I didn't need to turn around to know my adversary was headed right for us. I could feel the seams of reality coming apart around me, the small glade I had created so long ago simply vanishing into darkness. The figure's shadow began to wash over us as he crept ever closer, but I could not allow him to dash my last hope. With a thrum of magic, I channeled every fiber of my being, every ounce of what remained of my energy into the protective barrier around my son and smiled as my magic circle was finally completed.

He snarled, sensing my ministrations. "You can't escape me, Solus! I won’t lose to your feeble attempts to stop me, not this time!"

I would have liked to say that Order won over Chaos in this battle, but I never was a liar. My smile dropped as I felt coldness gripping at my soul, pain coursing through my chest and gut as his talon pierced my body through. My heart lay clutched in his claws, the beating slowly coming to a halt. The power I held on to dissipated with the completion of my spell and my eyes turned back to their original hue, my son’s bubble warping out of existence here and appearing elsewhere. I hadn’t the faintest idea where he would end, but at least he would be safe.

I coughed up blood, those vital fluids staining my beard and my eyes as everything became unusually heavy. The last thing I heard as everything faded to black was the tormented and rage filled scream of Discord, Spirit of Chaos.

—

Wind. That was the first thing I woke up to as I was unceremoniously dropped from an unknowable place in the sky. I could make out kaleidoscopic colors whirled around me, rain clouds zipping past me as I continued to plummet further down the side, whatever I was next to. Thinking back now, it looked like a grand oak tree. And, for lack of better words, I mean GRAND. I wasn't too far away from it, maybe a few hundred feet, but Lordy was it a massive one, like something out of a video game.

Despite me falling, I didn’t feel any sensation of movement hit me, just the sensation of wind. My heart pounded, daring to try and rattle around my ribs as panic overwhelmed any prior existing thoughts. It was a primal, nauseatingly icy spike of emotion within my very core, unlike anything I had ever felt before. All I could do was scream as I frantically looked around for anything to grab on to and rescue myself from gravity’s clutches.

Instead I only found the oppressive pushback of the atmosphere. It continued to pick up speed as I fell, tearing at my clothes and threatening to slice into my exposed skin. Vertigo overwhelmed me, forcing me to vomit out my stomach’s contents, before I continued to shred my vocal cords asking for help against the deafening wind.

As if a god decided to answer me with some cruel joke, deeper down below me a white light opened and my orientation began to creep slowly closer to it. An invisible pressure squeezed around me as I passed through, like I was being forced into a tube. It hurt immensely, causing me to experience an indescribable sense of pain and suffering. I made an attempt to open my eyes one last time, hoping that this had all been just a dream, and the last thing I saw before everything faded painfully into black was something lavender, white, blue, pink, orange, and yellow.

I don't know how long I laid unconscious, but I do know that everything hurt and something hard was poking my chest. I tried to drift back into unconsciousness to recover, but the poking varied enough in frequency to become annoying. When it hit my chest particularly hard, I groaned at the uncomfortable pain and made an attempt to swat at what I assumed was my roommate trying to get me up.

Bleary eyed, I looked up, only to be met with the color blue. "Roger, quit poking me with whatever that is! I have a massive hangover!" I barked, unsure of much.

A raspy voice I didn't recognize responded with a sigh. "Oh thank Celestia, he’s alive!"

I jolted up, ready to face whoever it was, but bumped square into the color of blue. I craned my head away from the shape and saw that I was lying on the floor of some dank, old building made of stone brick, then back to the shape in front of me. And that’s when I started panicking.

“Holyshitholyshitholyshit, what in the ever loving fuck?!” I shrieked. I scramble backwards, only to fall down a few inches onto the floor. I gave a cursory glance down at what I crawled over and saw another one of the colored people things, this one some shade of soft blue, and barely had time to make a mad dash to escape behind the group. Before I could manage to run through the ajar door, a blue thing blocked my exit.

“Whoa, big guy, we aren’t going to hurt you,” it attempted to reassure me.

An overwhelming need to get away spoke in my mind, demanding that I acted on instinct. My assailant was knocked aside as I bolted down the hallway, desperate to put as much distance between them and I. Felt like a mistake to dare waiting around for something else unknown to pop up.

I ignored the pleas to stop coming from behind me, sheer terror fueling my legs as I vaulted over piles of rubble and side-stepped into the first open door I spotted. The decayed wood cracked on its hinges as I threw it shut behind me.

My vision was spotty and my legs threatened to give out from the ice in my veins. I felt as if I might pass out from hyperventilating, the claustrophobic brickwork seeming to trap me as it appeared to move inward. Emotions ran higher and higher with each passing second.

Some part of me knew to calm down and managed to just barely slow my breathing and heart rate down enough to think. “Okay Aurelius, let’s just slow down. Breathe easy...” I pushed hard against the door as I overheard some type of clopping come from behind me. “You’re just having a bad dream. This isn’t real. You did not just see seven multi-colored talking horse-things. You are FINE.”

I heard one of them knock on the door as they cleared their throats, then whispered something to the rest of the group. “Hello? Are you in there?” It asked. “Please come out. I promise we’re not a threat.”

