A steady beeping with an occasional hiss are the first things I register. It wouldn't take a genius to know I was in a hospital, probably on a bed. My assumptions tell me it's a really comfortable bed the way I sink into it when I exhale.

This was the second time I've woken from unconsciousness, and it never changes. Typical headache and weak muscles make themselves known and I groan.

"Oh, you're awake," some voice calls out from beside me. The voice is feminine, that much I know. It's also soft, comforting even, despite my throbbing head.

Trying to open my eyes, the bright light makes it impossible and I keep them shut, accompanied with another groan.

"Please, try to relax. You're still recovering," the voice says again. My lips and throat feel really dry and trying to speak only led to croaks. "Hold on. Here. It's water." The rim of a cup is felt on my lips and a hand lifts my head from the pillow. Except, it wasn't a hand, it was more like a solid cylinder. Parting my lips to allow the water entrance, I'm rewarded with the purest water I've tasted in ages. I take one more sip and relax, the cup leaving my presence and my head laid back on the bed. "Tell me if you need more."

"Am I dead?" I knew it was an odd question, but after what happened, I wouldn't be surprised.

"H-Hmm, Celestia, no. I'm pretty sure the heart monitor is still going, so you're alive as far as I know," the woman giggles.

"Celestia?"

"Ahh, that's right. You're not from here. I've tended to your kind before, even though it's only been twice in the past. Gotta say, I loved helping those ponies. They were all so nice." She only gives me more questions than answers, but I still feel weak and let her continue. "You're actually very lucky. Had you been brought in any later than you were, your earlier question may have had a different answer."

"What are you talking about? Where am I?" I try to open my eyes again, but it's still difficult and this nurse is only making me frustrated.

"Oh, forgive me. I tend to do that. Here, maybe somepony else can explain it better." I hear the nurse walk away, but her shoes leave clopping sounds on the floor.

I didn't know nurses were allowed to work in high heels.

"He's awake," the nurse calls out the door. My eyes are fully open after the time to adjust, but it's so blurry. I can make out the nurse. She's short, in fact, she's really short. I can make out her white outfit, and she has pink hair tied in a bun.

"What's going on-"

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Vinyl! Slow down! Whatever you do, don't-"

"OOFH!" Air is pushed out of my lungs as a large blob of white and blue tackles my chest like a bolt of lightning.

If anything could wake me up, it was this.

"I knew you were alive! I knew it! The nurse kept talking about some 'critical condition' nonsense, but I knew you were stronger than that!" I'm wrapped in the tightest hug I've ever gotten as a ball of fur rubs my face.

"Vinyl! Be careful!" I hear a new voice enter the room, but my brain was focused on something completely different.

Vinyl. I knew that name from somewhere. That single word triggers my memory and I jump up, the white fluff still clinging to my face.

"Nurse! This is going to sound really weird, but I need to know! Did you see some tiny animals with me? Like, they're really small horses, one with a white coat, blue mane and her sister with a gray coat, and black mane? Answers to the name Vinyl and Octavia?"

"We're right here you knucklehead!" the thing clinging to my face states bluntly. "Tavi, did we save the wrong guy?"

"Well, Vinyl, maybe if you let go of his face, he could see us!"

"What if he doesn't remember me?" The voice tells the other, completely ignoring what she was saying. "Tavi? Why doesn't he remember me?"

"Oh, will you just get off him already!" Tavi yells, ripping the thing off my face so it tumbles to the end of the bed. "Goodness. Well, glad to see you're awake," she says in a much calmer voice.

My eyes clear up for once without that white blob blocking me, letting me see everything relatively clear. A glance to the door shows the nurse giggling to herself before leaving the room again. This leaves me alone with the two strangers, one of which tried to suffocate me.

When my eyes come into focus on the thing at my feet, they go wide in realization. "Vinyl...?"

"Yay! He does remember me!"

"Octavia...?" I glance to the being standing beside my bed.

"Yes, it's us. You do remember us, don't you?"

