Of Two Worlds

He wasn’t entirely sure when he became aware of them. They’d come into focus as he was pulled out of a painful, fever racked sleep. At first, he just assumed he was hallucinating. At some point the memory of the one in the tree returned to him. After that he remembered the one he’d seen flying across the sky in the field. As he tried to bridge the line between delusion and reality, he settled on the idea that he must be drugged. There was no way they were real.

There was pain everywhere. It was much worse when he first started coming to. When he would wake up, it felt like fire was pulsing through his body. There were especially heavy concentrations of it in his shoulder and leg. He had vague, disconnected memories of coming to and a white blur giving him something bitter to drink. Almost immediately the pain would fade and he’d feel the tug of sleep and pass back out.

He could remember at one point waking up while they were doing something with his leg. He remembered mumbling something when a soft touch on his arm quieted him.

“Shhhhhh. Please. Just rest. You’re not well yet.”

“Where am I?” His voice sounded like sandpaper.

“Ponyville Hospital. Rest. I know you’re confused. I promise you’re safe. We’ll answer all your questions soon ok?”

“Ok.” He managed to croak the words out before a new wave of drowsiness took him back under.

Finally he woke up and managed to look around with no blurry vision. He was in some sort of hospital room. A bed with rails on the side sat next to a rack laden with swabs, rags, tongue depressors and various other instruments. Looking up, he could see there was some kind of instrument panel on the wall above him. An IV hanging from a hook next to him fed medication into his right arm.

Looking down he saw his leg atop the covers at the end of the bed, wrapped in white bandages.

I guess that’s what they were doing with my leg.

His left arm was tightly bound against his chest, secured in a sling that covered his entire upper left side. It was a sight he was long familiar with.

He returned his gaze to his wrapped leg. “I wonder how much meat that thing took out of me.” Between the rain and the blood he hadn’t really gotten a good look at the wound before.

Awesome. I’ll match now. Fucked shoulder. Gimped leg. Maybe I’ll lose an eye next. He sighed and tried to push that idea out of his head.

Yawning, he stretched what he could. It felt like he’d be lying there for some time. Everything was stiff and tight and his joints popped in protest as he moved. Despite the lingering stiffness and pain, he was actually fairly comfortable. The bed was soft and seemed well kept. As he stretched, he realized he was wearing a green hospital gown.

He ran a hand through his disheveled brown hair.

“How long have I been here?” He ran his hand across his cheeks and the layer of stubble told him he’d been there a few days at least.

As he settled, a click at the door caught his attention. His stomach fluttered at the idea of what might come through and he flashed back to the creatures he thought he had seen before.

That had to be the drugs or something. No way I wasn’t hallucinating. As the door opened, he felt his heart slam in his chest as what breath he had left him,

A small white horse with a pink mane tied up tightly in a bun under a nurses cap walked in pushing a cart laden with instruments and a small covered tray. As she walked forward, he noticed a red medical cross on each rear thigh. Small red hearts adorned the corners of each one and an identical symbol was on her cap.

“What...the...fuck?!”

As his mouth gaped open, he felt his brain scramble to process what he was seeing. One part of his brain was screaming that he should try and jump out of bed as quickly as he could and run away. The other side was telling him he shouldn’t panic as the events of the last few days flashed through his mind. Reminding him that he’d woken up mysteriously in some strange new world and had been attacked by wolves made of lumber.

If they wanted to hurt you, they easily could have already.

The panic must have been visible on his face. As the cart settled next to his bed, giant blue eyes went wide as she reached a hoof out. “Please, please don’t be scared. I promise no one here is going to hurt you.”

He instantly thought to the voice he heard as he had drifted in and out of sleep. “You...you’re the one who spoke to me before.”

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, that was me.” She raised a hoof to her chest. “I’m Redheart. I’m a nurse here.

He blinked a few times. “Caden. Caden Park.”

The smile spread. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Caden Park.” She looked at his leg. “Would you mind if I got a bit closer? I need to check on a few things.”

He took a few deep breaths and nodded. If they wanted to hurt you, they already could have.

