PONYVILLE CLINIC

It had been two hours since Starlight had taken Jin into the clinic.

They administered multiple doses of medicine to Jin, but a lot of it seemed to do nothing. It was most likely because it was a different creature. The sleeping medication didn't seem to process in his system, but his heart rate did slow. He was no longer in a dangerous condition, and was now simply sleeping. There was nothing other than the elevated heart rate and the teleportation sickness, so the nurses permitted Starlight access to the room.

She was sitting on the chair next to his bed. She would've picked up a newspaper, or something else to entertain her, but he was interesting enough to stare at. His clothing was extremely detailed, and was obviously made to perfection. It carried two sheaths, though only one was filled. It seemed to be a smaller blade. The other, longer blade was sitting opposite of her on a chair.

His mask still looked terrifying, even with him sleeping.

"I wonder what it's thinking." Starlight said aloud, not talking to anyone in particular. She continued to stare at him, examining every little detail of his outfit. It was definitely meant for battle, why else would he be carrying weapons on him? The work of the armor looked beautiful, despite it being meant for battle. Usually, guards outfits were shiny, but bland. They had nothing special to them, as to say 'you are all the same.' His looked special.

Who exactly was he? What was he?

That was another thing. After nurse Redheart came to talk to Starlight, she informed her that it was a male, but of unknown species. That was what confused her the most. There were still unknown creatures running around the world, that was obvious. Yet, most of the time, they weren't civilized. They were tribal. He didn't look anything like that. How would a group of tribal's make such a beautiful, carefully crafted outfit such as his?

She took a look at his, and noticed his eyes. They were dark-brown, and fit him quite well.

Wait..

Starlight froze. She stared at Jin, whilst he stared right back. Time seemed to completely stop as the two simply continued to stare. The air became stale, and their breathing almost halted. After what seemed like twenty minutes, Jin broke eye contact by looking over to the opposite chair, at his blade.

When Starlight saw his attention draw to the weapon, she started to become nervous. What if he wanted to attack her? All he had to do was reach up for the weapon quickly, and slice her into two. Or even use the small knife, still attached to his armor. It would be easy, it would be swift, it would be-

"I must be drunk."

The sudden sound of his voice startled her, causing her to recoil back slightly. He didn't seem to notice, and instead felt his head with his hand, rubbing back and forth.

"Are... you okay?" Starlight asked.

She didn't know if that was the right call, as he then stared at her as if she just did something impossible. His mouth was slightly open, his eyes were wide, and his movement stopped. A slow, shaking hand presented itself towards her, and a finger extended from it, pointing at her. It took a few moments of careful breathing, but Jin finally said something. "Did you just... talk?"

"Uhm... yes?"

Jin shook his head, staring down at the floor. "I've got to be dreaming. The tale couldn't be true."

"What... tale? Are you okay?" Starlight asked once more.

Jin stood up, scaring Starlight in the process. He reached right over to his Katana, and sheathed it, before looking back at Starlight. "This is certainly a strange one. I've never had a dream this weird after drinking Sake. Well, perhaps after I had some of Kenji's experimental bunch, but never something like this." He smirked, shaking his head. "I'll be sure to remember this one."

"Sir, I don't know what you're thinking about, but.. This is all very, very real."

"And I should just blindly accept a.. unicorns opinion? A species that, mind you, doesn't exist."

"What?"

He sat back down on the bed. "Since I have nothing to do but wait until this dream is over, you'll entertain me, right? This might be a good way to relax before I start the hunt all over again. Please, tell me your name."

"Starlight Glimmer."

He seemed to smile underneath his mask, almost trying to hold back a laugh. "Okay, Starlight Glimmer, where am I?"

"Equestria."

"Hm. And, how did I end up here?"

She sighed, now thinking that this creature could possibly be crazy. "I found you stumbling out of a forest, and you looked hurt. So, I took you to the clinic. That's where we are at."

"I don't remember any of thi-" Jin paused mid sentence, realizing all of the events that had happened before he eventually passed out. It wasn't enough to go off of in terms of telling if this was real or not, but since it was so absurdly comical, he depicted it as so. "Okay.. And, was I hurt?"

"Teleportation sickness, and something else we couldn't identify."

"Teleportati-"

He froze.

The pieces were slowly falling into place, but he denied it still. There was no way any of this could be real, right? He had to have forgotten that he drank a lot of Sake, and passed out in his home somewhere. That all of this was just the inner thoughts of his mind, concocting a crazy reality where unicorns exist. Oh, and talk.

"I refuse to believe that this is real. There has to be an easier way of waking up, surely."

"Sir." Starlight said, a little more boldness in her voice. "This is not a dream. You seemed pretty out of it when I found you. What would make you believe that you are possibly dreaming?"

"Unicorns don't exist, I was attacked by weird wooden wolves, and let's not forget that everything in this room is so.. bright.."

Starlight tilted her head lightly at him, thoughts swirling in her head. What could possibly make him think something like this? There couldn't possibly be a bridge between realities, where a creature could have slipped through like he has. But, that would make sense, wouldn't it?

She has never seen anything like him before. He speaks of the things in the everfree as if they're myth, and even claims that unicorns aren't real.

"Go on, keep explaining." Jin said, waving a hand in a circular motion. "Tell me why I should believe that this dream-state world is so real. I'm interested in seeing what my mind will come up with to try to convince me of something so absurd. Go on-"

She had a feeling she would be here for a little while, trying to prove to him that this was all, very real.

Author's Note

short chapter- and an update to what seemed to be a dead story

nah it aint dead

oh, and also, this chapter was short because the next one will be longer.