Author's Note

Hey Guys, been a while but I am super sorry. Here is the rewrite were I hopefully dontnrush the shit out of it again haha. Anyway hope you guys enjoy

Day 1. Washed Up

The sound of crashing waves and creaking wood, coupled with the strong smell of sea water were the first thing strike the man as he regained consciousness. He was propped up against a wooden wall dressed in a dirty dress top, which had all but two buttons missing, a badly damaged, open grey vest and a pair of dirty black dress pants.The man blinked for a second as he took in his attire, from the stained shirt to the foot long piece of wood sticking out of his thigh. The sight of the foreign material gave the man multiple questions like “Why was there a foot long piece of wood sticking out of my thigh?” or “Why can’t I feel said piece of wood or the rest of my body for that matter?” and most importantly “Why aren’t i wearing shoes?”

These thoughts troubled the man for a few moments before he decided he wouldn’t find out what was happening until he looked around, which proved difficult as his neck felt tight and wouldn’t move properly until a loud crack was heard and a sensation of relief rippled out from his neck. The sensation caused the man to take a deep inhale and taste the salty air. Though the sensation would soon be replaced as a sensation of pins and needles filled his body for several minutes until that too was replaced. Replaced with an intense, piercing pain radiating from his thigh. The pain caused him to grasp and cry out in pain as he seized his wounded leg in his hands, causing even more pops and cracks to sound from his shoulders and arms. Though the relief was masked by the horrendous pain.

After what felt like an eternity, the man managed to regain composure enough for him to look around. He was in a small wooden room filled with crates that were strapped to the walls with netting. The man rubbed his chin while in thought only to discover that he was wearing several rings. One, which was located on his right pointer, had a jade on the centre while surrounded by moonstones while made of silver. Another, that was located on his right ring finger, was a platinum ring with a dragon head which held a fainting glowing blue gem within. One, which was located on his left middle finger, was an onyx black ring with raven engravings around the entire band. The last ring was on his left ring finger and was a simple Platinum band with a language engraved on it which was familiar to the man.

Faint beams of light streamed through cracks in the boards above his giving dim light though barely enough for the wounded man to see. Some of the boxes were broken open and their rotting bounty strewn across the stained floor. Shattered wine bottles, jars of spices and pickles were broken and scattered across the deck around the man.

“I… I need to figure out where I am” He groaned as he looked to a stack of secured boxes and reached out to grab the netting. Testing how secure the net was for a few moments, the man nodded and took the netting with both hands and pulled himself towards it while using his uninjured leg to help push his body. After several long moments, he had successfully pulled himself out of the stack. “O-okay first part is done,” he said panting softly before he looked up the stack then back at his leg. “This is going to really hurt” He complained before shifted and turned his body as he was resting his chest against the netting while putting the most of his weight on his undamaged right knee. A few long seconds go past before he reaches up as far as he can to grasp the net and began to pull himself up. “Don’t collapse, don’t collapse” He prayed as he strained his arms while pulling his body up to his feet.

Once standing and clutching the netting tightly the man smiled and gave a half hearted chuckle. “That wasn’t so hard” He panted before he looked around as best he could, stopping when he noticed a door behind a loose broken box. “Now the hard part” He said rolling his eyes before he began to slowly shift along the netting, clenching his teeth as his leg pulsed with pain. The task was slow and painful, with the spike in his leg catching the netting a few times but after around five minutes the man reached the door.

He stood with his hands against the broken box panting from exhaustion, his body telling him to just collapse but he pressed on. Mustering as much strength as he could, the man pulled the broken crate aside before moving to the door. His victory was short lived as he heard and felt glass crunch under his bare feet forcing a sharp gasp of pain. “Come on” He growled as he fell against the door. "This day just gets better and better," he complained while glancing to his feet, which were now bleeding heavily. "Can this day get any worse?" He asked before waiting a couple seconds.

Several long moments went past with nothing happening, allowing the man to exhale the breath he was holding. "Good, that's what I like to see," he said, chuckling to himself before he attempted to open the door. As his hand found the latch and turned it, he discovered that the door was jammed.

