Rather Short Helicopter Ride
“AAAAAAA!” That was the last thing that escaped from the mouth of the woman Henry was tricked into thinking was his wife, as she plummeted towards the earth from a helicopter a few hundred feet in the air. The resulting silence gave Henry some time to think about the past 16 or so hours, he wasn’t really sure how much time had elapsed between waking up with half of his limbs missing and witnessing them being re-attached by Estelle, to where he was now. It seemed as if it all took less than two hours, but the sun was rising when he and Estelle crash landed on that freeway, and now it was the dead of night, with stars dotting the dark sky and the moon giving off it’s all too familiar glow.
Henry had found a seat on the hard metal flooring of the helicopter’s interior, and began to think critically about his situation thinking it would be good to start from the top. His name was Henry yet that’s all he knew himself by, no last name to be remembered. Hopefully that would change as soon as that memory block went away thanks to that device Jimmy used on him. He was also brought back from the dead and was given bio-medically engineered enhancements to make him superhuman or at least a few ticks above-average in terms of strength, speed, endurance and overall athleticism.
Henry had also made a few friends along the way, at least he thought, until he caught on that they were all named Jimmy and were exact clones of James, a scientist who previously worked under Akan and was one of the major reasons why Henry was where he was now. Being honest Henry was gonna miss him, even though Jimmy was the reason for as to how Akan was able to bring Henry back from the dead. Yet in the end, they were both in the same boat, “Wronged by Akan.” as Jimmy put it.
But what Henry was most concerned about was what he was going to do about the blood currently making it’s way out of his body, his parting gift from Estelle. It was just now that Henry had begun to register the searing pain of the bullets as they sizzled in his upper body, and the couple of broken ribs that the bullets probably caused once inside his chest. It all came rushing in at once, like a flash flood of pure pain, so much pain that it caused Henry to pass out. But before he went deaf and blind to the world, he saw that the red interior light that was once stable, began flashing erratically and a rather loud siren began wailing, it appeared that the helicopter was losing control. Estelle must have hit the pilot with that stray round, and with her rather horrendous aim, it wouldn’t surprise Henry in the least.
The fact that he was dying put a smile on Henry’s face, as he would most likely be dead before the helicopter hit the ground. Henry was content, because at least he was dying a hero’s death as he stopped what would have likely caused World War 3 by killing Akan, Estelle, and their army of “Cyber Soldiers”. After all Henry had been through, he took solace where he could. Finished with his final thoughts, Henry slowly began to succumb to the darkness and silence, as he felt the helicopter dip downwards and heading towards the ground.
It was a day like any other, for there was the usual fare, birds singing harmonically, the sun’s rays barely peeking from above the horizon and ponies waking up for another day of work, play or leisure, business as usual. At least until the sound of an explosion sounded from the Everfree Forest, waking up a certain yellow pegasus from her slumber with a start, sending her up into the air and causing her to hit her head painfully on one of the exposed rafters above her bed.
“Ow! What was that?!” Fluttershy asked to no one in particular, as she rubbed the sore spot on her head with a hoof.
After the pain from her impact had subsided, Fluttershy moved toward the window nearest the Everfree Forest. Upon seeing what the window had to show, Fluttershy stepped back, not believing the sight before her. A large cloud of black smoke rose from the forest indicating that something was burning, all of this chaos seemed not too far from her cottage. The sight sent her mind into a frenzy as she thought of all of the animals that could be hurt by the flames if it happened to spread.
She grabbed her big, and bright orange field first aid kit, just in case there was more than one injured animal, and set off towards the rising flames. But as she neared the fire, she saw that there was no chance of the flames spreading as it seemed whatever was on fire had landed in a river and was slowly being put out by the rushing water. But what perplexed Fluttershy was what was on fire, as she had never seen anything like it. Its shape reminded Fluttershy of a dragonfly, but scaled up to a monstrous size. She went in for a closer look at the object, now that the flame had died out considerably. That was when a clothed appendage shot out of the water with great speed.
Henry woke from his not-so-eternal slumber with a jump as he felt his surroundings shake and heard the metal chassis groan while water sounded like it was rushing by. It was then that Henry felt heat, it started out small and slowly got hotter and hotter, until it felt that he was on the inside of an oven set to broil. It caused Henry to open his eyes, once open he noticed that his balance was off as the helicopter was trying to stand at a 45 degree angle with it’s nose down. Henry got up in order to look for a way out, and it didn’t take long. The door he chucked Akan’s head through and the one he slammed on Estelle was the only way, but there was a problem as it was now under 6 feet of water.
