“Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.”

― Marcus Tullius Cicero

A few more days had passed since the night Karn had experienced the worst of his nightmares. To the medical curiosity of the staff at Ponyville Hospital, his condition seemed to improve tremendously after the night the guards had been forced to enter the room. He had at least been able to rest peacefully - with almost no sign of the horrific visions that had been plaguing his few sleeping hours.

Precisely what had happened that night was a mystery. Whatever had actually transpired, after spending a good quarter of an hour being comforted by Fluttershy, he'd finally slid off into a deep sleep. Aside from the additional rest the patient was getting, his fever also finally broke. As a side effect of the greater rest and genuinely reinvigorating sleep, he had also started to become a good deal more lucid.

Lucidity was not necessarily all that he had envisaged it being.

He'd seen many instances where the wounded had recovered from wounds that were nearly mortal. The victims had however awoken to friends and the realization that for the time being their existence and self awareness were likely to continue. They'd had the relief of discovering they were within a world that made sense to them, or at least did to a degree. As their comprehension returned, they'd returned to a place where at least those caring for them were the same species. Lucidity for Karn had not proven to be quite so much of a happy homecoming.

It felt as if he had attempted to walk through a revolving door, been slammed repeatedly in the head by the mechanism, then thrown blindly out the other side to discover he was still in the full and confusing grip of a psychosis. It felt that his id was now cemented in a world that was still impossible for the rest of him to comprehend. Those first few days had been the one protracted game of 'questions'. Where was he, who were these mysterious ponies, was he confused due to some kind of traumatic brain injury.

Ponies. Ponies that were not only sapient but exceptionally intelligent - and they were vocal. These were creatures that seemed mystical. He had still not determined that trusting his physical well being to talking horses was a sensible thing to do. Although these equines did seem to be very erudite and the medical 'staff' (if indeed a lot of brumbies called themselves such) certainly seemed to know their business, there was always the nagging logical argument in the back of his mind that he had his health now almost entirely entrusted to magical ponies.

He did admit that he felt rather attached to the one calling herself Fluttershy, for the care he hesitantly admitted she had shown him whilst he was at his worst. He had learnt from some of his other visitors that she had actually held something of a bedside vigil for him. He recalled his first day where he had finally gained enough muscular dexterity to feed himself and managed to spill a good deal of his food down the front of his shirt. To his astonishment, she had cleaned him, and then - to his still greater surprise - she had actually helped to feed him.

She had wiped the mess from his shirt, apologizing as if it had been her fault he had been so clumsy, then proceeded to raise a spoon of whatever it was the medical equines had insisted he eat to his mouth. It was a strange gesture. His logical mind told him that this made sense, since if he were to feed himself in his feeble state, he was likely to starve. It was the genuine, concerned, caring manner in which she had committed this simple act. It was at once kind, thoughtful, practical and strangely comforting - superlatives he had not had a good deal of use for over the years. In point of fact, he found himself actually stunned and involuntarily gazed up at the pink and yellow pegasus who was trying in earnest to introduce him to some manner of sustenance.

He fixed his eyes on her, incredulously, unsure of what to say. She was doing this out of pure kindness, not out of obligation - there was no NCO standing behind her, barking orders.

"You should eat this. It's not the nicest tasting food, but it will help," she had insisted quietly. Glancing across to him, she had noticed his eyes fixed on her, unblinking, his face showing signs of astonishment. "I'm sorry," she had whispered, turning away from his gaze. She was blushing! Did ponies blush, he wondered? Clearly this one did. He was curious to know why she seemed so nervous.

"I ... no, it's ... it's okay. I'm still tired ... Well, I'm not used to anyone caring about me like this. Please. It's okay," he had whispered to her as gently as he could. His care taker continued to blush and hide behind the most astonishing pink mane. Karn turned his attention back to the bowl of the bran like substance that the medics had insisted he eat. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare ... I just, well ..... I'm not used to anyone being so gentle," he whispered apologetically. His bed side carer slowly slid out from behind her mane and after some very quiet introductions, she had helped him consume the first food he'd had since arriving in this place.