She took a few slow, careful steps towards him before stopping at the edge of the bed. He looked her over. She was clearly a horse but not quite like any he had ever seen. The first thing that stood out was how small she was. She was just slightly larger than a large dog. Smooth white fur coated a rounded body that was finished at either end by a pink mane and tail that looked much closer to human hair than a normal horse’s. He watched as she looked him over with huge, expressive eyes that again looked closer to a human’s than a horse’s.

Not exactly what I expected aliens to look like.

She looked up at him and smiled. “How do you feel?”

He looked himself up and down. “Not bad. I’ve...been better. I ache all over. Shoulder hurts when I move it.”

She nodded. “You had thrown it out pretty badly.”

He reached his right hand up and rested it on his left shoulder. “Seems like it’s back in place though.”

“We have other creatures here similar to you. It wasn’t too difficult to figure out how to reset it.”

Other creatures? Something about the way she said it stuck out to him.

“What about the ache?”

“That’s normal for Timberwolf venom. It’ll fade in time.”

He felt an eye twitch at the name.

“Are you ok if I get a bit closer? I’d like to take your temperature and look at a few other things.”

He nodded. “Sure.”

She stepped over to the cart and pulled what looked like a penlight off of it with her mouth before walking towards the head of the bed.

What on Earth…oh...no hands.

She stood up on her hind legs, and rested her front hooves against the railing of the bed. As she stood up to him, he caught a wave of something pleasant in the air.

Flowers?

She somehow managed to speak around the instrument. “Can you lean forward and look straight at me please.”

Caden did as he was told. She pointed the light into his eyes a few times, exactly the same way a human nurse would. She returned the pen to the cart and came back with a thermometer.

“Pupil reactions seem fine.” She looked up at a chart on the wall next to his bed. “Last temperature reading was 97.8. I’m guessing that’s somewhere near normal?”

Caden nodded. “Around 98 is normal.”

“Good. Fever is a common side effect of Timberwolf venom. You were over 100 when you were brought in. Would you please stick this under your arm?”

He did as asked and slid the instrument under his right armpit. Over the next several minutes, she ran him through the standard battery of tests he would expect from a nurse back home. Breathing, heart rate, blood pressure. Other than confirming what the normal ranges were, he sat there like he would during any hospital exam. By the end, he was more interested in the results than remembering that he was talking to a horse.

She returned the last instrument to the cart. “Are you hungry? You must be. It’s been awhile since you last ate solid food.”

He realized he hadn’t really thought about it. At the very idea of food, his stomach erupted in a sound that would charitably be described as barbaric.

He felt himself almost blush. “Apparently so.”

She grinned and walked over to the cart and lifted one edge of the tray with her mouth before walking it over to him. Placing it on his lap, she pulled the lid off with her mouth before placing it back on the cart..

On the plate sat some sort of salad, a roll and various steamed vegetables.

She pushed the cart away from the bed. “We figured you were probably an omnivore based on your dentition. We don’t eat meat and we don’t see many creatures here who do. We expected you can’t eat grasses either so this was the best we ha...” She trailed off as she looked back to see him wolfing down the food, cheeks chipmunked out to their fullest. He wasn’t even entirely sure what was in the salad or what the veggies were. It took less than a minute for him to nearly lick the plate clean.

Swallowing the last of it, he looked over to see her smiling at him. He grimaced, realizing how he’d just wolfed the meal down in front of her. “Sorry. I guess I was hungrier than I thought.”

She held a hoof up to her mouth, giggling. “It’s ok. You’ve been here for four days and on fluids that whole time. We figured you’d be starving.”

Four days.

“The doctor should be here in a moment to take a look at you. Is that ok?”

He nodded. “That’s fine.”

“We’ve already sent for Princess Twilight as well.”

Huh? “Did you say Princess?”

She nodded. “Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. It was one of her friends who found you in the woods. She was a great help when you first arrived. Wouldn’t be able to understand you without her.”

“What the hell is a Princess of Friendship?” He blinked a few times as his brain processed the second part of her statement. “Wait? Why wouldn’t I be able to understand you.”