It felt as if my heart would explode out of my chest and my thoughts raced to make any sense of everything. What in the heck is going on? One moment I’m crashing after work for the night, and now this? Itook a moment to pause. Considering I’ve taken illicit substances before, vivid dreams weren’t an uncommon occurrence. But this is entirely too clear and vivid, so… what?

Was there something more to this that I thought? I’d be a fool to trust what didn’t line up with the reality I knew, especially when this could all be a bad trip. The thought that I couldn’t escape made my legs feel like jelly from prior exertion.

I decided to take a chance and assume everything was real. “W-where am I? Who are- no, better yet, WHAT are you?”

The voice on the other side of the door talked amongst its group, before turning back to me. “You are currently in a ruins of The Castle of the Two Sisters.”

Oh like that answers anything.

“As for what I am, and my friends, we’re ponies.” The voice stopped and more chattering took its place.

My thoughts raced with skepticism. Nothing made sense and the confusion caused vertigo in my corr. I couldn’t just leave my rationale behind to chance a leap of faith. As desperate as I was for any concrete answers, fear regrettably took priority.

They couldn’t make me open the door. It opened inward and could be kept shut with rubble if need be, though I could probably have kept it closed from adrenaline at that point. My breathing halted at that realization, at least a small bit of relief from the panic I felt. And then something pink leapt out of the bucket in the corner, its gleeful smile unnerving me. Panic surged back to full force and I pushed a might too hard into the door, the decayed wood breaking under my body weight. I tumbled out, smack into one of the group. It flipped me over and pinned me down to the ground.

Not fucking good, not fucking good! I thought as it pinned me down. I struggled against it, my body sweating and muscles tightening. The stone beneath us abraded like sandpaper.

“Got him!” It grunted, its raspy, tomboy voice struggling against my ministrations. “Hold still, you jerk!”

“Nononono,” I stammered out, gasping as I felt a burning pressure build in my chest. It swirled, itching to be released from my throat.

With a shout, I let loose the pressure into a massive wave as I ordered the blue thing to get off. My voice reverberated off the walls, an echo responding from down the hall.

The itching stopped shortly after bluey was thrown off. As my vision began to fade, I made an attempt to continue my escape and fell flat on my face. I tried to move my body, but was hit by exhaustion and all I wanted to do was sleep.

——
As my eyes fluttered open, I was startled by nearby sounds of a heart monitor and the smell of antiseptic. A white fuzziness partially clouded my vision, but blinking did nothing to help clear it. I craned my neck away from the tile ceiling to look around the room, barely making out a brown cork board on the bare walls of whatever hospital room I laid in.

I looked down to see myself dressed in a white hospital gown. It barely felt like it covered me, leaving me with a sense of exposure and nakedness. Other than some strange metal cuffs on my wrists, it felt like the only clothes I wore in an unfamiliar hospital.

I struggled to grasp the reality of my situation, and despite the strikingly eerie feeling of calm, my memory felt foggy as to what led up to me being in the hospital. Would have been more unnerved, but I didn’t feel any pain, aside from a minor thrum of something in my head and the general sense of exhaustion. I could think clearly about who I was and the state of my body, but couldn’t find a reason to feel upset.

I don’t recognize any of the voices in the hallway, I thought, looking more carefully at the doorway to my left. I could hear some sort of clicking or ‘clopping’ going on further down the hall, which I found odd.

I looked back down to my wrists, at the cuffs. I don’t remember wearing any jewelry to bed, but I also don’t remember putting on hospital clothes. Where am I?

That’s a little disconcerting. Each time I tried to go to remove either one of the bracelets, I seemed to lose all strength in whatever hand I grabbed one with.They weren’t exactly tight, as I could spin them around my wrist and move them on my forearm a bit, but I was powerless in any actual attempt to remove them. It was bewildering.

I heard someone enter my room and walk over to the far corner by a chair I saw earlier. I looked up and saw a weird, white and pink bipedal unicorn-person dressed in nurse scrubs and a white lab coat looking over levitating charts and paper, and reaching up to pin new ones on a cork board.

It seemed completely oblivious to me, but I was fully aware of it and looking at it made me feel uneasy, despite previously feeling calm. I almost wanted to hyperventilate and panic, but again something made me feel calm.

“Uh, hi?’ I greeted her, disrupting what she was doing and startling her. The papers that were floating suddenly fell to the floor and she turned back to look at me.

“Oh Celestia, he’s awake!” She gasped, before hastily bolting to the door and running back down the hall.

I glanced over to her scattered paperwork and then back at the door, feeling a sort of disconnection between her being here and now leaving. Confused, I asked the only possible thought one could have at the strangeness of it all.

“What?”

—

It took maybe a total of twenty minutes before what I assume was a doctor to show up, along with that same nurse from before.

Both of them were some manner of horse-human creature, but none like I had ever seen. They both had horns like a unicorn, large expressive eyes, short and wide but very rounded muzzles, and large ears. They walked on two, overly thick horse-like legs, were about four foot tall, and wore typical clothes one would see in a hospital. They had two arms that ended in hands with four fingers that were twice as thick as my own, with nails to match. But the strangest feature either of them displayed was the doctor’s colors.

