Chapters It was a cold February morning in Copenhagen. Snow had fallen during the night and the wind blew strongly making it feel much colder than it already was. I didn’t notice the weather though. I just walked along the street, in my own thoughts. I didn’t even notice the most peculiar about the weather - the mist - which is rather weird in comparison to the cold weather.
I’m an almost 20 year old guy, who just started on the IT-University of Copenhagen this summer. This was my first day in second semester and I was looking forward to start again after the vacation.
The roads were icy, so I didn’t want to ride the bike to school in fear of falling and luckily I lived right next to the metro. Even though I was on my way to learn something new and interesting, this wasn’t what was on my mind. My mind was full to the brink. Full of… Ponies!
Yes. I indeed had been enrolled into the magical world of friendship by one of my friends. A fair trade off for giving him the pleasures of Doctor Who in my opinion. Less than a few months ago, I wouldn’t have seen myself watching a show like MLP. It wasn’t until just before the holidays I got introduced to the crazy bunch consisting of Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinky Pie.
The thing about bronies is, that they are able to be entertained by feelings that “normal men” wouldn’t classify as manly. The other thing about bronies is that they also are completely indifferent about “normal men’s” views on the subject. When I learned this, my eyes opened for the great world of the pony community, which is one of the bigger ones that I have seen.
Soon I wanted to get more involved than just watching the show and reading a small comic once in a while. I started frequenting Equestria Daily, which is a great site for everypony, who wants to follow almost about everything on ponies. I got more and more obsessed with ponies as the time went. I often found myself thinking on what the next episode of MLP would reveal, what my next drawing of a pony should be like and how long I had to wait until the next chapter of my followed fanfics would become available etc.
Especially on that day, the early February morning, my thoughts fluttered about a comic I had read just the day before. I smiled as I walked towards the metro, wondering how the comic would have continued if it did.
Then suddenly, like in a flash of light all went dark. I was lying on my back, everything around pitch black. The sounds around me faded away, while the last memory still lingered in my mind: Two big lights coming closer through the mist. I fainted.
When I next time opened my eyes, it felt like I had been sleeping for hours. I was still pitch black. The thought crept into me – “Am I dead? Could this be what it’s like to be dead?” I was still lying completely still at the moment, but at making the first tiniest movement, I started falling, like I had been lying on a trap door, which had been opened.
At first my heart began to pump faster and my body was filled with adrenalin. I felt the tickling of the wind passing me with greater and greater speed until the acceleration seemed to stop. I was still falling though, but I became more used to it as time passed.
It felt like hours of falling and still nothing to see. I started to wonder, if I had become blind or something, and also if I soon were to hit anything. I closed my eyes for a bit, to rest them.
Then upon opening them again, I started to see small glowing dots in the distance, almost invisible. As I fell they seemed to glow sharper and sharper, and now I was ensured, that my vision hadn’t gone. They appeared like stars in a dark sky and instead of total darkness I now saw small images form, because of the invisible interconnections between the stars. This was one of the most beautiful sightings I had ever seen and I could just be looking at the small stars turning on and off, forming new images forever. If this was my fate, I would have been satisfied.
As time passed and I had been looking at the stars for what felt like hours, I saw a single star, glowing stronger than the others. It was right in front of me glowing bright white. It was bigger than the others, and the more I kept looking at it, the more I realized that the star in fact grew. Not very much, but just enough for the naked eye to see.
After some time, it became clear to me, that the star didn’t grow, but in fact came closer and closer. The closer I got, the faster I seemed to fall towards it. Soon I noticed that the light wasn’t shining from the star itself, but from behind it. “Is that a star at all?” I thought. I further questioned myself during my flight through nothingness towards the “thing”.
As it came closer yet, it seemed like a planet of some sort, and when yet closer I quickly concluded it not to be Earth. “It would be silly if I found myself falling towards Earth. That would just be like in cartoons, when someone gets smashed right into orbit,” I ensured myself.
I hadn’t had more than a split second from finishing that thought till I started accelerating yet more and more and upon getting real close to the planet, I found myself travelling at what seemed light speed towards the ground. PUMPF! I had hit the atmosphere and felt a big pull in my body as it hit the wall of air. The sheer force of deceleration knocked me out.
When I woke up, my body ached and I felt dizzy. But I felt the wind gently stroking my cheeks as it passed my body. I smelled the odours of flowers and grass and opened my eyes slowly.
I was looking at the same sky that I had fallen through. It was still dark, but the light slowly began to lighten everything up. I tried to turn around, but found myself unable to, not because of being immobile or anything like that, but because my body didn’t do, what I wanted it to. I tried again… and again, but I still couldn’t turn over. Thinking that something might be wrong, I tried to turn my head to look down at my body to see. “WHAT?!??! I’M…. A….. PONY?!” I stuttered.
A pony… how could that be? It was first then I realized that I found myself in a world looking “cartoony”. I couldn’t believe my own eyes. But even this excitement couldn’t keep my eyes from closing. I had been falling for so long, having been knocked out and hitting the ground. I was amazing I was still alive. The whole procedure had made me tired.
My eyes closed and I fell asleep as I heard voices in the distance.
Authors notes:
This chapter has today (29-03-2012) gone over some minor changes, mainly making the text more readable and fixing small mistakes.
This was done at the request of hcedillo.
Arrival at an unlikely place
When I woke up, I felt all dizzy and my head was buzzing. I had a hard time moving, because my whole body ached. I lay some time, just getting used to wake up and trying to get a grip on my buzzing mind. I slowly noticed, that I was in a bed. A nice soft bed with a big cushion and a warm blanket. I slowly opened my eyes, only to notice a colourful pony staring at me. The sight startled me, and I made a little jump. This seemed to startle the pony more, that she had startled me. She seemed to hide her face behind her mane and low voice: “I... I’m really sor... I didn’t mean to star.. y..” - I felt my jaw fall unto the bed. I couldn’t believe it. I remembered from yesterday, or whenever I fell asleep (or fainted), that I had seen myself as a pony, but to sit in front of one you know so well, but again, one you know so little and also one of the least possible ones to meet was just WTF?!?.
At the end of the bed stood no less than Fluttershy... and shy she was. She had a very caring look on her face, but at the same time it you couldn’t avoid seeing, that she wasn’t comfortable talking to a stranger. “Fluttershy?!?” I asked rather loudly (it sort of fell out of me). “Y-y-yeah, that’s me, but how do you know my name?” she shyly asked (with a voice almost too low to hear). How should I start describing for her, that she was one of my favourite characters, from one of my favourite TV shows? Also, how was I going to tell, that I wasn’t really a pony, but a human... I didn’t really know how. But in midst of all the thinking she interrupted me to tell “you have gotten yourself a bad concussion and also you have a broken rib”. I must have looked awkward, since I was still in aw, sitting with my mouth all open, just staring. Some time passed and I saw that she started to feel awkward too, so I said to her, “I have a lot of explaining to do, and questions to ask...”, but she interrupted me “Now that you are awake, I’d better fetch somepony, who can help. You just stay here and relax.”
Fluttershy trottet out of the room, and I lay still in bed just thinking about what dream this could be, for this couldn’t be the afterlife, could it? Then I realized. “I’m a pony, so what kind of pony might I be?” I checked my flank, but didn’t see any wings so I was definitely not a pegasus, but I couldn’t help, but to let out a smile, when I felt a horn with my hoof. I was a Unicorn. I definately had to learn magic, if that would be possible. I looked around the room. Fluttershy had some nice flowers at the nearby desk, an old clock at the bedside table, with golden exteriour formed as vines crawling up the sides. Also at the desk I noticed a tea cup, still smoking hot. Flutterhy must have been sitting for a long time next to the bed, since she sat here with tea, I thought. I looked at my hooves. It was weird having no hands. How do the grab and hold things like cups? I quickly put that thought aside, when I heard somepony downstairs.