"Damn it" he growled in annoyance as he headbutted the door gently. "Just had to say it" he added as he stood there for a few moments contemplating his next move.

After about ten minutes of thinking, the man looked around for something that he might be able to use. Within the room was only secured crates of wine and preserved foods. "Guess I could get hella drunk" he muttered to himself.

He reached out to grasp the netting and pulled himself to the broken box and fished around its damaged contents carefully. He recoiled his hand a few times when the ship rocked hard a few times to prevent his hand getting injured but finally found an undamaged bottle of wine. "Score" he exclaimed with a smile. "Finally something going my way" he chuckled and uncorked the bottle.

He went to drink from it only for the ship to collide with something hard, sending the man the man forward into the damaged box and sending his bottle flying off towards the place he awoke, landing with an ear piercing shatter. The man howled in pain as he had several small pieces of glass and wood pierce his arms and torso shallowly as he lay prone. The sound of stone and wood shattering and being destroyed drowned out his cries as the entire ship shook violently.

After what felt like an eternity, the ship went still allowing the man to push himself out of the destroyed box. "Did I kick puppies in another life or something?" He asked aloud as he propped himself against the hull of the ship while he picked the pieces of glass from his chest and arms. As he removed them he noticed a golden light sparkle over the wounds, causing them to heal without a scar.

"Wait, what the hell?" he asked confused as he rubbed the areas that had healed. "They are healed… wait does that mean I could have had an easier time if…" he started as he glared at the chunk of wood sticking out of his leg. "Motherfucker" he growled as he wrapped his hand around it tightly. "Okay so just gotta rip it out and the weird light will fix it… hopefully" he said as he hesitated slightly. "Come on mate, just a quick tug and we are golden" he said attempted to ready himself. "One… two… nope I can't, that's gonna bloody hurt like hell" he said as he released the spike. "I need to be drunk to do that" he added as he looked around from another bottle.

As he looked he heard a faint sound of footsteps outside the door. "Let's hope that is the sound of my rescue" the man said as he attempted to listen to figure out how far away they were.

"This ship is amazing" a masculine voice stated faintly.

"Its ah wreck" another masculine voice stated.

"Yea I noticed but do you understand what some of these marking are?" The first voice asked.

"Doctor, I'm a guard… all I care to understand is that some huge ship just crashed into docks and nearly killed several ponies" the second voice answered as the ginger man raised an eyebrow.

"Why would they care about horses?" He questioned silently.

"Yes yes, I can see that would be of great concern but these markings are from the Pre-Equestia era" the Doctor explained.

"Wait so this ship is over a thousand years old?" The Guard asked with a curious tone in his voice.

"Maybe, or maybe it was made more recently… look at this woodwork, this is relatively new in comparison to that estimation" the Doctor continued.

"What am I looking at?" The Guard asked confused yet intrigued.

"Well scanning this, it has informed me that this plank was put here as far back about twenty years ago." The doctor finished.

"So what you're saying is that that piece of wood here is twenty years old?" The Guard questioned.

"At the latest, which means that this ship was either building within this century or it was at least repaired within that time frame." The Doctor answered.

"I am lost" the ginger man stated. "What does this matter? And what is Equestria?" The man muttered to himself.

"Can't you get a more exact date, I thought stuff like this is your specialty?" The Guard asked.

"Yea that is true but it would appear that the wood or at the very least, the resin coating the wood is somewhat magic resistant… it's making it difficult to analyse it properly" the Doctor replied as the wounded man glanced at the large piece of dark wood sticking out of his thigh. He didn't have much time to think on it before he heard something shifting behind the door. "By Celestia this is heavy, Steel Wing would you mind giving me a hand?" The doctor asked.

"Of course Doctor Spade" the guard replied before the sound of grunting and swearing was heard from the pair. A few minutes passed before the sound of wood scraping against wood was heard. " This is really wedged here" Wing grunted.

"Most definitely" Doctor Spade replied as the sound of the two pushing continued. This went on for another few minutes passed before a loud crash was heard just outside the door.

"By Celestia that was heavy as heck" Wing groaned as he painted hard.