That number was rising fast as the water made it’s way up to Henry, which prompted Henry to jump into the rising pool of water and escape. As Henry reached the door he pulled with all he could but simply couldn’t get it to budge, so he turned and prepared to give the door a kick with his cybernetically enhanced leg. His oxygen was slowly beginning to diminish, so with a swift and hard kick the door popped off and was sent down to the dark depths of whatever body of water he was in.
With a way out, Henry swam for all he was worth toward the surface of the water, lungs burning, and on the brink of passing out from blood loss, no oxygen, general lack of rest and his body being beat and shot into a literal bloody pulp. Bright light filled his vision as he neared the surface, he couldn’t tell if it was the sun, or if whatever god who cared brought him back to life just to have him die again, after having a change of heart and welcoming him to heaven. Either option was good enough for Henry, but he wished whatever god who was watching over him would just make up his damn mind.
And with one last motion, Henry breached the surface with an outstretched hand, before slipping beneath the water once more. It seemed like a cruel joke, but at least now he would die for sure, so Henry, in his acceptance, took in big gulps of the cold water around him, quickening the inevitable. That familiar blackness encroaching his vision once more before finally losing consciousness.
Upon closer inspection, the appendage appeared to belong to a human, as it ended with a hand sporting five fingers. The fingers twitched with life as if reaching for the surface, or almost like a call for help. The inspection was cut short as the arm slipped underneath the water and began to follow the flow of the river.
After taking a moment to absorb what exactly she was seeing in front of her, Fluttershy’s animal caring instincts kicked in as she dropped the large first aid kit and dived in after the human who would certainly die, as humans aren’t exactly known to be the best swimmers.
The cold water sent chills up Fluttershy’s spine but her mind was set on getting that human to safety. After all she came over to help any animal who could have been injured by the explosion and that is what she was going to do. After a little swimming, Fluttershy noticed the outline of the human and quickly made her way toward it, as it was slowly sinking to the bottom of the river.
She came close enough that she could take it’s hand in her mouth and started swimming upward but following the current as to not tire herself out. It would take them longer to get to her cottage, but it was the safer thing to do.
Once Fluttershy breached the surface, she took in controlled breaths of air, as to not let her efforts go to waste and let go of the human. She dragged both of them to the shore and laid down to rest and get her bearings. She took a look over at the human she just saved to see that he wasn’t breathing, which sent her back into a panic.
She then looked for her bag and remembered that she took it off prior to jumping in after the human. Which meant that it was pretty far from where they were now, too far to walk and get back in time before the human died. So Fluttershy took to the skies and scanned the land for her field kit. Thankfully she used an orange bag, so she could identify it from a distance against the green forest floor. She quickly saw it where she left it and flew over with a purpose. Once she was able to put the bag on, she tightened the bag’s strap to her barrel and took off to where she left the human.
Not wanting to waste anytime upon landing, she took out a mouth to mouth CPR device designed for use on humans. She was told to be careful around humans as their mouths are one of the most toxic, and she didn’t want to put herself in more danger than she already has. Once landed, she tore the plastic sterile wrapper off of the device and placed it on the human’s mouth and began to blow air into it’s lungs. After a few breaths, the human began to cough rather violently as it cleared it’s airway of water.
It sat up from it’s position, and appeared to be in quite a bit of pain, judging from its facial expressions and it’s appearance. It seemed as if it just came out of one of those dreaded human fighting rings she had heard rumors of, due to the caked on blood on it’s..clothing? That surprised her, as she’d only seen clothing on human’s owned by the wealthy, as a sign of their owner’s wealth.
“Why would a person spend so many bits on a human, just to put it in a place like that-!?”
Fluttershy’s thought was cut short by a worrying possibility, what if the human was stolen and used to fight? That would explain the ruined clothing, but it would leave more questions than answers.
Fluttershy was brought out of her stupor by the human she had just saved, as it stood up to full height before falling down with a loud *thud*. This caused Fluttershy to rush to the side of the human, and gently lay it down again. She hoped that the human trusted her enough to let her look for any wounds it might have. So as slowly as she could, she pulled the zipper on the layer of clothing that covered it’s chest down. The sight before her caused her eyes to widen, as they were immediately assaulted with blood, organs and..lights? Why would lights be in this human’s chest cavity? Yet more questions that she didn’t have the answer to. She couldn’t fathom why anypony would do this to a poor human. The human then seemed to pass out she supposed from the shock of the entire situation, but was noticeably still breathing this time.
Fluttershy was good at working with animals and helping them get better, but even she knew when something was out of her league, and this situation was in a completely different ballpark in terms of her knowledge. In this case, she would probably cause more harm than good, so she decided to leave this up to the professionals. The problem was that the professionals were back in Ponyville and she needed to get the human there quickly. So Fluttershy did what she could about his wounds, such as bandaging, packing and cleaning minor puncture wounds and then more bandaging, so as to stop any bleeding as it seemed the human had lost quite a bit already.