I was dumbfounded. "How are you so... So much bigger?" Sure enough, the two creatures in the room with me were the exact same Vinyl and Octavia I met in that forest back when I first moved in to my new apartment. But they were bigger. They were at least the size of an adult Labrador. Bigger even. Octavia was just standing by my side and she could look at me eye-level.

"That's a bit complicated to explain..." Octavia trails off.

"No it's not. It's magic. Simple as that," Vinyl starts. "We just ran through that weird forest and came out this size. But the confusing part is, did you get smaller, or did we get bigger?" Vinyl puts her hoof to her chin.

"How can I understand you?" I question. "You only used to talk in squeaks."

"I'm told it's because we returned to our original size. When we were small, our voices were too high-pitched for you to detect and comprehend. But now that we're back to normal, it's only right that you can understand us better," Octavia explains. Vinyl is just dancing and talking to herself on her own at the foot of the hospital bed, stepping on me most of the time.

"But how did all this happen?" I ask again.

"Well, we weren't given such a good explanation. We were just told to wait until Princess Celestia arrives to inspect the situation," Octavia says.

There's that name again.

"Princess Celestia?"

"Yes, Princess Celestia. She's the ruler of Equestria. This reminds me, we got our memory back! I don't know what you did, but thanks to you saving us back there, we got our memories back!" Octavia says, coming closer to the bed with a cheerful smile.  

"So I'm in your world?" I ask, getting a nod. "This is so much to take in. I'm glad you guys are okay, but none of this makes any sense," I mutter. "Did I die?" I ask again.

"No. We're all alive. And it's all thanks to you," Octavia says softly, lifting her front hooves to the bed to get closer to me.

"Yeah big guy! You're our hero!" Vinyl stops dancing in joy to walk closer to me on the bed. Her yelling only revives my headache.

"Ow. I'm glad you're happy, but can we keep our voices down?" I ask, clutching my head.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," Vinyl's ears go flat as she apologizes.

"It's fine. Just relax until princess whoever comes to tell us what the heck happened." My hand reaches out to scratch Vinyl's ear, making it perk back up at my touch.

"This may sound weird, but may I sit with you on the bed?" Octavia asks hesitantly.

"Sure." The gray mare takes action immediately, hoisting herself up onto the bed and snuggling up to me. With Vinyl on the other side, it was already a crowded bed, but we managed. Octavia curled up on my side with her upper body across my lap, making an impromptu armrest for me. My tired muscles may have still been drained of energy, but that didn't stop me from lazily lining my forearm on her back with her ears in perfect reach of my hand. The little-but-not-so-little-anymore pony sighs quietly as I scratch her head. Vinyl looks to her sister's position and almost with a sense of envy, copies her completely, shuffling about until she became an armrest for my other arm.

As if I were sitting on a throne, I relax myself and lean back, scratching my two armrests' heads as silence falls in the room. Nothing but the constant beeps and clicking of the machines beside me linger in the air as hooves approach our room once again.

"Sir?" the nurse from before - who happens to be a pony just like the ones at my sides - pokes her head in the doorway. "The princess is here."

"Hello there little one," a new pony says as she comes into view. "May I enter?" I nod. She was very tall, much like the size of an actual horse, but with a crown and a really long horn. The princess had on other pieces of regalia about her large form, but it was her billowing multi-color mane and soft, motherly eyes that soothed me along with her sweet voice.

Octavia shuffles to try and stand on the bed and bow before the new pony raises a hoof.

"Sit, little pony. You three look too relaxed to have to fret about formalities."

"Yes, th-thank you, P-Princess," Octavia stutters with nervousness.

"Hey PC!" Vinyl calls, her hind leg thumping against the hospital bed while I continue scratching.

"Hmhmm. Hello to you too, Miss Scratch," the Princess replies.

"Oh c'mon, you know you can just call me Vinyl. Oh, right there~..." Vinyl seems to be half paying attention and half enjoying her head-scratchies.