I heard Fluttershy talk gently with another pony about my situation. Then she entered the room and I noticed that the other pony was the purple mare from the library. “Hi! I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?” “I’m Phillip” I said. “Fluttershy told me you have had a terrible accident and you had hurt your head and ribs bad. I’m really sorry to hear that.” “Nah, that’s okay. But you are possibly the best to explain this to.” I said. “Explain what?” Twilight asked. “It’s quite a long story actually”. I saw both ponies find a pillow and sitting down. “I love stories” Fluttershy silently said “is it a good one?” “It might sound weird, but really I’m not a pony. Or I might be now, but before that, I was actually a human.” The two ponies jaws fell to the floor. They looked at each other and then looked back at me and Twilight said “A human? You sure look like a pony to me? How did you become a pony?” “I don’t really know, I hope you can help me out.” I said and then continued, “The last thing I remember from my world, was two lights coming towards me in the mist. I don’t know what happened then, but I woke up in a dark place suddenly falling through what seemed space or something. Then the last thing I remember before waking up here, was me seeing myself as a pony before fainting of fatigue.” “It all seems quite unlikely.” Twilight said. She looked at Fluttershy, who didn’t know what to do or say. “Haven’t read about that before...” Twilight mumbled for herself while falling into deep thoughts. I smiled at how perfectly accurate their personalities were in comparison to the show. Should I tell them, I thought? Maybe not the best time. I better first find out, how this all happened. I interrupted Twilight’s thinking with the question “What am I to do? Can you help me?” She looked up at me and said “I haven’t read about a human being in Equestria before. In fact we don’t have much literature about humans at all.” She sat back thinking for some seconds before telling “I think I’ll go look through the library to see if I can find anything.She then looked at Fluttershy, “Fluttershy, will you continue taking care for Phillip, while I go looking for some answers?” “Sure I will Twilight, but I don’t know anything about humans.” she muttered. Twilight looked at her “He’s a pony for now I guess, so just take care of him, like you would for anypony.” Twilight smiled at me as a gesture of saying farewell and did the same to Fluttershy. When Twilight was gone, Fluttershy went over to me, “It’s really exciting to meet a human. I have never met one of you before.” She suddenly seemed overly interested, like she always do, when meeting new creatures (in any case in the series). I didn’t know what to answer her, so I just said to her, that I had not met a talking pony before. She then continued to ask some more manageable questions, still with her quiet tone: “Is the bed alright? Do you need another pillow? I can make you some tea or some soup if you want? My soup always makes everpony better you see.” I thanked and said that soup would be great. I was hungry. I hadn’t eaten for what seemed like days, and I could feel the emptiness of my belly. Fluttershy left the room, and I heard some noises from the kitchen. Soon the smell of soup wandered up the stairs and my stomach grumbled. In a moment I would be eating a nice hot bowl of soup, while being able to talk to Fluttershy. The more I thought about it, the more awesome it felt and I couldn’t resist smiling.
First nights are always the hardest
I couldn’t see a thing. The mist was too thick. I could only see the gray mass, which closed in around me. It felt like it tried to hide something from me. I looked around to make out where I was, but nothing was visible. I suddenly felt something coming towards me. I turned around and saw, nothing less than the two lights from earlier, back on Earth, just before... I felt a shake and within blink of an eye, I were someplace else. Or it felt like that. I still couldn’t see anything before me, because of the mist, so in fact I could have moved less than an inch. Again I tried to look around, but this time, right behind me I saw a hand. I could only see the hand and the first few centimeters of the arm, the rest being covered in mist and fog. As I kept looking I soon noticed a small stream of blood. Not much, but it kept flowing very slowly towards the fingers. I couldn’t help myself... I began to cry. Not much, more like letting some tears out, but I felt really sad. Standing there, watching I felt myself getting pulled back very hard, like an arm around my body pulling me out of the mist, up and out. The farther I came, the more dark it became and I slowly fell asleep while crying, still getting pulled back.
“Shhhh... don’t cry... I’m here to help you feel better.” The sweet voice of Fluttershy woke me up. I could feel tears running down my face and I still felt a little like crying. It was only a dream. I didn’t know what to make of it. It felt so real during the dream. Afterwards, you can always see how unlikely things were, but this dream was strong enough to make me cry in my sleep. Apparently I had cried out so loud, that Fluttershy had been taken out of her sleep. She stood at my bedside, stroking my hair. After Fluttershy had heard, that I was really a human, she seemed to instantly have more interest in me and less fears (Like when she first met Spike I thought). When Twilight had left, Fluttershy had brought me some soup and we sat down and talked. She told me a lot about animals and I listened closely. I didn’t tell as much, as it was painful to talk for more than a few seconds consecutive. After all I had broken a rib.
After a while, I calmed down. Sweat still poured down my forehead. Fluttershy asked if I wanted a cup of tea, since we both were awake anyways and I said yes to the offer. She had earlier told me, that she made an excellent tea, which everypony just loved... and it also removed sore throats. Fluttershy had some great recipes concerning food and drinks helping, when being ill. Of course she couldn’t make potions and such, like Zecora. But her soup did help on my pain. I think she told me of a herb or something that grew just outside the Everfree Forest. It surely made her animal friends healthier. It didn’t take long for Fluttershy to come back up with a nice cup of tea for each of us. Its smell quickly filled the room with a nice aroma. She put my tea on the bedside table. She couldn’t resist smiling, when I tried to pick up the cup. I still had not learned to properly pick up things with hooves. Hands were just much more... practical for this sort of thing. When I looked at her though, she quickly removed the smile, “Sorry Phillip. I didn’t mean to be amused.” she said, “Here let me.” She took the cup and placed it between my hooves on my lap. When firmly grasping around the cup with both hooves, I managed to get a sip of the tea. If this sounded hard, you should have seen me, the day before meddling with a spoon. That would have been an instant one million hits YouTube video or something.
Fluttershy and I sat there for maybe half an hour, drinking tea and talking. I asked her, what she knew about humans and she admitted to actually not knowing anything at all. She had heard of us, but only a little, which she couldn’t remember. She asked me, if we looked like ponies and I released a small laugh and told her that we had a lot in common, but did look very different. “We have two arms and two legs, instead of four legs. On the end of each arm, we have a hand, which we use to grab and hold things. That’s why I have a hard time holding on to things here you see.” “What does hands look like exactly?” she asked. I had not thought about how to describe hands to anyone before. Every thing I had ever been able to talk to, had hands themselves, so I had never had any reason to ever think about explaining hands. “A hand is a little like a hoof, except it isn’t hard. It’s skin all the way. On the end of the hoof we have five fingers. Fingers are like long members, we use to grab things. I’ll have to draw it for you one day.” She seemed to understand a little, but it was also hard to explain something to someone, who didn’t have the faintest idea, what I was talking about.
We drank the last of our tea and Fluttershy said just before leaving, “Tomorrow I have to do some shopping. I hope you don’t mind being alone for some time. I can get you a book if you want?” “Do you have Daring Do?” I asked. She nodded and said, “Maybe I should introduce you to some of my other friends? After all, we have to think of something we can do.” “Maybe not all at once.” I said, not knowing how I would react if I saw all the main ponies of the show on the same time. It had already been mind blowing to see one at a time till now. She nodded once more, turned out the lights and closed the door. It was still dark outside and I tried to fall asleep. I couldn’t wait until tomorrow. It was exciting to see, what pony Fluttershy would introduce me to next. I didn’t continue the thought, since I went into a quiet dream about little talking ponies in the most amazing worlds of all.
I didn’t have more unpleasant dreams that night. In fact I had a very nice dream, though I can’t really remember it, like most dreams disappear when waking up. Fluttershy woke me, by opening the windows, so the sun shun upon me and I could hear all the birds sing their songs outside. It was a beautiful day outside. When I opened my eyes Fluttershy greeted me with a smile (one of the small cute ones). She was slightly hovering next to the bed.
“I don’t hope you’ve had anymore bad dreams.”, she said
“I haven’t. I have been sleeping tight.” I said.
“I took the liberty of making some breakfast for you, if you want any?”, she asked.
Fluttershy had landed next to the bed and stood watching, while I ate. When finished she took my plate and went downstairs to the kitchen. When she came back up, she asked me:
“The weather is nice. Would you like to sit outside, while I go shopping?”
“Sure”, I replied
“Don’t you want to go outside? It’s all right if you just want to stay here you know.”
“It’s more like... I have no clothes on, and humans have no mane or coat, so we always go in clothes to not show our... stuff”, I said with a low voice, feeling embarrassed.
“I see”, she said, “but you are a pony now, so you have coat.”
“Here is the book you wanted to read”, she said.
“It must be Ponyville”, I thought.
I hadn’t been sitting with my eyes closed for more than a few minutes, before I could hear hooves against the dirt road. I opened them and looked towards Ponyville. I soon saw two ponies coming towards Fluttershy’s cottage. Of course one of them was Fluttershy, but she had taken one of her friends with her. I soon recognised the other pony as Applejack. She had her bright orange coloured body and blond mane. She walked alongside Fluttershy and soon I could also hear them speak. Or rather I could hear Applejack speak, since Fluttershy was first heard, when they were almost at the house. She said something to Applejack and pointed at me and went indoors. She probably wanted to put away the shopping wares. Applejack went straight for the garden gate and went to greet me:
“Howdy!”, she said, “Mah’ name is Applejack! What’s your name?”
“Hi, my name is Phillip.” I said, “A pleasure to meet you”.
“The pleasure is on my side.” she returned.
“I heard that you ain’t a pony for real. Is that the honest truth?”
“It is, or it definitely was. It really looks like I have become a pony.” I answered.
“Any idea how that could happen?” She asked.
“No idea, but Twilight is on the case.”
“Well she’ll find a solution for sure. She always does.” Applejack said and then continued,
“Anyhooves, you’ll be welcome at Sweet Apple Acres at any time, if you want to pass by.”