She tilted her head slightly. “We figured you probably didn’t speak Poneish.”

Poneish? What the hell is she talking about? “What is Pone….” His eyes shot open as he actually listened to the words coming out of his mouth for the first time. It was complete and utter gibberish. He was thinking in English and he was hearing her in English. The words he was speaking came back to his mind in English but if he really stopped and listened to what he was saying, it was some language he’d never heard before. When the words reached his mouth, they just came out as a mess of nonsense. It was happening so fluidly that he hadn’t noticed.

“What the hell?” He felt his heart thump as he scrubbed his face and tried to take a few deep breaths. No, it wasn’t even fluid. It was as if something in his mind was pulling his attention away from him speaking. The panic rose again.

She stepped forward and put her hoof on his arm. “It’s magic. While you were out the Princess weaved a translation spell into your mind.” Her ears drooped. “I’m sorry. I’m an Earth Pony so I don’t really understand more than the basics of it.”

“Magic? Really?”

He felt her hoof squeeze his arm. “Are you ok?”

He looked over at her and was struck by the look of pure concern on her face. If he didn’t know any better, it looked like she wanted to cry.

Calm down Caden. Magic would explain..well...all of this.

He took a few more deep breaths. “Yeah. I’m….heh..” He shook his head again, trying to clear it. If he wasn’t seeing all of this with his own eyes, he’d have never believed it. “I’m ok. I’m just really confused. I have no idea where I am. No idea how I even got here. And now you’re talking about magic? We...we don’t have magic where I’m from. Or talking..horses? I’m not even sure what you are.”

“We’re Ponies.”

Obviously. “We don’t have talking Ponies where I’m from. At least not anywhere but in stories. This is all like something out of a fantasy novel.”

She squeezed again. “I’m sorry. This has to be very upsetting but we figured this was easier than waking up and not being able to talk to anypony.”

He nodded. “So it only works if I talk to you?”

She nodded. “I think so. As I said, I’m an Earth Pony so it’s kind of outside my expertise. Try talking to yourself and see what happens.”

He looked down at himself and closed his eyes. He tried to visualize himself as the only one in the room. “I’m talking to myself. I’m talking to myself.”

He opened his eyes and looked back at her. “Well?”

“Just as I thought. Complete nonsense to me.”

That’s...actually really cool.

She grabbed the empty food tray from him and returned it to the cart. “How long had you been wandering around the forest?”

He thought back. “I’m not entirely sure. A few hours. I woke up somewhere else. A grassy field. I had wandered towards the forest when I saw something flying that way and I got caught in the storm. I was looking for shelter from the storm.”

She nodded. “Makes sense. The forest is called Everfree. It’s pretty dangerous. Most creatures don’t go there very often.”

A knock on the door brought their gazes up. An amber coated, brown maned pony in a lab coat stood in the doorway.

“I see our alien visitor is awake!”

Alien? I’m...oh...yeah.

He trotted happily to the front of the bed and pulled a chart off the foot railing. “I’m Doctor Horse. “How are you feeling Mr…”

Caden felt his eye twitch again. “Caden. Caden Park.” Caden stretched out again. “I actually don’t feel horrible. Shoulder and leg still hurt. I feel kind of...achy all over.”

“That’s normal. It will fade in another day or two.”

He reviewed the chart for a moment before looking over at the nurse. “Everything normal in his exam?”

She nodded. “Yes Doctor. He seems to be recovering well.”

He turned back to Caden. “You’re quite lucky Mr. Caden Park. If Fluttershy hadn’t rescued you when she did, you’d likely be in much, much worse shape.”

“Just Caden, please. Fluttershy? Is that the yellow and pink one?” He thought back to his last moments in the tree.

He nodded. “That’s her. Lives in a cottage not far from the edge of the forest. She runs something like an animal...sanctuary out there. Seems some of her animals heard you yelling over the storm.”

I’ll have to thank her.

“Fortunately it turns out our physiologies aren’t really all that different. The antivenom we had in stock for Timberwolves worked perfectly on you.”