"I can attest to that… I should hit the gym" Spade replied panting just as hard. "Well at least we can check out this room now" he added.

"What ever… just gonna catch my breath seeing I was doing all the pushing" Wing stated while continuing to pant.

"Sorry about that" Spade replied as the door latch began to rotate followed by the door swinging open. "I am an archaeologist after al…" Spade continued only to stop when he turned his head to look inside the room and saw the ginger man.

"Howdy" the Ginger man replied with a sheepish grin. He understood now why they were so concerned about a couple of horses. The Doctor was a 5 foot 9 chestnut brown anthropomorphic stallion with a short, well maintained cream mane and tail. He was dressed in a blue polo shirt, like green cargo shorts and a pair of tan boots. He had a pair of round, brass framed glasses on the tip of his muzzle and a long horn on his head. He had a look of utter shock and confusion on his face as his violet eyes scanned the man.

"Hel...Hello, how are you?" Spade replied still in a state of shock.

"Not the best, got this piece of wood in my leg" the ginger man replied as he gestured the wound.

"Oh my stars you do, how did that happen?" The Stallion asked as he quickly approached the man and knelt down next to him, being careful not to kneel on glass.

"No idea, just woke with it in my leg." The man replied as a 6 foot silver stallion with large wings. He was wearing a navy blue mane that was shorter than Spade's. he was dressed in a red coat, a brown shirt, faded jeans and a pair of black boots. He had a shortsword strapped to his side, which he drew and pointed towards the wounded man.

"Doctor! What are you doing?" Wing asked as he moved forward quickly towards the pair.

"Easy Wing, It is hurt" Spade replied in a annoyed turn.

"And? It is an unknown creature which has trapped in here, maybe for good reason" Silver replied as he gave the man a harsh glare.

"I'm right here"

"You can't be serious, that debris was part of the collapsed deck right above the door." Spade replied as he rolled his eyes.

"We we don't know what the buck this thing is!" Silver added.

"I can tell you if you like?"

"Yes and this is our opportunity to find out but we can't do that if we leave it here" Spade retorted.

"Well you can analyze its corpse, cause what if it is hostile!" Silver replied.

"I'd rather you didn't"

"What!? Your going to kill a random sentient creature that hasn't shown any hostility towards you on a what if?" Spade replied in a disgusted tone.

"Well then what do we do with it?" Silver replied. Doctor Spade was about to answer when a loud whistle was heard from next to them, making the pair jump and look to the man.

"Alright now that I have your bloody intention…" the Man said before looking to Silver. "You, I have no intention to hurt anyone or cause trouble or just be hostile to anyone who doesn't threaten me…" he then looked to Spade. "I am a guy so stop calling me it, and I am more than willing to tell you guys whatever I can after I have had that removed from my leg" he said pointing to the large shard of wood in his leg.

The Stallion looked at each other for a few moments as if having a silent conversation before Wing sheathed his sword and knelt down next to the man. "Alright fine, let's get out of here" he grumbled as he shifted around so he had the wounded man's arm over his shoulders.

"Thank goodness you saw reason" Spade said as he did the same on the opposite side.

"This isn't over yet" Silver replied as the pair stood up, lifting the man carefully. "Just didn't want to be stuck with you bitching at me for the rest of the project" he added as they slowly and carefully exited the room with the man.

Outside the room was a complete mess of chunks of wood, boxes and large holes throughout the room. "How did this ship not sink?" The man asked curious.

"Well that answers one of the questions I was gonna ask" Spade replied making the man look at him confused. Noticing the look Spade gave a chuckle. "I was gonna ask how this ship didn't sink but if you don't know then no point in asking" he stated.

"And you just believe anything he says?" Silver asked as the trio began to climb a set of stairs.

"Innocent till proven guilty" Spade replied with a soft smile. Climbing the stairs took several minutes but eventually they reached the deck, where the crimson haired man, who had gotten used to the dark interior, flinched at the sunlight hitting him in the face.

"Doctor Spade, there you are. I need you to sign …. What the buck is that?" A new voice called out. The man blinked a few times to let his eyes adjust before looking in the direction the voice came from.

