Ellie woke up with a massive migraine that rejected the fact light was shining in her room. Her eyes were clamped shut so that they wouldn't hurt so much. This was all before she realized she was sleeping on the most comfortable bed she's ever been in. By God it felt good just to feel something so soft. Curiosity killed the cat right? Ellie's eyes forced themselves open enough to see where she was. Sitting up in the bed, Ellie scanned the room, finding it so clean, lush with color, amazing looking furniture.

"Fuck, did I die?" Ellie asked herself, finding such a scene too unbelievable for her.

"No, but you are very ill." A deep voice hummed from her right.

Ellie's head shot to the right and saw a brass colored horned horse with gray mane. His teal eyes studied her before looking away with an almost uncertain gaze at the door. "How'd I not see you before!?"

"I make myself invisible to allow you to wake peacefully. Once you said something, my spell broke."

"Spell? What's that?"

The horse raised a brow then shook his head. "Never mind, allow me to introduce myself. I am Doctor Sano Victus, although you may call me Sano or Dr. Victus, and like I said just a few seconds ago, 'you are very ill'."

Ellie's eyes closed as she gave a sigh. Her body relaxing into the bed as air escaped her lungs in a long drawn out breath. "Yeah, I know. No biggy."

" 'No biggy'?! Miss, you are infected with an unknown spore and were placed under quarantine until we found you to be safe. This was six days ago."

"I'm fine, trust me. It won't get any worse because I'm immune."

"Fascinating! This must explain why it does not show any growth in the blood we drew from you! Are all of your kind immune to this like you?" The doctor felt the air around him grow cold from Ellie's sad expression growing on her face.

"No...I'm....I'm one of a few but....Humans are on the verge of extinction in just twenty years...J-Joel told me only about ten percent of humans are left...in the entire world." Ellie actually found herself chuckling. "F-funny thing is, those of us left keep on killing each other. Heck, I wonder now if I'm dead. Pft...I almost hope I am."

Dr. Victus stood up and walked over. A long flexible black tube and metal circle hung from his neck down to his hands. She forgot the name of it, but he closed in on her chest. Ellie moved away from it and looked at him with a death glare. "Ma'am, I'm only checking your pulse. I will not disclose any information about whom or what you are. It's oath all doctors take seriously." Ellie relaxed enough for him to rest it right on her sternum, then moved it to her left breast, then her right.

"One heart, pulse and breath seem normal when one is waking up in shock." He tried his best to lift the mode while staying professional. "To be quite honest with you Ma'am, I've already done checks on you six times over. I was calculating a rough range in which your heart banks and which rises."

"Ellie."

"Ma'am?" Dr. Victus asked.

"My name...is Ellie." Ellie took a few breaths and tried her best to relax. "I remember check-ups at the academy. Mrs....Mrs...Sedna..Mrs. Sedna was my doctor, her and I were close friends before I ran away."

"Ah, well, try to indulge that information to a psychiatrist. I'm afraid I'm not very good at dealing with emotions quite well. I wish you the best of luck, but I now must go inform Princess Celestia that you are awake! Goodnight Ma'am."

"Wait!" Ellie shouted out as he moved towards the door. "Where am I?"

"You are on the Planet Equus, Equestria is in which you now reside."All thoughts moved to how cool this was, quickly to how awful this meant. Just as she was about to say something he raised a hand. "I'm sorry Ms. Ellie, but there are questions you are about to ask, that I have no answer to. I'm only a low level unicorn, I could care less about how much deep magic that goes into all this, and so I don't have the answers you look for.....I'm truly sorry if you lost anypony very important to you."

Dr. Victus left with the door carefully shut to hold no emotions after his encounter, but he left post haste to the awaiting princess who currently held court. Since the sun was still up, Princess Celestia held the rights, laws, and regulations. Regulation stated he must contact her. As soon as he veered left on a corner, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He cared not for his materials if they fell off, this moment was important. He didn't have the magic to teleport but he did have enough to help him run if just a little faster by keeping himself balanced as he tilted his body forward to reduce drag.