We sat there for a few moments just slurping the sun and enjoyed the good weather. Fluttershy came out of her cottage with a tray with three cups. Se put them down on the table and fetched another chair, so she could sit down herself.
“I made you all a cup of tea. I thought you might like that.” She said.
“You need help with that?”
“No thanks.” I added, “I’m just usually used to having hands to grab things. I still have to get used to not having hands and fingers.”
“So ya’ll serious about you not being a pony?” She asked.
“Yeah. I have been here for a little more than a day and before that, I were a human you see.”
“Geee I thought ya’ll were playing tricks with me.” She added.
“I have to get back to the farm for now. I have some apple trees to tend to.”
“Applejack seems like a nice friend to have.”
“She is.” she said, “She oftens help me out, with my little animal friends. They sometime tends to get... excited... and often during springtime.”
Some time had elapsed and we had eaten a nice lunch, which went a little better than beforehand. It still took long for me to eat anything other than soup, since I could just drink that. After lunch I asked Fluttershy, if we could go see Twilight, to see if she had found an answer. But only if she would be willing to take me, since I still needed someone to lean against, to really walk. She was okay with it and she told me, that she had had a nice time talking with me. Also she said that she might ask Twilight about, where I would be staying, since we didn’t know how long I would be here, or at least not before we had visited Twilight.
Fluttershy really was a very nice pony. The more you got to know her, the more she opened up and talked. If she was really in good mood, she actually talked a lot. Still... the voice was still the same, so even though she talked much, she wasn’t heard much. But I was good at listening and the walk to Ponyville was a long one. Especially since I had to lean against her the whole way. We took our time putting one hoof in front of the other one at a time. The countryside was nice this time of year. Actually I didn’t really know what season it was here in Equestria at the moment. But that did not matter. It wasn’t winter and the sun was shining and I felt warm and happy inside. Next to the light pain I had in those particular ribs. They still hadn’t healed, but what did I know about that. This wasn’t the human world and therefore I could not really know how it all happens here. And also since magic exists, I couldn’t know what effects that could have. The paved road felt nice against the my hooves. I still felt a little funny though, walking on hooves. At first, when leaving the house, I had to train walking around, but I quickly learned how to walk with four legs and hooves. Before this trip I had basically been laying in bed all the time, but then again I had had enough to see to, by learning how to eat without hands.
A lot of flowers were in bloom colouring the landscape and breaking the monotone, but still beautiful green colours of the grass, bushes and trees. The landscape was broken up by small hills and little forests and a river floated gently next to Ponyville. The village had been hiding behind a hill top for some time, but came into view and shined in the sunlight. It was not long until noon and Celestia’s sun shone bright as far as the eye could see. Only small cumulus clouds, gently flying by in the wind, shadowed some parts around the landscape. The weather ponies had made this an excellent day for discovering Ponyville.
When we left the Fluttershy’s cottage I’d shown interest in the beautiful nature around Ponyville and had set the start line for Fluttershy, who began to praise the small critters in their holes, the birds in the sky, the flowers and the trees. She had been talking for 20 minutes before the village came in sight behind the hill. She had also told me a lot about the flora, which could be seen from the road. One plant in particular I noticed had a long stalk, precisely one leaf around half up towards the the flower with outer leaves in the dark kind of blue like the evening sky, the leaves just one step more to the middle a dark red glare and in right next to the complete white mid, warm orange leaves, which made a nice finish. Fluttershy had told me that the flower was called a Morning Star because it looked like the night sky retreating making space for the beautiful orange morning colours. It was not to be eaten like that, because it could have grim effects, but she couldn’t remember those precisely.
At reaching Ponyville we stayed clear from the town square, going around the city to reach the library in which Twilight lived. It really looked like the one from the series with all those branches with windows and rooms and the balcony for stargazing. It was an amazing sight and I would bet my life that 99.9 % of all bronies would give their entire fortunes for just being able to see it real life. But not only the library, but the whole village. It was just a dream to see everypony happily going about their business, shopping, working etc. Everypony seemed happy and friendly and Fluttershy and I got a lot of smiles, even in the outskirts of town.
Fluttershy knocked gently at the door. I, standing next to her, could almost not hear it, so I suggested, that she should knock one more time a little harder. She did so and we heard a voice from within:
“Please come in! The door is unlocked!”
We opened the door and saw Twilight lying in a pile of books, reading all she could. She turned her head and greeted us with a smile and welcomed us. She called for Spike, who she asked to make us some tea. Spike ran towards the kitchen with enthusiasm. I had thought many times that he often seemed to do a lot of chores, without getting much in return, but I saw now that he enjoyed having something to do and he really loved being Twilight’s number one assistant. We sat down at a table in her living room.
“I haven’t figured out so much yet, but I have read some books describing humans” Twilight said.
I hadn’t really thought about it being the trademark of Big Macintosh. I had just over the past weeks started to use that term more and more, because it sounds awesome. After laughing and taking a sip of her tea, Twilight continued:
“You have a lot of culture differences even in between humans and also different languages. So how do you communicate?”
Twilight then started explaining more about what she had found and how she intended to continue her search. If she couldn’t find any answers here, she might have to go to Canterlot to the royal library to look for useful books there. Since I might be the first human ever to come to Equestria in at least some thousand years or maybe since ever, not many books were written about the mysterious humans. Twilight had only been able to find little information and most of it very general information. But even though it was hard to find anything about humans, Twilight’s interest had been sparked and she wanted to know more. She said that she had been reading, since she got home from Fluttershy only pausing to sleep and to eat, which she hadn’t used very much time for anyhooves. When finished explaining her findings and concluding that more study was needed, before she could help me I asked a question, which she might not have expected:
“Twilight... Now... since I’m a unicorn... you know... and you are too... I thought... maybe you... maybe you could show me how to do magic?” It was a lot harder to ask than I had imagined. It just sounded silly, being from the total standard non-magical world.
She just looked at me with a frown.
“Erh... I don’t actually know. Normally magic is something you learn early on as a unicorn filly. You have obviously not had any training at all... I can try giving you a lesson sometime if you would like, but at the moment I have to find out about this incident.”
Twilight interrupted me: “Harry Potter? What is that?”
The day had slowly passed by, while I enjoyed Twilight’s and Fluttershy’s company. Twilight had been asking me a lot of questions like:
“What do humans look like? How do you walk? What do you eat? What is your average life span? Do you have males and females like us ponies, or do you have another set of genders? Does females and males mate to get offspring or do you reproduce in other ways?
The number of questions had been overwhelming. I had been to explaining, showing, drawing, singing and even dancing, to satisfy her need for knowledge. At around 4 o’ clock the floor in Twilight’s study was full of drawings of humans (as good as I could draw them, since I aren’t very good at drawing humans and had to do with hooves to hold the quill), buildings etc. I had become dead tired and my back and stomach hurt. All the moving around had not done my broken ribs any good I think. Twilight, seeing me pant, because of the hard work, got a worried look and apologized for her rough treatment. Fluttershy had been sitting quiet listening for a long time before she showed a big smile, like the one you normally show, when having a nice idea. She said goodbye and quickly went out the door. She trotted away in the distance towards town. I had been left to my fate of more questioning even though I had gotten permission to keep sitting.
All the time, she had been questioning me, she had been writing everything down. She had of course used her magic to handle the quill. At first I had been astonished about seeing magic for real. Everything was so... magical. It was just awesome to see. Then later... It was STILL awesome! I couldn’t get enough of the magic. As i drew, sang and explained she kept writing and I often looked at the quill moving all by itself. I myself could easily have found use for magical writing and drawing. Hard as I already found it to draw, not being able to use hands to hold the damn quill, how were I supposed to draw anything recognizable? But I guess that didn’t matter much, since they got the idea, even though they didn’t know anything about it. Twilight did have some interesting questions though about the male body, while I taught her about human biology. I couldn’t keep myself from blushing, during explaining more about the male’s lower parts. (I guess none of them had actually been with a stallion or they would perhaps know a little more).
Though Twilight did interrogate me, she did also tell me a lot about Equestria. A lot of what she said I already knew, but I didn’t tell her. Then again, she also told a lot about things I didn’t know. You could say that I got myself a small history lesson. After an hour or two I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. It wasn’t because it wasn’t interesting, it really was, but I was just to tired. Right at the moment that I couldn’t keep myself awake listening to Twilight, Fluttershy came back, rescuing me from Twilight’s gaze. She really seemed happy like a child about to give a parent a gift they bought all themselves, smile from ear to ear.
“I bought something for us. I thought you... we could all need a little muffin each, if you like.” she said.
By seeing the delicious muffins I immediately stood at attention, waiting for the permission. They looked delicious, just amazingly delicious. The only thing to worry about was the size. I looked at Twilight and she almost had the same look on her face as me. Big eyes looking, almost eating, the pastries.