"Of course, Vinyl. Now, I know you and your sister, but who is this pony I have the pleasure of meeting?"

"H-He's our friend. He saved us f-from the Timberwolves, y-your highness."

"Octavia. Please relax. I'm not here to administer punishment. You have no reason to be so nervous."

"S-Sorry Princess. I suppose I'm just... nervous, here before royalty."

"It's alright."

I try to help Octavia relax by paying more attention to her ears, scratching that spot right at the base that gets her hind leg idly thumping on the bed along with Vinyl's.

"So you're the one who saved my two little subjects?"

"Yeah he is! He was fighting off those badies like it was nothin'!" Vinyl says.

"He really cared for us. He fed us and gave us a place to sleep." The gray mare melts into my hand and gives me a grateful look. "He protected us."

"Then you have my thanks, brave pony." The Princess bows before me and I blush at the attention.

"It was really my pleasure. I made good friends with these two and I only want to protect them. But I must ask. How did we get here? The last thing I remember was tripping and falling down somewhere in a forest."

Celestia glances behind herself and nods to the nurse leaning on the doorway. Without a word, the nurse leaves and shuts the door behind her.

"What I am about to tell you is a secret that I trust you will keep to yourself under all circumstances. Can I trust you with it?"

"I suppose so. If it's really this important then you have my word," I reply to the tall pony.

"You have my word as well," Octavia replies.

"You got it," Vinyl says.

"Now, the story starts with the forest; Everfree forest, as we call it. It isn't a normal forest, but more a portal between dimensions."

"Huh?" The white pony under my arm asks flatly.

"I know it may sound odd, but we don't know anything about it either. All that can be understood is that it acts as a gateway between our world and your world." Celestia points to me. "What seems like a small woodland area in your world will actually transport anypony into our world; the land of Equestria."

"Alright. So this whole other world just happens to be within a forest on Earth?"

"Correct."

"But why were Vinyl and Octavia so small when I met them?" I ask.

"I am going to get to that. You see, as you may or may not know, your world is a dangerous place. I've seen it for myself and I fear for the worst if one of my little ponies were to wander away. As a natural environment, I cannot stop my subjects from exploring such a place, and to ask them to avoid it would only spawn more questions and curiosity."

The royal Princess pauses and begins to pace. "So I knew I had to do something to protect my subjects. I developed rumors about the forest. I banished vile creatures to the area like Timberwolves and Manticores, in hopes that it would keep ponies from venturing in."

"So that's what those things were? Timberwolves?" I ask.

"Yup," Vinyl answers, letting the princess continue with her story.

"As fierce as those creatures are, it was still not enough. Ponies would still venture in as a challenge of sorts, wanting to explore the wilderness despite the dangers I'd warned them about. And so I had to cast spells on the forest."

Celestia halts and looks out the only window in the room. "First, was a shrinking spell. Should any pony traverse into your world, they could very easily be spotted in a crowd. By shrinking anything that passes through, it becomes a sort of defense for them; making it more difficult to be caught. This is why the two ponies on either side of you were so small, as well as the Timberwolf." Celestia clears her throat once. "Of course, it's only a one-way spell, so you didn't shrink when you walked in to our world. This is because we don't pose a threat to your kind. We welcome you."

The white pony almost refuses to make eye contact with us while we listen. "Then comes the other spell; a memory spell."

There's a sudden pause in the air, Celestia's mane waving like a shirt drying on a clothesline on a windy day.

"I knew that I had to protect our world, so by erasing the memories of anypony who ends up on the other side, no one can discover where they came from."

"Erase? Then how did they get their memories back?" I ask.

"Well, I thought of that. The spell was very difficult to conjure, but I think 'erase' is the wrong term. It's more like their memories are stored in the world they leave. Every memory is simply left behind and they start fresh in the other world. Their old memories will still be here when they return."

"So it's like a save file on a video game. Their memories were saved on one file, but going to the other world is like starting a new game. Their memories will still be there when they return," I deduct.