In only five minutes of strait sprinting did he arrive at the court room doors. At long last he was gasping for air, regretting he ran rather quickly. He stepped onward and the doors opened on their own. Luckily the court hadn't begun its procedures for transition to the Night Court, represented by Princess Luna.

"Your Highness!" Dr. Sano called out running into large cathedral styled hall. At the end of it Celestia sat with her younger sister.

"We assume you give us good news?" Luna calls out. "The Human is awake and well?"

"M-more or less your highness...."

Celestia leaned forward. "Of the spores we found in her? Is that why she is not well?"

He gave a swift nod. "Yes, she has a bite mark on her forearm, which is why you found her wearing a long sleeved shirt. I have a good clue what resides within my patient."

"Due tell." Luna gave the order.

Dr. Victus took a deep breath in and thought for a second. 'This will change the world'. "I declare that she is right and well, but also that she should be placed under the protected species list and then placed under quarantine until we develop a vaccine."

"Are you saying the spore she carries will kill her?"

"N-no...Not at all. She even cleared this up herself, stating it must have mutated inside of her and became non-aggressive but could be for us. There are very few spores we know of that react the way they do, but less than ten percent of her species remains, which places her under the endangered watch list. The fact she is the only human on record in Equestria puts her in Facing Extinction." His somber words reached the princesses deeply.

"We will grant you the access needed to cure her, but unless she makes another pony sick until that time we cure her, we will not strip her rights away. Like you have said, she is infected, but I know for fact how diseases work." Luna stated. "Everypony who's worked within the castle would be infected by now."

"Take time to study this fungus and report any findings that lead towards a cure. Go see Master Scribe, Easy Words he'll know what to do." Celestia gave him a paper with an order on it. "Have a goodnight my little pony."

"Pleasant dreams!" Luna smiled.

Ellie wished that weird horse doctor didn't need to leave. She really didn't understand what was going on. She was feeling everything and it was so very real to her. She clutched her chest just now noticing how clean she looked, and how she was in a hospital gown again. Luckily she was still alive but how'd the fuck she get her was left to be unanswered. She sat up and looked around for her clothes. They sat across the room on a very clean oak dresser. She hopped up and swung off her gown like it was a leaf.

She put everything on in a jiffy, just pants, socks, shirt, and done. Now all that was left were her shoes. Ellie studied her clean clothes more now that they were on her. They felt so clean, so snug and...weird. She actually shuttered at the thought. These things looked brand new to her. No blood stains, dirt marks, hell, even the holes in her Jak and Daxter shirt were gone. Her pants more so, they looked longer and more flush where she could actually move in them without hurting her. These were almost as strange as the weird as the strange blue see though clothes that were laying atop her own clothes.

Never mind that though. She decided to take a look at the bookcase filled with fresher looking books. She took one off the shelf, "Bandits and Band-aids: How to Survive the Wild West?" Ellie read aloud to herself then moved on to the next one. "Daring Do: The Crystal Hoof? These all sound so cheesy..."

"I'm sorry our books aren't to your liking." A soft spoken voice rang in her ear. She did a full one-eighty to see who had just suddenly spoken. It was the second time this had happened. Standing nearly two feet over her own five-ten, stood a very proud and stern looking horse-woman thing. Only she had wings and a horn like the smaller blue and violet ones. "Oh, sorry." Now she had shrunken down to her own height, which was a strange sight to behold. "My name is Princess Celestia, it is a pleasure to see that you are finally awake."

"Ellie, um...Do I need to bow? Um...Your Highness?"

Celestia giggled softly and grabbed one of Ellie's hands. Celestia's hands were covered in fur but it felt so soft one could barely tell. "No, you are not a citizen but a guest here in Canterlot."

"I thought I was in Equestria? Oh! This is like some capitol. Am I in a castle?"

She smiled. "Yes, you have slept in the medical ward for six days now. You had a major shock suddenly arriving, but it seems you've slept it all off. Oh how I am glad, I was worried if you hurt yourself too bad."

