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