As she was leaving, he gently called after her. "Fluttershy?" His quiet nursemaid turned to face him, somewhat nervously. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"Oh! You're welcome," she smiled, before leaving with the remainder of the meal.

Once the most awful period of the fever had passed and he began to be able to consume food again, there had been a great number of questions from the curious medical staff about what kinds of food he could recall eating from wherever he was. They had already determined that humans were omnivores, having teeth that were obviously evolved towards consuming animal products, but also for vegetable matter and other organic food stuffs. In concern for his continued improvement, they had been able to commence with what amounted to a very bland diet.

It was following a meal of a similar kind of bran cereal as Fluttershy had helped him with, mixed with with milk and a good amount of sugar, that Karn found himself lying upright in his bed. He felt exhausted but at least in better control of his faculties, 'or the few I may have left,' he thought forlornly. 'I am being fed bran cereal by ponies,' he managed a chuckle.

He thought back over the steady procession of characters who had come to pay him a visit. Sometimes, it was business - medical students, or so he gathered, come to study the 'beast'. Some higher ranking medical staff had arrived from some place they called 'Canterlot' to observe him as well. Karn had been confused but still tried to reconcile his current situation using what senses he had. He tried to be straight forward in his answers to their interminable questioning. He was obviously a curiosity to these mysterious ponies. He was a rare specimen, perhaps? He wondered if a zoo was the next stop following a full recovery. 'Wonderful - I can be parked on a tree, taking a shit, for the entire world to observe,' he thought to himself.

The other visitors aside from the plethora of medics, nurses, medical scientists (or their equestrian equivalent) performing some simple tests, there were ... well, the others. The sweet, quiet one he recognized from the worst of his experiences as being his savior was of course Fluttershy. She was just a miracle. She seemed genuinely concerned about how he was doing, and as his perception of reality improved, he felt ever more touched by her gentle attention.

Then there was the strange purple one, an alicorn he supposed - the one called 'Twilight'. That one was not part of the medical crew, but clearly had some academic interest in him. She had so many questions on so many different topics. Whenever they had conversed, the topics were wide ranging. She had a mind that appeared to be belt-fed, sharp, highly analytical, and more than once he'd had to ask her to stop and let him rest as the inquisition was causing the inside of his mind to begin screaming. Her demeanor and intellect made Karn wonder if there were games of strategy in this 'Equestria' they kept telling him he was lying within.

Then - and he sighed quietly, gazing at the remnants of the rather bland but very appreciated breakfast they had given him - the crazy one. He rocked his head gently from side to side, pondering whether that was the correct adjective, before deciding it was unfair. She wasn't insane as such, but she was clearly very excitable. She didn't seem to exhibit aphasias, word salad or looping, but she did speak at a rather incredible pace at times and on a wide range of subjects. The gentle reprobation delivered her way had informed him that her name was 'Pinkie Pie' which sorted well with her overall color. He gathered that she was indeed the party animal of the many he had met, which made a lot of sense given her bubbly and effusive manner. In some ways he enjoyed her visits immensely for the sheer hilarity, however he found himself often unable to bare those glorious moments for long without needing rest. So she was exciting yet exhausting.

Another of the frequent visitors was the 'Applejack' one. Her persona seemed very down to earth. She exhibited a strange dialect, clearly a derivative of the language they all somewhat miraculously spoke. She used colloquialism a great deal, and he would often have to politely interpose at the end of one of her sentences to query her as to their meanings. Much of this had been telling in itself - these were often exclamations that related to farming, and as this was his family's chosen business on his home planet, he felt a certain amount of hope that this was maybe something he could help with. He felt like she was the only visitor who received more questions from him, than she had asked of him. She called him 'sir' and then 'sugar cube!' He enjoyed her earthiness and straight forward thinking.