He twitched a third time. Timberwolf? Doctor Horse? Fluttershy. WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THE NAMES?

The Doctor’s gaze returned to the chart. “We got the venom mostly flushed from your system before it was able to do any long term damage.” He set the chart down and walked up to Caden and gave him an inquisitive stare.

“So what are you exactly?” We’ve never seen one of you before.”

Put that in the top things I never expected to hear in my life.

“I’m a human.”

“Human. Interesting. I’ve never heard of your kind.” He stood on his hind legs at the base of the bed and started gently unwrapping the bandage from around Caden’s leg.

“How the hell is he grabbing that?” From Caden’s perspective, it looked like the bandaged simply stuck to the bottom of the Doctors hoof. “You know what, I’m talking to a horse through a magic spell. Do I really care?”

He braced as the doctor unwound the bandages, expecting his leg to look like something out of a slaughterhouse. As the last of them fell away, he felt his jaw fall open. “How….?”

Doctor Horse grinned over at him as the last of the bandages fell away. “Not too bad, if I do say so myself.”

He had most definitely been attacked. Besides being swollen, red and angry there was a multitude of stitched lacerations running up and down the greater part of his calf. A smattering of other tissue damage peppered it’s way across the leg. To his shock though, they all seemed to be well on their way to healing. None of them appeared as deep as he remembered.

“How….how?” He beamed as a wave of relief washed over him. Might not be done running after all.

“We deal with a lot of Timberwolf attacks here. We know what to do. A little extra magical help from Princess Twilight helped us in your unique case. Honestly it looked way worse than it really was. The wound was fairly shallow. It just bled heavily. You were actually in way more danger from the venom.” He reached a hoof out and gently touched the wounds. “You’re certainly going to have some scarring but I don’t foresee any permanent nerve damage or muscle loss.” His grin widened as he turned to Caden. “A few weeks and you should be back up and moving pretty well. I’d say a few months to complete recovery.”

Caden was doing everything he could to fight back tears. “Thank you. Thank you so much!”

The Doctor gave him a warm grin. “You’re welcome Caden. They managed to avoid injuring any bone. That would have made this significantly more complicated.”

The grin faded from his face as he fell back to the floor and walked up to Caden. “Speaking of, I was wondering what happened to your shoulder. We noticed it was out of socket so I ordered a scan before we reset it.”

Caden stared down at it as unpleasant memories flooded him. “I uh...injured it a few years back. Shattered it and my collarbone. Did a bunch of nerve damage too.”

“It looks like you have some kind of metal plate in there?”

He nodded. “Yeah. One on my collar bone and another on the shoulder itself. Bunch of screws too. I messed it up pretty badly.” He looked up at the Doctor. “Anything you can do to help?”

He shook his head. “I wish I could. Using magic on old wounds never ends well and I’ve never seen surgical techniques like this anyway. There’s nothing really like this in Equestria. I’m afraid we might do more harm than good.”

At least I got my leg back. He smiled. “Thanks Doc. How long do you think before I can get out of here?”

“Another few days. I just want to make sure everything shores up correctly.

“Ok.” He watched as Redheart pulled a roll of bandage off the cart and began to work on rewrapping his leg. The Doctor made his way back to the door “I have other patients I need to attend to. You seem to be doing great. We had real concerns we wouldn’t be able to help you. We’ve never worked on an alien before.” The Doctor winked at him and walked out the door.

Redheart finished the wrapping and returned to his side. “Are you doing ok? You seem a bit...flustered.”

He chuckled. “I am. It’s just a lot to take in at once. Tree wolves. Talking ponies. I’m apparently on some other world.” He looked down at his hands. “As far as I know, nothing like this has ever happened to another human. This is stuff straight out of a science fiction novel. I keep wondering if I’m just dreaming or hallucinating.”

“You seem to be handing it well.”

He snorted. “ I’m honestly amazed I’m handling this as well as I am.”

“You’re handling it better than I would, that’s for sure.”

He looked down at her. “You guys don’t seem all that surprised to be treating an alien.”