Once that was done, she pulled out a blanket she kept in her field first aid kit, in case anything were to happen when it was cold out, and laid it across the ground, before rolling the human on it. The blanket would be ruined but she could always get another one. She took two corners of the blanket into her mouth as she used it as a makeshift cart, pulling the human across the forest floor. She was careful not to go over any roots or rocks which would hurt the human more than it already was.
After a while of carefully navigating the way back to her cottage, she saw Harry the Bear waiting for her, along with all of the other animals she lived next to.All looked towards Fluttershy with frightful looks in their eyes. She guessed that they must have saw the explosion and witnessed her fly in and were scared for her. She would tell them about it later, but right now she had a human to attend to.
She went around the back of her cottage and spotted what she was looking for, a cart big enough for the human to ride to the veterinarian's office in. She galloped the short distance over to the cart, not any roots or rocks to worry about, since she flattened the land on her property out for convenience. Upon reaching the cart, she called for the help of Harry the Bear to safely put the human in the cart. She was about to hook herself up to the cart before she noticed the blanket on the ground, she then ran over and grabbed it, folding it into a pillow and placed under the human’s head. With that done she hooked herself up and went off, in hopes of saving the poor thing from an untimely death.
“Now make sure to give him plenty of water and he should be fine in the span of a couple days, okay?” informed Resting Heart.
“Thanks Resting Heart, I’ll do just that, c’mon now, let's get home.” said the pony, tugging on a leash connected to the neck of a sickly looking human.
As the door closed behind the pair, Resting Heart turned her attention to the paperwork on the desk in front of her. It had begun to pile up after a while of not giving enough attention, and Resting Heart decided she would take care of it while no pony needed her help with anything. Now was just such time, so she picked up a quill and opened the nearby inkwell. She was halfway towards introducing the quill to the paper before she was interrupted by the door slamming open and a semi familiar yellow pegasus coming through it with a worried look on her face.
“May I help you miss?” Resting Heart asked with uncertainty in her voice.
“My name is Fluttershy! And yes, I have a human outside in dire need of care, come! I’ll explain more later!” Fluttershy said as she galloped back out the front door as soon as she came in.
‘Fluttershy? Oh yes! The mare who is really good with animals. Heck, really good is an understatement as she is practically Ponyville’s resident veterinarian. Though she usually doesn’t come here unless she needs supplements for her animals or she can’t help an animal with extensive injuries, and it didn’t seem like the former.’ So with that Resting Heart ran out to go see just how badly the human was injured.
Once outside, Resting turned to her left to see Fluttershy standing by a cart. It was apparent why as soon as Resting looked inside. A human lay there, covered head to toe with clothes that appeared to be soaked. But what worried Resting was the amount of caked blood coating said clothes, but she quickly regained her composure and took charge of the situation.
“Fluttershy, I need you to help me take the human inside, and onto an examining table. That way I can get a better look at just how bad of shape the human is in, got it?” Resting explained trying to calm the mare as well as herself down, after all, panic does nothing but cause more panic. Fluttershy nodded as they got on either end of the cart and slowly lifted the human out and onto their backs.
With that part done, Resting lead the way to the exam table, past the front desk, and to a door. The door was marked Human Examination and Holding, Resting used her mouth to open said door and walked through with Fluttershy copying her pace so as to not let the human fall. Once through, they walked through a hallway lined with cages of rather large size meant for holding humans. Though most were empty, few were in use by a couple of stray or possibly lost humans. Upon seeing the ponies and unconscious human, the males began to get rowdy, banging on their cages and letting out series of sounds which let the ponies know of their displeasure. The sole female human just huddled in the corner of her cage, but kept her eyes fixated on the human they carried on their backs.
Resting connected the dots and took mental note of that small fact, as the only reason the male humans would act like that was if another male was intruding what they considered their territory. But upon reaching the end of the hall the sound died down, and once at the exam table all was quiet once more.
Setting the human down was easy enough, now Resting Heart just had to take off the clothes as she could see minor holes in them. The rims of the holes, coated with blood, which meant that it had injuries under said clothes. The problem was that the clothes were rather complicated in their design and she couldn’t get them off. She was about to simply cut the clothes away but was stopped by a yellow hoof.
“Let me do it, but be ready, it is pretty gruesome under there” Fluttershy mentioned towards the human’s chest with a hoof before standing on her hind legs and undoing the article of clothing. Resting saw no reason to argue so she got ready for the aforementioned “Gruesome”, grabbing a muzzle mask and a pair of medical gloves from their locations and placing them on the rim of the exam table.
