The Box That Changed Everything

I can't apologize enough for how long this chapter took to wrote, already being 5 weeks into school (Which has been the main cause of the delay), and I'm in a lot of high level classes that already have me racked me up the ass with nearly 8 hours of homework, my time to write is REALLY short! Though I promise you, I WILL NOT DUMP THIS STORY! One last thing I'd like to add before I forget, one of my friends on this site has recently started writing stories like I have, so if you have some extra time check him out.

Oh and please don't forget to leave a comment, I'd like to know what you guys think, as well as any suggestions and such!

~The Box that Changed Everything

By Xaiden

Chapter VII: Crash Reports

I woke with a shock, taking short gasps of air as I quickly looked about my surroundings. When my vision steadily came into focus, I found myself to be in a white bed, a hospital bed to be exact. When I tried to move around, I felt a sharp pain ripple through my wings, forcing me to wince in pain. Looking at my wings, I turned my head to see that every square inch of them was covered in bandages.

"Great..." I muttered to myself, displeased with my situation.

When continued to look around the room, my eyes wandered as to a button that happened to lay on the end table to my right. Curiously, I reached my hoof over to the button and picked it up, briefly examining it. With nothing interesting about it, I pressed it. And no sooner after I pressed the odd button, the door immediately swung open and in popped a nurse.

"Looks like your finally awake!" The nurse said, greeting me with an unrealistic smile. "Ya gave the doctor quite a scare when they got a look at you ya know?"

"Really?" I said while raising my eyebrow, "What happened to me?"

When I asked this, the nurse pursed her lips and pointed her hoof over to a couple X-rays that hung on the wall, "After the doctor took some X-ray scans of you body, he said the main bone in each of your wings had broke in over several different places, along with some minor fractures along the lesser bones as well..."

After a detailed explanation of the X-rays and a few other things that involved my broken wings, the nurse said goodbye and left, leaving me alone in the room. Now normally I would've accepted this time alone with open arms, as I said before, I was usually the guy who didn't often speak. But as I lay there in my bed, I thought about the six ponies who had found me, none of them knew a thing about me, yet they gladly took me into their homes. Showing me a level of kindness I was not to familiar with. However, my thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock on the door. As the nurse and I looked towards the door, another nurse, who carried the same plastered smile as the other one, poked her head in the room and looked directly at me.

"Sir," she said with an upbeat voice, "you have a visitor, would you like me to let her in?"

"Uh yea, sure." I replied, "Send her right in!"

As the nurse pulled her head back through the door, I watched as Rainbow Dash walked in, holding a smug look on her face.

"Wow, you've barely been in Ponyville for two days and you've already landed yourself in the hospital!" Rainbow Dash said with a snicker, "Gosh, people think I'm to reckless!"

I gave her an embarrassed chuckle, "What can I say? It's hard to fly when a flock of birds nail you in the face."

"Oh yea about that..." She said, looking quite red on the cheeks, "I'm sorry for not warning you, didn't think that you would have crashed like that. Speaking of, how are you holding up? You feeling okay?"

"Uh yea, I'm feeling fine." I said, taken back by her concern with my well-being, "Though they're saying I'm not going to be able to fly for quite a bit of time, even when I get out of the hospital. So I guess we'll have to put off 'flying school' 'til then."

She looked at me in disappointment, "That stinks..."

I sat there in an awkward silence, not sure what to say to her. However she broke the odd silence with a sigh.

"I think I'm gonna go now, I promised Applejack I'd help her with today's apple harvest, so see you around later?..." She said while turning toward the door.

"Yea sure!" I replied, looking down at my sheets as she walked to the door.

"Oh wait! There's something you should know." She said, abruptly stopping near the door.

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"I'd think of a temporary name for you, 'else Pinkie Pie's gonna come up with one for you." She replied, her face holding the oddest of smiles. "And trust me, you probably won't like what she comes up with."

"A name? Hm..." I said, trying to come up with a name to call myself by. "How 'bout you just call me... Red... I-I mean, at least until I'm able to remember my real name..."

She gave me with a confused look, "Red? Hm... Seems a bit predictable for a name, but I'll tell the others that that's what your going by now."

With one last glance, she gave me a wink and like that, she was gone, once again leaving me alone in my hospital room. I let out a deep sigh as I laid down in my bed, quickly drifting off to sleep.