Blue. The horse doctor is BLUE. The more I studied them, the more bizarre they seemed. That’s not natural by any sense of the word. What the heck have I gotten myself into?

The doctor smiled at my state, I guess happy that I was awake and aware of my surroundings. “Hello there, my tall friend. My name is Doctor Feelswell, and this is Nurse Redheart. We’re here to perform a health check up. Can you understand what I’m saying?”

I nodded. “Good, are you able to talk?” He asked.

I cleared my throat. “Uh, yes?”

He closed his eyes and nodded in solidarity. “Excellent, that means you haven’t suffered the worst effects.”

I looked at him, puzzled and anxious. “E-effects? What are you-“ I stopped and thought carefully about my next words. “What are you talking about? Where am I? What are these bracelets all about? Wh-“

Dr. Feelswell waved a hand to cut me off, his dismissive, albeit professional demeanor did little in the way of making me feel steady. “I understand your confusion, sir, but unfortunately I have many other patients to tend to this morning. Nurse Redheart will be more than happy to help answer any questions or concerns after we run a few tests.”

He motioned to the Nurse Redheart, who wheeled in a cart of instruments. The doctor ignited his own unicorn horn a pale teal color, and the instruments became enveloped in the same soft light.

Feelswell cleared his throat and then spoke softly. “Now then, just relax and we’ll be done shortly. This won’t hurt.”

The instruments moved with precision in his teal light, measuring my vitals. An empty syringe floated over to my forearm and then flew over to the nurse with a blood sample. I watched as her horn ignited with a soft baby blue hue and the syringe’s light changed color to match.

The tests continued for a little while longer. The calmness started to feel more natural thanks to the professionalism of the nurse and doctor. I couldn’t help but continue to wonder about where I was and what the cuffs were, but I trusted the caregivers enough to not hurt me.

“All finished.” The doctor stated matter-of-factly. “He is going to be fine. I bid you both farewell.” He nodded at Nurse Redheart before turning to go on to other patients.

I smiled slightly, relieved to hear I wasn’t at risk of whatever he was testing for. Nurse Redheart’s horn lit up again and I felt one of the metal cuffs enlarge and slide off my wrists. With it, went the overwhelming feeling of calm.

“Thank you for that. Now… Do you mind telling me where I am and why I’m here?” I asked.

“You’re in Ponyville General Hospital. You were brought in for M.E.S.” I gave her a blank look. “M.E.S. means Magic Exhaustion Syndrome.”

Furrowing my brow, I scoffed in disbelief at the thought. “Did you say ‘magic’? As in spells, ley lines, and grimoires?”

“Yes, the very same,” she started with a nod. “One of the cuffs are to help stabilize any fluctuations in your C.A.M. system so you won’t accidentally dispel any more, at least until it regenerates.”

She continued, her voice steady and reassuring. "From what the mare who brought you in said, you suddenly appeared through some sort of portal and used a Force spell while you were panicking. When she brought you in, you were nearly drained entirely of magic.” She smiled warmly. “I’m honestly relieved to see you awake in such a short time. Most don’t wake up for at least a week.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, I had to ask the questions burning away in my mind.

“What do you mean by ‘drained' my C.A.M. system? What is a cam?”

“The C.A.M. system, or Chakram Ars Magicana system, is a specialized series of organs that most sapient species use to process and manipulate the energies around us. Straight out of a biology primer from medical school. It’s hard to explain the real nitty gritty without the proper papers, but that’s basically how it works.”

“I'm sorry to sound ignorant about all this, but I just find this hard to believe! Magic... the thing I spent so long thinking was a bunch of hogwash. You're claiming I did magic and it put me in the hospital."

Nurse Redheart's expression softened, a mix of her own curiosity and understanding obvious in her eyes. "I know how overwhelming and hard to believe this must be for you," she said. “Waking up in a strange place under extraordinary circumstances. You’re taking it rather well, all things considered.”

All things considered, she was right. “If I’m honest, I originally felt anxious when I woke up, but then I guess the cuff kind of kicked in. Was that some kind of magic cuff?”

She nodded slightly in affirmation. “Very astute of you. Most ponies don’t usually panic while in the hospital, but we take safeguards against anybody who might be delirious or potentially dangerous, especially an unknown person like yourself.”

I feel like that would have been more insulting if I wasn’t in a hospital.

Nurse Redheart continued small talk with me, asking my interests, basic dietary and health questions to get a baseline for me, though I couldn’t help very much since I never really went to an ER for anything.

All in all, I was both relieved and nervous at my new happenstance. Starting from scratch was to be expected back home after I graduated from high school, so it wasn’t like I hadn’t experienced trying to find a place to live or a job. I wonder if there are any schools to teach skills to the average Joe?

Author's Note

And here we go, everyone. I do hope you have enjoyed the new and improved version of the first chapter. I'm currently writing the Re:chapter 2 as of the posting this and have a few words written out. I will not be giving up as easily as before and WILL finish this fic. Please feel free to leave all criticisms, comments, praises, and other junk down below!