As Fluttershy fiddled with the zipper, Resting donned the medical gloves and muzzle mask, not wanting to cause an infection to any possible open wounds.
Once the clothing on the human’s chest was taken off, and Resting could see the bare chest of the human, she was quick to notice something that shouldn’t have been there. A large cut, or rather a series of cuts in the shape of three perpendicular lines. Its sides were were outlined in bright red and she could see a flap of skin slightly raised. She slowly and carefully lifted the flap with a gloved hoof and was shocked to see that it revealed the creature’s chest cavity as well as it’s internal organs. Nothing seemed to be missing, in fact there were extra parts, things that didn’t belong in a human, at least not to humans she usually worked with.
In fact, after taking a look at the human’s face in direct light, she noted that it’s facial features were drastically different to that of a regular human. It honestly made her question if the creature she was looking at was even a human at all. But that thought was pushed out of her mind as she was asked a question.
“S-so will it be okay? The human, I mean, because once I saw how badly it was injured, I knew it was too much for me to handle. After all, I have little knowledge when it comes to humans. That’s why I came to you.” Fluttershy asked with concern.
“Well, it still appears to be breathing, how that is possible I haven’t a clue. But I think that if I can get that wound on it’s chest cleaned and stitched, we should be fine.” responded Resting Heart as she hopped off the table and down to normal height, before making her way over to Fluttershy.
“Oh, thank goodness, I thought it would be worse considering that came out of an explosion and nearly drowned.” Fluttershy stated as relief began flooding her facial features.
“It what!? Did you say explosion and drowning?! Wha- how? What?!” Resting sputtered, as she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her sudden reaction startling Fluttershy a bit.
“W-well it was early morning, right before I usually wake up, when I heard an explosion come from the Everfree. I got up and looked out the window that was near where I heard the explosion and saw big, rising flames and black smoke. I thought that innocent forest critters could be hurt by the fire spreading, so I took my field first aid kit and flew toward the explosion. Once there, I saw that fire couldn’t spread because whatever had exploded had landed in the river and was being extinguished by the water. I was confused so I got up closer to see what exactly had exploded and once I got to the water’s edge this,” Fluttershy picked up one of the human’s hands “,shot out of the water. I knew that humans weren’t the best at swimming so I dove in after it and was able to swim us both to shore. That was where I noticed that it wasn’t breathing, so I performed CPR and managed to get it breathing after a few exhales. After coughing up the water, it stood up and immediately fell back down. It looked like it was in pain, thinking it might have hidden injuries under it’s clothing, I took off the clothes covering its chest, which is where I saw the gaping hole of a wound. The sight of the injury hit me with the realization that I knew nearly nothing about treating humans. So I made my way over to you, thinking that there might be a chance for it to live.” Fluttershy said as she spared a glance over to the sleeping human on the table with a look of sympathy.
Resting Heart gave herself time to process the information given to her. If she recalled correctly, Fluttershy said that she had found the human, meaning it wasn’t under her ownership. Taking that into account, she asked the questions she would ask if somepony had brought in a stray.
“So, you said you found the human, correct?” Resting asked for confirmation. The question took Fluttershy’s attention away from the human on the table in front of her, as she turned to answer Resting.
“Oh, yes, that's right.” Fluttershy responded.
“Okay then, I say we look for a form of ID, considering that the human is wearing clothes, it means somepony must own it, plus I need the clothes removed to make full body examination possible, because judging by the numerous bloody holes in the pieces of clothes, I’d wager there’s more injuries under them.” Resting said as she took the top off the human completely, leaving only the legs and feet to be uncovered.
Fluttershy nodded in agreement and was quick to grab the article of clothing from Resting and search it over, looking for a form of indication of ownership.
Slowly and carefully the human was stripped of its clothes until it lay on the examination table naked. Resting’s suspicions was proven to be true as there were little holes in the human’s chest and upper thigh. Counting up to four in total, those holes were accompanied by other injuries, such as the hole in it’s lower arm near the wrist, which seemed more like a tear than a hole, once the soaked and bloodied bandages were removed. Minor burn marks on it’s left leg, and the knuckles on it’s left hand were exposed. But what perplexed Resting Heart the most was that they seemed to be coated in metal. It was rather unnerving how badly this human was treated by whoever had done these things to it, but Resting was here to fix what she could.
Upon further examination, she saw that a metal band wrapped around the human’s left leg below the knee. With a quick flick of the hoof, the band was given a minor tap. It was tight on the leg, which would have worried Resting Heart, if it wasn’t for the fact the leg was a uniform color. Meaning that the band wasn’t constricting and blocking blood flow to the leg. It seemed the longer she looked at the human, more questions arose.
