A ruined Vacation

Sven opened his right eye, and felt a crack as the sleep on his eye was broken, and surveyed the area around him with his piercing blue eye as he thought I have been asleep for far too long. He was located in a simple hospital room, on a bed with paper sheets and a paper thin blanket that managed to keep the elements at bay, to his left side was a wall that had a window in it and to his right was a plain, white curtain. Sven went to get up to get a better look of the room, but fell back on his bed exhausted before he could even get half way up, so he just layed back, looked at the ceiling (the completely bland, boring, and down right white ceiling), and started to solve advanced calculus formula in his head. After about a hour, from his estimate based on how the light coming from the window had changed, he heard echoing boot steps coming outside from of room. After a few seconds he realized the "boot steps" were a little too sharp, and sounded more like metal cleats then rubber soles. This does not bode well he thought to himself as he struggled to sit up once more and failed again.

The boots entered the room, and after a moment of conversing quietly with a previously unknown inhabitant of said room, walked over to the Sven's side of the room. The being that rounded the corner was very peculiar indeed: it's fur was white, a white that Sven had never seen so perfectly achieved in the real world; it had a mane that shone with four different colors, each distinct and yet seemed to complement each other perfectly; on it's shoulders and neck was a sort of cross between a necklace and a set of decorative pauldrons, and in it's center sat a single Amethyst that was just big enough to draw the eye, but not too big as to be gaudy; and on the beings brow sat a Tiara made of the same gold that the necklace was made from, with an equally sized Amethyst adorning it's center... and the most peculiar thing about the being was the fact it was quadrupedal and looked akin to a horse but it had wings on it's sides and a horn on it's brow. The creature looked at him sadly for a moment before realizing he was awake then an expression of shock crossed her features for a split second before being replaced by a warm, but neutral, smile. "I see your awake," the being said softly "I do hope your sleep was a pleasant one."

Sven went to respond but only managed a croak before he was struck by a coughing fit. The Being's horn began to glow a soft yellow, like the sun through a light fog, and a glass of water surrounded by the same glow moved in front of Sven. he eyed it for a second, curious about it's mode of transportation, grabbed it and watched as the glow around it and the being's horn faded Curious Sven thought to himself as he drank from his glass agonizingly slowly knowing it would be better to slowly drink and wait for the life giving liquid, then to chug it and suffer the cramps later. After the glass was empty he looked at the Being at the base of his bed and said "You are Celestia I presume?"

The being, without even a slight pause, inclined her head and said "Yes; I am Princess Celestia, one of the Diarchy that rules Equestria. You are Sven, am i correct?"

Sven paused for a moment and considering what that meant and said "I am a... part of Sven, his mind fractured during his..." he paused and tried to find the word "escapade down the mountainside, but you may call me Sven if that makes you more comfortable.

Celestia just eyed him neutrally, but her eyes seemed to dance with what seemed to be amusement, and she turned towards the door and said "Ah, sister, so good of you to join us!" Luna walked into view and looked at Sven with a stare that seemed more cold then neutral, she seemed content to stand there and glare at him.

"Hello, Princess, a pleasure to see you again." Sven said to Luna with a voice that seemed to betray that statement, as it was devoid of emotion.

Luna continued to eye him, but less coldly and she broke her silence by saying "Hello Kitran, good to see your doing well." Celestia looked at her sister with her left eyebrow slightly raised.

Sven looked down at himself; his left leg was in a cast, his right arm was in a sling, he had bandages all over his body (some of which still sported blood spots), and his left eye was also covered in a bandage, and what little of his skin he could see was pale and drawn over his flesh like leather on a tanner's rack. Sven looked back up at Luna, His eyebrow also raised, and said "I am skin and bones, I don't even have the strength sit up," he proved his point by trying to sit up for the third time that day and failing for the third time that day "and I'm on the wrong side of the line between under-fed and malnourished. I do believe I am not doing very well at all, but thank you for the sentiment" his face completely neutral through out the entire presentation.

