experiences, dissociative and psychedelic drugs, dehydration, sleep, and electrical stimulation of the brain, among others. It can also be deliberately induced by some. One in ten people have an OBE once, or more commonly, several times in their life.

Neuroscientists and psychologists regard OBEs as dissociative experiences arising from different psychological and neurological factors.

*Daring's P.O.V.*

"Zack? Hey, wake up kid." I say, patting my hoof against the side of his face. I gasp slightly as I notice a pool of red liquid forming under the back of his head. "No no no no, c'mon Zack." I say while shaking his shoulders.

"Ah! Zack!" I look up and see a purple un- um, alicorn running towards me.

"Hey, I remember you." I say, glancing up for a second. "Here, help me get his in the air. He needs to get to the hospital, now." I say sternly, wrapping my forelegs under his legs.

"Alright, I got him up here." She says, grabbing Zack under his arms. I nod and we both start to slowly rise into the air, grunting as we do so. Zack is much heavier than he looks, which isn't exactly a good thing for us right now.

"Whoa, what's going on!?" I look up again, and see my exact copy. Well, almost exact. She has a rainbow colored mane, and her coat is light blue, but other than that she's practically my twin. I remember this one all too well. Rainbow Dash is her name, a real fangirl.

"Grab his middle before we lose our grips!" I grunt as I put all of my strength into keeping Zack in the air. Rainbow nods and quickly dashes down under Zack, lifting up his torso. This relieves a ton of weight, allowing us to move him even quicker towards the hospital.

"Hang in there kid..." I mumble, hoping that somehow he might have heard me.

*Zack's P.O.V.*

"Wha?" I mumble, my eyes still closed. I don't want to open them. I'm afraid of what I might see if I do. I cover my face with my arms, only to realize that I'm no longer laying on the grass.

Going against my own will, I open my eyes slightly and see a white ceiling above me. I'm still on my back, sure, but I'm not outside anymore. Even weirder, I don't feel any pain, almost as if I was either healed by some miracle or I'm dead. I like the sound of option one much more than option two.

I roll over onto my stomach, pushing myself off the ground with my fists. I grunt as I do so, as it feels like I haven't moved in ages. I have to keep myself balanced by holding myself up against the wall, but I manage to stand up fully.

I decide to risk taking a look around me, and open my eyes all the way. At first, everything is a bright white, but eventually my eyes adjust to the room. I gasp as I realize I'm in a hospital room, although that fact isn't what surprises me. The weird part is, I woke up on the fucking floor, not to mention the room is completely empty save for a single bed up against the wall. Either I'm dreaming, or the service in this place is absolute shit.

Another thing I notice is that my clothes have changed. It's not like they're gone, but they have most certainly changed. I look down to see I am wearing a white shirt and white pants, completely free of any kinds of stains unlike my previous clothes.

"What the fuck?" I whisper to myself. I quickly rush out of the room, turning a corner and almost plowing into a nurse. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you and-" I start saying in a rushed, panicked tone only for the nurse to completely ignore me and keep walking past me. I gotta find a doctor or something, maybe they won't be as rude as these nurses.

I run down the hallway before running into a brown stallion wearing a lab coat and a set of glasses on top of his head.

"Excuse me, do you know who I am?" I ask the stallion, hoping he might know how I got here or why I was in an empty room when I woke up.

No response. He doesn't even look at me, but instead just walks away from me as if I said absolutely nothing at all. I lean back against a wall, breathing heavily from the sheer panic running through my body. Why is everyone ignoring me?

"Can any of you fuckers hear me!?" I yell in frustration, my vocal cords straining in my throat.

Nothing, not even a single glance. Alright, something's going on. I just have to find Twilight or something, she'll know what happened. I sprint towards the set of stairs across from the lobby where I'm currently standing. If the stairs are anything to go off of, I must be on the second floor of the building, because they only lead down from here.

I almost trip on the way down, but manage to refrain from breaking my neck, and enter the lobby on the bottom floor. I look around frantically, and just when I'm about to give up, I hear the front door open. I turn around to see Applejack and Rarity full on sprinting through the door, panicked looks on their faces. I watch silently as they run up to the front desk, but neither of them can see to get out a full sentence.

"Whoa whoa, girls, please calm down." The receptionist says to them. "Who are you looking for again?"

"Z-Za... He's a human, real tall fellow, brownish mane." Applejack says between labored breaths.

"O-Oh, he's down that hallway over there." She says, pointing down the hallway directly in front of me. Wait, what the fuck does she mean I'm down that hallway!?

"Thank you." Rarity says as they take off down the hallway. Alright, this is just getting downright freaky town. I decide to follow the two, curious yet frightened at what I might find. I take off in a sprint, just barely keeping up with them. Damn these ponies are fast!

They both turn into a room on the right, which throws me off guard as I go sliding past the door by several feet. I come to a stop, and quickly turn around, grabbing the edge of the door frame. I'm not sure if I want to know what's on the other side, but I'll have to find out eventually.

I peak around the corner of the door, and I swear I can feel my legs turn to jello at what I see.

I see my own body hooked up to God knows how many machines, lying in a bed surrounded by multiple ponies.

"How is he?" Applejack asks, getting everyone's attention.

"Not good." The, who I assume is the doctor, says to her. "He got into a nasty fight, and he's been out since."

"C'mon doc, it can't be that bad, he only took a couple of hits." Rainbow says as she hovers over my body.

"And it wouldn't be very serious if he hadn't hit his head so hard. He lost a lot of blood Mrs. Dash."

"Well, is he going to be okay?" Daring asks, taking her hat off and holding it against her chest.

"To be honest... I don't know. He could wake up now, tonight, next week, or... well, there's a chance he may never wake up." The doctor explains slowly. "We'll do what we can, but we can't promise anything."

"Do what you can!? He's gonna die, you have to fix him!" Rainbow shouts at the doctor, getting right in his face. He goes to respond, but I stop listening as I look back over to my body.

"What in the name of all things holy is that!?" I yell to myself. Hovering above my body is... Ugh, it's hard to describe. I'd say it's like a green, ghostly figure that looks kind of like a beat up old woman. Apparently, nobody in the room sees it. Either that or ghosts are a normal thing around here.

The ghost touches a ghastly fingers right on my chest where my heart is, and all hell breaks lose. The heart rate monitor suddenly goes flatline, and all the ponies in the room start to panic. A sharp pain suddenly pierces my chest, causing me to grip the area with my hand. God, where the hell are Sam and Dean when you need them?

"I ain't dying today." I grunt. I lunge forward at the ghost, tackling it off my body. I land on the floor on the other side, having practically phased through the thing. I look up, and see it staring at me. Not at my body, but actually staring at ME. This thing can see me, even when the others can't. The things leans towards me, and lets out a hellish scream before vanishing into what I'd describe to be a poof of smoke. Between heavy, labored breaths I'm able to mumble out one thing, and one thing only.

"What... the actual... fuck..."