Taking her attention away from the human’s leg she noticed that Fluttershy was staring at the human’s arms rather intensely, almost as if she was inspecting them pore by pore. The strange behavior prompted Resting to wander over.
“Do you see something?” Resting asked.
Fluttershy flicked her ear toward the sound of incoming hoofsteps. She spoke up before Resting could reach her.
“I saw that it’s arms were covered in black, and I thought it could have simply been carbon from the explosion, but now it’s clear that it seems to be some sort of intricate permanent art on it’s skin.” Fluttershy explained as she rubbed the human’s arm. She continued this until she reached it’s hand, which showed the image of a reptile, possibly a snake, albeit a weird snake, with it’s mouth open. It was rather unique as Resting couldn’t say that she had seen anything like it before. It was almost mesmerizing with how the artist made the reptile seem as if it was curling around the arm.
“Huh, I must have been quick to glance over that, it seems like the ink must have been placed in the dermis, which explains how we can see the ink and the image it makes, but can’t rub it off like paint or ink from an inkwell. Interesting.” Resting stated as she shot a glance over at the other arm of the human and seeing the same pattern until she reached the elbow where it seemed that the image was cut cleanly off.
“I wonder what the reason behind these images are?” Resting asked herself.
“Do you think that they might be a way of identification?” Fluttershy asked.
“No, while it may seem like that, this would be an illegitimate means of identification. It is much too big to be a cutie mark, and I’ve never seen anypony use ink under the skin as a means of indicating ownership of a human.The only legally recognized way to indicate ownership of a human is by branding, either on the skin of the human, on its clothing or both, not whatever this is.” Resting explained as she shook her hoof in the direction of the human’s left arm.
“You’re probably right. As I said before, I specialize in forest critters, humans are simply foreign to me.” Fluttershy said with a hint of regret apparent in her voice.
“Fluttershy, you did amazing, don’t sell yourself short. Heck, I don’t know many a pony who would jump in a river after a human. Let alone one that wasn’t theirs. You did what you could.” Resting Heart said with a small smile, as an attempt to cheer Fluttershy up. What she said seemed to have worked, if only a little, as a small smile formed on Fluttershy's face.
“Thank you, um, miss?...” Fluttershy said, looking towards Resting as if asking for her name.
“Resting, Resting Heart and your welcome Fluttershy. Okay, now this is where I usually send the owner or pony who found the human, out into the waiting room, but since you mentioned that you didn’t know much about humans and how to treat them, would you like to learn?” Resting offered, a small smile present on her face.
“Well, I guess it would only help, so sure, I’ll stay for a little.” Fluttershy agreed.
“Great, but before you get any closer, you need to put on a muzzle mask and pair of gloves, don’t want to risk infection.” Resting warned, before proceeding to show Fluttershy the basics of human care, starting with how to clean and stitch up large abdominal wounds.
Author's Note
So, after a while of no activity at all, I have returned with ideas overflowing. Man, last time I attempted a story was when Far Cry 3 was big, but now I'm ready to give writing another shot. And because of that, I would appreciate any criticism you can toss my way, after all, if I know what I did wrong I can prevent whatever it was from happening again in the future. Pointers are always appreciated! Hope you guys who decide to read my story enjoy!
~Resident Yuman
10/19/16 Edit: I fixed a couple of continuity errors for you all, from now on I'll try my best to catch those before publishing.
Two Days Later
Henry began to slowly wake up, and being honest he didn’t he didn’t know how to feel about it. He should be happy that he was alive, but he was mad at being brought back from the dead, again.
“Wasn’t one time enough!? Why!? Am I that entertaining that you can’t let me die!? Huh, god!?” Henry thought to himself as he slowly woke up, it was instantly after that thought that he felt it, and his eyes shot open in response.
Cold, like he was stripped of all his clothes and dumped out in a field in the middle of a cold Fall night. As Henry sat up, he noticed that he was laying on straw or hay, or something similar as he could barely make out anything with his eyes due to the lack of light. Though that quickly changed as his eyes adjusted to the darkness around him within seconds, which he guessed were due to the bionic upgrades that were done on them. He also seemed to be in some type of cell, judging by the metal bars surrounding him from all sides. A hint of feces and urine clung to the air, causing his nose to wrinkle in disgust. Needless to say, it brought questions to his mind.
Questions that would be pushed to the back of his mind with a guttural growl from his right.