Standing about 10 Feet away from the trio was a 5 foot 5 cream unicorn mare, she was dressed in a flora blouse that covered her b cup breasts and was tucked into light brown cargo shorts. She wore several pouches on her belt and tan boots. Her cherry mane was tied back in a braided ponytail which made the man smirk at the thought. She was holding a clipboard, which had been dropped to the deck.

"Ah yes Doctor Heart, this is our discovery from within the hold of this ship." Spade explained with a smile.

"Howdy" the man said.

"It talks?" Heart replied in shock.

"He not it, he was very annoyed at being called it earlier and yes he does." Spade replied with a smile as the mare's shock quickly shifted to curiosity as she quickly moved to the man to inspect him closer. The man was quickly overwhelmed by the smell of lavender

"Do you know what species he is?" She asked as she placed her hands on his neck and felt around. "Please speak" she instructed as the man cocked his eyebrow.

"Ahhhhh"

"Interesting" she said as she moved her hands to his open mouth and forced it open and inspected inside. "Most interesting" she added.

The man attempted to speak but it proved difficult with someone holding his mouth open.

"He has prominent canines but also molars, premolars…" she said as she quickly went off on a tangent about teeth and what their functions are.

After nearly 10 minutes of talking Silver cleared his throat. "Look you can have a go at him later, because he is currently in a lot of pain at the moment with his leg" Silver explained as Heart looked down and gasped.

"Oh goodness, yes lets get him to the medic and get that seen too" she said as she removed her fingers from the inside of the man's mouth.

"Thank you" he said as he shifted and stretched his jaw. The pegasus simply nodded before the trio headed off the ship while Heart collected her dropped clipboard and followed. The area surrounding the ship was a pretty barren desert save for the ruined remains of a town. The buildings being used had tarps covering any holes while tents were set up in the streets or leveled buildings. "What happened to his place?" The man asked.

"That's what we are here to find out" Spade replied with a smile as the ginger man noticed that there were several dozen other ponies who were giving him curious looks. They soon arrived at a large stone building with a red cross painted by the doorway.

Inside the building was a dimly lit room with several beds, desks and cabinets strewn around the room along with several more ponies.

"Just place him over there" Heart instructed as she pointed towards a far bed as she walked over to a desk and collected a stethoscope and another clipboard.

As she collected her things, Silver and Spade placed the man in bed gently. Once there Silver walked to a nearby chair and sat down while Spade went over to Heart and began talking to her. The mare handed him a clipboard before the stallion left the building. "So how about we start from the beginning, how did You end up in that room?" Silver asked.

"Honestly I have no idea, I just woke up there as stiff as a board… thought I was dead for a few moments but the most annoying thing is that I can barely remember a thing. Like I remember my name and that's about it." The man explained.

"Hmmm kind of sounds like something I have seen a few times before but we will have Doctor Heart take a look over you first." Silver said before he stood up and walked over. "Anyway I guess I should introduce myself, my name is Sergeant Silver Wing" he said offering his hand.

"Alexander or just Alex or Lex for short" the ginger man replied.

"Alright at least you have your name" Silver said with a smile as he shook Lex's hand as Heart arrived at the other side of the bed.

"Hello, my name is Doctor Cherry Heart, I'll be putting you back together," she said with a chuckle. "Now let's get a look at you" she said as she inspected the piece of wood in his leg. "Alright so I'm gonna have to cut open your pants so I can fix you up" she explained.

"Yeah, that's fine," Lex said as he watched the mare pull a pair of fabric scissors out of one her pouches.

"Alright I'll do my best not to agitate the area too much," she said with a warm smile before her horn glowed a dull red colour a few seconds before Lex felt his leg being seized. He looked down to his leg to see that his leg was surrounded in a similar glow.

"What… How are you…. What is that?" He asked confused as the mare started to cut open his pants leg above the foreign object.

"I'm using magic to hold it" she said as she glanced up at him. "Why? Haven't seen it before?"

"I think so but not in this way before" Lex explained as he furrowed his brow. "But for some reason I can't remember properly."

"There could be multiple reasons for that, how far back do you remember?" She asked as she her horn began to glow again and a small steel table wheeled over. It had several small dishes, tools and a two foot long bag.