Celestia smiled a little at her sister's now irritated face, turned back to Sven, and before her sister could say something she would regret, asked "Is that a request for dinner?" Sven nodded his head calmly as his stomach growled loud enough to challenge the heavens themselves. Celestia's hoof covered her mouth before her smile could have betrayed her and she stated calmly "Then me and my sister shall take our leave so you may eat in peace." As if on cue a nurse walked in with a tray full of food and set it on the table by Sven's bed

Sven looked at the Nurse and noticed that she was maybe half the size of the Princesses, was white as well, but a little less... shiny, sported a little nurses hat with a Red Cross on it with hearts between the ends of each of the arms the cross, the cross design also adorned her flank, and didn't seem to have a horn or wings like the Princesses did. As the trolley was wheeled up to his bed and the food moved in front of his face he spared a moment to look at the princesses but found them already gone. He didn't even spare an errant thought for them as he looked at his plate... and noticed it was comprised of carrots, corn, and a white square of Tofu, and as dessert he got Gelatin with apple slices in it. He looked at the nurse, who was looking back at him curiously, and said without an ounce of emotion in his voice "thank you, I shall be good for now, you may leave when your duties are done." and proceeded to eat like the nurse wasn't even there. The meal was absolutely delicious, even when you looked at it from a completely logical perspective; the carrots were steamed to the perfect point of solidity, not so soft as to be mush but also not too hard as to crack then you chewed them, the basically melted in your mouth; the corn was in the form of nibblets and had butter on it, the skin on the corn was the only part you felt while chewing it; and the Tofu was... well Tofu, but it wasn't lumpy at least.

Sven looked around the room as he slurped up his "apple gel" and noticed that the room was darker then before, it's artificial lights were on, but the sun had gone down, and so he went to get up for the forth time that day... and succeeded, to his mild surprise. he hobbled over to the window and, after almost falling over a few times, looked out into the star lit night.

Sven seemed to be located on the third story of a hospital-like complex in the middle of a large city, there were some ponies wandering around in the streets below, not very many seeing as the moon was at it''s apex... wow... that is a big moon and it wasn't really, it just dominated the sky in a way that seemed like the stars were looking to it to protection from the infinite void that they floated about in, on the surface of the moon there were craters that resembled a large unicorn... that Sven suspected he had already met this really is a strange place.

Sven had his fill on sight seeing and hobbled back to his bed, and after his head hit the pillow he didn't even have time to think about his day before he started to snore like a lumberjack

|*|

As Luna put the moon to rest for the day she decided she was going to talk to her sister about their new "guest". She moved through the immense halls of the castle to the main hall where her sister was most likely to be, but found the room to be lacking her sister's presence. Luna was a little confused by this turn of events, so she asked the guards at the door if they had seen her sister but the guards just shook their head and resumed their duty to stand there and look interested by the wall opposite them. Luna let out a sigh and thought about how her sister was so unpredictable as she wandered pointlessly through out the castle, hoping to come across her sister by chance. Her wandering brought her to the Entrance Hall of the castle and she thought to herself Well... Maybe she visited the very person we were going to talk about. she shook her head My dear sister has done stranger things. and so she ventured out into the dawn.

She caught most of her subjects openly gawking at her as she walked down the street and some whispers about how they never see the princess out in the streets and blah blah blah. Luna rolled her eyes despite the small smile that crossed her face and she muttered under her breath "Even after a millennia ponies still haven't changed." Luna made her way to the Hospital rather easily and she walked through the lobby, up the stairs, and in to the hospital room that housed the "guest" she wanted to talk to her dear sister about. She had indeed found her sister, but not talking to Sven like she thought she would be, but she was standing at the end of the bed looking down at his sleeping form with a perplexed look on her face.

Celestia noticed her sister, smiled warmly at her, and walked over. "Luna, I thought you'd be in bed by now, does something bother you?"

"I wanted to talk to you about what we are going to be doing about Sven; are we going to send him on his way to make his own life, find him a way back to where he is from, or something else entirely?"

Celestia sighed and resumed looking a little perplexed "I've been thinking about that myself..." she trailed off and looked at the sleeping form on the bed "He was unconscious for over a month and a half, the only reason he's even alive is because of sheer luck, but you already know that don't you, Sister?"

Luna chuckled a little and responded with "I was also inside his mind, need I remind you, and I'm not quite sure if luck has anything to do with it... He is a strange one, but that's the only thing I am sure of."

"You never did tell me what happened in there, why you called him "Kitran", or why you were so hostile towards him till you did so." Celestia asked her sister as she raised a brow.

It was Luna's turn to look perplexed "I'm not quite sure myself, dear sister, it was a strange place full of stranger things... and there were several entities that seemed to inhabit his mind..." Luna gained a far away look in her eyes and trailed off for a moment before shaking her head, returning to reality. "Even after delving into his mind, I still do not know, trust, nor even like, this being."

Celestia was silent as she stared at the man laying on the bed, who was breathing evenly and deeply, and who at least seemed capable peaceful existence. After a moment had past she looked at her sister and said simply "That is why we get to know him."