Chapter II

...Ponies?

Consciousness came to him slowly, as slow as a roommate was to do the dishes.

Hrothgar groaned at the terrible analogy.  Pack your things brain, you're fired.  He thought to himself.

Strange, his mind seemed a lot clearer now.  He could remember his name and everything.  Did that mean that he had finally died?  No, the dull ache in his side meant that he was still alive.  By every account you shouldn't feel pain after you died.  Unless you screwed your life up, then a dull ache in your side was the least of your worries.

No, he was definitely alive.  But how had he survived? He didn't remember being in any condition to cast a healing spell on himself.  Fuzzily he remembered a voice that had called out to him.  Did someone find him? Was he safe then?

Safe... No... No he remembered now... he wasn't safe.  He had been in a fight with that thing.  It had torn his side, and he had fallen...

“...Lost a lot of blood.  He's lucky that you got him here as fast as you did.  Any longer and I'm sure that he wouldn't have made it.”  he heard a voice float in from somewhere.

Curiously, Hrothgar opened an eye a crack and glanced around.  He seemed to be in a clean, sparsely furnished room.  To his left he could see a blue curtain blocking his view, and to his right he could see a window to the outside.  He seemed to be lying in a bed, but that didn't make him relax his guard any.  For all he knew, this was simply a trick to lull him into a false sense of security, a trick to allow the creature easier access to his mind.  next to the bed on his right he could see a small bedside table.  On it was a lamp, a vase of flowers, and (strangely enough) a small box with balloons attached to it.  On top of the box was a note, but he dismissed it for now.

“How long do you think he will be unconscious?”  He heard a female voice ask in concern.  The voice seemed to be coming from the other side of the door, directly across from where he was lying.

Quickly closing his eyes again, he strained his ears to pick up the rest of the conversation.  As he did so, he felt a peculiar sensation on the top of his head.  Dismissing it for now, he continued to listen to the conversation outside.  Trap or not, he was determined to get as much information as possible before he attempted his escape.

“That's hard to say.  We've used blood restorative spells to speed his recovery, but he still needs time to rest.  Whatever struck him seemed to have a poison on it's claws.  We managed to neutralize it, but it had still done some damage.  I'm confident that he will make a full recovery, however.”

Hrothgar was a bit stunned at this statement.  If this wasn't a trap, then this... healer... for lack of a better term, was capable of negating demon bile.  That was quite an impressive feat to say the least!

“That's good...” she said, sounding relieved.  “please, when he wakes up-”

“As I have already told you, you will be the first to know.  Now go home! You look like you're about to collapse right here on the spot!” the healer said with a laugh.

Hrothgar then heard something odd.  He heard the owners of the voices move away from the door, but he could have sworn that those were hoof beats, not footsteps.  Hmmm... now that's interesting... does that mean I was found by non-humans? He opened his eyes again and inspected the room a bit closer, noting the size of the furniture and door, as well as the hight of the ceiling.

Judging by the fact that everything seemed—smaller—then he expected, he deduced that they couldn't be minotaurs or centaurs.  That left satyrs, but that didn't make any sense.  Satyrs were fey, and did not build buildings of this level of sophistication, preferring instead to live a life close to nature.  When they did build anything, it was usually by molding trees into whatever form they needed with magic.  Was this an unknown race? He was sure that his brother had cataloged all the races of Cosmogeen, but even then that was a tenuous claim at best.

He was brought out of his revere by a groan coming from the other side of the curtain.  Quickly closing his eyes again, he pretended to be asleep.

After a while, he heard some blankets shift, then silence.  Punctuated only by the steady, rhythmic breathing of whoever, or indeed, whatever was on the other side of the curtain.  Sounds like he's asleep... probably another patient... or part of the trap...

However, this didn't feel like a trap.  His magical senses would have been going off like crazy, but all he could detect was the standard background radiation of the planet.  The magical field felt... off though.  It felt... soft... as if...

Never mind that now.  I can analyze that later.  For right now, lets take a look at the species that saved me.

Reaching out with his magic, he gripped the curtain to pull it aside.  Something felt off about that though.  He felt as if he only had about half the power he usually had.  Chalking that up to being physically unfit, he dismissed it.  