"I can clearly remember back to when I woke up, which I'm guessing was maybe an hour ago, after that it's just bits and pieces but nothing really solid" He explained as the Doctor jotted down some notes on her clipboard and nodded along.

"Alright, what was your condition when you awoke. What did you feel like?" She asked as her rose coloured eyes looked at him with concern.

"Ah well to but it honestly, I was questioning if I died, my body felt numb and was locked. I didn't even feel like I was breathing until I managed unlock my neck, which is when everything came back… including feeling that?" He said gesturing the foot long piece of wood.

"Alright, I think I'm getting a clearer picture of what your dealing with, tell me was there anything abnormal that occurred after you awoke?" She asked curious as she finished writing down what Lex had just explained.

"Well there was this one thing, when I fell over and landed on some glass. It hurt like hell but when I pulled them out, a weird golden light sparkle over where I was cut open and they closed." He explained as she raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, I think I have a solid idea of what happened to you, but first I just need to check your chest" She said as she placed her clipboard down and retrieved her scissors again.

"What are you checking?" Lex asked curious.

"Well if you are suffering from what I think are, then I need to find bruising around where the wound that killed you was" She explained.

"Wait. Killed me?" Lex asked concerned.

"Yes because I believe that you are suffering from Resurrection Sickness, and if I'm right then I can treat it" She explained as Lex gave a hesitant nod.

"Is it common?" Lex asked.

"Not really cause to bring back somepony with magic is quite difficult, the most skilled unicorn doctors at best can bring somepony back who has been dead for ten minutes at best" she explained as she cut open his tattered top. "But there was a case when the Princess, who is a powerful user of magic, managed to resurrect a group of ten ponies who had been killed in a cave in a few days earlier. Apparently it left her drained for several days but the ten ponies were suffering for similar effects to you but to a lesser degree" Cherry explained.

"So what does that mean?" Lex asked as Cherry put her scissors down and opened up the man's ruined shirt. His chest was toned and coated in a few scars. On the left side of his ribcage was a large tattoo of a constellation of stars. on his right side was a tattoo of a disc which is divided into four sections, each representing each season, the outside of it was surrounded in vines and stars. But what caught the attention of the doctor was the tattoo of a three inch ring of an unknown language that was on his sternum.

"Could you please get Doctor Spade and Doctor Scroll?" She asked as she helped Lex sit up.

"What's wrong?" Silver asked concerned.

"Just go grab them please" She asked again as looked to him for a few moments before returning her gaze to Lex. "We have to get this off you" she stated as she pointed to his top.

"Alright" Lex replied with a shrug as the pair pulled off his vest and destroyed shirt while Silver left the building. Once off Doctor Heart grabbed her clipboard and began jotting down notes. The man's arms were muscular and also decorated with tattoos.

On his left forearm was a tattoo of a longsword that was wrapped in the same unknown language. Down his right arm was a coiling tattoo of a platinum dragon.

"Okay so this is what I was looking for" she said causing Lex to look down to where she was pointing. The place she was pointing was directly over his heart.

The area was covered in heavy bruising with the occasional spark of golden energy coming off of it.

"It seems that the restoration magic is still in effect so I should be able to…" she explained before she pulled the piece of wood out of the man's left, causing him to cry out in pain.

"What the fuck?!" Lex growled.

"What? You were distracted and if I'm right then this should mostly heal." She said as she placed the chuck of wood on the table while she put on plastic gloves and placed gauze against the wound. "Also I was corrected you died and were resurrected" she said with a wide smile.

"How is me dying a good thing?" Lex grumbled as Cherry pulled the gauze up a bit to inspect the area.

"Well your not dead which is a good thing and also your wound has closed up mostly but you will still need stitches" she explained as she held the gauze against his leg again. "Also your other question about the effects being greater on you. my only guesses are that either you were dead much longer or your body isn't as durable as a Pony's." She explained as she used her magic to bring over a small metal jar. "But again this is speculation and if the former is correct the question would be who is powerful enough to do so and why you… no offense".