Ellie scoffed, shoving off Celestia's remark. "Thanks, but I'm tougher than I look, Your Highness. I've been though some deep shit, traveled far and wide to cure humanity. Only to find out the government wants to let the infected kill us off while they're hold up somewhere safe."

"How'd you come to that? Surely your own kind would do such a thing?"

"Joel told me it all. How after they were before they tried to kill me in my sleep only for him to fight through three floors of Fireflies to get to me."

Celestia was taken aback by her off handed remarks about her own kind, trouble was soaked deep within this human female. "I-I...." How was she so at a loss for words, was it the despair in Ellie's voice? "How about we grab a bite to eat. You look too skinny for it to be healthy."

"Food?!" Ellie nearly ran before she could realize that Celestia had to take her there, or wherever they went to eat. "How much!?"

Celestia was having trouble maintaining a smile if it not were just a little touch of magic to keep it that way. "As much as you'd like. You are a guest."

Celestia and Luna sat in their chairs slack jawed to all hell as they stared with a mix of horror and curiosity as how the ever living fuck she managed to scarf down six pounds of food already. She started to slow down at four, but she had eaten so much it was a wonder where she put it all without her stomach all bulgy.

"H-how?" Celestia tried to grasp it, oh, how she tried without her horn flaring up because she accidentally used magic. "Where in Luna's wide space do you put that?!"

"No where I know of..." Luna huffed, annoyed at the big butt joke thrown at her by her elder sister.

"Hush you." Celestia said to Luna. "

"I'm just to eating as much as I can as fast as I can so I can have energy to keep walking." Ellie shrugged, wiping off the sauce on her lips. "Guess I should save some for you guys."

"No, we have our meals, you have yours. Ellie, please eat until you cannot anymore. What isn't it fed to orphans."

"What about Infected?"

The sisters looked at one another, then back at Ellie. Luna asked, "Do you mean the humans that were infected with the spore that is inside you?" Ellie nodded. "We have cures for many fungi, viruses, bacterium alike. We do not have the problem your species faces."

She paused, trying to process all this information. Placing down her silverware, she covered her eyes and sighed deeply. "Okay...Okay, so now I'm in Horse-Land, and there's not even a single infected. Don't know if I should cheer for joy, or cry..."

There was a long silence, Ellie's hunger long since vanished. She stood up and began to walk towards the hall doors. Just as she touched them, she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Please, Ellie...we need to talk about how long you'll be staying as a guest."

"Can I go back?"

"We have my star pupil Twilight asked the Spirit, Discord. He knows much of inter-dimensional travel. If he doesn't know a way home for you, then there isn't." Celestia said, trying to give Ellie hope. "Please, Ellie, do not let yourself get down. As strange as he is, he is very skilled in magic. But also, we must prepare should he be unable to aid in your return home."

"This...Discord guy...he a human-horse like you?"

Celestia stepped forward, smiling gently at Ellie. "No, he is a serpent-like being consisting of many different animals. And while we are similar in analog, we prefer to be called 'Ponies'. Guards, please take Ellie to the gardens for some air." She ordered and on her command two stepped up. "Luna will see you to your chambers later, for now, get some air, I'm sure you need it."

Ellie gave a sigh then nodded. "Yeah, think so too."

Celestia's hands clapped together. "Wonderful. Please, try to cheer up. We will work hard to help you home."

"I hope so too." Ellie departed.

"Was I too harsh?" Celestia asked, her attention moving to her sister.

Luna shook her head. "You where honest with her. There is a possibility Discord is unable aid her. We can't leave that out of her future."

"I'd like to get started on integration, just...just in case."

"Goodnight sister, I shall see you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Luna." Celestia said while she watched her sister walk off. "Okay ponies...let's make this last one count."

Author's Note

This is what a night of insomina and pot will do to you. Do drugs m'kay. 8/29/16

PS: I was saying goodnight to myself.