“Would you like to have one?” Fluttershy asked.
She never had a chance to ask again, since both Twilight and I quickly took the ones nearest to us, said thanks, smiled and started munching through the amazing sugar bomb.
After sitting quietly for a while just having the aftertaste of pastry in out mouths, I looked at Twilight and asked:
“Twilight? Fluttershy and I have been discussing about, where I am to stay, when I get better... Since I don’t know if I would ever come back to my own world.”
I would have bet that she blushed a little, but that might just be Fluttershy. She blushes often over things that may not seem that weird or embarrassing, but then again Fluttershy seemed to have a harder time controlling these emotions. Her mood and feelings were as easily read on her as words in an open book. I myself had the same problem, but I didn’t take things in as easily as she did though.
It was time to get home. We had a long road ahead of us. Or actually we didn’t have all that long, but since I were tired and still had pains to fight against, both Fluttershy and I knew that it would take a long time. We said goodbye to Twilight and she waved us off and closed the door. It had become chilly outside. It had become evening and with no clouds to keep the warmth in it could easily become a few degrees Celsius colder. I shook a little from the cold, but Fluttershy pressed her body against mine, mainly to release my back from some of the weight, but she felt really warm and I soon didn’t notice the cold anymore. She looked at me and threw a short smile, only to immediately turn her head and hide behind her pink locks. I couldn’t resist to smile back. We didn’t talk much on our way back to the cottage. We just enjoyed the nice peaceful walk and the quietness of the soft wind blowing some leaves around in a gentle circle. It had been a great day, although it had also been a bit too “Twilighty” if you could say that. I enjoyed Fluttershy’s still company, although I did think about why, she would be so quiet. On the way to Twilight she had been talking and talking about everything and anything. I looked at her to see if her face would reveal anything. I had been looking away for some time to really let the view of the forest soak in, but by looking at her, I noticed that she had been looking at me for a long time. At the moment she noticed I was going to look at her, she quickly turned her head again to hide her face. At that moment I didn’t really know what to think if it all, if there was anything to know about at all. I decided to see the what the future would bring, instead of throwing guesses into the air.
Arriving at the cottage, Fluttershy readied a cup of tea for us both. We had a sandwich for dinner, since none of us were really hungry. I noticed that Fluttershy seemed to get more and more shy towards me along with the evening flying away. She hadn’t said much since we got home, only praising my explaining skills at Twilight’s and hoping that I thought she cared well for me etc. Nothing much. Sometimes I could see a little worry on her face, but it was always accompanied with some kind of happiness, like she was confused about something maybe.
When the sun had set, we went to bed. She had helped me into bed and she had also tucked me in. I hadn’t been tucked in bed since I was a little boy, but I would be lying to say that I didn’t want Fluttershy to tuck me in. She smiled while doing so, looking like she was a little faraway in thoughts. I thanked her and she started staring at me. She did so for a few seconds before noticing it herself. She quickly turned around with a confusing look on her face. Just before closing the door she did remember to return my goodnight. If I weren’t mistaken, Fluttershy was starting to like me.... How Awkward! Maybe nice, but awkward.
I woke up with a strong headache. I tried to sit up in the bed, but couldn’t. My legs didn’t seem to obey me. I tried again just with my arms and got up sitting against the back of the bed. I was very tired and my mind was clouded. It felt like I had been smashed on the head with something hard and at the same time having a hangover from one of those wild university parties I had attended. It wasn’t until some minutes later I really got about to open my eyes fully, still sitting up against the back of the bed. I looked around. It was really strange. I was in a room I hadn’t seen before. I looked down at myself. I was wearing the kind of clothes you normally do, when you are admitted to a hospital. I started to get scared, the adrenalin pumping around my body. I quickly became less tired and more awake. It was dark in the room, only letting some faint lines of moon light glide through the air and up the wall in the far end. I couldn’t see anything outside. Only darkness. I tried to look around to see if there was anyone in the room or if there was a door open. None of it was there. I was completely alone and the more I looked around the more the place started to creep me out. Suddenly a wave of danger engulfed me and I knew that I had to get out of there. Even though I tried hard, my legs didn’t help me get out of the hospital bed. The only way down was to slide down head first landing on my hands. I tried, but failed my only attempt. I didn’t get my hands ready to take off from the fall and instead rammed head first into the tiled floor and passed out.
I woke up, luckily not in a hospital, but in Fluttershy’s cottage. The sun shone bright and the closed curtains couldn’t stop all the light from getting in, lighting the room up. I lay there in bed for some time, before I started to work my way out of the bed. I was really glad to find out that my legs still worked here at least. It had been a most terrible nightmare, but as with so many dreams and nightmares it was quickly forgotten. One thing that also helped me forgetting, was the fact that I heard Fluttershy sing gently outside in the hallway. One moment later, she opened my door and said good morning. I replied with my own good morning and a yawn. She saw that I was already half out of bed and asked, if I needed any help. I felt a lot better now, than yesterday. It could perhaps have been some herbs that Twilight had advised Fluttershy to put in my soup to help me heal quicker.
“I don’t think I need any help today Fluttershy.” I said, “I feel much better today. I think the herbs worked their magic.”
Fluttershy giggled at my words and started to blush a little. She went down with the tray for then to come back up and get me. Standing at the stairs, we looked at each other, Fluttershy now clearly visibly blushing and half trying to hide herself behind her pink mane. At first I thought it was because of the thought of us, pressing our bodies close together in order to get me down the stairs, but then she said:
“You’re blushing Phillip...”
My eyes opened wide and I too tried to hide it away, but there was no point, since she had herself pointed it out. After a few more embarrassing seconds, we were on our way downstairs our flanks pushing against each others. It was really hard to get down those stairs alone, and even more so, since both Fluttershy and I tried to touch each other as little as possible. I had always liked Fluttershy a lot, when watching the show, but never like this. It was a heartswarming feeling deep inside. The breakfast was served in her kitchen. Through the windows you could see her garden full of plants and animals. I had a nice cold glass of milk together with some fried eggs. Neither Fluttershy or me ate very much. She kept looking at me, when I looked in another direction. Then the moment I looked back at her, she was looking at either her food or outside or somewhere else only occasionally looking back.
It had really been a nice morning. It had only been great weather, since I arrived. The weather ponies or whom now stood for planning the weather, did a really nice job. I looked outside and started to get this strange feeling. It became stronger as time went on and Fluttershy noticed that I didn’t seem well.
“Something wrong?” She asked.
I collapsed with a bump, falling from my chair to the ground.
I was back at a hospital. Not the same creepy one at least. This time it was a rather nice room. The sun shone through the windows and I could hear the noise of people working in the hallway and the other rooms and occasionally see a nurse or doctor walk by outside the open door. I turned around to look what else was here. The sight I got frightened me a little, since I saw myself lying in a sickbed, sleeping or something. My body was all smashed, though still holding together. But I had bruises covering my whole body, several places with patching to keep my the blood from seeking out from my blotted exposed veins and my left arm and leg were broken. My face, at least, didn’t seemed to have taken much damage. I then wondered... In all my dreams where I saw myself, I always did see myself as human. I would have understood that I dreamed of being a human, I also thought it somewhat strange about it being every time.
A doctor and nurse entered the room and walked towards me. Or the me lying in the bed that is. It seemed like they couldn’t see me (the conscious me), because they didn’t notice me at all. The talk went between them in a very low tone, but I did get a few sentences:
“He is not yet stable, but at the moment he seems to stay with us. The bruises and broken bones are not to worry about at the moment. What I’m more concerned about is his consciousness. He might have to stay here for a long time, since it seems like a heavy coma he has gotten himself. Let’s hope he’ll come back within reasonable time.” The doctor said to the nurse.
Now I got really frightened. I hadn’t at all thought about my family and friends. What would they think if I weren’t there. My parents would be scared to death... But even though I had a high pulse and sweat dropping down my forehead I didn’t wake up. It was like a nightmare that wanted to show me something. I couldn’t go before I had seen it all.
Then I heard them. My parents. They were outside in the hallway shouting out one question: Were is our son? They followed a nurse into the room and ran towards my human body upon seeing it. My mother already cried her tears falling down her cheeks. She grabbed my hand and held it tight. My father stood just behind her. He didn’t cry... yet... but you could clearly see that tears weren’t far away. The nurse told them about my condition. At first they calmed a little down, when hearing I was in good care and that I seemed to be in a steady condition. Although their faces seemed to whiten upon hearing that my condition wasn’t stable and that I were in coma.
They sat there some time by my side, after the nurse had left. Then when my father also started to cry I couldn’t keep it in anymore. I started to cry too. I wanted to shout out to tell them that I was alright, but couldn’t. That was the worst part. Not being able to help ease their pain at all. My mother leaned against my father, who held her tight. They sat there, while I could feel a slow pull in my body. I was being pulled out of my dream. I screamed that I didn’t want to leave my parents and I woke up soaking wet from sweat and in total fear. It was still dark, but you could see a very dim light coming from the horizon. I heard Fluttershy knock on the door. She must have heard me shouting. I told her to come in. She had a very worried look on her face.