"Non taken" Lex replied with a half hearted chuckle as he watched her. "So I take it I'm keeping my leg?" He asked.

"Unfortunately" she said with a smile as she opened the jar with her magic as she removed the gauze. She inspected the wound carefully. "Seems that the restoration magic has repaired as much as it could but not enough," she said as she dipped her fingers into the white gel.

"What's that?" Lex asked.

"It's a rain relief substance just to numb the area i'll be stitching" She explained before she began applying it the the area with extreme care. As she began and Lex gritted his teeth in pain Silver returned to the building with doctor Spade and an older alabaster unicorn Mare in tow. She was dressed in a knee length skirt, white dress top which hugged her c cup breasts , black boots and had a resting bitchface.

"Well it us quite interesting but I don't see why It was required to pull me away from my work" The new mare as she brushed a few strands of her vibrate yellow mane out of her face.

"Have a look at HIS chest" Cherry said as she began stitching up Lex's leg.

"Why? What is so important about his chest?" She asked as she walked over while projected an aura of sass and self righteousness. "Yes he is a fine looking specimen but I hope you didn't call me here just to… to…" she began only to trail off as her neon blue eyes locked on the tattoo on the middle of his chest. "Oh I see why you wanted me to come," she said as she immediately got uncomfortably close to Lex, to the extent that she was leaning on his as she rested her hand on his chest inspecting the tattoo.

"I'm lost?" Lex said as he looked between the four ponies.

"Shush" Doctor Scroll said as she continued to examine the tattoo. "Interesting, yes this is the same as the language we have found around the town" she explains to the other ponies.

"What does it say?" Doctor Spade asked.

"Nothing really, it seems to be more of a placeholder for something" she said before her horn glowed a sun yellow colour and a similar aura surrounded Lex for a brief few moments. "Interesting, it would appear that this…" she said pointing to his chest before moving to grab his arm with the sword tattoo. "This and…" she then moved to hold each of the man's hands. ,"These the most, seem to be magical in nature" She explained as the rest looked flabbergasted and looked between her and Lex with great curiosity.

"Can you remove them so we examine them?" Spade asked and almost on some unknown instinct, Lex retracted his hands.

"How about we don't take my few things" Lex said in a harsh tone as Cherry finished bandaging his leg.

"They will be returned to you, we just wish to examine them" Spade replied as Lex glared at him.

"I can't really say no to the guys that saved me but still... One at a time and if they aren't returned then you are not getting another" he growled as Spade nodded. "Alright let me get one off" Lex said as he wrapped his fingers around the raven ring and tugged on it lightly. The moment he did the ring refused to budge as if it was too tight on his finger. "What the hell?" He asked as he tugged on the ring more. "Come… on" he growled as he pulled but to no avail, the ring refused to budge.

"What's wrong?" Spade asked.

"It doesn't want to come off" he said as he showed him the ring, which appeared to sit comfortably on his finger. He then looked to the dragon ring and reached to remove that one but as his fingers wrapped around it and pulled it slightly. The Man felt a wave of anger rushed through him and the feeling that removing the ring would not be a wise choice as he could faintly hear the sound of growling. The sound caused him to glance around for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Silver asked.

"I thought I heard an animal growling" Lex said as Spade placed a hand on Lex's though he immediately recoiled his hand. "What?"

"Leave those on" Spade said with a slightly paler face. "Scroll, they are definitely magical" Spade said.

"Are you okay?" Cherry asked as Spade nodded.

"Yes I'm fine. Anyway Sir, I would like to ask that we examine you over the next while to determine if you in fact are a threat to Pony kind. While we do so, you will be given as much aid as you need to recover and are more then welcome to wander the town… as long as you don't leave it." Doctor Spade offered with a warm smile.

"Well I'm not keen on wandering a desert so yea let's do that then" Lex said as he offered his hand to shake, which Spade politely refused.

"Alright I'll write up a contract for you to read over, i'll be back" Spade explained as he quickly left, leaving Lex there as Cherry and Silver talked while Scroll continued to look at the writing on his body with great intrigue.

"I get the feeling I'm gonna regret this" Lex said with a frown.