It made Henry turn, only to be met with the angry face of a human. It’s face was sprinkled with scars, and it appeared to be sick with something,it scared Henry to be honest. Though, with the little vision Henry had in the dark, he could see nothing in the human’s eyes. Most people have that spark of personality in their eyes, this man’s eyes were void of that spark. Almost like an animals’ eyes, they displayed nothing in terms of expression and were there simply for sight. The human appeared to get irritated with Henry’s constant staring and banged on the cage in front of him, causing Henry to jump back in surprise. Henry scooted away from the angry man and to the far corner of his cage. He looked from his corner for a way out of this mess, and spotted a door directly in front of him. Seeing his way out, Henry got up on his feet and was forced to crouch as he made his way over to the door as it was shorter than Henry was when he stood at full height. It appeared that whoever designed this cage was either really stupid, or thought the people that would be put inside were really stupid, Henry didn’t care, he got out either way.
The door’s lock consisted of a traditional sliding lock, and with a simple push upwards and sliding the locking bolt to the side, Henry was free. Henry wasn’t the only one apparent of his escape, as the human beside him began to bang on his cage spasmodically as well as letting loose a flurry of primal yells, grunts and nonsense, getting the attention of the other humans in their cages. Henry didn’t need to see them in order to hear their loud yelling and obnoxious banging. After quickly searching for a way out of this new mess that he found himself in, Henry spotted a source of light, a door towards the end of a hallway.
As he made his way towards the door, he couldn’t help but notice that the entirety of the hallway was lined with cages. Cages that got smaller as he walked by them. Some looked big enough to hold him, while others seemed more fit for a child. Whatever this place was, it was creeping Henry out, which made him want to escape that much more. As he neared the door however, the thought of escape was cut off by voices on the other side.
“What has gotten to them now? I swear, it feels like anything will rile them up.” Henry heard a female voice say behind the door.
“Well, you know, it could be that ‘new arrival’ that we were told about.” Another female voice replied.
“Actually, you may be right, let's go see if he woke up yet. If he did, Resting will want to hear about it.” The first voice stated.
“Mm hmm.” The second voice replied in agreement, before the sound of footsteps heading towards the door caused Henry to look for a place to hide.
Thankfully there was one to the left of the door, although it was one of those child sized cages. Henry could do a lot, but contorting his body wasn’t his strong suit. However it didn’t stop him from looking for a new solution, as he saw that there was about a foot of space on top of the line of cages. Henry was no stranger when it came to climbing things, so he ascended the cages and laid down on top of them. The cold metal roofs of the cages sent chills throughout his body but it would only be for a little. After waiting for a few seconds Henry noticed the hallway door open, and in come two.. Ponies? The lights were turned on shortly after the pair entered, and they were indeed two ponies standing before cages which contained more sickly looking humans. Henry counted around 4 humans in total and upon closer inspection, one of them appeared to be female.
The now clear sight of the ponies brought back memories of how he wasn’t dead at the bottom of a river. He remembered a yellow and pink colored pony had saved him from drowning. How it resuscitated him after dragging them both out of the river was unknown to him. The thing that seemed to be ingrained into his mind was how the face of the pony had held the expression of sympathy, with its large and sad eyes, it was impossible that it was anything else. The pony felt bad for him, almost like a human would. If he saw it, he would have to remember to repay it as soon as he escaped from.. wherever he was right now.
While Henry did his best to lay there silently, it gave him a clear view of the room and it’s occupants. Though, his attention was now solely on the two quadrupeds that stood out from the humans in the room. It was hard not to notice them, as their brightly colored coats and manes stood out from their surroundings quite a bit. One had a slightly dark cream colored body, brown mane and matching tail. The other had a oak-brown body, red mane and tail, and was topped off with a horn. A horn that was protruding out of it’s head.
It was at that point that Henry decided that he had seen enough and it was time to go. He felt it necessary, as he didn’t want to foil his escape by staring at his supposed captors when freedom was mere feet away. Though it seemed getting down would be harder than he expected,as he tried to find a foothold, but instead found air. He realised that in his haste to climb up, he had forgotten to make a way to get down. He slipped off of the cages, but not before causing a racket on his way off, as the top cage he was gripping for support came down with him.
In that moment as he was falling, Henry knew, he messed up. The fall itself wasn’t more than five feet, but when you land on your back, on a cold tile floor, with no cushioning, not even clothing, it kind of hurts. The mad humans had stopped their banging due to a loud crash resounding from the far end of the hallway. Henry turned his head to his left where he heard the shocked gasps from the ponies as he lay there, the air knocked from his lungs too rapidly for his liking.
“Panacea, did you lock the new human’s cage since you last opened it?” The oak brown colored pony asked, it’s eyes trained on Henry. It’s voice was laced with fear, which confused Henry. He thought they would’ve been used to humans considering they were in charge of caging them up.
“I swear I did Calmed Nerve, I don’t know how it got out.” The dark cream colored pony said in response.
The pair slowly made their way towards the opposite end of the hall, where another door was located, while Henry attempted to get up and catch his breath.