Something still wasn't right however.  He could still use magic, but it seemed to flow out of his forehead instead of his hands and fingers.  He dismissed the odd feeling though, focusing instead on the task at hand and determining to solve this other mystery later.  Pulling back the curtain slowly, as to not wake his sleeping roommate, he got his first look at the species that had saved his life.

Lying on the bed to his left and covered in bandages, he saw what appeared to be a green pony with a dark green mane on top of it's head.  However, upon closer examination, he determined that it only superficially resembled a pony.  It's head and eyes were larger for starters, with it's eyes positioned a bit closer together and more towards the front of it's face.  The creature was lying on it's back and had all four of it's legs in casts.  It's casts were then suspended by four lengths of black cords attached to a complicated pulley system, which was in turn attached to the ceiling.  The blanket covering the strange creature had slipped off a bit, revealing a strange tattoo on the creature's flank.  It appeared to be a set of gears meshed together.

wait...  he leaned closer.  It's not a tattoo.  He realized.

He was, of course, right.  The mark was actually a part of the strange creature's fur.  There was no way that was natural.  Probably some form of magical dye, or a glamor spell of some sort.  It's owner probably is a clockmak- he started to think, but was derailed mid thought when the creature grumbled in it's sleep.

“...Oh stargazer... you're such a tease...” it mumbled in a distinctively masculine voice.

Hrothgar's mind did a 180 on the spot.  Clearly this was the species that had saved him.  He had merely assumed that it was an animal because of it's resemblance to a common animal from his homeland.  Quietly he pulled the curtain back,  mind buzzing with thought.  Clearly he was out of his element, and would have to exercise caution when dealing with these creatures.  The ponies had taken him in and healed him without question, but he knew that they would start asking some very... pointed questions about him and his species.  They might even have had contact with humans before and, knowing his own species, it was probably not the best of relationships.

He frowned in displeasure, closing his eyes and rubbing his face with his hooves.  Whenever he met a new species, the rest of his race had usually gotten there first.  And while most of his race were fine and upstanding individuals, he knew that there was a portion of his people that were cruel and heartless.  Pillaging and murdering as they went, even going so far as to enslave others for their own amusement or profit.  Slavers in particular were some of his least favorite individuals.  If he had a gold coin for every-

He stopped.  Something wasn't right.  Rubbing his face a little more, he realized what it was.

Hooves.

Quickly opening his eyes, he saw that he clearly wasn't human anymore.  He was, in fact, a pony.

“Well, that explains why my magic wasn't flowing through my fingers.”  He said ruefully.

Most people would feel a whole lot more confusion at waking up as a pony.  Some might even react with fear, and lash out at whoever, or indeed whatever, had the sad misfortune of being nearby at the time.  Luckily for the hospital though, Hrothgar wasn't most people.  Hrothgar was actually a highly accomplished wizard, and was capable of a large number of extremely complex spells. And, while it was true that evocation was his particular field of study, polymorph spells were still a cakewalk for him. “eh, I've woken up as worse.” he grunted dismissively.

This was true.  As a practical joke, his brother had turned him into a giant slug in his sleep.  At least this form was able to talk, and it wouldn't be an incredibly difficult task to unravel the magics binding him.  He frowned at the memory.  He still hadn't gotten Aeon back for that one.  It had taken him a week to get all that slime out of his room, even with magic to help him.

Shrugging slightly to himself, he started to gather his magic to unmake the spell binding him.  Once he had enough, he reached into his form with that magic, searching for the spell that was keeping him in his current form.

He found nothing.

Eyes widening a bit, he started doing a full magical sweep of his entire form, starting from the tip of his tail and working his way up.

Several minutes passed, and anyone watching would have seen the strange pony light up and shift colors several times before finally returning to a bright red color.

Hrothgar frowned, panic slowly building within him.  “Thats... disturbing...” he said out loud.

His scan had given him quite a wealth of information about his new form.  He seemed to have several new organs, but had lost a few others.  He also seemed to have lost several lotuses in favor for one large, horn shaped lotus on his forehead.  Did that make him a unicorn?  Reaching up with his hooves, he felt his forehead to confirm his suspicions.  

Yep, he was a unicorn.