She shrugged. “We have all kinds of creatures come in and out of Equestria. I’m told some are from another dimension like Discord. I’ve even heard rumors there’s a kingdom of some kind on the moon.”

“Alternate dimensions? You think maybe that’s how I got here?”

“That would be fascinating!” Their gaze shot over to see a purple unicorn with a dark blue and red accented mane and tail standing in the doorway. She bounded into the room, wings unfurling, tail swishing violently and violet eyes absolutely gleaming. “Sorry, I was eavesdropping.”

His amazement at seeing a winged unicorn was immediately overrode as by the speed at which she charged across the room. He leaned back, eyes wide as she nearly crashed into his bedside.

“It’s good to see you up! We were really worried about you!” She stomped happily in a small circle “Oh I’m so happy you’re ok!”

Redheart waved her hoof from him to the pony. “Caden Park, Princess Twilight.”

This is the Princess? He nodded. “Princess Twilight.”

She rolled her eyes. “Call me Twilight, please.” Her face blossomed into an enormous grin as she shoved her muzzle much closer to his face, inspecting him.

“Ooooooooooo….an actual alien!!” She brought her forehooves together and started clapping happily. “And it’s right here! In Ponyville!!”

He fought back an urge to retreat further into the bed. This is not a Princess.

He was still trying to process the whirlwind of fur, feathers and glee in front of him. Like most of humanity, he’d never actually met royalty before. Pony aside, whatever he’d ever imagined it would be like, it was not this. Caden could SMELL the excitement coming off of her.

She settled next to Redheart and looked up at him. “I heard the Doctor from the hallway. I really am glad you’re ok! I feel horrible you found your way to the Everfree Forest.“

Like Redheart, she looked genuinely upset. He shrugged. “It all worked out. I probably would have avoided the Forest of Doom if it wasn’t for the storm.”

She nodded and the smile widened. “Ooooooo I have so many questions!”

Redheart turned and cleared her throat. “Princess, he’s been through a lot. Do you think you could keep it brief until later?

The elated horse nodded furiously. “Of course!” She brought a hoof up to her chin to think for a moment. ”Do you think you could tell me everything that happened to you before we found you in the forest?”

“Sure”

He relayed the entire tale to them. How he’d gone to bed the night before arriving as normal. Waking up here, his decision to head towards what he’d hoped had been some kind of civilization. The storm and the grove and the wolf attack. She listened intently, only stopping him to ask an occasional question about his journey.

She let out a deep breath as he finished, a look of wonderment on her face. “You really are from a whole other world.”

He nodded. “Apparently. Redheart said you have creatures here from other dimensions?”

She nodded. “We do but not like this. They’re either mirrors of our world or magical constructs, like Discords home. This is something completely different.”

“So do you think I was brought here by magic or something?”

She frowned. “I heard from the hallway that you said your world has no magic?”

He shook his head. “Nope. None at all. At least that I know of. Or I think any other human has ever known of.”

She stood up. “That’s concerning. I’d like to show you something. Can you promise me you’ll stay calm?”

He chuckled. “I was attacked by wolves made of lumber yesterday and I’m talking to magical alien Ponies. I think you’ll have to do a lot to scare me.”

She nodded. “Fair enough.” Suddenly a red aura enveloped her horn.

“Woah!”

She looked up at her horn. “You really haven’t ever seen anything like this before?”

That is awesome. “Nope.”

“Ok now watch. I’m going to lift that tray.”

She turned and sure enough, after a moment the same aura appeared around his dinner tray. It gently lifted off the cart and floated for a moment before settling gently back down.

Jesus Christ.

Redheart stepped up to the side of the bed. “Caden? Are you ok?”

He realized he was sitting there with his mouth open. “Yeah. Just...wow.”

Twilight looked at him. “As you can see, that was fairly easy right?

How would I know? “I...guess?”

She seemed to understand his confusion. “I mean I didn’t seem to be struggling. Correct?

“Ah. Not that I could see, no.”

She nodded. “Ok. I’d like to do something similar with your right arm. Is that ok?”