“Alright big guy, everything’s okay. Calm down.” The pony known as Panacea said.
After Panacea was done with her childish attempt at ‘calming’ him, for whatever reason, he wasn’t mad so he didn’t know why she wanted him to calm down. The other pony, or unicorn as it had a horn, began to slow down its pace, and it’s horn began to faintly light up.
That was the last thing Henry saw as he felt a sharp pain in his forehead, and began to feel extremely tired, the jaded feeling reminding him of the time he needed his booster pump installed. As Henry felt himself slip into unconsciousness, one last thought came across his mind.
“Really? I’m passing out again?” Henry thought to himself, as whatever magic the unicorn had hit him with began to take control and force him asleep.
Resting Heart was enjoying her day so far, as she had returned from her weekly Saturday shopping trip to the Ponyville market and just finished putting away her haul. She was giddy with the thought of not having to do anything but relax for the rest of her day off. Her mind ran through the seemingly endless possibilities of relaxing activities that were available.
Though, even with all of those possibilities, she found nothing beat simply lounging in her backyard and watching the clouds slowly make their way across the sky. Some might find it strange, others might find it silly, but Resting Heart always had an interest in the skies and the clouds that resided therein. Even though she was an earth pony, she felt more connected to the sky above her head than the earth below her hooves.
While she may never get to truly experience the sky like a pegasus would, she was content with just watching and dreaming. She closed her eyes and imagined herself up in the clear blue sky, wings at her side and soaring through the clouds. After years of practice, she was good at daydreaming, to the point where she felt it was almost reality, almost. When she daydreamed, she could control all aspects, and there wasn’t many things that could make her lose focus, loud yelling being one of them.
“Resting! You have to come with me now! The new human woke up and I galloped over as fast as I could!” A worried voice said before taking in a series of quick breaths.
Resting knew that voice all too well, as she opened her eyes it was none other than Panacea, a worried look accompanied her frantic prancing on the other side of her property’s fence. The idea of installing taller privacy fences was briefly entertained by her mind, before the rational part of her mind took control. Reminding her that it was her idea to tell both Panacea and Calmed Nerve to inform her, should the new human wake up. Truth aside, she was still slightly annoyed at the fact that the human decided to wake up on her day off, of all days.
“Okay, calm down, you girls prevented it from escaping right? It’s not running amok in the office as we speak?” Resting asked her frantic colleague, trying to get a bit more perspective on the situation.
“Wha?- no, Calmed Nerve put it to sleep for a little bit and placed it in the exam room. That way the other humans wouldn’t get agitated. It was out cold when I left.” Panacea explained.
“Alright, you head back and help Calmed Nerve with any ponies that might come in. I’m going to grab my things and meet you there in a few minutes.” Resting ordered as she walked into her house, and slipped on her saddle bags, before heading in the direction of Healing Hands Veterinary Clinic.
Henry began to stir from his unicorn magic induced nap with a groan. He instantly opened his eyes and looked around, his head turning as far as it could both ways in rapid succession, and upon seeing that the coast was clear, he calmed down a little. Though he wouldn’t fully let his guard down until he was out of this weird prison ran by small brightly-colored pony wardens that spoke english and did magic.
After letting the reality of his situation sink in, he attempted to sit up, but felt multiple areas of pressure on his body pushing him back down. His legs, hands, neck and head were fastened to a metal table with restraints. He tried to fight them, but they were on there tight. He wondered what would happen to him once the ponies came back, as he doubted they would just leave him by himself after he nearly escaped.
The possible scenarios ran through his mind like some screwed up montage, as he pictured himself being punished for the horrendous crime of trying to get free. The messed up movie in his mind was paused as he heard a door open behind him, and lights above him flash on, blinding him for a short while. He then heard multiple voices, two of which he knew and could put a voice to a face and name, and two others he didn’t recognise.
“Oh my, is he all right?” A new meek voice asked, barely above a whisper.
“Alright, what happened that led up to this? Did he get any new injuries I should worry about?” The other unidentified female voice asked, though this one carried an authoritative tone.
“When we saw him, he appeared to have climbed on top of the cages for the younger ones, and since they weren’t built to take his weight, fell when he slipped off of the top of them. Thankfully they weren’t damaged much at all and they went back no problem. He on the other hand, was taking his time to catch his breath after his fall, and Calmed Nerve put him to sleep and in restraints on the exam table. He looked fine, and none of his stitched wounds opened up surprisingly.” Henry heard Panacea relay to the unknown voice. He then heard the clip-clop of hooves on tile before a familiar voice spoke up.
“Hey, Resting, it looks like he woke up.” He heard the voice of Calmed Nerve relay to this ‘Resting’. He remembered the name, but now he could hopefully put a face to said name.