What he could not find, however, was any magic keeping him in this form.  He could sense the divination aura from his tongues spell, but he couldn't find any transmutation magic.  It was as if he had always been a unicorn, and his previous time as a human had never happened.  He could try a polymorph spell, but he decided to hold off on that for now.  The spell would wear off after a short time, and could have some ill effects if he did not have a full understanding of his current form.

That wasn't what was causing his panic, however.  He was panicking because he couldn't find the Library.

The Library was the mystical collection of all of the learning that his order had ever discovered.  For practical purposes, it was always hidden within the soul of the order's most strong willed and loyal member, safeguarded from those who would use it's invaluable secrets for evil.

And it was missing.

Hyperventilating, he double checked and triple checked before giving up in defeat.  The interface was still there, but the Library itself was completely gone.  He took a bit of comfort at this news, however.  Without the interface, the library was useless.  At least whoever or whatever had taken it could not use it in the slightest.

However, he had to find that library, and find it quickly.  Even though it was useless to others, his order still needed it.

How had all of this happened though?  Were the ponies responsible for this?  He wasn't sure.  His memories told him that he had woken as a pony in the forest, so it was probable that these ponies were innocent.

Anyway, no point in staying in bed any-

“Oof!” he grunted loudly as he face planted to the floor.  Clearly he hadn't recovered his strength yet, seeing as when he had put weight on his forelegs, the things had refused to support his weight and had collapsed underneath him.

As luck would have it, it was precisely at that moment that the nurse had decided to come in to check on how the two patients were doing.

Humming a happy tune, Nurse Redheart did not expect to see either patient awake, much less up and about.  She was even more surprised when she saw the unnamed unicorn halfway out of bed; his upper half kissing the floor, while his lower half was still in bed with his flank sticking in the air.

Stifling a laugh at catching the unicorn in such a... compromising position, Nurse Redheart hurried over to help the stallion back in bed. “Are you alright?” she asked, suppressing a grin.

“Yes, though it seems that I haven't fully recovered from my injuries yet.” he said in a tired tone of voice, looking up at her.

She snorted at that.  “Of course you haven't.  I'm surprised that you even managed to wake up today.  Based on the sheer amount of blood that you lost, I was expecting you to remain unconscious for at least another day or so.  Not to mention that you were poisoned with a toxin that we have never seen before.” she said in a slightly worried tone.

He shook his head ruefully while he examined the nurse.  She stood at (what he guessed was) medium height for a pony.  Her coat was a pure white color, with the only 'blemish' being a red cross on her flank.   Her mane and tail were both a pale pink, and her eyes were a light blue.  She wore a small white hat with a red cross on it... and nothing else.  Hrothgar very quickly made the connection that being naked was probably normal here.  It made sense though, a species that already has fur probably has little reason for clothing, he reasoned.  It only took him a second longer after that to realize that he was naked too.

Strangely, he didn't really find this an issue.  What he did find issue with was the fact that all his equipment seemed to be missing.

“I'll be right back.” she said as she turned to leave.  “I need to go tell the doctor that you've woken up.” she said in that chipper voice of hers.

“Before you go, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to my effects, would you?” Hrothgar asked hopefully.

She looked at him a bit puzzled “...Effects?” she asked, not understanding what he meant.

“My clothes and gear.”

Comprehension dawned on her face.  “OH! No, sorry dear, but you had nothing on you when you arrived here.  Twilight Sparkle might know more about that, though.  She was the one to find you and bring you here.” she said helpfully.

Hrothgar's heart sank a little at that.  It was unlikely that this... Twilight Sparkle... knew anything about his gear.  If she had been a thief, she wouldn't have brought him to the hospital where the theft could have been traced back to her. “Thank you, I would like to talk to Twilight as soon as possible.  Could you by chance get a message to her telling her to come?” he asked in a resigned voice.

“I certainly will.  She actually wanted to know the moment you were awake.  As soon as I get the doctor, I will send for Twilight as well.”  she said.

“Thank you miss...?”

“Redheart, Nurse Redheart.”

“Well, thank you for everything Nurse Redheart.” he said inclining his head.

After that she left the room and quietly closed the door.

Well, at least the locals are friendly,  he thought with a smirk.