(Proofread by KillerRobotQuote and edited by Procket12)

Pain...

That was the first thing that greeted me as I slowly regained consciousness. My head felt like it was fitted inside one of those medieval head clamps with some fucking sod slowly tightening it; and I could only compare the pain I felt coming from my back to one certain Chemistry lesson at my secondary school.

Who would have possibly thought that if you take a highly flammable liquid, add it with a Bunsen Burner and sprinkle a healthy dose of an idiot's idea of a funny joke would burn both my shirt and my back and cause me agonising pain? Yeah….some people are like that, unfortunately.

'What happened? Did I get drunk again?' I questioned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

'Okay, relax. Think this through. I remember waking up, going to work, working through a metric shit tonne of paperwork, having a nice meal, going to bed, then...' Trying to remember what happened was doing a number on my head. Suddenly, I remembered the forest, Mr. Kitty, screaming like a girl...and running into a wall. That last part wasn't one of my better ideas.

I opened my eyes only for them to be assaulted by the blinding light that stabbed at my retinas. The discomfort forced me to slam my eyes shut again. Whilst I recovered from the pain, I heard the unmistakable sound of a door latch and moving hinges.

My ears were met with the sound of...hooves? Slowly, I tried opening my eyes again. There was a lot less agitation that time. I was lying on a standard hospital bed and I was connected to a heart rate monitor. Hesitantly, I examined the extent of my injuries. The majority of my torso was bandaged up. Mr. Kitty had obviously dealt more damage than I initially thought. Reaching towards my head, I cautiously felt around the source of the pain. I winced as I discovered a lump above my left eye. What threw me off was the size of the lump; I practically head butted a wall and I only had a small lump to show for it. Surely the impact would have left the area completely swollen. Stopping my train of thought at the next platform, I took a moment to take in my surroundings.

The walls were painted cream white with the floor being the normal cadet grey seen in most hospitals. To the left there were two windows, both with the blinds rolled down. Rays of sunshine broke through the gaps in the blinds, dust swirling and dancing in the light. One of the windows was open, allowing the summer breeze to enter. I found it very soothing as it softly stroked my bare skin. But once I looked to my right, I saw a pony. A FUCKING PONY! In a hospital?! Is the the staff here crazy?! That or doctors got me on the strong stuff.

Her coat was white, not pure white, but white nonetheless. Her mane was... How do know that it is a 'she'? Well, since she had her back to me and the fact the her tail wasn't covering her private parts, it didn't take a genius to work out her gender. Now I'm not a pervert or a zoophile, I just made a observation. Honest! Her mane and tail were the same light pink colour. In true honesty, the colour reminded me of strawberry ice cream. Don't ask why and how I made the connection, the mind works in very weird ways. There were these tattoos on both of her flanks. The marking was a red cross with a heart in each corner, which were the same colour as her mane and tail. Also, she wore a nurse's hat!

'Wait a minute. She's not a nurse, is shie?'

Due to my throat being really dry, I started coughing whilst looking at the bedside table to see if there was anything to drink. My searching was interrupted by a gasp that caused me to look at where it had come from.

To my surprise, the pony looked at me with her wide, brilliant sapphire blue eyes. She rushed over to the bed and leapt on top of me.

"Thank Celestia that you're ok! I was so...I mean, we were so worried about you!" she cried as she nuzzled my chest.

'It talked! It. Just. Mother. Fucking. Talked! In perfect English! Hang on, if things like Mr. Kitty exist in wherever the fuck am I right now, why can't there be intelligent being that aren't human?' I pondered, still not quite sure what to make of this situation.

As a doctor myself, I found the way she acted to be very unprofessional. Though it would be understandable for a doctor to be relieved to see their patient pull through, crushing their ribcage is a big no no.

I pushed my thoughts aside for one moment. Before I joined in the conversation, I needed some water. Now!

"Could I please have some water?" I rasped.

She looked up at me with a shocked expression. She hopped off the bed and dashed over to the table on the far right of the room, picked up a cup of water and handed it to me.

'How did she pick that up with her hooves? Never mind that now, get that water down your throat! '

As I finished the water and placed it down on the bed side table, she smiled at me and began to nuzzle my arm. To be honest, I rather enjoyed it. Her soft, silky fur coated my arm with warmth.

"Thanks, I really needed that!" I said, breaking the silence.

"No problem. I'm Nurse Redheart," she chimed.

"Scott, Scott Hilton," I responded.

"Now," she began, picking up a clipboard and pen,"since you're a new patient here at Ponyville Hospital, I need to ask you some questions."

And what questions were they? The boring medical ones of course! 'Are you on any medication?', 'Do you have any medical conditions?', 'Do you have any allergies?'. You know, the questions you would expect. I know that they’re important for the hospital records, but they still bore me to no end.

Soon after she finished, she placed the clipboard and pen down on the table and jumped up onto the bed. As she looked at me, I couldn't help but feel relaxed. The fact that she was diabetes inducing levels of cute didn’t hurt either.

She proceeded to ask me to turn over so that she could properly examine my injuries. Reluctantly, I rolled over onto my front, grimacing at the pain that shot through my back. She cut the bandages slowly and carefully to minimise my discomfort.

Once the last bandage had been cut, the breeze rushed over the newly exposed skin, somewhat dulling the pain.