A pony then made it’s way into his vision, it’s mane was blonde and it’s body was a cold-purple color. He was soon staring into it’s big teal eyes with a feeling of fear. He didn’t know why, but the pony had this air to it, and he was willing to wager that it was the owner of the authoritative voice he had heard a minute ago. The pony stared back into Henry’s small brown eyes with a look of semi-apparent curiosity. Almost as if she, at least Henry thought it was a she judging by the voice, were studying him.
“So you wake up and immediately get into trouble huh?” Resting asked Henry with a quizzical eye.
Henry then moved his head away from the overbearing pony. A look of unpleasantness shown on his face. The small action caused the pony to chuckle, before disappearing from view once more.
“I don’t see why you girls felt you had to put him to sleep, he’s just a big softie.” Resting said to the others that were grouped out eyeshot, behind him. Henry felt at ease once she laughed, at least as much at ease as one could be when they are restrained to a metal table by colorful talking ponies.
“Well, of course he’s intimidated by you Resting, you have more experience with humans than me and Panacea combined. I didn’t know what else to do! ” Calmed Nerve protested.
“You do have a point there, and calm down, I’m just poking fun at you for bringing me here on my day off.” Resting assured Panacea and Calmed Nerve. Henry heard the pair sigh in relief as Resting said that, and all went quiet for a second, before the meek voice from before returned.
“So what’s going to happen now, to the human I mean?” The still unknown voice asked. This time receiving an answer.
“Being honest Fluttershy, I’m not really sure right now. I thought he would’ve been resting a few days more due to the significant amount of blood loss he sustained, but according to Panacea and Calmed Nerve, he had the energy to somehow escape from his cage and climb on top of the child cages which are five feet high. After two days, his body should only have regenerated enough blood for him to wake up and barely be mobile, but it seems that he is a special case, in more ways than one.” Resting explicated.
“Oh.” Was all Fluttershy said in response.
“Well, since he is awake and seems to be doing better than we thought he would at this point, we should get him some food and water, for starters.” Resting said, before the sound of a pair footsteps or hoofsteps in this case, sounded like they left the room.
“Fluttershy, do you mind taking the human to his cage? I know how worried you have become for him, so I thought you would appreciate having the chance to help him to his cage.” Resting offered.
“I don’t mind, I’m just glad to know that he is alright and that his stitches didn’t tear.” Fluttershy said in response.
“I am too, seems like he is one tough human, considering all he’s been through. Let me just take his restraints off for you.” Resting said as she began to loosen his restraints, starting with his head, and ending with his legs.
Once free of the tight restraints Henry sat up and turned to where he heard the voices of Fluttershy and Resting. That was when he spotted her, the pony that had saved him was standing there with a small smile upon her face, whilst staring at Henry. What Henry did next surprised both ponies in the room.
After prolonged staring from both Fluttershy and Henry, Henry remembered what he told himself prior to ending up on the floor catching his breath, though he realized that he was breaking his one clause by doing it. If he was going to repay this pony for saving his life, Henry figured a hug wasn’t a bad way to start.
Henry opened his arms out wide and jumped off of the table, before picking up the yellow and pink pegasus pony and giving her a gentle bear hug to show he appreciated what she did for him. Since he couldn’t talk, he found himself resorting to body language more and more as a means of communication. The action itself elicited a gasp from Resting as well as a small and rather cute squeak from the pony in his arms. The sound itself confused Henry as he was sure horses didn’t make squeaking sounds, but then again, they didn’t talk either.
Fluttershy initially struggled, but after realising that Henry was only hugging her, she let the hug happen. If Fluttershy was good at anything, it was understanding animals and their ways of communication. The hug itself reminded her of when Harry the Bear hugged her, with how strongly he held her but at the same time gentle.
“Hey Resting, we were wondering if you knew where the protein sup-” Henry looked up from the hug he was currently giving to see Panacea, Resting, and Calmed Nerve staring at Henry with mouths agape.
“Calmed Nerve, Panacea, you see what I’m seeing right? The human is hugging Fluttershy, I’m not just imagining it, am I?” Resting asked the two equally stunned ponies beside her, only getting a simultaneous nod from them for an answer.
After a few more seconds of silent hugging, Henry set Fluttershy down on her hooves. She then looked up at him with those big teal eyes of hers, almost as if she knew why he did what he did. The other ponies stood off to the side, still in disbelief.
“I think that’s his way of saying ‘thanks’.” Fluttershy explained sheepishly, that small smile on her face once more.
Author's Note
So, here is chapter two, after a lot of proofreading and changing things up. I think I did mildly adequate when it comes to how Henry acted toward the end there. Hope you guys and or gals enjoy it!
~ R. Yuman