"If it helps, you can think of it that way. I'm afraid I don't know what those are," the princess retorts.

"Oh. My bad." Something was still a bit unsettling about the whole ordeal. "Princess?"

"Yes?"

"I do have a question though. I don't mean any offense, but why would you do this? You just cast these spells and leave your subjects to wander on their own? What if something happens to them?" My voice goes heavy with more and more concern. I can't imagine what I would do if something dreadful were to happen to the two ponies while they were with me.

"Now, I never said I would do that. You may find that, in a way, I've always been there." The princess then chooses to face us, slowly trotting toward me without blinking.

It was her eyes that held my attention. They were a deep violet, glimmering in the dim light with a softness seen only in that of a beautiful princess from a fairy tale.

They seemed so familiar. As if I've seen them before...

"You..." I trail off. "You.... You were there. You were there. You were there! The sales lady in the shop! The garage sale woman! The police officer! That was all you!"

The edges of her lips tilt up, fighting a smile to keep her demeanor in check, all while watching my baffled face contort as I made sense of what was going on. "Indeed I was. I had to protect these little ponies while they journeyed away. So I led them to the only person trustworthy enough to keep them away from harm. Somepony who would stand by their promise to keep them safe. Somepony like you."

My mind lingers on those very words. The princess of this world had been watching over us the whole time. And she led me to the very friends at my sides. But one part of her explanation confused me. "How would you know I could be trusted?"

"Because I told her."

There he was. A new voice, of the one person I least expected who just walked in the room.

"...Dad?"

"Hey kiddo," he says with a smile, walking up to the bed to give me a hug over the pony at my side. This moment is what breaks Celestia's wall, making her smile at the sight.

"But... How did you... What's going on?"

"It's a long story, but let's let Celly here finish it for us," he responds, taking a seat in a spare chair off to the side. I have so many questions but I suppose they will be answered if I let the princess speak.

"Thank you. Now, in case this is too much to put together, you aren't the first human to stumble into our world. The story about the forest is that humans never come back once they enter the forest. This is because they choose to stay with us rather than go back. From the top of my head, I know of a human named Peter who has taken a fancy for my sister and her starry sky. There's also a handsome man by the name of Jeff who lives with a fashionista not too far from here. There's also Darisson and Sebastian who chose to live up in Manehattan on their own. But most importantly, your father here wandered in some time ago. We had asked him if he wanted to stay, but he objected. He said that he wanted to make sure his son was with him before he chose to stay with us in Equestria."

"And so I came back, not without making sure I had contact with Celly from our world," my father says. "And I sent you to that apartment. Instead of making you think I was a lunatic believing in magic horses, I thought it would be better if you experienced it for yourself. I didn't think you would run into them so fast or even get in trouble with the police." He motions at the ponies to my sides, who've chosen to relax and listen to what was going on. "I just figured you'd stumble in like I did, and make some new friends. I guess I was right about one thing."

"Uh huh. He's such a cool guy," Vinyl mutters, nuzzling into my chest.

"He does have a big heart," Octavia says.

"Well, I do have but one more question for you," Celestia asks, walking past my father.

"Yeah?"

"Now that you're here, would you like to stay with us?"

The question hits me hard. I knew what I wanted to answer, but still. The princess of an entire kingdom invited me to stay in her world. "I would love to."

"Can he stay with us?" Vinyl interrupts, assuming the princess meant I'd stay with her.

"Of course. He can live wherever he chooses." Celestia replies.

"Sure. How could I ever leave you two?" I say with a smile, tussling the ponys' manes. "But what about you Dad? Don't you have someone to go back to?"

"Nope. I let her go. From now on, it's just you and me kiddo."

With that, I'm left smiling. My dad and I have been reunited and I get to stay with Vinyl and Octavia in a whole new world filled with so many ponies to befriend. I couldn't be happier.

"I must ask though," Celestia suddenly interrupts my thoughts, her face cracking a smile. "My little subjects weren't too much of a bother to you, were they?"

"Oh, they were quite the handful."