He looked down at his unslung arm and held it out. “Sure.”

She turned to Redheart. “Is that ok?”

Redheart nodded. “As long as it’s only the right.”

He looked at his right arm. “What do you want me to do?”

“Just rest it out in front of you.”

He did as she asked and laid his arm down.

Her horn lit up again and he the same aura began to envelope his arm. After a moment it faded out of existence before vaguely reforming. It looked nothing like the aura around the plate.He looked up to see Twilight grimacing as her horn pulsed brightly.

Redheart stepped forward. “Twilight? Are you ok?”

Her horn pulsed brighter as the aura on it grew. The aura reformed and seemed to hold. “Fine. It’s just….” She gave a heavy breath. “I can’t get the spell to hold.”

At first he couldn’t feel anything, it just sat there. After a moment, he felt a very faint tugging on his arm.. After a second the pulling stopped and the spell began to fizzle out again.

She looked up at him as her horn flared even brighter. Sweat was beading on her forehead. The spell reformed, more brightly this time and he felt his arm lift slightly off the bed. “Will you please try to pull your arm down?”

He nodded. “Sure.” He gave his arm a gentle pull in the opposite direction of her and almost immediately, the spell began to fizzle again. It only took a little effort for him to pull his arm back to his lap.

The aura on her horn pulsed brighter once again. He had to squint looking at it. The spell reformed and he felt a stronger pull.

Through clenched teeth she said. “Please...try…...again.”

He pulled back on his arm. It was slightly harder but nothing that required any real strength. The ring fizzled out of existence and the light on her horn faded.

Twilight stood there for a moment, breathing heavily and staring up at him. “Did you do anything to cause that?

He glanced from his arm to her. “Cause what? I just pulled my arm a little.”

“Fascinating. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Like what? What did I do?”

“Did Redheart mention the translation spell we cast on you?”

He nodded. “She did.”

“Verba Verum is a fairly advanced spell. For most unicorns, it’s honestly outside of their abilities. That said, I have a fair amount of practice with it. As a Princess, I’ve had to meet with members of many species who don’t speak Poneish. It’s usually a fairly trivial spell for me to cast at this point.”

She seemed a bit proud of herself. “So?”

She pointed a hoof at his chest. “With you, it took me several hours and the help of both of my students. Both of whom are among the most talented unicorns in Equestria..”

He didn’t know whether he should feel special or not.

She frowned. “When I was trying to weave the spell in your subconscious, it was like you kept slipping out of my sight. It was like…” She thought for a moment. “Imagine trying to throw a rock at something in the dark...in a fog...and they kept moving. You’d be there for an instant and then gone the next. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” She frowned. “Truth be told, I’m not entirely sure how long that spell’s gonna last.”

She pointed a hoof at his arm. “When I was trying to move your arm, it felt like I was trying to lift my castle off the ground. How much resistance were you putting in at the end?”

He thought back and pointed at the cart. “Maybe about as much as lifting that plate?”

She gave a shaky laugh. “Lifting the plate….” She sighed.

“What does this have to do with my getting here through magic?”

“Everything. You have no idea how you got here. Does your world have any kind of...dimension traveling technology that might have accidentally brought you here?”

He shook his head. “No. Again, at least not that I know of.”

“That’s a problem then. I strongly suspect it was magic that brought you here. But it seems you’re highly, highly resistant to it. That doesn’t add up for one and for two, I’ve never seen anything like this in any other species on Equus. I’ve seen creatures resistant to certain types of magic but nothing like this. ” She gave him a sweeping glance. “I wonder if your whole species is like this.”

“It’s possible. As I said, there’s no magic in my world. None. Magic is something we have in stories and fiction.”

Redheart stepped forward. “I’m sorry Princess but can you please wrap this up. I need to give him his medication soon and he needs to rest.”

Twilight nodded. “Of course.” She turned to him. “Caden do you have any questions for me?”

He thought for a moment. “I guess the main one is ‘Do you have any idea how to get me home?’”

He watched as her ears flattened against her head. “You’ve been through a lot already so I’m not going to sugarcoat this.” She brought her forehooves up and tapped them together nervously. “I have no idea.”