    ~~~

A week passed by while I was in the hospital, even though as I was forced to remain in my bed, I found myself being frequently visited by each of the six mares. Usually they would come in one giant group. However Twilight Sparkle would sometimes come by herself and teach me about the history of Equestria for hours until my mind was numb from the hours of study. One day however, as I waited for Twilight Sparkle to stop by for my daily history lesson, I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in!" I said, expecting to see Twilight Sparkle enter the room.

As usual, Twilight Sparkle entered the room, but this time, she was accompanied by a doctor.

"Hey Red!" Twilight Sparkle said while giving me a quick wave, "I'm sorry for getting here late, I just got distracted reading about this new spell."

"Don't worry about it, it's fine." I said reassuringly, "But what's with with the doctor?"

"Oh him? He was on his way to see you as well." She replied.

"Ah yes I was just getting to that!" The doctor said, walking closer to me. "I happen to have some really good news for you!"

"And what would that be?" I asked, curious to know.

"Well," He said looking down at a file with my name (Red) labeled on it. "It would appear that after looking at recent X-rays of your body. Your bones have recovered at a miraculous rate. So fast in fact, that you'll have made a full recovery by tomorrow. So we have had the nurses make sure your checked out whenever you're ready."

I looked at him with utter disbelief, "That's amazing!" I said, now looking at Twilight.

As the doctor walked out the room, Twilight looked at me with a warm smile.

"Well, I was going to teach you about some history about Princess Luna today, but I think we have a better things to do."

Together we shared a laugh as I prepared to leave the hospital.

~~~

As I took my first steps in a week outside the hospital, I constantly had to keep myself from falling over. Though only after a minute or so of walking, I was back to normal. While we made our way to Twilight Sparkle's house, I saw many different mares and colts going about their business, whether it was as simple as buying food from the market, or as complicated as the to-do lists mothers have when they care for their newborns. Yet as I was watching them, I noticed one thing that I had not often seen before, everyone was happy. Not the kind of happiness that is blind, but the kind of happiness that could make even the saddest of ponies smile.

Could this place really be as nice as it seems? I thought to myself, though the answer was obvious, it seemed as if it was to good to be true.

Yet thoughts were cut short, again, as I walked face first into Twilight's front door.

"Uh... Were here?" Twilight Sparkle said trying to hold back a giggle.

"You don't say?" I  remarked, rubbing my forehead.

As Twilight opened the door to her house we both stepped inside.

"SURPRISE!!!" I heard multiple voices shout as I walked inside the tree house.

Taken completely by surprise by the sudden assault of shouts, all I could manage to say was something along the lines of "Huh?"

"Surprise silly!" Pinkie Pie said popping in front of my face. "Don't you see, it's a surprise party for you!"

Still dazed by what had just happened, I only just cocked my head sideways.

"What for?" I asked.

To answer my question, Rarity stepped in front of Pinkie Pie, "For you dear. When each of us heard that you had injured yourself and were in the hospital, Pinkie Pie--" "That's me!" Pinkie Pie said, interrupting. Rarity, after letting out a sigh, continued, "Yes, Pinkie Pie decided that we should throw you a surprise birthday party for when you got home, which brings us here."

"Really?" I said, "Thanks you guys!"

As the party spanned throughout the afternoon and well into the night, it went by as a blur, and before I knew it everyone had either left or had fallen asleep randomly on the floor. As for me, I had gone to my room that Twilight Sparkle had let me stay in, only to find that it was being occupied by Rainbow Dash, who laid there as if she had gotten into a wrestling match with the sheets and lost. With a sigh of annoyance, I turned around to leave and find another place to rest when I heard a light rustle. Looking behind me, I saw Rainbow Dash looking at me pensively. Cocking her head sideways, she looked at me as I were a part of a dream she was having. However the weariness from the party, combined with being half-asleep, it was merely moments before I heard her soft breathing accompanied by the slow rise and fall of her chest, indicating that she was once again asleep. With another sigh, I tip-toed (More like tip-hooved in that manner) to the door and quietly exited the room. Yet, as I closed the door and went to find another place to rest, I heard that voice again, the melodious voice that was calm yet eerie, the voice from my dream that happened so many nights ago. And like the last time that I had heard the voice, it only said two words.

"Go back..." was what the voice said to me, causing me to stop and look about the room. Yet, I took the voice as merely a hallucination from my lack of sleep and hobbled over to the nearest chair, falling asleep in a matter of moments. Though as was lowering into the chair, I thought about the voice I had just heard. Go back... It had said to me.

So why didn't I go back?