As she checked my injuries, my attention began to drift towards my thoughts. I had no idea how I got here, or where 'here' was, in fact. How was I supposed to get home? Could I even get home? Was this real or a dream? Everything seemed surreal and fake, except the pain.

Speaking of which...

I winced as Redheart prodded my back.

"Sorry!" she apologised, "Well, the medication and magic have worked quite nicely. Your injury has almost completely healed, though it will be sore for the next few days. So I advise you to avoid any and all strenuous tasks."

"Thank you. I owe you one!" I replied, turning back over.

"Just doing my job, dear," she smiled.

At this point, a hazel coloured unicorn poked his head through the door.

"Nurse Redheart, the princesses have arrived to see the patient. Could you please lead them here?" he asked.

"Of course." She hopped off the bed and walked over to the door. Changing her mind, she rushed over to the table and scribbled something down. Walking towards me with a piece of paper in her hoof, she climbed back onto the bed and placed the paper in my hand.

"If you ever need a friend to talk to or are feeling lonely, don't be afraid to come over. My doors will always be open to you," she said, blushing a bit.

She left my in the room to get the princesses.

'Why are the princesses here to see me? Have I done something wrong?'

Nurse Redheart returned with four other ponies, but these ones had wings and a horn. The tallest one stood just under 6 feet, if I didn't count the horn. Her coat was pure white, like snow. Her mane and tail, which were made up of different shades of blues, green and pinks, flowed freely in an invisible wind as it sparkled. The icon of the sun was on her flanks. Her eyes were an amazing shade of magenta. The crown that adorned her head was golden and had a purple gem in the centre. In addition, she wore a golden plate around her neck with the same purple gem in the middle and golden slippers on her hooves.

The second largest was about 4 and half feet. Her coat was a very dark blue and her teal eyes made me feel calm and relaxed. Her regalia included a black crown and neck piece, which had a white icon of a crescent moon, and light azure slippers. I didn't know how to describe her mane or tail except that it looked like the night sky. Just like every other pony I had seen, she had her own marking upon her flanks; in her case, it was the moon.

The next one sported a hot pink coat and a yellow, pink and purple mane and tail. She looked like a lollipop. What? She did! Her eyes were a beautiful light purple. She wore a gold tiara with a purple gem embedded into it, and a golden necklace and slippers. Her marking was a diamond shaped like a heart.

The final pony was the smallest of the group. She was lavender in colour with a mane and tail of violet with a strip of rose. Unlike the rest of the group, she only wore a golden tiara with a rose coloured gem at the top of each point. Her marking was that of a dark pink six pointed star on top of a white one surrounded by five smaller stars.

'I wonder if those markings have any significant meaning?' I thought to myself.

The white pony walked forwards until she stood right next to the bed, looking at me with those magenta eyes with a big smile on her face. I felt paradoxical sense of safety and foreboding.

"Let us introduce ourselves. I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of this land. I rule alongside my sister, Princess Luna," She pointed a hoof towards the dark coloured mare. "And this is my niece, Princess Cadence, and my former student, Princess Twilight Sparkle," she explained as she pointed at the pink mare and then the purple one. "What is your name?" she asked, her tone soft and tender like a mother's.

"My name is Scott Hilton, your majesty," I responded, remembering how to correctly address royalty.

Celestia chuckled, " Welcome to Equestria, Scott. But I am not your ruler. You can address the other princesses and myself by name."

I nodded. I was surprised the co-ruler was being so relaxed with me. In all honestly, I was happy the royals here weren't uptight and didn't demand proper etiquette. They were down to Earth (or in this case, Equestria) rulers and I liked that. Nice change from the status quo.

"I know that you have a lot of questions but they will have to wait for the time being," Celestia said. She turned to Nurse Redheart. "Is Scott in a position to leave?"

"Yes, but before he leaves, I need to prescribe him medication to help with the pain," Redheart replied.

I lifted myself out of bed and stumbled as I shifted my weight onto my legs. They were stiff and sore after all the running. With help from Luna and Cadence, I followed the ponies to the pharmacist. I was given a bottle full of blue and red pills. Redheart told me that I needed to take these twice a day, one in morning and another before I go to sleep.

Turning around, I saw that a squad of guards had arrived and surrounded me. The thing that surprised me was that they had gone into a protective formation around me, observing all archs of sight.

"Is this really necessary?" I asked nervously. Why would they need to protect me?

"I'm afraid so, Scott. It's for your own safety. Some residents here in Ponyville are um...excitable, to say the least. This is just a precaution," Luna explained.

As Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Twilight, my escort of armed guards and I left the hospital, I found that the hospital was in the middle of a village. The infrastructure mainly consisted of medieval-style architecture. The houses were timber-framed with distinct thatched roof and overhanging upper floors. The houses and shops were built side by side each other next to a cobbled street.

The rest of the group continued to walk as I stopped to look to the scenery. It was so beautiful, so relaxed, so calm.

"Sir, we need to keep moving befo-"

"Come here, my human lover! You're going to rut me silly!"

Turning around, I saw a mint coloured unicorn galloping straight towards me!

'Bugger!'

Author's Notes:

And so the story continues!
Sorry if some parts of this chapter seem rushed. I've got a lot of work to do and I wanted to get this chapter finished before I go on holiday.
I hope you enjoyed the second chapter!
The next chapter should be done sometime in September (fingers crossed)