“Are you alright Phillip?” She asked.
There was a long pause of silence and I still cried a little, not because of the nightmare, but because of the fact, that my parents didn’t know were I was.
“Maybe I should go make you a nice cup of hot chocolate? Would that help a little perhaps?” Fluttershy asked and tried to smile.
She left to make me a cup of hot chocolate and I thought that I might as well go down to her, because I wouldn’t be able to sleep for a while after that experience. It was hard not to think about my parents, but I said to myself that at this moment, I couldn’t do anything, so I had not to worry myself more than what good was. A tear still eventually left my eye on my way to the stairs. I stood up at top end looking down. Normally I would need help to go down, but since Fluttershy was out in the kitchen I thought that I might try it out myself. The first step went okay. It went really slow though taking me several seconds to place myself so as to keep my balance and not hurting myself. One more step went okay and one more. Then my luck vanished and I tumbled down the stairs all the way to the end. Fluttershy came running from the kitchen and put her arms around me to pull me up. My flank really hurt on the side of my broken ribs. It was hard to stand up. Fluttershy helped me over to the sofa, where I lied down and sighed. She went to the kitchen and came back with two cups of hot chocolate. They looked delicious. They were topped with cream after all, so how could they be bad.
“Why didn’t you call down so I could help you?” Fluttershy asked, putting down the cups on the table.
“Boys...” I almost heard her whisper to herself, while she sipped at her hot chocolate. She let out a smile and I smiled back. The chocolate was delicious and the cream nice and soft. Then a tear streamed down past my cheek. I remembered my parents. More tears followed the first one. I slowly drank my chocolate. Fluttershy obviously being worried for me, gave me a sad look. She then seemed to think about it, before putting down her cup on my side of the table and sitting herself next to me instead of opposite as she had been sitting before. She threw her arm around me. I returned the gesture by giving her a tight hug. We sat there, me crying a little.
After a while I stopped. I had cried enough for one night. She noticed this and released me from her firm grip she had made while the hugging had lasted. We looked at each other. I saw compassion in her eyes and I knew she felt very sorry for me... and for my parents. Those eyes were just filled with feeling. She blushed noticing us looking so deeply into each others eyes. She came closer and closer towards me. Before I knew it, she had given me a kiss on my cheek and quickly drew herself back hiding her face behind her pink mane. I had been surprised and then again hadn’t. I had seen it coming, but just hadn’t thought of it tonight. I smiled at the action thinking of how Fluttershy’ish this was. She couldn’t make herself kiss me other than on my cheek. But I knew then, that this wasn’t the last kiss I would receive from her. I knew then, that we would come together sometime in near future. I really had to adjust myself to this thought, but then again I really liked Fluttershy and I myself was now a pony. It would have been to awkward if I had still been a human, but now it only seemed natural. I slowly adjusted to me being a pony. Perhaps this night was the end of my nightmares and the start of something bright. I really hoped so.
Fluttershy and I didn’t sleep anymore that night. It wasn’t because we did “something”, more because we just sat there together in her sofa looking at each other and conversing. I don’t really remember the conversation, since the thing I was looking at was her beautiful eyes, her bright pink mane, her slink yellow body and her nice pair of wings. I think she didn’t remember the subjects of our talks either. All the time she just sat there, giving me a look of satisfaction, staring into my eyes. Then sometimes she would take a look around or more often around my body (or so I think).
When the sun was about to rise, I suggested that we should both take a blanket and go outside and sit and enjoy the morning sun. I really liked that, even though it wasn’t that often I got to do that. She smiled and agreed and went into another room to find us a blanket each. She only returned with one, but it was a big one, so when we came outside, we’d sit tight together on the bench in the corner of her garden tightly wrapped in the blanket feeling each others warm bodies against each other. It was a beautiful and bright sun that arose that morning, shining its light all over Equestria. I laid my arm around Fluttershy and she seemed to get a little anxious. She hadn’t expected that, and with her being … well … Fluttershy, she took a moment to think over it. Then she smiled at me, closed her eyes and pushed herself against me, putting her head on my shoulder. The sun shone bright and it gave away that it would be a perfect day.
I had already healed a lot. That evening, just after supper, I was almost able to tackle the stairs all on my own. Healing seemed to be a lot quicker here in Equestria. Fluttershy had also changed my bandages, so I could wear some new and fresh ones. It hadn’t hurt at all, since she had taken her time and was gentle during the process. She had smiled a lot that day. It just all seemed perfect. I said goodnight and went into my room. I went to bed, smiling from ear to ear. It had been a great day. Couldn’t really remember much else than the exceptionally sunny weather. Fluttershy had taken all my capacity. She went to bed too. I could easily say, that we were both anxious to see, what we would be doing tomorrow. She had given me another kiss on my cheek, just before entering her room saying goodnight. I slept well that night. Until...
I woke up in the middle of the night, not knowing the time or anything. The only thing I remembered from my sleep was this feeling. Both vague and very clear at the same time. I felt, that something threatening was about to happen. Something terrible and that I would be in the eye of the storm. I didn’t know what I had dreamed about, what was going to happen or how I played a role in anything of this. The dream wasn’t frightening in any matter. I didn’t wake up scared or anything. I just woke up, thought a while about it all and fell back into a deep sleep that didn’t end till later, where sunbeams woke me up.
Fluttershy hummed on the other side of the door, opening it and coming into the room with the biggest Pinkie Pie smile you could imagine. She had obviously slept nicely. Maybe some part of it was me not waking her in the middle of the night. She trotted over to my bed.
“Hi Phillip! How was your night? I hope you slept well.” She said hummingly.
I had momentarily forgotten all about the weird feeling I had in the middle of the night, probably pushing it away as a dream, which it also almost was. It was just weird.
“Let’s go have some breakfast. I’ve already prepared you a special treat.” Fluttershy said overenthusiasticly.
I started to get excited. What could it be? What had she prepared. I had always been one to love food. Of course I didn’t enjoy every kind of food, but generally I just enjoyed a nice meal. Fluttershy was humming happily in the kitchen, when I was only half down the stairs. I had to take one step at a time as for not to fall. This was hard, since I was really curious as for what Fluttershy had to show me.
I was finally down the stairs. I turned towards the kitchen and humped towards the door as fast as I could. I came closer and closer. It suddenly became quiet from within the kitchen. That was however only for a short time, since I then heard Fluttershy scream (as loud as Fluttershy now can) and sounds of rattle and plates or glasses falling to the floor smashing. As I reached the door I quickly opened it all the way and saw nothing... No Fluttershy, no broken things. Actually there was nothing on the main table at all, as if it was all taken away. I was really frightened at the sight and started shouting to make sure that she wasn’t nearby. The kitchen table was slightly open. I humped as quickly as I could towards the door only in time to see a black bubble-thing showing a little bit of something that could easily be a pink mane running towards the Everfree forest. I watched with anger and grief as it disappeared. Again I felt tears running down my cheeks, but this time the feeling was also filled with anger. I decided, that I would go after Fluttershy. But unlike most horror movies I chose not to go alone, and especially since I wasn’t in top form or anything. I set of for Ponyville to find Twilight. If anything it wouldn’t harm to have a magical unicorn on my side, when venturing into the Everfree forest. I walked as fast as I could, not being able to run just yet. Upon arrival in Ponyville I hurried to Twilight’s house.
*Knock knock*
I opened the door and went inside.
“Hi Twilight!” I said panting from the walk. “I... Need your … Help! Fluttershy has been … taken into the Everfree forest... by a mysterious creature!”.
Twilight gave a look of surprise, but snapped out of it and said:
“Yes I understand, but I before we leave just let me find the book and take it with me. It could turn out helpfull... Ahh here it is! Off we go then!”.
We “ran”, or rather walked, since I still couldn’t really run, and Twilight noticed this.
“Shouldn’t you stay here, and then I’ll gather the band to go look for Fluttershy? You don’t seem fit for a hunt!” She said.
She went into the house and almost exited it immediately, running towards Sweet Apple Acres to get Apple Jack I suppose. I turned around with a sad face, and slowly dragged myself back to the library. Tears ran while I tried to rest on Twilight’s couch. Spike had made me a cup of tea, but I wasn’t in the mood, so it had become cold, still standing on the table next to me.