How could he forget - the fashion obsessed one. 'Rarity' he recalled being her moniker. She had been a little nervous at first, but had worked up the courage to question him about the clothing and type of material he had 'arrived' in. There wasn't a great deal he could say beyond what he had been able to tell the academically intense one. On arrival he was in standard battle dress, mostly neoprene, Kevlar, rip-stop and such as far as he knew. She appeared somewhat unimpressed with his uniform - which was that of a rather high ranking and very decorated order adept. She had offered to help him with new clothes 'more appropriate, darling!' once he was out and about from the hospital. He had expressed his thanks, which to his own surprise were heartfelt. A memory of the etiquette from his own 'home' came back to him. Offering as best a bow as his bed would allow, he offered as such to this clearly very gifted and generous artisan, he spoke as clearly as his broken ribs would allow him.

There was of course also the rather athletic one calling herself 'Rainbow Dash'. At first she had very nearly been openly hostile to him, for reasons he wasn't clear about. Using his adept senses - which had slowly been returning to him - he did not sense any direct threat from this one, but the look on her face and the tone of her voice informed him that she was deeply wary. Trying to reassure her that his only intention at this stage was to attempt to determine what had happened to him seemed to calm her a little. But her parting words one day as he lay back on his bed - 'I'll be watching you!' - told him that she would be a hard one to convince that he did in fact mean nobody any harm. He had only the basest, simplest comprehension of where he was. Given that these creatures had been prepared to bring him in and offer him all the help they could muster to save his life, it should have been obvious that they were not a threat to him.

And so he had progressed from medical curiosity, to a subject of study, to a gentle invalid, thence to being a 'sugar cube' and finally very nearly a threat.

He decided that he should keep a tight rein on his adept power and not give away any of those secrets. He wasn't sure what a demonstration of shielding, time dilation and telekinesis would do. The idea of demonstrating his ability to absorb and change forms of energy, and indeed to use that energy he stored for weapons he felt best to keep secret. Adepts were born with these extraordinary abilities. Some had moderate skill at manipulating energy, then there were others with greater proficiency. Secondary master adepts could utilize energy to move small objects or they specialized in particular areas. He had risen to the rank of a secondary master through constant practice and work on his specific competencies - manipulating time and shielding. Primary master adepts were astonishing - they were few, but exercised incredible power. Their ability to move objects through telekinesis was often used to physically tear opponents apart on the battle field, and others could incinerate enemy combatants if they ventured close enough.

The creatures he was surrounded by were very peaceful. Given that their only means to hold him here had thus far been armored ponies with spears, a show of such power may in fact find him being set upon by all and sundry. Besides, who knew what else these creatures had at their disposal? The tactically sensible thing to do would be to keep his cards close to his chest, at least until he was able to ascertain more about what had happened to him.

They seemed kind, concerned and genuinely wishing him the best for recovery. Karn hoped the rest of the inhabitants of this world were similarly minded. Sighing, he took a drink of what he was told was 'apple cider'. It was apparently something of a specialty from the pony who was running the farm. He wasn't entirely sure what kind of berry, vine or fruit an apple was, but the drink was very pleasant. Military rations generally didn't consist of much more than powdered pseudo flavors added to water. Most of Karn's friends and comrades would just boil the packets to make a kind of tea, and then make sure they consumed enough water to keep hydrated.

As his strength slowly returned, he felt a new found determination to find out what was happening to him, why it had happened to him, and precisely where the hell he was in comparison to his own home world.

Author's Note

This is the point at which Karn is starting to slowly come to terms with the fact that something astounding has happened. I suspect he does not feel that he has "died" but that something related to the experiences he had on his own world are very much tied to why he is where he is now.

On a side note, there almost appear to be a few puns interspersed through the text - this was NOT intentional.

AFTER EDIT 2017-03-20

I tried to expand a little here on what adepts are and how they fit into the picture. There wasn't quite so much cruft to clean up and it wasn't too sugary.