His stomach sank. “No idea at all?”

She shook her head. “None. I’ve been scouring my library since you got here. I’ve asked every magical creature I could think of. My first suspicion was Discord. He was the first creature I went to after we figured out you aren’t from here. We figured maybe it was some prank of his. He swore on his friendship with a friend of mine that he has no idea what you are or where you came from. As far as he’s aware, none of the other Draconequi do either. Trust me when I say I believe him.”

He sighed and put his head in his hand as his mind flew through the myriad of things that were sitting back home, waiting for him. His apartment and car. His job. His friends. Even his family would know he was gone by now.

He felt a hoof touch his leg. Looking up, he saw that Twilight had reached out. “I am so sorry Caden. I wish I had better news for you. I really do. I’ve checked everything I can think of. There’s zero research in any library or journal on what might have caused this. I’ve asked everyone I know who might have any clue. Princess Celestia and Luna, Starswirl. I’ve torn the Canterlot library apart on dimensional research and there’s nothing. I promise I’m even more confused than you are.” Her hoof squeezed his leg.

She honestly looked like she was about to cry. He took a deep breath.. “It’s ok. Not your fault. So what happens now?”

“I’m going to keep researching this. I promise I’m gonna do everything I can to find you a way home ok?”

He nodded. “I appreciate that.” He looked around the room and then at himself. “What should I be doing in the meantime?”

She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“I have no house. No job. No money. I don’t know anything about this world.” He waved around the room. “Hell I don’t even know how I’m gonna pay for this hospital visit.”

“Twilight already took care of your hospital stay.” Redheart nodded at him.

He turned to her. “What?”

Twilight beamed up at him. “Yup. I know you’ve been through a lot. I felt like it was the least I could do to try and welcome you to Equestria.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.” He grasped at words for a moment. “I feel bad though. Is there anything I can do to help pay you back?

A grin shot from ear to ear. “Well...there is one thing you could do.”

He nodded. “Anything.”

“Come and stay in my castle while you’re here. I want to learn as much as I can about you and your world and I’ll teach you much as I can about ours in return. Plus having you near will make it easier to figure out how to send you home.”

As upset as he was about being stuck here, he did feel a bit better at the offer. He’d be the first human to explore another world and meet another sentient species. The ponies seemed amazingly friendly. Not everyone got the chance to learn all about another world and live in a castle to boot.

“Sure. That sounds fair to me.”

Almost immediately, she jumped up and started hopping around in circles, wings flared to their max. “Oh thank you! Thank you! I promise I’ll do everything I can to help. Oh this is so exciting! I get to write the first papers on a new world and a new species. I’m gonna have to do a full write up and analysis. Oh Princess Celestia is going to be so prou…”

“PRINCESS TWILIGHT!” Redheart roared.

The prancing ceased immediately. “Sorry. Sorry.” Twilight blushed.

“We all appreciate your excitement but right now I need to finish tending to the patient and put him back to bed.”

Twilight nodded and grinned up at him. “Sounds good. When they’re ready to discharge you, please have them send for me.” Her tail was swishing as excitedly as ever. “I can’t wait! See you soon!”

With that, she disappeared in a flash.

Caden shook his head, blinking. He felt like he’d just been victim to some kind of academic natural disaster. He turned to Redheart. “She’s certainly excitable isn’t she?”

Redheart rolled her eyes. “That’s nothing. Wait till you meet Pinkie Pie. I expect with you staying at the castle, it won’t be long.”

“Worse?”

Redheart nodded. “Much.”

He shuddered at the idea. “Great.”

She chuckled. “You’ll be fine. Most ponies mean well. Especially Twilight and her friends. You’ll be in good hooves.” She walked over to the cart and grabbed a small vial of blue liquid off it.

“I’m sure you’re tired of lying here but we need you to rest a little more. Here, this will help you sleep.”

She handed him the vial and he drained it. A familiar bitter taste made him brace.

“Is this what you’ve been giving me?”

She nodded. “It is. That’ll be the last one. It should start working shortly.”