After some time I had fallen asleep and I first woke up late the same evening. It had become dark outside and the wind blew fast and it rained a lot. I really did hope, that nothing bad had happened to Fluttershy. Of course I hoped that the other ponies were alright too. I saw that Spike had placed a plate with some carrot salad on the table next to me. I ate some of it, leaving the rest not being hungry. I sat up and went to one of the windows to look out. It was hard to see anything for the pouring rain. I turned away to return to my couch, but I just happened to catch a small light with the corner of my eye. It came closer. It seemed like a torch or something. I turned again to look through the window. As it came closer I could see, that It were ponies magically holding a torch in front of them. There were five of them and they carried something I couldn’t make out. I really hoped it was Fluttershy. Hope … Fluttershy … Hope … Fluttershy. They reached the house and almost broke the door when entering. I humped towards them shouting the one question popping into my head:
“Is she alright?!? IS SHE ALRIGHT?!?”
I sat next to her bed. Fluttershy wasn’t awake. She had a broken wing, a concussion and was in coma. A doctor had been past to check on her and the conclusion was rest, rest and more rest. Fluttershy just had to rest until she woke up by herself. Because of that, the doctor had let Fluttershy stay at Twilight’s house instead of the hospital. He would come by from time to time to check on her.
I sat next to her bed. Just waiting. The chance of her waking up soon was almost non-existing, but I didn’t stray from her side as long as she might just wake up. The hope kept me in place. My feelings were mixed. A stew of anger, sadness and also a bit of happiness, because her being found, even though that was quickly replaced by concern. Even though I had already shed many tears since I came to Equestria, she had made me feel at home and helped me through a hard time.
I sat next to her bed. Being there for her, in case that she would wake up. I didn’t want her to wake up alone. I wanted to be there for her, when she got better. Fluttershy had made me breakfast, helped me learn to eat, draw and write with hooves. She had helped me up and down the stairs, helped me with almost everything since I couldn’t myself and also because I had landed in a strange world. Everything was new and different.
I just sat there next to her bed. If she woke up, I would sit there, smiling while crying happy tears of her waking and I would greet her welcome back, make her breakfast, help her do her groceries, carry her things and almost everything. Twilight had asked many times, if it weren’t better if I came out into the kitchen to eat with her and Spike instead of sitting alone in the dimly lit room, where Fluttershy lay in bed, but I wouldn’t. Also I wasn’t hungry. I ate a little of what Twilight or Spike brought me. They often gave me a sad look. Especially Twilight, since she could really see my sorrow and anger.
I sat there next to her bed. I hadn’t been able to do anything to save her. I was still not fully healed myself even though I was better now. But I didn’t get the chance to go out help them search for her. I had just been sitting around doing nothing. I angered me, that I hadn’t insisted in coming along, or just going out myself. I could more easily had forgiven myself, if I had just given my best, but I hadn’t. Twilight also had a saying in this, and she did point out to me, that they could go faster without me, because of my injuries, but still.
I just sat there day in and day out. Just sitting next to Fluttershy’s bed having sad feelings. One thing though, that kept me going. Kept me at her side always was hope. Hope that she wasn’t hurt. Hope that she would soon wake up. Hope that she would feel better after resting and hope that she would let me repay my debt by helping her out as much as I could. I hoped... really hoped that she would soon open her lovely eyes, look at me and tell me... “I’m alright...”.
Authors note:
I know this is a really short chapter, but I needed some time to think about how to go forth with the story. (Suggestions are welcome), and at the same time, it had been some time, since last update, so I wrote this, which I think really fits in a poetic sort of way.
Till next update!
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Hi everypony! I'm sorry it's been such a long time. The problem is, that my pre-reader is having very little time and when he actually has the time, I don't. This obviously makes a problem, so the thing is:
Are there someone here, who would like to become a pre-reader for me?
Also, if anyone knows somewhere, you can actually get in touch with someone, who might like to be a pre-reader, it would be awesome! I still haven't found an actual place for chatting, like a forum or anything, which relates to stories.
Thanks everyone!
Fluttershy suddenly opened her eyes. She looked around noticing what would look like a hospital, but awkward in scale. She looked towards single bed, which filled most of the room and gasped. In the bed lay a creature, she didn’t recognize. It had several broken limbs and didn’t seem particularly alive. At the side of the bed resided a sign - much like there would in the hospital in Ponyville - telling the name and illness of the patient. Fluttershy let out a squeak as she noticed the name. That couldn’t be true, how could it? It was impossible.
Footsteps became louder and louder from outside the door and it went open. Fluttershy screamed at the three entering creatures, not knowing what they would do or how they would react. She cramped up against the wall and closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable. But nothing happened. She opened one eye, looking through her pink mane. They hadn’t noticed her. How could they not have noticed her. She was a yellow pony with pink hair in a small grey room. She was the most flashy thing in the room. She then concluded they couldn’t see or hear her.
Fluttershy went out of hiding from behind her mane and looked at the creatures. They seemed very sad and one of them indeed shed a tear. Fluttershy felt sad too. Really sad in fact. She knew who lay in the bed. Then she also felt a tear roll from her eye and down her cheek, starting to cry.
“Phillip, Phillip, Phillip... What have you gotten yourself into?” One of the creatures asked himself with a low sad voice.
“He sure isn’t looking well...” another said, “Let’s just hope he’ll get better soon.
The three creatures then stood in silence and just explored Phillip’s broken body. Tears started to fall from their eyes and the longer they stood there, the bigger the tears. After a few minutes one of them left, drying his face with his arm. The two others looked confused at each other and looked at the sign on the bed.
“Phillip P.
They both looked up at Phillip and made a gesture towards him in some sort of greeting and “hope you get better soon”-gesture, before they both trailed of out the door.
Fluttershy collapsed at the floor, her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t want him to pass away. She had become his friend, nurtured him in his time of need, but this she couldn’t help him with. Only the humans could help him now. She wished for that they could hear her, so that she could reach out for help, but she was helpless on the cold hospital floor.
The thing was, she really liked Phillip. Maybe she liked liked him. She didn’t really know. She hadn’t had feelings for anypony before, so she didn’t know. But she knew that he was really important to her.
Back in Ponyville I was still worried for Fluttershy. I had been with her in her room for almost a week and no sign of her getting better. She just slept away. Or that was the way I told myself to calm down. Sleeping didn’t sound as bad as being in coma.
“How are you Phillip? Do you want to take a walk with me?” Twilight asked, “You would benefit of some fresh air.”
“I’ll think I’ll pass...” I said with a low voice.
“I really think you should come out of there.” She said, “I really know you want to be there for her, but you also need to tend to yourself.”
“Alright... But can it wait for just... a few more minutes?”
“Sure. Also I’ve heard from the investigation team. They maybe found a trail and they would come straight to us, if they found something. See you by the entrance in a moment.”
“Thanks”.
When other ponies heard of Fluttershy’s incident, the Ponyville counsel dispatched an investigation team to investigate the place Fluttershy was found to find clues about the creature and perhaps why it had taken a pony. I had been glad to hear, that they did something to find the aggressor, but at the time, the officials of Ponyville had a lot to see to. Ponies in Ponyville had become frightened. Not only because of the one pony being taken, but several animals had gone missing too... and some carrots from Carrot Top’s garden. Nobody knew who had done it, and nopony expected it to be petty theft from a pony, since thefts almost never happened in Ponyville and the animals wouldn’t just have disappeared.
“You ready!?” Twilight shouted.
“I’m coming!” I yelled back.
I stood up an looked at Fluttershy.
“I really like you” I wispered.
I threw her a little smile, before walking towards the tree house entrance. I looked back towards the room a last time before Twilight and I walked outside. Spike stayed at home. He had some stuff to do, which mainly consisted of clearing Twilight’s mess. She had been searching through the whole library to find information on the black creature.
Outside The weather was great. The sun was shining bright, the flowers seemed to blossom while gently moving in the wind. It was actually good to come outside. Twilight was right. I had needed some fresh air. I thought about how nice it could have been, if just Fluttershy could have been with us. We could sit in the shade of a tree enjoying a nice punch. But she wasn’t with us. My head dropped and I looked at the ground beneath my hooves, while walking slowly next to Twilight. I could walk all by myself now, which was great. Even though I would still exchange that for Fluttershy being awake. I missed her.
“You think of Fluttershy don’t you?” Twilight asked.
“Yes... I can’t really help myself...” I returned.
“You like her don’t you? Like like her?” She asked with a grin on her face..
“I don’t really know... I guess so.” I smiled a little.
“Ah a smile. It’s been a while since I saw you smile.”
“I haven’t really had anything to smile about,” I said.
“That might be true,” She answered.
We walked some moments in silence. A basket hovered next to Twilight. I hadn’t noticed it before now. It probably held our lunch.
“I really needed to come outside a bit after searching through the whole library,” Twilight said.
“Thanks for dragging me out too. I guess I needed that.” I soaked up the fresh air.
“My pleasure. Isn’t that what friends do?”
I hadn’t really thought of that yet. Twilight thought of me as a friend. Thinking back, this would have been huge. Becoming friends with Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony. It was still nice, but spending so much time here and also experiencing all these things had set my mind on other things. The it suddenly occured to me.
