Double Trouble

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( v-- Dovanies)

“Huh? What the hell happened?” I woke up, looking at the ceiling and hardly able to shift my vision from it. While attempting to grasp the surrounding environment, I figured out that I was bound into the bed I lay on. Angrily, I tried to break free, but it was no use. There was no light at all except a lamp on the other side of the room. I hear the sounds of hooves on the floor again - reminiscent of earlier when that nurse-pony scared me shitless. Sure enough, that same nurse came cantering through the doorway with an almost business-like air.

“Hello,” the pink-haired pony said. “I trust you know why you’re in bindings, right?” I glared at her without reply. “No? Well.. the doctors and I found you to be too volatile to be left unrestricted.” Volatile? No shit, I have no idea where I am and I’m talking to you... and you’re replying.

“Sorry to say but until you behave yourself, you are to remain here and rest.” I struggled to get the bindings off of me but to no avail. “So, I’ll be back later to check on you. Please, we are just trying to help you. If you behave, we will lose your bindings and you will get to leave.” I thought about what she said. She sounded sincere and looking back, I acted pretty dumb when she was just trying to help. I must have scared her out of her wits - I feel like a complete ass.

“I’ll be going now. If you can control yourself, I’ll let you meet another patient with a similar anatomy to yours.” Similar anatomy! Does she mean another human? Has to be. He probably knows something - probably knows something about how we got here.

“Nurse, wait!” I called out to her but she had already closed the door. “I need to get out of this. Stat. Instead of pointlessly struggling against the bindings again, I took a closer look and saw that these were belts. How these.... ‘ponies’ buckled me in without fingers is another story but for now I saw that the belts were wrapped around the frame. It looked like my struggling loosened them a bit but they were on pretty well.

However, there was one fatal flaw these ‘ponies’ forgot to take into account - They put one buckle right next to my left hand. I was home-free by now. I took my thumb and shoved into the ‘inside part’ of the buckle and lifted the belt. It was working, I took my index and middle fingers and started pulling the belt out. This was tedious as hell due to the rough texture of the belt but I managed to unbuckle the damn thing. “Checkmate...” The belt holding my arms was off and I hastily removed the others holding down the rest of my body.

“I have really good fingers.” I said to myself. Sometimes my skinny stature and bony hands can come in handy. I was free at last. I regained full control over my limbs. I stretched my arms and legs and bended my tired back which resulted in a satisfying crack.

I opened the door and peeked out into barren hallway. It was empty, for now. I stepped outside and closed the door, careful not to slam it. I started to walk down the hallways, peeking around corners whenever I reached one. There were some patrols out but I was quiet enough for them not to notice. I stopped for a quick break to collect my thoughts and think about my next move.

“All right, let’s review: I may have not died in a violent car crash, I am in a hospital that is being run by cartoon ponies, I may be hallucinating, and I there probably is another human here.” I ran all these things through my head but they only served to make things worse for me. Why am I here? I should be in Heaven or Purgatory or whatever, not in a cartoon! Maybe this was my consciousness creating this world. Quite unlikely since I was tackled and sedated - I could still feel that sting in my neck.

“Where the hell is Nurse Redheart?” a voice said, out of the blue. My ears perked up like a deer who just heard a lion about to maul him to death. I turned to my right and down the hallway and I saw this.... human in a tuxedo - what are the odds? I got up and sprinted toward the guy, ecstatic to meet another of my kind and bombard him with questions. However, my converse begged to differ and I tripped and fell right near him.

Crash!

Er.. not the best way to introduce myself.

The guy in the monkey suit put a hand in front of my face. I hesitated for a moment, still formulating some kind of plan. Then I took his hand and used his support to rise back to my feet. I step back from him in preparation for my attack - I quickly tackle the other human and grab his shoulder, pushing him roughly to the wall. While I hadn’t intended to really harm him, he still let out a yelp thanks to the force behind the push. I quickly begin thinking of my next move.

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( v-- Shadonies )

The ceiling was dark. Er, the ceiling was the first thing I saw when I woke up, anyways. Looking around the familiar setting from earlier that day, I noticed how much easier it was for me to move my head around with less pain. Experimenting, I sat up in the hospital bed. A slight twinge in my spine, but otherwise it felt pretty normal. Invigorated with my ability to move around once more, I quickly stood out of the bed and jogged in place for a few seconds, then stopped again. Just a little winded, but that was to be expected. Otherwise, my recovery was superb! This hospital’s inhabitants were either extremely talented or I was actually in Equestria - where magic could handle most major problems if used in enough of a proportion. Being in Equestria was still too big of an idea for my mind in that moment, so I went with ‘talented’.

I can’t quite relate to you how relieved and thankful I felt in those silent moments alone with myself in that hospital room. Stretching my limbs and cracking both my knuckles and neck, it felt good to be mobile! I walked right out of the door, with no resistance whatsoever, rubbing the back of my neck - the cracking hurt a bit. Continuing along some stretches of hallway, I peered in the connected rooms occasionally - all of the other patients seemed to be ponies. Shaking my head, I wondered, once again, whether I was still hallucinating or if it was all actually the truth. I started to jog lightly, getting back into the feel of my appendages. Occasionally, there were stairs. I went down, but it appeared to go nowhere special.

“This sucks. I can’t find the exit, I can’t find the nurse, and I can’t find any other sign of life aside from the sleeping patients.”

In short, I got completely lost. Pathetic, isn’t it, to get lost in a hospital? Wandering around, I started to wonder if I would get to see the night sky outside. Maybe I could ask a nurse or doctor if one ever showed up.. but that was the problem, since my initial encounter with the nurse-pony, I had met no-one else. I didn’t think that the possibility of finding her again was very large, either. So I just walked around for a bit, fruitlessly searching for the exit and only confusing myself more in the process.

When I finally saw a light, it was just an empty office whose owner must have vacated the building. Disappointed, I kept searching the surrounding rooms and hallways. At night, hospitals could really be confusing. And creepy. Putting my hand up to my chin, I asked myself aloud, “Where the hell is Nurse Redheart..?”

Suddenly, I heard this actual stepping sound from behind me - not like hooves from earlier! Turning around, I saw a fellow human in a full black outfit. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness, so even though he blended in well, I still saw as the guy came at me as I raised my hands in defense - but he fell flat on his face right in front of me. Realizing my hands were still held up, I dropped my defense and looked at the dude. I kneeled in front of him and held my hand out, asking, “Would you like some assistance, bro?”

After a second’s hesitation, the guy grabbed my hand and leaned forward as I helped his ascent onto his feet again. Once he’s all the way up, he steps back and lifts his eyes up to meet mine. In a moment, he lunges at me and grabs me by the shoulders, forcing me to the wall and inciting a yelp out of me. I’m a little dazed for a few seconds.