He handed the vial back to her and watched as she placed it back on the cart.“Thank you so much Redheart.”

She tilted her head as confusion danced across her face. “For what?”

He shrugged. “Everything really. Thanks for taking care of me. Thanks for saving my leg.” He locked eyes with her. “Thanks for being so friendly. Thanks for just...being here when I woke up.”

His chest tightened as the last few days came rushing back. “I was scared to death in that tree. I didn’t know where I was. Sitting in the rain. I wasn’t sure if I was going to bleed to death or get eaten or....” He felt his voice warble as he raked his good hand through his hair. “I’m still not really sure I believe everything that’s going on. I’m seeing it in front of me. I can touch it, taste it, smell it but something in the back of my head keeps screaming that this all has to be a dream, a hallucination. That there’s no way this is real.”

He looked down to one trembling hand. “I was just home. It was like any normal day. I went to bed like every other day. And then I woke up on a hill on some alien world.” He looked back at her through tears. “And now I’m talking to you. A Pony.” He could hear his voice cracking. “A talking Pony. Through magic. It’s all just….” His voice trailed off as he closed his eyes and took a shaky breath, trying to calm down.

He felt something land on the bed next to him and opened his eyes as strong limbs wrapped around him.

“It’s ok.” She whispered gently into his ear.

Instinctively, he reached his good arm up and wrapped it around her.

“It will be ok Caden. I promise.”

The tears streamed their way down his cheeks. “I don’t know what’s going on. What the hell happened to me? How did I get here?”

He felt a hoof rub his back. “I don’t know. But I can promise you Princess Twilight will work her flank off to help get you home.”

“Why? Why are you all being so friendly? You don’t even know me.”

“This is just what Ponies do.” She squeezed. “If anypony can find a way to get you home, it’s her. You’re in good hooves Caden.”

As more tears formed, he tightened his grip on her and buried his face into her shoulder. He tried to keep control but everything poured forth in a torrent of tears.

After a while, he pulled back and wiped the tears off his face. Sitting next to him on the bed, she gave him a gentle smile.

“Feel better?”

He nodded, sniffing. “I do. Thank you.”

She reached forward and put a hoof on his arm. “I’m glad.”

He put his hand over her hoof. “You really think Twilight can help?”

She nodded. “I do.”

“I hope so.” He sighed. “Well…..I guess I’ll just have to make the best of this.”

“You might be surprised. There’s a lot to see and do in Equestria. You might like it here.”

“Maybe.” He sniffed and summoned the best grin he could. I must look like misery. “And hey...it’s not everyday you get to live in a castle.”

She smiled. “That’s true. Honestly I’m kind of jealous. I’ve heard the baths in the castle are a luxury all onto themselves.”

He wiped his eyes with his good arm. “Really? Interesting.” He looked her over for a moment. “Speaking of baths, I uh...I think I cried on your coat.”

She giggled. “It’s just fur. I can wash it.”

He chuckled. “True.” He thought back to the hug. He swore he could smell flowers again. “I don’t mean to be nosy but...are you wearing perfume?.”

He thought he saw the faintest tint of red blossom on her cheeks. “It’s a honeysuckle shampoo.”

“It’s really nice.”

Her tail jerked a bit as she stood up and jumped off the bed.

“Is that draught kicking in?”

He nodded. She wasn’t kidding when she said it would help him sleep. He was starting to feel like he’d taken a bottle full of Benadryl.

She pushed the cart towards the door. “Try to rest Caden. I’ll be back to check on you in a few hours.”

He settled down further into the bed and pulled the covers back over himself. “Thank you Redheart. Again.”

She smiled back. “Not a problem. We’ll talk more later ok?”

“Deal.”

With that the lights went out and the door closed.

The events of the past few days swirled around his head again as he faded but he honestly did feel better. The Ponies seemed to genuinely care. For some reason he felt like he could trust Redheart and Twilight. Having someone to trust, he could feel the weight of the situation lifting a bit. He drifted back to the hug. It was the last thing he thought of before he faded into sleep.