“How are you Twilight?” I asked.
“Fine... How do you mean?”
“I mean about Fluttershy and all. I now see that I might have been quite selfish just shutting everyone else out of my mind, while she is a really good friend to you too.”
“I feel sad and regret that we didn’t get to save her earlier,” Twilight said, “I just hope, she’ll be fine. But then again, why shouldn’t she? The doctor comes past every day, and she has her animals to care for, her friends to see and you to wake up to.”
Twilight giggled at her own last comment.
“Why are you giggling?” I asked.
“It’s just, I have never thought of some of my friends liking somepony else, except maybe Rarity, but of all ponies Fluttershy? Maybe it’s just because I’ve never liked somepony myself. I’m just so excited.”
Twilight almost couldn’t get her smile off her face. It made me laugh. She was just like girls are, when they first experience somepony they know liking somepony else i guess. Under the circumstances it seemed like it would be a rather nice day. I felt happier again. Still my thoughts and hopes went to Fluttershy in Twilight’s tree house. But at the moment I couldn’t do anything for her and I needed some time away to get a grip of life again. Also Twilight seemed to return to her natural hopeful, naive and happy mood, which always seemed to spread around.
Twilight and I had found ourselves a nice quiet spot in the sun and put out our blanket. The dishes stood nicely on each side with fork and knife on either side. Twilight had made us some tulip sandwiches and a hay-and-apple pie for dessert.
“This is delicious Twilight!” I said. “Or should I say Twilightlicious?” I added and laughed at my own little joke.
Twilight giggled at the funny word too.
“You made that up yourself?” She asked.
“Erh... eeyup!” I said.
At first I doubted, but then i agreed, because it would be to complicated to explain her about the show and I didn’t want to go into an awkward discussion. We sat down and started eating the delicious sandwiches.
“You ate the whole sandwich!” Twilight noted and looked shocked at me, “it’s more than you ate yesterday ALL DAY!”
“I know, but the fresh air has cleared my head and returned my appetite.”
“Oh well. You want some apple pie?”
“Yes please. It looks delicious”
“Or should you say Twilightlicious?” Twilight laughed.
We laughed for some time taking a piece of pie each. We talked a lot about what had happened since I arrived. Everything had gone so fast. Thinking about it just made me feel like I arrived yesterday, but then again I had made good friends and fallen in love. Or at least I think so. That is somewhat an achievement in my book.
“I especially think it is an achievement, since our time also was consumed by all these strange things happening.” I said to Twilight, “For instance the clouds moving by themselves...”
I pointed at the sky at some clouds, that seemed to come closer and get bigger and spread out. Twilight looked and gasped.
“The clouds are moving! How is that possible here in Ponyville?”
“I don’t know. I live in a world, where clouds DO move by themselves all the time.” I noted.
The clouds moved closer and for each second they turned more and more black, until when they filled the sky above Ponyville and lightning emerged. The sky suddenly lightened up and a few seconds later the thunder came rolling across the park.
“Let’s pack up and hurry home Twilight! I really really don’t like lightning!” I shouted over the thunder.
We packed up as fast as possible and ran across the park towards the exit. The rain started to fall... heavily. We were soaked in a matter of seconds. At the exit the pain hit me. I had stretched one of my healing muscles. It ached and hurt so much that I instantly fell to the ground. Twilight turned and looked back at me with big eyes.
“Are you alright Phillip?!”
“Not really. I think I stretched one of my still healing muscles. It really hurts.”
Twilight looked around with a nervous look, trying to find help. Nopony was to be seen in any distance. Everyone had gone inside because of the oncoming storm. I tried hard to raise myself or just crawl, but nothing helped. My back legs just didn’t want to move an inch. Twilight looked back and me and I saw on her face that she made a decision. The picninc basket was put on the ground against a wall and she levitated me with her magic. I had some weight behind me, so it wasn’t the most easy task to lift me, but we slowly progressed towards the tree house.
A lightning struck nearby and the lightning and thunder startled both Twilight and me alike. She dropped me in the mud and started to excuse. After some excuses she took hold of me with her magic again and continued her lift. We were almost at the entrance, when Twilight was thrown to the ground by something hitting her and I fell into the mud once more. Rising from the ground I saw Rainbow Dash, who had crash landed into Twilight and knocked her over. She wore some kind of tight rubber body suit, probably to be safe working with lightning, but it had a hole in it with some burn marks around it.
“Oh I’m so sorry Twilight, but I got struck by lightning and crashed.” She said to Twilight.
She tried to help Twilight out of the mud, but Twilight fell straight to the ground again. She had broken one of her back legs.
“I think my back leg is broken, Dashy...” she said.
“I’m so sorry, Twilight, I didn’t mean to crash into you, but the weather is out of control!” Rainbow answered.
“Your wing doesn’t look too fine either.” I said to Rainbow.
“Arrgh darn it. It’s probably broken... AGAIN!”
Rainbow looked at her wing exploring it with sad eyes, but snapped out of it because of another thunderclap. She looked at both of us lying on the ground and seemed to panic.
“What to do, what to do?!?”
“Get us inside the tree hou.s...” Twilight said, before passing out.
Rainbow went towards me, trying to drag me inside, but I said to her to go help Twilight first.
The hallway was now full of mud and water, while Twilight and I lay on the floor. Spike hurried into the kitchen to get something to clean us up with. He looked nervous towards Twilight and shook her, to wake her up.
“Twilight! TWILIGHT!” He shouted with tears coming from his eyes.
“She passed out outside... I accidentally hit her during a crash landing...” Rainbow said, while putting her head down.
The lightning storm grew evermore weary as time passed by. Lightning often stroke nearby with strike points viewable from the windows. I was terrified. If I was scared of anything it was lightning. It had been a bad childhood memory, which had followed me all the way until now and I still really really didn’t like lightning and thunder.
I managed myself unto the couch in the living room, while Rainbow and Spike laid Twilight in bed careful not to touch the broken leg.
Rainbow came back down and sat in the couch next to me. She looked at her wing with a face of Oh-no-not-that-again. She touched her wing slightly and itched as pain went through her body. She then looked at me.
“I don’t think that we’ve actually introduced us to one another. My name is Rainbow Dash. I’m the fastest flier and one of Twilight’s good friends... Or at least I hope so after that crash landing.”
“I’m Phillip. We met shortly, when you came to visit Flutters...”
I stopped myself there. I gasped and tried to get onto my feet. It was really hard, but I managed to slowly turn and with a lot of pain to walk towards the door to Fluttershy’s room. Rainbow looked weird at me, but followed me into the dark room. It was pitch black except what light came from the door. You could see Fluttershy’s bed from the doorway and you could easily...
“What?!? She’s gone?” I shouted.
I humped towards the bed and noticed Fluttershy awake behind it. I went around the bed and lay down and hugged her. The tears fell from my eyes, as she returned the gesture, with the exception of adding a kiss on my cheek. She was finally awake. The tears shed was happy tears.
From the other side of the bed we suddenly heard laughter.
“Hahaha! Fluttershy has found herself a special somepony!” Rainbow Dash uttered between her outbreaks of laughter.
We didn’t care. Fluttershy held me tight, while tears also flowed alongside her cheeks and dropped to the floor. None of us did release the other until some moment later, where Rainbow had finished laughing and being immature. But that was just “so Rainbow Dash”.
I helped Flutterhy into her bed again and she looked at me with a smile, but it quickly disappeared and her eyes were filled with water creating rivers flowing from face down onto the pillow.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, started to get really concerned.
She tried to stop crying in order to get some words out. I gave her another hug and she buried her head in my shoulder.
“Better?” I asked after a little while, putting a little smile up.
“It’s not about me. I’m fine,” she let out, “It’s...” her sniffs cutting her sentence short, “it’s about you...”
“About me?” I asked, “how about me?”
“You are getting worse. Much worse.”
One wakes up and another goes to sleep
I sat down in the couch. I didn’t know what to think or do. Fluttershy sat next to me and held her hooves around me. I looked down at the floor, not focusing.
Fluttershy had just told me about my condition back on Earth. Although it seemed like I was currently in a dream, I were in the same situation now as Fluttershy just was. I was in coma back on Earth.
The storm had calmed down a little, making it somewhat safer to go outside, as long as you weren’t flying. Rainbow had gone to the hospital to fetch a doctor for Twilight and to get somepony to fix her own wing. I had asked if I should go too, but she had insisted that she could handle it all by herself. She had noticed that I needed some time for myself.
Just before Rainbow left, she had promised to tell the doctor at the hospital that Fluttershy had woken up, so that she could get examined.
Fluttershy was still tired and she had a bad headache, but she didn’t want to leave me. She sat beside me on the couch. The doctor had told us that when she woke up, she still needed to rest a lot, not moving around her head to fast and stuff like that.
“Please don’t be so sad, Phillip. Aren’t you happy that I’m awake?” Fluttershy asked.
“Of course I am. I’m really happy that you are awake, but what if it is all just a dream? Or worse, if I am dying in the real world... What will happen?” I looked Fluttershy in the eyes. “Both endings are just sad.”
Flyttershy’s face saddened at the thought. If it was a dream, not only was I going to just wake up at some point, but all my new friends wouldn’t be real and Fluttershy realized that. She decided though to throw away the thought, as it wouldn’t help thinking negative thoughts. She used one of her hooves to dry my face, which had been stained with a few tears.
“Now now... We don’t know anything about that yet.” She gave me a smile.
She looked so cute, when smiling. It painted a small smile on my face and Fluttershy giggled.
“So you can smile?”
She hugged me tight and I returned the gesture.
In the mean time I had forgotten all about Twilight, and Spike too, who sat all alone at her side.
“I think we should see, how Twilight is doing.” I made a gesture towards her bedroom.
“Of course.”
I got slowly onto my feet and helped Fluttershy standing too. I could see that the movement made her head hurt. Her balance was bad and she closed her eyes to regain it.
When ready, we both walked slowly towards the staircase to the first floor leaning towards each other to keep our balance. We slowly made our way up the stairs towards Twilight’s bedroom.
Spike sat at Twilight’s bedside. He hadn’t come out of the room yet. We sat down besides him and looked at Twilight. She was still unconscious.
I put a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “It’s going to be alright Spike. Don’t you worry.”
I looked at Twilight, while my thoughts also raced on about my own situation. Things had gone horribly wrong in Equestria, since I came here. I hoped that it didn’t had anything to do with me. I dismissed the thought and focused on Twilight’s condition.
Spike had put some pillows under and around the broken leg to support it. Luckily Twilight didn’t look like she was in pain right now even though her leg didn’t look too great.
As we sat there, Spike suddenly turned around and hugged me, hiding his face in my chest, while crying. Although he normally seemed so grown up, he still was a baby and this was one of the moments that showed. I patted his back and shushed him, removing him from me just enough to look him in the eyes saying:
“Twilight is going to be alright, okay? She is a strong mare with a strong will and she is going to be alright.”
“B-but what if she isn’t? What happens to me?” he stammered.
“Shush now. Don’t think that way. Of course she is going to be alright.” Fluttershy looked at him with a small smile.
Spike sniffed and cracked a small smile, while looking from Fluttershy to me.
“Thanks,” he said, “that helped a lot.”
“It’s nothing. We are here to help you if you need us,” Fluttershy said to Spike, “that’s what friends are for, right?”
“Y-yeah... I’ll t-try to remember that.”
I looked towards Fluttershy. She looked really tired.
“You should really rest, Fluttershy,” I said to her.
“I don’t want you to be alone.”
“And I don’t want anything to happen to you, so you should rest. And besides I’ll keep Spike company.”
Fluttershy seemed to relax a little and smiled. I looked around the room and then at Spike.
“Can Fluttershy use the extra bed over there?”
“S-sure.”
“Then let’s get you to bet, shall we, Fluttershy?”
I helped Fluttershy stand up and helped her to the extra bed. She really seemed tired and distant. I tucked her in and lay down beside her. She closed her eyes and fell asleep instantaneously. I looked back at Spike and said:
“You should get some sleep too. You also seem tired.”
“I’m fine. I want to sit here with Twilight. Also you did say you would keep me company.”
“I can keep you company, while you sleep. Please go to bed, Spike. I promise to wake you up as soon as the doctor arrives or Twilight wakes up.”
“You really promise?” he asked.
“Of course. I wouldn’t joke on a matter like this!” I looked angrily at him for thinking that.
He moved towards the door, to find his own little bed. I think I heard a low “thanks” just before the door closed.
I had promised to look after Twilight and still wanted to keep an eye out for Fluttershy. I found myself a chair and sat down on it right in between Twilight’s bed and the extra bed that Fluttershy slept in. I had found myself a book about magic, which I sat down with to pass the time. I began to read.
Rainbow Dash found herself in view distance from the hospital. The storm had gathered again and the wind blew hard against her. It made her broken wing hurt badly. Once she came closer to the hospital, she saw more ponies going her way. It seemed odd in such a storm. You could see that some of them had injuries.
She made it to the hospital entrance and opened the doors. At entering she dropped her jaw to the floor, because the nurses and doctors ran around from one room to another, hurrying like they had never done before. The place was full of ponies with problems and injuries and their relatives and friends. They stood in row just to talk to the pony behind the desk, who also seemed way out of her mind.
Rainbow went to the queue to stand in line. To pass the time she looked around. But the more she looked the more ill and injured ponies she saw, which just made her feel more bad, than she already was. So she looked at the ground.
When she still after a few minutes only had moved one step forward, she decided that this was to boring for her.
“Hey doctor!” she cried out towards a pony in a white coat.
“Can’t you see that I’m busy?!” he snorted.
“You probably are, but I really need your help!” Rainbow answered.
“I see you have a problem with your wing?” The doctor looked asking at Rainbow.
“Yeah it’s broken, bu-” Rainbow was interrupted by the doctor:
“A broken wing can wait a little longer. Just stand in line like the others.” he said.
“DOCTOR!” Rainbow shouted, “it isn’t me! It’s my friend Twilight, who has a much worse injury than mine. I got struck by lightning and crashed into her. She is unconscious with at least a broken leg. We couldn’t get her to the hospital, so she lies at home at the library. I really need you to send someone! PLEASE!”
Rainbow panted after all that and looked at the doctor, who just stood looking at her.
“I.. i.... I see. You should go to the emergency if you say that lightning hit you. I will go to your friend myself.”
“Promise?!” Rainbow dash looked deeply at the doctor with one eye.
“Of course, now go!” he said to Rainbow, who hurried down to ER.
I sat on my chair, head hanging down and both hooves on my lap - on top of the book. I was really tired and I was on my way to fall asleep. And it almost happened, if it wasn’t for Twilight making a sound.
“Arg... My head... Where am I-ARG!” Twilight cried out in pain as she tried to move her broken leg.
“Stop moving, Twilight,” I said going to her, “you broke your leg, when Rainbow crashed into you outside. And we are in the library in your bedroom.”
I could see a tear roll down her cheek, probably because of the pain she experienced a moment ago, but she seemed to feel a little better after relaxing, not moving her leg.
“How are you, Twilight?” I asked, “You passed out and have been sleeping since.”
She looked at me. “I’m fine. Or at least I’m as fine as I could be under the circumstances.”
She cracked a smile at me and put her head down on her pillow.
“But I think I have a mild headache,” she suddenly said, “could you perhaps fetch me some of my herbs for my head?”
“I gladly would, but I promised Spike to wake him up, when you opened your eyes and I think that he would be more than glad to assist you. Let me fetch him for you.”
“Thanks Phillip.”
I walked out of the room and found Spikes little bed just around the corner. I shook him gently to wake him. He seemed awfully tired and his eyes just shouted out that he wanted to go to sleep again.
“Hey Spike. Sorry to wake you up, but Twilight is asking for you,” I smiled at him.
Upon hearing that he turned from almost asleep to fully awake in only a few seconds. He ran into Twilight’s room to see how she was and I followed right behind.
“Twilight! You’re awake! Are you okay?” he shouted.
“Yeah Spike, I’m alright. I just have a minor headache, so could you fetch me some of those herbs that Zecora gave me? And will you boil some water with honey for me as well to help me get them down?”
“Yes Mam!” Spike said, raising one of his hands for a salute, before he ran out of the room.
“Oh Spike. He’s such a nice friend and the best assistant a mare could ask for,” Twilight said.
“I can only imagine,” I returned with a smile. “Also I almost forgot to tell. Fluttershy has woken up, but she was dead tired, so she is sleeping in your extra bed over there.”
“Oh how great!”
“And Rainbow Dash went to the hospital to get you a doctor and to get her broken wing fixed.”
After the doctor had told her that he would leave for the library at once, Rainbow went to ER to get herself fixed up. At ER they were as busy as in the rest of the hospital with ponies filling up almost every sickbed Rainbow could see. A nurse came to her.
“Are you here to be treated?” she asked with a nervous voice.
“Yes,” Rainbow said, “I got struck by lightning and crashed, which broke my wing.”
“Oh dear, “ the nurse said, “let’s get you treated right away.”
The nurse made Rainbow follow her to a room with an empty bed. In fact, it was the same room she’d been in the last time, she broke her wing. It was a dull room, which could only lead to boredom, if it had not been for the book cart that sometimes passed by with precious Daring Do books and the like.
“Just take put on this and lay down in the bed. The doctor will be here shortly,” the nurse said and handed over some of that patient's clothing, before she ran out of the room.
Rainbow Dash did as she was told and jumped onto the bed. She was awfully tired and the bed was soft. She was quickly drawn into a gentle slumber.
AUTHORS NOTE:
